The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.

December 23, 1977

The Hockey News December 23, 1977

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Floyd Thomson is a loyal soldier of the St. Louis Blues.In his professional career he has been with no other organization. He hasn&rsquo;t always been with the parent Club, and his stints in the minor leagues appear to be growing more frequent.But Thomson has done everything asked of him. When the Blues needed some hustle in the lineup, he has provided it. When a more talented player pushed him out of the lineup, he dutifully has gone to the minors and hoped for a quick return.This season Thomson started the year with the Blues&rsquo; farm team in Salt Lake City.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t ever in the Blues&rsquo; plans in training camp,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;After a day or two I knew I wasn&rsquo;t going to be in St. Louis for the beginning of the season.&rdquo;In Salt Lake City Thomson was coached by his long-time St. Louis teammate. Barclay Plager.But in St. Louis, the Blues had their worst season start in their 11-year history. Some personnel changes were in order.St. Louis general manager Emile Francis made a couple of deals. He picked up Bill Fairbairn on waivers from the Minnesota North Stars and sent Jerry Butler to Toronto to get Inge Hammarstrom.Eventually Francis and coach Leo Boivin looked to Salt Lake City and called Thomson and Brian Ogilvie. John Smrke. Rick Bourbonnais and Bob Hess were sent west to Salt Lake.&ldquo;They wanted to give some young guys a chance, and it didn&rsquo;t pan out.&rdquo; Thomson said. &ldquo;I hope the team can get going a little bit now. Sometimes a team just gets into a rut&rdquo;The change in addresses was not personally convenient for Thomson. At the time he was called to the Blues his wife was a couple of weeks short of delivering a baby and she stayed in Salt Lake City for that event.But Thomson, as always, was doing his job at left wing. He works and checks in a way that usually tends to irritate the opposition. Indeed, that ability makes Thomson valuable to a team.Whether Thomson would stay with the Blues is questionable.&ldquo;It depends on how the team goes,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The NHL is the only place to play, and I think I should play all the time in St. Louis. But that&rsquo;s not my decision.&ldquo;The way this season has been going, maybe there will be more trades and more guys up and down from the farm club,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;One year in St. Louis we must have gone through 50 players. It seemed like there was a new guy in the dressing room every week.&rdquo;Thomson is 28 and has been a pro eight years. He suffered a head injury late in the 1975-76 season and began wearing a helmet last season.&ldquo;Last year I killed penalties and didn&rsquo;t play a lot,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The year before we had three coaches in St. Louis. I guess my situation has been a little shaky the last couple of years.&rdquo;Although his future with the Blues is uncertain. Thomson feels comfortable with the organization and would prefer to remain.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d just as soon stay with St. Louis,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But if there are no plans to keep me here at all, then I&rsquo;d rather go somewhere else.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01957/3923579-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="565" height="706"><figcaption class="caption-body">FLOYD THOMSON &hellip;Does His Job</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-01

IN THIS ISSUE

Call Goes Out For ‘Loyal’ Thomson As Blues Struggle In Early Going

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01972/3922810-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="572" height="658"><figcaption class="caption-body">GORDIE HOWE Gets Elusive 1,000th Goal</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02883/3922803-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="592" height="396"></div><h2>THE NHL&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03660/3922796-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="590" height="704"></div><h2>THE WHA&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04455/3922789-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="586" height="312"></div><h2>OTHER LEAGUES&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05327/3922782-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="588" height="280"></div><h2>COLUMNISTS&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06231/3922775-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="585" height="160"></div><h2>OTHER FEATURES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-07143/3922768-1-eng-US/f0002-072.jpg" title="f0002-07" width="584" height="198"></div> &#9632;

f0002-01

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT ALL INSIDE

<div class="byline">-BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011051/3923200-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="405" height="463"></div><h2>A Death In The Family&hellip;</h2>HARRY HOWELL&rsquo;S son Danny was 17 when he was fatally injured on Friday the 13th of August, 1976. He died exactly two weeks later. It is still not clear what happened to him and now it may never be. It is not important in that it cannot bring the boy back, but it is important to Harry and to his wife Marilyn. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s worse, somehow, not knowing how it happened.&rdquo; Harry says.Harry was out of hockey at that time and had moved his family back to Canada, to a house in Carlisle, out near his home town of Hamilton. His son had been spending the summer working for his father&rsquo;s former teammates, Andy Hebenton and Vic Hadfield, at their Indian Wells Golf Course in Burlington. It was his last night and there had been a farewell party in his honor.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02945/3923193-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="382" height="481"><figcaption class="caption-body">HARRY HOWELL &hellip; Things Not The Same</figcaption></div>Harry was at home that night and had told his son to telephone when the affair was finished and he&rsquo;d be happy to drive over and pick him up, but the boy told the people at the party he didn&rsquo;t want to bother his dad and would hitch-hike home. It wasn&rsquo;t far and he got one ride part of the way. No one knows what took place after that, but his body was found by the shoulder of Centre Road only 500 yards from his home.Well, someone knows, but has not come forth to tell the story.It is presumed he was struck, hit-and-run, by a car as he walked along the shoulder of the road. It is possible he fell from a car, possibly from the back of an open truck, because he had a deep cut on his elbow as well as severe skull injuries. Almost anything is possible.Ironically, he did not die directly from his injuries. He was hospitalized and appeared to be recovering before he died from peritonitis exactly two weeks after he was struck. &ldquo;We were worried sick at first, but the doctors treating him told us he was getting better so we were relieved and happy.&rdquo; Harry remembers.&ldquo;Suddenly, he was gone and I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;ll ever really be happy again. I don&rsquo;t know why they didn&rsquo;t discover the infection in time, but they didn&rsquo;t and it is one more reason why this has been so hard for us to handle. Of course the thing that matters most is simply that the son we brought into this world and raised and loved dearly is gone before he had a real life.&ldquo;WE ARE NOT ALONE. We have each other. Marilyn and I. We have a beautiful daughter. Cheryl, who recently married Daryl Townson of Hamilton. We have friends. We are not the first people to have lost someone who can never be replaced. Life goes on. We go on. I am happy to be back in hockey. But it is not the kind of happiness I had before,&rdquo; Harry says.He does not talk about it unless asked. He hides his feelings and holds his sorrow inside.This big, good-looking guy came off the great Guelph juniors of the early 1950s and played 17 seasons with the Rangers. Although an outstanding defenseman, he was not a hitter and his methodical manner on ice caused some of the gallery gods in the old Garden to boo him before his efficiency was recognized and he was voted defenseman of the year in 1967.When he developed problems with his back, requiring spinal surgery, the Rangers sold him and he played out the final few seasons of his 21-year National Hockey League career in Oakland and Los Angeles in pain. Hanging on, he went into the World Hockey Association and his professional playing career, begun in 1952, ended with Calgary in the spring of 1976.Prior to that he was with the WHA team which moved from New York to New Jersey to San Diego before folding and he was coaching successfully in San Diego when he requested retirement as a player and was replaced by his assistant. After Danny&rsquo;s death, Harry returned to the NHL as assistant to manager Bill McCreary in Cleveland and when McCreary was moved out, Harry moved up. In Cleveland, he has been operating a franchise that has had financial problems and been in danger of folding.SO, AFTER MANY YEARS of stability in his profession, it has become an up and down life for him and he has become something of a gypsy, moving here and there, hired and fired. He is a highly intelligent man capable of coaching and managing marvellously well. He also is a real gentleman, as well as anyone in his sport, and we who knew them found his family lovely and mourn its loss.&ldquo;Hockey can be a hard life, but it&rsquo;s been my life a long time,&rdquo; Harry says. &ldquo;I missed it when I was out of it a couple of times the last few years but I was blessed by getting to spend my first Christmas in many years back home in Canada with Marilyn, Cheryl, and Danny a few years ago, and I treasure that memory. With time we have learned to live without Danny, but our grief hasn&rsquo;t lessened. You just have to go on.&ldquo;I had just about taken a job in insurance when the call to Cleveland came and I was grateful because it gave me sometting to do to take my mind off our tragedy. It has been a battle of survival in Ohio, but now with new ownership I think we may win it. I know now there are other things in life more important than a profession, but I&rsquo;m working hard and happy to be in hockey.&rdquo;HARRY PLAYED A LITTLE football, but preferred hockey. His brother, Ron, made the majors in both sports, but preferred football and was the top player in the Canadian League one year. Like his uncle, Danny Howell preferred football and was a fine prospect. When his family moved from California he stayed with his Patrick Henry High School team until its season ended.Before he died, he had joined his family in Canada and was preparing to play for Waterdown High in Canada. &ldquo;He was so looking forward to it,&rdquo; sighs his father, forlorn with loss. &ldquo;We all were looking forward to a lot of things.&rdquo;In Danny&rsquo;s memory, a memorial fund has been established to provide an annual award of cash so a graduating football player from that school, deemed worthy by his scholarship, sportsmanship, and need can continue his education. Anyone who wishes can contribute to it at Box 689, Waterdown, Ontario, Canada LOR 2H0.His friends of four months from the school also planted a birchwood tree in Carlisle&rsquo;s Optimist Park in Danny&rsquo;s honor. It is a living thing and the Howells can go to the park and follow the growth of the tree and stroll across the grass and remember their son. &#9632;

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY RUSS WHITE</div>WASHINGTON&mdash;Washington&rsquo;s hockey fans were accepting a 19-game winless streak by the Capitals far more graciously than they did management&rsquo;s recent decision to send goalie Bernie Wolfe down to the Hershey Bears in the American Hockey League.Wolfe is probably the most popular player to play for the Caps in the four years the team has pretended to be in the National Hockey League.&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t believe it&hellip;I still can&rsquo;t believe that they sent Bernie to the bush league,&rdquo; said Rich Clements, one of the Capitals&rsquo; best fans. &ldquo;That,&rdquo; Clements said, &ldquo;isn&rsquo;t going to help at all. Bernie isn&rsquo;t the reason they are losing. He puts people in the stands. He is one of the reasons I come to the games.&rdquo;Fan reaction, general manager Max McNab said, didn&rsquo;t &ldquo;enter in at all&rdquo; in the decision to can Bernie Wolfe and bring up a hot kid goalie, Jim Bedard.In recent weeks coach Tom McVie had played veteran Gary Smith in goal night after night. Smith&rsquo;s 1-11-3 record wasn&rsquo;t too impressive but he played, while Wolfe sat on the bench. Wolfe didn&rsquo;t make any fuss. He just waited his turn.&ldquo;Tom McVie had enough problems.&rdquo; Wolfe said. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t need to hear me crying.&rdquo;Wolfe could hardly be branded a trouble-maker. He is a quiet man who becomes colorful when he plays in goal for the Capitals. His play spoke for itself.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01679/3923898-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="557" height="848"><figcaption class="caption-body">BERNIE WOLFE</figcaption></div>He was in goal when the Caps won, 2-1 on opening night against the Pittsburgh Penguins and as of December that was the only victory the Washington team had at home in 11 games. Wolfe also was in goal for a 1-1 tie against Detroit and a 2-2 tie against the Chicago Black Hawks. He had 3-1 and 4-1 losses in back-to-back games against the Philadelphia Flyers.In the voting for three stars at Capital Centre, Wolfe was the point leader for the year despite the fact he wasn&rsquo;t playing as often as Gary Smith.&ldquo;If he wins the car for top point getter,&rdquo; said someone with the club, &ldquo;I guess we&rsquo;ll have to get him Pennsylvania tags.&rdquo;McNab indicated that Wolfe&rsquo;s demotion might be &ldquo;a great thing&rdquo; for Wolfe and said that the move was only temporary. That Bedard deserved a chance and that someone had to help out at Hershey.The fans in Washington weren&rsquo;t happy and let the Capitals know about it. They made calls to the newspapers and they called the club.Just when some of the Capitals began to have an identity in the Washington area, they have been shipped off.Hartland Monahan went on opening night and Wolfe went during a horrendous winless streak that no one could blame on him. &ldquo;I kept telling myself that,&rdquo; Wolfe said. &ldquo;They can&rsquo;t blame me for this when I&rsquo;ve not even been playing.&rdquo;&ldquo;No one is overjoyed at being sent out,&rdquo; McNab said.Wolfe remained quiet publicly and told McNab that he would play two games at Hershey. He was a 4-2 winner in the first one. After that, Wolfe and McNab were supposed to talk more about what was going to happen.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02555/3923891-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="561" height="868"><figcaption class="caption-body">WALT McKECHNIE</figcaption></div>It could be the Caps are ready to trade Wolfe.Bedard started two games for the Caps and lost 3-2 to Cleveland, allowing a later goal by Denis Maruk and then 4-2 to the Penguins, the team that Wolfe turned back on opening night.As the Caps tried to halt their winless streak, Gary Smith was expected back in goal for what could have been winless game No. 20 as the Vancouver Canucks visited.Canucks&rsquo; general manager Jake Milford accompanied the team to Washington and said that he was interested in center Walter McKechnie, the exiled Capitals&rsquo; center.Max McNab suggested a deal that Milford turned down, however.&ldquo;We were waiting for them to pursue the matter,&rdquo; Milford said.McKechnie has been idle since midNovember after being chased from the clubhouse by coach Tom McVie. Finally, the Caps swapped him to Cleveland in exchange tor Bob Girard.To make matters even sorrier in the Nation&rsquo;s Capital, bonus baby and top draft choice, Bob Picard angrilly left a practice session after a flareup with McVie.There was speculation that Picard would soon follow Wolfe to Hershey, Pa. Just a day earlier, the Caps had sent defenseman Gord Lane off and Lane may have been headed back.Meanwhile, the Caps tans pleaded for the team to bring back their favorite&mdash;&rdquo;Bern-ie, Bem-ie, Bernie&rdquo;&mdash;Bernie Wolfe.NOTES: Bob Sirois leads Caps with 10 goals. Craig Patrick, held scoreless for 20 games, assisted on two goals and finally scored a goal in his next four starts. Patrick&rsquo;s goal was on a power play and ended a 0 for 44 drought by the Caps. Ace Bailey and his wife Kathy have their first child, a boy, Garnet Bailey&hellip;Caps attendance is still around 12,000 a game, but expect it to drop. &#9632;

f0019-01

Wolfe’s Demotion Upsets Caps’ Supporters

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-09" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-0946/3922872-1-eng-US/f0002-092.jpg"></div><h2>NHL Adds Games To TV Schedule</h2>NEW YORK&mdash;The NHL will expand its coverage of television games on the league network this season. In addition to Monday night Game of the Week presentations, the NHL network will add a series of selected games to be televised on Saturday afternoons.The Monday night schedule will include 10 games and begin Jan. 9. The NHL network will also carry the All Star game Jan. 24. The Saturday schedule will begin Jan. 14. Here are the Monday night TV games: Jan. 9 Philly at Montreal; Jan. 16 Atlanta at Philly; Jan. 24 All Star game at Buffalo; Jan. 30 Islanders at Buffalo; Feb. 6 St. Louis at Philly; Feb. 13 Toronto at Buffalo; Feb. 20 Buffalo at Montreal, Feb. 27 Atlanta at Rangers; March 6 Montreal at Buffalo. March 13 and 20 will be announced later.<h2>Bruins May Get New Hockey Arena</h2>BOSTON&mdash;The Boston Bruins could conceivably be playing in a new hockey arena in the near future if present plans for a new $35 million sports complex are carried out. Mayor Kevin White said the city&rsquo;s three major league teams have all verbally agreed to occupancy terms.The Bruins, who have played in the 14,597-seat Boston Garden since 1928, would lease the new 18,000-seat arena along with the Boston Celtics of the NBA and the Boston Lobsters of World Team Tennis. The Bruins said they would sign a 15-year lease if the complex goes through.<h2>Sabres Eyeing Dudley Again</h2>BUFFALO&mdash;There is a chance Rick Dudley will return to the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres according to club officials.The Sabres, who let the aggressive Dudley get away to the WHA and the Cincinnati Stingers at the end of the 1974-75 season, are apparently negotiating for his return. It is reported the Sabres have been talking to Dudley&rsquo;s agent and they report talks have not been broken off. Close associates say Dudley would like to again play for the Sabres if a deal can be worked out with the Stingers. He is the captain of the Cincinnati team.<h2>Soviet Coach Sees Tougher Series</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;The new Soviet hockey coach, Victor Tikhonov, has already warned the folks at home in Moscow that the touring Russian teams can expect to face improved hockey opposition when they encounter the NHL teams as part of a 13-game exhibition series featuring the NHL, Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia.Tikhonov said he wants the Soviet people not to expect a runaway at the World hockey tournament next spring in Prague either. The new Russian coach thinks the 1978 tourney will be tougher because the Czechs will be at home and the Canadian team will be stronger due to the fact the NHL has grown in stature since last season. Tikhonov has had his team in training since July and he will be the man at the helm of the Soviet Nationals at Prague and when they face up to WHA teams in exhibitions and the Izvestia Cup. He is coming to the NHL series as an observer with the Spartak team carrying the Soviet colors.<h2>Sittier, McDonald Ignore Eagle&rsquo;s Plea</h2>TORONTO&mdash;Darryl Sittier and Lanny McDonald have taken matters into their own hands and signed new contracts with the Toronto Leafs through 1983-84 despite a plea from agent Alan Eagleson to wait it out to improve their bargaining power with the NHL club.Both players are believed to have signed new pacts in the seven figure bracket giving Eagleson their approval to arrange the deal immediately. The two Leafs&rsquo; scoring stars wanted their future settled now in order to concentrate on their careers. The deal covered present contracts to expire at the end of the season with a new five-year contract starting next season and one option year. &#9632;

f0002-09

DEADLINE STOPPERS

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Team psychologists for NHL players? Har, har, har, snickered the skeptics. Better hire at least 20 for the Flyers&mdash;one for each player.Order two each for Bob Kelly and Moose Dupont.&ldquo;Can you see a psychologist trying to probe Moose&rsquo;s mind?&rdquo; asked one smiling teammate. &ldquo;Moose would have the poor guy lying on the couch babbling to himself.&rdquo;Over the years many of Fred Shero&rsquo;s ideas have been scoffed at. then eventually adopted. The Flyers&rsquo; coach is serious about putting psychologists on the payroll.&ldquo;We could help players become better people,&rdquo; Shero insisted. &ldquo;And if they become better people, they&rsquo;ll be better players.&ldquo;What athletes are afraid of is someone will find out their innermost secrets. Well, I&rsquo;m not interested in the personal stuff&mdash;something they did when they were 10-years-old. I want someone to tell me things like &lsquo;This man can take criticism&mdash;don&rsquo;t be afraid to get tough with him.&rdquo;&rsquo;Shero&rsquo;s thoughts on how psychologists could help the Flyers and other teams were discovered when a reporter pursued the coach&rsquo;s views on Reggie Leach&rsquo;s revival this season.From a record 61-goal season, Leach plunged to 32 a year ago. Leach&rsquo;s attitude concerned Shero, GM Keith Allen and board chairman Ed Snider. Like some other Flyers, Leach seemed to lack the commitment to regain the Stanley Cup.&ldquo;Management had a serious talk with Reggie after last season,&rdquo; Shero said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve had many talks with him. but finally they got through. They said his career as an athlete would only last so much longer and it was time he started growing as a person.&rdquo;Leach, 27, didn&rsquo;t visit with a Philadelphian answer to Freud, but the uplifting talks have renewed his enthusiasm.&ldquo;His attitude and emotions are under better control.&rdquo; Shero said. &ldquo;I can criticize him without him being uptight.&rdquo;Even though Shero has no diploma on his office wall, he thinks he knows what caused Leach&rsquo;s earlier renowned carefree attitude.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have to be a psychologist to know that Reggie acted that way because he was hiding his fear of life and the future,&rdquo; Shero said.Anxieties don&rsquo;t enter Leach&rsquo;s explanation for his fresh start this season.&ldquo;Our line just didn&rsquo;t have a very good year last year,&rdquo; said the 1976 Conn Smythe Trophy winner. &ldquo;We (Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber) thought we could have another year like the one before (a record 141 goals), but we just weren&rsquo;t working as hard as we thought we were.&ldquo;All the guys knew that if we didn&rsquo;t get it going again, the team would make some changes. The people in Philadelphia have really been nice to us&mdash;we&rsquo;ve gotten almost anything we wanted. Maybe we got a little spoiled.Leach hasn&rsquo;t acted spoiled this season. By late November he had surpassed his assist total (14) of last season. And he was scoring goals at a more acceptable rate. His 10th goal of the season with just under four minutes remaining was the game-winner in a 4-2 Flyers&rsquo; victory in Los Angeles.As usual, Shero had the last word on the subject. Asked if understanding players&rsquo; problems wasn&rsquo;t part of a coach&rsquo;s job, Shero smiled and said, &ldquo;If we were that smart, we shouldn&rsquo;t be in coaching. Coaches need help, too.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-0876/3922841-1-eng-US/f0002-082.jpg" title="f0002-08" width="569" height="1480"><figcaption class="caption-body">REGGIE LEACH &hellip;Got Going Again</figcaption></div>Maybe coaches could get a discount rate when teams hire psychologists.FLYERS FACTS: Butch Goring&rsquo;s short-handed goal ended a Flyers&rsquo; record shutout streak at 174 minutes, four seconds&hellip;Trade talk between the Flyers and Vancouver heated up. with the Flyers craving Dennis Ververgaert. Canucks were reportedly interested in a defenseman and center, but GM Jake Milford said he wouldn&rsquo;t accept Tom Bladon and Orest Kindrachuk. Keith Allen said that&rsquo;s fine with him, because he wouldn&rsquo;t give up those players for Ververgaert&hellip; &#9632;

