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.

November 18, 1977

The Hockey News November 18, 1977

<h2>NHL TEAMS</h2>1&mdash;Montreal2&mdash;Chicago3&mdash;Boston4&mdash;Rangers5&mdash;Detroit6&mdash;Toronto7&mdash;Philadelphia8&mdash;Los Anqeles9&mdash;St. Louis10&mdash;Minnesota11&mdash;Piltshurgh12&mdash;Islanders13&mdash;Vancouver14&mdash;Buffalo15&mdash;Atlanta16&mdash;Cleveland17&mdash;Colorado18&mdash;Washington<h2>WHATEAMS</h2>19&mdash;New England20&mdash;Quebec21&mdash;Winnipeg22&mdash;Houston23&mdash;Indianapolis24&mdash;Edmonton25&mdash;Cincinnati26&mdash;Birmingham<h2>INTER-LEAGUE</h2>27&mdash;Boston (NHL) & St Louis (NHL)28&mdash;Montreal (NHL) & Atlanta (NHL)29&mdash;Pittsburqh (NHL) & Houston (WHA)30&mdash;Washington (NHL) & Buffalo (NHL)31&mdash;Independent32&mdash;New Enqland. Birmingham. Cincinnati and Quebec (all WHA)33&mdash;Los Anqeles (NHL) & New England (WHA)34&mdash;Colorado (NHL) & Cleveland (NHL)35&mdash;Chicaqo (NHL) & Toronto (NHL)36&mdash;Vancouver (NHL) & Atlanta (NHL)37&mdash;Islanders (NHL) & Minnesota (NHL)40&mdash;Detroit (NHL) & Atlanta (NHL)41&mdash;St. Loins (NHL) & Washington (NHL)42&mdash;Chicaqo (NHL) & Colorado (NHL)43&mdash;Vancouver (NHL) & Minnesota (NHL)44&mdash;Buffalo (NHLK) & Philadelphia (NHL)45&mdash;Islanders (NHL) & Atlanta (NHL)46&mdash;Hangers (NHL) & Cleveland (NHL) &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

Who They’re Affiliated With…

<h2>Tue. Nov. 1</h2>HOUSTON 3, INDIANAPOLIS 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01342/4096536-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="592" height="560"></div>NEW ENGLAND 6, QUEBEC 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02249/4096529-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="587" height="716"></div><h2>Wed. Nov. 2</h2>WINNIPEG 6, EDMONTON 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03189/4096522-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="586" height="585"></div>BIRMINGHAM 3, HOUSTON 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04149/4096515-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="587" height="635"></div><h2>Fri. Nov. 4</h2>WINNIPEG 4, BIRMINGHAM 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05129/4096508-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="585" height="508"></div>QUEBEC 7, HOUSTON 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-06111/4096501-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="589" height="648"></div>CINCINNATI 3, NEW ENGLAND 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-07101/4096494-1-eng-US/f0028-072.jpg" title="f0028-07" width="584" height="428"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0892/4096487-1-eng-US/f0028-082.jpg" title="f0028-08" width="582" height="143"></div>INDIANAPOLIS 1, EDMONTON 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0986/4096480-1-eng-US/f0028-092.jpg" title="f0028-09" width="584" height="465"></div><h2>Sat. Nov. 5</h2>QUEBEC 4, BIRMINGHAM 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1083/4096473-1-eng-US/f0028-102.jpg" title="f0028-10" width="580" height="480"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1175/4096466-1-eng-US/f0028-112.jpg" title="f0028-11" width="588" height="216"></div>WINNIPEG 6, CINCINNATI 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1271/4096459-1-eng-US/f0028-122.jpg" title="f0028-12" width="584" height="478"></div><h2>Sun. Nov. 6</h2>NEW ENGLAND 5, CINCINNATI 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1365/4096452-1-eng-US/f0028-132.jpg" title="f0028-13" width="584" height="563"></div>HOUSTON 1, EDMONTON 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1457/4096445-1-eng-US/f0028-142.jpg" title="f0028-14" width="583" height="554"></div> &#9632;

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WORLD HOCKEY ASSN. SUMMARIES

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02270/4096414-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="598" height="1222"></div> &#9632;

f0027-02

WHA Leaders

<h2>NOVEMBER</h2>Tue. 8 Springfield at HamptonBinghamton at Nova ScotiaWed. 9 Springfield at HersheyNew Haven at MaineThu. 10 Hampton at BinghamtonFri. 11 Springfield at New HavenNova Scotia at PhiladelphiaMaine at RochesterSat. 12 New Haven at HersheyRochester at MaineNova Scotia at PhiladelphiaHampton at SpringfieldSun. 13 Hershey at New HavenPhiladelphia at Nova ScotiaHampton at RochesterWed. 16 Philadelphia at HersheyBinghamton at MaineThu. 17 Maine at HamptonRochester at PhiladelphiaFri. 18 Springfield at New HavenHershey at PhiladelphiaNova Scotia at RochesterSat. 19 Philadelphia at HamptonMaine at HersheyNova Scotia at SpringfieldSun. 20 Hershey at BinghamtonPhiladelphia at New HavenMaine at Rochester &#9632;

Where AHL Teams Play

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011013/4094382-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="572" height="646"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE VICKERS Second 4-Goal Game</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02918/4094375-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="567" height="484"></div><h2>THE NHL&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03690/4094368-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="592" height="711"></div><h2>THE WHA&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04477/4094361-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="594" height="196"></div><h2>OTHER LEAGUES&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05347/4094354-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="598" height="248"></div><h2>COLUMNISTS&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06250/4094347-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="592" height="178"></div><h2>OTHER FEATURES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-07159/4094340-1-eng-US/f0002-072.jpg" title="f0002-07" width="598" height="180"></div> &#9632;

f0002-01

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT ALL INSIDE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-09" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-0956/4094444-1-eng-US/f0002-092.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div><h2>Merger Not Dead Yet Says WHA&rsquo;s Baldwin</h2>HARTFORD&mdash;There is still hope that this year&rsquo;s rejection of the proposed NHL-WHA merger will be resolved in the near future and the two leagues will ultimately get together.At least that&rsquo;s the optimistic outlook expressed by Howard Baldwin, the new president of the WHA, who says that while most hockey people have assumed the idea that the two-league merger is dead, he believes it could be revived. He claims he is still working on the issue and meeting periodically with NHL owners. He said he was encouraged by his progress and that meetings could lead to a rekindling of interest for an NHL-WHA union. Baldwin said that Paul Mooney of Boston, who was one of the strongest opponents of the merger has talked with him. Baldwin said that if present talks don&rsquo;t materialize, then the WHA would concentrate on becoming a stronger and independent league.<h2>Williams Acquitted Of Assaulting Owchar</h2>TORONTO &mdash;Dave &lsquo;Tiger&rsquo; Williams has been absolved of any guilt in an assault charge brought against him for his attack on defenseman Dennis Owchar of the Pittsburgh Penguins in a game at Maple Leaf Gardens on Oct. 20,1976.Ontario county judge Hugh Locke said he would give Williams the benefit of the doubt that he did not mean to hit the player. Locke added that Williams, who was also charged with having an offensive weapon, a hockey stick, &ldquo;may or may not have intended to take a final swipe&rdquo; with his stick at Owchar. Williams opened an 18-stitch cut on Owchar&rsquo;s head after he had been bodychecked by the Pittsburgh defenseman but the judge ruled there was no satisfactory evidence that Williams deliberately used his stick on the Penguins&rsquo; player.<h2>Espo Scores 600th NHL Goal</h2>VANCOUVER &mdash;Phil Esposito has become the third player In the history of the NHL to score 600 goals In his career.Espo connected for his milestone goal Nov. 4 while the Rangers were lacing the Vancouver Canucks 5-1. The veteran center and captain of the Rangers entered the 1977-78 season with 596 goals and his 600th put him in select hockey company. Only Gordie Howe with 786 and Bobby Hull with 604, scored more than Espo while playing in the NHL. Coupled with their WHA scoring, Howe has 907 goals, Hull 859 and Frank Mahovlich 608. Mahovlich scored 533 before he jumped to the WHA. Cesare Maniago was the victim on Esposito&rsquo;s celebrated goal.<h2>IHL Hands Player Life Suspension</h2>DETROIT&mdash;One of hockey&rsquo;s rare and most severe penalties&mdash;a life suspension from the game&mdash;was handed down by IHL commissioner Bill Beagan when he threw the book at Willie Trognitz of the Dayton Owls for displaying excessive roughness in a regular league game.Beagan said Trognitz had been &ldquo;suspended permanently&rdquo; after being assessed two match penalties. The IHL announced that Trognitz had heavily taped hands when he injured Gary McMonagle of Port Huron Flags in a fight and then swung his stick at another Port Huron player, Archie Henderson, sending him to hospital with severe head cut, broken nose and concussion. Beagan said &ldquo;there is no place for this type of conduct in hockey.&rdquo; The six-foot, 205-pound Trognitz had been suspended for 10 games last year for shoving an official.<h2>WHA Jets Drop Huck In Economy Move</h2>WINNIPEG&mdash;There are rumblings around the camp of the Winnipeg Jets that an economy move is underway and some heads will roll to shave the team&rsquo;s operating expenses.The Jets have placed center Fran Huck on waivers in what many see as the start of an austerity program by the WHA club. The Jets&rsquo; management issued a statement showing the club in a less-than-favorable financial position and team GM Rudy Pilous and coach Larry Hillman may be under instructions to cut bodies off the team, particularly players with, six-figure salaries. Some others, like goaler Gary Bromley, defensemen Larry Hornung and Dave Dunn, may wind up elsewhere. Pilous and Vancouver GM Jake Milford have discussed Dunn, who jumped to the Jets from the Toronto Leafs; &#9632;

f0002-09

DEADLINE STOPPERS

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-08" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-0886/4094413-1-eng-US/f0002-082.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">REGGIE LEACH&hellip;Draws Praise From Coach</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Ask people close to the Philadelphia Flyers for their impressions of Reggie Leach and they&rsquo;d probably offer a twofold answer: a super goal scorer and a guy who stops caring the minute the game ends.Leach, 27, wasn&rsquo;t a super scorer last season His production, along with nearly all the other Flyers, slipped from a record 80 goals including playoffs to 32 during the regular season and only four in the playoffs. From Conn Smythe Trophy winner to trade bait.Early indications this season are that Leach is back terrorizing opposing goaltenders. Leach is shooting and skating with the same verve he showed two years ago.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got my timing back,&rdquo; said the former Boston Bruins&rsquo; draft choice. &ldquo;Last year it took me 2-3-4 seconds to get my shot away. This year I&rsquo;m not taking so long. The year I scored 61, every time I came over the blueline I shot at the net. Last year I waited and waited.&rdquo;&ldquo;Reggie&rsquo;s skating a lot better,&rdquo; said Bobby Clarke. Leach&rsquo;s center and long-time friend &ldquo;If he&rsquo;s not skating, he&rsquo;s not getting in position.&rdquo;Leach is skating better because he came to camp in top shape and displayed a determination rarely seen by the man wearing No. 27. Leach&rsquo;s new spirit is evident in the way he works to get open, the way he battles checkers and, yes, the way he clings to his check.Hustle by Reggie &ldquo;the Revived&rdquo; is explained by pride in his team and fear that he might be among those packaged elsewhere if the Flyers didn&rsquo;t begin winning consistently.&ldquo;We knew there was no way the team would stick pat after what we did in the playoffs last year,&rdquo; Leach said, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why we all started training in August. We knew we hat to get it going early or they&rsquo;d make some changes.&rdquo;Through an October that included injury (Gary Dornhoefer) and suspension (Paul Holmgren) on the right side. Leach was one of the steady Flyers. Even Shero noticed Leach&rsquo;s contributions, although the Flyers&rsquo; coach still found some deficiencies in Leach&rsquo;s checking.He&rsquo;s unloading the puck pretty quick,&rdquo; said Shero. &ldquo;Last year, when he wasn&rsquo;t unloading fast enough, the puck was always deflecting off somebody&rsquo;s stick.&ldquo;Sometimes he still isn&rsquo;t working hard enough in our zone to get the puck out, but it&rsquo;s not happening as often as last year. A lot of big scorers don&rsquo;t realize that our zone is as important as theirs. If they don&rsquo;t score in our zone, you can&rsquo;t lose.&rdquo;Leach, who passed the 200-goal career mark in the Flyers&rsquo; 11-0 October annihilation of Pittsburgh, is also working harder off the ice. Until last summer Leach, whose mother is Cree Indian, didn&rsquo;t respond enthusiastically to requests to appear at Indian functions. That position has changed.Leach was invited last summer to speak at a banquet on the Indian reserve at Waterton (Alta.) National Park.&ldquo;I figure if I can get one or two kids to stay in school, or at least work at a career in sports, then it was worth using me as an example,&rdquo; he said. But it&rsquo;s up to the parents to encourage kids to go to school or take part in sports. The problem is most parents don&rsquo;t care.&rdquo;Leach is proving he cares, on and off the ice. Maybe it&rsquo;s just maturity. Maybe the Flyers&rsquo; satisfaction with him thus far is reflected by his appreciation of generally being left on his own.&ldquo;Last year I must have had 199 meetings with the coaches. Every second game, it seemed, they wanted me to play more offensively or more defensively. I still don&rsquo;t go home and worry about what I did wrong. The coaches will tell me that. This year they&rsquo;re leaving me along &ldquo;Leach must be doing something right.FLYERS&rsquo; FACTS: Wayne Stephenson and Gary Dornhoefer (both knee injuries) were ready to rejoin the Flyers after missing three games&hellip;Tom Bladon collected his 200th NHL point when he assisted on a goal in the Flyers&rsquo; 7-3 victory in St. Louis. &#9632;

f0002-08

Revived Reggie Regains Touch; Flyer Terrorizing Goaltenders

TORONTO&mdash;Inge Hammarstrom left Toronto a bitter man after the Toronto Maple Leafs gave up on him and in Pittsburgh there is much speculation that the Penguins gave away much more than they received in their four-player trade with the Los Angeles Kings.The Kings eagerly grabbed center Syl Apps and left winger Hartland Monahan in exchange for left wing Dave Schultz and center Gene Carr. They even tossed in a future draft choice to swing the deal that put Apps in an L.A. uniform. Kings&rsquo; coach Ron Stewart wasted little time putting Apps on a line with Marcel Dionne and he responded with a goal and an assist in his coast debut as the Kings whipped the Rangers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011020/4094496-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="859" height="1542"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dave Schultz, left, moved to his third NHL team in two seasons after he was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Hartland Monahan, right. For Monahan it was his third NHL team this season. He opened with Washington and was swapped to Pittsburgh before going on to the Kings.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02877/4094489-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="834" height="1533"></div>The Penguins defended the trade of Apps by declaring that the 30-year-old center had been playing poorly this season and the team needed help on left wing, where injuries have racked the club.But despite the club&rsquo;s insistence that the deal was a good one. many feel the Penguins blew it when they let not only Apps but Monahan get away for two players who have not been delivering for the Kings this season. Monahan, admittedly, has been getting shoved from club to club but the much-travelled right winger could turn it around with the Kings.The four-player swap touched off a busy week for NHL teams as St. Louis Blues and Toronto Leafs got into the act as Leafs exchanged Hammarstrom for Blues&rsquo; Jerry Butler. It was a straight player trade and while the Leafs long ago decided the Swede&rsquo;s fate by benching him throughout last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs, the trade certainly spurred Hammarstrom. He went out in his first game in a St. Louis uniform and scored two goals.Hammarstrom himself said he felt this would be the year he would prove to the Leafs that they made a good move scouting him four years ago and bringing him over from Sweden along with defenseman Borje Salming.But the Leafs had other ideas and when the Blues proposed a trade for Butler, they snapped up the deal. The Swede&rsquo;s future with the club was not enhanced by the fact team owner Harold Ballard had soured on him some time ago when he stated: He (Hammarstrom) could go into the corner with six eggs in his pocket and come out without breaking them. &ldquo;It cast a reflection on Hammarstrom&rsquo;s unaggressive play and this season when new coach Roger Neilson came in he, too, was unimpressed with Hammarstrom&rsquo;s imbalance between offensive and defensive skills, something former coach Red Kelly detected and promptly benched him.The Leafs picked up a scrapper in Butler. The six-foot, 170-pounder is starting his fifth NHL season and already has 400 penalty minutes to his credit. He is known for his good defensive play, particularly in penalty-killing roles, something that attracted him to Neilson.The third NHL trade inside of one week saw the Chicago Black Hawks unload 33-year-old center Pit Martin by sending him to Vancouver Canucks for future considerations. In a way the Hawks virtually gave Martin away but it was not totally unexpected. Chicago failed to protect the diminutive center in the recent NHL equalization draft and his fate appeared to be decided at that time.The Canucks feel they can get another two or three years service out of Martin despite his age. The veteran pivot has scored 297 goals in 964 NHL games and has a career total of 737 points. Jake Milford, the general manager of the Canucks, said the club was desperate for center ice help with the release of Derek Sanderson and the fact left wing Don Lever hadn&rsquo;t worked out in his switch from the left side to the slot. The club had only two centers&mdash;Mike Walton and Chris Oddleifson&mdash;prior to obtaining Martin from the Black Hawks.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03590/4094482-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="535" height="720"><figcaption class="caption-body">SYLAPPS &hellip;Instant Hit In L.A.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04352/4094475-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="538" height="714"><figcaption class="caption-body">PIT MARTIN &hellip;Hawks Gave Him Away</figcaption></div>Earlier, the Washington Caps traded Monahan to Pittsburgh for the Penguins&rsquo; No. 1 amateur draft pick in 1979. And prior to that deal, the Penguins traded former team captain Ron Schock to Buffalo in return for left winger Brian Spencer. And the New York Islanders swapped Andre St. Laurent to Detroit for Michel Bergeron. &#9632;

f0003-01

Kings Grab Apps, Monahan In Trade; Hammarstrom Bitter After Leaf Swap

Here are the trades completed in the NHL this season:Islanders traded Andre St. Laurent to Detroit for Michel Bergeron.Washington swapped Hartland Monahan to Pittsburgh for the Penguins first amateur draft choice in 1979.The Penguins traded Ron Schock to Buffalo in return for Brian Spencer.Pittsburgh traded Syl Apps and Monahan to Los Angeles for Dave Schultz and Gene Carr as well as a future Penguin draft choice.Toronto swapped Inge Hammarstrom to St. Louis for Jerry Butler. Chicago traded Pit Martin to Vancouver for future considerations. &#9632;

Looking At NHL Trades

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011071/4094579-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="476" height="484"></div>&bull; THREE DEFENSEMEN from the New West-minster Bruins&rsquo; junior club of last season are playing regularly in the National Hockey League. They are Brad Maxwell with Minnesota North Stars. Barry Beck of Colorado Rockies and Miles Zaharko of Atlanta Flames. All three defensemen were the No. one draft choices by their respective clubs&hellip;Los Angeles Kings and Buffalo Sabres both played superbly in defeating the Montreal Canadiens on successive nights on Montreal ice&hellip;Coach Bob McCammon of the Maine Mariners working tirelessly to get his new team near the top of the standings in the American Hockey League North Division&hellip;Two World Hockey Association clubs are under the ownership of the same man. Nelson Skalbania owns the Indianapolis Racers outright and shares ownership of the Edmonton Oilers with Peter Pocklington&hellip;This is nothing new in professional hockey, however. At one time the Norris family had interests in three of the six NHL clubs&hellip;The late Lou Jacobs, the concessions magnate, held minority interests in several major league baseball teams at the same time&hellip;New England Whalers are hoping that Larry Pleau plays back to his normal ability this year. He had a horrible season last year when he scored but 11 goals&hellip;Chico Resch marvelled at Rogie Vachon&rsquo;s performance in their 0-0 stalemate last month. &ldquo;I like to pattern myself after Rogie.&rdquo; said the Islanders&rsquo; netminder. When he&rsquo;s concentrating on the puck like he was tonight, it&rsquo;s a one-on-one battle&mdash;him and the puck. There&rsquo;s no one else in the building&rdquo;&hellip;When the Rhode Island Reds franchise was transferred to Binghamton, N.Y., it marked the first time in 53 years that there was no professional hockey in Rhode Island. The Providence Reds were one of the major wheels in the American Hockey League for the last 25 years.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021026/4094572-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="294" height="458"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Pleau</figcaption></div>&bull; JEAN-GUY TALBOT told Montreal intimates that he wasn&rsquo;t too pleased with the attitude of Rod Gilbert. Talbot said he thought the Ranger veteran was sulking and he&rsquo;d like&rsquo;to see him in a better frame of mind. The same Talbot has been very pleased with the play of Wayne Thomas, the goalie New York drafted from Toronto. He is also thrilled at the way Phil Esposito has started the new season&hellip;New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association are fast assembling one of the best scouting departments in hockey. Bob Crocker, who formerly worked under Whalers&rsquo; Director of Hockey Operations Jack Kelley at Boston University and Colby College, is the latest addition to the Whalers&rsquo; scouting staff. He joins a scouting staff that includes Al Rollins, former Phoenix coach and general manager, Jack McCartan, former Minnesota assistant coach and ex-Whaler player Bob Charlebois, who is presently head coach at the University of Ottawa&hellip;We&rsquo;d like to hear from anyone knowing the whereabouts of Wally Olds, a former U.S. Olympian from Warroad, Minnesota, who played with the New York Raiders and Calgary Cowboys of the WHA&hellip; Only one goalie has coached in the NHL in modern times and that was Emile &ldquo;Cat&rdquo; Francis&hellip;It&rsquo;s amazing to many puck followers that more goalies haven&rsquo;t made good as major league coaches&hellip; Andre St. Laurent is pleased with the trade that sent him from New Islanders to the Detroit Red Wings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03921/4094565-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="296" height="474"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jean-Guy Talbot</figcaption></div>&bull; JOHNNY BUCYK is playing his 21st season in the NHL. The veteran winger and former captain of the Boston Bruins has bettered the mark of Dit Clapper, the Boston Bruins&rsquo; immortal who played 20 seasons with the Bruins and was playing coach at the end of his playing career. Dit was the first active player to be inducted into hockey&rsquo;s Hall of Fame. He was enshrined into the hall on February, 1947&hellip;Two WHA teams are interested in signing Derek Sanderson to a contract&hellip;Steve Vickers&rsquo; recent four-goal outburst against St. Louis was the second time he&rsquo;s scored four in a game. He did the same thing against the Kansas City Scouts, forerunner of today&rsquo;s Colorado Rockies&hellip;Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; firing of Don Schwartz, the very capable pressbox steward after eight years of service causing some controversy among media people. NHL writers had nothing but praise for Schwartz&hellip;Joe Falls of the Detroit Free Press calls Hockey Night in Canada the best sports presentation on TV&hellip;Jim Browitt and Walt Marlow, both former WHA executives, will launch the newly formed Pacific Hockey League in December. Some first-rate players are listed among the four teams comprising the league&hellip;Chicago&rsquo;s John Marks is making a habit of scoring against the Philadelphia Flyers. The last three times the two teams have met in Chicago, the games have ended in 2-2 ties and Marks has had a goal in each&hellip;What makes the situation even more interesting is that Marks only had seven goals all last year and his goal in the recent 2-2 tie was his first of the season&hellip;One of the early surprises of the year has been the effectiveness of the Colorado Rockies on the power play. They&rsquo;ve scored on one-third of their first 36 chances led by Paul Gardner&rsquo;s total of five&hellip;On the other side of the coin, the Atlanta Flames have successfully killed all but one penalty this year, that against the Minnesota North Stars. In a recent 9-0 loss to the Islanders, not one goal came on the power play.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04819/4094558-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="292" height="465"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Marks</figcaption></div>&bull; AGGRESSIVE HOCKEY may be back in Detroit, but coach Bobby Kromm won&rsquo;t stand for stupid penalties. Through the first eight games of the season, the Red Wings ranked seventh in the league in penalty minutes, rather than their usual position of first or second&hellip;Detroit rookies are also wasting little time notching their first NHL goals. Of five first-year regulars in the lineup, Dale McCourt, Paul Woods, Reed Larson and Ron Plumb have all scored, leaving only Perry Miller goalless. Although no longer considered rookies, Larry Wright and Rick Bowness, beginning their first full seasons have also scored&hellip;Barry R. Elson, a former vice president with the New York Islanders has joined the Colorado Rockies as executive vice president and chief operating officer&hellip;Flyers GM Keith Allen busy making deals a la Sam Pollock. Allen recently acquired former North Stars&rsquo; top pick (1973) Blake Dunlop and a third-round choice in exchange for Harvey Bennett who had been pushed out of a job by Flyers&rsquo; youngsters&hellip;Allen also reobtained defenseman Terry Murray from Detroit for the club&rsquo;s American Hockey League Firebirds&rsquo; franchise and was responsible for signing free-again Grant Cole who has the AHL&rsquo;s lowest goals-against average&hellip;Calcoat face masks are being well accepted by hockey players across Canada.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05680/4094551-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="289" height="462"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Murray</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">BY RUSS WHITE</div>WASHINGTON&mdash;Until now, Bob Sirois has enjoyed a quiet lodging as one of the Washington Capitals, not deep enough into the limelight to be bothered very much.A fluid, graceful skater, Sirois in his first two seasons in Washington promised more than he was able to deliver, injuries constantly impairing true success.Able to play in only 45 of the 80 games last year and in pain many times when he did skate, Sirois scored 13 goals and assisted on 22 others. His plus-minus figure was second best on the team.With Sirois presumably healthy at training camp this year, the club management was piqued that he seemingly took his workload lightly. He was promptly chastised and denied a three-game preseason road trip with the team.Today, Sirois can view this with amusement. He flew into the regular season competition by scoring a goal in each of the first three games. And, after being shut out in the fourth,&rsquo; he came back with a pair of goals in Washington&rsquo;s 6-2 victory at Atlanta.Bill Clement, a center for Atlanta and former captain of the Capitals, talked about Sirois after the game at the Omni.&ldquo;I was with the Flyers when Bobby came up from the juniors (Montreal Juniors),&rdquo; Clement recalled. &ldquo;Everyone was high on Sirois then and it looks as though he&rsquo;s started to come on now for the Capitals.&ldquo;I believe Bobby can score a lot of goals for Washington. He&rsquo;s always had the magic touch. He has an act when he&rsquo;s around the net. He&rsquo;s extremely cool and he can get his shot off quickly.&rdquo;Ken Dryden, the Montreal goalie, said the same thing after Sirois beat him for a goal this year at Washington.&ldquo;He surprised me,&rdquo; Dryden said. &ldquo;Maybe it is because I hadn&rsquo;t seen that much of Bobby Sirois. I know what he can do, now. When a guy pulls out a move and a shot like his tonight, you don&rsquo;t forget it.&rdquo;It obviously helps Sirois that he&rsquo;s been playing right wing this year on Guy Charrons line. Charron is Washington&rsquo;s leading scorer, a good shot and tremendous passer.&ldquo;If you can&rsquo;t score playing with Sirois, you just can&rsquo;t score,&rdquo; said Capitals&rsquo; coach Tom McVie, who realizes that Sirois has been slowed by injuries.&ldquo;He was always coming back after being hurt and his game just wasn&rsquo;t what it could be last year,&rdquo; McVie said. &ldquo;The man was hurt three or four times. It&rsquo;s hard enough playing this game when you&rsquo;re healthy&hellip;we know Sirois was hurting most of the time.&ldquo;Now, we expect him to score. He&rsquo;s feeling good and he&rsquo;s playing well.&rdquo;Sirois, 23, attributes his success to linemate Charron.&ldquo;With Guy around there are always chances,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had six or seven chances in the Atlanta game. You have to score when you get that many good opportunities.&rdquo;A bachelor, Sirois shares a three bedroom townhouse near Capital Centre with his old friend and rookie Capital. Robert Picard. Sirois has known Picard for six years. They, played together with the Montreal Juniors. Sirois scored 153 points his final year with Montreal, the same year Picard made his Junior A debut.Sirois grew up in a section of north the loss to Kansas City, giving him three in two games. Don Martineau&rsquo;s second goal of the night with 54 seconds left in the extra 10-minute period, gave the Red Wings the victory.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-06405/4094610-1-eng-US/f0004-062.jpg" title="f0004-06" width="572" height="722"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB SIROIS &hellip;Coming On</figcaption></div>Rookie Glen Hanlon was in the Tulsa nets for both games as Michel Belhumeur was recalled by Atlanta. Belhumeur had a 2.35 goals against average in three games for the Oilers.SALT LAKE CITY: Player-coach Barclay Plager tied two team records and the Central Hockey League&rsquo;s shortest player, Doug Palazzari, scored a hat trick in a surprising 8-1 route by the Salt Lake Golden Eagles of the Fort Worth Texans.The Texans had won their first six games.Plager, 36, had five assists in the game, four of them in the first period, to tie Eagles&rsquo; records set by Guyle Fielder. Since Fielder&rsquo;s records were in the Western Hockey League, Plager&rsquo;s marks are records for the Eagles in the CHL.Lyle Bradley and Jerry Holland both scored two goals for the Eagles in the opener of the two-game Eagles-Texans series.After trailing 2-1 through two-and-a-half periods, the Texans bounced back on goals by newcomers Bill Hogaboam and Ed Pizunski and rookie Mike Hordy for a 4-2 victory. Hordy&rsquo;s goal, the winner, was his first in pro hockey.PHOENIX: The Phoenix Roadrunners were sitting around the Dallas airport, awaiting a 2:33 a m. flight back to Phoenix after blowing a 5-2 lead into a 5-5 tie with the Dallas Black Hawks.&ldquo;Practice at Oceanside Ice Arena at 10.&rdquo; announced coach Sandy Hucul. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll teach these guys to blow a three-goal lead.&rdquo;Hucul was joking. He was disappointed but not angry that the Rumers stretched their winless streak to six games, although ending a losing streak at four.&ldquo;It was the best game we&rsquo;ve played in a while,&rdquo; said Hucul. &ldquo;It was just inexperience which caused that letdown.&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;re starting to get it together. It&rsquo;ll take a while. We&rsquo;ve been through this before and these are a good bunch of kids.&rdquo;They are kids. The average age is 21.3.Reg Kerr, in his second game since being assigned by the Cleveland Barons, got to play at left wing and scored two goals against Dallas.At Kansas City the night before, in a 5-1 loss, he was forced into a roll on defense when the club&rsquo;s most experienced rearguard, Roger Lemelin, 23. was expelled for leading a charge over the boards at 2:29 when goaltender Jim Warden had a run-in with Red Wings&rsquo; Brian McCutcheon.The Runners had come back, after trailing 5-1 at one point, only to lose 6-4 two nights earlier.The Hockey NewsOFFICIAL NATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLYFOUNDED 1947VOLUME 31 NUMBER 7NOVEMBER 18, 1977Kenneth W. McKenzie&nbsp;President and PublisherTom Murray&nbsp;Assistant PublisherCharlie Halpin&nbsp;Editorial DirectorPat Beale&nbsp;Advertising CoordinatorAdvertising Representatives:Toronto:Garry McDougall 111 Richmond St., West. Suite 508.Toronto. Ont. M5H 2GR (416) 492-9191MontrealPal Beale 1434 St. Catherine Street West, Suite 217Montreal, Can. &bull; H3G 1R7 (514) 866-4841New York:Tom Murray 150 East 58th StreetNew York. N.Y, 10022 &bull; (212) 593-2100Chicago:Hooper & Jones Associates 3322 W. Peterson AvenueChicago, III. 60659 &bull; (312) 478-5544Published weekly except monthly June through September by W. C. C. Publishing Ltd., 1434 St. Catherine Street West. Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7 &bull; (514) 8664841. U.S.: c/o W.C.C. Publishing Corp.. 150 E. 58th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022, (212) 593-2100.YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $11.9$ In Canada, $12.95 in tha U.S.A, and $17.25 In Foreign Countries. Second 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 mail Registration No. 1327. All inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should bo addressed to Subscription Dept., The Hockey News, 1434 St. Catherine St. W., Montreal, Canada H30 1R7. Printed In Canada. &#9632;