f0002-08

Shero Feels Psychologists Could Make Flyers Better

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div>BOSTON&mdash;Profile of a hockey game:There have been ill-feelings between the players on the two clubs ever since an earlier game in Minnesota when the North Stars&rsquo; president accused the Bruins of &ldquo;thuggery&rdquo; and the Boston coach called Minnesota &ldquo;a chicken team.&rdquo;Now, it is in the third period in Boston. Bodies come together against the boards. An elbow is thrown. Words are exchanged. Terry O&rsquo;Reilly and Steve Jensen emerge swinging. Jensen is overmatched. John Wensink and Alex Pirus start swinging. Pirus is badly overmatched. Peace is restored. Then it happens.Wensink, hit with a game misconduct, skates to within a few feet of the Minnesota bench. He gestures: &ldquo;Here I am.&rdquo; No response. He gestures again &ldquo;Come and get me&rdquo; Still no takers. Then, with a two-handed gesture of supreme contempt, Wensink skates off to the dressing room.It is in such a manner that a philosophical question is raised. It matters not who won or lost or even how they played the game. The question is: What should the North Stars have done about Wensink?&ldquo;If someone did that to the Bruins&rsquo; bench&hellip;&rdquo; the question began.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d a jumped over,&rdquo; says coach Don Cherry.&ldquo;What would you expect your bench to do?&rdquo;&ldquo;They wouldn&rsquo;t have to do anything because I would have jumped over first,&rdquo; says Cherry. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s embarrassing human beings.&rdquo;&ldquo;Do you think what Wensink did was necessary?&rdquo; someone asks.&ldquo;What do you mean was it necessary?&rdquo; demands Cherry. &ldquo;Is that right? That right, eh? How long have you been covering hockey? Eh?&rdquo;&ldquo;Two years.&rdquo;&ldquo;Two years? Well, I&rsquo;ve been in it for about 25 (bleep) years and I&rsquo;ve seen that happen in the old days at least 15 times. Okay? That answer your question? You&rsquo;re giving Wensink (bleep) and he&rsquo;s a Boston player!&rdquo;&ldquo;Did you ever see the other team fail to respond?&rdquo;&ldquo;Never,&rdquo; says Don Cherry. &ldquo;Never.&rdquo;Down the Boston Garden corridor, Minnesota coach Andre Beaulieu obviously would rather talk about the game, even though it is a 4-2 loss. But there is just no escaping the subject. Shouldn&rsquo;t his bench have done something about Wensink?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it would have helped anything,&rdquo; he says softly. &ldquo;It would have caused more trouble, I guess. It&rsquo;s five-on-five so let them solve their problems and that&rsquo;s it.&ldquo;I feel confident our players can handle themselves. They&rsquo;re young. If you go back to when the youngsters for the Bruins came into the league, they weren&rsquo;t like they are nowadays. They become more physical; they get more confidence behind them.&rdquo;&ldquo;Could you use a player like Wensink on the North Stars?&rdquo;&ldquo;&lsquo;I&rsquo;m sure he could be an asset to a team in the proper way,&rdquo; says Bealieu. &ldquo;If he really wants to improve and work and if he really wants a job, then he&rsquo;ll do anything to keep his job.&rdquo;Back in the Bruins&rsquo; dressing room. Terry O&rsquo;Reilly also is probing the philosophical implications of what has happened.&ldquo;After the last game,&rdquo; he says quietly, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it took much to get things going. We were called an awful lot of names leaving that town. Thugs, and they&rsquo;d never seen such an exhibition of thuggery. It was a lot of baloney.&rdquo;&ldquo;How do you feel about the Minnesota bench not responding?&rdquo; he is asked.&ldquo;They were probably shocked because that doesn&rsquo;t happen very often.&rdquo; he says. And there is a long pause before he adds: But they should have done something.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01978/3922924-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="547" height="871"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHN WENSINK &hellip; There Were No Takers</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02843/3922917-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="849" height="1078"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry O&rsquo;Reilly of the Bruins got into the act with Minnesota&rsquo;s Steve Jensen. It turned out to be a mismatch.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03567/3922910-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="1191" height="1072"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bruins&rsquo; John Wensink showed his fury as he pummeled Alex Pirus of the North Stars to the ice. It was another mismatch. Wensink was tossed out of the game.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04339/3922903-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="812" height="1090"><figcaption class="caption-body">While linesman Neil Armstrong attempts to separate Wensink and Pirus, Jensen is a disheveled figure without his sweater. (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>Have you ever seen anything like that?&rdquo;&ldquo;Dave Schultz did it,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Not like that, though. He stood at center ice.&rdquo; A grin spread across O&rsquo;Reilly&rsquo;s face. &ldquo;John was right up there talking to them.&rdquo;Wensink himself is cornered behind a forest of microphones and note pads at one end of a corridor outside the Bruins&rsquo; shower room.&ldquo;Spur of the moment thing, that&rsquo;s all,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;One of those things. I probably wouldn&rsquo;t do it now. I think I was lost on the ice. Yeah. I didn&rsquo;t know where the gate to get off was. That&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;&ldquo;Were you surprised that they didn&rsquo;t come off the bench after you?&rdquo;&ldquo;No. I wasn&rsquo;t surprised at all.&rdquo;You might not have done it to certain other teams in the league, eh?&rdquo;&ldquo;Oh, yeah. Sure I would have.&rdquo;&ldquo;Philadelphia?&rdquo;&ldquo;Sure.&rdquo; &ldquo;Montreal?&rdquo; &ldquo;Sure. Why not?&rdquo;&ldquo;Would you do it in a close game?&rdquo; the questioner persists.&ldquo;Sure,&rdquo; says Wensink, &ldquo;It just happens, that&rsquo;s all. Sometimes I end up sitting&hellip;&ldquo;Hey, John.&rdquo; The voice of Don Cherry comes down the corridor.&ldquo;What?&rdquo;&ldquo;What are you doing?&rdquo;&ldquo;Who me?&rdquo;&ldquo;Yeah.&rdquo;&ldquo;Nuthin&rsquo;.&rdquo;&ldquo;That was a&hellip;&rdquo; someone starts to say.&ldquo;I guess that&rsquo;s all there is,&rdquo; says Wensink.Profile of a hockey game. &#9632;

f0003-01

Bruins Incensed By ‘Thuggery’ Charges Turn Wrath On Unresponsive North Stars

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011029/3922983-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="478" height="484"></div>&bull; IT APPEARS the NHL&rsquo;s &lsquo;have&rsquo; clubs are growing increasingly stronger and the &lsquo;have nots&rsquo; are sinking into the sunset even though the races haven&rsquo;t reached the midway mark as yet. The Philadelphia Flyers are beginning to pour it on in old time form and the Boston Bruins are showing amazing resistance despite many injuries to some of their key players. Goalie Gerry Cheevers hasn&rsquo;t played in weeks and still the Bruins are winning with Ron Grahame and Gilles Gilbert, who must find much satisfaction in being able to play regularly and win, too, after being on the trade block earlier in the season&hellip;Defenseman Tom Bladon&rsquo;s scintillating eight-point game provoked as much surprise as last season when Ian Turnbull became the first defenseman in years to score five gials in a game. Many were surprised that Turnbull should be the one to turn the trick. The same can be said of Bladon, who had scored only three times in 22 previous games. It shows you. When you&rsquo;re hot and it&rsquo;s your night, the puck will go in for you&hellip;The NHL will step up its TV game program beefing it with a new Saturday schedule called &lsquo;NHL-78&rsquo;. Hockey still is the only major sport without a national television pact and it is one of the tragedies of the sport. Hockey telecasts are probably the most exciting of all the pro sports seen on the tube but obviously the least appreciated, particularly in the U.S&hellip;NHL fans are eagerly awaiting the upcoming NHL series with the Soviets and Czechs. The Jan. 6 game pitting Spartak against the Canadiens in Montreal is being looked upon as the classic of the series and one that will draw world hockey interest.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02985/3922976-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="256" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gilles Gilbert</figcaption></div>&bull; THE WHA was highly encouraged with its first two games of its International series. The Indy Racers lost but the Quebec Nordiques made amends and they sold out the Quebec Colisee while doing it. More overflow crowds are expected when the series gets into full swing. In all the WHA will encounter European competition in no fewer than 50 games this season giving the league a real touch of world hockey&hellip;The recent exodus of big name stars from the NHL appears to be the start of a purge to get more new, young faces into the lineups with the hope of building up league crowds. Names like Ken Hodge, Bill Goldsworthy, Rod Gilbert, Jim McKenny, Mike Pelyk, Derek Sanderson and Bob Berry, are just a few who have dropped from the NHL scene and not likely to ever return&hellip;The NHL is going to take steps to protect their players from player agents, investors and advisors who are virtually taking the NHLers to the cleaners financially. John Ziegler, the new NHL president and a legal man, will probably head the drive to clean out undesirables who are bilking the players of their money and advising them to get into bad investments. Players like Bernie Parent, Bob Nystrom, Jude Drouin, Gary Howatt, Barry Gibbs, Dennis Hextall and Goldsworthy all have experienced problems with agents and advisors. Many NHL players have taken to handling their own finances while allowing their agents to manipulate their contracts&hellip;The NHL rookie crop is bubbling again this season and at least six players are already showing they are definite candidates for the Calder Trophy, Among them are Don Edwards of Buffalo, Barry Beck of Colorado, Mike Bossy of the Islanders, Reed Larson and Dale McCourt of Detroit and Jere Gillis of Vancouver.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03880/3922969-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="268" height="439"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Goldsworthy</figcaption></div>&bull; ERNIE (PUNCH) McLEAN, coach of New Westminster Bruins in the Western Canada Junior League, and one of the coaches handling the Canadian charges for the World Junior Hockey Tournament, says Canada should win. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have the best 20 juniors in Canada, so that&rsquo;s the top 20 draft choices or close to it. If we don&rsquo;t win, the National Hockey League&rsquo;s in trouble&hellip;Islanders coach Al Arbour is very high on rookie center Mike Kaszycki even though he still hadn&rsquo;t scored his first NHL goal. &ldquo;We know what he can do and we&rsquo;re sticking with him. Give him time, he&rsquo;ll bust loose,&rdquo; opined Arbour&hellip;When Joe Watson and Gary Dornhoefer were scratched from the lineup in the Flyers&rsquo; 4-2 victory over the Kings in Los Angeles on Dec. 1, it marked the first time in 11 seasons that an original Flyer wasn&rsquo;t in the lineup. Watson, Dornhoefer and Bernie Parent (back-up goaltender for the game) are original Flyers&hellip;Unusual is the fact that when Gilles Meloche&rsquo;s (Cleveland Barons) record for assists by a goaltender in a game was tied this year (Dec. 11) that two goaltenders matched it on the same night. Both Dan Bouchard of the Atlanta Flames and Tony Esposito of the Chicago Black Hawks assisted on two goals that night to tie the record&hellip;Of five penalty shots taken during the first quarter of the 1977-78 National Hockey League season, only one player scored, Clark Gillies of the New York Islanders in a 6-0 triumph over the Washington Capitals. Caps&rsquo; goalie Bernie Wolfe allowed the goal.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04778/3922962-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="262" height="427"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dan Bouchard</figcaption></div>&bull; MATTI HAGMAN wasted little time in making a name for himself with the Quebec Nordiques of the World Hockey Association. After playing for the Finnish National team, Hagman, 22, received very little ice time in a little over a year with the Boston Bruins. However, in Quebec he has become the center for Marc Tardif and Real Cloutier and had four goals (in the same game) and six assists in two games&hellip;Another new player who paid instant dividends was Bob Girard, obtained by the Washington Capitals from the Cleveland Barons in exchange for Walt McKechnie. Girard scored the winning goal for the Caps against the St. Louis Blues in his first start&hellip;Trade rumors concerning Rick Chartraw of the Montreal Canadiens have quieted recently with the Habs somewhat strapped for players with first Serge Savard and Rejean Houle missing and then Steve Shutt, Yvan Cournoyer and Pierre Larouche who all left the game against the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 10 and did not return. Both Larouche and Coumoyer with injured knees will be out at least a week&hellip;Colorado Rockies proved that it doesn&rsquo;t take the Montreal Canadiens to bring out the fans in Denver as a crowd of more 15,000 witnessed their Dec. 8 match with the Toronto Maple Leafs&hellip;Canucks&rsquo; public relations director Norm Jewison, the former assistant to Ron Andrews in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s head offices, was reunited with his old boss recently when the Canadiens hosted the Canucks. Jewison says he likes Vancouver except for the rain&hellip;The 11th annual celebrities dinner in Montreal for the benefit of the Children&rsquo;s Hospital was once again an overwhelming success with hockey greats such as Elmer Lach, Jacques Lemaire and Bobby Orr joining former NHL president Clarence Campbell at the head table.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05639/3922955-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="303" height="484"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Chartraw</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-06389/3923014-1-eng-US/f0004-062.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BERT MARSHALL&hellip;First Islander To Go Down (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;There have been many reasons why the N.Y. Islanders have been near the top of the National Hockey League over the past few years. They have talent, they work hard, and they know how to get the job done.There has been another one, too, but one that doesn&rsquo;t appear in the league statistics. And that&rsquo;s the fact that the Islanders have been among the luckiest teams in hockey when it comes to avoiding the injury jinx. Until recently, that is.With the exception of Garry Howatt, who missed a few weeks with a knee injury, no Islander was out for any extended period of time last year. And at practically no point was more than one regular on the shelf at the same time.But this season has been a different story, as for the first time, the Islanders appear to be physically mortal.Bert Marshall started the injury parade when he missed the first couple of games of the season with a recurring knee problem. He came right back, and with the exception of Eddie Westfall missing a few games with a groin pull, the Isles generally stayed out of sick bay until the end of October. After that, Marcus Welby might have had a better shot at making out the starting lineup than coach Al Arbour.Swedish defenseman Stefan Persson received somewhat of a belated rude welcoming to North America when he was high sticked by Vancouver&rsquo;s Brad Gassoff. He suffered a broken nose and missed three games before returning with a plexiglass mask.Pat Price, the sophomore rearguard who was sent to Rochester of the American League for extra work at the beginning of the year, was recalled after a couple of weeks, but a knee injury prevented his return to the roster for four games. At the same time, Michel Bergeron, acquired from the Detroit Red Wings earlier, suffered a bruised back in practice and missed seven starts.Although the injuries had caused Arbour to alter his lineup somewhat, he was at least able to go with his three regular lineups until plucky Garry Howatt suffered a broken thumb. Howatt was doing a number on Philly&rsquo;s Gary Dornhoefer at the Spectrum on Nov. 17, but cracked the bone in the process. He should be back in the lineup shortly, however.With Marshall out with a bruised ankle, and Gerry Hart banging up his back sliding into a goalpost, the defense-laden Islanders actually ran out of bodies when they began their annual November road journey, starting off in Minnesota.The Isles had to fill the void with farmhand Neil Nicholson, who skated with the Long Island bunch back in their patsy days, but spent most of the last five years in the minors. He got into one game and was returned to Fort Worth.The most crippling injury of all was to Jude Drouin, who suffered a chipped bone in his wrist after finally battling his way back into the lineup after being benched for four straight games. He was expected to miss at least a couple of weeks, which caused Arbour to totally revamp his entire front line.The most significant move in Arbour&rsquo;s juggling plan was the transfer of lefthand shooting right wing Billy Harris to the pivot spot between veteran J.P. Parise and Bergeron. The new unit had a big night against the Red Wings in Detroit on Nov. 27, accounting for two goals and five points as they skated away with a 4-1 verdict.Harris is the first to admit that center isn&rsquo;t actually home, sweet home, for him, but the move was considered a &ldquo;natural&rdquo; by Arbour and general manager Bill Torrey. Throughout his six year career, Harris has been considered a smooth skater and stickhandler, and it&rsquo;s just possible that his greatest talents were wasted by playing the wing.Billy is also an adept face-off man who has posted an excellent record when forced into the circle to replace the regular center who was whistled out.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s something that I&rsquo;ll have to get used to for the time being, but I think it might work out,&rdquo; said the soft-spoken Harris. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never played there except for some spot shifts lately, but I&rsquo;ll play wherever they want me to.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s no question that Harris would prefer to be back in his old comfortable spot on the right flank. But if the injury jinx continues through the winter, he just might have to put up with it a little longer. It could be worse; next time they might ask him to put on the goal pads.ISLAND SOUNDS: Pat Price has played excellent hockey since coming off the injured list after his recall from Rochester. He was considered a pheenom when he was drafted and signed by the WHA a few years ago, and is coming into his own at age 22.The Hockey NewsOFFICIAL NATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY FOUNDED 1947VOLUME 31 NUMBER 12 DECEMBER 23,1977Kenneth W. McKenzie&nbsp;President and PublisherTom Murray&nbsp;Assistant PublisherCharlie Halpin&nbsp;Editorial DirectorPat Beale&nbsp;Advertising CoordinatorAdvertising Representatives:Toronto:Gary McDougall 111 Richmond St., West. Suite 508, Toronto. Ont. M5H 2G4 (416)492-9191MontrealPat Beale 1434 St. Catherine Street West. Suite 217 Montreal. Can &bull; H3G 1R7 (514) 866-4841New York:Tom Murray 150 East 58th Street New York. N.Y. 10022 &bull; (212) 593-2100Chicago:Hooper & Jones Associates 3322 W. Peterson Avenue Chicago. 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.: co W.C.C, Publishing Corp. 150 E. 58th Street. New York, N.Y. 10022. (212) 593-2100.YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES $11.95 In Canada, $12.95 In the 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 be addressed to Subscription Dept., The Hockey News, 1434 St. Catharine St. W., Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7. Printed In Caneda. &#9632;

f0004-06

Injury Jinx Hits, Isles Alter Lines

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>ATLANTA&mdash;Miles Zaharko, D, recalled from Nova Scotia of AHL.BUFFALO&mdash;Terry Martin, LW, assigned to Hershey of AHL.CLEVELAND&mdash;Bob Girard, LW, traded to Washington in exchange for Walt McKechnie, C. Barons also gave up second round draft pick for 1978.COLORADO&mdash;Randy Pierce, RW, assigned to Phoenix of CHL.DETROIT&mdash;J.P. Leblanc, C, recalled from Kansas City of CHL. Al McDonough, RW, and Bob Ritchie, LW, sent to Kansas City.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Marcel Dionne, C, placed on disabled list with shoulder separation. Larry Carriere, D, assigned to Springfield of AHL.MINNESOTA&mdash;Nick Beverley, D, placed on disabled list. Brad Maxwell, D, returned from injury list.MONTREAL&mdash;Yvan Cournoyer, RW, and Pierre Larouche, C, placed on disabled list with knee injuries. Serge Savard, D, returned from injury list.N.Y. RANGERS&mdash;Jerry Byers, LW, recalled from New Haven of AHL. Rod Gilbert, RW, placed on voluntary retired list. Bill Goldsworthy, RW, traded to Indianapolis of WHA.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Tom Price, D, recalled from Binghamton of AHL as replacement for Ron Stackhouse, D, who is on disabled list.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Bob Hess, D, assigned to Salt Lake of CHL. Jack Brownschidle, D, Floyd Thomson, LW, and Doug Palazzari, C, sent to Salt Lake.TORONTO&mdash;Bruce Boudreau, C, recalled from Dallas of CHL. Jim McKenny, D, and Don Ashby, C, assigned to Dallas. Mike Pelyk, D, returned to Tulsa of CHL.WASHINGTON&mdash;Mike Marson, LW, recalled from Hershey of AHL. Jean Lemieux, D, and Mark Lofthouse, RW, assigned to Hershey.<h2>WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.</h2>BIRMINGHAM&mdash;Phil Roberto, RW, signed as free agent.NEW ENGLAND&mdash;Andre Peloffy C, and Danny Bolduc, RW, recalled from Springfield of AHL and later returnedINDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Lynn Powis, C, released as free agent.QUEBEC&mdash;Rich Morris, LW, secured from Edmonton to complete earlier trade.WINNIPEG&mdash;Lynn Powis, C, and Ken Baird, LW, signed as free agents.CINCINNATI&mdash;Jacques Locas, C, removed from suspended list and assigned to Springfield of AHL. &#9632;

Hockey Players On The Move

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01897/3923069-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK MARTIN&hellip;Shifted Off French Connection (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;If ever a hockey coach looked like a mastermind after juggling his forward lines, it was Marcel Pronovost of the Buffalo Sabres for three games at the end of November.The coach&rsquo;s comment, when his club won three straight games after losing two in a row for the first time this season:&ldquo;I was trying to shake something up. It&rsquo;s better to be lucky than smart, I guess.&rdquo;The Sabres went into a home game against the New York Rangers after losing to Boston and Montreal in successive big games and scoring only one goal for the 120 minutes.They had lost to the Rangers, 8-4, in their only other meeting, a game that started them on their worst stretch of the campaign, four wins, four losses and a tie.The great Buffalo scorers just weren&rsquo;t putting the puck into the net.Through the first period against the Rangers, the Sabres looked worse than ever. They trailed, 1-0.In the second period, however, Pronovost disconnected the French Connection for the first time since he took over as coach.He sent out Rick Martin, the left winger on the Connection, with Ron Schock, a veteran center who had been watching from the press box for most of the games, and Ric Seiling, the club&rsquo;s No. 1 draft choice.The rest of the Connection, Gil Perreault and Rene Robert, remained together with Jim Lorentz as the left winger.On their second shift, the Schock line scored to tie the count. Seiling got the goal, his third of the season, on a backhander after a lead pass from Martin.Less than two minutes later, the Sabres were ahead on a pretty goal by Perreault, who put a few of his patented moves on a defenseman and the goalie.Less than two minutes after that, the Don Luce-Craig Ramsay-Danny Gare line scored, Luce getting the goal. That line was the only one that stayed together during the interval of shuffling. The Sabres had scored three goals in less than four minutes and they won the game, 3-2.Next they went into Chicago to play the Black Hawks, a team they had met twice before this season and had not beaten.The same three lines started for the Sabres. Perreault and Gare scored in the first seven minutes of play and it looked easy. But the Black Hawks fought back and, playing a very physical game, tied the score early in the third period.Andre Savard, who had been benched when Schock started centering for Martin and Seiling, was brought back into action and his aggressive play lifted the Sabres. What&rsquo;s more, he was the guy who sent a lead pass to Seiling (that rookie again) for the winning goal in a 3-2 triumph.Then came a home game against the Montreal Canadiens, who had beaten the Sabres, 4-1 during that 4-4-1 stretch. This time the score was 3-1 but it was the Sabres who triumphed.Gare started it off with a power play goal in the first period. Then, in the second, Pronovost sent Gary McAdam out in Lorentz&rsquo;s place with Perreault and Robert. McAdam, who hadn&rsquo;t been able to find the net and had not been playing his usual aggressive game, did not even make the trip to Chicago, after being benched the game before.On his second shift with Perreault and Robert, however, McAdam scored to put the Sabres two up. The trio engaged in some pretty passing around the Montreal net, then Robert shot a pass from the corner to McAdam, about 10 feet out from the goal. Gary drilled one past Ken Dryden.Later in the second period, Savard, still centering for Martin and Seiling, sent a backhand pass from behind the net to Martin, out near the edge of the faceoff circle and Rico made it 3-0. It was Savard&rsquo;s 100th NHL assist.Those three victories, all with Don Edwards in goal, gave the young net-minder 15 goaltending wins, three more than any other NHL goalie at the time. &#9632;

f0005-01

Pronovost Juggles Forward Lines, Sabres Snap Goal-Scoring Drought

<div class="byline">&#x2014; BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011061/3923100-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="340" height="472"></div><h2>This Writer&rsquo;s Views</h2>NEWS: Pittsburgh Penguins trade Syl Apps and Hartland Monahan to Los Angeles for Gene Carr and Dave Schultz.VIEWS: With all due respect to Carr and Schultz, this trade makes one wonder whether the Penguins want to win games or self-destruct. If they want to dump the ample contract of an Apps, or avert the possibility of a Monahan playing out his option, that is one thing. But couldn&rsquo;t they have gotten more? And if they&rsquo;re trying to build rather than tear down, why would they have dealt a No. 1 draft choice for Monahan in the first place? We&rsquo;ve seen it all.NEWS: No we haven&rsquo;t. Pittsburgh Penguins trade Pierre Larouche to Montreal for Peter Mahovlich.VIEWS: Peter The Leader is an old pro, but just a bit too old to justify this transaction. There&rsquo;s nine years&rsquo; difference in age, probably considerable in raw talent, and who was it that said only Tony Orlando has seen more of dawn than Peter Mahovlich? This could not have been a deal to save money, because Mahovlich is right up there at $145,000. Larouche was unhappy, but, again, what percentage is there in it for the Penguins&rsquo; future, if they indeed have one? What&rsquo;s going on?<h2>Penguins&rsquo; Hat Trick</h2>NEWS: Penguins &ldquo;promote&rdquo; hockey in Pittsburgh with newspaper ads.VIEWS: Sorry to be coming down on the folks in Pittsburgh, but they&rsquo;ve completed the hat trick. When the Chicago Black Hawks visited the Igloo for the first time in November, a gauche advertisement was purchased in the local papers ballyhooing the upcoming night&rsquo;s match: &ldquo;Pittsburgh Penguins Featuring Dave &lsquo;The Hammer&rsquo; Schultz vs. Chicago Black Hawks Featuring Bob &lsquo;Battleship&rsquo; Kelly. Tonight. Get Your Tickets Now.&rdquo;One could easily have substituted the name of Mad Dog Vachon and Skull Murphy in the ad, and it would have confirmed the fact that the event was the bout, not the game. Maybe it worked. The crowd that night wasn&rsquo;t bad. But the idea was bad, the means to the end was sick, and the message was clearly ugly.NEWS: Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson of Winnipeg Jets thinking about moving.VIEWS: Bobby Hull&rsquo;s favorite teammates are being wooed by all sorts of NHL people. Bobby Orr and Bobby Clarke recently visited Winnipeg, and the Black Hawks and Flyers won&rsquo;t be the only ones. Both Swedes earn $150,000 per annum. They will ask a lot more this time, and if the Jets don&rsquo;t come within $20,000 of anybody else&rsquo;s offer, then the Swedes can bolt. Stay tuned.NEWS: Don Cherry calls Minnesota North Stars a bunch of chickens.VIEWS: The kind of job Cherry does in Boston, who&rsquo;ll argue with anything he says? And if you do, John Wensink will get you.<h2>Hopes Reason Reigns</h2>NEWS: Washington Capitals begin season in horrendous fashion.VIEWS: A surprise, to be sure. The Caps became respectable last season, and there was every reason to expect improvement this time around. But at press time, there were whispers that coach Tom McVie&rsquo;s Spartan ways were wearing thin. He is a tough coach, but a good one. And one can only hope that reason reigns here, not panic.NEWS: Cesare Maniago, goalie for the Vancouver Canucks, flashes the universal signal to spectators in Chicago Stadium.VIEWS: Maniago&rsquo;s gesture was, to be sure, indiscreet. But he had just been pelted in the head with a piece of debris late in a 6-2 victory which vaulted the Canucks into first place of the Conn Smythe Division. Maybe Cesare was just trying to say, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re No. 1.&rdquo;NEWS: NHL promises that realignment is just around the corner.VIEWS: Hurry up, corner. The confusion of it all finally struck home the other day when a mild mannered reporter asked a highly respected NHL general manager his opinion on who would win the Patrick Division. What did the GM reply? &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s in that division, anyway?&rdquo; &#9632;

f0006-01

HOCKEY TALK

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02818/3923131-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE PALMATEER&hellip; Picking His Spots For Gambles</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;It was not a surprise. Mike Palmateer claims with a look of bewilderment on his face that the question would even be asked, that he was named the No. 1 goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs this season.&ldquo;Why should it have been a surprise?&rdquo; Palmateer said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t come to camp planning to be No. 2.&rdquo;Of course, that statement could be called cockiness on the part of the little Leaf goaltender. It isn&rsquo;t really. Palmateer is more confident in his own ability than arrogant. But then, any goalie who lacks confidence in his skill at stopping the puck usually isn&rsquo;t around very long, especially in the National, Hockey League.Palmateer has backed up his brass with performance. He&rsquo;s a large reason why the Leafs have their 1977-78 season off to a good start He&rsquo;s played 19 of the club&rsquo;s 22 matches and has held his goals-against record around the 2.60 mark all season.Palmateer joined the Leafs early in the &lsquo;76-77 season at a time when the club was floundering badly and incumbent Wayne Thomas was having problems in his second year with the team.Palmateer took over the top job and played in 50 games plus most of the playoff work until an ankle injury ended his season.When new coach Roger Neilson joined the Leafs this fall, he said that the goaltending job was a wide-open race between Palmateer. Thomas. Gord McRae and Pierre Hamel. Palmateer &ldquo;won&rdquo; the job with McRae staying on as back-up. Hamel was dispatched to Dallas of the Central League while Thomas, unprotected in the waiver draft, was claimed by the New York Rangers.That threw the load to little (five-foot-nine, 160-pounds) Palmateer and he&rsquo;s carried it rather well Equipped with extraordinary reflexes and quickness, he often was criticized for being a &ldquo;guesser&rdquo;, relying on his physical skills rather than playing the position with technique. He also flopped to the ice more than Leaf management wanted.This season, however, he&rsquo;s been much more of a stand-up goalie playing the angles strongly, and not gambling as much. He feels his style is a compromise between the way he wants to do the job and the way management wants him to Play.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d have to say I was a gambler: I still am but I&rsquo;m picking my spots to do it more now.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Last season, maybe I was just a little mixed up on the approach I should take.&ldquo;It did cause me a little confusion. A couple of times I was beaten by shots that I might have stopped in my old style but management said nothing because I was standing up and playing the way they wanted me to play.&rdquo;Palmateer claims that as a rookie, he had to do a psyche job on himself to keep his confidence at a high level.&ldquo;I did learn a great deal last season.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I played a lot of good games and maybe I told myself I was better than I was. My average did go up late in the season when I was working to improve my technique and not playing quite the way I had all my life.&ldquo;This year. I don&rsquo;t have to do the big con-job on myself. I know I can do the job for the Leafs in the NHL. I think I&rsquo;ve got my style set and it&rsquo;s a matter of taking it a little farther all the time.&rdquo;Neilson has helped Palmateer with special co-ordination exercises&mdash;bouncing tennis balls off a wall and catching them, two-at-a-time. tumbling work on a mat plus written reports on every goal that heats him.&ldquo;Yeah, after every game. I have to submit a written report to Roger on each goal and why I think it went into our net.&rdquo; Palmateer said It&rsquo;s not a case of me blaming some other guy on the team It&rsquo;s a matter of me and that puck in the net and what I might have done to prevent the score.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s helped because it&rsquo;s established a pattern on the shots that are beating me. For instance. I know that in the first 15 games, only three shots from outside a range of 15 feet went past me It&rsquo;s fixed the areas I have to work on.&rdquo;NOTES: The Leafs sent wingerdefenseman Bob Neely to the Philadelphia Firebirds of the American League on loan for 14 days to give him a chance to acquire some ice-time, something he had little of with the Leafs&hellip;Center Don Ashby missed several games with a bruised knee and when he&rsquo;s healthy, he&rsquo;ll be assigned to Dallas to play himself back into condition. &#9632;

f0006-02

Goaler Compromises Style, Pleases Leafs’ Management

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01948/3923162-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ED JOHNSTONE&hellip;Providing Rangers With New Life (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;The New York Rangers had just eked out a 4-4 tie with the Minnesota North Stars on home ice, a result that normally would have left coach Jean Guy Talbot unhappy.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m satisfied with the point,&rdquo; said Talbot. &ldquo;We played a bad first period, and got behind by three goals. Then we took charge and got the tie. The first period was the worst we have played in seven games. Those two shutouts against St. Louis (Nov. 30) and Minnesota (Dec. 3), showed me the guys are starting to learn my style.&rdquo;The back to back shutouts were the first time the Rangers had accomplished this trick since November of 1973, when they were one of the powerhouses of the NHL. When Brad Maxwell scored at 11:18 of the first period Dec. 4, it snapped a streak of 159 minutes and three seconds that New York had held the opposition with nothing more than a goose egg.Emile Francis, the St. Louis president and former Rangers general manager noticed the difference when New York visited St. Louis.&ldquo;Talbot even has Esposito coming back and really working. I knew Phil was this type of player who would help out when things were tough,&rdquo; observed the Cat.Eddie Johnstone continued hot, scoring five goals in his first five games and recording 18 shots on goal. Against Minnesota in the 4-0 wipe out of the North Stars in Bloomington on Dec. 3, the mighty mite scored twice and was on the ice for all four New York scores. That will help his final plus-minus figures. He also scored a key goal in the comeback 4-4 game against an old buddy, Paul Harrison.&ldquo;I keyed on Johnstone, Esposito and Don Murdoch,&rdquo; admitted Harrison, the North Stars rookie goalie, who played with Johnstone last year at New Haven. &ldquo;Eddie can shoot the puck through a tiny opening if you give it to him.&rdquo;Johnstone was unflappable about any fan reaction at the Rangers first home game after the forced &ldquo;retirement&rdquo; of Rod Gilbert.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m here to do a job,&rdquo; said Eddie. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not taking Gilbert&rsquo;s place. He was Mr. New York Rangers for so long, no one can do that.&rdquo;The Rangers&rsquo; new found style starts in goal.&ldquo;The biggest thing about this team,&rdquo; explained center Walter Tkacuk, &ldquo;is our goaltending. It&rsquo;s pretty good. They used to say we had poor goaltending. Now we win games when we get fewer shots than the other guys.&rdquo;The two shutouts were split between Wayne Thomas (St. Louis) and John Davidson (Minnesota). In the Rangers first 25 games, they were outshot 786 to 709, yet were only one game under the .500 mark. And the double shutout and the tie with Minnesota put New York ahead of the Atlanta Flames.Talbot promised, &ldquo;We are going to finish ahead of Atlanta. In the past they have whipped us good, both in the Omni and here in the Garden, but that&rsquo;s not going to happen anymore. The guys are coming back and playing my defensive system much better and that will help.&rdquo;One player, often forgotten except when physical courage and team character are mentioned, who contributed to the Rangers upsurge, was Staten Island born Nick Fotiu. When things dragged in the second period of the Minnesota tie, Nick had two separate fights with the North Stars&rsquo; Harvey Bennett.&ldquo;That got us moving and working again,&rdquo; said Talbot. &ldquo;Nick went up and down his wing, did his job and got the team working when it had let down. And on the tying goal (the second of the night by Lucien DeBlois) Nick did just what I told him to do. He took out the goalie and one defenseman in front of the net, and DeBlois had a free shot.&rdquo;&ldquo;I just did my job up and down the ice,&rdquo; said Nick. &ldquo;I might have hit one of their guys after the whistle in a pile up in front of the net. Harvey (Bennett) and I are friends, but he had to come over and get into it. We used to work together at a summer clinic, but on the ice you don&rsquo;t have friends, except on your team. On the goal, I did just what Guy told me to do. For once, I&rsquo;m happy I could contribute.&rdquo;Another happy Ranger was DeBlois, the rookie right wing, who is starting to feel at home in the NHL. His two goals gave him eight for the year&mdash;and a feeling that more were coming.&ldquo;We are coming together more as a team,&rdquo; said the 20-year-old French youth. &ldquo;Who gets the goals doesn&rsquo;t matter, as long as the team wins. Talbot has made the guys one unit, and things are much better now.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0007-01

Ranger ‘Workers’ Raising Club’s Playoff Hopes

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;There is something about losing, or more accurately not winning, that brings out the best trade rumors.The Canucks are in the midst of a four-game home-stand in which they have only two ties to show for their efforts, and naturally the rumor mill is going 100 percent.The arrival of the Philadelphia Flyers for a recent game in Vancouver sparked the most recent volley of talks, with general manager Jake Milford and Keith Allen holding talks on possible switches in personnel.The Flyers could use someone of the stature of a Dennis Ververgaert. Gary Dornhoefer has been off to one of his slowest starts in years and the Flyers, who boast nine capable defensemen in the organization, could use some paring there.Canucks, despite the recent acquisition of Sheldon Kannegiesser from the LA. Kings organization, are still looking for some help on defense, and the Flyers are naturally the team to get it from.&ldquo;I guess I&rsquo;ve sort of been expecting something lately myself,&rdquo; Flyers defenseman Joe Watson was saying as he came through Vancouver. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got seven defensemen with the team and one of them has to sit out every game and there is the Czech (Rudolph Tjacnor) and Terry Murray down on the farm. And I guess I&rsquo;m the most likely prospect to be traded because I&rsquo;m the oldest and there are so many good ones back there.&rdquo;Watson may have been thinking something was up, but so was everyone else.GM Allen would say only &ldquo;we&rsquo;re talking,&rdquo; when he was asked about the likelihood of a trade.Canucks&rsquo; Jake Milford on the other hand is also playing it cool, even while foaming at the mouth at the excess of talent on the Philadelphia team.&ldquo;Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don&rsquo;t make,&rdquo; said Milford.Earlier rumors had it that Joe Watson and Tom Bladon were available to the highest bidder, and it has never been any secret over the past year or so that Dennis Ververgaert&rsquo;s name has been mentioned as trade bait. What is putting the pressure on Milford is that Ververgaert has been off to a terribly slow start, three goals in his first 23 games, and Rick Blight, the club&rsquo;s other usually dependable scorer, is struggling nearly as much.In the club&rsquo;s last four games, the goals-against average has really come down. Canucks blanked the Rangers, held Pittsburgh, Chicago and Philadelphia to a total of eight goals in three games, far below their usual goals-against mark.But the problem has been scoring goals. While the season total to date is up 12 goals over last year, scoring has suddenly dropped off and has prompted coach Orland Kurtenbach to juggle his lines frequently and even try some strange combinations on the power play.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03798/3923231-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="571" height="1267"><figcaption class="caption-body">DENNIS VERVERGAERT &hellip;Headed To Philly?</figcaption></div>Naturally, that has drawn some criticism.One press box pundit said that Kurtenbach was obviously an &ldquo;equal opportunity employer&rdquo; when he had Garry Monahan and Gerry O&rsquo;Flaherty on a power play, neither of whom have scored a goal this season.But Kurtenbach defended the decision, saying that he had his own very good reasons.&ldquo;The Martin line had just come off the ice and I was using Shakey (Mike Walton) on the point. Besides, these guys have been around and they have scored goals in the past. And who else is scoring.Kurtenbach had an excellent point there. And he went on saying that he was trying a bit of psychological strategy on his club.&ldquo;Could you imagine what a lift it would have given the guys if one of those guys had scored their first goal.Meanwhile, Pit Martin continues to reward Milford for his faith in him by playing very well, centering a line with the struggling Blight and rookie Jere Gillis, who boasts 10 goals despite two nagging injuries.Gillis has been bothered by a bad wrist which has been put in a cast and earlier by a shoulder problem, which has now cleared up.Cesare Maniago continues to play extremely well in goal for the Canucks, having played in the club&rsquo;s last four games, four of their best defensive game of the year. &#9632;

f0008-03

Trade Talk Flows As Pressure Builds To Improve Canucks

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;The whole town is talking about the Red Wings.And the fans are hurryin&rsquo; back to Olympia to see the transformation for themselves.A fourth of the way into the National Hockey League season, the Red Wings were staging an amazing comeback from the depths of despair. And, while they still have a long way to go, the first important steps toward respectability have been taken.Not many expected this team, the worst in the NHL last season, to seriously threaten for a playoff berth. But now everybody is beginning to believe that the Wings may, indeed, make the playoffs for the first time since 1970.The fans certainly are beginning to think so.Olympia Stadium has a proud history as home of the Red Wings but never has there been a bigger crowd than Nov. 23 when an all-time record of 16,472 squeezed themselves into the old red barn to watch Detroit defeat Philadelphia, 4-1. The fans began a standing ovation with two minutes remaining in the game and continued to roar until after the three stars (all Wings) were introduced, making it a standing ovation of several minutes.&lsquo;That&rsquo;s the best crowd I ever heard in my life,&rdquo; said goalie Ron Low, who posted the victory. After losing his debut with the Wings in the season&rsquo;s third game, Low went six straight games without a loss. The victory over the Flyers was particularly pleasing. Why?&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the first time I&rsquo;ve ever beaten them,&rdquo; said the newcomer from Washington. &ldquo;With the Capitals, we always got bombed when we played them.&ldquo;The crowd was an intimidating factor. It really was. Fantastic&hellip; and any time you hold the Flyers to 24 shots, it&rsquo;s a hell of a job.&rdquo;The Flyer game was a big test for the Wings. The skeptics were waiting to see what the &ldquo;new&rdquo; Wings would do against Philly and Detroit passed that test. Certainly, that doesn&rsquo;t mean the Wings will win all the rest but still another barrier has come down in their quest for respectability.&ldquo;Unbelievable,&rdquo; coach Bobby Kromm said with a smile. &ldquo;We thought that was the Stanley Cup the way they were dancing in the aisle.&rdquo;General manager Ted Lindsay isn&rsquo;t the least bit surprised by the fans&rsquo; reaction. He has said all along that all the Wings had to offer the fans of Detroit was an honest effort, &ldquo;and they&rsquo;d be hanging by the rafters.&rdquo;During the summer, Lindsay steadfastly referred to Detroit as &ldquo;the best hockey franchise anywhere.&rdquo;One of the players who reflects Detroit&rsquo;s new enthusiasm.. and hustle&hellip;and determination is, Paul Woods. The Flyers took three first period penalties trying to contain Woods, who was interfered with, high-sticked and hooked. He bounced right up each time and each time seemed to work even harder and with more determination.&ldquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t mind that (the rough stuff,)&rdquo; Woods said. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t bother me. It helps get you into the game. Sometimes in a game you don&rsquo;t get any action, no contact, and it&rsquo;s hard to get going. But a good hit wakes you up and you start playing. The only thing I don&rsquo;t like is the stick swinging, stuff like that.&rdquo;Woods scored Detroit&rsquo;s fourth goal, the clincher, against the Flyers directly from a face-off after another rookie, Dale McCourt, won the draw. McCourt earned a pair of assists in the game. The other goal scorers were Reed Larson (his fourth in four games), Greg Joly and Bill Lochead.It&rsquo;s impolite (and unwise) to gloat over trade successes, and the Detroit front office isn&rsquo;t. However, they are thrilled at the way a couple of trades have turned out.First, of course, there was the acquisition of Low from Washington. Then, there&rsquo;s the trade which brought Andre St. Laurent from the New York Islanders for Michel Bergeron. St. Laurent has been a hard worker and a perfect team man. In addition, he&rsquo;s scored some key goals and combined with his wingers, Dan Maloney and Dennis Polonich, to give the Wings a solid line.MOTOR CITY SHORTS:Polonich suffered a freak injury while checking his skates before a game. He suffered a nine-stich cut on the middle finger of the right hand and a bad cut on the forefinger. He wasn&rsquo;t expected to play but appeared in the lineup for the next game and took a regular turn. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t like to miss any games,&rdquo; he said with a smile afterwards.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011016/3923262-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="571" height="697"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAUL WOODS &hellip;Determined Center</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0009-01

Wings Offering Fans An Honest Effort

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011038/3923293-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div>Write to: FAN FORUM, The Hockey News, 1434 St. Catherine St., W., Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7<h2>L.A. Kings To Put It Together</h2>To all NHL observers: The Los Angeles Kings with the acquisition (steal) of Syl Apps and Hartland Monahan will challenge Montreal for first place in the Norris Division.In Rogie Vachon they have the best goaltender in the league and possibly the world and a capable backup in Gary Simmons. Their defense with veterans Randy Manery and Bob Murdoch is solid and in Gary Sargent they have a future super star.Offensively they have four solid lines led by such stars as Marcel Dionne, Butch Goring and Apps. Tommy Williams, Monahan, Mike Murphy and Ernie Hicke all are consistent scorers. For defensive forwards look no further than Pete Stemkowski, Vic Venasky, and Bert Wilson. The powerplay is strong, while Goring, Murphy and Wilson give them one of the league&rsquo;s best penaltykilling units.So look out NHL, the Kings might just surprise you, but not me as they skate off with Lord Stanley&rsquo;s Cup in 1978.ROBERT GREENWALD, Lawrence, N.Y.<h2>Wirtz Dealings Hurting Black Hawks</h2>What&rsquo;s wrong with the Wirtz family? They trade away such players as Dave Dryden, Ray McKay, Pat Stapleton, Darryl Maggs, Terry Ruskowski, Johnny McKenzie, Bobby Hull, Andre Lacroix, Chris Bordeleau, Dennis Kearns, Tom Reid, Len Frig, Brian Ogilvie, Pit Martin, Randy Holt, Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge, Fred Stanfield, Doug Jarrett, Gerry Desjardins, Dan Maloney and Dave Burrows.Come on Mr. Wirtz give the Hawks&rsquo; fans a chance, and let&rsquo;s get the Hawks on TV, too.ROGER KAMASKI, Chesterton, Ind.<h2>Merger Failure Seen As Big Mistake</h2>I am writing this letter to express my feelings to all those people who were in charge of disallowing some of the WHA teams to unite with the NHL. I think that was the biggest mistake they have ever made. And if a merger doesn&rsquo;t happen in 1978-79, there may never be one.Teams such as New England, Winnipeg, Quebec and Indianapolis could easily make it more exciting. And NHL teams like Montreal and Buffalo would no longer be bored beating Washington and Cleveland.Also, when it came to NHL vs. International teams, players like Bobby Hull, Marc Tardif and Serge Bernier would make the going a heck of a lot easier.If it happened so that the 10 most powerful teams were combined, and all the good players from the teams that didn&rsquo;t make it were mixed in with these teams, then both the fans and team owners would be happy. The fans because they would be seeing fast, exciting hockey, instead of the bash and crash Philadelphia style and the NHL owners because the money would be rolling in. I&rsquo;m sure there are many others who&rsquo;ll agree with me.JOHN KENSICK, Thunder Bay, Ont.<h2>Get Facts Straight Before Knocking Flyers</h2>I would like to straighten things out for a fan who wrote (Nov. 28) that the Flyers are ruining hockey.First of all, the Flyers don&rsquo;t have Dave Schultz anymore, as any knowing hockey fan could tell you. And if you vere at the game where Paul Holmgren kicked Wayne Cashman, as I was, you would have seen that Cashman started the whole incident when he tried to hit Joe Watson with his stick.Andre Dupont does take a lot of penalties, but get the facts straight before you write anything about the Flyers again.DEBBIZAPPI, Pomona, N.J.<h2>Cherry Wrong About Super Stars</h2>Don Cherry, the coach of the Boston Bruins, was recently quoted as saying that Guy Lafleur was the only super star in hockey today.Although Lafleur is probably the best hockey player today, I believe there are 10 to 15 players who should be considered super stars. There are also another 10-15 players on the verge of super stardom.Players such as Marcel Dionne, Gilles Perreault, Darryl Sittler, Bobby Clarke, Anders Hedberg, Bobby Hull, Denis Potvin, Larry Robinson. Borje Salming, Guy Lapointe and Rogie Vachon are the most obvious for super star status.You cannot tell me that Borje Salming is not as good as Doug Harvey was with Montreal. Nor that Rogie Vachon isn&rsquo;t in the Jacques Plante, Glen Hall or Terry Sawchuk class. Don Cherry, you will not find any centers from the old six-team NHL who had more talent than the afformentioned players.I am sorry to hear a respectable coach such as Don Cherry come out with such a statement. There are many players in the game today, as good, if not better than the super stars of the past.GEOFF KENNEDY<h2>Reds Missed In Rhode Island</h2>Hockey is a very popular sport in Rhode Island. From Pee Wees to pro, every one enjoys it. It&rsquo;s too bad the Reds (Providence) left us, now we don&rsquo;t have a professional team.I think the tip-off to them leaving was when they moved out of the auditorium to the new Civic Center and also when they changed the color, crests and markings on their jerseys.When the Reds played in the old auditorium they always had good consistent players. When they went to the Civic Center you didn&rsquo;t know the players from one game to the next. Then no one came to watch them because it seemed whomever they had was just going through the motions and never winning.The last of the good old Reds either went to the World Hockey Association or retired after 1972.JOHN CORRICA, Warwick, R.I.<h2>Colorado People Like Good Hockey</h2>I don&rsquo;t understand. The National Hockey League has to worry about Colorado all the time, but they don&rsquo;t think why.On Wednesday, Nov. 16. Montreal played Colorado and there were more than 15,000 fans there. This proves that people from Colorado like hockey, but good hockey.I think they should put the All Star game in Colorado and let them enjoy good hockey.Mark my words, when Colorado becomes a real contender the fans will pour in.ELIOT NISENBAUM, Toronto, Ont.<h2>Leafs For First In Adams Division</h2>In reference to Miss Karen Vardy&rsquo;s letter in the Nov. 25 edition, I couldn&rsquo;t agree with her more. I am confident the Leafs are going to finish first in the Adams Division.Their defense is the greatest with B.J. Salming, Ian Turnbull and the hardest hitter in the NHL, Brian Glennie. With centers like Sittler, Valiquette and a fair face-off man named Ferguson. Their winners with sharpshooter Lanny McDonald and all-around checker Tiger Williams produce goals when necessary. And what can I say about little Mike Palmateer who should be on the All Star team this year. He makes playing between the pipes look easy, which it isn&rsquo;t.I am proud to be a Leafs fan and like Karen said &ldquo;Bring Stanley Home.&rdquo;JIM BOSHART, Kitchener, Ont. &#9632;

f0010-01

FAN FORUM

<h2>NHL Not Paying Juniors&rsquo; True Worth</h2>Someone in the Canadian Major Junior Hockey had better take another look at the NHL&rsquo;s proposed agreement of payment to junior teams for drafted junior players. The new agreement calls for the NHL to pay $1,000 for each drafted player, then another $4,000 when he signs a professional contract. Following this $5,000 more for every 40 games played in the NHL up to a maximum of 120 games. This means that the junior team will receive no more than $20,000 for each drafted player.This payment is totally ridiculous as the Detroit Red Wings just finished paying Montreal $50,000 for Paul Woods, and Woods is surely not worth $30,000 more to Detroit than Dale McCourt.The Canadiens also made money from the sale as they initially paid Woods junior team only $5,000 while selling him for $50,000.If the NHL can afford to pay European hockey teams $40,000 for their players I cannot understand why they will not pay the same amount to the CMJHL for their players. Many of the Canadian players play at the same if not a higher level than European players.If the new agreement is not renegotiated the CMJHL teams will start folding in the near future, and the NHL will have to look elsewhere for their best players.RAHOUL SHARAN, North Vancouver, B.C. &#9632;