f0004-06

Healthful Sirois Gives Caps Punch On Charron Line

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>ATLANTA&mdash;Michel Belhumeur, G, and Tim Ecclestone, LW. assigned to Tulsa of CHL. Dan Bouchard, G, returned from injury listBOSTON&mdash;Steve Langdon, LW. recalled from Rochester of AHL. Bob Miller, C, sent to Rochester as replacement. Gerry Cheevers, G, placed on disabled list with knee injury Dwight Foster, RW, placed on disabled list indefinitely with knee injury.BUFFALO&mdash;Bill Stewart, D, returned to Hershey of AHL.CHICAGO&mdash;Pit Martin, C, traded to Vancouver for future considerations.CLEVELAND&mdash;Daniel Chicoine, RW, recalled from Phoenix of CHL. Ralph Klassen, LW, placed on disabled list for two weeks with knee injury.COLORADO&mdash;Jim McElmury, D, recalled from Hampton of AHL under emergency conditions.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Gene Carr, C, and Dave Schultz, LW traded to Pittsburgh along with future L.A. draft choice for Syl Apps, C, and Hartland Monahan, RW. Mario Lessard, G, returned to Springfield of AHL. Rogie Vachon, G, returned from injury list.MINNESOTA&mdash;Jimmy Roberts, LW. assigned to Fort Worth of CHL.MONTREAL&mdash;Gilles Lupien, D, recalled from Nova Scotia of AHL.ISLANDERS&mdash;Pat Price, D, and Mike Kaszycki, C, recalled from Fort Worth of CHL.RANGERS&mdash;Benoit Gosselin, LW, recalled from New Haven of AHL. Nick Fotiu, LW, and Dan Newman, LW, sent to New Haven.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Terry Murray, D. purchased from Detroit and later assigned to Maine of AHL. Danny Clark, D, recalled from Maine and reassigned to Milwaukee of IHL. Rick St. Croix, G, returned to Maine. Wayne Stephenson, G, returned from injury list.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Yves Belanger, G. assigned to Salt Lake of CHL.TORONTO&mdash;Inge Hammarstrom, LW, traded to St. Louis in exchange for Jerry Butler, RW.VANCOUVER&mdash;Larry Carriere, D, placed on waivers.WASHINGTON&mdash;Nelson Burton, LW, recalled from Hershey of AHL. Tony White, LW, returned to Hershey as replacement. Ace Bailey, LW, returned from injury list.<h2>WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.</h2>NEW ENGLAND&mdash;Steve Carlson, RW, recalled from Springfield of AHL.WINNIPEG&mdash;Fran Huck, C, placed on waivers.QUEBEC&mdash;Wally Weir, D, returned from injury list.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>FORT WORTH&mdash;Ed Pizunski, RW, recalled from Muskegon of IHL.PHOENIX&mdash;Tom Anderson, D, assigned on loan from Cleveland.TULSA&mdash;Lorne Molleken, G, recalled from Fort Wayne of IHL and later returned. &#9632;

Hockey Players On The Move

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01929/4094665-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE VICKERS&hellip;Enjoys Second Four-Goal Game</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;Sometimes it takes a rude shock to inject a new attitude into a player regardless of his past history. For the up-and-down New York Rangers, the benchings of Steve Vickers and Rod Gilbert met with far different results.Apparently stung by management&rsquo;s lack of faith, patience or whatever. Vickers notched his second career four-goal game in a 6-2 victory over St. Louis Blues. He looked back in form. Gilbert, however, claimed no such resurgence.&ldquo;They benched Reggie Jackson this year, so why not Rod Gilbert and Steve Vickers,&rdquo; growled John Ferguson, the Rangers general manager, minutes after the Montreal Canadiens had demolished the Rangers, sans their two high priced scorers, in Madison Square Garden by an inelegant 6-2 count.The game, played Oct. 23, followed a 72 pasting the previous evening by the New York Islanders. It was literally over in the first 15 minutes during which Montreal scored three times.&ldquo;Peter Mahovlich was benched in three of the first five games by the Canadiens and he came out for bear, getting two goals.&rdquo; said Rangers coach Jean Guy Talbot. &ldquo;Our guys checked until that first goal (57 seconds into the game) then stopped doing anything for twelve minutes. They did the same thing Saturday night against the Islanders.&rdquo;Talbot decreed a return to fundamentals. but tried to get off the hook in regard to the benching of Gilbert and Vickers.&ldquo;We have 23 men on this team. Tonight it was Gilbert and Vickers tomorrow it might be someone else. I didn&rsquo;t dress Mike McEwen for the first five games, then he dressed tonight and got a goal. We have three goalkeepers, six defensemen and 14 forwards.&rdquo; insisted Talbot.Gilbert. 36, missed 11 days of training during his much publicized war with Ferguson. He has had trouble getting back into shape and was playing with Vickers on the Rangers fourth line, centered by Phil Esposito, who also worked a full shift, with left wing Dan Newman and right wing rookie Lucien Deblois.Vickers, coming off a 22 goal season, worked hard in camp and was determined to get back to the level of production which had logged 30, 34. 41 and 30 goal seasons in the six-foot, 185 pound left wing&rsquo;s first four NHL seasons.Vickers, soft spoken, but respected in his own dressing room as well as the oppositions was very upset over the benching. He had previously been unsettled over the failure of the Rangers to use him as often as they might have on the power play. Many of Steve&rsquo;s goals in years gone by came with the opportunity to play when the opposition was short. This season Esposito has been centering a makeshift power play unit with Don Murdoch on the left and Ken Hodge on the right. Murdoch is a right wing, which means that Vickers was being deliberately overlooked.Neither Vickers nor Gilbert are noted two way players and this seemed to be part of the reason that Talbot acted.&ldquo;They are going to practice until it become automatic,&rdquo; decreed Talbot, speaking of the entire team. &ldquo;Coming back and picking up the opposition is a five man thing, not something one or two people do.&rdquo;The Rangers are 2-3-1, but Talbot is aware of the defensive shortcomings. They allowed 26 goals in those six games, with only Pittsburgh and Minnesota being bombed for more and the St. Louis Blues, winless in six contests, allowing the same amount.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s early but we have to work on it.&rdquo; said Guy.Would the Rangers trade Vickers, who is only 26?It looks that way. Ferguson says, &ldquo;Anyone on the roster can be traded if the right deal comes along.&rdquo;There was some flap over how Gilbert and Vickers had been told they weren&rsquo;t playing. Trainer John Alden informed them. Gilbert, biting his lip and unhappy, said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m disappointed, not mad at anyone. I was just starting to get in shape after missing so much time in training.&rdquo;Obviously, the war between Ferguson and Gilbert is not over, despite the disclaimers on both sides.The jammed up roster is part of Talbot&rsquo;s problem. McEwen, unhappy over not playing in the first five games, said, &ldquo;Talbot told me to be patient. I didn&rsquo;t know what to expect. I played better than I expected. Scoring the goal (a shot from the blue line) helped me a lot.&rdquo;When John Davidson, who has recorded the Rangers two wins this season, but was bombed by the Islanders in the 7-2 debacle, came into the Rangers room before the Montreal game he noticed his gear wasn&rsquo;t hanging in his dressing stall. Instead Hardy Aastrom&rsquo;s paraphernalia was hung up neatly. Hardy dressed as the backup.&ldquo;I sort of got the idea I wasn&rsquo;t dressing,&rdquo; said J.D. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t require a brain surgeon.&rdquo;Aastrom hasn&rsquo;t played yet, and might be better off in New Haven, playing and learning.BLUE CHIPS: Phil Esposito is playing with a sprained left knee&hellip;Bill Goldsworthy played his first game of 1977-78 against Montreal Oct. 23&hellip;Wayne Dillon remains sidelined, having reinjured his left knee in practice&hellip; Lucien Deblois makes the odd rookie mistake but never stops trying&hellip;Ron Duguay seems to be the best of the rookie&rsquo;s &#9632;

f0005-01

Bench Duty Rekindles Vickers; Doesn’t Work For Oldest Ranger

<div class="byline">&#x2014; BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011102/4094696-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="332" height="478"></div><h2>Sanderson&rsquo;s Sad Story</h2>I&rsquo;VE GOT TO BE ME.That was the title of Derek Sanderson&rsquo;s book, and that&rsquo;s the reason for Derek Sanderson&rsquo;s life story in hockey, a story that may have ended unhappily ever after.When this column was written, The Turk was an unemployed player. When this column is published, The Turk probably still will be an unemployed player.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t look good. I&rsquo;m in trouble,&rdquo; Sanderson admitted while trying to find equanimity at his girl&rsquo;s house in New York. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t seem feasible that somebody with my talent at my age can&rsquo;t find a job when the game needs all the good players it can get. Blackballed? You said that, not me.&ldquo;I just want a chance to not only play again, but to prove that I&rsquo;m not as bad as what everybody says. I&rsquo;m not an alcoholic, not a hustler, not a party guy. not a playboy. I want to be remembered as a hockey player, a good one. I&rsquo;ll do anything to prove it. Anything.&rdquo;And that includes playing for nothing, although even Derek admits &ldquo;the AFL-CIO of the CIA or somebody would jump on it if I played for nothing.&rdquo;But for almost nothing&mdash;such as the National Hockey League minimum&mdash;free agent Derek would sign a contract right now. Trouble is, nobody&rsquo;s rushing to his side with a dotted line.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got more stickers on my luggage than Allied Van Lines, I know more games in hockey than THE HOCKEY NEWS, I feel like I&rsquo;ve gotten a bad rap, that I&rsquo;ve been the victim of bad circumstances,&rdquo; he offered.<h2>Admits Being Overpaid</h2>&ldquo;PART OF THE REASON is that I&rsquo;ve been overpaid. I&rsquo;m the first to admit that&mdash;$160,000 a year for a penalty killer? Crazy.&ldquo;Look at some of the things that happened to me. I&rsquo;m with the Rangers in 1975 and I score 25 goals. But the coach (Ron Stewart) the next year wants me out, and the general manager (Emile Francis) says he never overrules a coach.OK. so I go to St. Louis in 1976 and score 67 points in 65 games. The guy I play with, Chuck Lefley, scores twice as many goals as he ever has in any season. But they let me go. The club can&rsquo;t affort me, they tell me.&ldquo;OK, so I go to Vancouver last year and kill penalties like they never had them killed before. But then the guy who hires me (Phil Maloney) is fired and another general manager comes in (Jake Milford). Before he even sees me play, he&rsquo;s asking Al Eagleson during the summer for an out clause in my contract.&rdquo;Aha, and wasn&rsquo;t that The Turk waddling into training camp at approximately 191 pounds, which is not less than 17 pounds over his best playing weight?&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to tell you I was in great shape, but I played 10 years in this league and I figure I had 23 days to get ready,&rdquo; said The Turk. &ldquo;It took me five days to get a physical there, and when I did, I was declared fit to play.&ldquo;But, like Joe Garagiola says, when the bat boy starts looking at you funny, you know there&rsquo;s trouble. There were a lot of tell-tale signs that I was gone. I mean, when they let them take a picture with a torn jersey on, that means only one thing, right? That they&rsquo;re not planning to use your picture in the program anyway.<h2>Ended Difficult Summer</h2>&ldquo;I HAD A DIFFICULT SUMMER. I worried about a lot of things, and I got colitis to start with. My dad got sick, I lost some money in some real estate dealings, wound up in a lot of financial difficulties.&ldquo;On top of that, I&rsquo;m supposed to get married and that fell through. It was supposed to be Aug. 13. Must have been a bad day, eh? Anyway, I&rsquo;m pretty despondent and I&rsquo;m not going to lie to you. I&rsquo;m not Goody Two Shoes. I&rsquo;m drinking my share of beer.&ldquo;But I can still play, and I&rsquo;ve got some people talking to me. WHA and NHL. If only they take the gamble and give me some time to get into a fitness program. I have to be pushed. I need to be told I can&rsquo;t do something, not that I can. And I think I can.&ldquo;If I only would have stayed in Boston and never gone to the WHA in the first place. Philadelphia was the stupidest thing I ever did. It went downhill from there. But I didn&rsquo;t ask for $2.6 million. They gave it, and I took it.&ldquo;Hurting for cash right now. I could liquidate and be solvent, but it&rsquo;s not the money I want. I just want to play and show that I&rsquo;m not the disruptive influence everybody thinks I am. Doesn&rsquo;t look good, but right now I&rsquo;m going fishing for two weeks to straighten my head around. I&rsquo;ll be back. See ya.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0006-01

HOCKEY TALK

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02848/4094727-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM SCHOENFELD&hellip; Trying To Stay Healthy</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;One of the most heartening things about the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; early-season showing&mdash;three wins, a loss and a tie in the first five games&mdash;has been the strong performance of Jim Schoenfeld at defense.The fans&mdash;and probably the rest of the club and the front office&mdash;were wondering just how the big redhead would perform after being stripped of his team captaincy.Schony had some bitter words to say after general manager Punch Imlach asked him to resign during the summer so that, Punch said, the new coach, Marcel Pronovost, could pick his own man as team leader on the ice.Schony said he expected he would be traded and even when he reported for training camp, he said he figured he wouldn&rsquo;t be with the club for long.He still is, though, and the 25-year-old backliner from Galt, Ont., is playing with all his usual spirit and, in the words of Pronovost. &ldquo;doing a fine job.&rdquo;His attitude seems to be great. When Danny Gare was named captain, Schony introduced the scrappy right winger to the club as the new leader and asked the players to give Danny all their best.Schony was asked if he had a change of heart or what.&ldquo;It really hit me when that happened (the loss of the captaincy),&rdquo; replied Schony, &ldquo;and it ate away at me all summer.&ldquo;Finally I went in and talked things over with Punch. He told me what he thought and I told him what I thought and now I guess everything is straightened out.&ldquo;I feel a lot better and all I want to do is play hockey and have a good year. For once I seem to be in good shape. You know, I never have been healthy all season. I&rsquo;m hoping this is the year that I am.&rdquo;The most games Schony ever has played in a season, since joining the club as first draft choice in 1972, is 68. He has had an ailment of some kind every season, including pneumonia and a back problem that required an operation.His first season he missed eight games because of a pinched nerve in his left leg and played through the playoffs with the leg still bothering him.In 1973-74, Schony missed 50 games because of a back operation.In 1974-75, he broke a finger on his left hand twice and was sidelined for 12 games.In 1975-76, he missed 24 games because of mononucleosis and various injuries. When the Sabres bowed out of the playoffs, Schony was on the sidelines with a broken left ankle, sprained right wrist and a broken right elbow.Last season it was viral pneumonia after starting the season on an ankle that still was sore from a summer operation.He missed some of training camp this year because of back trouble that put him in the hospital. He came out before the season opener, however, and said the back was OK and it wasn&rsquo;t the same thing that had caused the operation four years ago.Imlach, when asked about how he and Schony settled their differences, replied, in typical fashion, &ldquo;I have no problem with Schoenfeld, as far as I&rsquo;m concerned. I never did have problem with him.&ldquo;Schony always gives his best. You never can knock him for lack of effort.&rdquo;Said Schony, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to stay mad at the old guy when you talk to him face to face.&rdquo;ICE CHIPS: The Don Luce-Craig Ramsay-Danny Gare line was the highest-scoring line in the NHL during the second week of the season. In three games, the so-called checking line of the Sabres totalled 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points. Gare had five goals and three assists.Jacques Richard, the second player chosen in the 1972 amateur draft, who came to the Sabres from the Atlanta Flames in a trade for defenseman Larry Carriere, again was farmed out to Hershey of the American League, along with right winger Alex Tidey. Richard plays both wings but he apparently did not impress the new coach.Don Edwards, who took over in the Buffalo goal when Gerry Desjardins suffered an eye injury last February, tended the nets in four of the first five games, winning three and tying one. &#9632;

f0006-02

Schoenfeld Leads Sabres Despite Losing Captaincy

MONTREAL&mdash;There&rsquo;s no stopping Guy Lafleur when it comes to the Molson Cup competition. Although his consecutive games scoring streak was snapped at 30 counting regular season games last year, Lafleur bounced back with two &ldquo;star&rdquo; ratings recently to take a 10-point lead over teammates Larry Robinson and Bob Gainey.Lafleur was chosen third star in a 6-2 win over the New York Rangers and first star when the Canadiens defeated the Washington Capitals, 5-1. Each star rating, whether the player is chosen as first, second or third star is worth five points and with four star ratings through the first eight games of the season, Lafleur has accumulated 20 points.Gainey, who was the third star in the Washington game and Robinson each have been selected a star on two occasions, giving them 10 points, while eight other Canadiens have been chosen a star of the game on one occasion.Latest additions to the latter category include Jacques Lemaire, who was first star in New York, Rejean Houle and Doug Risebrough, who were second and third stars in Washington, Guy Lapointe, who was third star in Detroit in a 2-2 tie with the Red Wings, Pete Mahovlich who was chosen second star in New York, and Serge Savard, the second star in the latest game against the Capitals.The player earning the most points for the October-November segment of the schedule will receive a cheque for $1,000, while the charity or sports organization of his choice will also receive a $1,000 contribution from the sponsor. The runner-up for the first of the five segments will receive $500. The overall winner of the competition receives the Molson Cup. Last year&rsquo;s winner&mdash;Guy Lafleur.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02786/4094789-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="567" height="1182"><figcaption class="caption-body">GUY LAFLEUR</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0007-02

Lafleur Takes Lead In Molson Cup Race

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01984/4094758-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE SHUTT&hellip;Calls For Harder Work</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Strange things happen in the province of Quebec, often referred to as &ldquo;Hockeyland&rdquo;, home of the mystical Canadiens when the Good Guys in the Blue, Blanc, et Rouge lose a game in the magical Forum. Then another. Then are hard-pressed to earn a tie against the inconsistent Atlanta Flames.It might have been the position of the moon just before and again, just after, Halloween. It might have been as left winger Steve Shutt suggested: &ldquo;an early-season slump.&rdquo; It was any number of things but when Canadiens fell behind the Flames 2-0 at the seven-minute mark of the second period, the Montreal fans began grumbling, not for reasons to explain the Canadiens&rsquo; recent lapses, but for goals.Fortunately for the Habs, Steve Shutt put them on the scoreboard even while p.a. announcer Claude Mouton was announcing the second Flames&rsquo; goal, converting a Jacques Lemaire rebound to halve the lead 15 seconds after Atlanta&rsquo;s tally.It was a goal which took a large measure of the pressure off the Canadiens&rsquo; backs, pressure, which combined with a determined Atlanta team, stung by a 9-0 thrashing against New York Islanders the night before, threatened to saddle Montreal with a third consecutive loss.In a game in which the Canadiens outshot the visiting Flames 36-21, they still needed a goal in the latter half of the final period to gain only their second point in their last four games (another 2-2 tie with Toronto and the nearly infamous back-to-back losses to Los Angeles and Buffalo).Lemaire, who earlier had Atlanta goalie Dan Bouchard at his mercy but failed to get all of the puck when it flipped up on end, was more fortunate in scoring the tying goal. His shot from outside the right face-off circle squeezed between Bouchard&rsquo;s pads and when the talented Flames&rsquo; netminder could not locate it directly behind him, Lemaire hustled in to drive it into the net.Throughout most of the game, though, all of the bounces seemed to go against the Canadiens. Murray Wilson had a yawning net when Bouchard fanned on an attempted clear, but Barry Gibbs slid across to make a save. Lemaire and Rejean Houle collided at their own blue line while a Flame slipped between them. Pucks hopped over sticks and players skated with their heads up and often lost control of the puck as play along the boards was brisk. Canadiens hesitated, they overpassed, they threw the puck away.Atlanta&rsquo;s goals came on unusual plays. The first when Bill Clement missed the net on the left side, the puck rebounded off the back boards to Guy Chouinard on right wing who banked a shot off Bunny Larocque&rsquo;s &ldquo;bird-cage&rdquo; mask. The puck came right back to Clement who rolled in a backhander.Later with two men from each side behind the Montreal net, Harold Phillipoff scored from the Flames when he gained control from Guy Lapointe who fell on the play.Larocque described it like this: &ldquo;The puck was in the middle behind the net and I didn&rsquo;t know which side it would come out on. I skated to one side of the crease and waited. Then I went to the other. Then Guy fell and he (Phillipoff) came out with the puck on my stick side. It happened before I could react.&rdquo;Larocque, who got the starting call because of his past successes against Atlanta admitted that the team was tight.&ldquo;You know, two losses in a row and at home&mdash;if they were on the road it wouldn&rsquo;t have been so bad. And we knew that Atlanta would come out roaring since they lost so bad in Long Island. They played well defensively and we missed a lot of luck around the net. It happens.&rdquo;Shutt felt that hard work was the only answer for the Canadiens. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t played badly, but we&rsquo;ve run into hot goaltending three games in a row. We played really well the first two periods against Buffalo and we were trailing 4-0. Then you start pressing a bit and nothing seems to work. What we need is a few breaks to get out of this slump and we&rsquo;ll be on our way again.&rdquo;Coach Scotty Bowman agreed on the latter points. We had some guys who were flying out there. (Pierre) Mondou, (Yvan) Coumoyer, (Yvon) Lambert&mdash;they were getting the chances and they&rsquo;re going to start getting some goals. We haven&rsquo;t been scoring like we would like to, but one of these nights it will come together.&rdquo;FORUM REBOUNDS: Canadiens were scoreless for just over 120 minutes or two game&rsquo;s worth of time until Shutt&rsquo;s marker&hellip;The Guy Lafleur-Lemaire-Shutt line has accounted for all of the team&rsquo;s goals in the last four games with the exception of a score by Larry Robinson, set up by Lafleur&hellip;Guy Lapointe missed the Toronto and Buffalo games with a pulled groin muscle and is still not 100 percent. &#9632;

f0007-01

Habs Hard-Pressed To End Slide

<div class="byline">-BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011093/4094827-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="415" height="462"></div><h2>The Hockey Player&hellip;</h2>TERRY O&rsquo;REILLY is a hockey player. He skates so poorly his teammates once stuck a pair of double-runners in his equipment bag. He handles a stick like it was a broom. As a shooter, he has scored more than 20 goals only once in his six seasons as a professional and five with Boston in the big-time. Other Bruins nicknamed him &ldquo;Mack Truck&rdquo; in tribute to his finesse. All he can do is win games for his side.Whenever tough Terry is on the ice, he is all over the ice, checking, hitting, and harassing his foes, stealing the puck, setting up goals, sometimes even scoring a big one, himself. He is a hustling forward who forechecks and backchecks relentlessly, applying pressure to his opponents with a passion that is contagious. The six-foot-one, 200-pound right-wing is a one-man wrecking crew.Washington Capitals coach Tommy McVie has said, &ldquo;If we play against the Bruins 10 times we&rsquo;re going to have problems with him 10 nights. The guy is big and strong and dedicated. He&rsquo;s everything a coach could want.&rdquo; After losing a six-game struggle to Boston in the playoffs last season, Bob Pulford, then coach of the Los Angeles Kings, said, &ldquo;Well, he&rsquo;s not a great talent, but he works like heck. I think he was their most important player and turned the series around for them.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02984/4094820-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="800" height="1179"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry O&rsquo;Reilly readily admits he&rsquo;s not the most polished hockey player in the NHL but no one plays with more fervor than the hard-rock Bruins&rsquo; winger, who likes the hitting game.</figcaption></div>A RARE GLAMOROUS MOMENT for O&rsquo;Reilly came when he came through with the goal that gave Boston a 5-4 victory over Philadelphia after 30 minutes of overtime in the second game of a four-game sweep in the semi-finals. Flyer coach Fred Shero said, &ldquo;The goal was one thing. He did a lot of things. He&rsquo;s a hockey player.&rdquo; After Boston was swept by Montreal in the finals, Canadiens&rsquo; coach Scotty Bowman said, &ldquo;The Bruins never gave up because O&rsquo;Reilly wouldn&rsquo;t let them.&rdquo;Terry says, &ldquo;The first thing I said when I came into this league was I wasn&rsquo;t fancy. I skate my wing. I check my opposing wingers. I like to play. I&rsquo;d like it even more if I scored more. But I like what I do. I like to hit. I like the contact. It turns me on. I play aggressively, but I don&rsquo;t think anybody thinks of me as a goon. If they do, I don&rsquo;t care.&rdquo;He says, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m the first to admit I had farther to go than most players when I came into the league. I&rsquo;ve worked hard to make it. I got that from my dad. James. He was a milkman most of his life. He got up early most mornings and worked hard and moved up the hard way until he was a supervisor. He wasn&rsquo;t satisfied. In his 50s, he quit to return to school. He studied real estate and now he&rsquo;s the top salesman in Oshawa. He let his children do their own thing. I really admire him.&rdquo;Born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in June of 1951, settled in Oshawa, Terry is the only hockey player to come from his family. One brother, Dave, is a mounted policeman in Winnipeg. Another, Bill, is a lawyer. Another, Chris, is still a student. Their mom, Audrey, works for the school board in Oshawa. &ldquo;She influenced us a lot, too,&rdquo; he says. Off the ice, Terry is something else, soft-spoken, bright. Taught by an older brother, he is an excellent chess player who has problems finding players to play.Although a bachelor at the time, he moved out of an apartment and into his own house in suburban Toppsfield a couple of years ago. He fixed it up some, himself, doing all the brickwork and other odd jobs. And he furnished it partly with the antiques he collects and refinishes.WHEN HE WENT BACK to visit friends at his old apartment house, he met the girl who had moved into his old apartment. This summer, they married. A handsome Irish-looking Irishman, Joseph James Terence O&rsquo;Reilly, took as his bride a beautiful Latin, Lourdes Ramirez, an Eastern Air Lines stewardess from San Juan, daughter of a retired colonel in the Puerto Rican army.&ldquo;A fiery Latin,&rdquo; laughs a teammate.&ldquo;A lovely lady and we mix real well,&rdquo; smiles Terry. &ldquo;Now we go together to the flea markets around New England to look for antiques. We like the quiet life.: live a different life off the ice. There are other things in life. If I lived and died and did nothing but hockey I wouldn&rsquo;t be fair to myself. But when I am on the ice I give everything I have to my game. To give less wouldn&rsquo;t be fair to me or my teammates.&rdquo;The 14th choice in the summer of 1971 draft of graduating amateurs, he reported to the Bruins as an aggressive kid with a lot of size who had a lot to learn. &ldquo;I was like a mouse in a maze. I kept bumping into barriers, making mistakes, but I kept going and kept learning until I found my way,&rdquo; he says. Phil Esposito says, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s improved so much from when I first saw him it&rsquo;s hard to believe.&rdquo;The first to practice and the last to leave, he works on his weaknesses. After Terry was voted the favorite of the fans, Bruins manager Harry Sinden said, &ldquo;They know he goes all out all the time. He&rsquo;s become a helluva hockey player who sparks our team.&rdquo; Coach Don Cherry says, &ldquo;No one works harder. No one runs down the other team so much or lifts his own team so much. He&rsquo;s quite a guy who doesn&rsquo;t know how to quit.&rdquo;It is not in his nature. &#9632;

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;Rick Bowness and Andre St. Laurent came to Detroit via different roads.Bowness was acquired at a bargain basement price&mdash;free. St. Laurent came over from the New York Islanders in an early-season trade for Michel Bergeron.Bowness, 22, still had a year left on his Atlanta contract but the Flames were willing to turn it over to Detroit, without compensation, just to get out of paying it.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what the story was,&rdquo; Bowness said. &ldquo;Nobody ever told me. The Flames got rid of Randy Manery because of his contract but my contract wasn&rsquo;t big enough to warrant gettng rid of.&rdquo;Bowness has played well for Detroit and has his first two National Hockey League goals to show for it. He pulled a groin muscle early in camp and missed the exhibitions. The Wings expected to send him down to the minors to start the season and play himself back into shape. It never happened as Bowness came around quickly and continued to impress management. He opened the season in Detroit and has played well at both ends of the ice. He&rsquo;s fit in very well with the young Wings.&ldquo;I tried to come back earlier from the pulled groin and reinjured it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to miss too much of the camp.&rdquo;Bowness is close to Bernie Geoffrion of the Flames&rsquo; front office.&ldquo;The Boomer liked my style.&rdquo; Bowness said. He was really good to me and I liked him. We got along real well. He talked to me a lot and gave me some mental boosts when I needed them.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I like the guys, the team, the city. I just want to play and do as well as I can. I think we&rsquo;re better than the other teams in our division, with the exception of Montreal. If we play hard all season like we have we can finish in second place.&rdquo;St. Laurent also feels right at home in Detroit and the reason is obvious. His new linemates in Detroit are a lot like his old linemates with the Islanders. He is centering Dan Maloney and Dennis Polonich.St. Laurent&rsquo;s first Detroit goal was a big one&mdash;the winner against Minnesota. Maloney added three assists and Polonich also had a goal in that game.Maloney, like Islanders&rsquo; Bob Nystrom, is a big rugged winger and Polonich, like Garry Hqwatt, is a mite-sized but nevertheless aggressive forward.&ldquo;It is pretty much the same kind of line,&rdquo; St. Laurent said. &ldquo;Here I have two guys who work hard, same as New York. I usually try to get on top of the other team. In the offensive zone, I have to be in there first and try to make plays as much as possible. If one of the wingers gets in first, I pick up their wing. Basically, it&rsquo;s the same for every center.&rdquo;In an earlier victory over Minnesota, the line of Dale McCourt, Paul Woods and Bill Lochead scored all the goals. This time it was the Maloney line that did the damage. The line worked hard and accounted for nine of Detroit&rsquo;s 23 shots on goal. St. Laurent and Polonich had four shots each.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m used to a system where it doesn&rsquo;t matter who scores, so long as the team wins,&rdquo; St. Laurent said. &ldquo;In New York, we had no 50 goal scorers but we made it to the semi-finals every year. It&rsquo;s more important to have balanced scoring with everyone getting his goals.&ldquo;Detroit isn&rsquo;t anything like I heard it would be. What did I hear? Well, you know, when we won the other night it was the team&rsquo;s first victory since last February or something like that so you can imagine what people were saying.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03834/4094858-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="565" height="1563"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK BOWNESS &hellip;Thinks Wings Better</figcaption></div>&ldquo;But we&rsquo;ve got spirit again and the guys are working hard. When you do, anything can happen. And you have to give management credit, too. You can see they are working hard on putting a team together here.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-03

Detroit Newcomers Bowness, St. Laurent Feel Right At Home

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011055/4094896-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Boston&rsquo;s Terry O&rsquo;Reilly received game misconduct penalty when he brushed a referee during Bruins-North Stars&rsquo; game.</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;There was an atmosphere of &ldquo;us against the world&rdquo; hovering around the embattled Boston Bruins as the NHL season moved into its second month.They stood accused by Minnesota president Gordon H. Ritz of something called &ldquo;thuggery,&rdquo; which sent a number of fairly well educated people scurrying for the dictionary.It derives from &ldquo;thug&rdquo;, a member of an Indian sect that specialized in robbery and murder, which, in the lexicon of coach Don Cherry, more closely describes the work of an NHL referee.Meanwhile, on the home front, the Bruins were under attack for their power play&mdash;or lack thereof, since they went through their first 25 man advantage situations without scoring a goal.It was so bad, in fact, that one of the more helpful suggestions was that Cherry start declining penalties and taking three faceoffs in the other end in lieu of a power play.The charges of &ldquo;thuggery&rdquo; (sounds vaguely obscene, doesn&rsquo;t it?) grew out of a 3-0 Bruins loss to Minnesota in the next to last game of a frustrating two-week, six-game road trip.Rookie referee Denis Morel whistled 10 penalties on the Bruins to three for the North Stars in a chippy game that wound up in a series of small fights, none large enough for a five-minute penalty.&ldquo;It was thuggery,&rdquo; asserted Ritz, who asked the NHL office to investigate.&ldquo;I thought the refereeing was inept. I thought Morel should have thrown Cherry out of the game. He was the cheerleader urging his players on to thuggish behavior.&rdquo;&ldquo;If I had a chicken club like that, I&rsquo;d complain, too,&rdquo; retorted Cherry in the printable part of his reply. &ldquo;They need all the help they can get. Everybody hates us. They&rsquo;re all out to get us.&ldquo;&lsquo;Thuggery!&rsquo; That&rsquo;s pretty good. Only someone from Princeton or Harvard would think that one up.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02896/4094889-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="1114" height="1251"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Jensen of the North Stars, according to Boston coach Cherry, received scarcely a word after throwing linesman to ice. (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>Cherry wasn&rsquo;t far off. Actually, Ritz is a Yale man but the distinction is important only to another one.&ldquo;We had six penalties to their one in the first period,&rdquo; said Cherry. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s when it was decided. Every time we started to mount an attack, we&rsquo;d get a penalty. When those things happen the players get frustrated.&ldquo;Did you see their Steve Jensen pick up the linesman and throw him down? His name wasn&rsquo;t even mentioned. Terry O&rsquo;Reilly brushes the referee and he&rsquo;s in trouble. I think it was rather prejudiced.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there was one good punch thrown in any of the fights. Thuggery? I wonder if he thought it was thuggery when their manager, Jackie Gordon, said he&rsquo;s going to get two goons and be ready for us.&ldquo;Now he&rsquo;s got Harvey Bennett. Maybe that&rsquo;s a start.&rdquo;The Bruins&rsquo; problems with their power play should prove to be more serious and longer-lasting than the &ldquo;thuggery&rdquo; charges that come up periodically in less colorful terms.They had 25 chances in their first eight games before Bobby Schmautz came up with the first power play goal on the 26th opportunity in the ninth game.It came with only three seconds left in the only Pittsburgh penalty and proved to be the winning goal in a 5-3 Boston victory.Cherry blamed the Bruins&rsquo; dearth of power play goals on, of all things, too much practice.&ldquo;For three years I haven&rsquo;t practiced the power play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;At the start of this year some of the players said they wanted to so we did. Now we go 0 for 30 or something like that. It&rsquo;s ironic.&rdquo;In reality, the Boston power play has been slipping for some time and it&rsquo;s becoming noticeable to those fans who grew up with Phil Esposito, Bobby Orr & Co. pumping in some 80 a year.Two years ago, the power play accounted for 73 Bruin goals. Last year it was 46.It could be significant that Johnny Bucyk, a fixture in the left comer for years, missed 31 games last season and all but one of the first nine this year.BRUINS BITS: Jean Ratelle&rsquo;s slow start has been attributed to an aching back and a sore wrist. He had one goal in the first nine games. Gregg Sheppard was taking power play faceoffs for him, then switching to left wing.Bruins scored their 10,000th goal since 1924 during a 4-4 tie with Colorado on Oct. 25. For the figger filberts, it was the second goal of the game, scored by Rick Smith at 19:27 of the first period, assisted by John Wensink and Terry O&rsquo;Reilly. &#9632;

f0009-01

Bruins Battling World After Slow Start

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011080/4094927-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div>Write to: FAN FORUM, The Hockey News, 1434 St. Catherine St., W., Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7<h2>Marketing, Promotion Necessary By NHL</h2>At the beginning of the NHL&rsquo;s 1977-78 season, all fans heard about the upcoming season were the problems of hockey. Explaining why popularity and attendance are down have been examined by every hockey writer in Canada and the United States.Solutions for the NHL are many and varied. I suggest the NHL do a better job of marketing and promoting its product. There are a few instances of the NHL going out and promoting its game. The only examples I see are the NHL Game of the Week and the Goal Magazine. Rarely do I see the individual stars of the NHL (and there are many) that are promoted in the newspapers and television across the United States. Many people in certain areas of the country do not know of these stars because of the lack of effort put forth by the NHL.Hockey is played for the fans and the NHL must realize the fans have a say in the final product. Marketing must be done to find out the fans demands. Surveys must be done for this purpose. Overtime has been demanded by almost every fan and writer in the country. Breaking up the Canadiens monopoly on talent might be suggested as a way of bringing parity to the NHL. Highlights of key games instead of interviews between periods of the Game of the Week might be suggested by the fans. The list could go on and on.The end result would be to revive fan interest and again make hockey the major league sport it once was.JERRY CARPENTER, Bethpage, N.Y.<h2>Fans Should Support, Not Hassle Murdock</h2>I was in New York at the very end of the exhibition season. Some fans had a banner saying &lsquo;Bust Murdoch&rsquo;. I feel this is very unfair.When Don Murdoch was a rookie, and he was a hit sensation all was well, but now that he has gotten in trouble with the law he&rsquo;s no good.What Murdoch needs now is a lot of support. If he doesn&rsquo;t get this support his performance will drop.As long as Murdoch goes out and gives 100 percent every game the fans should not be concerned with his private life.ALAN COHEN, Charleston, S.C.<h2>Goalies Won&rsquo;t Rest Until Hutchison Goes</h2>I thought when Ron Stewart took over as coach of the Los Angeles Kings our defensive problems would be over&mdash;ie: the departure of Dave Hutchison.&ldquo;Hutch&rdquo; is a good policeman&mdash;along with Dave &ldquo;The Hammer&rdquo; Schultz&mdash;but he can&rsquo;t play defense. This year Randy Manery has teamed with him and has covered up beautifully. (But if Manery is to be effective, he can&rsquo;t keep an eye on &ldquo;Hutch&rdquo; every game).Either &ldquo;Hutch&rdquo; has a no-cut contract, or Stewart is blind. Either way, until &ldquo;Hutch&rdquo; goes, Rogie Vachon can expect to be shell-shocked.RICK LEWIS, Encino, Ca.<h2>Islanders&rsquo; Audience True Hockey Fans</h2>I feel that I must comment on the behavior of the New York Islander fans on the night that team played the L.A. Kings (Oct. 18).Only true hockey fans would give the kind of ovation to the opposing team&rsquo;s goalie that was given to Rogie Vachon that evening.They showed their appreciation of an outstanding performance (41 saves) by a man who is possibly the finest goaltender in hockey today.And I, for one, hope that those fans are rewarded by seeing their Islanders progress through the playoffs!MAXWELL STERN, Van Nuys, Ca.<h2>Feels Kings&rsquo; Berry Sets Fine Example</h2>Thank you Bill Libby for writing such a fine and poignant article on Bob Berry. It seems like only yesterday that Berry was being extolled for his &ldquo;knack around the net&rdquo;. Personally it seems like a crime that one of the most luminous lights in the Kings&rsquo; often dark history should be discarded in such a callous manner.I suppose it happens to the very best and it&rsquo;s all just part of the professional game, but after how Berry toiled during immense emotional stress during the playoffs and then again during the off season, I cannot help but feel that an injustice has been performed by the Kings. A player of Berry&rsquo;s class deserves far better treatment than that given him by the short memoried King&rsquo;s hierarchy.Bob Berry is certainly a rare breed in that he loves hockey, but at the same time he knows there are more routes to a happy, successful life than that taken by pushing a puck. I take my hat off to Bob Berry for his unflagging loyalty to the L.A. Kings, and for setting an outstanding example for young players to follow by foregoing the big bucks of pro hockey for a college education. Because of his earlier decision I&rsquo;m sure Bob Berry will find still greater days that lie ahead&mdash;whether they be in or out of hockey.JON MATSUMOTO, South San Gabriel, Ca.<h2>Hockey News Yearbook Must For All Fans</h2>Just picked up your 1978 Hockey News Yearbook. It is by far the best you&rsquo;ve ever put on the market.It&rsquo;s a must for every fan. Keep up the outstanding publication.JOE KADLEC, Director of Public Relations Philadelphia Flyers<h2>Fans Making Hockey Dangerous For Viewers</h2>The Letter of the Week in the Oct. 28th issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS prompted me to write this letter. I live in Brooklyn, New York and though the New York Rangers are in my city and closer to my home, I am a New York Islanders fan.I recently attended a hockey game in New York City between the two New York rivals, the Rangers and the Islanders at the Rangers&rsquo; home in Madison Square Garden. I was dismayed at the outrageous attitude of the Rangers&rsquo; fans towards those cheering for the opposing team. In my own city, where I grew up and lived in all my life, I was horrified to be left alone because of all the abuse I had to take.Verbal abuse is expected up to a point, but to be cursed at and abused during the entire game is a bit too much. I was also the target of debris as was the Blues&rsquo; fan in Atlanta. The climax of the evening was at the end of the game when the Rangers won. A fan came over to me and used almost every curse word in creation telling me what I can do with the Islanders. Now, is this any way to talk to anyone, especially to a female?I am not saying that all hockey fans are vicious but the majority of Rangers fans at the Garden are and that is enough to make a New Yorker like myself give up going to my own city to see a game. I would rather drive 35 miles to see a game in Long Island, even in heavy traffic, than travel 20 minutes to the city.In my opinion, the fans are what makes the game of hockey more dangerous then it really is.LORI ESKENAZI, Brooklyn, N.Y. &#9632;

f0010-01

FAN FORUM

<h2>Disturbed At Suggestion To Disband NHL Teams</h2>This letter is written in response to William Riga of Montreal, Quebec. I was very disturbed at the suggestion made by Mr. Riga of disbanding all of the weaker teams from the NHL, and to fill the vacancies with the WHA teams.First of all, I don&rsquo;t see how it is possible to determine who the weaker teams are. His list consisted of Washington, Minnesota, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Atlanta. If you can say that these teams, especially Atlanta and Pittsburgh are weak, then most all of the NHL teams should be disbanded.I am only 15, and I&rsquo;ve been a hockey fan for three years. I recall that two years ago Pittsburgh was the second leading scoring team in the league. The Flames have been the most successful expansion team and have made the playoffs every year since I&rsquo;ve been a fan.Also, if you have read THE HOCKEY NEWS issues, they stated Cleveland as being one of the finest skating teams in the league. Furthermore, how can you disband a team like Detroit that was one of the original six teams of the NHL. Washington and Colorado have no other way to go but up and Washington and Colorado almost made the playoffs last year.Then Mr. Riga went on to say that you would see a better brand of hockey. I think each of these teams have good enough stars with Pierre Larouche and Jean Pronovost of Pittsburgh; the downtown connectors Willi Plett, Eric Vail, and Tom Lysiak of Atlanta; Dennis Maruk of Cleveland; Wilf Paiement of Colorado; Tim Young of Minnesota; and Guy Charron of Washington with many more as you will find out as the season continues.I am a Capitals&rsquo; fan and have followed them from the start. They have brought excitement to the city and are continuing to grow. I wouldn&rsquo;t want to see my team disbanded and I&rsquo;m sure the fans of these other teams, or any team feel the same way. Had Montreal not had such good fortune over the years, I&rsquo;m sure you wouldn&rsquo;t want to have them disbanded.DALE TOMASI, Oxon Hill, Md. &#9632;

LETTER OF THE WEEK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02876/4095006-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The New York Islanders have been striving to put a little more offense into their game and the arrival of rookie Mike Bossy on the scene could go a long ways towards achieving their goal. Bossy, a product of the Quebec Major Hockey League and the Islanders&rsquo; first draft choice this year, is fitting nicely into the New York offense. In his first 11 NHL games, Bossy had scored six times giving early rise to the theory the young right winger is destined for a long run with the Islanders. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-02

Bossy Big Addition To Islander Offense

1. Which of these players has not had a four-goal game In the 1977-78 season?Don Murdoch &#8411; Dennis Maruk &#8411; Steve Vickers &#8411;2. Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; new forward Hartland Monahan has been a part of how many NHL organizations?Three &#8411; Four &#8411; Five &#8411;3. Which active NHL goalie has the most regular season shutouts?Tony Esposito &#8411; Ed Giacomin &#8411; Bernie Parent &#8411;4. How many current NHL players have more than 1,000 points?Two &#8411; Three &#8411; Five &#8411;5. Which of these players wasn&rsquo;t named to one of the two NHL All Star teams for the 1976-77 season?Guy Lapointe &#8411; Lanny McDonald &#8411; Serge Savard &#8411;6. Which player among this group has the most three-or more goal games?Rick Martin &#8411; Johnny Bucyk &#8411; Yvan Cournoyer &#8411;7. Which NHL team was the least penalized in 1976-77?Montreal &#8411;Minnesota &#8411; Pittsburgh &#8411;8. Which of these WHA players has never missed a game?Gordie Howe &#8411; Rosaire Paiement &#8411; Andre Lacroix &#8411;9. Match these WHA coaches with their teams?Marc Boileau CincinnatiGlen Sonmor QuebecJacques Demers Indianapolis10. Who is the early-season penalty leader (1977-78) In the WHA?Gilles Bilodeau &#8411; Jack Carlson &#8411; Kim Clackson &#8411;<h2>Quick Quiz Answers</h2>1. Don Murdoch 2. Four 3. Tony Esposito 4. Three 5. Serge Savard 6. Rick Martin 7. Pittsburgh 8. Andre Lacroix 9. Boileau-Quebec; Sonmor-Indianapolis; Demers-Cincinnati. 10. Kim Clackson. &#9632;

Fans’ Quick Hockey Quiz

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div>CHICAGO&mdash;His favorite companion is, as it should be, his wife Isobel. But his most constant companion, as it has to be, is his suitcase.&ldquo;How many games a week do I see&hellip;oh, six or seven,&rdquo; Jack Davison said over the horn from some remote area code. &ldquo;How many nights a week do I get to spend at home with my family? I try to make it at least two a week, but my wife says it isn&rsquo;t that many.&rdquo;Davison, new assistant general manager of the Chicago Black Hawks, is based in Toronto, which is to say that the Toronto Airport is the one he most frequents. But the 19-year veteran of the Black Hawks&rsquo; employ does a bit of everything as part of the club&rsquo;s new front office trio comprised of GM-coach Bob Pulford and Bobby Orr, the superstar on a sabbatical.At one point, as recently as last spring, it appeared that Davison would be assistant to nobody, that he would be THE general manager of the Hawks.After all, he suddenly was summoned from various outposts to survey the varsity. If he wasn&rsquo;t to be Tommy Ivan&rsquo;s heir apparent, then who was?&ldquo;Well, it just didn&rsquo;t happen, but any questions I ever had about our new setup not working out are gone,&rdquo; said Davison. &ldquo;I enjoy working with Pully and Bobby Orr, we&rsquo;re winning a few games, everybody is eating and we re even having a little fun doing it. So there are no problems.&rdquo;Once upon a time, the Black Hawk progression was to be this: Ivan would be replaced by then coach Billy Reay, who then would be replaced upon retirement by the younger Davison.When Reay was sacked last December, it was assumed that Davison might go to the head of the class when Ivan retired at season&rsquo;s end. But Pulford, the highly respected and cerebral coach in Los Angeles for five seasons, sought and received both jobs&mdash;&rdquo;something I can&rsquo;t fault Pully for in the least. He&rsquo;s proven he&rsquo;s capable,&rdquo; said Davison.&ldquo;I respect him and Bobby a lot, and I hope they respect me,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;When something comes up, we each have a vote. We have had different opinions on things so far. But no arguments.&rdquo;Davison, a onetime golf pro and before that a baseball prospect with the Boston Braves, has spent most of his Black Hawk hours scouting and supervising Chicago&rsquo;s Dallas farm club in the Central League.&ldquo;It is very important to us to build from there,&rdquo; said Davison. &ldquo;We feel fortunate this season to have three kids who appear ready to stick&mdash;Doug Wilson and Jean Savard, our top two draft choices, and Ted Bulley, a left wing who was in Flint last season.But for every kid that turns out, you run the risk of getting one who won&rsquo;t. You only hope that first choice doesn&rsquo;t bomb. It&rsquo;s different now than it used to be. Ten years ago with the sponsored clubs, you knew the players backwards and forwards.&ldquo;I remember doing things like visiting Doug Jarrett&rsquo;s school when he was having trouble with grades. No more now. You really don&rsquo;t find out what a boy is all about until you draft him. And with the money being better than ever, well&hellip;it&rsquo;s maybe a little tougher to get people to work hard. &ldquo;That, however, is a disease Jack Davison will never catch. He&rsquo;s too busy catching planes.HAWK TALK: The day of October 24 was eventful for Phil Russel. The Black Hawks&rsquo; talented young defenseman practiced as usual in the morining. But in the afternoon, he was married to the former Joyce Peters, a Chicago bride. They&rsquo;ve bought a house in the suburbs&hellip;There&rsquo;s a new policy in Chicago Stadium. After all these years, attendance figures will be announced. The decree came from president Billy Wirtz, perhaps because the brass feels that estimates provided by wire service reporters were a bit low&hellip;Hawks first five crowds included three of about 8,000, one of 13,500 for Philadelphia and 10,505 for Cleveland&mdash;the first under the exact turnstile count&hellip;Tony Esposito had a scare in practice in late October: a shot hit him in the mask, near the eye. &ldquo;It hit me flat, nothing serious,&rdquo; said the iron man.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02864/4095037-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="564" height="688"><figcaption class="caption-body">JACK DAVISON &hellip;Having Fun</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Davison Does Bit Of Everything

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011033/4095068-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="588" height="768"></div> &#9632;

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NHL Leaders

<div class="byline">Bill Fleischman&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011054/4095099-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="274" height="453"></div><h2>Hope For Other Teams</h2>SEEING MONTREAL&rsquo;S MIGHTY Canadiens take a weekend double dip should be the brief NHL season&rsquo;s biggest surprise.Montreal&rsquo;s back-to-back losses to Los Angeles and Buffalo were a shock, but anyone who lives west of Dorval Airport would insist the setbacks are good for hockey. Think of the hope given the other NHL teams.Hope, and a few prayers, is what the Minnesota North Stars needed after their wobbly 0-6-0 start. To me, the North Stars are one of the season&rsquo;s biggest shocks. No one, not even what&rsquo;s left of the green-and-gold&rsquo;s faithful fans, predicted a Stanley Cup for the rebuilding Minnesota club. But there were some, including a certain Hockey News columnist with initials B.F., who thought the North Stars would win the Smythe Division.Some people think a team of correspondents could win the Smythe Division, but that&rsquo;s not important. After several aimless years of bickering and boring hockey, Minnesota found the comeback path late last season. Led by talented youngsters Tim Young and Glen Sharpley and shrewd Swedish import Roland Eriksson, the North Stars finished second in their division. They were only one point ahead of Chicago and Vancouver, but the clear impression was here was a young club on the move.To learn the move was toward the Smythe cellar, which is somewhere south of New York&rsquo;s Bowrey, was bad for my boiler. Before the North Stars sank out of sight, a what&rsquo;s-going-on-here-call was placed to the Met Center office of Ted Harris.<h2>Harris Baffled Too</h2>HARRIS IS THE MAN with Stanley Cup experience as a defenseman for Montreal and Philadelphia who was entrusted with leading Minnesota back to respectability. As a former North Stars&rsquo; captain, Harris was a popular choice for the job. &ldquo;These guys won&rsquo;t loaf for good old Ted&rdquo; was the Twin Cities&rsquo; theme.Harris sounded as baffled as anyone, even after Minnesota had blanked Boston and beaten Washington.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a matter of a scoring team not being able to score,&rdquo; Harris said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we hit as many goal posts all last year as we did in the first couple of games. But you can&rsquo;t play hockey when you&rsquo;re feeling sorry for yourself. When you see (defenseman) Nick Beverly as our second highest scorer, you&rsquo;ve got to feel a lot of guys are ready to explode.&rdquo;Those whose fuses should be sizzling include Young (tied for fifth among NHL scorers last season with 95 points). Sharpley (25-32-57), and Eriksson (top rookie scorer at 25-44-69). Harris says the North Stars&rsquo; newest Swedish delights, Kent-Erik Andersson and Per-Olov Brasar, have adjusted quickly to the NHL style.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re both smart players and the big guy (Andersson) is even taking the body,&rdquo; said Harris.Harris, always a straight-forward sort, is aware of grumbling about his coaching work. Any time a team loses its first six games, the coach is a target.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt I&rsquo;m anxious about it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But you&rsquo;ve got to live with it. I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve changed what I did in the stretch last year.&rdquo;<h2>Waiver Draft Surprising</h2>NOTHER SHOCK THIS season occurred on opening day, and I occasionally still shake my head in disbelief. In an attempt to rescue the weaker teams, the NHL staged its first waiver draft. For the modem market equivalent or popcorn, teams could have purchased players from the league&rsquo;s talent-rich.Admittedly, there were no franchise-savers available (although Wayne Thomas looks like a steal for the Rangers). But it&rsquo;s hard to believe teams wouldn&rsquo;t risk a few dollars to improve themselves. Only Thomas, Dave Forbes (by Washington) and Paul Woods (by Detroit) were taken.For example, Philadelphia observers were astonished when Terry Murray was shipped by Detroit to the AHL Firebirds. Here&rsquo;s a steady 27-year-old defenseman with an accurate shot and good team attitude who played regularly for the Flyers, but was ignored in training camp by the Red Wings. Detroit&rsquo;s impressive start without Murray makes Ted Lindsay&rsquo;s decision look good, but I&rsquo;d bet my Thanksgiving turkey that Murray could help at least seven NHL teams&mdash;Vancouver, Colorado, Minnesota, St. Louis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Washington. And now, Philly, since the Flyers purchased him recently from the Wings.It&rsquo;s one thing to &ldquo;wait and see what we have.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s another to overlook talent that can improve your hockey team. Only aggressive management succeeds. Ask Sam and Keith and Harry. &#9632;

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HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02892/4095130-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">CURT RIDLEY&hellip; Fresh Start In Vancouver (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;Before the season started, everyone in the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; hockey camp was wondering how many games Cesare Maniago would be able to play this year.The thinking was that the 39-year-old goalie was getting long of tooth and may not be able to go more than 50 games. That is no longer being discussed. The question now is whether Maniago will get into another game all year.Curt Ridley, it would seem, has emerged from the myriad of abuse he suffered in the off-season and has established himself as extremely capable.Maligned by all the off-season, it was said that Ridley was too heavy to play well last year. But he came to training camp lean and ready, and he has been the man responsible for the Canucks five game unbeaten streak early in the schedule. He has stopped virtually everything that has come his way and has knocked Maniago right out of any rotation system coach Orland Kurtenbach may have been considering.He is going so well, Kurtenbach simply cannot afford to lift him. After Maniago opened against the New York Rangers, Ridley was inserted into the lineup and has not lost a game.His most recent showing was a 3-1 stoning of the Los Angeles Kings at the Pacific Coliseum. He stopped Tommy Williams and Randy Manery on breakaways, made numerous other superb saves, and the only goal to get by him could only have been scored by Marcel Dionne. Nobody else would have been quick enough to snare the rebound and get away a backhander so quickly.&ldquo;I came to camp ready to play and have a good year,&rdquo; said Ridley. &ldquo;I heard most of the things that were said about me in Vancouver in the off-season and I didn&rsquo;t think last year was my fault. I just came in determined to have a good start and take it from there.&rdquo;Curiously enough, it was Ridley who sat on the bench for most of the last part of the season as Maniago played in 24 consecutive games down the stretch. This year it is Maniago&rsquo;s turn to watch and applaud.But there is more to his superb start than meets the eye.When general manager Jake Milford took over the power reins of the Canucks, he had heard that Ridley was overweight last year. Hence, he did not offer him a contract, and Ridley is presently playing out his option with the club. Milford&rsquo;s move has certainly brought out the best from the 25-year-old former New York Ranger and Atlanta Flame, but it has more or less put Ridley in a good negotiation position when it comes time to talk turkey.But Milford is still in no hurry.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to run this hockey club and that&rsquo;s exactly what I&rsquo;m going to do,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t discussed a contract this early in the season because I don&rsquo;t want to upset the boy. If he keeps going, when we start to negotiate, he&rsquo;ll be in the driver&rsquo;s seat, and that&rsquo;s the way I would like to see it.&rdquo;Ridley also is not in too much of a hurry to negotiate.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just trying to keep it going and keep the team winning,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I want it known that I will be a free agent next year, but I&rsquo;m not worried about it now. I don&rsquo;t suppose we&rsquo;ll be talking contract until the end of the season. I could still go into a slump, and if I did I&rsquo;d be in real trouble.&rdquo;The last thing Ridley appears ready for is a slump.His weight, at 181 pounds, is the lowest it has ever been and Ridley himself tells some gross stories about how he reported to one Flames training camp tipping the scales at no less than 218 pounds.His style was probably best described by Kings coach Ron Stewart, as he watched Ridley stop just about everything his forwards could muster.&ldquo;He plays deep in the goal with his rear end just about in the net, but he stands up really well. You&rsquo;ve got to shoot on a goalie like that. Trying to deke him is really tough.&rdquo;Ridley&rsquo;s footwork is probably as close to textbook as you can find. When he is not in shape, it is his feet which slow down noticeably and leave him in trouble.But the Canucks are hoping he can stay motivated long enough to let them pull into a comfortable lead in the Smythe Division race. &#9632;

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Thinner Ridley Backstops Canucks’ Current Streak