LETTER OF THE WEEK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02841/3923372-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">If the Colorado Rockies were concerned about not having enough big men around to man their defense for the 1977-78 season, the feeling was quickly dispelled when the Rockies drafted big Barry Beck as their No. 1 choice in the &lsquo;77 summer draft. The addition of the 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 216-pound Beck and the later acquisition of Mark Suzor at 6&rsquo;1&rdquo; and 212, would certainly discourage invading forwards from taking liberties with the Colorado goalers. Beck has been a pleasant surprise for the Rockies in his first NHL season. After scoring only 16 times in his final junior year with New Westminster of the Western Canada League, Beck has already counted 10 times with the Rockies, including one game-winning goal. The Rockies felt they had the best NHL rookie last year in Paul Gardner, but he didn&rsquo;t win the Calder trophy. This season with Beck they again feel they have the best freshman, a player who figures to be around the NHL for many years. (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0010-02

Beck Gives Rockies Size Along Blueline

1. Bobby Hull&rsquo;s NHL record of 28 three-goal games stood the challenge of time until this season. Recently an NHL player tied his mark. Who was he?Guy Lafleur &#8411; Bobby Clarke &#8411; Phil Esposito &#8411;2. Tiger Williams of the Leafs was the NHL&rsquo;s bad man last season with 338 penalty minutes. He was well off the record of 472 minutes. Who holds it?Steve Durbano &#8411; Dave Schultz &#8411; Dennis Polonich &#8411;3. Which NHL team do you think is the most penalized of the 1977-78 season and which has the least penalties?Philly and Buffalo &#8411; Philly and Montreal &#8411; Detroit and Islanders &#8411;4. A member of the Rangers has three shorthanded, goals this season. It is also the most in the NHL. Who is he?Steve Vickers &#8411; Greg Polis &#8411; Walt Tkaczuk &#8411;5. What NHL netminder has recorded the most victories this season. The total is 16. Guess who?Don Edwards &#8411; Ken Dryden &#8411; Bernie Parent &#8411;6. Colorado Rockies are one of the most pro prolific teams in the NHL in power play goals this season with 20. One player has scored nine of them. Who is he?Wilf Paiement &#8411; Paul Gardner &#8411; Ron Andruff &#8411;7. In the WHA, one goaler has appeared in the most games, played the most minutes, faced the most shots and made the most saves. Who is he?Al Smith of New England &#8411; John Garrett of Birminghams &#8411; Dave Dryden of Edmonton &#8411;8. One WHA forward has played in all of his team&rsquo;s games, ranks with the top goal scorers, hasn&rsquo;t had as many shots on goal as others in the top 10, yet he has the best plus figure In the league. Who is he?Bobby Hull &#8411; Marc Tardif &#8411; Anders Hedberg &#8411;9. Dave Dryden of Edmonton Ollers is older than brother Ken Dryden of the Canadiens. True or false?10. Paul Shmyr of Edmonton played with two NHL teams before going over to the WHA. Can you name the teams?Chicago and Cleveland &#8411; Boston and Chicago &#8411; St. Louis and Cleveland &#8411;<h2>Quick Quiz Answers</h2>1. Phil Esposito. 2. Dave Schultz. 3. Philly and Buffalo. 4. Greg Polis. 5. Don Edwards, 16. 6. Paul Gardner. 7. John Garrett. 8. Bobby Hull, plus 22. 9. True. Dave is 36, Ken is 30. 10 Chicago and Cleveland. &#9632;

Fans’ Quick Hockey Quiz

<div class="byline">BY ALAN TRUEX</div>ATLANTA&mdash;Fred Creighton, coach of the Atlanta Flames, recently analyzed what was wrong with his hockey team. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got some guys,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;with big hands, big wallets and small hearts.&rdquo;It was his strongest denouncement yet of Flames&rsquo; effort, and it appeared justified. The Flames, after all, were expected to be better than a .500 club this season, and so far they have not even held .500.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01994/3923417-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="517" height="637"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE SHAND</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02843/3923410-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="517" height="673"><figcaption class="caption-body">WILLI PLETT</figcaption></div>On Dec. 3, in Los Angeles, they lost their third straight game and plunged into sole possession of the Patrick Division cellar, with a record of 7-10-7.Two days later they concluded a four-game road trip with an impressive 2-2 tie in Montreal, but not even the players themselves were willing to call it a turnaround performance. The Flames still appeared to be a team in trouble.They have won only one of 13 road games. Eric Vail, a 32-goal scorer last year, has had a slump in which he scored one goal in 19 games. Curt Bennett, who has scored 87 goals in three years, was 0 for 18. Willi Plett. Calder Trophy winner and a 33-goal producer last season, has been scoreless in 22 games.The Flames have become a mystery team, one with matchless, size, considerable ability and a smart coach. And yet, they keep losing.Randy Manery, who played five seasons for Atlanta but was dealt to Los Angeles last summer, offered one explanation: &ldquo;I still believe the last couple of years the money situation really has an effect on the team. Players do not need that distraction,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;A lot of guys are planning for their future. Hockey&rsquo;s all they know. Their livelihood is threatened, and the freedom is not there to go out and feel totally relaxed. It&rsquo;s not enough to just win You feel like you have to go right out and entertain as well to get more people in the building.&rdquo;Manery added, &ldquo;The atmosphere of the city puts pressure on the team.&rdquo; Because Atlantans have been deprived so long of a winner in any sport, they are becoming increasingly frustrated with the Flames.&ldquo;They demand a team that&rsquo;s more than competitive,&rdquo; Manery said. &ldquo;The city is no longer happy with just a competitive team. They want a real winner, and real winners don&rsquo;t occur overnight.&rdquo;Of course, six years is not overnight. The Flames have been a .500 team for four of those years, and now they have slipped under that level.One factor in the demise probably was the trade of Manery for Ab DeMarco, who was an early cut in training camp. Manery had been a solid defenseman. Philadelphia assistant coach Pat Quinn, a teammate of Manery last season, called the trade &ldquo;the worst thing they could have done. Bv the end of last season, Randy was our best defenseman.&rdquo;Manery is having a good season in Los Angeles, and several current Flames concede privately that he is sorely missed. As one Flame put it, &ldquo;Randy can skate and move the puck out of his end, and that&rsquo;s our biggest weakness right now. Our defense can&rsquo;t move the puck up.&rdquo;On defense, only Dave Shand has been effective advancing the puck from his end, and only Eddie Kea has been able to keep the slot clear of opposing forwards.Offensively, only the Bill Clement-John Gould-Harold Phillipoff line continues to provide consistent production, and that has also been the team&rsquo;s best checking line.Clearly, much improvement is needed from quite a few players.FLAME NOTES: Forward Tim Ecclestone was assigned to Tulsa to work his injured right knee back into shape. But while doing so, Ecclestone reinjured the knee, and it was feared he might have to undergo surgery&hellip;Flames recalled rookie defenseman Miles Zaharko after a seven-game tour of the American Hockey League with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03660/3923403-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg" title="f0011-03" width="1189" height="1129"><figcaption class="caption-body">CURT BENNETT&hellip;Mired In Scoring Slump (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0011-01

Money Worries, Scoring Slumps Dousing Flames

<h2>Bang The Drum Slowly</h2>IT SHOULD BE AUTOMATIC, really, that Don (Grapes) Cherry of the Boston Bruins is coach-of-the-year in the National Hockey League every season, no matter how well or badly his team fares. At least, any writer or broadcaster who votes on the best coach award and doesn&rsquo;t cast his ballot for Cherry should have his card lifted.&ldquo;Graoes&rdquo; is a beauty where the media is concerned, a man who always has a yarn or an anecdote and, often, a complaint. He can be sour in victory and gracious in defeat, outrageous much of the time and the best at playing the &ldquo;poor little us&rdquo; role as if the entire world were lined up against his team.But, all too often, the chaps who vote for such things figure the job a coach does with his team should have an influence on which name they write on the ballot. Granted, it does, enter the picture but too many voters get carried away about it.Cherry&rsquo;s Bruins are rolling right along this season, undefeated in one 14-match stretch in November and December. Of course, Grapes&rsquo; form has matched that of his team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011012/3923448-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="508" height="628"><figcaption class="caption-body">DON CHERRY &hellip; A Writer&rsquo;s Dream</figcaption></div>The Bruins don&rsquo;t do all that much but they do it extremely well. Grapes, of course, has an explanation for that approach, a lesson he learned, for heavens&rsquo; sake, while playing tenor drum in a Rochester, N.Y., pipe band.&ldquo;I played in the band when I was coaching in Rochester,&rdquo; Cherry said. &ldquo;We learned 10 songs and we practised those tunes until we could do them perfectly. It was more than a big enough repertoire for the competition we entered.&ldquo;Then the band got a new pipe major. He said that, okay, the 10 tunes were fine but it wasn&rsquo;t enough. So he gave us 10 new tunes and we tried to master the 20 songs. We ended up not doing it because we didn&rsquo;t have great musical talent nor the practise time. The calibre of the band slipped because we were trying to do too much.&ldquo;I remembered that with this hockey team. We know what we can do well on the ice and we don&rsquo;t try to go beyond it. We&rsquo;re a grinder, tight-checking team and as long as we remember that, we re okay.&rdquo;<h2>Another Winning Effort</h2>ANOTHER GREAT GRAPES&rsquo; performance came last spring in Montreal at a press conference after the Bruins had lost the second of four consecutive games to the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup final. An interview area was set up in the bowels of the Forum, close to the area where Canadiens&rsquo; goalie Ken Dryden was making a post-game appearance on television.Cherry stormed in, his rosey cheeks a bright red. For 45 seconds, he steamed about the officials, smoke coming out of his ears, and how a team faced a 2-0 deficit as visitors to Montreal. Then he waved his hands, said that&rsquo;s all and stormed out.On his way to the dressing room, he walked alongside Dryden.&ldquo;Oh, Lord, the things I don&rsquo;t do for my $29,500-a-year,&rdquo; Cherry muttered.<h2>The &lsquo;Victor&rsquo; Lecture</h2>NEWSPAPER WRITERS often prime Cherry to deliver another of his famous&rsquo; lectures and a mere mention of Victor Dombrowski launches it. Grapes still rankles about it, two years after the fact.When the two Soviet hockey teams, Red Army and. Wings, played eight games against NHL competition in 1976, Dombrowski, beyond any doubt the worst referee in the history of hockey at any level, worked the game between Army and the Bruins at Boston. Victor gave the shaft to the Bruins.A key Army goal was produced this way: Army&rsquo;s Boris Mikhailov skated through the Bruins goal crease, placed his stick between the pads of Bruin goalie Gilles Gilbert and spun him right out of the net. Army scored into the vacated goal. Victor allowed the score.Bruins&rsquo; Wayne Cashman gave Mikhailov a good whack and ole Boris went to the ice, mortally wounded&mdash;until he saw that Cashman was being penalized by Dombrowski. Then he made a remarkable recovery.In Cherry&rsquo;s view, a deep, dark conspiracy placed Victor in Boston that night as the referee.&ldquo;They had to give that stupid Russian one Army game to referee and they didn&rsquo;t want him screwing up a game involving one of the important NHL teams like Philadelphia or Montreal,&rdquo; Cherry said. &ldquo;So they said: &lsquo;Give him to the Bruins because they don&rsquo;t matter much&rsquo;.&rdquo;Ah, Grapes, don&rsquo;t ever change. &#9632;

f0012-01

Cherry Automatic Choice For Coach Of Year

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;Mmmm, how Swede it is.Minnesota hockey fans were left humming that little ditty after the North Stars presented new coach Andre Beaulieu with his first National Hockey League victory (Nov. 29).The North Stars defeated the Atlanta Flames, 4-3, after coming from behind twice to win. Minnesota&rsquo;s trio of Swedes figured in every goal.Kent-Erik Andersson scored on a breakaway and picked up one assist, Per-Olav Brasar collected a power play mark that eventually tied the game 3-3, and Roland Eriksson added a goal and assisted on two others, including the game winner by Alex Pirus in the third period.Eriksson became a familiar name around the NHL last season when he scored 25 goals and 44 assists to lead all rookies in scoring as a 22-year-old center.The North Stars pulled quite a surprise the past summer when they announced the signing of Brasar, a 27-year-old left winger, and Andersson, a 26-year-old right winger. Both men are veterans off Sweden&rsquo;s fine national team.The victory over Atlanta was the first in which all three Swedes, although they do not skate on the same line, dominated the scoring, a scene Beaulieu would like to see more of in his role as a successor to Ted Harris.Eriksson&rsquo;s goal broke a 14-game goalless streak and his three-point night showed he was fully recovered from a hand injury which had kept him from shooting with force.One of Beaulieu&rsquo;s first moves as coach was to put Eriksson back with wingers Pirus and Steve Jensen to form the line which was so exciting last season.Brasar, a stocky winger with a deft wrist shot, and Andersson, a breakaway specialist, have fit in with center Glen Sharpley, who was outstanding as a rookie last season, to form a flashy forward front.The latter Swedish duo was a little slower in getting started, getting used to the smaller rink surfaces and more physical contact. Also, Brasar suffered a knee injury in the season opener and missed three games.But all three are healthy and excelling for a North Star team which is now stressing its offensive potential.Beaulieu revised a breakout pattern which is quite suited to the swift Swedes, stressing plays through the middle and sending two wingers deep with the center as a cleanup in front.In Beaulieu&rsquo;s first two games, the North Stars got off 38 and 35 shots.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s got to be the system and the guys are gaining confidence in it,&rdquo; said Sharpley. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s great for the Swedes. They love it because they&rsquo;re so good on skates.&rdquo;Beaulieu says, &ldquo;This system has been around hockey a long time and is quite popular in Europe. We&rsquo;re still just starting with it. but it&rsquo;s worth the investment of spending a lot of time with it. The Swedes are familiar with it and that simplifies the job of putting it in.&rdquo;The North Stars, with three Swedes on the roster, are investigating the possibility of landing two more prize catches from Scandinavia for next season, namely in the persons of World Hockey standouts Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson of the Winnipeg Jets.Gordon Ritz, the North Star president, has said the team is willing to make a very sound offer to the pair when their contracts are up this spring.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02856/3923479-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="571" height="1183"><figcaption class="caption-body">GLEN SHARPLEY &hellip;Gaining Confidence</figcaption></div>GM Jack Gordon already has been to Winnipeg for recent talks with the pair&rsquo;s agent.The team which does sign the pair (it&rsquo;s both or none). Will not only have to pay out big money, but must offer such amenities as no-trade, no-cut contracts covering five years.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure some team will be willing to make those commitments,&rdquo; said Gordon. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re still interested, but there are very complex issues to be considered.&rdquo;For now, the Stars are still sweet on their Swedes.STAR DUST: Beaulieu had a tie and a victory in his first games as coach before the Stars went to Boston (Dec. 1)&hellip;You could have predicted the outcome of that game before it was played, since the Stars have never won in the Boston Garden in the 10 years since they joined the NHL&mdash;Yep, the Bruins won, 4-2.Harris, after mulling over the offer for a few days, agreed to remain in the Stars&rsquo; organization to scout major and minor league teams&hellip;Stars reportedly asked waivers on defenseman Dennis O&rsquo;Brien, but no action had been reported&hellip;There was another report that the Stars were offering Bill Hogaboam as trade bait. &#9632;

f0012-02

Beaulieu’s New Ice System Custom-MadeFor ‘Swedes’

<div class="byline">BY LARRY BORTSTEIN</div>DENVER&mdash;No one has come right out and told him, but Chuck Arnason gets the distinct feeling he doesn&rsquo;t figure in any major future plans of the Colorado Rockies.Actually, Arnason is concerned that he may be washed up at the age of 26.&ldquo;I sure hope not.&rdquo; says the blonde right winger. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t know what to think. I feel I&rsquo;ve shown I can play in this league, but I&rsquo;m not getting an opportunity to do much here.&rdquo;He tries to keep from sounding bitter when he discusses life with the Mile High City club, but Arnason is a sensitive guy, and it hurts him to have reached a point in his career where he doesn&rsquo;t know what lies ahead.In early Rockies&rsquo; games this season he was seeing virtually no ice time at all. Then he was sent to the Phoenix Roadrunners of the Central League, a humbling experience for a six-year veteran of the National Hockey League who has scored 20 or more goals three different seasons.&ldquo;When they sent me down. I asked them to trade me,&rdquo; Chuck says. &ldquo;But they didn&rsquo;t say anything. I stayed in Phoenix for five games and scored three goals and three assists, and they brought me back. But I still don&rsquo;t know what my future is here.&rdquo;Once Arnason was considered a hot prospect. He was the second pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1971 amateur draft, and the seventh pick overall.As happens to many Canadiens&rsquo; draftees. Chuck was moved out of Montreal, and landed in Atlanta in the fall of 1973. Later the same season he went to Pittsburgh, where he remained until dealt to Kansas City midway in the 1975-76 campaign. He recalls that his greatest success came as the right winger on a line with Pierre Larouche and Bob Kelly for the Penguins in 1974-75. Arnason pumped in 26 goals that year, his one-season high and the club went to the Stanley Cup quarter-finals.&ldquo;We had a top scoring line that year,&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;Our whole line played well.&rdquo;Chuck feels that Colorado management was too inclined to let ex-Kansas City Scouts players go when the Scouts became the Rockies last year. &ldquo;Very few guys are left from Kansas City,&rdquo; he points out. &ldquo;Wilf Paiement, Gary Croteau, Huddy (center Dave Hudson), and myself. But there were some other guys they could have kept. Robin Burns, for one. I think they cleaned house too quickly.&rdquo;Always known for his booming shot, Chuck admits his checking has never been of All Star caliber. &ldquo;They wanted me to work on defense this year,&rdquo; he recalls. Chuck is reluctant to identify &ldquo;they,&rdquo; but concedes he feels negative impressions people had of him last year are still held by people who have been with the organization since the team set up shop in Denver.&ldquo;I worked hard on defense, and after four games I was plus two. Then they said I wasn&rsquo;t taking enough shots. I don&rsquo;t know what they want. One day it&rsquo;s stay back with the wings, the next day it&rsquo;s come up and shoot more. I can&rsquo;t say why this is going on. The management has complained it needs bodies, it needs offense, but they don&rsquo;t use me when I&rsquo;m a proven goalscorer in this league.&rdquo;Arnason finally broke into the scoring columns with a power play goal in a bad loss, 5-1, to Chicago on Nov. 25. The goal at 6:15 of the third period not only enabled the Rockies to avert being shut out by Tony Esposito, but also was Chuck&rsquo;s first point of the campaign.The next night, in Minnesota, Arnason assisted Gary Croteau on the first Rockies&rsquo; goal of the game, and scored a vintage Arnason goal on a 40-foot blast at 14:40 of the third period to pull the Rockies into a 4-4 tie after they had fallen behind in the first period, 4-1.&ldquo;I need a centerman who can get me the puck on the fly,&rdquo; Arnason says. &ldquo;Huddy and I worked together pretty well last year. I had 11 goals by Christmas, then I hurt my wrist against Minnesota and I hardly ever played again. (He ended with 13 goals). Even when we went 18 games without a win at the end of the year I didn&rsquo;t dress. I can&rsquo;t figure it out. I know the team&rsquo;s going with younger players, but I&rsquo;m sure not old. I think some of the younger guys should have to prove themselves a little before they take over a job from a veteran. I&rsquo;d like to stay here. My wife and I bought a home, but I really don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s gonna happen.&rdquo;ICE PEBBLES: Right winger Mark Lomenda, who had played for the Denver Spurs and other World Hockey Association clubs, was given a tryout by the Rockies&rsquo; Central League affiliate in Phoenix&hellip;Joe Contini, former St. Catharines Fincups center who was drafted on the seventh round by the Rockies last summer, is having a good year at Flint of the International League&hellip;Mike Dwyer and Randy Pierce, two other rookies who have been up with Colorado on emergency calls, are having good rookie campaigns at Phoenix, even though the Roadrunners overall are not doing well&hellip;Denver journalism lost one of its strongest relresentatives on Nov. 18 when Pete Kelly suffered a fatal heart attack. The news editor for United Press International in Colorado and Wyoming, Pete was a hockey fan who assigned himself to cover many Rockies&rsquo; games, a departure from his customary fare. A native Easterner, Pete wrote many sensitive pieces about life in the Rocky Mountain regions, and had a real feeling for the people and problems of this area. Pete was only 38 when he died, and he leaves a widow and three children&hellip;Gary Croteau scored the 250th point of his NHL career, reaching that figure when he had three assists in a 6-3 loss to the Rangers in New York&hellip;Barbara Spruce, mother of Colorado left winger Andy, is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in publications throughout Canada. Naturally, she has written about her son, the hockey player, but has not written on any other sports subjects.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01973/3923510-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="577" height="688"><figcaption class="caption-body">CHUCKARNASON &hellip;Used Sparingly</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0013-01

Arnason Wants Chance To Play

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div>MONTREAL&mdash;&ldquo;Canadiens are very fussy about how they win. It&rsquo;s not enough to just win the game, although you never want to play down a win. but when we&rsquo;re not sharp, the management likes to correct our mistakes&hellip;stop the little things before they become serious.&rdquo;The speaker was Doug Risebrough following a rigorous practice, the second in succession, on the heels of Montreal&rsquo;s 2-2 tie with the Atlanta Flames. It wasn&rsquo;t so much the tie, nor the close 3-2 victory over the Chicago Black Hawks two nights before that irked coach Scotty Bowman, but the decided disinterest in taking charge in the games, an aversion to be aggressive, play the man, make things happen, which had seemed to overcome the team with the notable exception of defensive forward par excellence Bob Gainey. Gainey had more hits in the two games than all of the Expos.&rsquo; pinch hitters had last season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01993/3923548-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="565" height="1549"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB GAINEY &hellip; Only Hitter</figcaption></div>Risebrough was asked to explain the shroud of lethargy which had seemed to engulf many of the Canadiens and he had this to say: &ldquo;The guys are working, but working without success. I include myself in this group, we re just not applying ourselves in the right way. It seems the concentration is not quite there for a lot of players.&rdquo;The result was a couple of strenuous practices which emphasized storming the comers of the rink for the puck and moving it up quickly as a five-man unit instead of relying on individual puck carriers to lead the attack.Bowman also went into his juggling act rearranging three of the four forward lines keeping only Steve Shutt, Jacques Lemaire and Guy Lafleur together.Yvan Lambert was removed from the Risebrough line, teaming up with Rejean Houle and Pierre Larouche, while Risebrough found himself at left wing, with Pierre Mondou at center and regular line mate Mario Tremblay on the right.&ldquo;I guess the line changes are to get guys to think a little bit more,&rdquo; said Risebrough, &ldquo;when you&rsquo;re with the same linemates all the time maybe you start to do things to instinctively, but when there&rsquo;s someone new, you have to keep your head up and look around to see where everybody is.&rdquo;After a fast start with three goals in the first four games of the season. Risebrough went into a bit of a slump before ending up on the sidelines with a kidney ailment. The diagnosis was weak capillaries and rest was prescribed setting down the 23-year-old former Kitchener Ranger for close to three weeks.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve lost my timing since I&rsquo;ve been back,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;my balance seems to be off, either I&rsquo;m on my heels or my toes at the wrong times. You go through the season with all kinds of physical ups and downs, and I guess I&rsquo;m at a lower level now. so you just have to work at it a bit at a time to try to get at a physical peak.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very conscious of bettering myself. While I&rsquo;m not poor in any areas, I know that there are several areas where I&rsquo;m not excellent. I find you have to apply yourself for what is now. I find that when things are tough, you have to go within a team framework. It&rsquo;s up to the other players on the team to give a guy a lift when things aren&rsquo;t going well.&rdquo;Which is not to say that the Canadiens were about to plunge into, heaven forbid, second place, or anything as drastic as that. At the time of the &ldquo;shakeup&rdquo; the Canadiens were tied for the overall league-lead with Philadelphia Flyers and 9-2-1 in their last dozen matches.Bowman decided to use six defensemen for the Dec. 8 game with St. Louis, not including Serge Savard who suffered strained ligaments in a knee which was to sideline him for a few games. This meant that a forward had to sit out and when Tremblay was elected Risebrough reverted back to center spot, now between Gainey and captain Yvan Coumoyer.After a close and entertaining first period which ended 2-1 in favor of the Habs, Montreal struck for four unanswered scores in the middle frame, starting at 3:56 when Risebrough and Cournoyer set up Gainey for a score and finishing at 11:30 when Gainey returned the favor for Risebrough. The goal was Doug&rsquo;s fifth of the season and second after his return to the line-up. Canadiens won 8-1. Two nights later, the Habs bombed Vancouver 7-2 and Risebrough led the way with a pair of goals. Gainey also scored.The Canadiens were helping each other again and the rest of the league was feeling the consequences.FORUM REBOUNDS: Pierre Larouche scored his first goal in a Canadiens&rsquo; uniform in the St. Louis game, slamming home a Guy Lapointe rebound&hellip;Bunny Larocque started two games in a three-game stretch, winning both and prompting Bowman to comment that the goaltenders&rsquo; rotation would probably return to the same format as last year, i.e. Larocque would be used against certain clubs he&rsquo;s had past success with.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02829/3923541-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="565" height="934"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUG RISEBROUGH &hellip;Regaining Form</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0014-01