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;It looks like Pete Stemkowski has enough left to help the Kings. In his 15th year as a pro, Stemmer knows how to play hockey. He never could skate. He&rsquo;s not skilled with the stick. But he&rsquo;s good at faceoffs, digs in the corners, get the puck, and isn&rsquo;t too proud to pass it on.Primarily a defensive center and leftwinger. the six-foot-one. 215-pounder says. &ldquo;I use my body. That&rsquo;s my game. I&rsquo;m a checker and digger I&rsquo;m not fancy. I figure they wanted a big forward.&rdquo; playing behind three small centers, he has been working well the odd shift with a fourth line and killing penalties effectively.After seven seasons with the Leafs and Red Wings, the Winnipeger went with the Rangers. Five seasons he played regularly. His triple-overtime goal ended the longest game in New York history, beating the Black Hawks in the 1971 playoffs. He led the Rangers in scoring in the 1971 playoffs. He scored at least one goal in six straight playoffs.Naturally, he became known as an opportunistic scorer. He also was coming off three straight 20-goal seasons when John Ferguson became coach of the club One of several players to fall into disfavor with Fergy, Stemmer played only occasionally the last one-and-a-half seasons until sent to the Kings for a future draft choice this fall.New King coach Ron Stewart, also fresh from the Rangers, said, &ldquo;We felt he&rsquo;d help.&rdquo; Manager George Maguire said, &ldquo;We thought he could still play.&rdquo;At 34. Stemmer says. &ldquo;I think I can. Ferguson doesn&rsquo;t. He didn&rsquo;t give me much chance. I hope to have more chance here. But I&rsquo;m a big guy and I get soft sitting around. I have to play regularly to play well. My legs still feel good and I think can play regularly.&rdquo;He also feels he can make it in broadcasting. Called. &ldquo;The Polish Prince,&rdquo; he&rsquo;s a practical joker, a story-teller, a fast fellow with a funny line, a good guy to have on a team on tour and at practice. He also has his serious side. He has a wife of three years. Gail, and daughter of two. Lisa.&ldquo;I did my share of running when I was young. I didn&rsquo;t get married until I was 30. Now that I have a family, I&rsquo;ve settled down and have a feeling for the future,&rdquo; he says.He is one of those veterans who could be expendable because he carries a high salary, &ldquo;It could work against me if I don&rsquo;t earn my money.&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m on the last year of a three-year contract and I haven&rsquo;t signed a new contract here.&ldquo;But the money doesn&rsquo;t mean so much to me that I&rsquo;d hang on if I couldn&rsquo;t contribute my share to my club. I&rsquo;m ready to bow out. All I want is one more good year.&rdquo; he says.And what if it is good enough to be asked back? &ldquo;I just might come back,&rdquo; he admits, grinning.KINGS THINGS: Although Butch Goring might benefit from the rest, and may be the best penalty-killer in the league, it&rsquo;s not clear relieving him of this role will help him or make him happy. But Stemkowski is coming throughLast week I wrote goaler Rogie Vachon was the one man the Kings could least afford to lose So the Kings lost him when the concussion he suffered when struck in the mask by a shot turned out to be severe&hellip; Surprising rookie forward Dave Taylor also was sidelined with a sore foot, infected from a boil.The Kings also lost defenseman Dave Hutchison for a while when he was slapped in the face and slashed in a hand by a woman who was going for his face with a knife. Police, holding her on assault charges identified her as a prostitute who approached Hutchison in front of the Hotel Vancouver the night of October 25th and reacted violently when he reacted rudely.It has again been demonstrated you can&rsquo;t take exhibition games seriously. Having not lost any of their eight preseason games, the Kings won only the first two of their first eight regularseason games. Gary Simmons was subbing for Vachon very well, but wasn&rsquo;t receiving scoring support.Anyone need a hard-working, first-rate public relations man? Mike Hope parted company from California Sports. Inc., and John Wolf, an able young man who &lsquo;has filled several roles in the organization, reassumed publicity duties for the Kings&hellip;Terry Johnson of the Pasadena Star-News was elected new president of the Southern California Hockey Writers&hellip;Former King broadcaster Dan Avey now is doing news and sports for KWIZ radio, Orange County.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011013/4095161-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="572" height="682"><figcaption class="caption-body">PETE STEMKOWSKI &hellip;Earns Chance</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Kings Tab ‘Stemmer’ As Helper

<div class="byline">BY DAN DONOVAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011035/4095199-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">NEW LOOK: Pittsburgh coach Johnny Wilson has had little production out of his centers thus far, including Pierre Larouche, shown here sporting Penguins&rsquo; new style jersey.</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Although he is disappointed with the Penguins&rsquo; start, coach johnny Wilson is not ready to give up. He cites a number of injuries and a shortage at left wing for the Penguins&rsquo; inconsistency and 3-5-1 record.&ldquo;The whole team has been inconsistent, we need work on our positioning defensively and we haven&rsquo;t been moving the puck creatively on offense,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;But the players have a good attitude and you can see things starting to turn in the right direction.&rdquo;Wilson said he found several &ldquo;bad habits&rdquo; among the Penguins, and is surprised to find one of his problems is a lack of scoring from his centers. Sophomore center Greg Malone, who started the season with a four-game goalscoring streak, was the only center scoring goals in the early going.Wilson did some research and found that Pierre Larouche had only four goals in his last 30 regular season games and Syl Apps had only four goals in his last 27 regular season games.&ldquo;I need some firepower from the centers,&rdquo; Wilson said.Wilson thinks perhaps the Penguins weren&rsquo;t ready for a stronger league. With the erosion of the World Hockey Association and the influx of European players, teams have fewer goaltending problems, more defensemen and stronger defensive systems for the forwards to follow.&ldquo;The league is getting tougher and they have had things pretty easy offensively around here,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;Now they are finding they have to work to score goals.&rdquo;The Penguins were even having trouble on the power play, scoring at a meager 12.1 percent in the early going. After much experimentation. Wilson wound up with forward lines generally the same as last year&rsquo;s.At least, all the right wings are with the same centers, and the left wings, with the exception of Mike Corrigan, are all gone. Corrigan took the place of injured Wayne Bianchin on left wing with Malone and Blair Chapman and they were the team&rsquo;s best line in the early going.Chapman was a surprise, especially with the strong forechecking he provided. He not only led the team in scoring early, but he was one of two players with even efficiency ratings.When Rick Kehoe came back from a broken elbow, he was placed with Larouche. Their left wing was Spinner Spencer.&ldquo;That line promises to be a good line, but they have to work on their defense.&rdquo; said Wilson &ldquo;Spencer is on there because he can spring some pucks loose in the corners and because he goes in front of the net.&rdquo;Jean Pronovost was off to a strong start, again paired with Apps. Their left wing was Hartland Monahan, although a switch may be made soon if Monahan can&rsquo;t handle the change from the right side.Wilson started with four defenseman&mdash;Dave Burrows, Ron Stackhouse. Colin Campbell and Dennis Owchar&mdash;but began working Russ Anderson in when Owchar had his annual early season problems.Wilson alternated his goaltenders, even though Denis Herron&rsquo;s 2.75 was half of Dune Wilson&rsquo;s 5.55. Coach Wilson wants to keep goaltender Wilson in shape to play, figuring he was hurt by a training camp injury.PENGUIN NOTES: The Penguins were running 2,500 fans ahead of last year after five home games, but because of a discount for season ticketholders and special promotions, were probably running about even money-wise&hellip;Fans, disgruntled with Owchar&rsquo;s slow start, booed him to the bench during a 4-3 loss to Detroit&hellip;Bianchin is about a month from playing, since his back must be strengthened after disc surgery&hellip;Defenseman Mario Faubert is six weeks away following knee surgery.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02858/4095192-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="577" height="1143"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRIAN SPENCER &hellip;Corner Man</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Wilson Tackling Pens’ Problems; Injuries, Inconsistency Costly

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01995/4095230-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">MICHEL BERGERON&hellip; Wasted Little Time Scoring (Photo by Stove Babineau)</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;Quick now. Prior to this season, what was the last time the New York Islanders made a trade?Couldn&rsquo;t have been too long ago, right? All teams make trades, especially during the summer months. Well, prior to this season, the last trade made by the Islanders was during the 1974-75 campaign. It was January 7, to be exact, and the Isles picked up center Jude Drouin from the Minnesota North Stars in exchange for journeyman Craig Cameron. That deal came two days after J.P. Parise arrived from Minny and became an instant hit.Since then, the Islanders have quietly built their team around draft picks and players gaining experience in their own system. General manager Bill Torrey has been the picture of conservatism, quietly waiting for the right moment to make his next move.Had the Islanders broken sharply from the gate this season as they were expected to, New York fans might still be waiting for the next deal. But the Isles had trouble getting untracked&mdash;or more specifically, putting the puck in the net.Rather than wait&mdash;as he had hoped to&mdash;for a home-grown scorer to develop, Torrey was forced to act. On October 20, Torrey sent sparkplug, but low-scoring Andre St. Laurent to the Detroit Red Wings for 23-year-old right winger, Michel Bergeron.In view of the stability that had surrounded the club over the past couple of years, the Isles had looked upon themselves as a family rather than a team. The only problem with that is trying to say good-bye.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s sad to leave all my&rsquo; friends here on Long Island,&rdquo; said St. Laurent hours after the deal was completed. &ldquo;I knew the situation. I knew that a trade would probably be made. Nobody said anything to me. and I tried to put it out of my mind.&rdquo;St. Laurent will probably get the one thing he really couldn&rsquo;t get in New York, namely, work. He was a spare center on a team loaded with pivotmen; in Detroit he will probably finally get his big chance.As for acquiring Bergeron, Torrey was ecstatic. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been after Michel for over a year now,&rdquo; said the bowtied GM. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve scouted him extensively, and we know what he can do. We need someone to score goals consistently, and he should be the man.&rdquo;Although the deal was consummated on a Thursday, Bergeron did not join his new mates for a meeting with the Atlanta Flames in Dixie the following day. Instead, he reported to the Isles&rsquo; practice center at Racquet and Rink in Farmingdale and worked out with Chico Resch, who was being rested for his start against the Rangers on Saturday.But once Michel finally made an official appearance in an Islander uniform, it took a matter of only minutes for people to stand up and take notice. Playing on a line with Lome Henning at center and Bob Bourne on the left, Bergeron popped two goals 50 seconds apart in the first period to lead the Isles to a 7-2 thrashing of the Rangers behind Resch. It was by far the club&rsquo;s best outing of the season to that point.&ldquo;It really felt good to be out there,&rdquo; Bergeron said afterward in thickly accented English. &ldquo;You can tell that you&rsquo;re with a good team. I didn&rsquo;t play the game any differently than the way I know how. Maybe I worked just a little bit harder. But only a little.&ldquo;I was happy when I found out I was traded to the Islanders, but a little bit sad, too, because I&rsquo;ll miss my friends in Detroit,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ll make myself some new friends here,&rdquo; he was quick to add.&ldquo;For his first game with us, he really handled himself well out there,&rdquo; commented coach Al Arbour. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s an opportunist. He really pounces on the puck, and that&rsquo;s what we really need around here.&rdquo;While he played for Detroit. Bergeron had a number of critics who claimed that he didn&rsquo;t bother to play defense, something that would stick out like a sore thumb on a defense-oriented team like the Islanders.&ldquo;He got a bad rap about not playing defense,&rdquo; explained Arbour. &ldquo;Sometimes a guy breaks in and gets a label that he doesn&rsquo;t check. Then in the future he learns how to do it, but the label still sticks. And with some players, you don&rsquo;t notice their defensive abilities. Is Guy Lafleur a great defensive hockey player?&rdquo;The only uncertainty surrounding the Bergeron acquisition is that the Islanders are now overloaded on the right side. In addition to the new arrival, the Isles still have Billy Harris, Bob Nystrom, rookie Mike Bossy, and Eddie Westfall, plus Jean Potvin who can switch back and forth between defense and the wing.Does that mean another trade is brewing? Not so, says Torrey, citing the necessity for depth. But as St. Laurent found out, in this game youISLAND SOUNDS: The Isles sent center Mike Kaszycki and defenseman Pat Price to Rochester of the AHL, although both were promised quick returns. Price balked at the demotion, and considered not reporting&hellip;Bryan Trottier has been double-shifted lately, and the move has paid off handsomely. Trottier loves it, and actually thrives on work&hellip;Eddie Westfall missed the Ranger game with muscle spasms in his back&hellip;Bobby Nystrom was really feeling the pressure until he broke a long slump with two goals against the Rangers. &#9632;

f0015-01

Lack Of Scoring Punch Forced Islanders’ Trade

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01841/4095513-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="340" height="782"></div><h2>ATLANTA FLAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02711/4095506-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="231" height="198"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03568/4095499-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="708" height="567"></div><h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04445/4095492-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="223" height="211"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05339/4095485-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="708" height="538"></div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06276/4095478-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="235" height="229"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07250/4095471-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="707" height="590"></div><h2>CHICAGO HAWKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08230/4095464-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="260" height="245"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09207/4095457-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="708" height="564"></div><h2>CLEVELAND BARONS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-10185/4095450-1-eng-US/f0016-102.jpg" title="f0016-10" width="208" height="213"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-11171/4095443-1-eng-US/f0016-112.jpg" title="f0016-11" width="702" height="560"></div><h2>COLORADO ROCKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-12154/4095436-1-eng-US/f0016-122.jpg" title="f0016-12" width="198" height="190"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-13140/4095429-1-eng-US/f0016-132.jpg" title="f0016-13" width="712" height="515"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-14133/4095422-1-eng-US/f0016-142.jpg" title="f0016-14" width="253" height="137"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-15123/4095415-1-eng-US/f0016-152.jpg" title="f0016-15" width="715" height="594"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-16119/4095408-1-eng-US/f0016-162.jpg" title="f0016-16" width="165" height="175"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-17111/4095401-1-eng-US/f0016-172.jpg" title="f0016-17" width="708" height="615"></div><h2>MINNESOTA STARS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-18104/4095394-1-eng-US/f0016-182.jpg" title="f0016-18" width="246" height="218"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1997/4095387-1-eng-US/f0016-192.jpg" title="f0016-19" width="703" height="617"></div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2078/4095380-1-eng-US/f0016-202.jpg" title="f0016-20" width="240" height="192"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2172/4095373-1-eng-US/f0016-212.jpg" title="f0016-21" width="711" height="602"></div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2270/4095366-1-eng-US/f0016-222.jpg" title="f0016-22" width="220" height="204"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2367/4095359-1-eng-US/f0016-232.jpg" title="f0016-23" width="709" height="564"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2465/4095352-1-eng-US/f0016-242.jpg" title="f0016-24" width="184" height="188"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2560/4095345-1-eng-US/f0016-252.jpg" title="f0016-25" width="704" height="534"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2657/4095338-1-eng-US/f0016-262.jpg" title="f0016-26" width="245" height="172"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2748/4095331-1-eng-US/f0016-272.jpg" title="f0016-27" width="708" height="582"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2846/4095324-1-eng-US/f0016-282.jpg" title="f0016-28" width="233" height="222"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2939/4095317-1-eng-US/f0016-292.jpg" title="f0016-29" width="706" height="596"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3039/4095310-1-eng-US/f0016-302.jpg" title="f0016-30" width="164" height="139"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3139/4095303-1-eng-US/f0016-312.jpg" title="f0016-31" width="709" height="566"></div><h2>TORONTO LEAFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3234/4095296-1-eng-US/f0016-322.jpg" title="f0016-32" width="204" height="205"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3334/4095289-1-eng-US/f0016-332.jpg" title="f0016-33" width="707" height="592"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3430/4095282-1-eng-US/f0016-342.jpg" title="f0016-34" width="173" height="126"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3516/4095275-1-eng-US/f0016-352.jpg" title="f0016-35" width="708" height="619"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3615/4095268-1-eng-US/f0016-362.jpg" title="f0016-36" width="174" height="101"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3715/4095261-1-eng-US/f0016-372.jpg" title="f0016-37" width="708" height="594"></div> &#9632;

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NHL SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

MONTREAL&mdash;Buffalo Sabres are in first place again in the Adams Division of the National Hockey League, but until this week they had not gotten there because of the French Connection.Heading into this week, the Sabres had received a pair of two-goal games from Rene Robert, but only two goals from Rick Martin and one from Gil Perreault.Then in the 4-1 victory against Boston, the Connection finally came alive with three goals and three assists with two goals for Perreault, one for Martin, who also had an assist, and a pair of assists by Robert.On Saturday night, the Sabres trimmed the Blues in St. Louis for their first win there in over two years with Perreault notching the winning goal after Martin had put the Sabres on the board, and the threesome capped their perfect week with five more goals, three by Perreault, two by Martin, in a 7-4 return match against the Blues in Buffalo.Meanwhile, for the second straight week, the NHL&rsquo;s scoring leader is a young player with impressive statistics in past seasons.Bryan Trottier, 21-year-old center with New York Islanders, jumped into the lead with a 10-point week, including four goals in one game&mdash;a 9-0 Islander victory against Atlanta Flames. Trottier&rsquo;s 21 points are two more than Paul Gardner of Colorado Rockies, the previous week&rsquo;s leader.Trottier, Islanders&rsquo; second pick and 22nd over-all in the 1974 amateur draft, won the Calder Trophy as top rookie in the league after a recordbreaking season in 1975-76. The native of Val Marie, Sask., set records for most points (95) and assists (63) by a rookie and followed with a respectable 72 points last season.Also playing a prominent role for Islanders is outstanding rookie Mike Bossy, Trottier&rsquo;s linemate. The 20-year-old right-winger, Islanders&rsquo; top pick and 15th over-all in this year&rsquo;s amateur draft, is tied for sixth spot in the scoring parade with Bobby Clarke of Philadelphia Flyers and Jacques Lemaire of Montreal Canadiens. Of Bossy&rsquo;s 16 points, eight are goals, including one game-winner. The third member of the line, Islanders&rsquo; captain Clark Gillies, holds down 20th spot in the scoring list with 13 points.Gardner scored three goals during the week to up his league-leading total to 12. Two of those goals were scored during Rockie power plays, which increased his total in that department to seven, also tols in the league.Guy Lafleur of Montreal, the scoring champion the past two seasons, kept pace with Gardner during the week as he collected four points, including three in a Montreal win against Boston Saturday.Reggie Leach of Philadelphia holds down fourth spot with 18 points while Phil Esposito of New York Rangers is next with 17. Esposito&rsquo;s total of 13 assists ties him with Lemaire for the league-lead.Chicago Black Hawks, backed by the league-leading goaltending duo of veteran Tony Esposito and 25-year-old Mike Veisor, are on a seven-game undefeated streak (four wins, three ties), the longest current one in the league. &#9632;

Hot Line Keeping Buffalo On Top

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02620/4095575-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL FAIRBAIRN&hellip; Anxious To Play In St. Louis (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Bill Fairbairn, obtained by the St. Louis Blues to add some scoring punch to the lineup, is trying to do the job expected of him.The Blues got the 30-year-old right wing on waivers from the Minnesota North Stars, with whom he had played for slightly less than a year. Fairbairn went to Minnesota in the Bill Goldsworthy trade after seven full seasons with the New York Rangers.In those seven Ranger years Fairbairn had more than 20 goals five times, and in one of those five seasons he had 30.With the Rangers, Fairbairn really wasn&rsquo;t one of the big scorers and built a reputation as a tight checker and good penalty-killer. But the Blues&rsquo; offense these days is so poor that any scoring on the wings will be a big help.St. Louis general manager Emile Francis said, &ldquo;Fairbairn is an excellent twoway hockey player. He fits in well with our hockey club and gives us the depth we need on the right side. He has always been one of the hardest working hockey players I have ever been associated with.&rdquo;Francis&rsquo; association with Fairbairn is long. Francis was general manager of the Rangers when Fairbairn signed a contract with the organization and began playing for the Rangers&rsquo; farm team at Omaha. And Francis coached Fairbairn in New York. He has an appreciation of what the hustling winger can do.Fairbairn, obtained on a Monday, was scheduled to play for the Blues Tuesday night against the Atlanta Flames. But his airplane to St. Louis was more than an hour late, and he arrived at the Checkerdome about 20 minutes before the game. He would have played without a warmup, but the airline had lost his skates and sticks, so Fairbairn sat in the stands to watch his new team tie the Atlanta Flames, 2-2 after six straight losses, 4-2 to Pittsburgh, 3-1 to Atlanta, 7-0 to Philadelphia, 7-3 to Boston, 3-2 to Cleveland and 2-0 to Chicago.Fairbairn&rsquo;s first game in Blues&rsquo; uniform was against his old team, the Rangers. He scored the Blues&rsquo; first goal by taking a pass from Jack Brownschilde and rifling a low shot past Wayne Thomas. And Fairbairn then set up the only other St. Louis goal in a 6-2 loss by centering the puck for Larry Patey on&rsquo; a power play to end a string of 20 St. Louis power plays without a goal.&ldquo;I was anxious to come to St. Louis,&rdquo; Fairbairn said, &ldquo;although my wife was a little upset because we had to pull our little girl out of school. I hope everything works out for the best with the Blues. If we can score some goals and win a few games, I think we&rsquo;ll be all right.&rdquo;As Fairbairn arrived, Claude Larose was out for a couple of games with an injured finger, so Fairbairn slipped neatly into Larose&rsquo;s place on a line with Patey and Bob MacMillan. However, coach Leo Boivin also put Fairbairn with Red Berenson for some shifts and was forming an old pro line of those two with Jim Roberts.Fairbairn, who wore uniform No. 10 with the Rangers and No. 11 with the North Stars, was in No. 14 with the Blues. Brownschilde is No. 10 and Brian Sutter No. 11 with the Blues.After the loss to the Rangers the Blues lost to Philadelphia. 7-3. to extend their winless string to nine games for their worst start in 11 years of play. The Blues were the only winless team in the National Hockey League.The loss to the Flyers also extended another string. The Blues haven&rsquo;t beaten the Flyers since Dec. 7, 1975. and last season were the only NHL team which did not beat the Flyers.Ed Staniowski and Yves Belanger were splitting the St. Louis goaltending chores with Eddie Johnston as the third goalie. In the loss to Philadelphia Belanger was bombed for three quick goals in the first five minutes of the second period to turn a 2-2 tie into a 5-2 Philadelphia advantage. After the fifth Philadelphia goal Boivin yanked Belanger and replaced him with Staniowski.Brownschilde is a bright spot. The former Notre Dame player in his rookie pro season is playing good defense on a pairing with Bruce Affleck, who also was pairing with Len Frig. Dick Redmond and Rod Seiling formed the other pairing, with Bob Hess seeing little action.<h2>Team Penalties</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01732/4095568-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="582" height="663"></div> &#9632;

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Fairbairn Obtained by Francis To Bolster Blues’ Weak Attack

A Calder Trophy winner two years ago as the NHL&rsquo;s Rookie of the Year, New York Islanders&rsquo; center Bryan Trottier proved last week that he still knows where the net is.He scored six goals and 10 points in four games as the Islanders bombed Atlanta 9-0, lost to Minnesota 3-2, edged Pittsburgh 4-3 and dropped a 5-3 decision to Boston.Highlight of the week was Trottier&rsquo;s four-goal game against the Flames. He also assisted on a goal for five points on the evening and scored single goals in the losses against the North Stars and the Bruins.Trottier&rsquo;s 10-point week enabled him to assume the NHL scoring lead with nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02601/4095637-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="508" height="640"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRYAN TROTTIER &hellip;New York Islanders</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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NHL’S… Player of the Week

<div class="byline">BY LARRY BORTSTEIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01749/4095606-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUG FAVELL&hellip; Goalie With &lsquo;Babe Ruth-Like&rsquo; Body</figcaption></div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaDENVER&mdash;Doug Favell is the oldest of the Colorado Rockies, and during the last few injury-plagued seasons he often must have felt considerably more aged But his early-season form in the Rockies&rsquo; nets compared with anything Favvy had done during a distinguished big league career which began with the first-year Philadelphia Flyers of 1967-68.Born April 5,1945. Doug is 32 years old. He and left winger Gary Croteau, 31, are the only two members of the over-30 generation on the club.But on one Saturday night in late October. at least, Favell was 22 again. In a brilliant display of goaltending, he turned back the Chicago Black Hawks 3-0 with a 33-stop effort, many of them of the sensational variety. A power play goal by Paul Gardner, only seven seconds after a Chicago penalty, at 6:48 of the first period provided all the scoring Favell needed.The shutout was historic. It was the first in Rockies&rsquo; history in 85 regularseason games dating back to last season. Counting the franchise&rsquo;s first two years of existence as the Kansas City Scouts, for whom no goaltender ever posted a shutout, it was the franchise&rsquo;s first shutout in 245 league games.The whitewash job also was the first for Favell in a long time. Grinning a big grin in the Colorado locker room and matting his damp hair flat, he laughed and said, &ldquo;Er, I don&rsquo;t know. I think it was in Detroit a couple years ago.&rdquo;Not bad, Doug. The last shutout you worked was indeed in Detroit, and you were a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs at the time. It was a 1-0 game, the only goal of the night was scored by Lanny McDonald, and it was the only shutout of the season by a Toronto goaltender. The date was January 5.1975.Actually, the gap between Favell&rsquo;s 17th and 18th NHL career shutouts is not as great as it might look, almost three years of calendar time but only 58 actual NHL appearances. A long injury siege, which affected his back, elbow, and hip and contributed to in-and-out performance limited Favell to but seven appearances overall in pro hockey the entire 1975-76 season, and only three of those were with Toronto. He worked four games for the Oklahoma City Blazers. The hip injury was the result of Doug&rsquo;s slamming into a goal post in Oakland late in the 1974-75 season.It&rsquo;s likely that Fawy might have been permanently consigned to pro hockey&rsquo;s scrap heap if Ray Miron hadn&rsquo;t been in the Toronto organization for years before he assumed the general managership of the Rockies for their first NHL season Miron signed Doug on the eve of Colorado&rsquo;s first training camp in September, 1976, and the St. Catharines. Ont., native was in the nets for the Rockies&rsquo; first-ever regular-season game&mdash;a 4-2 home ice triumph over the same Toronto club which had cast him aside.But the injury jinx struck again. In the Rockies&rsquo; fifth game of 1976-77, and Favell&rsquo;s third, he tore cartilage in his right knee while making a split save against Chicago on Oct. 15. 1976. Though he received credit for Colorado&rsquo;s 5-3 victory after working 52 minutes and yielding two of the Black Hawk scores, he missed the next 26 games, and it was originally feared he would require surgery before he could resume his playing career.But Dr. Marvin Clein, chairman of the department of physical education at the University of Denver and a nationally-renowned specialist in athletic training, prescribed a program of therapy, treatment, and exercise, which precluded the surgery that had been recommended by one physician, and got Favell back into the lineup last December.&ldquo;I feel as good as I have in a few years,&rdquo; grins the popular goalie. &ldquo;The knee feels good, the back feels good, and I think I&rsquo;m ready for a good season.&rdquo; Favell, posted a season high of five shutouts during his salad days With the Philadelphia Flyers in 1971-72, when he and Bernie Parent comprised possibly the best goaltending duo in hockey. Doug might accurately be called &ldquo;the Babe Ruth of hockey.&rdquo; Others have rated that designation for their statistical records, but Favell gets the label because, like the old Sultan of Swat, he has a powerful upper body and chest which sits atop a pair of thin, spindly legs. The condition of his right leg, which had been operated on once before, was a chief reason why the U. of Denver&rsquo;s Dr. Clein advised against further surgery on the limb last year.&ldquo;The leg is already thin and would have atrophied still further if Favell had undergone surgery and then been in a cast for several months,&rdquo; Dr. Clein recalls.Anyway, after a 3-3 tie at Chicago in his first outing this fall, Doug lost 5-4 at Toronto on a goal by Ian Turnbull at 15:38 of the third period, relieved an injured Michel Plasse late in a 7-5 loss at Buffalo, then threw his shutout on home ice against the Black Hawks.&ldquo;It was the best defensive effort this team has had in two years,&rdquo; Favell pointed out later, giving credit to the solid work by his teammates. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been scoring goals all right, but we&rsquo;ve been giving up too many. Maybe this will turn it around.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-01

Oldest Rockie Favell Fighting Injury Bug

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div>TORONTO&mdash;In their recent history of inconsistency, the Toronto Maple Leafs often have buoyed the hopes of their fans with impressive showings against the top teams, then deflated them with weak efforts against the clubs well below them in the standings.It&rsquo;s been a frustrating experience for the blue-and-white partisans to see the Leafs play strongly against the Montreal Canadiens or New York Islanders, then blow points in games against Washington Capitals or Colorado Rockies.New coach Roger Neilson wants that little habit to be taken out of the team&rsquo;s repertoire and replaced by consistency. He knows it won&rsquo;t be easy but he feels he has the key to the problem.Neilson points to the Canadiens as the example. The Leafs were out-played by Canadiens in their first meeting of the season but earned a 2-2 tie.That tie meant that Canadiens had lost only three times in 57 games, which does indicate they&rsquo;re doing something properly. Neilson feels that record is more of a tribute to their defensive discipline than their offensive strength.&ldquo;The way a team plays technically, especially its checking is all-important,&rdquo; Neilson said. &ldquo;Of course, a team can&rsquo;t be high emotionally for every game in a long schedule and have that eagerness which makes it strong on the attack.&ldquo;But for a team not to be up defensively is dishonest. If a player is not covering his man adequately, it&rsquo;s because he&rsquo;s lazy and not working hard enough.&rdquo;Neilson measures his team&rsquo;s performance by scoring chances&mdash;how many it acquires and how many it grants. He loosely defines a scoring chance as a clear shot on goal from an area bounded by an imaginary line across the tops of the corner face-off circles.&ldquo;In the tie with the Canadiens, they had 16 scoring chances we had only nine,&rdquo; Neilson said. &ldquo;We were out-placed by a good margin over the entire game but earned a tie because of excellent goaltending and a strong finish of our own.&ldquo;Our aim now is to cut down the number of chances the other team gets. That&rsquo;s by far our most important goal.&ldquo;If a player is giving too many chances to the opposition, it has to change. If he doesn&rsquo;t improve, then you have to make changes.&rdquo;LEAF NOTES: Encouraging for Leafs was the early season work of center Jack Valiquette, who had nine points in the first five games of the schedule. An underage draft in &lsquo;73, Valiquette is only 21 years of age but he&rsquo;s in his fourth pro season&hellip;Mike Palmateer excelled in the Leaf net during the first half dozen games and was spectacular in the first period against Canadiens when the Montrealers had 19 shots on goal.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02583/4095668-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="576" height="568"><figcaption class="caption-body">JACK VALIQUETTE &hellip;Encouraging Play</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Limit Rivals’ Scoring Chances

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01717/4095699-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="589" height="1782"></div> &#9632;