Canadiens Seek To Snap Lethargy

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01799/3923736-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="368" height="779"></div><h2>ATLANTA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02685/3923729-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="720" height="572"></div><h2>BOSTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03548/3923722-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="716" height="644"></div><h2>BUFFALO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04431/3923715-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="720" height="564"></div><h2>CHICAGO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05325/3923708-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="712" height="562"></div><h2>CLEVELAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06263/3923701-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="712" height="608"></div><h2>COLORADO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07237/3923694-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="712" height="644"></div><h2>DETROIT</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08217/3923687-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="709" height="640"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09194/3923680-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="730" height="586"></div><h2>MINNESOTA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-10172/3923673-1-eng-US/f0016-102.jpg" title="f0016-10" width="712" height="590"></div><h2>MONTREAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-11158/3923666-1-eng-US/f0016-112.jpg" title="f0016-11" width="716" height="622"></div><h2>ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-12141/3923659-1-eng-US/f0016-122.jpg" title="f0016-12" width="716" height="622"></div><h2>RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-13127/3923652-1-eng-US/f0016-132.jpg" title="f0016-13" width="716" height="616"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-14120/3923645-1-eng-US/f0016-142.jpg" title="f0016-14" width="716" height="584"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-15110/3923638-1-eng-US/f0016-152.jpg" title="f0016-15" width="718" height="598"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-16106/3923631-1-eng-US/f0016-162.jpg" title="f0016-16" width="718" height="544"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1798/3923624-1-eng-US/f0016-172.jpg" title="f0016-17" width="722" height="574"></div><h2>VANCOUVER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1891/3923617-1-eng-US/f0016-182.jpg" title="f0016-18" width="714" height="536"></div><h2>WASHINGTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-1984/3923610-1-eng-US/f0016-192.jpg" title="f0016-19" width="716" height="698"></div> &#9632;

f0016-01

NHL SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

MONTREAL&mdash;The National Hockey League&rsquo;s 18 teams scored a season-high 218 goals during the past week with Philadelphia Flyer defenseman Tom Bladon&rsquo;s record eight-point performance during Flyers&rsquo; 11-1 win against Cleveland Barons being the highlight.Bladon, 24-year-old native of Edmonton, Alta., scored four goals and four assists and became only the fourth player in NHL history to record eight-or-more points in one game and the first defenseman. The previous high was seven points, set by Bobby Orr while with Boston Bruins in the 1973-74 season. Bladon became the first player to break one of the 14 records that Orr holds or shares.Darryl Sittler of Toronto Maple Leafs holds the record for most points in a game with 10&mdash;set Feb. 7, 1976, when Sittler scored six goals and lour assists against Boston Bruins&mdash;while two former Montreal Canadiens greats&mdash;Maurice Richard and Bert Olmstead&mdash;have recorded eight-point games. Richard scored five goals and three assists on Dec. 28, 1944 and Olmstead matched that feat with four goals and four assists Jan. 9,1954.While Bladon made NHL history, Boston Bruins stretched their undefeated streak to 17 games&mdash;six shy of the league record shared by Boston and Philadelphia. Boston established the record of 23 games with 15 wins and eight ties from Dec. 22, 1940 through Feb. 23, 1941 and Flyers tied that mark with 17 wins and six ties from Jan. 29, 1976 through March 18, 1976.Bruins began their current streak with a 5-3 win against New York Islanders Nov. 6 and added three wins during the past week to keep their record-breaking hopes intact.Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s chances of becoming the first Montreal Canadien to win three consecutive scoring titles are being thwarted by Islanders Bryan Trottier. Prior to Saturday&rsquo;s games, Lafleur had closed to within four points of the 21-year-old Trottier but Vancouver Canucks shutout Lafleur while Trottier scored two goals and two assists to open an eight-point lead.Trottier&rsquo;s linemates, rookie Mike Bossy and Islanders captain Clark Gillies a also among the league&rsquo;s top point-getters. Bossy is third with 35 points, including 21 goals, while Gillies is tied for fourth with Phil Esposito of New York Rangers, one point behind Bossy.Two goaltenders tied a league record for most assists in a game. Tony Esposito of Chicago Black Hawks assisted on the first and last goals in an 8-3 Black Hawk win against Minnesota North Stars while Dan Bouchard also collected two points in a 5-1 Atlanta Flames victory against Pittsburgh Penguins. Gilles Meloches of Cleveland Barons is the only other goaltender to have collected two assists in a game. He accomplished that while with California Seals&mdash;against New York Rangers, Jan. 17, 1975. &#9632;

Bladon’s Record Tops Big NHL Week

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div>CHICAGO&mdash;The Dennis Hull affair, a melodrama which had been playing locally for two months, is ended, completed, finished, period.The 33-year-old left wing who retired here in October, then decided to unretire in November, began December by leaving the Black Hawks to become a member of the Detroit Red Wings.After extensive haggling, his National Hockey League rights were dealt that way by Chicago, which will recieve in exchange the most popular player in all of sport: future considerations.Translated, that means the following: in the 1980 NHL amateur draft, Chicago will get no worse than Detroit&rsquo;s fourth round choice. If, in any season until then, Hull scores 20 or more goals&mdash;or the equivalent thereof in a reduced schedule&mdash;the Hawks&rsquo; reward will escalate to a third round selection.Hull, who had been skating on his own, was signed to a &ldquo;substantial&rdquo; three-year contract with the Red Wings, according to his Chicago attorney. Jack Childers. It won&rsquo;t be as substantial as his closing Hawk salary of about $150,000 per annum, however. Maybe hah that.In addition, the Red Wings agreed to pick up the long term payout of the contract settlement Hull made with the Hawks upon quitting Oct. 21: a ten-year booty of about $125,000.&ldquo;Dennis is delighted,&rdquo; said Childers. &ldquo;There were three World Hockey Association clubs interested in him and another NHL club (Cleveland).&ldquo;But the only one Dennis wanted was Detroit. I talked with Bob Pulford (Hawks&rsquo; GM) almost daily, wherever he was. And I can assure you he was totally straightforward in our dealings. Absolutely honest. I think Detroit might have misunderstood a few bits of communication in our discussions and that&rsquo;s why the overkill.&rdquo;Childers was referring to several slapshots issued Pulford by Detroit general manager Ted Lindsay, who labelled his Chicago counterpart as everything short of a convicted felon.&ldquo;But it&rsquo;s over with now, I&rsquo;m happy for hockey and I&rsquo;m happy for Dennis and happy for the Red Wings,&rdquo; Lindsay said. &ldquo;What was so puzzling was that the Black Hawks never wanted Hull in the first place until they found out we wanted him. They bought him out in Chicago, which means they forced him to retire, right?&rdquo;Well, not quite. Had Hull elected to play out the string in Chicago, that string likely would have stretched from here to Dallas, where the Hawks&rsquo; minor league team lives. At season&rsquo;s start, Hull simply had not qualified for the varsity in Pulford&rsquo;s view.Rather than suffer around a rink which was a chamber of horrors for him even when he was a regular, or risk demotion out of the NHL, Hull opted for a financial settlement which was less than half what was due him.But, at Pulford&rsquo;s behest, Hull never signed the retirement papers, so he now has a job, the Hawks got what they wanted, and everybody&rsquo;s happy.&ldquo;I wish Dennis luck,&rdquo; said Pulford, not wishing to engage Lindsay in a hissing match.&ldquo;I really think when Dennis retired, he wanted to retire,&rdquo; continued Childers. &ldquo;But when he went to a Black Hawk game a couple weeks later, and saw Lindsay in the stands, then he got the itch again. He called me the next day and said Jack, I want to play again.&rsquo; I think he&rsquo;ll help the Red Wings.&rdquo;Hull was first to admit that he wasn&rsquo;t helping the Black Hawks much. Scorer of 298 NHL goals, all in Chicago, Hull asked to be traded last January following dismissal of coach Billy Reay, whose loyalty to veterans such as Hull did not always bear fruit.&ldquo;We all let him down,&rdquo; said Hull, who admitted he wasn&rsquo;t earning what he was making. But now, in a way. he has returned some of that money, while the Hawks held out for reasonable compensation.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s over,&rdquo; concluded Childers. &ldquo;Dennis enjoyed Chicago, but this is a fresh beginning and I look for Dennis to start a career anew in Detroit.&rdquo;But don&rsquo;t look for Lindsay and Pulford to exchange Christmas cards.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01690/3923791-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="580" height="1240"><figcaption class="caption-body">DENNIS HULL &hellip; Was Itching To Play (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0017-01

Black Hawks, Wings Happy Hull Saga Finally Settled

In a week of high-scoring highlights, Philadelphia&rsquo;s Tom Bladon stood out with a phenomenal eight-point game, including four goals in an 11-1 thrashing the Flyers handed the Cleveland Barons.Going into the game, defenseman Bladon had three goals on the season, but his four-goal night, plus four assists, allowed him to surpass Bobby Orr&rsquo;s NHL record of seven points in a game by a defenseman. Orr accomplished the feat with three goals and four assists against the New York Rangers in 1973.Bladon&rsquo;s outburst went along with his team&rsquo;s potent offense which clicked for 15 goals in a pair of weekend games. It also raised the Flyers&rsquo; league-leading goals total to 124, 13 more than the New York Islanders.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03427/3923860-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="514" height="646"><figcaption class="caption-body">TOM BLADON &hellip; Philadelphia Flyers</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-03

NHL’s… Player of the Week

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01708/3923829-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BERT WILSON &hellip;Hard Worker Who&rsquo;s Seldom Noticed (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</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 CanadaLOS ANGELES&mdash;His full name is Bertwin Hilliard Wilson. Not many know that. He&rsquo;s called &ldquo;Beltin&rsquo; Bert&rdquo; by a few, but not many know him. He is one of those who hang on in hockey through hustling, hard work, hitting, and defensive skills. His offensive ability could be put in one of his boots.He was born in Orangeville, Ontario. His father farms land near Toronto. Brother Bruce helps harvest potatoes and take care of cattle. Bert learned about hard work growing up on a farm. Hockey looked like a better way of life to him, but he was lucky to be dratted from junior ranks by the Rangers in 1969.He scored only 13 goals his last season as an amateur, averaged only about 15 or 16 goals his first five seasons in the minors, and only four goals his first four seasons in the majors. He had two goals in the first fourth of this, his ninth professional campaign.The strong, silent type, a very tough character, the six-foot. 190-pound leftwinger remarks, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t make it in the majors as a shooter or stickhandler and playmaker.&rdquo; This may be the understatement of the season, &ldquo;I have to make it as a defensive froward and digger.&rdquo; he observes. &ldquo;I check. I take the body. I go hard in the corners. I have to take the puck from the other guys and give it to my guys.&rdquo;An effective pugilist, he adds, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been a spot player most of my time up top. When I go in, it&rsquo;s my job to stir things up. Sometimes I stir the other guys up. I don&rsquo;t look for fights, but if someone wants to mix, it&rsquo;s fine by me. I&rsquo;m kind of a cop for my side. I have to make myself valuable to my teams in any way I can because there are only so many ways I can play well.&rdquo;Even when he plays well, he&rsquo;s seldom noticed. He does the dirty work, but the Rangers traded him to St. Louis in the summer of 1975 and the Blues sold him to the Kings near the finish of the following season. He played only in spots last season, but, to his surprise, has played regularly this season.He has been playing on a line with Pete Stemkowski and several right-wingers. This was designed as a fourth line but it has become the third line. Stemmer. new to the team, has shown he has a lot of life in hand has helped Bert take a new lease on life.At 28, Wilson is the kind of player who can be cut without complaint, but Ron Stewart likes the idea of having a cheeking line to lay on the opposition&rsquo;s leading line, and it has worked well. Not only has the Pete and Bert line held down its foes, but it has gotten the odd goal here and there. They had six between them last season. Pete has six already this season.Old coach Bob Pulford said. &ldquo;Bert&rsquo;s a handy man to have on the bench He&rsquo;s a great man and he&rsquo;ll go into a game and give you everything he has.&rdquo; New coach Stewart says. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no reason he can&rsquo;t take a regular turn. Everyone can&rsquo;t be going for goals. Somebody&rsquo;s got to get the puck for the goal-scorers. Somebody&rsquo;s got to stop the other guys from scoring goals. Bert&rsquo;s that type of player.&rdquo;Never married, the big bachelor with the big mustache, likes southern California and would like to stay: &ldquo;I have a lady. I live in the Marina. It&rsquo;s a good life if I can hang on to it. It&rsquo;s not easy to go all out all the time you&rsquo;re on the ice. Most major leaguers don&rsquo;t have to. I do. So that&rsquo;s what I do.&rdquo;Laboring in obscurity, he told Bob Keisser of the Herald Examiner here, &ldquo;You play, you think you do well, but you don&rsquo;t really know. You won&rsquo;t hear about it or read about it.&rdquo; I&rsquo;d never looked at it like that, but I can see how players like Wilson would wonder what others thought of them. They have no way of knowing. They&rsquo;re seldom mentioned, much less singled out for stories.So. here&rsquo;s one for Wilson. Bert, you&rsquo;re doing well. Not setting the ice on fire, mind you&hellip;KINGS THINGS: The Kings completed the first quarter under Stewart at 9-6-5, which is similar to their first quarter under Pulford last season, 8-6-4, and about average for past seasons&hellip;With Marcel Dionne idled lately by an injury. Butch Goring got six goals in three games to pull into the goal-scoring lead, 12-10. Mike Murphy had seven, Ernie Hicke five. Syl Apps and Hartland Monahan four. Tom Williams and Don Kozak three, Wilson and Randy Manery two. and Glenn Goldup and Vic Venasky one. Multiphy by four and you&rsquo;ll have this season&rsquo;s pace.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02569/3923822-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="562" height="889"><figcaption class="caption-body">PETE STEMKOWSKI &hellip;Lots of Life</figcaption></div>More was expected from Williams and Goldup than they&rsquo;ve given so far. Goldup and Venasky have 13-game scoreless streaks after 22 games. The Kings did score their 10th victory in their 22nd game and they did not get it until their 32nd game last season. Manery has the only two goals among defensemen. Gary Sargent and Bob Murdoch usually are good goal-scorers but they haven&rsquo;t gotten their games together yet, either offensively or defensively, and have disappointed.The Kings&rsquo; 23rd game was a 4-2 loss to Philadelphia in the Forum, following a 20 loss in the Spectrum. The Kings have not beaten the Flyers through 10 defeats and three ties since Oct. of 1974 and they&rsquo;ve become too strong a team to let any other team push them around that way A couple of nights earlier they whipped Washington, 4-2, to run their all-time home record against the Caps to 10-0-0 but that doesn&rsquo;t rate much more than the last line of a story. &#9632;

f0018-01

Kings’ Wilson Realized Limitations, Accepts Task To Defense Opposition

<div class="byline">BY DAN DONOVAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01524/3923929-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="522" height="814"><figcaption class="caption-body">PETE MAHOVLICH &hellip; New Pens&rsquo; Leader</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;The sweeping changes he orchestrated were not designed to boost program sales, according to Penguin chairman Al Savill.&ldquo;We got rid of losers for winners,&rdquo; Savill said. &ldquo;Winning is contagious and I think now we have some winners.&rdquo;A series of trades brought seven new faces to the Penguin lineup, and two blockbuster trades&mdash;one involving Syl Apps and another Pierre Larouche&mdash;didn&rsquo;t happen until the season was well on its way.&ldquo;We couldn&rsquo;t make trades in the summer.&rdquo; Savill said. &ldquo;I think the attempted accommodation with the World Hockey Association caused the problem. We tried just as hard during the summer as we did during the season, but trading was hard because all the league&rsquo;s time and energy was spent on the WHA thing. And some teams wanted to wait and see what happened.&rdquo;The least surprising trade was of Larouche, who was just going through the motions during the early days of this season. The Penguins were almost forced to take the best deal offered by Montreal, because Larouche had prior approval to any trade and the Canadiens were about the only team he&rsquo;d go to.The local fans wholeheartedly endorsed the trade, as most were sick of Larouche&rsquo;s sulking and enjoyed the contrast between Larouche and Peter Mahovlich. The rangy Mahovlich was instantly accepted by the Pittsburgh fans, as his energetic, physical style contrasted sharply with Larouche&rsquo;s half-hearted play of recent years.&ldquo;It looks like there was some dissatisfaction with Pierre here,&rdquo; Mahovlich said after he scored a hat trick in his Pittsburgh debut, a 6-4 win over Detroit. &ldquo;The way the fans cheered me took the pressure off.&rdquo;Mahovlich scored goals in his next two games and his outgoing spirit finally brought the Penguins the leadership they have lacked for years.&ldquo;Pete is a good guy to have in a locker room,&rdquo; said Penguin coach Johnny Wilson. &ldquo;He talks things up, keeps the players loose, but had them thinking about the game.&rdquo;Mahovlich, eager to play after spending time on Montreal&rsquo;s bench, was impressive in his never-quit, hard-working style.&ldquo;Pittsburgh has picked up a lot of hardworking players in trades,&rdquo; Mahovlich said. &ldquo;We just have to learn to work together. It will take a few weeks, but I think the first thing you&rsquo;ll see happen is our goals-against come down.&rdquo;Mahovlich&rsquo;s presence brought out the best in several players. Dave Schultz, the principal acquisition in the trading of Syl Apps, stopped taking misconducts and started pressing other teams in the corners.Jean Pronovost, placed on Mahovlich&rsquo;s right wing, broke out of a scoring slump. The second player obtained in the Larouche trade, right wing Peter Lee, showed great promise with strong skating ability and a good shot.&ldquo;Lee is going to be a good hockey player,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;All he has to do is get settled down into the NHL pace.&rdquo;The Penguins also made a move to steady their defense with the acquisition of Tom Edur from the Colorado Rockies for Dennis Owchar. Edur played for Wilson both in Cleveland of the WHA and last year in Colorado.&ldquo;Edur&rsquo;s a steady player, the kind who doesn&rsquo;t give up the puck,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;We gave up some of the hitting Owchar provided, but we felt we had to. Edur can play the point on the power play, and is good at killing penalties. That will take some of the pressure off Ron Stackhouse.&rdquo;Owchar came on strong last season, finally beginning to show the promise scouts said he had. But he missed the last 30 games with a knee injury and never regained his timing this season.When he started making bad passes in his own end, Pittsburgh fans started to boo Owchar. Edur was surprised at his trade, since he thought he was playing well.He was a plus 12 in Colorado, and scored goals in five consecutive games this season. He finished last year a plus 14, pretty good for the struggling Rockies.One of the first things Mahovlich noted was that between himself and Schultz, they have played on the last five Stanley Cup teams. Whether they will bring a winner to Pittsburgh remains to be seen, certainly they brought a different style.Long a fancy-play team, the Penguins turned into a direct, hard-working team, one more suitable to coach Wilson&rsquo;t style. And initially, the local fans loved it.PENGUIN NOTES: Right wing Mike Corrigan was out indefinitely with a bad knee and right wing Rick Kehoe reinjured the elbow he broke in training camp.Another right wing, Jacques Cossette, was trying to swing a deal that would send him to Quebec of the WHA after the Penguins assigned him to Binghamton of the American League.When Savill&rsquo;s International League club in Dayton moved, goaltender Gord Laxton was told to report to Pittsburgt&hellip;Schultz said the first star he received after a 4-2 win in Washington was the first such award he received, except for the nights he scored his hat tricks in Philadelphia. &#9632;

f0020-01

Penguins Swap Losers For Winners, Mahovlich Instant Hero For Fans

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02382/3923960-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="588" height="669"></div> &#9632;

f0020-02

Team Penalties

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03308/3923991-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0020-03

Looking At NHL Goalers

NEW YORK&mdash;A familiar name will appear in the lineup, when Spartak plays five National Hockey League teams in late December and early January. He&rsquo;s Alexander Yakushev, one of the Soviet Union&rsquo;s top hockey stars and often referred to as &ldquo;a large Jean Beliveau&rdquo;.Spartak, which will tour the United States and Canada, along with Kladno and Pardubice of Czechoslovakia, will play at Vancouver, Dec. 28; Colorado, Jan. 3; St. Louis, Jan. 5; Montreal. Jan. 6; and in Atlanta on Jan. 8.The arrangements for this 13-game tour of Soviet and Czechoslovakian teams to play in North America were made in conjunction with the NHL and the National Hockey League Players&rsquo; Association.The last time the six-foot-three, 205-pound Yakushev played against NHL teams was during the 1975-76 series, when he was added to the Soviet Wings team. This time he will be playing for his own club, Spartak, a division one team in the Soviet Union.One of the all time great forwards in Soviet hockey, the gifted Yakushev has been a member of six world championship teams and led Russia to an Olympic gold medal at Sapporo in 1972. He also ranks as a Merited Master of Sports in the U.S.S.R.Yakushev, like Beliveau, is a standup skater and has a regal look about him as he moves around the ice. NHL players regard him as one of the most feared opponents because he can hurt you in many ways and has a knack for coming up with the big play.Although their style of play has changed somewhat in the past few years, the Soviet teams are well disciplined and often await the good shot on goal. Always good passers and skaters, they have developed their goaltending and shooting and now rank among the hockey powers in the world.Spartak, which announced its roster for the upcoming series, is expected to be as tough as past Soviet teams sent to play NHL competition. Players numbers in brackets:GOALTENDERS: Victor Doroshenko (1); Alexander Pashkov (24) Yuri Novikov (25).DEFENSEMEN: Yuri Liapkin (9); Sergei Glukhov (2); Yuri Turin (3); Yuri Teryokhin (20); Vladimir Kucherenko (5); Alexander Kulikov (6); Valeri Markov (26); Mikhail Kanarykin (4); Victor Kuznetsov (29); Vladimir Lokotko (23).FORWARDS: Alexander Yakushev (11); Vladimir Shadrin (12) Valeri Efstifeev (17); Alexander Bodunov (16); Vladimir Rasko (7) Konstantin Klimov (28); Alexander Kabanov (19); Vladimir Repnyev (21) Sergei Kotov (8); Gennadi Krylov (13); Vladimir Trunov (10); Vladimir Lubkin (15); Alexander Barinev (14); Anatoli Emelianenko (27) Vasily Spiridonov (18).SENIOR COACH: Robert Cherenkov.COACH: Igor Tuzik.Here is the 13-game NHL schedule of games.Dec. 26 Pardubice at Philadelphia; Kladno at Rangers.Dec. 28 Pardubice at Minnesota; Spartak at Vancouver.Dec. 31 Kladno at Chicago.Jan. 2 Pardubice at Toronto; Kladno at Detroit.Jan. 3 Spartak at Colorado.Jan. 4 Pardubice at Islanders; Kladno at Cleveland.Jan. 5 Spartak at St. Louis.Jan. 6 Spartak at Montreal.Jan. 8 Spartak at Atlanta. &#9632;