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Looking At NHL Goalers

<div class="byline">BY ALAN TRUEX</div>ATLANTA&mdash;Dan Bouchard has learned the value of a fiberglass mask one-quarter of an inch thick and weighing less than a pound.Had it not been for the mask, he might today be a one-eyed ex-goaltender.On Oct. 26, the Flames&rsquo; goalie was struck in the face by a slap shot from the Washington Capitals&rsquo; Ace Bailey.With the Flames playing a nonchecking game, Bailey was skating freely down the left side of the Omni ice and wound up to shoot from 25 feet.As Bailey released the puck, traveling at probably more than 100 m.p.h., Bouchard&rsquo;s vision was partially obscured by the stick of Barry Gibbs, who was back on defense.&ldquo;There was the element of surprise,&rdquo; Bouchard said, explaining that he could not pick up the flight of the puck until it was almost upon him. &ldquo;I just turned my head sideways so it wouldn&rsquo;t hit my eye.&rdquo;There is a rather large gap in the mask to permit vision, and had the puck hit there, Bouchard&rsquo;s eye almost certainly would have been damaged. But he turned just enough so that the pucl landed on his left cheekbone.Even so, Bouchard was hurt. He was cut under the eye and took 10 stitches. The swelling was so severe that it completely closed his left eye.The Flames feared that his vision might be impaired, but tests revealed no damage to his sight. X-rays did show a crack of a small bone under the left eye, but it was not regarded as anything that would impede the goalie&rsquo;s play.The hard paint coating on Bouchard&rsquo;s mask was chipped by Bailey&rsquo;s shot. &ldquo;I was lucky,&rdquo; the goalie said. &ldquo;Without the mask I would have lost my eye. That&rsquo;s definite.&rdquo;Some goaltenders insert foam padding, inside the mask to absorb some of the shock. Bouchard uses a strip of padding on the forehead, but he has none against his cheekbone.&ldquo;Some guys like to do that,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but it takes away a lot of the vision.&rdquo;The padding would cause the mask to extend farther from the face, and while it would give more protection to the eyes, it also would restrict the field of vision.Until that accident, everything had been going right for Bouchard. He left the Washington game tied 1-1, keeping his unbeaten streak alive after six starts.Phil Myre, who came on to take a 6-2 loss against the Capitals, started just one of the Flames&rsquo; first seven games, and Myre was rankled at coach Fred Creighton.&ldquo;I think I should get an equal opportunity at the start, to get the season under way,&rdquo; Myre said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve had an equal opportunity.&rdquo;Myre said, furthermore, that he would not be content backing up Bouchard. Some goalies, such as Montreal&rsquo;s Bunny Larocque and Philly&rsquo;s Wayne Stephenson, have been effective playing every third or fourth game, but Myre says he is not that way. &ldquo;Some guys can do it,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I know I can&rsquo;t.&rdquo;Asked if he would request to be traded if he doesn&rsquo;t start playing on a more regular basis, Myre said, &ldquo;I probably would.&rdquo;Creighton has decided this year to play the hot goaltender, and Bouchard indisputably has been the hot one. After six appearances he had a goals-against average of 1.89 and record of 2-0-3.Bouchard&rsquo;s goaltending was by far the brightest aspect of the Flames&rsquo; October performance. Forwards Tom Lysiak, Eric Vail and Curt Bennett, who have been among the team&rsquo;s top scorers the last three years, were off to slow starts, and the defense, with three sophomores and one rookie holding positions, has been error-prone.Worse news came when Ed Kea, a reliable veteran defenseman, suffered a kneecap injury and was to miss two or three weeks of play.NOTES: Bouchard was expected to miss just one game because of the swollen eye, and the Flames called up Michel Belhumeur as a standby for the one game&hellip;Rookie Harold Phillipoff, six-foot-three, 220-pounds, has been an eager and effective forechecker and fighter in the early season&hellip;Center Bill Clement and defenseman Barry Gibbs were both hampered by minor leg injuries after just one week of play&hellip;Flames attendance has not been good, with crowds ranging from 8,200 to 11,800 in the first four home dates.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01556/4095730-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="571" height="669"><figcaption class="caption-body">PHIL MYRE &hellip;Wants To Play</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0020-01

Mask Saves Bouchard’s Eyesight; Myre Rankled By Flames’ Coach

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;No vote of confidence was forthcoming from the Minnesota North Stars brain trust after the team lost its first six games of the season.The message was obvious after the team&rsquo;s board of directors held a meeting to discuss the team&rsquo;s ailments. Ted Harris&rsquo; job as coach of the Stars was in jeopardy, although no announcement was made to that effect. But no vote of confidence.&ldquo;Every game is critical now,&rdquo; was the reply from team president Gordon Ritz.The Stars did not immediately hit the panic button about their worst start ever in terms of consecutive losses in their 11th season in the NHL.But some changes were made. Bill Fairbairn, acquired last year with Nick Beverley in the Bill Goldsworthy trade with the Rangers, was sold to St. Louis for the $2,500 waiver price and veteran center Bill Hogaboam was sent to Fort Worth in the Central League.Recalled to take their places were second-year veteran Tom Younghans, a utility forward with the Stars last season, and rookie right wing Ron Zanussi, who scored 53 goals in the International League at Fort Wayne in 1976-77.&ldquo;We lacked spark and maybe Zanussi and Younghans will give it to us,&rdquo; professed general manager Jack Gordon.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01400/4095761-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="572" height="1180"><figcaption class="caption-body">TOM YOUNGHANS &hellip;Real Fireball</figcaption></div>Harris echoed his GM. &ldquo;Younghans is a real fireball who can come off the bench and gives us that spark, plus he is a good penalty killer,&rdquo; said the coach. &ldquo;Zanussi showed he can score last year and he is very good at going into the comer and digging the puck out.&rdquo;Younghans had three goals, Zanussi two as Fort Worth went 6-0 before the pair was recalled.Hogaboam, obtained two years ago in the Dennis Hextail deal with Detroit, was the team&rsquo;s interim captain last season but with the likes of Tim Young, Glen Sharpley and Roland Eriksson at center, he didn&rsquo;t get much of an opportunity this season.Fairbairn had five goals in the exhibition season, no assists but the Stars were apparently unhappy about the 30-year-old right winger reporting overweight and out of shape.The player movement might have had something to do with the North Stars ending their six-game losing streak with a sparkling 3-0 victory over the Boston Bruins.Pete LoPresti recorded his fourth NHL shutout while Sharpley, Alex Pirus and Young, who had been fighting a two-week playing slump, scored the goals.Younghans helped kill off penalties while Zanussi set up the game&rsquo;s first goal on a power play. He dug the puck out from the side and fired into the slot area, where Young finished off the play.It was one of the finer Stars&rsquo; efforts, considering they usually have problems with Boston. The total shots wound up in their favor, 26-16. a factor determined largely by the Bruins themselves when they drew chippy, unnecessary penalties.It was a good morale booster, especially to LoPresti who had allowed 20 goals in four previous starts.And it took some pressure off Harris. But no vote of confidence surfaced, and the rumors started circulating again the very next night when the North Stars ventured to Detroit and were beaten 3-1. The Red Wings did not beat the Stars last season and that loss was the second to the Red Wings in less than a week. Detroit was the worst team in the entire NHL last season and the Stars are headed in that direction.As in most sports, regardless of the caliber of play, the coach is always the man on the spot.Harris, who played on four Stanley Cup champions in Montreal and one with Philadelphia, joined the Stars as coach for the 1975-76 season. The team finished out of the playoffs for the third straight year then, but came on with eight rookies in the lineup in 1976-77 to finish second in the weak Smythe Division.This season, the Stars are skating with seven second-year men and five rookies. That lack of experience, not coaching, probably stands as the major reason for a plow start.That reasoning, though, was not enough to gain a vote of confidence.STAR DUST: Defenseman Jerry Engele could be skating soon after having his left leg in a cast for two weeks to protect an injured knee suffered in the home opener. &#9632;

f0021-01

Harris’ Job With Stars On Shaky Grounds

<h2>NOVEMBER</h2>Mon. 7 Minnesota at MontrealTue. 8 Los Angeles at WashingtonVancouver at ColoradoWed. 9 Buffalo at N.Y. RangersToronto at AtlantaWashington at DetroitCleveland at PittsburghVancouver at St. LouisMinnesota at ChicagoThu. 10 Montreal at N.Y. IslandersBuffalo at PhiladelphiaLos Angeles at BostonFri. 11 Toronto at WashingtonMinnesota at VancouverSt. Louis at ColoradoSat. 12 N.Y. Rangers at DetroitPhiladelphia at N.Y. IslandersBoston at AtlantaToronto at MontrealChicago at PittsburghMinnesota at Los AngelesColorado at St. LouisSun. 13 Atlanta at N.Y. RangersN.Y. Islanders at WashingtonDetroit at PhiladelphiaMontreal at ChicagoPittsburgh at BuffaloCleveland at BostonTue. 15 Chicago at N.Y. IslandersWashington at St. LouisCleveland at VancouverWed. 16 Chicago at N.Y. RangersBuffalo at AtlantaMontreal at ColoradoWashington at TorontoPittsburgh at MinnesotaSt. Louis at DetroitCleveland at Los AngelesThu. 17 N.Y. Islanders at PhiladelphiaVancouver at BostonToronto at BuffaloFri. 18 Detroit at AtlantaSat. 19 N.Y. Rangers at PittsburghVancouver at N.Y. IslandersPhiladelphia at MinnesotaMontreal at Los AngelesBuffalo at WashingtonDetroit at St. LouisCleveland at ColoradoBoston at TorontoSun. 20 Vancouver at N.Y. RangersAtlanta at PhiladelphiaWashington at BuffaloChicago at Boston &#9632;

Where NHL Teams Play

(Standings on Mon. Nov. 7)<h2>NORRIS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1953/4096092-1-eng-US/f0022-192.jpg" title="f0022-19" width="577" height="166"></div><h2>ADAMS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2052/4096085-1-eng-US/f0022-202.jpg" title="f0022-20" width="570" height="137"></div><h2>PATRICK DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2151/4096078-1-eng-US/f0022-212.jpg" title="f0022-21" width="577" height="134"></div><h2>SMYTHE DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2245/4096071-1-eng-US/f0022-222.jpg" title="f0022-22" width="571" height="164"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Nov. 1Atlanta 0 at N.Y. Islanders 9Los Angeles 2 at St. Louie 7Wed. Nov. 2N.Y. Rangers 2 at Colorado 6N.Y. lalanders 2 at Minnesota 3Atlanta 2 at Montreal 2Chicago 2 at Waahington 2Pittaburgh 1 at Detroit 3Toronto 5 at Vancouver 1St. Louis 4 at Cleveland 4Thu. Nov. 3Waahington 1 at Philadelphia 4Toronto 2 at Los Angeles 4Buffalo 4 at Boaton 1Fri. Nov. 4N.Y. Rangers 5 at Vancouver 1Pittsburgh 2 at Atlanta 5Sat. Nov. 5N.Y. Rangers 1 at Los Angeles 3Pittsburgh 3 at N.Y. lalanders 4Philadelphia 3 at Waahington 1Boston 2 at Montreal 5Cleveland 4 at Detroit 3Chicago 5 at Minneaota 2Buffalo 3 at St. Louie 1Toronto 5 at Colorado 2Sun. Nov. 6N.Y. Islanders 3 at Boston 5Vancouver 2 at Philadelphia 3Atlanta 3 at Chicago 3Detroit 4 at Cleveland 1St. Louie 4 at Buffalo 7 &#9632;

f0022-19

The NHL Scoreboard

ATLANTA &mdash; Clement 2, 3, 4, Phillipoff 2,3, Gould 5, 6, Lysiak 2,3, Ribble 2.BOSTON &mdash; Cashman 3, Park 1, R, Smith 2, Middleton 1, Sheppard 1, Hagman 1, McNab 5, Ratelie 2.BUFFALO &mdash; R, Martin 3, 4, 5, Ramsey 5, Perreault 2, 3, 4,5, 6, 7, Luce 5, 6, Guevremont 2, Savard 2.CHICAGO &mdash; Boldirev 2, 3, Harrison 1, Wilson 3, 4, 5, Rota 4, Koroll 2, Bulley 3, Mulvey 2.CLEVELAND &mdash; Maruk 5, 6, 7, 8, Manery 3, 4, Hampton 1, Fidler 2, Neilson 1.COLORADO &mdash; Spruce 2, Gardner 10, 11, 12, Beck 3, Delorme 3, Paiement 6, Andruff 6.DETROIT &mdash; McCourt 2, Woods 3, Hextail 1, 2, Maloney 3, Loekbead 4, 5, 6, Plumb 2, McDonough 1.LOS ANGELES &mdash; Goring 3, 4, Schultz 2, Kozak 1, Dionne 5,6, Murphy 5, 6, Apps 1.MINNESOTA &mdash; Jensen 2, Brasar 2, Sharpley 3, Talafous 3, Jarry 4.MONTREAL &mdash; Shutt 5, 6, Lemaire 3, Lafleur 9, 10, Savard 2, Mahovlich 3.ISLANDERS &mdash; Nystrom 3, 4, Parise 5, 6, J, Potvin 1, Trottier 4, S, 6, 7,8, 9, Bossy 6,7, 8, Henning 2, Gillies 3, Harris 2, D, Potvin 2.RANGERS &mdash; Deblois 1, 2, Tkaczuk 4, 5, Esposito 4, Polis 3, 4, Greschner 3.PHILADELPHIA &mdash; Kelly 6, 7, Barber 7, 8, Bridgman 2, Joe Watson 1, Clarke 3, 4, 5, Kindrachuk 1.PITTSBURGH &mdash; Cassidy 1, Chapman 3, Malone 5, 6, 7, Owchar 2.ST, LOUIS &mdash; Unger 4, 5, 6, Berenson 1, 2, Patey 3, 4, 5, arde 4, Redmond 3, Hammarstrom 1, 2, MacMillan 1, 2, Roberts 1.TORONTO &mdash; Thompson 4, 5, Boutelle 5, 6, McDonald 5, Salming 3, Ashby 1, Sittier 6, 7, 8, Turnbull 3, Jones 2.VANCOUVER &mdash; Sedlbauer S, 6, Blight 5, Graves 4.WASHINGTON &mdash; Burton 1, Green 1, Riley 2, Meehan 3. &#9632;

NHL’s Scorers …This Week

<h2>Tue. Nov. 1</h2>ATLANTA 0, ISLANDERS 9<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01438/4096016-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="588" height="578"></div>LOS ANGELES 2, ST. LOUIS 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02341/4096009-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="589" height="658"></div><h2>Wed. Nov. 2</h2>RANGERS 2, COLORADO 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03277/4096002-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="583" height="545"></div>ISLANDERS 2, MINNESOTA 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04212/4095995-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="582" height="380"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05174/4095988-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="585" height="170"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06139/4095981-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="1119" height="1151"><figcaption class="caption-body">DENNIS MARUK&hellip; Four-Goal Game</figcaption></div>ATLANTA 2, MONTREAL 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-07124/4095974-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="584" height="467"></div>CHICAGO 2, WASHINGTON 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-08113/4095967-1-eng-US/f0022-082.jpg" title="f0022-08" width="581" height="465"></div>PITTSBURGH 1, DETROIT 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-09105/4095960-1-eng-US/f0022-092.jpg" title="f0022-09" width="587" height="733"></div>TORONTO 5, VANCOUVER 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1094/4095953-1-eng-US/f0022-102.jpg" title="f0022-10" width="582" height="545"></div>ST. LOUIS 4, CLEVELAND 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1189/4095946-1-eng-US/f0022-112.jpg" title="f0022-11" width="582" height="600"></div><h2>Thu. Nov. 3</h2>WASHINGTON 1, PHILADELPHIA 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1284/4095939-1-eng-US/f0022-122.jpg" title="f0022-12" width="578" height="107"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1377/4095932-1-eng-US/f0022-132.jpg" title="f0022-13" width="583" height="377"></div>TORONTO 2, LOS ANGELES 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1469/4095925-1-eng-US/f0022-142.jpg" title="f0022-14" width="580" height="514"></div>BUFFALO 4, BOSTON 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1567/4095918-1-eng-US/f0022-152.jpg" title="f0022-15" width="584" height="513"></div><h2>Fri. Nov. 4</h2>RANGERS 5, VANCOUVER 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1659/4095911-1-eng-US/f0022-162.jpg" title="f0022-16" width="585" height="595"></div>PITTSBURGH 2, ATLANTA 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1754/4095904-1-eng-US/f0022-172.jpg" title="f0022-17" width="587" height="538"></div><h2>Sat. Nov. 5</h2>RANGERS 1, LOS ANGELES 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1853/4095897-1-eng-US/f0022-182.jpg" title="f0022-18" width="580" height="483"></div>PITTSBURGH 3, ISLANDERS 4FIRST PERIODIslanders, Parise (D. Potvin) 6:02, 2&mdash;Bossy<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01412/4095890-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="585" height="433"></div>PHILADELPHIA 3, WASHINGTON 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02311/4095883-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="589" height="485"></div>BOSTON 2, MONTREAL 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03230/4095876-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="586" height="537"></div>CLEVELAND 4, DETROIT 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04179/4095869-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="583" height="532"></div>CHICAGO 5, MINNESOTA 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-05152/4095862-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="586" height="513"></div>BUFFALO 3, ST. LOUIS 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-06135/4095855-1-eng-US/f0023-062.jpg" title="f0023-06" width="583" height="436"></div>TORONTO 5, COLORADO 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-07120/4095848-1-eng-US/f0023-072.jpg" title="f0023-07" width="580" height="309"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-08105/4095841-1-eng-US/f0023-082.jpg" title="f0023-08" width="585" height="190"></div><h2>Sun. Nov. 6</h2>ISLANDERS 3, BOSTON 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0989/4095834-1-eng-US/f0023-092.jpg" title="f0023-09" width="583" height="538"></div>VANCOUVER 2, PHILADELPHIA 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1077/4095827-1-eng-US/f0023-102.jpg" title="f0023-10" width="578" height="509"></div>ATLANTA 3, CHICAGO 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1163/4095820-1-eng-US/f0023-112.jpg" title="f0023-11" width="583" height="457"></div>DETROIT 4, CLEVELAND 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1252/4095813-1-eng-US/f0023-122.jpg" title="f0023-12" width="584" height="467"></div>ST. LOUIS 4, BUFFALO 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1344/4095806-1-eng-US/f0023-132.jpg" title="f0023-13" width="583" height="242"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1442/4095799-1-eng-US/f0023-142.jpg" title="f0023-14" width="586" height="184"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1534/4095792-1-eng-US/f0023-152.jpg" title="f0023-15" width="587" height="191"></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

C&mdash;Captain*&mdash;Rookie<h2>ATLANTA</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Dan BouchardPhil Myre<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Barry GibbsRichard Mulhern* Pat RlbbleDave Shand* Miles Zaharko<h3>CENTERS</h3>Guy ChouinardRey ComeauBill ClementBobby LalondeTom Lysiak C<h3>R. WINGS</h3>John GouldKen HoustonWilli Plett<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Curt Bennett* Harold PhillipoffEric Vail<h3>INJURED</h3>Ed Kea<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Gilles Gilbert* Ron Grahame<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Gary Doak* Mike ForbesMike MilburyBrad ParkRick Smith<h3>CENTERS</h3>Matti HagmanPete McNabJean RatelieGregg Sheppard<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Rick MiddletonTerry O&rsquo;ReillyBobby Schmautz<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Wayne Cashman CJohn BucykStan Jonathan* Steve LangdonDon MarcotteJohn Wensink<h3>INJURED</h3>Gerry Cheevers* Dwight Foster<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Gerry DesjardinsDon Edwards<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Lee FogolinJ. GuevremontBill HajtJerry KorabJim Schoenfeld<h3>CENTERS</h3>Don LuceGilles PerreaultAndre SavardRon Shock* Derek SmithFred Stanfield<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Danny Gare CJim LorentzGary McAdamRene Robert* Ric Seiling<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Richard MartinTerry MartinCraig Ramsay<h3>INJURED</h3>Ken Breitenbach<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Tony EspositoMike Veisor<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Randy HoltDave LoganKeith Magnuson CBob MurrayPhil RussellDale Tallon* Doug Wilson<h3>CENTERS</h3>Ivan BoldirevJim HarrisonStan Mikita* Jean Savard<h3>R. WINGS</h3>J.P. BordeleauAlain DaigleCliff KorollGrant MulveyPierre Plante<h3>L. WINGS</h3>* Ted BulleyBob KellyJohn MarksDarcy Rota<h3>INJURED</h3>None.<h2>CLEVELAND</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Gary EdwardsGilles Meloche<h3>DEFENSE</h3>* John BabyRick HamptonBjorn JohanssonJim Neilson* Darcy RogierGreg SmithBob Stewart<h3>CENTERS</h3>Dave Gardner* Kris ManeryDennis MarukWayne Merrick<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Fred Ahern* Daniel Chicoine* Mike CrombeenBob Murdoch<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Mike FidlerBob GirardAl MacAdamc<h3>INJURED</h3>Mike ChristieRalph KlassenGary Sabourin<h2>COLORADO</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Doug FavellMichel Plasse<h3>DEFENSE</h3>* Barry BeckTom EdurMike KitchenBryan LefleyJim McElmuryJohn Van Boxmeer* Mark Suzor<h3>CENTERS</h3>Chuck ArnasonPaul GardnerDave HudsonNelson Pyatt<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Ron AndruffRon DelormeWilf Paiement C<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Gary CroteauDenis Dupere* Rick JodzioAndy Spruce<h3>INJURED</h3>None.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Ed GiacominRon LowJim Rutherford<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Al CameronSteve DurbanoJean HamelTerry HarperGreg Joly* Reed Larson* Perry Miller<h3>CENTERS</h3>Dennis Hextall* Dale McCourtAndre St. Laurent* Paul Woods<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Rick BownessBill LocheadAl McDonoughDennis Polonich* Rob PlumbLarry Wright<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Danny GrantNick LibettDan Maloney CBob Ritchie<h3>INJURED</h3>None.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Gary SimmonsRogie Vachon<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Larry BrownNeil KomadoskiRandy ManeryBob MurdochGary Sargent<h3>CENTERS</h3>Syl AppsMarcel DionneButch Goring* Rob PalmerPete StemkowskiVic Venasky<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Glen GoldupDon KozakHartland MonahanMike Murphy C<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Ernie HickeTom WilliamsBert Wilson<h3>INJURED</h3>* Dave TaylorDave Hutchison<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>* Paul HarrisonPete LoPresti<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Fred BarrettNick Beverley CJerry EngeleDoug Hicks* Brad MaxwellLou NanneDennis O&rsquo;BrienTom Reid<h3>CENTERS</h3>Harvey BennettGlen SharpleyTim Young<h3>R. WINGS</h3>* Kent-Erik AnderssonAlex PirusDean Talafous* Tom Younghans* Ron Zanussi<h3>L. WINGS</h3>*Per-Olov BrasarPierre JarrySteve Jensen<h3>INJURED</h3>None.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Ken DrydenMichel Larocque<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Pierre Bouchard* Brian Engblom* Gilles LupienBill NyropLarry RobinsonSerge Savard<h3>CENTERS</h3>Doug JarvisJacques LemairePeter Mahovlich* Pierre Mondou<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Rick ChartrawYvan Cournoyer CGuy LafleurMario Temblay<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Bob GaineyRejean HouleYvon LambertSteve ShuttMurray Wilson<h3>INJURED</h3>Guy LapointeDoug Risebrough<h2>ISLANDERS</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>* Goran HogastaChico ReschBilly Smith<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Garry HartDave LewisBert Marshall* Stefan PerssonDenis PotvinJean PotvinPat PriceBob Bourne<h3>CENTERS</h3>Jude DrouinLorne Henning* Mike KaszyckiBryan Trottier<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Michel Bergeron* Mike BossyBilly HarrisBob NystromEd Westfall<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Clark Gillies CGarry HowattJ.P. Parise<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>RANGERS</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>* Hardy AastromJohn DavidsonWayne Thomas<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Don AwreyDave FarrishRon GreschnerDave MaloneyMike McEwenCarol Vadnais<h3>CENTERS</h3>* Ron DuguayPhil Esposito C* Greg HolstWalter Tkaczuk<h3>R. WINGS</h3>* Lucien DeBloisRob GilbertBill GoldsworthyKen HodgeDon Murdoch<h3>L. WINGS</h3>* Benoit GosselinPat HickeyGreg PolisSteve Vickers<h3>INJURED</h3>Wayne Dillon<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Bernie ParentWayne Stephenson<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Tom BladonBob DaileyAndre DupontRick Lapointe* Kevin McCarthyJim WatsonJoe WatsonMel BridgmanBobby Clarke COrest Kindrachuk<h3>CENTERS</h3>Rick MacLeish<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Barry DeanGary DornhoeferPaul HolmgrenReg LeachDon Saleski<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Bill BarberBob KellyRoss Lonsberry<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Dennis HerronDune Wilson<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Russ AndersonDave BurrowsColin CampbellDennis OwcharBob ParadiseRon Stackhouse<h3>CENTERS</h3>Gene Carr* Tom CassidyPierre LaroucheGreg Malone<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Mike Corrigan* Jacques CossetteRick KehoeLew MorrisonJean Pronovost C<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Blair ChapmanLowell MacDonaldDave SchultzBrian Spencer<h3>INJURED</h3>Wayne BianchinMario Faubert<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Ed JohnstonEd Staniowski<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Bruce Affleck* Jack BrownschildeLen FrigBob HessDick RedmondJim RobertsRod Seiling<h3>CENTERS</h3>Red Berenson CBernie FederkoGarry Unger<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Rick BourbonnaisBill FairbairnClaude LaroseLarry Patey<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Inge HammarstromBob MacMillan* John SmrkeBrian Sutter<h3>INJURED</h3>None.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Mike PalmateerGordon McRae<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Randy CarlyleBrian Glennie* Trevor JohansenJim McKennyBorje SalmingIan Turnbull<h3>CENTERS</h3>Don AshbyGeorge FergusonDarryl Sittier CJack Valiquette<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Pat BoutetteJerry ButlerRon Ellis* Jimmy JonesLanny McDonaldKurt Walker<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Bob NeelyErrol ThompsonDave Williams<h3>INJURED</h3>None.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Cesare ManiagoCurt Ridley<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Larry GoodenoughJohn GrisdaleDennis Kearns* Bob MannoJack MclLhargeyHarold Snepsts<h3>CENTERS</h3>Pit MartinChris OddleifsonMike Walton<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Rick BlightHilliard GravesGerry O&rsquo;FlahertyDennis Ververgaert<h3>L. WINGS</h3>*Rob FlockhartBrad Gassoff* Jere GillisDon Lever CGarry MonahanRon Sedlbauer<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Garry SmithBernie Wolfe<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Rick GreenYvon LabreGordie LaneJack Lynch* Robert PicardGord SmithBryan Watson<h3>CENTERS</h3>Guy CharronWalt McKechnieGerry Meehan C<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Bill CollinsBill Riley* Tom RoweBob SiroisGarnet Bailey* Nelson Burton<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Dave ForbesRon LalondeCraig PatrickTony White<h3>INJURED</h3>Blair Stewart &#9632;

NHL Team Rosters

Winnipeg&rsquo;s older Nilsson, Ulf, wants people to know that rookie Kent Nilsson (no relation) isn&rsquo;t going to steal all of the spotlights on the team this year.Ulf scored nine points last week, including four goals, to help keep Winnipeg on top in the WHA and himself in the lead in the scoring race.The four goals brought his total on the season to six, none of which have come on the power play, but even more impressive is his assists mark, 16 in the first dozen Jets&rsquo; games for a total of 23 points.Led by Ulf Nilsson&rsquo;s scoring, the Jets downed Edmonton 6-3, Birmingham 4-2, and Cincinnati 6-1 last week.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03240/4096209-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="532" height="618"><figcaption class="caption-body">ULF NILSSON&hellip;Winnipeg Jets</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0024-03