Soviets’ ‘Beliveau’ To Face NHL Teams

CLEVELAND&mdash;The Cleveland Barons are struggling again on and off the ice and their plight is causing considerable concern for the rest of the National Hockey League.The Barons unfortunately are not alone in their dilemma. It seems the NHL is just as concerned about the St. Louis Blues as it is about Cleveland according to league president John Ziegler.Ziegler said he is frankly worried about the health of both NHL franchises and while he admits he can see what troubles are besetting both teams, he is nevertheless, perplexed about the situation and powerless to do anything about it.Ziegler said the problem in St. Louis could be quickly reversed if the BLues could put it all together on the ice. &ldquo;The reason for the problem in St. Louis is strictly reflective of the performance of the team at the ice level,&rdquo; said Ziegler. He compared the situation to that of the Detroit Red Wings in recent years. The Wings dragged for several seasons before turning it around this season with an improved brand of hockey on the ice. This is clearly what the Blues need to attract the fans back to the Checkerdome where audiences have slipped to 7,000 for a Saturday night home game as compared to the 16,000&mdash;plus crowds that used to come to see the Blues play.Ziegler was noticeably moved by the failure of the Barons to make it in Cleveland where crowds have fluctuated from a low of 3,000 to a high of 12,000. Ziegler termed the Cleveland picture &ldquo;an area of deep concern.&rdquo; &ldquo;The inconsistency of the Cleveland situation is what bothers me,&rdquo; said Ziegler. The NHL president said the league is doing everything in its power to help the Barons along but he says they also have to help themselves.Ziegler said Cleveland owner George Gund and club president Peter Larsen are determined the Barons won&rsquo;t go under. It is their optimistic outlook that makes the NHL confident the club will eventually resolve its attendance problems in Cleveland.Ziegler revealed Gund has made a solid commitment to see the Cleveland franchise through this season but beyond 1977-78 he wouldn&rsquo;t forecast what would happen. &ldquo;You cannot ask an owner or ask anyone else in business to suffer losses of $2-$3 million a year for two and three years,&rdquo; commented Ziegler.While the club&rsquo;s front office struggled to keep the Barons afloat at the box office, the team was experiencing just as serious setbacks on the ice and no one including general manager Harry Howell or coach Jack Evans seemed to have the answers.The Barons were mired in last place in the Adams Division, 16 points out of a playoff spot, with an apathetic 8-16-3 record and it doesn&rsquo;t appear the team is getting any better. The Barons hit their season low point in Philadelphia as the Flyers skated roughshod over them 11-1. A 5-3 loss to equally inept Washington earlier in the week didn&rsquo;t sit too well with Cleveland fans either.The Barons are suffering from a lack of offense. They are the third lowest scoring team in the NHL behind Washington and St. Louis. The team is stocked with too many players who are not producing and it shows in the standings. Last week the team was given an offensive lift by American collegian Mike Fidler, who came up with a five-goal week as he raised his season output to 10. Dennis Maruk has 15 goals to lead the club in goal scoring but Fidler leads in points.The Barons have a Jan. 4 date with the touring Kladno team of Czechoslovakia and their fans hope they can snap out of their tailspin before the European game arrives. It could be disastrous.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01364/3924053-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="553" height="762"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE FIDLER</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02241/3924046-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="557" height="760"><figcaption class="caption-body">DENNIS MARUK</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0021-01

Cleveland, St. Louis Causing NHL Concern As Attendance Sags

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03159/3924084-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="580" height="832"></div> &#9632;

f0021-03

NHL Leaders

<h2>DECEMBER</h2>Mon. 12 Montreal at ClevelandTue. 13 Chicago at N.Y. IslandersWashington at VancouverBuffalo at ColoradoWed. 14 N.Y. Rangers at ChicagoN.Y. Islanders at TorontoMontreal at MinnesotaPittsburgh at St. LouisThu. 15 N.Y. Rangers at DetroitBoston at PhiladelphiaCleveland at AtlantaBuffalo at Los AngelesFri. 16 Toronto at MinnesotaSat. 17 N.Y. Rangers at ClevelandBoston at N.Y. IslandersPhiladelphia at AtlantaMontreal at PittsburghWashington at Los AngelesDetroit at St. LouisBuffalo at VancouverChicago at TorontoMinnesota at ColoradoSun. 18 Detroit at N.Y. RangersMontreal at PhiladelphiaAtlanta at ChicagoCleveland at BostonMon. 19 Vancouver at Los AngelesSt. Louis at TorontoTue. 20 Colorado at N.Y. IslandersAtlanta at VancouverWed. 21 Washington at N.Y. RangersPhiladelphia at ClevelandMontreal at TorontoBuffalo at DetroitMinnesota at Los AngelesChicago at St. LouisColorado at BostonThu. 22 St. Louis at N.Y. IslandersPittsburgh at BuffaloLos Angeles at ChicagoFri. 23 Cleveland at N.Y. RangersN.Y. Islanders at MontrealPhiladelphia at BostonAtlanta at ColoradoDetroit at WashingtonToronto at PittsburghMinnesota at VancouverMon. 26 Pittsburgh at TorontoTue. 27 N.Y. Islanders at VancouverChicago at AtlantaCleveland at MontrealBoston at Washington*Colorado at DetroitSt. Louis at Minnesota &#9632;

Where NHL Teams Play

(Standings on Mon. Dec. 12)<h2>NORRIS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2338/3924443-1-eng-US/f0022-232.jpg" title="f0022-23" width="574" height="157"></div><h2>ADAMS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2432/3924436-1-eng-US/f0022-242.jpg" title="f0022-24" width="582" height="141"></div><h2>PATRICK DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2520/3924429-1-eng-US/f0022-252.jpg" title="f0022-25" width="580" height="134"></div><h2>SMYTHE DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2614/3924422-1-eng-US/f0022-262.jpg" title="f0022-26" width="577" height="158"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Dec. 5Atlanta 2 at Montreal 2Tue. Dec. 6Minnesota 2 at N.Y. Islanders 4Vancouver 5 at Washington 2Pittsburgh 3 at Colorado 3Chicago 2 at Detroit 2Los Angeles 6 at St. Louis 1Wed. Dec. 7Philadelphia 3 at N.Y. Rangers 3N.Y. Islanders 4 at Chicago 0Vancouver 2 at Atlanta 2Washington 5 at Cleveland 3Minnesota 3 at Toronto 6Thu. Dec. 8N.Y. Rangers 4 at Philadelphia 7St. Louis 1 at Montreal 8Los Angeles 5 at Pittsburgh 3Detroit 4 at Boston 6Cleveland 2 at Buffalo 5Fri. Dec. 9Toronto 3 at Colorado 2Sat. Dec. 10Detroit 4 at N.Y. Islanders 7Chicago 2 at Philadelphia 4Washington 1 at Atlanta 5Vancouver 2 at Montreal 7Pittsburgh 2 at Boston 6Toronto 3 at Los Angeles 0Buffalo 4 at Minnesota 2Colorado 4 at St. Louis 6Sun. Dec. 11Boston 8 at N.Y. Rangers 2Cleveland 1 at Philadelphia 11Atlanta 5 at Pittsburgh 1St. Louis 1 at Washington 2Vancouver 0 at Buffalo 3Minnesota 3 at Chicago 8 &#9632;

f0022-23

The NHL Scoreboard

ATLANTA: Lalonde 7,8, Gould 7, Clement 10, Vail 4,5, Simpson 5,6, Bennett 2,3, Comeau 3, Lysiak 8, Chouinard 5, Plett 5.BOSTON: Milbury 2,3, Ratelie 10, O&rsquo;Reilly 6,7, Miller 4,5,6, Middleton 5,6, Schmautz 10,11, McNab 11,12,13, Marcotte 8, Park 6, Bucyk 1,2, Wensink 5.BUFFALO: Seiling 5,6, Luce 12, McAdam 4,5, Savard 4, Gare 14,15, Korab 2, R. Martin 14, Robert 10, Ramsey 10.CHICAGO: Logan 1, Bulky 6,7, Boldirev 10, Bordeleau 2,3, Mikita 3, Rota 8,9, Savard 5, Murray 1, Plante 5.CLEVELAND: Murdoch 5,6, Shinske 1, Kuzyk 1, Manery 7, Maruk 15.COLORADO: Beck 7,8,9,10, Dupere 2,3, Gardner 20,21, Spruce 6.DETROIT: Hull 1, Maloney 5,6, Miller 1, Nedomansky 1, Libett 5, Larson 8, St. Laurent 6, Wright 1.LOS ANGELES: Monahan 5, Murphy 8,9, Apps 7,8, Taylor 2, Goldup 2,3, Kozak 5,6, Hicke 7.MINNESOTA: Maxwell 8,9, Pirus 5,6,6, Jensen 6,7, Bennett 4, Brasar 6,7.MONTREAL: Lafleur 20,21, Larouche 7,8, Lemaire 7,8, Gainey 5,6, Shutt 13,14, Lambert 4,5, Risebrough 5.6.7, Cournoyer 9, Mondou 6.ISLANDERS: Trottier 19,20,21, Bergeron 5,6, Bourne 7,8,9, Henning 2, Nystrom 8,9,10, Harris 7, Bossy 21, Gillies 11.RANGERS: Esposito 12, Tkaczuk 10,11, Johnstone 6.7, DeBlois 9, Byers 1, Murdoch 10, Hickey 14.PHILADELPHIA: Lonsberry 7,8,9,10, Dailey 13, MacLeish 4,5,6, Saleski 14,15,16,17.18. Leach 12,13,14, Clarke 9, Holmgren 2,3. Bladon 4,5,6,7, Bridgman 7, Barber 15.PITTSBURGH: Kehoe 5,6,7, Mahovlich 9,10, Burrows 2, Bianchin 3, Spencer 5, MacDonald 5.ST. LOUIS: Federko 3, Unger 9,10, Seiling 1. Ogilvie 3, MacMillan 6,7, Patey 7, Affleck 2.TORONTO: Thompson 8, Turnbull 7, McDonald 9,10, Butler 3, Williams 7,8, SitUer 12,13, Eillis, 8,9, Salming 7.VANCOUVER: Martin 3, Oddleifson 5,6,7, Gillis 11,12,13, Blight 8, Lever 5.WASHINGTON: Forbes 5, Gibson 2, Sirois, 11,12, Green, 2, Picard 1, Charron 8,9,10, Girard 1. &#9632;

NHL’s Scorers …This Week

<h2>Mon. Dec. 5</h2>ATLANTA 2, MONTREAL 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01398/3924367-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="594" height="456"></div><h2>Tue. Dec. 6</h2>MINNESOTA 2, ISLANDERS 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02306/3924360-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="590" height="481"></div>VANCOUVER 5, WASHINGTON 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03257/3924353-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="595" height="482"></div>PITTSBURGH 3, COLORADO 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04202/3924346-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="588" height="508"></div>CHICAGO 2, DETROIT 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05165/3924339-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="585" height="247"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06130/3924332-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="585" height="322"></div>LOS ANGELES 6, ST. LOUIS 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-07116/3924325-1-eng-US/f0022-072.jpg" title="f0022-07" width="591" height="559"></div><h2>Wed. Dec. 7</h2>PHILADELPHIA 3, RANGERS 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-08105/3924318-1-eng-US/f0022-082.jpg" title="f0022-08" width="583" height="540"></div>ISLANDERS 4, CHICAGO 0<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-0997/3924311-1-eng-US/f0022-092.jpg" title="f0022-09" width="587" height="433"></div>VANCOUVER 2, ATLANTA 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1086/3924304-1-eng-US/f0022-102.jpg" title="f0022-10" width="580" height="383"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1181/3924297-1-eng-US/f0022-112.jpg" title="f0022-11" width="580" height="85"></div>WASHINGTON 5, CLEVELAND 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1276/3924290-1-eng-US/f0022-122.jpg" title="f0022-12" width="583" height="569"></div>MINNESOTA 3, TORONTO 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1369/3924283-1-eng-US/f0022-132.jpg" title="f0022-13" width="583" height="564"></div><h2>Thu. Dec. 8</h2>RANGERS 4, PHILADELPHIA 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1461/3924276-1-eng-US/f0022-142.jpg" title="f0022-14" width="582" height="696"></div>ST. LOUIS 1, MONTREAL 8<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1559/3924269-1-eng-US/f0022-152.jpg" title="f0022-15" width="583" height="619"></div>LOS ANGELES 5, PITTSBURGH 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1651/3924262-1-eng-US/f0022-162.jpg" title="f0022-16" width="581" height="592"></div>DETROIT 4, BOSTON 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1746/3924255-1-eng-US/f0022-172.jpg" title="f0022-17" width="584" height="595"></div>CLEVELAND 2, BUFFALO 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1845/3924248-1-eng-US/f0022-182.jpg" title="f0022-18" width="583" height="495"></div><h2>Fri. Dec. 9</h2>TORONTO 3, COLORADO 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1945/3924241-1-eng-US/f0022-192.jpg" title="f0022-19" width="591" height="543"></div><h2>Sat. Dec. 10</h2>DETROIT 4, ISLANDERS 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2044/3924234-1-eng-US/f0022-202.jpg" title="f0022-20" width="584" height="583"></div>CHICAGO 2 PHILADELPHIA 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2144/3924227-1-eng-US/f0022-212.jpg" title="f0022-21" width="582" height="554"></div>WASHINGTON 1, ATLANTA 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-2238/3924220-1-eng-US/f0022-222.jpg" title="f0022-22" width="577" height="250"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01373/3924213-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="590" height="246"></div>VANCOUVER 2, MONTREAL 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02288/3924206-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="592" height="557"></div>PITTSBURGH 2, BOSTON 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03218/3924199-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="587" height="640"></div>TORONTO 3, LOS ANGELES 0<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04171/3924192-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="586" height="448"></div>BUFFALO 4, MINNESOTA 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-05144/3924185-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="595" height="506"></div>COLORADO 4, ST. LOUIS 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-06128/3924178-1-eng-US/f0023-062.jpg" title="f0023-06" width="588" height="578"></div><h2>Sun. Dec. 11</h2>BOSTON 8, RANGERS 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-07113/3924171-1-eng-US/f0023-072.jpg" title="f0023-07" width="584" height="372"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0898/3924164-1-eng-US/f0023-082.jpg" title="f0023-08" width="588" height="196"></div>CLEVELAND 1, PHILADELPHIA 11<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-0983/3924157-1-eng-US/f0023-092.jpg" title="f0023-09" width="587" height="702"></div>ATLANTA 5, PITTSBURGH 1<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1071/3924150-1-eng-US/f0023-102.jpg" title="f0023-10" width="592" height="514"></div>ST. LOUIS 1, WASHINGTON 2FIRST PERIOD<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1157/3924143-1-eng-US/f0023-112.jpg" title="f0023-11" width="581" height="391"></div>VANCOUVER 0, BUFFALO 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1247/3924136-1-eng-US/f0023-122.jpg" title="f0023-12" width="608" height="410"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1340/3924129-1-eng-US/f0023-132.jpg" title="f0023-13" width="587" height="82"></div>MINNESOTA 3, CHICAGO 8<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1438/3924122-1-eng-US/f0023-142.jpg" title="f0023-14" width="596" height="246"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-1530/3924115-1-eng-US/f0023-152.jpg" title="f0023-15" width="588" height="370"></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMERIES

C&mdash;Captain*&mdash;Rookie<h2>ATLANTA</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Dan BouchardPhil Myre<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Barry GibbsEd KeaRichard Mulhern* Pat RibbleDave Shand<h3>CENTERS</h3>Guy ChouinardRey ComeauBill ClementTom Lysiak C<h3>R. WINGS</h3>John GouldKen HoustonBobby LalondeWilli Plett<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Curt Bennett*Harold PhillipoffBob SimpsonEric Vail<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Gilles Gilbert* Ron Grahame<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Gary Doak* Mike ForbesDoug Hal wardMike MilburyBrad ParkRick Smith<h3>CENTERS</h3>Pete McNab* Bob MillerJean Rateile<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Rick MiddletonTerry O&rsquo;ReillyBobby Schmautz<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Wayne Cashman CJohn BucykStan JonathanDon MarcotteSean ShanahanJohn Wensink<h3>INJURED</h3>Gerry Cheevers* Dwight FosterGregg Sheppard<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Gerry Desjardins* Don Edwards<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Lee FogolinJ. GuevremontBill HajtJerry KorabJim Schoenfeld<h3>CENTERS</h3>Don Luce* Gilles PerreaultAndre SavardRon ShockFred Stanfield<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Danny Gare CJim LorentzGary McAdamRene Robert* Ric Seiling<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Richard MartinCraig Ramsay* Derek Smith<h3>INJURED</h3>Ken Breitenbach<h2>CHICAGO</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Tony EspositoMike Veisor<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Jave 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>Mike ChristieRick HamptonRandy HoltJim NeilsonGreg SmithBob Stewart<h3>CENTERS</h3>Dave Gardner* Ken Kuzyk* Kris ManeryDennis MarukWalt McKechnieWayne Merrick* Rick Shinske<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Fred Ahern* Mike CrombeenBob Murdoch<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Mike FidlerAl MacAdam C<h3>INJURED</h3>Ralph KlassenGary Sabourin<h2>COLORADO</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Doug Favell* Bill Oleschuk<h3>DEFENSE</h3>* Barry BeckMike KitchenBryan LefleyDennis O&rsquo;BrienJohn Van Boxmeer* Mark Suzor<h3>CENTERS</h3>Ron AndruffPaul GardnerDave HudsonNelson Pyatt<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Chuck ArnassonRon DelormeWilf Paiement C<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Gary CroteauDenis Dupere* Rick JodzioAndy Spruce<h3>INJURED</h3>MICHELPLASSE<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Ed GiacominRonLowJim Rutherford<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Al cameronTerry HarperGreg Joly* Reed Larson* Perry Miller<h3>CENTERS</h3>Dennis HextallJ.P. Leblanc* Dale McCourt* Vaclac NedomanskyAndre St. Laurent* Paul Woods<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Rick BownessBillLocheadDennis PolonichTim SheehyLarry Wright<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Danny GrantDennis HullNick LibettDan Maloney C<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Gary SimmonsRogie Vachon<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Larry BrownDave HutchisonNeil KomadoskiRandy ManeryBob MurdochGary Sargent<h3>CENTERS</h3>Syl AppsButch GoringPete StemkowskiVic Venasky<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Glen GoldupDon KozakHartland MonahanMike Murphy C* Dave Taylor<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Ernie HickeTom WilliamsBert Wilson<h3>INJURED</h3>Marcel Dionne<h2>MINNESOTA</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>* Paul HarrisonPete LoPresti<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Fred BarrettJerry Engele* Brad MaxwellLou NanneTom Reid<h3>CENTERS</h3>Roland Erik-sonGlen SharpleyTim Young<h3>R. WINGS</h3>* Kent-Erik AnderssonAlex PirusDean Talafous* Tom Younghans* Ron Zanussi<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Harvey Bennett* Per-Olov BrasarPierre JarrySteve Jensen<h3>INJURED</h3>Nick Beverly C<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Ken DrydenMichel Larocque<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Pierre BouchardGuy Lapointe* Gilles LupienBill NyropLarry RobinsonSerge Savard<h3>CENTERS</h3>Doug JarvisJacques LemairePierre Larouche* Pierre MondouDoug Risebrough<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Rick ChartrawGuy LafleurMario Tremblay<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Bob GaineyRejean HouleYvon LambertSteve Shutt<h3>INJURED</h3>Pierre Larouche<h2>ISLANDERS</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Chico ReschBilly Smith<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Garry HartDave LewisBert MarshallNeil NicholsonStefan PerssonDenis PotvinJean PotvinPat Price<h3>CENTERS</h3>Bob BourneJude 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 DavidsonWayno Thomas<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Don AwreyDave FarrishRon GreschnerDave MaloneyMike McEwenCarol Vadnais<h3>CENTERS</h3>Wayne Dillon* Ron DuguayPhil Esposito CWalter Tkaczuk<h3>R. WINGS</h3>* Lucien DeBlois* Ed JohnstoneDon Murdoch<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Jerry ByersNick FotiuPat Hickey* Dan New manSteve Vickers<h3>INJURED</h3>Grog Polis<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Bernie ParentWayne Stephenson<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Tom BladonBob DaileyAndre DupontRick Lapointe* Kevin McCarthyJim WatsonJoe Watson<h3>CENTERS</h3>Mel BridgmanBobby Clarke COrest KindrachukRick MacLeish<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Barry DeanGary DornhoeferReg LeachDon Saleski<h3>L. WINGS</h3>BillBarberPaul HolmgrenBob KellyRoss Lonsberry<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Dennis HerronDune Wilson<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Russ AndersonDave BurrowsColin CampbellTom EdurBob ParadiseTom Prise<h3>CENTERS</h3>Gene CarrPeter MahovlichGreg Malone<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Blair ChapmanRich Kehoe* Peter LeeJean Pronovost C<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Wayne BianchinMike CorriganLowell MacDonaldDave SchultzBrian Spencer<h3>INJURED</h3>Mario FaubertRon Stackhouse<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Ed JohnstonEd Staniowski<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Bruce AffleckLen FrigBob HessBob PlagerDick RedmondJim RobertsRod Seiling<h3>CENTERS</h3>Red Berenson CBernie FederkoBrian OgilvieLarry PateyGarry Unger<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Bill FairbairnClaude LaroseBob MacMillan<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Inge HammarstromBrian Sutter<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Mike PalmateerGordon McRae<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Randy CarlyleBrian GlennieTrevor JohansenBorje SalmingIan Turnbull<h3>CENTERS</h3>Bruce BoudreauGeorge FergusonDarryl Sittier CJack Valiquette<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Pat BoutetteJerry ButlerRon Ellis* Jimmy JonesKurt WalkerLanny McDonald<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Errol ThompsonDave Williams<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>Cesare ManiagoCurt Ridley<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Larry GoodenoughJohn GrisdaleS. KannegiesserDennis KearnsJack MclLhargeyHarold Snepsts<h3>CENTERS</h3>Pit MartinChris OddleifsonMike Walton<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Rick BlightHilliard GravesDennis Ververgaert<h3>L. WINGS</h3>* Jere GillisDon LeverCGarry MonahanGerry O&rsquo;FlahertyRon Sedlbauer<h3>INJURED</h3>None<h2>WASHINGTON</h2><h3>GOAL</h3>* Jim BedardGary Smith<h3>DEFENSE</h3>Larry BolonchukRick GreenJack Lynch* Robert PicardGord SmithBryan Watson<h3>CENTERS</h3>Guy CharronDoug Gibson* Eddy GodinGerry Meehan C<h3>R. WINGS</h3>Bill Collin* Tom RoweBob Sirois<h3>L. WINGS</h3>Garnet BaileyNelson BurtonDave ForbesBob GirardRon LalondeMike MarsonCraig Patrick<h3>INJURED</h3>Yvon LabreBillRileyBlair Stewart &#9632;

NHL Team Rosters

Matti Hagman wasn&rsquo;t able to find ice time with the Boston Bruins, but the Quebec Nordiques have been giving him plenty on their top scoring line with Marc Tardif and Real Cloutier and the 22-year-old former Finnish National team member has been producing.After scoring three assists in his WHA debut the week before, Hagman collected 10 points in two weekend games as the Nordiques downed Indianapolis 5-3 and belted Czechoslovakia 8-4.Hagman figured in all but two of the goals as he netted four scores against the Racers and then scored two goals and added four assists as the Nordiques doubled the Czechs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03216/3924560-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="523" height="736"><figcaption class="caption-body">MATTI HAGMAN &hellip; Quebec Nordiques</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/f0024-01386/3924529-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GORDIE HOWE&hellip;Says 1,000th Goal Like The First</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 CanadaHARTFORD&mdash;The New England Whalers played only .500 hockey (a win, a loss, and a tie) but managed to boost their league lead by a point at the end of the week. The Winnipeg Jets gave way to the bolstered Quebec Nordiques in the race for WHA superiority, but the Whalers held on to an eight point margin, after 24 games.Still struggling a bit after their 13-game win streak was shattered, the Whalers had lost three and tied two before they finally got back on the winning track with an important victory over Winnipeg. It was the Whalers&rsquo; third straight over the Jets, and coach Harry Neale&rsquo;s defensive tactics were getting no small share of the credit. Neale advocates a zone type of defense against the weaving style that the European-dominated team employs.Proof that the system works is the fact that the high-powered line of Ulf Nilsson, Bobby Hull, and Anders Hedberg has been shackled. The perennial leagueleading threesome had been held scoreless in even strength situations during three encounters between the two teams. In their last meeting the Whalers won handily, 4-1.Injuries continued to harass the Whalers as none of their lines was intact. Mark Howe and Tom Webster were declared out of action &ldquo;indefinitely&rdquo; depriving Gordie Howe of his two high scoring wingers. And that obviously contributed to the reasons why &ldquo;the old man&rdquo; had gone nine games without scoring a goal&mdash;the big one, number 1,000.There had been chances however. Working on the power play versus Winnipeg Gordie richocheted one off the post which trickled along the line behind goalie Joe Daley. It didn&rsquo;t quite get over the line though, and alert Johnnie McKenzie rapped it home. It all happened so quickly that when the light went on most of the crowd leaped to their feet with a roar thinking they had witnessed the history-maker. When the arena announcer was finally able to get the attention of the cheering throng, he informed all that the goal was scored by number 19, John McKenzie&rsquo;. &lsquo;The cheers suddenly turned to disappointed boos&rsquo;.While his regular wingers are indisposed Gordie has been skating with Greg Carroll and Larry Pleau at the flanks, and although they have played well they seemed to be overly conscious of Gordie&rsquo;s quest for No. 1.000. The whole team was happy (and relieved) to see the big one, Dec. 7. Now they can get back to normal.Mark Howe&rsquo;s injury is a nagging cartilage problem in the area of the ribs. Whenever he tries to play it&rsquo;s okay until he hits someone or something. Mark skated a few shifts in the Winnipeg game but had to retire early. Latest word is that he will be out indefinitely until it heals.Tommy Webster crashed into the net in a practise session and his old nemesis, the back, began to act up again. His status did not look too promising, at least at the outset. The loss of the team&rsquo;s leading goal scorer will hurt the team, but the fine play of spare forwards Carroll and Jim Mayer have helped to lessen the loss. Defenseman Al Hangsleben moved up to right wing for the Winnipeg game and. played an out standing game. Hank&rsquo;s versatility has made him one of the most valuable players on the team in the past month.WHALER WAVES: When the Whalers lost convincingly to the Cincinnati Stingers, the near capacity crowd had little to cheer about. But the close observer got another convincing view of Gordie Howe&rsquo;s greatness. Near the end of a shift, Gordie lost the puck in his own zone. In the scramble the Stingers effort to score was thwarted by a defenseman who cleared the puck for an apparent icing call. With his replacement (Dave Keon) hanging over the boards, Gordie skated right by and beat defenseman Ron Plumb to the puck. Gordie came out from behind the net and passed through the slot to the trailing Mike Antonovich for a score which, at the time, drew the Whalers within one of tying.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02303/3924522-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="556" height="661"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARK HOWE</figcaption></div>Besides the fabled grandfather-to-be, two other Whalers have reached milestones in their careers. 23-year-old Mike Rogers is at the 100-goal mark in the WHA, while 40-year-old John McKenzie has passed the 800-point mark for his major league career.The idea of adding 2,600 additional seats to the Hartford Civic Center is in the planning stages in anticipation of an eventual merger with the NHL.QUEBEC: The Nordiques have vaulted over the Winnipeg Jets in the WHA standings as a result of some hard-earned victories. In three contests with the Jets this year the Nordiques have emerged victorious by a total of three goals. In Winnipeg earlier in the season the Nords won 3-2. Later at the Colisee, the Nordiques again won. this time in overtime, 7-6. The most recent encounter, again at the Colisee. was another shootout. The Quebec City crew won it, 6-5.In that most recent victory a new name cropped up in the line score. Matti Hagman had three assists in his first game as a Quebec Nordique. The six-foot, 22-year-old centerman had been &ldquo;purchased&rdquo; by the Nordiques in an interesting deal with the NHL&rsquo;s Boston Bruins. The original announcement called it a &ldquo;loan for the 1977-78 season&mdash;without the right to recall.&rdquo; But WHA president Howard Baldwin made it clear that the WHA saw the deal as an &ldquo;outright purchase of Matti Hagman.&rdquo; Baldwin stated, &ldquo;The World Hockey Association will not accept players on loan from the National Hockey League or from any other league&hellip;Under no other circumstances would we declare the player eligible for WHA play.&rdquo;Hagman looks to be a natural centerman for wingers Marc Tardif and Real Cloutier. Coach Marc Boileau has been experimenting with Andre Boudrias and Norm Dube, but neither has filled the void left by Christian Bordeleau who is out for the season. Hagman could be the answer. He played for the Finnish National Team two years ago and was drafted by the Bruins in the 1975 amateur draft. With the Bruins well-stocked supply of centers he saw limited action. Last year he collected 11 goals and 17 assists.In the meantime, not much more could be asked from Tardif and Cloutier. As usual they were among the leaders in WHA scoring. Tardif was setting a torrid pace with 26 goals and 23 assists in just 24 games.To make room for Hagman Nordiques general manager Maurice Filion sold left wing Peter Driscoll to the Indianapolis Racers. Apparently the recent acquisition of left wing Rick Morris from Edmonton made Driscoll expendable. Morris, however, was the only one of four former Oilers who had not appeared in a game for the Nordiques. Defenseman Dave Inkpen and right wing Warren Miller were seeing regular duty, while goalie Ken Broderick had served as backup.Coach Marc Boileau&rsquo;s announced policy of keeping 22 players around for practice and possible participation payed off in a recent game. When goalie Richard Brodeur was unable to come out for the second period, backup Jim Corsi took his place in the nets while newcomer Broderick dressed as backup. &#9632;

f0024-01

Whalers Shackle Jets For Key Win; Hag man Centers Nordiques’ Big Line

<div class="byline">BY GREG NOBLE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01327/3924591-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROBBIE FTOREK&hellip; Enjoying Stingers Working As A Tea</figcaption></div>CINCINNATI&mdash;At long last the Stingers dug out from all the problems that buried them in last place for the first two months of the season and emerged as a winning hockey team.One indication of that was their three-game winning streak, but it was their consistently fine play over four weeks that really bore out the point.&ldquo;We have turned around, and I don&rsquo;t say that just because we&rsquo;ve won three in a row,&rdquo; coach Jacques Demers said after their 3-0 victory over the Indianapolis Racers.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the way we&rsquo;ve been playing the last six or eight games. We&rsquo;ve been playing the way I want them to. We&rsquo;re not beating ourselves with bad mistakes, and when we have made mistakes Michel Dion has covered up, or Mike Liut. We&rsquo;ve got good goaltending now,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;And we&rsquo;re playing with confidence.&rdquo;The Stingers won six of 10 games, and their third straight win moved them from last place to sixth. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t ever want to go back to that eighth spot. We&rsquo;re only going up from here,&rdquo; vowed Demers.The Stingers started the streak with an impressive victory at Indianapolis. Worn thin from an exhausting schedule that had them playing for the fourth straight night in a different city, the team showed a lot of character in rallying from behind three times for a 7-5 win.&ldquo;When we were down 2-0 we had all the reasons to quit. But we never gave up. Our guys gave one helluva effort,&rdquo; said Demers. &ldquo;That was the best game the Cincinnati Stingers have played since I&rsquo;ve been the coach.&rdquo;The players drew some extra inspiration for the game from the fact that was Demers&rsquo; first return to Indianapolis, where he coached the past two seasons. &ldquo;We especially wanted this one for Jocko,&rdquo; noted Ron Plumb.The Racers&rsquo; largest crowd of the season, 11,196, cheered warmly when their former favorites Dion and Pat Stapleton were introduced. And when Demers walked out on the ice the fans welcomed him with a rousing standing ovation. He waved at them as tears swelled up in his eyes.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m an emotional person. Getting a standing ovation&mdash;that made me feel great,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy to know the fans in Indianapolis respected what I did while I was there.&rdquo;Rookie defenseman Craig Norwich won the see-saw battle for the Stingers with two third-period goals, his first goals of the season.Three days later at Quebec, rookie goalie Liut made 34 saves in an outstanding performance to spark the Stingers to a 3-2 victory. Claude Larose led the Stingers&rsquo; attack with two goals.Then Dion made it two straight victories over his former team, the Racers, 3-0. Dion stopped 22 shots for the Stingers&rsquo; first shutout of the season.Dion got great support from his teammates, who controlled the puck and hustled and checked and completely shut down the Racers&rsquo; offense.&ldquo;It was a sensational game for the teams,&rdquo; said Dion. &ldquo;The forwards were coming back to help the defense and the defense was standing up&mdash;a team can&rsquo;t play any better. They made my job very easy.&rdquo;Robbie Ftorek also noted the club&rsquo;s steady improvement. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been playing much better. Everybody&rsquo;s working hard. We&rsquo;re playing as a team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are guys who aren&rsquo;t scoring goals, but they&rsquo;re doing their job defensively. They take a check, and maybe that enables another guy to score. Things like that make the difference between a losing club and a winning club.&rdquo;The Stingers released tough guy Willie Trognitz after he turned down their offer to extend his 10-game trial. He wanted a contract for the rest of the year, the club said.Dennis Sobchuk was restricted to spot duty by an injury to his left wrist. At first, the club feared he had a hairline fracture, but doctors later diagnosed the injury as an inflamed tendon and Sobchuk was supposed to be back at 100 percent by mid-December.INDIANAPOLIS: Coach Ron Ingram promised to shake up his roster after the Racers suffered their eighth defeat in 10 games.&ldquo;Some guys are playing themselves out of a job. We&rsquo;re looking to make some deals,&rdquo; Ingram said after a 3-0 loss at Cincinnati.The Racers had lost seven straight before snapping the skein against Edmonton. Then they lost two in a row to the Stingers.The Racers jumped ahead of the Stingers, 2-0, in the first game at Indianapolis. but they allowed the visitors four goals in the third period and lost 7-5.&ldquo;There was no goaltending, no nothing. It looks like we&rsquo;ve got some guys who don&rsquo;t want to play here,&rdquo; said Ingram.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going through a period of frustration, just like Cincinnati did,&rdquo; he said a few days later after the loss at Cincinnati. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just something we have to work at.&rdquo;Back home in Market Square Arena the following night, the Racers got back on the winning track with a 5-4 win over Quebec. &#9632;

f0025-01

Consistent Effort Gets Stingers Untracked

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01337/3924734-1-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/f0026-02277/3924727-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="160" height="174"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03236/3924720-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="715" height="703"></div><h2>CINCINNATI STINGERS</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04183/3924713-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="139" height="155"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05148/3924706-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="711" height="560"></div><h2>INDIANAPOLIS RACERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-06118/3924699-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="204" height="161"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-07106/3924692-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="715" height="667"></div><h2>NEW ENGLAND WHALERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0896/3924685-1-eng-US/f0026-082.jpg" title="f0026-08" width="221" height="220"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-0990/3924678-1-eng-US/f0026-092.jpg" title="f0026-09" width="719" height="678"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1085/3924671-1-eng-US/f0026-102.jpg" title="f0026-10" width="196" height="200"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1181/3924664-1-eng-US/f0026-112.jpg" title="f0026-11" width="710" height="616"></div><h2>HOUSTON AEROS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1273/3924657-1-eng-US/f0026-122.jpg" title="f0026-12" width="259" height="117"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1372/3924650-1-eng-US/f0026-132.jpg" title="f0026-13" width="712" height="590"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1464/3924643-1-eng-US/f0026-142.jpg" title="f0026-14" width="190" height="201"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1558/3924636-1-eng-US/f0026-152.jpg" title="f0026-15" width="714" height="719"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1650/3924629-1-eng-US/f0026-162.jpg" title="f0026-16" width="208" height="208"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1746/3924622-1-eng-US/f0026-172.jpg" title="f0026-17" width="710" height="616"></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

WHA SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01317/3924765-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANDERS HEDBERG&hellip;To Face Soviets In Japan (Photos by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;The touring Czechoslovakian National team was headed into Winnipeg and in a few short weeks, the Jets would be winging their way to Japan hard on the heels of the Quebec Nordiques, who are bound for Moscow and the 1977 Izvestia Cup tournament.It&rsquo;s all part of the International atmosphere that is blanketing the World Hockey Association over the December-January holiday period and in the weeks ahead. Before it all reaches its conclusion WHA teams will have engaged Soviet, Czechoslovakian. Finnish. Swedish and Japanese teams in approximately 50 hockey games. Some will go towards counting in the regular standings for WHA teams, so they are significant outings for all clubs concerned.The first two games of the Czechoclovakian tour ended in a split decision for the WHA. The Indianapolis Racers couldn&rsquo;t hold the Czechs and lost 5-3 but the Quebec Nordiques evened the count when they overwhelmed the visitors 8-4 on the strength of some spectacular scoring by their big line of Matti Hagman, Real Cloutierand Marc Tardif.The Czechs are booked for eight games against Indy, Quebec, Winnipeg, Edmonton, New England, Cincinnati and Birmingham. The Soviet All Stars are slated to begin play Dec. 14 in Hartford and will eventually play 10 games against all WHA clubs with extra games against both Indianapolis and Houston thrown in.The Nordiques are off to Moscow for the Izvestia tournament from Dec. 15 to Dec. 22 and the Winnipeg Jets, with the likes of Bobby Hull. Anders Hedberg and the Nilssons, Ulf and Kent, will be headed to Japan for an exhibition tour against the Soviet Nationals. It will be a three-game affair.Following this, the Soviet Nationals return to the North America to play six games beginning Jan. 4 in Edmonton, Winnipeg. Quebec, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Hartford. Then the Swedes arrive for a spring confrontation with the WHA beginning March 17 for five games and Finland follows March 18 for five games.The WHA is hopeful the games will attract big crowds and further international ties between the European teams and the league. The first two games of the tour produced mixed but encouraging results. A crowd of 5,851 showed in Indianapolis despite a howling blizzard outside to see the Czechs beat the Racers and the Nordiques pulled in a sellout crowd of 11,155 for their win over the Czechoslovakian team. &#9632;

f0027-01

WHA Splits With Czechs As Tour Opens

<h2>CZECHOSLOVAKIA:</h2>Friday Dec. 9 * Czechoslovakia at Indianapolis 3(5,851) Blizzard.Sunday Dec. 11 * Czechoslovakia at Quebec 8(11,155) sellout.Tuesday Dec. 13 * Czechoslovakia at Winnipeg 8:00 Central Time.Wednes. Dec. 14 * Czechoslovakia at Edmonton 8:00 Mountain Time.Friday Dec. 16 * Czechoslovakia at New England 7:30 Eastern Time.Sunday Dec. 18 * Czechoslovakia at Houston 7:00 Central Time.Tuesday Dec. 20 * Czechoslovakia at Cincinnati 7:30 Eastern Time.Wednes. Dec. 21 * Czechoslovakia at Birmingham 7:30 Central Time.<h2>SOVIET ALL-STARS:</h2>Wednes. Dec. 14 * Soviet All-Stars at New England 7:30 Eastern Time.Saturday Dec. 17 * Soviet All-Stars at Cincinnati 7:30 Eastern Time.Sunday Dec. 18 * Soviet All-Stars at Indianapolis 7:00 Eastern Time.Tuesday Dec. 20 * Soviet All-Stars at Winnipeg 8:00 Central Time.Wednes. Dec. 21 * Soviet All-Stars at Edmonton 8:00 Mountain Time.Friday Dec. 23 * Soviet All-Stars at Houston 7:30 Central Time.Monday Dec. 26 * Soviet All-Stars at Birmingham 7:30 Central Time.Wednes. Dec. 28 Soviet All-Stars at Houston 7:30 Central Time.Sunday Jan. 1 - Soviet All-Stars at Indianapolis 7:00 Eastern Time.Tuesday Jan. 3 * Soviet All-Stars at Quebec 8:05 Eastern Time.<h2>IZVESTIA CUP TOURNAMENT:</h2>December 15 - December 22 Quebec Nordiques at Moscow.<h2>JAPAN EXHIBITION TOUR:</h2>December 29 - January 1 Winnipeg Jets vs. Soviet Nationals in Japan.<h2>SOVIET NATIONALS:</h2>Wednes. Jan. 4 Soviet Nationals at Edmonton 8:00 Mountain Time.Thursday Jan. 5 Soviet Nationals at Winnipeg 8:00 Central Time.Saturday Jan. 7 Soviet Nationals at Quebec 8:05 Eastern Time.Sunday Jan. 8 Soviet Nationals at Cincinnati 7:00 Eastern Time.Tuesday Jan. 10 Soviet Nationals at Indianapolis 8:00 Eastern Time.Wednes. Jan. 11 Soviet Nationals at New England 7:30 Eastern Time.<h2>SWEDEN:</h2>Friday Mar. 17 Sweden at Indianapolis 8:00 Eastern Time.Sunday Mar. 19 Sweden at New England 7:30 Eastern Time.Tuesday Mar. 21 Sweden at Houston 7:30 Central Time.Sunday Mar. 26 Sweden at Cincinnati 3:00 Eastern Time.Tuesday Mar. 28 Sweden at Birmingham 7:30 Central Time.<h2>FINLAND:</h2>Saturday Mar. 18 Finland at Birmingham 7:30 Eastern Time.Sunday Mar. 19 Finland at Houston 7:30 Central Time.Wednes. Mar. 22 Finland at Indianapolis 8:00 Eastern Time.Saturday Mar. 25 Finland at Cincinnati 7:30 Eastern Time.Sunday Mar. 26 Finland at New England 7:30 Eastern Time.(*Indicates that game statistics count the same as a regular season game. A win is worth two points in WHA standings, a tie one point.) &#9632;

Where Teams Will Play

<h2>DECEMBER</h2>Tue. 13 Birmingham at HoustonCzechoslovakia at WinnipegWed. 14 Indianapolis at CincinnatiSoviet Stars at New EnglandCzechoslovakia at EdmontonThu. 15 Cincinnati at BirminghamHouston at IndianapolisFri. 16 Birmingham at New EnglandSoviet Stars vs WinnipegCzechoslovakia at HoustonSat. 17 Winnipeg at New EnglandSoviet Stars at CincinnatiSun. 18 Edmonton at BirminghamNew England at WinnipegCzechoslovakia at IndianapolisTue. 20 Edmonton at HoustonSoviet Stars at IndianapolisCzechoslovakia at CincinnatiWed. 21 Winnipeg at HoustonCzechoslovakia at BirminghamThu. 22 Cincinnati at IndianapolisSoviet Stars vs EdmontonFri. 23 Winnipeg at CincinnatiIndianapolis at New EnglandSoviet Stars at BirminghamCzechoslovakia at HoustonFri. 30 Indianapolis at EdmontonCincinnati at HoustonBirmingham at New EnglandSoviet Stars vs Quebec<h2>JANUARY</h2>Sun. 1 New England at CincinnatiHouston at EdmontonQuebec at BirminghamTue. 3 Indianapolis at QuebecWed. 4 Houston at CincinnatiBirmingham at IndianapolisQuebec at New EnglandSoviet Nationals at EdmontonThu. 5 Soviet Nationals at WinnipegFri. 6 Houston at BirminghamQuebec at CincinnatiWinnipeg at EdmontonNew England at IndianapolisSat. 7 Indianapolis at HoustonCincinnati at New EnglandSoviet Nationals at QuebecSun. 8 Edmonton at HoustonBirmingham at New EnglandIndianapolis at WinnipegSoviet Nationals at CincinnatiTue. 10 Birmingham at QuebecSoviet Nationals at Indianapolis &#9632;

Where WHA Teams Play

(Standings on Tue. Dec. 13)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1445/3924980-1-eng-US/f0028-142.jpg" title="f0028-14" width="576" height="250"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2>Tue. Dec. 6New England 2 at Indianapolis 5Houston 3 at Queb oc 4Wed. Dec. 7Houston 2 at Winnipeg 5New England 6 at Birmingham 3Cincinnati 4 at Edmonton 5Fri. Dec. 9Now England 2 at Birmingham 1Houston 4 at Edmonton 2Cincinnati 4 at Winnipeg3Czechoslovakia 5 at Indianapolis 3Sat. Dec. 10Indianapolis 3 at Quebec 5Sun. Dec. 11Houston 4 at Edmonton 2Indianapolis 1 at Winnipeg 7Czechoslovakia 4 at Quebec 8 &#9632;

f0028-14

The WHA Scoreboard

BIRMINGHAM &mdash; Stephenson 3, Linseman 8, Napier 12, Marrin 7.CINCINNATI &mdash; Marsh 12, Leduc 18, 19, Gilligan 2, Larose 5,6, Melrose 1, Ftorek 18.EDMONTON &mdash; Ferguson 10, 11, Flett 10, 11, Shmyr 2, DeMarco 1, Hamilton 8, McGregor 11, Chipperfield 12,13.HOUSTON &mdash; Lukowich 12,13, Lacroix 12,13,14, Connor 9, Larway 6, 7, 8, Gray 8, Tonelli 1, 2, Schella 4, Ruskowski 5.INDIANAPOLIS &mdash; Patenaude 13, 14, 15, 16, Burgess 5, 6, 7, Goldsworthy 1, St, Sauveur 16, 17, Devine 7, Leclerc 2.NEW ENGLAND &mdash; Antonovich 12, Lyle 9, 10, G, Rowe 6, Rogers 10, Pleau 9, McKenzie 10, Roberts 4,5, J, Carlson 4.QUEBEC &mdash; Cloutier 15,16,17,18, Sutherland 7, Tardif 27,28,29, Hagman 1,2,3,4,5,6, Miller 4, Baxter 3, Bordeleau 17.WINNIPEG &mdash; Kryskow 6, Hull 18,19,20, Labraaten 13, Sjoberg 4, Sullivan 4, U, Nilsson 10,11, Baird 1,2, 3, Bergman 2. &#9632;