WHA’S… Player of the Week

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE WARRINER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01426/4096178-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">LARRY PLEAU&hellip; Making Believers Of His Critics</figcaption></div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaNEW ENGLAND&mdash;One year ago the New England Whalers were struggling to reach the .500 level in wins and losses. In fact, they went over that mark for only one game in early November last year, but quickly dropped back&mdash;never again to reach that height all season long.It&rsquo;s a different story in 1977-78. however. After meeting each of their WHA rivals once the Whalers had chalked up five wins and a tie. losing only to Cincinnati. (Cincy&rsquo;s only win of its first six games).The Whalers not only are winning bu they&rsquo;re doing it in an uncharacteristic way. Whereas in recent seasons the majority of their victory margins were very slim, this year&rsquo;s version of the New England Whalers is winning handily None of the early victories were by less that three goals. Civic Center game goers have had a lot fewer seat-squirmers this year&mdash;and they seem to be enjoying the change.After three-goal margins in each of their first four wins, the Whalers went on to whip Quebec 7-1 and Houston 7-2. Aside from the red-hot Tom Webster, goal scoring was well-balanced. Webster had 10 goals after the first eight games as he and linemates Gordie and Mark Howe continued to work well together. Gordie led the team in assists with 11 after eight games.Coach Harry Neale was using two proficient power play units. The Whalers were scoring power play goals at the rate of one in every three attempts&mdash;again a far cry from last season&rsquo;s meager output.Mike Rogers has been consistent since stepping in for the injured Greg Carroll&mdash;between Larry Pleau and Jack Carlson The line has done well in the scoring department, in addition to operating effectively as a checking unit. Rogers had picked up at least a point in each of five games since taking over as center on the line. With Carroll ready to get back in the lineup coach Neale had the pleasant task of finding a place for the talented centerman.Original Whaler Larry Pleau has made believers of those who last year had written him off as over-the-hill. The 30-year-old left winger continues to show the form that led him to four productive seasons prior to last year&rsquo;s disappointing season. And the fickle fans have hopped back onto the Pleau bandwagon&hellip;Houston&rsquo;s first visit to the Hartford Civic Center may have been somewhat of a grudge match. A wire story out of Houston appearing in the Oct. 28th issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS included some disparaging quotes from Aeros centerman Terry Ruskowski and goalie Wayne Rutledge. In essence the remarks were directed at Gordie Howe. The opinion was expressed that Gordie should hang up his skates because he couldn&rsquo;t cut it any more.The story was posted in the Whalers locker room prior to the Oct. 29 confrontation between the two teams and it may have served to heighten some tempers. Seventy-five minutes in penalties were meted out that night. But there doesn&rsquo;t seem to be any deep rift between the Howes and most members of the Aeros. There was a lot of friendly jibes and conversations when the two teams held back to-back gameday practices at the Civic Center. At any rate the Whalers won the game handily, 7-2, and Gordie had two nifty assists&mdash;his 10th and 11th of the season Over the hill? It sure doesn&rsquo;t look like it!Johnnie &ldquo;Pie&rdquo; McKenzie had a fine night against the Aeros with a goal and three assists. Eor his efforts he got his scalp creased for a few stitches, by a John Schella high stick.In the goaltending department Louie Levasseur was wondering when he would get his next start. Al Smith hasn&rsquo;t given up more than two goals in any of his five starts so far and coach Neale&rsquo;s strategy of going with the hot hand leaves Louie counting the house every night.Left wing George Lyle seems to be getting most of his skating time after the period ending buzzer these days. He can&rsquo;t break into the three-line rotation of leftwingers Mark Howe, Mike Antonovich, and Larry Pleau. Lyle and right wing Jim Mayer have had some ice time when Mike Rogers jumps in for an extra turn at center. On occasion Mike Antonovich has dusted off his centerman skills to work between the two big wingers. With Greg Carroll returning soon Mayer is destined for a return to Springfield&hellip;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02336/4096171-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="574" height="633"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHN MCKENZIE &hellip; Enjoyed Big Night</figcaption></div>QUEBEC: Information about the Nordiques is a little more difficult to get of late due to the resignation of Public Relations Director Paul Lafrancoise, but the word from Quebec City is injuries.Most serious appears to be the loss of Christian Bordeleau for the year. It is further reported that the corrective surgery on Bordeleau&rsquo;s shoulder may end the 35-year-old centerman&rsquo;s career. It would be a big loss for the Nordiques since Chris ranks third in career WHA points behind Andre Lacroix and Bobby Hull. His average over five seaons is 91.2 points per year. He&rsquo;ll be missed.Defenseman Jim Dorey&rsquo;s recurring back problem turned out to be rather serious. It was announced that he would have to undergo back surgery (herniated disc) and that he too may be out for the season. In a subsequent development doctors determined that his problem may only be a cracked vertebrae, which would entail a long layoff but not necessarily season-long.The diminished defense corps is being over worked due to the temporary loss of Wally Weir (elbow) and a knee injury which has hobbled Francois Lacombe. The latter&rsquo;s situation is also up in the air at this point with one report saying the steady defenseman faces surgery and may be out for as long as four months&hellip;Despite all the injury problems general manager Maurice Filion has not pushed the panic button. The 25-man roster limit set by the WHA has put a burden on the GM who has no qualified reserves to call up to fill the decimated roster. It&rsquo;s too early to tear apart the team, was a response to the question about impending acquisitions. But some general managers had called offering defensemen for one of the speedy forwards that typifies the Nordiques offense.Emphasizing that it&rsquo;s early in the year, Filion said, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a long season!&rdquo;&hellip;He&rsquo;s a patient guy.When the Nordiques skated onto Civic Center ice in Hartford to take on the Whalers they had only 18 players dressed. Seven minutes into the first period Pierre Guite got involved in a donnybrook with the Whalers Jack Carlson. When Carlson began to dominate, Charles Constantin jumped in and the other players quickly dropped their gloves to pair off&mdash;a violation of WHA rules calling for 10 minute misconducts for all involved.Referee Ron Ego fortunately used discretion in enforcing the rules, however, as he merely banished Constantin (and the fighters). No harm had been done and, considering the already decimated Quebec roster, any further banishments would have ruined the hockey game&hellip; &#9632;

f0024-01

Whalers Overpowering WHA Rivals; ‘Injured’ Defense Hurts Nordiques

<div class="byline">BY GREG NOBLE</div>INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Coach Ron Ingram&rsquo;s belief in Claude St. Sauveur, Bobby Sheehan and Gary Inness is paying big dividends for the Indianapolis Racers.St. Sauveur. Sheehan and Inness are all players who were disregarded by their former teams. But Ingram enlisted them in rebuilding the Racers this fall, and they sparked the club off to a fast start.The Racers put together a six-game unbeaten streak&mdash;two ties and four straight victories&mdash;to claim third place in the fourth week of the season.&ldquo;Basically it&rsquo;s the result of a lot of hard work on everybody&rsquo;s part,&rdquo; Ingram said about the team&rsquo;s early success.He really had not expected the Racers to do so well since Ingram only had about a month to put the team together.&ldquo;We had a good training camp, and the club is in super shape,&rdquo; Ingram said. &ldquo;We only practice once a day, but we had calisthenics two hours a day. Everybody ran a mile a day and some players ran two miles.&ldquo;I feel we have a talented hockey club here,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;With the kind of talent we have, we have to work together, and that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re doing. They&rsquo;re all very dedicated, too, which is very important.&rdquo;Ingram, himself new to the Racers this year, signed more than a dozen new players for the team.&ldquo;We took the best personnel we could find. I had confidence in the players I took,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I made a four-for-three trade with Edmonton, and I felt I gave up a pretty good hockey player in Blair MacDonald to get Claude St. Sauveur, Rusty Patenaude, Barry Wilkins and Kevin Devine, but I had a lot of faith in that trade.&rdquo;While it might have raised a few eyebrows at first, of course, it&rsquo;s turned out to be a great deal for the Racers especially since St. Sauveur seems to have regained the form he showed early in his career. The 25-year-old center scored just five goals with Edmonton and Calgary last year. But he looks like the 38-goal scorer he was four years ago with eight goals in nine games this season.&ldquo;I go a long way back with St. Sauveur knowing his ability. He played against me when I was at Syracuse,&rdquo; said Ingram. &ldquo;I felt off his record that he could play for me. He had a bad year last year, but he didn&rsquo;t get any ice time. I think it&rsquo;s a credit to him the way he is playing.&rdquo;Sheehan, a 28-year-old center who played with Detroit and Providence last year, was the Racers&rsquo; second leading scorer behind St. Sauveur with seven goals. Ingram knew Sheehan, too, since he played with the Jersey Knights when Ingram coached there in 1973, and Ingram signed him as a free agent this season.&ldquo;I made the trade that brought him to Jersey, and I instigated the trade that sent him to Edmonton,&rdquo; Ingram said. &ldquo;It was more important for us to have defensemen at the time, but Sheehan was always touted as a good hockey player. He&rsquo;s dedicated&mdash;he works in the gym every day&mdash;and that&rsquo;s showing in his play.&rdquo;After a shaky start Inness, the former Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; backup goaltender, was playing well, and he did an especially good job in a 5-2 victory over Winnipeg.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s another instance of a player a lot of people had written off,&rdquo; said Ingram. &ldquo;People said he hadn&rsquo;t played for a year, but I was interested in him when he was at Pittsburgh. I saw him play in the Stanley Cup series against the New York Islanders. He came to camp in super shape, and he really found his timing in the last three or four games.&rdquo;Reg Thomas, one of a few players still on the team from last year, had six goals. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s having a good year, too,&rdquo; Ingram noted. &ldquo;Barry Wilkins, Kevin Devine, Rusty Patenaude&mdash;they&rsquo;re all having good years. You can go on and on down the line. And that&rsquo;s what it takes&mdash;everybody working together.&ldquo;There are a lot of games left,&rdquo; the coach added. &ldquo;We just hope we can play to our ability.&rdquo;CINCINNATI: Coach Jacques Demers lost his patience after a 3-2 loss at Winnipeg, the Stingers&rsquo; fourth straight defeat.&ldquo;There are four or five guys on this team who are not putting out. They&rsquo;re not giving what it takes to win. I won&rsquo;t have a player who doesn&rsquo;t have a winning attitude,&rdquo; he said.Demers promised to make changes in the roster if the team didn&rsquo;t correct itself by the 10th game.The loss at Winnipeg overshadowed a good performance by goaltender Ernie Wakely, who was on the spot after poor showings in his first three starts, Wakely held the Jets to one even-handed goal and made 32 saves.Blaine Stoughton, Dennis Sobchuk and Peter Marsh were still looking for their first goals after six games. Richie Leduc (nine) and Robbie Ftorek (seven) accounted for 16 of the team&rsquo;s 22 goals. Leduc and Ftorek were co-winners of the player of the month award for October. Barry Legge was the top defenseman in the first month of play.BIRMINGHAM: After winning their opener, the Bulls nosedived into a sevengame losing streak. Coach Glen Sonmor and GM Gilles Leger were pondering what moves to make to turn the team around. One widespread rumor had the Bulls sending center Vaclav Nedomansky to Quebec. Nedomansky had one goal and two assists in seven games.The Bulls&rsquo; failing was team defense. They allowed 46 goals while scoring 26.Ken Linseman, the underage center and the center of a dispute between the Bulls, the WHA and Hockey Canada, won his right to play in court and scored a goal in each of his first two games.Pat Westrum and Indianapolis&rsquo; Devine were both suspended for three games and fined $1,000 apiece after a stick-swinging incident Oct. 29. Danny Arndt was called up from Hampton.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01363/4096240-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="565" height="1113"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLAUDE ST. SAUVEUR&hellip;Back To Old Form</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0025-01

Indy ‘Castoffs’ Justifying Ingram’s Faith

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01376/4096383-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"></div><h2>BIRMINGHAM BULLS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02301/4096376-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="157" height="171"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03258/4096369-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="720" height="590"></div><h2>CINCINNATI STINGERS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04203/4096362-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="139" height="159"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05166/4096355-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="719" height="558"></div><h2>INDIANAPOLIS RACERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-06134/4096348-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="214" height="157"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-07122/4096341-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="719" height="665"></div><h2>NEW ENGLAND WHALERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-08110/4096334-1-eng-US/f0026-082.jpg" title="f0026-08" width="223" height="224"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-09104/4096327-1-eng-US/f0026-092.jpg" title="f0026-09" width="721" height="588"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1099/4096320-1-eng-US/f0026-102.jpg" title="f0026-10" width="201" height="193"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1195/4096313-1-eng-US/f0026-112.jpg" title="f0026-11" width="730" height="677"></div><h2>HOUSTON AEROS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1287/4096306-1-eng-US/f0026-122.jpg" title="f0026-12" width="268" height="121"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1386/4096299-1-eng-US/f0026-132.jpg" title="f0026-13" width="721" height="563"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1478/4096292-1-eng-US/f0026-142.jpg" title="f0026-14" width="193" height="194"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1570/4096285-1-eng-US/f0026-152.jpg" title="f0026-15" width="722" height="607"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1662/4096278-1-eng-US/f0026-162.jpg" title="f0026-16" width="217" height="207"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1758/4096271-1-eng-US/f0026-172.jpg" title="f0026-17" width="720" height="642"></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

WHA SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<h2>NOVEMBER</h2>Tue. 1 Houston at IndianapolisNew England at QuebecWed. 2 Winnipeg at EdmontonBirmingham at HoustonFri. 4 Winnipeg at BirminghamQuebec at HoustonCincinnati at New EnglandIndianapolis at EdmontonSat. 5 Quebec at BirminghamWinnipeg at CincinnatiSun. 6 New England at CincinnatiHouston at EdmontonTue. 8 New England at BirminghamEdmonton at QuebecWed. 9 Birmingham at CincinnatiHouston at WinnipegThu. 10 Edmonton at New EnglandFri. 11 Edmonton at CincinnatiIndianapolis at HoustonQuebec at WinnipegSat. 12 Edmonton at BirminghamIndianapolis at New EnglandCincinnati at QuebecSun. 13 Cincinnati at WinnipegTue. 15 New England at IndianapolisWinnipeg at QuebecWed. 16 Cincinnati at EdmontonBirmingham at WinnipegFri. 18 Cincinnati at EdmontonQuebec at HoustonBirmingham at IndianapolisWinnipeg at New EnglandSat. 19 Houston at BirminghamWinnipeg at IndianapolisSun. 20 New England at EdmontonIndianapolis at QuebecCincinnati at WinnipegTue. 22 New England at QuebecWinnipeg at EdmontonWed. 23 Quebec at CincinnatiBirmingham at HoustonIndianapolis at New EnglandThu. 24 Cincinnati atEdmonton at IndianapolisFri. 25 Quebec at New EnglandCincinnati at HoustonSun. 26 Cincinnati at IndianapolisEdmonton at New EnglandBirmingham at Quebec &#9632;

Where WHA Teams Play

(Standings on Tue. Nov. 8)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1556/4096591-1-eng-US/f0028-152.jpg" title="f0028-15" width="583" height="249"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Tue. Nov. 1Houston 3 at Indianapolis 6New England 6 at Quebec 3Wed. Nov. 2Winnipeg 6 at Edmonton 3Birmingham 3 at Houston 5Fri. Nov. 4Winnipeg 4 at Birmingham 2Quebec 7 at Houaton 6Cincinnati 3 at New England 4Indianapolis 1 at Edmonton 3Sat. Nov. 5Quebec 4 at Birmingham 5Winnipeg 6 at Cincinnati 1Sun. Nov. 6New England 5 at Cincinnati 2Houston 1 at Edmonton 7 &#9632;

f0028-15

The WHA Scoreboard

BIRMINGHAM &mdash; Hughes 2, Napier 4,5,6,7, Marrin 2, 3, Mahovlich 1, Noris 6, Sheehy 4.CINCINNATI &mdash; Ftorek 8, 9, Sobchuk 1, 2, Leduc 10, Marotte 1.EDMONTON &mdash; Shmyr 1, Micheletti 1, MacGregor 3, 4, 5, Callighen Campbell 4, Ferguson 5, 6, 7, Langegin 1, Morris 1, Zuke 3.HOUSTON &mdash; Popiel 1, 2, Hansis 1, Lacroix 3, 4, Ruskowski 3, 4, Connor 4, 5, Lukowich 6, 7, Schella 3, Campbell 1, Gray 6, Lund 4.INDIANAPOLIS &mdash; Sheehan 6, 7, Rhiness 1, Patenaude 4, 5, Thomas 6, St, Sauveur 8.NEW ENGLAND &mdash; Antonovich 4, J, Carlson 3, G, Howe 3, 4, Marty Howe 2, McKenzie 3, 4, 5, Carlson 1.Lyle 1, 2, 3, Webster 11, Keon 3, Rogers 5, Mark Howe 4.QUEBEC &mdash; Tardif 7, S, Bernier 4, 5, 6, 7, Sutherland 3, 4, Driscoll 2, Dube 3, 4, Cloutier 5,6, Boudrias 1, Baxter 2.WINNIPEG &mdash; Labraaten 6, Long 2, U, Nilsson 3, 4, 5, 6, Hull 13, Sullivan 3, Hedberg 6, 7, 8, Lindstrom 3, Lesuk 1, Moffat 3, 4, Guindon 1. &#9632;

WHA’s Scorers …This Week

*- Rookie<h2>CINCINNATI</h2><h3>Goalers</h3>DION, Michel* LIUT, MikeWAKELY. Ernie<h3>DEFENSE</h3>BEAUDOIN, SergeLEGGE, BarryMAROTTE, GilletMELROSE, Barry* NORWICH, CraigPLUMB, Ron<h3>CENTERS</h3>FTOREK, RobbieLEDUC, RichLOCAS, JacquesSOBCHUK, Dennis<h3>R. WINGS</h3>ABGRALL, DennisHISLOP, JamieMARSH, PeterSTOUGHTON, Blaine<h3>L. WINGS</h3>DUDLEY, RickHALL, DelLAROSE, Claude<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>HOUSTON</h2><h3>Goalers</h3>RUTLEDGE, WayneZIMMERMAN, Lynn<h3>DEFENSE</h3>* CAMPBELL, ScottHALE, LarryHUGHES, JohnMCLEOD, AlPOPIEL, PoulSCHELLA, John<h3>CENTERS</h3>LACROIX, AndreLUND, LarryRUSKOWSKI, TerryTONELLI, JohnWEST, Steve<h3>R. WINGS</h3>HANSIS, RonHUGHES, FrankLARWAY, DonPRESTON, Rich<h3>L. WINGS</h3>CONNOR, CamLUKOWICH, MorrisLIDDINGTON, BobTAYLOR, Ted<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>NEW ENGLAND</h2><h3>Goalers</h3>LEVASSEUR, LouSMITH, Al<h3>DEFENSE</h3>BUTTERS, BillHANGSLEBEN, AlanHOWE. MartyLEY, RickROBERTS, GordieSELWOOD, Brad<h3>CENTERS</h3>HOWE, GordieKEON, DabePLEAU, LarryROGERS, Mike<h3>R. WINGS</h3>* MAYER, JimMcKENZIE, JohnWEBSTER, Tom<h3>L. Wings</h3>ANTONOVICH, MikeCARLSON, JackHOWE, MarkLYLE, George<h3>INJURED</h3>CARROLL, Greg<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>Goalers</h3>BROMLEY, GaryDALEY, Joe* MATTSSON, Markus<h3>DEFENSE</h3>BERGMAN, ThommieCLACKSON, KimDUNN, DaveGREEN, TedHORNUNG, LarryLONG, BarrySJOBERG, Lars-Erik<h3>CENTERS</h3>HUCK, Fran* NILSSON, KentNILSSON, Ulf<h3>R. WINGS</h3>HEDBERG, AndersLABRAATEN, DanLINDSTROM, WillyRUHNKE, Kent<h3>L. WINGS</h3>GUINDON, BobbyHULL, BobbyKRYSKOW, DaveLESUK, BillMOFFAT, LyleSULLIVAN, Peter<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>BIRMINGHAM</h2><h3>Goalers</h3>GARRETT, JohnWOOD, Wayne<h3>DEFENSE</h3>EVANS, ChrisHOGANSON, DatoHUGHES, BrentLAGACE, Jean-GuyLANGWAY, RodTERBENCHE, PaulTURKIEWWICZ, JimWESTRUM, Pat<h3>CENTERS</h3>MARRIN, PeterNEDOMANSKY, VacNORIS, Joe<h3>R. WINGS</h3>* ALLEY, SteveCASSOLATO, Tony* LINSEMAN, KenNAPIER, MarkSHEEHY, Tim<h3>L. WINGS</h3>BILODEAU, GillesGORMAN, DaveHENDERSON, PaulMAHOVLICH, Frank<h3>INJURED</h3>LAGACE, Jean-Guy<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>Goalers</h3>BRODERICK, KenDRYDEN, Dave* TURNBULL, Frank<h3>DEFENSE</h3>BUSNIUK, RonHAMILTON, AbINKPEN, DaveLANGEVIN, Dave* MICHELETTI, JoeSHMYR, Paul<h3>CENTERS</h3>CALLIGHEN, BrettCAMPBELL, BryanCHIPPERFIELD, RonWIDING, Juha* ZUKE, Mike<h3>R. WINGS</h3>FERGUSON, NormFLETT, BillMacDONALD, BlairMILLER, Warren<h3>L. WINGS</h3>BAIRD, KenDEADMARSH, ButchMORRIS, RickSEMENKO, Dave<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>INDIANAPOLIS</h2><h3>Goalers</h3>INNESS, GaryPARK, Jim<h3>DEFENSE</h3>BALTIMORE, BryonBLOCK, KenFORTIER, DaveMAGGS, DarrylMORRISON, KevinWILKINS, Barry<h3>CENTERS</h3>PARIZEAU, MichelPOWIS, LynnST. SAUVEUR, ClaudeSHEEHAN, Bobby<h3>R. WINGS</h3>LECLERC, RenePAIEMENT, RosairePATENAUDE, RustySPRING, FrankTHOMAS, Rog<h3>L. Wings</h3>BURGESS, DonDEVINE, KevinFRENCH, JohnHARRIS, Hugh<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>Goalers</h3>BRODEUR, Richard* CORSI, JimMcLEOD, Don<h3>DEFENSE</h3>BAXTER, PaulBERNIER, JeanLACOMBE, FrancoiaLARIVIERE, GarryTREMBLAY, J.C.WEIR, Wally<h3>CENTERS</h3>BERNIER, SergeBOUDRIAS, AndreLARIVIERE, Garry<h3>R. WINGS</h3>BORDELEAU, PaulinBRACKENBURY, CurtCLOUTIER, RealSUTHERLAND, Steve<h3>L. WINGS</h3>CONSTANTIN, CharlesDRISCOLL, PeterDUBE, NormGUITE, PierreFITCHNER, BobTARDIF, Merc<h3>INJURED</h3>BORDELEAU, ChrisDOREY, Jim &#9632;

WHA Starting Team Rosters

<div class="byline">BY JIM LEAHY</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaSPRINGFIELD&mdash;&ldquo;We hit rock bottom last year,&rdquo; said Jack Butterfield Coming from the president of the American Hockey League, that statement is worth noting.Butterfield was extremely optimistic during a recent interview when asked about the future of his American Hockey League. Realizing full well that most presidents are eternally optimistic whenever they talk, this one may have a few valid reasons to be happy.The AHL has just taken the two best franchises from the now defunct North American Hockey League after taking the best one from the old Southern Hockey League. While the Rhode Island Reds moved to Binghamton and the Philadelphia Firebirds joined the AHL when they had no league to play in. the SHL attendance leader. Hampton, became a member of the AHL this summer. All three cities should prove to be great AHL franchises.Last season while in Providence, the Rhode Island Reds drew about 3,000 per game. It&rsquo;s a far different situation in Binghamton. Without doubt, every home game will be sold out in the 4.855 seat Broome County Arena. Hockey is so big in Dusterland that some home games are televised in order to satisfy the hockey-hungry Duster fans.The Firebirds are a well-financed organization and the Hampton Gulls play in a beautiful, modern facility.What about Nova Scotia? Why can&rsquo;t they draw in Halifax with all of those great clubs? &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the old Halifax Forum,&rdquo; said Butterfield. &ldquo;The new 10.300 seat building is scheduled to open in January and it will help their attendance tremendously.&rdquo;&ldquo;The Springfield situation has stabilized. They now own four, five players and the Kings have given them some good players like Berry (Bob) and Kannegiesser (Sheldon).&rdquo; Do you think that the Whalers will hurt Springfield now that they have the Howes? &ldquo;No. after all they charge $8-9 for a seat while the Indians are a working man&rsquo;s team. For about half the price a fan can enjoy some great, action-packed hockey.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01336/4096691-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="550" height="1434"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB BERRY</figcaption></div>Butterfield went on to say that he &ldquo;has seen five games so far and each team was hustling and playing an exciting brand of hockey&rdquo;. He also stated, &ldquo;There is even interest in next year.&rdquo; What does that mean? Will somebody place a team in Providence now that the beautiful Civic Center is vacant? What about a return of Baltimore or Virginia?Maine is off to a great start. Binghamton is a super franchise. Rochester. Hershey and New Haven are solid. Springfield should have a good year at the box office and Nova Scotia will improve with the new building. Only Philly and Hampton are unknowns.The AHL leader was quick to criticize the proposed salary limits recently announced by the International Hockey League. &ldquo;How do you enforce such a rule? We tried that 20 years ago in the AHL. It&rsquo;s simply an impossible situation. Somebody is bound to cheat,&rdquo; said Butterfield.One thing is for sure. Nobody could ever accuse Jack Butterfield of not telling it like it is.NEW HAVEN: &ldquo;The kids are starting to mix well with the veterans, and the team is beginning to play more as a unit,&rdquo; said GM-coach Parker MacDonald after his Nighthawks had rebounded from four straight losses to win their next two. The Hawks continued on their winning streak by knocking off the unbeaten Philadelphia Firebirds at the Civic Center on Oct. 26. All of this has been accomplished without All Star defenseman John Bednarski and goaltender Gilles Gratton, who have been out with injuries.BINGHAMTON: It&rsquo;s now official, the transplanted club will be known as the Binghamton Dusters, not the Broome Dusters which was their official title in the North American Hockey League. The Dusters recently cut Dave Staffen who led the NAHL in scoring last year and added Bryan Maxwell who was assigned by the New England Whalers. Forward Hank Nowak and Pittsburgh&rsquo;s number one draft choice, Jim Hamilton, have also been added. The Buffalo Sabres have sent winger Michel Deziel and veteran center Billy Inglis. None of this helped as the Dusters were blown out by Hershey 72 and New Haven 8-3 during the weekend.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02267/4096684-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="558" height="552"><figcaption class="caption-body">JACQUES RICHARD&hellip;Joins Hershey</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01299/4096677-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="1162" height="1599"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALEX TIDEY&hellip; Lands With Hershey (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>HAMPTON: The expansionist Gulls are off to a slow start. After dropping their first four, they bounced back to earn a 3-3 tie with Hershey on Oct. 23. The parent Cincinnati Stingers sent forwards Gene Sobchuk, Lloyd Lahache and Bill Gilligan to the Gulls which may help them get untracked.PHILADELPHIA: The Firebirds are a real surprise in the early season going. They broke from the gate quickly with four wins before losing to the Nighthawks. Bob Collyard and Gordie Brooks have been the big guns for Philly and the goaltending duo of Rejean Lemelin and Cap Raeder has been outstanding. NHL veterans Buster Harvey, Terry Murray and J.A. Stewart should give the Firebirds a good chance of having a winning season in this, their first year in the AHL.NOVA SCOTIA: The Vees are starting to get into high gear which spells trouble for the rest of the league. To make matters worse, Gilles &ldquo;Big Bird&rdquo; Lupien has been sent to Nova Scotia by the Montreal Canadiens. For the other clubs in the AHL, that was very bad news. The six-foot-six-inch Lupien may not be too happy about being sent to the Voyageurs however, it&rsquo;s nearly impossible to crack the awesome Montreal lineup. In addition, the Atlanta Flames returned defenseman Greg Fox to the Vees. The Rochester-Nova Scotia series had it&rsquo;s share of excitement. According to a report from Rochester. ex-Voyageur Sean Shanahan decisioned Gord McTavish right in front of the home town fans.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02238/4096670-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="559" height="597"><figcaption class="caption-body">HANK NOWAK</figcaption></div>MAINE: The Philadelphia Flyer lookalikes dropped three of four games last week. Only a close 3-2 win over the Nighthawks salvaged them from complete disaster. During the stretch they lost 5-3 to Rochester, 4-1 to New Haven and 6-3 to the Firebirds. Center Bernie Johnson did manage to score a hat trick during the loss to Philly. Winger John Paddock leads the league in penalty minutes with 52 after just six games. At that rate he would end up with 694 minutes which would break the record held by the infamous Dave Schultz.ROCHESTER: The Amerks tied for the Southern Division lead with the Firebirds after the first two weeks of action. Rick Addunono and Ron Garwasiuk shared the AHL scoring lead with 11 points each. The Amerks were on a marathon 10-day road trip which included a big 5-3 win over Maine and split of their two games in Nova Scotia. Coach Duane Rupp also received defenseman Pat Price and forward Mike Kaszycki from the Islanders which meant that Joe Rando and Gary Carr had to be sent to Dayton of the IHL.SPRINGFIELD: Goaltender Mario Lessard has been called up to the Kings due to the injury to Rogatien Vachon. The Indians took the early lead in the Northern Division after going undefeated in their first four contests. 3,012 fans saw the Tribe beat Hershey 5-3 and 4,186 turned out the next night to see them edge Hampton 6-4. Rookie winger Jim Moxey leads the club in scoring with 10 points in four games.HERSHEY: Bob Sauve and Jim Bedard are expected to share the goaltending duties this season. The Buffalo Sabres send wingers Jacques Richard and Alex Tidey to Hershey. Rookie winger Nelson Burton leads the Bears in penalties with 50 in four games including three majors for fighting. &#9632;

f0030-01

AHL President Butterfield Excited About League’s Brand Of Hockey

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Nov. 8)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01310/4096816-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="574" height="379"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Nov. 2Springfield 5 at Binghamton 4Hershey 2 at Nova Scotia 4Thu. Nov. 3Rochester 9 at Hampton 1Fri. Nov. 4Hershey 5 at Now Haven 3Binghamton 0 at Rochester 8Sat. Nov. 5Philadelphia 4 at Springfield 7Sun. Nov. 6Hershey 0 at Hampton 3Binghamton 2 at Nova Scotia 8Philadelphia 5 at Rochester 6<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02236/4096809-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="577" height="357"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03185/4096802-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="569" height="378"></div><h3>GOALING RECORDS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04145/4096795-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="577" height="724"></div><h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Nov. 9)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05128/4096788-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="574" height="61"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06101/4096781-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="569" height="138"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Nov. 1Fort Worth 3 at Kansas City 1Thu. Nov. 3Dallas 4 at Kansas City 3Phoenix 2 at Salt Lake 3Fri. Nov. 4kansas City 3 at Dallas 1Fort Worth 4 at Tulsa 3Sat. Nov. 5Fort Worth 6 at Dallas 5Phoenix 0 at Salt Lake 11Kansas City 1 at Tulsa 2<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0788/4096774-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="572" height="293"></div><h3>GOALING RECORDS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0879/4096767-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="568" height="317"></div><h3>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h3>(Standings on Wed. Nov. 9)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0965/4096760-1-eng-US/f0031-092.jpg" title="f0031-09" width="575" height="359"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Nov. 2Port Huron 5 at Fort Wayne 5Muskegon 2 at Milwaukee 3Fri. Nov. 4Port Huron 6 at Muskegon 4Dayton 3 at Flint 4Kalamazoo 3 at Saginaw 6Fort Wayne 2 at Toledo 2Sat. Nov. 5Dayton 1 at Fort Wayne 4Kalamazoo 6 at Muskegon 4Flint 6 at Port Huron 7Toledo 4 at Milwaukee 7Sun. Nov. 6Saginaw 8 at Flint 11Muskegon 2 at Dayton 3Fort Wayne 3 at Kalamazoo 1Toledo 3 at Milwaukee 6<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1053/4096753-1-eng-US/f0031-102.jpg" title="f0031-10" width="583" height="380"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1144/4096746-1-eng-US/f0031-112.jpg" title="f0031-11" width="573" height="136"></div> &#9632;

f0031-01

Looking At The Minor League Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY DOUG McCONNEL</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaKANSAS CITY&mdash;ONCE the Kansas City Red Wings turned it around, they really turned it around.The Wings opened the Central Hockey League season with three straight losses, but are unbeaten in their last six and have won five straight to take a solid hold on second place in the CHL standings, three points behind once beaten Fort Worth.Proving it&rsquo;s no fluke, the Wings won four games in five nights although they almost let the first one get away from them and went down to the wire in two more.The Wings had jumped into a 5-1 lead over the Phoenix Roadrunners, current occupants of the CHL cellar, but let up and had to hustle to come away with a 6-4 victory.&ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t do much on defense,&rdquo; was coach Larry Wilson&rsquo;s simple explanation. &ldquo;We just go too loose on our end. That probably was our worst defensive game of the year.&ldquo;It happens that way with young kids, especially after you get a big lead like that early. When kids first get started in pro hockey, they&rsquo;re offensive minded. The toughest thing to teach is defense.&rdquo;&ldquo;Kids have to learn discipline. They have to learn to pour it on the other club when you&rsquo;ve got the chance. We should have been up by six at the end of the first period.&rdquo;&ldquo;After the first period, I got on our guys. I told them we scored four goals and the way they were playing defense the other club could have been ahead by three goals.&rdquo;The Wings took a 5-1 victory from Phoenix two nights later, but it wasn&rsquo;t as easy as the score indicates and the Wings proved they are learning their lessons.&ldquo;Larry (coach Wilson) knows we can score goals,&rdquo; said Fred Berry, the author of two in the second win over the Roadrunners. &ldquo;He just wants us to play better defense.&rdquo;The game was called by Wilson &ldquo;our best of the season&rdquo; and was decided during a stretch of five minutes and 26 seconds of the second period by some solid penalty killing.John Hilworth drew a five minute high sticking penalty for cutting Roadrunner rookie center Guy Lash (also breaking his nose). Before Hilworth escaped the penalty box. Dave Schamehorn drew a two minute tripping penalty, making the Red Wings two men short for 1:36.The Roadrunners were limited to three shots during the five minute, 24 second power play&mdash;two during the two man advantage&mdash;and goaltender Terry Richardson dealt with them easily.&ldquo;We did a super job of killing the penalties,&rdquo; said Wilson. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s where we won the game.&ldquo;They could have killed us right there. If they score, nobody comes out of the box. I&rsquo;ve seen teams score three or four goals when they have that kind of an advantage.&rdquo;&ldquo;Berry&rsquo;s second goal wrapped it up for us,&rdquo; added Wilson.&rdquo;That made it 4-1. Instead, if Phoenix had scored just once on that long power play, it&rsquo;s 3-2 and a different game.&rdquo;Don Martineau, one of the penalty killing stalwarts, pointed out: &ldquo;Larry has us playing an aggressive type of defense, but he doesn&rsquo;t want us to just play defense out there. He wants us to control the puck.&rdquo;Larry Giroux, defenseman and team captain, scored with a little over two minutes in regulation time, to give the Wings a 4-3 victory over Tulsa.Martineau fired his second goal of the night with 54 seconds left in overtime for a 6-5 victory over the Ice Oilers back in Kansas City the next night. Clark Hamilton, the rookie from Notre Dame, scored twice for the Oilers, his second and third in two games.The Wings have a severe test coming up. After two more games at home, they face eight straight on the road.DALLAS: Gerry McNamara continued his scathing attack on the referees.The rookie Dallas Black Hawks&rsquo; coach may have a point, but then his penalty killing may need some work, too.The Black Hawks&rsquo; opponents were successful in six of eight power play attempts in two games.For the second time in two weeks, Ralph Stewart scored a power play goal for the victory, 4-3 for the Tulsa Ice Oilers over the Black Hawks.Chuck Banfield was the referee who called consecutive penalties against the Black Hawks in the earlier game, resulting in heavy criticism by McNamara.John McCutcheon&rsquo;s turn was next.&ldquo;We got homers for the second week in a row here,&rdquo; said McNamara. &ldquo;The penalty to (Rocky) Saganuik was probably justified, but then (Hawks&rsquo; Dan) Hinton was pulled down in front of the net with about a minute to go, and they didn&rsquo;t call a thing.&rdquo;Saganuik went off with 3:25 left in the game and Stewart&rsquo;s slap shot from the point caromed off a Dallas player into the net with 2:19 left.The Hawks came from a 5-2 deficit for a 5-5 draw with the Phoenix Roadrunners in their home opener in front of 6,163 fans.Ron Wilson, with his second goal of the game, eighth of the season and sixth in three games with Phoenix, started the three-goal third period comeback, picking off an errant Phoenix pass. Dan Hinton scored twice, including the tying goal.The game at Tulsa was Duane Wylie&rsquo;s 393rd in a Dallas uniform, breaking the team record set by Ian McKegney last season. McKegney was given his release prior to this season.FORT WORTH: Coach Billy MacMillan said he had been expecting the bubble to burst at any time&mdash;and it did with a bang.The Fort Worth Texans had won their first six games, the best start of any team in the Central Hockey League since Denver in 1974-75, when they landed in Salt Lake City for a two-game series with the Golden Eagles.The Eagles came out flying, taking an early lead and walloping the Texans 8-1.MacMillan said he was relieved to get the pressure off, told his players the same thing and that since they had the game out of their systems, they could bounce back two nights later.They did, although it took a while to get going.Bill Hogaboam, a newcomer, got them rolling, scoring at 9:48 of the third period to tie the score at 2-2. Mike Hordy got the winner four minutes later, his first goal as a pro, and Ed Pizunski, newly arrived from the New York Islanders, scored the clincher in the 4-2 victory.Hogaboam, who scored the only goal in the earlier slaughter by the Eagles, was just sent in from Minnesota, where the 28-year-old right wing had been the North Stars&rsquo; youngest captain in their history last season.The North Stars had recalled Tom Younghans and Ron Zanussi and traded the Texans&rsquo; leading scorer Blake Dunlop (four goals and two assists in six games) to Philadelphia for Harvey Bennett.Bennett stayed with Minnesota and Dunlop was assigned to Portland, Maine, in the American League.TULSA: The Tulsa Ice Oilers split for the week, stopping Dallas 4-3 and losing 6-5 to Kansas City, both at home, but Stan Weir and Claire Alexander remained one-two in the Central Hockey League scoring race.Ralph Stewart scored with 1:58 left in regulation, one of three power play goals by the Oilers, for the winning goal against Dallas.Bob Simpson scored twice for Tulsa in the loss to Kansas City, giving him three in two games. Don Martineau&rsquo;s second goal of the night with 54 seconds left in the extra 10-minute period, gave the Red Wings the victory.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01315/4096885-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="578" height="764"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROCKY SAGANIUK&hellip;Guilty As Charged</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02240/4096878-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="580" height="764"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAN HINTON&hellip;Victimized By Call</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01355/4096871-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="580" height="784"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY HULL</figcaption></div>Rookie Glen Hanlon was in the Tulsa nets for both games as Michel Belhumeur was recalled by Atlanta. Belhumeur had a 2.35 goals against average in three games for the Oilers.SALT LAKE CITY: Player-coach Barclay Plager tied two team records and the Central Hockey League&rsquo;s shortest player, Doug Palazzari, scored a hat trick in a surprising 8-1 route by the Salt Lake Golden Eagles of the Fort Worth Texans.The Texans had won their first six games.Plager, 36. had five assists in the game, four of them in the first period, to tie Eagles&rsquo; records set by Guyle Fielder. Since Fielder&rsquo;s records were in the Western Hockey League, Plager&rsquo;s marks are records for the Eagles in the CHL.Lyle Bradley and Jerry Holland both scored two goals for the Eagles in the opener of the two-game Eagles-Texans series.After trailing 2-1 through two-and-a-half periods, the Texans bounced back on goals by newcomers Bill Hogaboam and Ed Pizunski and rookie Mike Hordy for a 4-2 victory. Hordy&rsquo;s goal, the winner, was his first in pro hockey.PHOENIX: The Phoenix Roadrunners were sitting around the Dallas airport, awaiting a 2:33 a m. flight back to Phoenix after blowing a 5-2 lead into a 5-5 tie with the Dallas Black Hawks.&ldquo;Practice at Oceanside Ice Arena at 10.&rdquo; announced coach Sandy Hucul. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll teach these guys to blow a three-goal lead.&rdquo;Hucul was joking. He was disappointed but not angry that the Rumers stretched their winless streak to six games, although ending a losing streak at four.&ldquo;It was the best game we&rsquo;ve played in a while,&rdquo; said Hucul. &ldquo;It was just inexperience which caused that letdown.&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;re starting to get it together. It&rsquo;ll take a while. We&rsquo;ve been through this before and these are a good bunch of kids.&rdquo;They are kids. The average age is 21.3.Reg Kerr, in his second game since being assigned by the Cleveland Barons, got to play at left wing and scored two goals against Dallas.At Kansas City the night before, in a 5-1 loss, he was forced into a roll on defense when the club&rsquo;s most experienced rearguard, Roger Lemelin, 23. was expelled for leading a charge over the boards at 2:29 when goaltender Jim Warden had a run-in with Red Wings&rsquo; Brian McCutcheon.The Runners had come back, after trailing 5-1 at one point, only to lose 6-4 two nights earlier. &#9632;

f0032-01

K.C. Winging Towards CHL Lead; Hawks’ McNamara Blasts Referees

<h2>NOVEMBER</h2>Wed. 9 Dallas at PhoenixKansas City at Salt LakeThu. 10 Tulsa at Ft. WorthFri. 11 Dallas at PhoenixKansas City at Salt LakeFt. Worth at TulsaSat. 12 Kansas City at Ft. WorthPhoenix at TulsaSun. 13 Phoenix at DallasTue. 15 Phoenix at Ft. WorthThu. 17 Tulsa at DallasSalt Lake at Ft. WorthKansas City at PhoenixFri. 18 Ft. Worth at DallasSalt Lake at TulsaSat. 19 Dallas at Ft. WorthKansas City at PhoenixSalt Lake at TulsaWed. 23 Salt Lake at DallasTulsa at Ft. WorthThu. 24 Kansas City at TulsaFri. 25 Dallas at Ft. WorthTulsa at Kansas CitySalt Lake at PhoenixSat. 26 Kansas City at Ft. WorthSalt Lake at PhoenixSun. 27 Kansas City at DallasTue. 29 Tulsa at Phoenix &#9632;

Where CHL Teams Play

<div class="byline">BY RICH PASSAN</div>CLEVELAND&mdash;Gary Edwards is a soft-spoken young man whose lot in life, it appears, is to play second fiddle in his chosen profession.That profession is goaltending. And it has been Edwards&rsquo; misfortune to play behind a couple of pretty fair netminders in six National Hockey League seasons.In the first five campaigns, Edwards had to watch as Rogie Vachon backstopped for the Los Angeles Kings in spectacular fashion. He did, however, manage to get into 145 games and posted a respectable 3.32 goals-against average.But the starts became less and less frequent. Soon, he sat on the bench in L.A. almost on a full-time basis. He finally asked to be traded.Midway through his sixth pro season, he was sent to Cleveland. It didn&rsquo;t make any difference that the Kings were playoff-bound and the Barons were bound for oblivion.Edwards wanted only to work. But he got into just 17 games&mdash;winning four, tying three and logging a 4.08 GAA&mdash;because Gilles Meloche was the fair-haired boy in Cleveland much as Vachon was in Los Angeles.Once again, Edwards was on the bench. And that&rsquo;s where he began the 1977-78 season. Meloche, you see, was hot in training camp and stayed that way through the embryonic stages of the regular season.If Edwards is unhappy, angry or bitter about the situation, it doesn&rsquo;t show. &ldquo;Whatever my feelings are will be my own,&rdquo; said Edwards, who declined to elaborate.The mustachioed cage cop, now 30, also declined to say whether he would issue another demand to be traded to Cleveland general manager Harry Howell. The first nine games saw him on the bench and growing impatient.&ldquo;All I can do is practice and play as well as I can,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s not good to not play for a long time.&rdquo;His biggest fear is his effectiveness when he does get the call from coach Jack Evans. &ldquo;I hope I start sharp.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I don&rsquo;t, it will be understandable. I hope to play enough games to get sharp.&rdquo;If he starts this season in the manner he made his Cleveland debut, he has no worries.He joined the Barons in Buffalo and Evans threw him into the fire after a long trip from the west coast. Edwards responded with a 3-0 whitewash of the Sabres in a stunning upset.Edwards does not regret the trade to Cleveland. He knew he wasn&rsquo;t going to get much ice time in Los Angeles with Vachon, probably the best in the NHL, minding the nets. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve put that behind me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just hope things get better here.&rdquo;The Toronto native likes this season&rsquo;s edition of the Barons. Their improvement is obvious. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very difficult not to improve,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But we re running into the same (injury) problems we had last year.&ldquo;Injuries can affect a team mentally, as well as physically,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;If certain people are not available to do the job, it makes it difficult for other to do their jobs.&rdquo;Edwards would like to contribute. It&rsquo;s likely that by the time you read this, he will have started at least one game. And if he gets as hot as Meloche. the Barons will be that much stronger this season.BARONS&rsquo; BITS: The Barons&rsquo; bubble burst after reeling off a club-record-tying four straight victories following an opening-game loss in L.A. The Pittsburgh Penguins ended the streak with a 3-2 victory, then came 5-0 and 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks, respectively. All were at home. Injuries, which decimated the right wing last season, are threatening to do the same this season to the defense Mike Christie is out three weeks with a broken bone in his foot. Bob Stewart is hobbling on a tender nakle, Bjorn Johansson is shaky on a bad ankle, Rick Hampton has a sore shoulder and Jim Neilson has recurring back miseries.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01283/4096940-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="564" height="620"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY EDWARDS &hellip; Waits On Bench</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0033-01

Barons’ Edwards Still Filling Backup Roles

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaSAGINAW&mdash;Uneasy rests the crown on the king&rsquo;s head.The king in this case is Saginaw, defending league and Turner Cup champions of the International Hockey League. Following the first weekend of action in the 1977-78 season, the Gears are one of three clubs still seeking a victory.While the season has barely begun, manager-coach Don Perry has to be concerned over the fact two of the first three Gear games were at home. And they managed just one point&mdash;a 3-3 tie with Port Huron in the season opener. The second largest opening-game crowd in the Gear history was present&mdash;4,862.While somewhat upset with the play of his team. Perry was impressed with Port Huron. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re going to be a goodhockey club. They&rsquo;ll give a lot of teams trouble.Gears&rsquo; owner Wren Blair sounded an ominous note. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t give our guys much room. That&rsquo;s the way it&rsquo;s going to be all year, I&rsquo;m afraid.&rdquo; Blair obviously expects a tight battle for league honors.Following the 3-3 tie at home, the Gears dropped a 3-2 decision at Muskegon and then came home to face the Fort Wayne Komets. Another one-goal defeat followed. But it&rsquo;s a long season&mdash;77 games still to go.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01310/4096978-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="496" height="580"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRIAN KINSELLA</figcaption></div>The Gears weren&rsquo;t the only pre-season favorite to experience rough skating early. Kalamazoo, which chased Saginaw right to the final faceoff last season, also is winless after the first weekend. But the K-Wings did manage a little better results point-wise. They skated to a pair of ties&mdash;playing a 3-3 deadlock at Fort Wayne and holding young Milwaukee to a 5-5 standoff in the season opener&mdash;before a crowd of 4,088.The high-scoring game featured a pair of three-goal hat tricks. Both by rookies. Tom Milani, rookie of the year in the North American League last season, got the hat for the Gears. Gary Morrison, just out of the University of Michigan, did likewise for the Admirals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02250/4096971-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="566" height="594"><figcaption class="caption-body">TOM MILANI</figcaption></div>Manager-coach Bob Lemieux wasn&rsquo;t too disappointed by the opening night&rdquo; performance. &ldquo;Their (Milwaukee&rsquo;s) goaltending is superb. And our fans are expecting to see a Terry Richardson all the time for us. But we&rsquo;ve got four junior goalies.&rdquo;The South Division, meanwhile, resembles the finish of last season. The Toledo Goaldiggers are on top again. The Diggers picked off four-of-six possible points with a 3-1 win at Dayton and a 6-2 triumph over Muskegon at home. The Diggers did lose the home opener&mdash;to Dayton by a 4-3 score.Of concern to Toledo&rsquo;s rivals in the South is Ted Garvin&rsquo;s early analysis of his club. &ldquo;We are in better shape now than we were a year ago at this time. Probably as good a shape for this early of any team I&rsquo;ve had recently.&rdquo;Garvin, normally, wakes his team up around Christmas. And skates to the top of the class. If the Diggers get off to a fast start&mdash;maybe the South race will be over by the first of January instead of just getting a good start.Elsewhere around the IHL:MUSKEGON: Moose Lallo says he &ldquo;ran a low-key training camp&rdquo; and was faced with pretty much of a &ldquo;rebuilding job That may be. But the Mohawks are off a high key start, grabbing a pair of victories on the opening weekend.The Mohawks, with seven rookies on the roster, exploded late to whip Fort Wayne, 5-2, and then took a 3-2 thriller from Saginaw. A crowd of 3,100 witnessed the battle with the Gears&mdash;an encouraging sign also. It took the Mohawks until the 10th home game last season to crack the 3,000 barrier.FLINT: The Generals, who had been known to break quickly from the gate in the past, have done it again. The Generals are perfect after the opening weekend&mdash;passing their first two assignments without a blemish. It wasn&rsquo;t easy&mdash;the two victories coming by one-goal margins. But the four points look good to coach-manager Doug Carpenter.The Generals opened with a 4-3 victory at Milwaukee and followed with a 3-2 squeaker at home over Port Huron.PORT HURON: The Flags got a good look at the hot goaltending which has marked Milwaukee&rsquo;s early tests in IHL competition. The Flags fired 56 shots at Rick Sirois but had to hang on for a 2-1 victory. It came in the Flags&rsquo; home opener before 2,001 fans and followed a 33 tie on the road at Saginaw.New coach Ron Ullyot admitted to &ldquo;getting a little worried. We were getting the shots but putting them high and were getting frustrated. I was concerned we&rsquo;d forget to backcheck.&rdquo;Brian Kinsella, who has made the switch from right wing to center, got both the Flag goals. The Flags also got a two-goal performance from left wing Gary Rissling in the tie at Saginaw.MILWAUKEE: While the young Admirals managed just one point in their first three starts, there were a lot of encouraging signs. The future appears pretty good.Both of the Admiral losses were by a single goal. One was on the road. And in their third start&mdash;also on foreign ice, Milwaukee picked up its first point with a 5-5 tie at Kalamazoo.Obviously in a happy mood, Milwaukee coach Gene Ubriaco said, &ldquo;Oh, it was nothing, nothing at all&rdquo; in referring to the point picked up at Kalamazoo. He added, &ldquo;We need this. We re all very young and very tight and I think this will loosen us up.&ldquo;We learned two good lessons the first two nights and I&rsquo;m glad they learned them early. We gave up the winning goal in the last 16 seconds of the final period against Flint (at home) and we let Port Huron score in the last eight seconds of the first period.&rdquo; The Flags went on to a 2-1 victory.The Admirals&rsquo; home opener drew a crown of 4,610. And the fans seemed to like what they saw.FORT WAYNE: New coach Gregg Pilling had to wait until the Komets&rsquo; third game for his first victory. And it came on the road. After losing on the road (at Muskegon, 5-2), the Komets and Pilling greeted an opening night crowd of 5,707 at the Memorial Coliseum, and came from behind for a 3-3 tie with Kalamazoo.Pilling&rsquo;s first victory came the next night in Saginaw when the Komets skated off with a 5-4 victory. Rookies scored five of the 10 goals for the Komets in the opening weekend of action.DAYTON: The Owls, who got a new coach shortly before the season opened, split their first two games. And did it in reverse, winning on the road and losing at home.Nick Polano is the new Owl coach. General manager Moe Bartoli handled the Owls in training camp and was ready to fullfill the task for the season as well. But owner Al Savill decided one hat was enough for the veteran IHL player, coach and GM.The Owls nipped Toledo in the opener on a goal by Hank Taylor with just 41 seconds left in the game. The Diggers got even with a 3-1 verdict in Dayton. &#9632;

f0034-01

Northern Powers Held Winless; Diggers Look Better Than Ever

<h2>NOVEMBER</h2>Wed. 9 Pt. Huron at DaytonSaginaw at KalamazooFlint at ToledoFt. Wayne at MilwaukeeFri. 11 Milwaukee at Ft. WayneMuskegon at SaginawPt Huron at ToledoSat. 12 Toledo at Ft. WayneMuskegon at Pt. HuronMilwaukee at DaytonFlint at KalamazooSun. 13 Ft. Wayne at Pt. HuronFlint at SaginawDayton at KalamazooMilwaukee at ToledoWed. 16 Muskegon at DaytonKalamazoo at ToledoFri. 18 Dayton at MuskegonKalamazoo at FlintSaginaw at ToledoSat. 19 Milwaukee at MuskegonToledo at Pt. HuronFlint at DaytonFt. Wayne at SaginawSun. 20 Muskegon at FlintMilwaukee at SaginawPt. Huron at KalamazooDayton at ToledoWed. 23 Pt. Huron at DaytonFlint at SaginawMuskegon at KalamazooFt. Wayne at ToledoThu. 24 Dayton at Ft. WayneSaginaw at MuskegonMilwaukee at Pt. HuronFri. 25 Kalamazoo at FlintSat. 26 Flint at Ft. WayneKalamazoo at MuskegonSaginaw at Pt. HuronToledo at DaytonSun. 27 Pt. Huron at FlintMuskegon at SaginawKalamazoo at ToledoDayton at MilwaukeeWed. 30 Toledo at Ft. WayneSaginaw at Dayton &#9632;

Where IHL Teams Play

<div class="byline">BY DANNY YOUNG</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01296/4097033-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="559" height="738"><figcaption class="caption-body">NORMAND LEFEBVRE&hellip;Slick Scorer</figcaption></div>TROIS RIVIERES&mdash;The Trois Rivieres Draveurs have the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League&rsquo;s best record. Their goals-against average of 3.66, quite low for junior standards, may be the primary reason for the team&rsquo;s success so far, but the Draveurs would not be sitting on top of the league without the superb offensive play of Normand Lefebvre.The slick goal scorer has accounted for 22 of the 118 Draveur goals this season. With 16 assists, Normand has scored or set up one third of the club&rsquo;s goals.Lefebvre feels he is just beginning to play up to his potential. &ldquo;The last four or five games I wasn&rsquo;t playing well. I&rsquo;ve been letting up when the opposition has not been good. Tonight, I knew I had to do my part to help the club win. I&rsquo;m needed here and I must produce.&rdquo;Normand scored two third-period goals to give Trois Rivieres a 4-4 tie with Montreal in that contestGeneral manager and coach Michel Bergeron does not hesitate to praise his star forward. &ldquo;Normand is a great leader on the ice. I think he is one of the best right wingers in the league. He shoots left but really knows how to play the position.&rdquo;The young Draveur teams up with Richard David and Pierre Aubry to form a deadly trio. Normand feels that compatability is the key to the line&rsquo;s success. &ldquo;We just work well together. We get along on and off the ice and always help each other.&rdquo;Lefebvre and David are two of only five players remaining on the Draveurs&rsquo; roster from last year as a result of graduations and multiple trades.Coach Bergeron feels that the changes were necessary to improve the club. &ldquo;I felt that Cornwall had a better club and that&rsquo;s why I made a lot of trades. It&rsquo;s tough for the team, but players like David and Lefebvre keep the club together.&rdquo;Normand, who scored 31 goals and 52 assists last season, is hoping for a more productive season with eyes on a 50-goal total.Three 50-goal scorers, Richard Dalpe, Roland Cloutier, and Benoit Gosselin graduated from the Draveurs last year. This makes Lefebvre&rsquo;s output that much more important to the team&rsquo;s success.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been much happier since I was traded from Sherbrooke. I like this team and I want to contribute. The changes haven&rsquo;t bothered me.&rdquo;Trois Rivieres is a serious contender for the league championship and will look toward Normand for offensive leadership.The 19-year-old forward is looking beyond the Memorial Cup. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to play in the pros next year. If I had a choice, at Los Angeles because of the great weather.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s not known whether the Kings have been scouting Normand but if the Draveurs&rsquo; top goalgetter continues to improve, it is more than likely that he will catch the eyes of pro teams as he leads the Draveurs in the QMJHL race.MONTREAL: The Juniors have won six of seven games and are threatening Cornwall for supremacy in the Lebel Division. After defeating Chicoutimi 7-4, the team came up with a great effort and tied Trois Rivieres 4-4. Marco Baron was spectacular in the nets. Richard Suwek scored the tying goal at 18:48 of the third period, his second of the night, and also scored twice against Chicoutimi. Center Denis Savard has been very effective as a two-way hockey player for Montreal who now have the league&rsquo;s best goals-against average.SHERBROOKE: After defeating Chicoutimi 7-2 on two goal games by Sylvain Locas and Ricky Vaive, the Beavers fell to Hull and Laval by scores of 12-3 and 14-2 respectively. Coach Ghislain Delage was disappointed with his goalies and acquired 16-year-old Jacques Chapdeleine, a Junior B goaler, from HullLAVAL: The Nationals moved ahead of Verdun in the standings with a 6-2 win. 17-year-old Michel Poncelet had two goals in his second QMJHL contest from his center ice position. Richard Pepin had a hat trick to lead the Nationals to a 14-2 rout over Sherbrooke. Center Bruce Montgomery will return to the Laval lineup this week.QUEBEC: The Remparts moved closer to third place Chicoutimi with a 4-3 win over Shawinigan and an 8-4 victory over Laval. Michel Goulet scored the winner in the 4-3 match and Denis Halle had two goals to lead the 7-4 win.CHICOUTIMI: In a 7-4 loss to Montreal, coach Yvan Gingras was accused of inciting his players to brawl by Montreal coach Roger Bedard. With 27 seconds remaining in the game a brawl erupted in which six players received major penalties and four players received misconducts. Gingras flatly denied the charges. The Sagueneens are slumping and lost to Sherbrooke 7-2.HULL: After losing to Cornwall 7-3, the Olympics came to life and destroyed Sherbrooke 12-3. October player of the month Dan Metivier had two goals and four assists and linemate Claude Larochelle had two goals and assisted on three others.TROIS RIVIERES: The Draveurs met Cornwall for the second time this season and rose to the occasion with a 3-1 win. The Draveurs outshot their opponents 4225. 3,279 jammed into the Trois Rivieres Coliseum which seats much less. Trois Rivieres tied Montreal 4-4 and defeated Shawinigan 7-5 in other action.SHAWINIGAN: The Dynamos are showing signs of improvement. They outshot Quebec 46-32 but lost 4-3. Serge Menard had two goals in the losing cause. Shawinigan surprised Trois Rivieres with a super effort but lost 7-5. At one point in the second period they held a 4-2 lead.CORNWALL: Cam MacGregor scored three times to lead the Royals to a 7-3 victory over Hull. Dan Geoffrion had one goal and three assists. Unfortunately neither Royal could tally as Cornwall fell to Trois Rivieres 3-1. All Star goalie Tim Bernhardt kept the Royals in the game by stopping 39 of 42 shots.VERDUN: The Hawks outshot Laval 35-36 but lost 6-2. They avenged their loss with a hard fought 6-4 win in Laval. Norman Aubin, who leads the league in scoring with 50 points, notched a pair of goals in the victory. &#9632;

f0035-01

Lefebvre’s Offense Aiding Draveurs’ Rise

<h2>NOVEMBER</h2>Mon. 7 Quebec at LavalVerdun at SherbrookeTue. 8 Shawinigan at HullChicoutimi at Trois-RividresWed. 9 Verdun at ShawiniganThu. 10 Hull at ChicoutimiMontreal at CornwallSherbrooke at VerdunFri. 11 Trois-Rivieres at MontrealHull at QuebecChicoutimi at ShawiniganSun. 13 Hull at CornwallTrois-Rividres at LavalQuebec at ShawiniganMontreal at SherbrookeChicoutimi at VerdunMon. 14 Chicoutimi at LavalTue. 15 Verdun at HullQuebec at Trois-RividresWed. 16 Trois-Rividres at QuebecMontreal at VerdunThu. 17 Sherbrooke at ChicoutimiHull at CornwallFri. 18 Cornwall at MontrealLaval at QuebecShawinigan at SherbrookeSun. 20 Trois-Rividres at ChicoutimiLaval at CornwallQuebec at MontrealSherbrooke at ShawiniganHull at Verdun &#9632;

Where QML Teams Play

<h2>NOVEMBER</h2>Mon. 7 Windsor at SudburyTue. 8 Toronto at HamiltonLondon at Niagara FallsThu. 10 Kitchener at OshawaKingston at WindsorLondon at PeterboroughFri. 11 Peterborough at SudburyNiagara Falls at Sault Ste. MarieOshawa at OttawaKingston at KitchenerToronto at LondonSun. 13 Peteroorough at Sault Ste.MarieNiagara Falls at SudburyKitchener at OttawaWindsor at HamiltonToronto at OshawaKingston at LondonTue. 15 Ottawa at HamiltonKingston at OshawaLondon at TorontoWed. 16 Sudbury at Sault Ste.MarieThu. 17 Toronto at PeterboroughLondon at WindsorFri. 18 Toronto at KitchenerWindsor at OttawaHamilton at LondonSudbury at KingstonSault Ste.Marie at Niagara Falls &#9632;

Where OHA Teams Play

<div class="byline">BY MIKE GAMBLE</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaOTTAWA&mdash;The rich got richer in last week&rsquo;s Ontario Major Junior Hockey League action and the trade rumours started to blow among the lesser lights.In the Leyden Division, Ottawa, Peterborough and Kingston all had winning records to open up some breathing room ahead of Oshawa, Sudbury and the Soo.The script was similar in the Emms Division where London and Hamilton won their only games while Windsor took two of three to move into first place ahead of the Knights. But Kitchener and Toronto failed to earn a point while last place Niagara Falls gained ground by splitting two games.There have not been any trades since the beginning of the season but the rumblings are that Sudbury, Kitchener, Oshawa. Toronto and the Soo are starting to look closely at that alternative in an effort to become more competitive.The defending league champions, the Ottawa 67s, took three of a possible four points in two home-ice appearances. In another &ldquo;basketball&rdquo; game, Brian Kilrea&rsquo;s crew outscored Marlboros 10-7. Then, Sudbury Wolves checked the 67s to a standstill and only a goal by winger Shane Pearsall in the final two minutes gave Ottawa a 2-2 tie.Toronto fell behind early because of the work of Ottawa&rsquo;s top line&mdash;Bob Smith, Tim Higgins and Steve Payne. Marlies began to gamble to try and get back in the hockey game and Kilrea was unhappy that his players went right along with the loose, free-wheeling play.With the single point against the Wolves, Ottawa remained tied for top spot in the Leyden Division with the Petes. Smith is one point behind Wayne Gretzky in the league scoring derby but the big 67s&rsquo; center leads in goals with 21.PETERBOROUGH: Gary Green&rsquo;s tough conditioning program continues to pay dividends as Petes put together two close home ice victories before failing to protect a third period lead against Oshawa. That leaves Petes with a 9-4-2 mark with six tough games on the horizon. Peterborough defeated Oshawa 5-4 and Sudbury 2-1 as rookie netminder Ken Ellacott continues to impress. Ellacott, a fourth round draft pick from Hespeler has a goals-against record of 3.70. Green continues to get the bulk of his offensive output from Keith Acton, Tom Trimper and Gerald Cowie but is equally pleased with his checking line of Mark Kirton, Jeff Brubaker and Keith Crowder. On defense the pair of Randy Johnston and Paul MacKinnon is also playing strongly.KINGSTON: Canadians kept pace with Ottawa and Peterborough and have two games in hand. Kingston split its northern road trip losing 5-4 to Soo Greyhounds before nipping the Wolves 6-5. The Hounds then visited the Limestone City and lost 6-3.Captain Tony McKegney came from well off the pace to move into a threeway tie for fourth spot in the scoring race with 11 goals and 21 assists.OSHAWA: The Generals began the week one point ahead of Kingston but split a series against Peterborough to slip back into fourth place. The week&rsquo;s results kept the Generals record intact. After 15 games they have lost only one game at home, but have yet to win on the road.The 7-5 victory over Petes was the team&rsquo;s fifth of the season and equalled the number of wins the team had all last season.First draftpick Tom McCarthy is the leading scorer with 11 goals and 13 assists. Coach Bassin is exceptionally pleased with his club&rsquo;s draft selections particularly Rick Lanz a defenseman with four years left, Vic Morin and Peter Horachek. Morin is the surprise of the team being selected in the 17th round from North Bay midgets. He was the game star in a recent loss in Hamilton.Two other Generals have successfully battled weight problems and are having strong years. Defenseman Charlie Huddy has lost 30 pounds from last season when he played tier two and has five goals.Right winger Les Campbell, acquired last season from Kitchener, was ordered by Bassin to come to camp at 180 pounds. Instead he came in at 172 and had 19 points in his first seven games before being injured. Bassin hopes to have Campbell back next week.One of the Generals few bright spots last season was 33-goal scorer Joe Campagnola but he&rsquo;s played in only one period this season before injuring his shoulder. The center was operated on last month and it will be mid-December before they expect Campagnola back in action.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01272/4097088-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="565" height="487"><figcaption class="caption-body">SHANE PEARSALL&hellip;Saves Ottawa</figcaption></div>Bassin notes that 46 percent of the team&rsquo;s drafts are playing&mdash;a high percentage&mdash;and attributes the team&rsquo;s successes to plain hard work.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t been blown out by anybody so far and we had a long steep ladder to climb after last season.&rdquo;Even better than the team&rsquo;s 5-8-2 mark is that 14 players will be back next year and most still have at least two years remaining.SUDBURY: Wolves won the hard luck award of the week but nothing else. Sudbury managed just one point of a possible six but lost two games by one goal. After Kingston edged them 6-5 in Sudbury, Peterborough escaped with a 2-1 squeaker. The Wolves then tied Ottawa 22 for their lone point which leaves them tied with Greyhounds in the division basement, but with a game in hand. Coach Noel Price placed several Wolves up for trade but drew no response from other clubs.SOO: Coach Muzz MacPherson also let it be known that there were Greyhound players available but no deals were completed.On the ice, the Hounds came away with only two of a possible six points. They started the week strongly with a 5-4 home ice victory over Kingston before losing 6-4 to Niagara Falls and 6-3 in the return engagement in Kingston.Gretzky continues to lead the scoring race with 47 points. The blond center is also b&ecirc;ng trailed by a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation crew which is putting together a special documentary on the rookie sensation.WINDSOR: Despite losing to London, the Spitfires moved into top spot ahead of the Knights, running up big scores against Niagara Falls and Toronto.Knights edged Windsor 4-3 in London but Spitfires whipped Flyers 11-5 and crushed Toronto 10-1 at home. The 24 goals gives Windsor the most in the league. Three Spitfires, Gerry Leroux, Joel Quenneville and George Kotsopoulos are all in the top 10. It&rsquo;s Leroux&rsquo;s first appearance there and he vaulted into third place with 17 goals and 16 assists. Against Marlboros, Windsor fired seven power-play markers and goaltender Roland Melonson lost his shutout late in the game.LONDON: Knights played only once but made the most of it as they gained revenge on the previous week&rsquo;s loss to Windsor. Knights&rsquo; netminders Pat Riggin and Barry Heard are, once again, near the top, both with goals-against average under 4.0. Winger Dino Ciccarelli is the only London player in the top 10 with 17 goals and 11 assists and tied with Higgins of Ottawa.HAMILTON: With 12 last year players in their line-up, the Fincups crushed Kitchener Rangers 12-2 in Kitchener, after whipping them three nights earlier by 8-1.The three goals against propelled Fincups&rsquo; goaltender Al Jensen to an average of 2.90. tops in the league. Jensen has allowed just 29 goals in 10 games. His backup. Rick Walmsley is also playing well with a goals-against average of 3.60.The double victories opened up a five point gap between Fincups and the Rangers.KITCHENER: Prior to last week&rsquo;s double lacing by the Fincups, Kitchener coach Mac MacLean was talking about how well his team was playing defensively. But Raz Pilon and Mark Fisher gave up 20 goals against the Fincups which gives them a total of 69 against after 13 games.Rangers are also said to be interested in trading and may be looking for a tough center, if there&rsquo;s one available.TORONTO: Marlles were the only other team besides Kitchener to go pointless. They also gave up 20 goals in 10-7 and 10-1 losses to Ottawa and Windsor.Prior to the season, coach George Armstrong was confident that, in a rebuilding year, he had a veteran defensive corps and improved goaltending.But despite playing the fewest games to date, Toronto has given up an average of 6.3 goals&mdash;worst in the league. Lloyd Dyson was in goal against Ottawa, where except for brief letups, Toronto skated with the 67s. Twice in the first period and once in the third, Ottawa scored two goals in spaces of 19,21, and 34 seconds.Scott McGeown, a minor midget last year appears to be drawing most of management&rsquo;s ire for his lackadasical defensive play. McGeown has always been able to score points but his defensive work alongside Brian McCafferty has been poor.Armstrong is still carrying three netminders and Terry Wright started his second game against Windsor. It was a penalty-filled match and by the third period. Toronto was left with only five forwards.Armstrong also performed some lineup juggling with inconclusive results. With last place Niagara Falls breathing down their necks, Marlies could be a team preparing to make some trades.NIAGARA FALLS: Flyers split a pair of games losing 11-5 to Windsor before edging Greyhounds 6-4. Although they&rsquo;ve played four more games than Toronto, the victory gives them seven points to Marlies&rsquo; eight.Every coach in the league insists Flyers are better than their 3-10-1 record indicates. With captain Steve Peters healthy, Flyers may be ready to move up. &#9632;

f0036-01

Leyden Leaders Open Daylight; Wolves, Hounds Show Trade Bait

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE PENTON</div>LOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE SLUGGERHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaBRANDON&mdash;Brandon Wheat King coach Dune McCallum is hoping the going doesn&rsquo;t get too tough for his Western Canada Hockey League team just because the team&rsquo;s tough has gone.Big Dave Semenko, 20, played the first seven games of the Wheaties&rsquo; schedule and scored 10 goals&mdash;including a pair of three-goal games&mdash;before being unable to resist a tempting contract offer from Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association.Semenko&rsquo;s departure came just one week before Brandon was scheduled to leave on an eight-day western road trip, a journey most teams discover to be a physical nightmare.With a player like Semenko in a team&rsquo;s lineup, it stands a much better chance of standing up to the heavy scene out west, where each game has the potential of being a hit-man&rsquo;s delight.Semenko, understand, is a six-foot-three, 205-pounder who could give boxing a go if it wasn&rsquo;t for his hockey talents being in the way. Few people even challenged him and most teams left the rest of the Wheat Kings alone, too, with Semenko&rsquo;s ominous presence looming large. Resultingly. the swifter-skating Wheat Kings had room to roam and with super snipers like Bill Derlago, Ray Allison and Brian Propp lurking in the midst, it often spelled victory for Brandon.But McCallum had second thoughts on the affect Semenko&rsquo;s absence would have on his club. And after a 6-2 Semenko-less win over Eastern Division-leading Flin Flon, which has played eight more games than the Wheat Kings, McCallum was bubbling.&ldquo;Tonight, everybody grabbed hold of the rope,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In past games, I think a lot of our guys were looking to Dave to handle the physical game all by himself. Tonight, everybody hit. His leaving might be a blessing in disguise.&rdquo;Semenko or no Semenko, Derlago just keeps on methodically scoring goals.The league&rsquo;s outstanding individual, who scored a record 96 goals as an 18-year-old last year, Derlago seems well on his way to duplicating, or surpassing that record. In eight games, the super center had 15 goals and 10 assists, paces that would give him 135 goals and 90 assists.Uncomprehensible figures, but realistic, considering that young man&rsquo;s talents.One scout rated Derlago the league&rsquo;s best 19-year-old and said he is No. 2 in the country&mdash;behind Ottawa 67s&rsquo; Bob Smith.But while scoring and playmaking come as naturally to Derlago as breathing, the Beulah, Man., native said he wants to improve his defense this season.he said during training camp. &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve proved myself offensively, but my defense could stand some work.&rdquo;So in the team&rsquo;s very first game, Derlago fired four goals in an 8-2 win over Regina. After the game, his first comment was: &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t score any against our line.&rdquo;Discounting Semenko&rsquo;s 10 goals, Derlago and line-mates Allison and Propp have accounted for 25 of Brandon&rsquo;s 34 goals, a fact that lends credence to the &ldquo;one-line hockey club&rdquo; thought. But McCallum says once his rookies (there are 13 first-year players on the team) find their way around the WCHL, the scoring will become more balanced.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01281/4097150-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="582" height="742"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL DERLAGO&hellip;Incredible Pace</figcaption></div>Until that happens, Derlago and Co., will carry the load and PAD (Propp-Allison-Derlago) their already-impressive totals.FLIN FLON: Big Ray Markham had three goals and three assists as the Bombers swept a home-ice doubleheader from Saskatoon, 8-3 and 9-7. But a couple of road losses dampened coach Mickey Keating&rsquo;s spirits, as his team fell 6-2 in Brandon and 6-4 in Regina. Glenn Hicks scored his 15th, 16th and 17th goals during the week, increasing his leagueleading total.REGINA: Dirk Graham, a 39-goal man last year, was the week&rsquo;s individual star, netting five goals in one game as the Pats doubled the home-town Medicine Hat Tigers 6-3. It was the first of three wins in a seven-day span for the Pats, who moved into a first-place tie in the East with Flin Flon. Sophomore Gerry Galloway took over the team scoring lead with eight points in four games, including a goal and two assists in a 7-1 triumph over Calgary. Larry Ell had a pair of goals as Regina bounced the Bombers 6-4 and Gerry Minor had four points in a 9-6 loss at Lethbridge.SASKATOON: The Blades lost three straight to give them 10 defeats, most in the league. Inconsistent goaltending especially hurt, as Saskatoon allowed 21 while scoring 12. Coach Jackie McLeod says a number of veterans might be traded if the situation doesn&rsquo;t improve. Rookie Lindsay Carson scored the hat trick and second-year-man Jim Christian and Ken Federko had two each, but Blades lost 9-7 to Flin Flon. That came one night after an 8-3 loss to the Bombers. The capper was a 4-2 defeat on home ice at the hands of Calgary, which occupies last place in pie Central Division.MEDICINE HAT: The Tigers stole the first period of a game in Lethbridge, leading 1-0 after getting outshot 25-3 by the Broncos. But goalie Darrel Furmanek&rsquo;s shield of armour finally gave way and Tigers lost 4-2, with the last one going into an empty net. Tigers fell from the top rung earlier in the week when they were beaten 6-3 at home by Regina.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02220/4097143-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="578" height="734"><figcaption class="caption-body">DIRK GRAHAM&hellip;5-Goal Night</figcaption></div>LETHBRIDGE: The combination of Sutter and Schultz got together and produced a pair of Bronco victories. Darryl Sutter and Brandin Schultz, both rookies, had five points each during a 9-6 win over Regina and then teamed up again (Sutter scoring twice, Schultz assisting on both) in a 4-2 decision over Medicine Hat. Captain Steve Tambellini had four points in the two games and took over third place in the WCHL&rsquo;s individual scoring race. Coach Howie Yanosik was relieved when defenseman John Scammell was sidelined for only two games after suffering a hip-pointer injury.CALGARY: Dave Morrison scored twice and rookie Scott McLeod, acquired earlier in the week from Brandon, notched the winner as the Wranglers surprised Saskatoon with a 4-2 win in the Blades&rsquo; home rink. Goalie Tim Steele provided steady goaltending in his second game as an over-age, a situation coach Gerry Brisson hopes continues throughout the season. Steele wasn&rsquo;t steel-like in Calgary&rsquo;s 7-1 loss to Regina.BILLINGS: Three former Victoria players scored for Billings as the Bighorns, touring the west coast, surprised the Cougars 7-6. Brent Gogal, Mike Toal and Al Szott were the former Cougars hitting the mark against their old team. Elsewhere, Bighorns were hammered 9-3 in Portland. Doug Robb leads the team in scoring and his play has helped keep the.Bighorns close to the Central lead most of the season.PORTLAND: The Winter Hawks&rsquo; only had two losses through 10 games, the lowest total in the league. Center Doug Lecuyer&rsquo;s play helped Portland to another unbeaten week. He scored two goals in a 9-3 win over Billings, and added three points in a 4-4 tie at home vs. Seattle. Wayne Babych racked up six points in the two games&mdash;five vs. Billings&mdash;to give him the team lead with 20, a two-per-game average. Defensive sensation Keith Brown, just 16. had five assists for the week.NEW WESTMINSTER: The Bruins split a home-and-home series with Seattle, winning 8-5 as rookie Terry Kirkham potted a goal and set up four others, and losing 7-1 in Seattle. Bruins coach Ernie McLean said left winger John Paul Kelly would not be intimidated by alleged &ldquo;scare tactics&rdquo; tossed his way by a Portland player. McLean alleged Kelly, who nearly lost an eye in a freak hockey-practice accident last spring, had been threatened with more damage to his eye by a Winter Hawk forward.SEATTLE: George Buat. acquired by the Breakers in a summer trade with Portland, continued to pay dividends, scoring twice and helping on two others in a 7-1 victory over New Westminster Rookie Russ Wilderman&rsquo;s two goals helped as Seattle gained a 4-4 tie in Portland, but the last-place Breakers lost their other two starts&mdash;both road games&mdash;6-3 to Victoria and 8-5 to the Bruins.VICTORIA: Paul Enquist singlehandedly beat Seattle, scoring three and setting up two others en route to a 6-3 Cougars&rsquo; win Geordie Robertson hung on to his league point lead with two goals and an assist in a 7-6 loss to Billings, and two points in the win over Seattle. Gary Lupul has seemingly fully recovered from his training-camp knee injuring, picking up four points in the two games. &#9632;

f0038-01

Wheaties Flying Minus Enforcer; Blades Consider Trading Veterans

<h2>NOVEMBER</h2>Tue. 8 Brandon at Med. HatSeattle at VictoriaBillings at CalgaryFlin Flon at SaskatoonWed 9 Brandon at LethbridgeSeattle at PortlandFlin Flon at ReginaFri. 11 Med. Hat at BrandonSaskatoon at BillingsN. Westminster at PortlandFlin Flon at ReginaSat. 2 Lethbridge at VictoriaMed. Hat at Flin FlonSun. 13 Victoria at PortlandLethbridge at N. WestminsterMed. Hat at Flin FlonSaskatoon at BillingsRegina at BrandonTue. 15 Lethbridge at SeattlePortland at VictoriaCalgary at SaskatoonWed. 16 Calgary at ReginaLethbridge at PortlandMed. Hal at BillingsThu. 17 Calgary at BrandonFri. 18 Med. Hat at SeattleSaskatoon at ReginaPortland at N. WestminsterSat. 19 Calgary at Flin FlonMed. Hat at VictoriaSun. 20 Calgary at Flin FlonLethbridge at BillingsMed. Hat at N. WestminsterBrandon at ReginaTue. 22 Calgary at BrandonPortland at SeattleFlin Flon at SaskatoonWed. 23 Calgary at LethbridgeRegina at N. WestminsterTue. 24 Regina at PortlandFlin Flon at BrandonVictoria at SeattleFri. 25 Regina at N. WestminsterLethbridge at CalgaryFlin Flon at SaskatoonSat. 26 Regina at SeattleN. Westminster at VictoriaLethbridge at Med. HatSun. 27 Regina at PortlandVictoria at N. WestminsterMed. Hat at LethbridgeFlin Flon at BrandonBillings at Calgary &#9632;

Where WCHL Teams Play

<h2>WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03164/4097240-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="584" height="497"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Oct. 26Seattle 4 at Portland 4Calgary 1 at Regina 7Thu. Oct. 27New Westminster 1 at Seattle 7Flin Flon 2 at Brandon 6Fri. Oct. 28Medicine Hat 2 at Lethbridge 4Flin Flon 4 at Regina 6Calgary 4 at Saskatoon 2Sat. Oct. 29New Westminster 4 at Portland 9Brandon 6 at Billings 6Sun. Oct. 30Calgary 5 at Medicine Hat 3Brandon 9 at Billings 6Victoria 2 at New Westminster 4Flin Flon 3 at Saskatoon 10<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04115/4097233-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="582" height="299"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0587/4097226-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="581" height="298"></div><h2>ONTARIO MAJOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Sun. Nov. 6)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0667/4097219-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="589" height="430"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. Oct. 30Toronto 1 at Windsor 10Peterborough 5 at Oshawa 7Sault Ste. Mario 3 at Kingston 6Sudbury 2 at Ottawa 2Tue. Nov. 1Peterborough 3 at Hamilton 4Thu. Nov. 3Toronto 5 at Sault Ste. Mario 5Kitchener 1 at Windsor 4Hamilton 4 at Peterborough 3Niagara Falls 3 at Oshawa 3Fri. Nov. 4Toronto 1 at Sudbury 1Peterborough 2 at Ottawa 11Oshawa 9 at Kitchener 2Hamilton 3 at Kingston 4Niagara Falls 7 at London 5Sat. Nov. 5Sudbury 2 at Niagara Falls 1<h2>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Nov. 7)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0760/4097212-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="588" height="376"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Oct. 31Sherbrooke 2 at Laval 14Tue. Nov. 1Sherbrooke 3 at Hull 12Cornwall 1 at Trois Rivieres 3Wed. Nov. 2Verdun 6 at Laval 4Thu. Nov. 3Verdun 2 at Cornwall 4Shawinigan 5 at Montreal 5Fri. Nov. 4Laval 4 at Chicoutimi 4Montreal 6 at Quebec 5Hull 8 at Shawinigan 7Trois Rivieres 7 at Sherbrooke 8Sun. Nov. 6Shawinigan 1 at Chicoutimi 9Cornwall 0 at Hull 2Sherbrooke 6 at Montreal 7Laval 8 at Trois Rivieres 3Quebec 5 at Verdun 3<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0845/4097205-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="580" height="298"></div> &#9632;

f0038-03

The Amateur Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY MIKE LYNCH</div>CRANBROOK&mdash;With October on the wane, the Western International League began to establish some &ldquo;form&rdquo; in the early season race.With the 56-game league schedule well under way it would appear that Spokane and Cranbrook will be the teams to beat this season. That comes as no surprise to most fans, but there are some other developments of somewhat surprising nature.For one thing, rebuilding Nelson appears to be a contender while Kimberley, the defending league champion, is capable of a very good performance and a very bad one on the same weekend.Trail, out of the playoffs last season and still striving for the excellence of two years ago has not been able to put together a winning performance, either at home or on the road.Cranbrook entered the fourth week of league play with a 5-2 record. Kimberley at 4-4. Nelson at 4-3. Spokane at 3-1 and Trail at 0-6.The Cranbrook Royals&rsquo; most important addition appears to be goalie Ray Martyniuk, one of their reinstated professionals. He wasn&rsquo;t that vital as Cranbrook stoned Nelson 9-3. but he virtually &ldquo;stole&rdquo; the 3-2 win in Spokane Martyniuk made 43 stops in that game. 19 in the third period to hold Spokane scoreless for the final 19 minutes. Spokane had four good shots in the fading seconds of that one.TRAIL: After the first four defeats the Trail executive decided to drop first year coach Lloyd McLelland. He was replaced by Norm Dennis, a playing coach when the Smokies vied for the league championship two seasons back. Trail didn&rsquo;t fare any better in the first two games for Dennis, losing 7-2 at home against Spokane and 5-2 against Kimberley. Many fans felt that McLelland. a junior coach in the area in the past, deserved a better shot Forward Ernie Gare, the most valuable player for Spokane last season and expected to help Trail a good deal, has been sidelined with an achilles tendon injury.NELSON: The Maple Leafs had an almost incredible weekend, playing a pair of games that involved 32 goals. Coach Marsh Severyn made a remark about his need for a &ldquo;road team&rdquo; after some free-scoring games. The Leafs, with considerable youth in the line-up. were downed 9-3 in Cranbrook but came home to whip Kimberley 19-1. Past statistics are being examined, but that winning margin is very likely a league record in what is Canada&rsquo;s oldest continuously operating senior league. Rick Klassen and Al Vick scored three goals each. Gary Huth, Gary Criss and Gary Gilchrist scored two each.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01263/4097271-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="510" height="608"><figcaption class="caption-body">RAY MARTYNIUK&hellip;Stole A Victory</figcaption></div>KIMBERLEY: The Dynamiters had won three straight before the humiliation of the Nelson game. In a recent outing goalie Wayne Bell shut out first-place Cranbrook 4-0 and Kimberley goaltending had allowed only four goals in the three wins. However, against Cranbrook. Bell was reached for 11 goalsand Barrie MacKay eight. Len Hicks got the lone Kimberley goal. The Kimberley goaltenders were touched for six goals in the first and second periods, seven in the third.SPOKANE: The Flyers established an intermediate team with veteran defenseman George Talotti. a 10-year man with the Flyers, as its playing coach The Flyers split their last two outings, winning in Trail 7-2 before losing their first game of the fall, 3-2 at home against Cranbrook. Ironically. Derek Spring, with Spokane last season, scored the winning goal. Coach Ted McAneeley called the Cranbrook game Spokane&rsquo;s poorest of the early season. The coach noted the club has scored four goals twice in the third period in only four games. &#9632;

f0039-01

Martyniuk Spearheads Cranbrook’s WIHL Climb

<div class="byline">&#x2014; By Bill Hilts</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02194/4097302-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="357" height="408"></div><h2>B.C. Junior League</h2>The Kelowna Buckaroos have taken an early lead in the Interior Division of the British Columbia Jr. &ldquo;A&rdquo; League with eight points on a perfect 4-0-0 record. Merritt Centennials are close behind with a 3-3-0 mark and six points. Penticton Vees are 2-0-0 for four points. Kamloops Chiefs are 1-2-1 for two points; Vernon Vikings are 0-4-0 and Revelstoke Bruins are 0-2-0&hellip;In Coastal Division, Bellingham Blazers lead pack with eight points based on a 4-1-0 mark. They are followed by Nanaimo Clippers (2-2-0), Langley Lords (2-3-0) and Abbotsford Flyers (2-3-0), all with four points each.Barry Pederson of Nanaimo leads individual scoring race with an impressive 13 points, in just four games, based on two goals and 11 assists Cary Eades of Penticton is right on his heels with 12 points (7-5); followed by Rod Danchuckof Kelowna (7-4-11), Dale Ames of Merritt (7-411), Mike Wills of Kelowna (4-7-11); John Neeld of Kelowna (4-7-11), Ed Lebler of Langley (6-4-10), Ron Vincent of Penticton (5-5-10), Chris Tucker of Langley (5-510), Glen Johnson of Merrit (4-5-9), Mike Urquhart of Kelowna (3-6-9), Don Hrechosky of Bellingham (3-6-9) and Darrell Becker of Kelowna (2-7-9).In the goaltending department, Mike Desjardins of Kelowna has logged a perfect 3-0-0 record and a glossy 2.31 GAA. Pat Murphy of Penticton had a 3.50 GAA, Tom Semenchuk of Abbotsford 3.66 GAA. Kelly Dube of Merritt 4.00, Neal Girard 4.24 GAA, Andy Moody of Kamloops 4.33 GAA, Rob Palmantium of Merritt 4.66 GAA. Mike Schamber of Abbotsford 5.00 GAA. Gord Santage of Langley 5.62 GAA, Darrell Morin of Vernon 6.72 GAA.<h2>New England League</h2>Springfield continues to set the pace in the New England Jr. &ldquo;A&rdquo; League with near-perfect 5-0-1 record for 11 points. Fitchburg is just a point off the pace with a 4-0-2 record and 10 points. South Shore has moved into third spot edging out Tyngsboro, with a 3-3-0 mark and six points. Millis has taken over fourth position with five points, followed by Tyngsboro with four points, Cape Cod-four points and Berlin still has to register its first point after four games.Tom Gentile of Springfield has taken over the scoring lead, moving past teammate Dean Lombardi, with 10 goals and nine assists for 19 points. Mike Boucher of Fitchburg is still in third spot (8-9-17), followed by Peter Herd of Springfield (6-7-13), Nigel Barton of Springfield (5-8-13), Mike DeCenzo of Cape Cod (7-5-12), Scott Press of Millis (7-4-11), Paul Milan of Cape Cod (4-6-10), Dan Smith of Fitchburg (3-7-10), Mike Kelleher of Millis (7-29), Bill Helton of Tyngsboro (7-2-9), Steve Hakala of Fitchburg (7-2-9), Jeff Wojik of Springfield (6-3-9), Andy Boisvert of Fitchburg (5-4-9), Gary Landry of Springfield (5-4-9) and Jim Flynn of Millis (2-7-9).<h2>American League</h2>Lewiston, Maine, a stronghold in the professional North American Hockey League before the league&rsquo;s demise late in September, has joined the American Junior Hockey League for the 1977-78 season. The addition of the Maine Nordiques brings the total number of teams to seven. The Nordiques were an 11th hour addition as the league had been set to go with its six original franchises in Concord, Mass, (Assabet Valley Tomahawks), Beverly, Mass., (Beverly Flyers), Framingham. Mass., (Framingham Pics), Enfield, Conn., (MassConn Twins), Cohasset, Mass., (South Shore Clippers), and Chicopee, Mass., (Western Mass Pioneers).The AJHL will present major junior hockey through the first week in April and will follow-up with its playoffs through April and May.The league has adopted the professional rules and will use the three-man system of officiating as used in the National and American League. Referee-in-chief Joe Faucette has assembled a staff of officials many who have had professional experience.Adding Lewiston was a real bonus for us,&rdquo; said league president Gordon Anziano. &ldquo;We had encountered a great deal of difficulty with the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States when they refused to recognize our league and we lost the Worcester franchise because of it. We had enough teams, six, to go without Maine, but we felt we couldn&rsquo;t pass up the opportunity to add a first class professional organization to our league,&rdquo; Anziano concluded.<h2>N.Y. Penn League</h2>Larry Mickey&rsquo;s fledgling Buffalo Jr. Sabres tied a game and lost one during last week&rsquo;s action. They entertained the Syracuse Stars before a turnout of 800 fans and had to settle for a 2-2 draw&hellip;One of the game highlights was a Sabre penalty shot by Dale Guynn, but Stars goalie Carl MieDaener beat him with a fast glove&hellip;Syracuse scored both goals on deflections by Mark Kemp and Hank McConnell&hellip;Buffalo came back to tie on two goals in 55 seconds by Jim Missert and Mike Farrell&hellip;The Sabres outshot the visitors 45-34.Earlier in the week the Jr. Sabres were dropped by Niagara Falls Mang&rsquo;s Sharks by a 7-2 count. The match was much closer than the score hints. At the end of the opening session, the teams were knotted at 1-1. Following two periods it was Sharks three and Sabres two. In the third period the Sharks fired four unanswered scores, two of them coming on power plays. In all, five power play goals were recorded, only one by the Sabres&hellip;Sharks rookies had a big night with goaltender Ken Denman turning in a near faultless performance and stopping several point-blank shots which thoroughly frustrated the Buffalo juniors&hellip;Sabre goalie Tony Martin also turned in a fine performance, despite giving up seven goals. He had 56 shots fired at him. while Denman faced 24. Sharks rookie Rich DeMarco fired a pair of goals, both powerplays and Dan Nolan also dented the mesh twice. Veterans Robbin Hill and Owen Gidlow also scored as did rookie Bill Alexander. Joe Barrick recorded three assists and Mike Andrejcak notched a pair of helpers&hellip;Buffalo goals scored by Nick Tollar and Tim Rice&hellip;The Jr. Sabres recorded 70 minutes in penalties, compared to 42 by the Sharks. &#9632;

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November 18, 1977

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