WHA’s Scorers …This Week

*- Rookie<h2>CINCINNATI</h2><h3>Goalers</h3>DION, Michel* LIUT, Mike<h3>Defense</h3>LEGGE, BarryMAROTTE, GillesMELROSE, Barry* NORWICH, CraigPLUMB, RonSTAPLETON, Pat<h3>Centers</h3>FTOREK, Robbie* GILLIGAN, BillLEDUC, RichSOBCHUK, Dennis<h3>R. Wings</h3>ABGRALL, DennisHISLOP, JamboSTOUGHTON, Blaim<h3>L. Wings</h3>DUDLEY, RickHALL, DolLAROSE, ClaudeMARSH, Potor<h3>Injured</h3>None<h2>HOUSTON</h2><h3>Goalers</h3>RUTLEDGE, WaynoWAKELY, ErnieZIMMERMAN, Lynn<h3>Defense</h3>* CAMPBELL, ScottHALE, LarryHUGHES, JohnMCLEOD, AlPOPIEL, PoulSCHELLA, John<h3>Centers</h3>LACROIX, AndroLUND, LarryRUSKOWSKI, TorryTONELLI, JohnWEST, Stove<h3>R. Wings</h3>GRAY, JohnHANSIS, RonHUGHES, FrankLARWAY, DonPRESTON, Rich<h3>L. Wings</h3>CONNOR, CamLUKOWICH, MorrisLIDDINGTON, BobTAYLOR, Tod<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>CARROLL, GregCARLSON, SteveKEON, DavePLEAU, LarryROGERS, Mike<h3>R. Wings</h3>HOWE, Gordie* MAYER, JimMcKENZIE, JohnWEBSTER, Tom<h3>L. Wings</h3>ANTONOVICH, MikeCARLSON, JackHOWE, MarkLYLE, George<h3>Injured</h3>None<h2>WINNIPEG</h2><h3>Goalers</h3>BROMLEY, GaryDALEY, Joe<h3>Defense</h3>BERGMAN, ThommieCLACKSON, KimDUNN, DaveGREEN, TedHORNUNG, LarryLONG, BarrySJOBERG, Lars-Erik<h3>Centers</h3>KRYSKOW, Dave* NILSSON, KentNILSSON, UlfPOWIS, LynnSULLIVAN, Peter<h3>R. Wings</h3>HEDBERG, AndersLINDSTROM, Willy<h3>L. Wings</h3>GUINDON, BobbyHULL, BobbyLABRAATEN, DanLESUK, BillMOFFAT, Lyle<h3>Injured</h3>None<h2>BIRMINGHAM</h2><h3>Goalers</h3>GARRETT, JohnWOOD, Wayno<h3>Defense</h3>BEAUDOIN, SorgoDURBANO, StoveHOGANSON, DaleHUGHES, BrentTURKIEWWICZ, JimWESTRUM, Pat<h3>Centers</h3>* LINSEMAN, KonMARRIN, PetorNORIS, Joe<h3>R. Wings</h3>CASSOLATO, TonyGORMAN, DaveHANSON, DaveNAPIER, MarkROBERTO, Phil* STEPHENSON, BobSTEWART, J.C.<h3>L. Wings</h3>* ALLEY, SteveBEATON, FrankBILODEAU, GillesHENDERSON, PaulMAHOVLICH, FrankInuurodLAGACE, Joan-Guy<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>Goalers</h3>DRYDEN, DaveMcLEOD, Don<h3>Defense</h3>BUSNIUK, RonDe MARCO, AbHAMILTON, AlLANGEVIN, Dave* MICHELETTI, JoeSHMYR, Paul<h3>Centers</h3>CAMPBELL, BryanCHIPPERFIELD, RonMacGREGOR, GaryWIDING, Juha* ZUKE, Miko<h3>R. Wings</h3>FERGUSON, NormFLETT, BillHOLLAND, JerryMacDONALD, Blair<h3>L. Wings</h3>BAIRD, KonCALLIGHEN, BrettDEADMARSH, ButchGUITE, PierroROTA, RandySEMENKO, Dave<h3>Injured</h3>None<h2>INDIANAPOLIS</h2><h3>Goalers</h3>INNESS, GaryMcDUFFE, PeterPARK, Jim<h3>Defense</h3>BALTIMORE, BryonBLOCK, KonFORTIER, DaveMAGGS, DarrylMORRISON, KevinWILKINS, Barry<h3>Centers</h3>PARIZEAU, MichelST. SAUVEUR, ClaudeSHEEHAN, Bobby<h3>R. Wings</h3>GOLDSWORTHY, BillLECLERC, RenePAIEMENT, RosairePATENAUDE, RustySPRING, FrankTHOMAS, Rog<h3>L. Wings</h3>BURGESS, DonDEVINE, KovinDRISCOLL, PeterFRENCH, JohnHARRIS, HughSMEDSMO, Dale<h3>Injured</h3>None<h2>QUEBEC</h2><h3>Goalers</h3>BRODERICK, KanBRODEUR, Richard* CORSI, Jim<h3>Defense</h3>BAXTER, PaulBERNIER, JoanEVANS, ChrisINKPEN, DaveLACOMBE, FrancoisLARIVIERE, GarryTREMBLAY, J.C.WEIR, Wally<h3>Centers</h3>BERNIER, SergeBOUDRIAS, AndroFITCHNER, BobHAGMAN, Matti<h3>R. Wings</h3>BORDELEAU, PaulinBRACKENBURY, CurtCLOUTIER, RealMILLER, Warron<h3>L. Wings</h3>CONSTANTIN, CharlesDUBE, NormMORRIS, RickSUTHERLAND, StoveTARDIF, Marc<h3>Injured</h3>BORDELEAU, ChrisDOREY, Jim &#9632;

WHA Starting Team Rosters

<h2>Tue. Dec. 6</h2>NEW ENGLAND 2, INDIANAPOLIS 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01301/3924925-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="583" height="568"></div>HOUSTON 3, QUEBEC 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02222/3924918-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="583" height="569"></div><h2>Wed. Dec. 7</h2>HOUSTON 2, WINNIPEG 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03167/3924911-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="587" height="538"></div>NEW ENGLAND 6, BIRMINGHAM 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04133/3924904-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="590" height="616"></div>CINCINNATI 4, EDMONTON 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05114/3924897-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="586" height="639"></div><h2>Fri. Dec. 9</h2>NEW ENGLAND 2, BIRMINGHAM 1FIRST PERIODNo scoring.Penalty: Mayer 16:58.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0697/3924890-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="588" height="504"></div>HOUSTON 5, EDMONTON 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0787/3924883-1-eng-US/f0028-072.jpg" title="f0028-07" width="586" height="593"></div>CINCINNATI 4, WINNIPEG 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0879/3924876-1-eng-US/f0028-082.jpg" title="f0028-08" width="586" height="570"></div>CZECHS 5, INDIANAPOLIS 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0973/3924869-1-eng-US/f0028-092.jpg" title="f0028-09" width="580" height="453"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1070/3924862-1-eng-US/f0028-102.jpg" title="f0028-10" width="586" height="136"></div><h2>Sat. Dec. 10</h2>INDIANAPOLIS 3, QUEBEC 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1162/3924855-1-eng-US/f0028-112.jpg" title="f0028-11" width="584" height="592"></div><h2>Sun. Dec. 11</h2>HOUSTON 4, EDMONTON 2<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1258/3924848-1-eng-US/f0028-122.jpg" title="f0028-12" width="586" height="562"></div>INDIANAPOLIS 1, WINNIPEG 7<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1352/3924841-1-eng-US/f0028-132.jpg" title="f0028-13" width="582" height="563"></div>CZECHS 4, QUEBEC 8<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02212/3924834-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="584" height="743"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03142/3924827-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="563" height="194"></div><h2>COMPLETE COALING RECORD</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04106/3924820-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="583" height="853"></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

WORLD HOCKEY ASSN. SUMMARIES

LONG BEACH&mdash;AU systems are go for the new independent regional Pacific Hockey League.The four-team circuit, which expects to expand to six and possibly eight teams next season, swings into action in San Diego Dec. 25 when the Mariners host the San Francisco Shamrocks.The same two teams renew action the following night in San Francisco&rsquo;s Cow Palace, while the Long Beach Sharks make their home debut Dec. 30 with the Los Angeles Swords.San Francisco, Long Beach and San Diego will play 40-game schedules while Los Angeles will be seen in 36 games, six of them at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena commencing Feb.10.League coaches include Butch Barber in San Diego, Ted McCaskill in Long Beach, Terry Gray at Los Angeles and Wayne Rivers in San Francisco, Rivers will also play.Franchise owners include Peter Graham in San Diego, Jerry Sapperstein and Dennis Murphy in San Francisco and a group headed by attorney Don Dyer in Long Beach that also includes Joe Bronson of Freemont, Ca.. and former WHA and Indianapolis Racer executive James Browitt, who gave up the role of commissioner of the league to become general manager with a financial interestAll four clubs opened training camps in mid-December. each with upwards of 25 players. They&rsquo;ll pare their rosters to 17, 24 hours in advance of their opening gamesAll teams are required to carry no fewer than five American-produced players, and will be limited to eight players whose ages exceed 25 yearsWhile San Diego has reported 10 player signings as of Dec 7. the other three clubs were waiting to evaluate their talent at training campAmong those San Diego players signed as announced by general manager Bob Paine were goaltenders Yves Archambault, and Brian Cousineau, defenseman Mike Keeler. Reg Krezanski and Dwayne Pentland, left wing Brian Bye. centers Bob Sauve and Bob Sicinski and right wings Randy Andreachuk and Rick Loe.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have eight American-born players in camp.&rdquo; said Paine. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve already signed one (Loe) who played last year with Winston-Salem in the Southern LeagueTicket prices throughout the league include scales of $2 50. $4 50. and $5.50 in Long Beach, $2 00. $3 50 and $5 00 in San Francisco and $2 50. $5.00 and $6 00 in San Diego. All clubs have across the board discounts for students, military personnel and senior citizensFirst club to nail down a radio package was San Diego, with a schedule calling for 36 games<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01260/3925059-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="535" height="1044"><figcaption class="caption-body">WAYNE RIVERS &hellip; Player-Coach</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

Independent Pacific Hockey League Opens Schedule Christmas Evening

<h2>DECEMBER</h2>Wed. 14. Binghamton at HamptonNew Haven at MaineRochester at Nova ScotiaHershey at PhiladelphiaFri. 16 Hampton at MaineHershey at New HavenBinghamton at RochesterPhiladelphia at SpringfieldSat. 17 New Haven at HamptonPhiladelphia at HersheyBinghamton at MaineNova Scotia at SpringfieldSun. 18 Maine at BinghamtonHampton at New HavenSpringfield at PhiladelphiaNova Scotia at RochesterWed. 21 New Haven at BinghamtonHershey at HamptonNova Scotia at MaineRochester at SpringfieldFri. 23 Springfield at MainePhiladelphia at New HavenSun. 25 Springfield at New HavenHershey at RochesterMon. 26 Philadelphia at BinghamtonHershey at Nova ScotiaWed. 28 Hampton at BinghamtonRochester at HersheyMaine at New HavenPhiladelphia at Nova ScotiaSat. 31 Rochester at BinghamtonSpringfield at Hershey &#9632;

Where AHL Teams Play

<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 CanadaNEW HAVEN&mdash;For high-priced National Hockey League veterans Bill Goldsworthy and Ken Hodge, it was quite an initiation into the American Hockey League. The season-high crowd of 4,586 at the Coliseum last week expected some fireworks between the very physical Maine Mariners and the New Haven Nighthawks, however few realized what was in store for them. After the singing of &ldquo;God Bless America&rdquo; and the dropping of the puck by referee Denis Morel, the action started.Goldsworthy was skating on right wing for the Nighthawks, just a few days after being sent to New Haven by the N.Y. Rangers. Possibly he thought he could have an easy time of it in the AHL. The Mariners had other ideas.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01297/3925097-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="568" height="748"><figcaption class="caption-body">ED WALSH &hellip; Lifting Dusters</figcaption></div>Just a few seconds into the contest, Goldsworthy was decked by a viscious cross-check from Mariner defenseman Rudy Tjacnar. The Flyers had recently signed the burly former Czechoslovakian star and assigned him to their Mariner farm team. The five-foot-11, 230-pound Tjacnar left Goldsworthy sprawled out near center ice and no penalty was called by referee Morel. This apparently did not go unnoticed by New Haven&rsquo;s Jim Troy.Ken Hodge scored his first goal as a Nighthawk later in the period to give New Haven a 1-0 lead. Goldsworthy was back on the ice for his next shift, but the Mariners and Nighthawks started to escalate the tension by resorting to high sticking and elbowing. None of this was called by Morel.Early in the second period, New Haven&rsquo;s Jim Troy caught up with Tjacnar and pummeled him in a fight which saw Troy do all the punching and the surprised Czech do ail the receiving. This also did not go unnoticed by the Mariner bench.A few minutes after the two combatants left the penalty box, the action started. New Haven&rsquo;s Greg Hickey pushed John Paddock from behind and the six-foot-three, 196-pound Paddock came up swinging. After Hickey got in a few well-aimed punches, Paddock got the upper hand. Jim Troy decided to jump in and help the beleaguered Hickey so Tjacnar moved in behind Troy and proceeded to ring his bell a few times.Nighthawk goaler Doug Soetaert skated halfway across the ice and jumped on the pile. Dave Hoyda led the Mariners off their bench and the Nighthawks followed. A real Pier Six brawl was on. All of this apparently woke up Ken Hodge who tried to protect himself while acting as a peacemaker. He must have thought it was safer to walk in Times Square. Even Mariner trainer Dave Settlemeyer joined in the mele.During the resulting half hour battle fights erupted all over the ice with &lsquo;Hawk defenseman Mario Marois chalking up a clear cut decision over Mariner defenseman Frank Bathe. When the dust settled Hickey, Marois, Troy and Soetaert were sent to the showers early. For the Mariners; Hoyda. Bathe, Paddock. Tjacnar and trainer Settlemeyer were banished by Morel.Other than that, it was an uneventful contest with both teams skating to a 2-2 overtime tie.A 3-3 tie the next night in Maine enabled the Nighthawks to set a new team record. The club was unbeaten in their last seven road games. Earlier in the week, the Hawks beat Hershey 5-4. Nova Scotia ended the overall New Haven unbeaten streak at nine with a 6-3 victory over the Nighthawks.The Nighthawks have started to have the National Anthem sung live at each home game. To honor the visiting Nova Scotia Voyageurs, &ldquo;Oh Canada&rdquo; was sung prior to &ldquo;The Star Spangled Banner&rdquo;. Home attendance is averaging 3,413 and always increases after the football season.ROCHESTER: Jim Pettie, who leads the AHL in goaltending, has been out of the lineup with a bruised knee. The Amerks managed only one win in four games last week. Philly blew them out 94 at the War Memorial and the Dusters roared to a 6-3 win over Rochester at Binghamton. The Amerks recovered to beat the same Dusters 5-3 at home and skated to a 3-3 overtime tie against Nova Scotia before 6,432 fans at the War Memorial.Coach Duane Rupp will finally have a full squad since Gordie Clark and Clay Pachal are off the injured list. Rick Adduono and Sean Shanahan are also back. Ron Garwasiuk continues to lead the Amerks in scoring with 22 points in 17 games.Home attendance in Rochester is soaring, with the club averaging 4,790 fans per game.PHILADELPHIA: After finishing a week where they picked up seven out of a possible eight points, AHL observers are beginning to believe that the Firebirds are for real. The &lsquo;Birds held Nova Scotia to a 5-5 tie in Philly and then went on to beat Rochester, Hershey and Hampton. The win streak enabled the Firebirds to move into second place in the Southern Division, just two points behind frontrunning Rochester.Coach Dan Belisle said: &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re in better condition than some teams. I think it was most evident in our game at Rochester. When you have that many games, the players seem to think better and stay away from unnecessary skating. By that I mean, they play better positional hockey. I&rsquo;m sure some teams thought we would be tiring&hellip;but, it was much to the contrary.&rdquo; The Firebirds had just completed a rugged stretch of nine games in 11 days and the club showed the rest of the league that they will be in the thick of the race all year longHERSHEY: A week which saw the Bears lose all three games on the schedule left the team only one point in front of the last place Hampton Gulls. Hershey lost 5-4 to New Haven and 3-2 to Binghamton at home. They also dropped a 4-1 contest to the Firebirds in Philly.Injuries continue to keep coach Chuck Hamilton juggling personnel. Alex Tidey reinjured his back and will be out indefinitely. Center Ron Areshenkoff is also out with a chipped shoulder bone and left winger Joe Kowal is benched with an injured knee.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02235/3925090-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="568" height="1192"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM TROY &hellip; Keyed Brawl</figcaption></div>Crowds are still flocking to the Hersheypark Arena. Home attendance is up from last year, averaging 4.447 per game.HAMPTON: The Gulls have been hot of late, winning four of their last five. In recent action, they beat the Springfield Indians 5-2 and the Binghamton Dusters 5-3 at home. A 7-4 loss in Philadelphia, kept the Gulls from climbing out of the cellar.NOVA SCOTIA: Sooner or later it had to happen. The Voyageurs are now back in first place in the AHL Northern Division. Last week they came up with two wins, two ties and a single loss to move back into the top spot. Nobody should ever count the Vees out since they have never missed the playoffs and have an almost unbelievable record. In eight seasons, the Voyageurs have 456 wins, 180 losses and 92 ties or a remarkable 1,004 out of a possible 1,456 points.The Vees are in first place despite the fact that they have played 27 of their first 23 games on the road. The 10,300 seat Halifax Metro Centre is scheduled to open in January and the Vees have scheduled most of their home games for the new building.Right winger Peter Lee, who is considered to be a potential star, has been traded to the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins.SPRINGFIELD: Another capacity crowd turned out at the Big E but the Nova Scotia Voyageurs edged the Indians 5-3. The Tribe lost two other games last week and were winless in their last five contests.Publicist Jim Slattery continues to do a great job in Springfield. Attendance has increased substantially this year, with the average now 4,200 per game including two straight Saturday night capacity crowds.BINGHAMTON: Ever since the Dusters obtained goaltender Ed Walsh from Nova Scotia, the club has started winning. As a result, Binghamton has leaped past the Maine Mariners into third place in the Northern Division race.The Dusters played five games in five nights and won three of them. They beat Springfield and Hershey, each by a 3-2 margin in overtime. A 6-2 win at home against Rochester was offset by losses on the road to Hampton and the same Rochester Americans.MAINE: The Mariners can&rsquo;t seem to find the net and, as a result, they have dropped into the Northern Division cellar. The Mariners tied New Haven twice last week and blanked the Nova Scotia Voyagers at home by a 4-0 count. A crowd of 5,613 saw the New Haven contest which featured the local debut of Ken Hodge and Bill Goldsworthy.John Paddock leads the AHL in penalty minutes with 116 and majors with eight. Dave Hoyda has served his one game suspension for being the first man off the bench in the wild mele at New Haven.Home attendance has been great for the new AHL club. The Mariners are averaging 4,804 fans in their new Civic Center. &#9632;

f0030-01

Rangers’ Vets Get Rude Initiation; Voyageurs Claim Familiar Position

Tue. 13 Phoenix at Kansas CityTulsa at Salt LakeWed. 14 Phoenix at DallasThu. 15 Ft. Worth at Kansas CityFri. 16 Kansas City at Ft. WorthDallas at Salt LakePhoenix at TulsaSat. 17 Salt Lake at Ft. WorthTulsa at Kansas CityDallas at PhoenixSun. 18 Kansas City at DallasSalt Lake at TulsaTue. 20 Salt Lake at PhoenixThu. 22 Dallas at Ft. WorthSalt Lake at PhoenixKansas City at TulsaFri. 23 Ft. Worth at DallasTulsa at Kansas CityTue. 27 Tulsa at DallasWed. 28 Tulsa at Ft. WorthKansas City at PhoenixThu. 29 Dallas at Salt LakeFri. 30 Kansas City at PhoenixDallas at Salt LakeForth Worth at Tulsa &#9632;

Where CHL Teams Play

<div class="byline">BY DOUG MCCONNELL</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 CanadaTULSA&mdash;John Choyce admires hard work so it isn&rsquo;t hard to understand how rookie goaltender Glen Hanlon made an impression on the Tulsa Ice Oilers&rsquo; coach right from the start of the season.The 20-year-old redhead certainly has made an impression on the rest of the Central Hockey League, becoming the first goaltender to record two shutouts this season.He produced them a week apart. Following a 33-save, 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Red Wings Thanksgiving night, he victimized the basement dwelling Phoenix Roadrunners 2-0 with 34 saves.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen anyone work harder,&rdquo; said Choyce as his team was taking the ice for a practice. &ldquo;He deserves whatever comes to him.&rdquo;Hanlon was the only goaltender on the Ice Oilers&rsquo; active roster for almost two weeks.Veteran Michel Belhumeur, who was sporting the third best goals-against average (2.85), went to the sidelines with sprained ankle ligaments.It wasn&rsquo;t as if Choyce had to throw an untested rookie into the breach. Hanlon had been playing regularly, in a rotation with Belhumeur.In fact, Hanlon left Phoenix with a 2.84 goals-against average through 13 games.&ldquo;There goes another hard working kid,&rdquo; Choyce nodded at defenseman Rick Hodgson, in his second season with Tulsa. &ldquo;Right now he and Mike Pelyk are our best defensemen.&rdquo;The acquisition of Finnish goaltender Markus Mattsson from the Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association was greeted as enthusiastically by Pelyk as by Choyce.It&rsquo;s not just that Mattson brought impressive credentials, a 2.99 goals-against average in six games with the Jets.Pelyk, a 30-year-old veteran recalled by Toronto after the weekend, had been the designated backup goaltender since Belhumeur&rsquo;s injury.What happens if Hanlon should be injured, Choyce was asked.&ldquo;Pelyk goes in the nets,&rdquo; shrugged Choyce.Why Pelyk?&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have too many volunteers,&rdquo; replied Choyce. &ldquo;He was the only one. He played goal in peewee.&rdquo;Would Pelyk have strapped on the big pads? He probably would have had to play without a mask as they are custom molded for each goaltender&rsquo;s face.&ldquo;There wasn&rsquo;t much chance of that,&rdquo; said Pelyk. &ldquo;Red would have had to be unconscious for me to go in there. I think I&rsquo;d have to be unconscious, too.&rdquo;Hanlon, who had four shutouts last season with his hometown Brandon, Manitoba, Wheat Kings in the Western Canada Junior Hockey League, and was the third draft choice of Tulsa&rsquo;s coparent Vancouver Canucks, is wisely appreciative of his defensemen&rsquo;s support.He wants to keep it coming.&ldquo;They cleared the puck well,&rdquo; he said after his second shutout. &ldquo;Anybody can play goal when your defense is playing like that. You make the stop and they don&rsquo;t allow a rebound.&rdquo;Two defensemen provided Hanlon with the only goals of the game, Bob Manno firing his first in his third game since joining the Oilers from Vancouver, and Pelyk scoring his first of the season.&ldquo;There were about six guys in front of (Phoenix goaltender Jim) Warden and my shot was so slow.&rdquo; described Pelyk, &ldquo;that I think each guy figured the next one would stop it.&rdquo;Ralph Stewart sixth and seventh goals of the season and defenseman Claire Alexander&rsquo;s ninth, all in the third period, broke open a tight game and gave Tulsa a 4-2 victory for a sweep of the two-game Phoenix series.The Ice Oilers lost Mattsson&rsquo;s first start, 5-2 at Kansas City and remain in a three-way tie for third place with Salt Lake City and Dallas.PHOENIX: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not what the league governors had in mind,&rdquo; admitted Jim Gregory, chairman of the board of the Central Hockey League.Gregory was speaking to the press between periods of a game in Phoenix and was talking about the Roadrunners&rsquo; lineup problems.The co-parent Colorado Rockies and Cleveland Barons appear to have the intention of keeping the CHL roster filled out with four or five players on tryouts instead of with pros.The Roadrunners pay $200,000 into the CHI pool, second only to the amount paid by the Salt Lake Golden Eagles for players supply, and the feeling in Phoenix is that they definitely are not getting their money&rsquo;s worth.It&rsquo;s been noted that the Barons were not wanted back in Salt Lake City where they were the parent club last season and where the St. Louis Blues have stocked a competitive club this season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a healthy situation,&rdquo; said Gregory, the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. &ldquo;Cleveland and Colorado are having their own problems.&rdquo;Gregory added that he, CHL president Bud Poile and several others were attempting to find help for the Roadrunners.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to see hockey interest die in a good hockey city like Phoenix,&rdquo; said Gregory, &ldquo;and by the end of the season, we should have the situation cleared up.&rdquo;&ldquo;Toronto and Chicago would like to have come in here but if we&rsquo;d left Dallas there would be no Central Hockey League. Without Dallas there would be no Fort Worth and Cliff (Atlanta general manager, Fletcher) wasn&rsquo;t interested in having a farm team in anything but a six-team league.&rdquo;The loan by the Buffalo Sabres of veteran center Billy Inglis, 34, had helped.&ldquo;The team is playing a lot better hockey now, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; asked Gregory.The Roadrunners went on to lose 2-0 that night to the Tulsa Oilers, the first of two shutouts they were to endure in three nights, and to count the smallest crowd to watch a hockey game in Phoenix since the &lsquo;60s.Following the game, left wing Lou Nistico gave up on a tryout. Goaltender Bill Oleschuk being called up to the Rockies to replace injured Michel Plasse as backup, sent the Runners to Salt Lake City with 17 players, one under the limit.A bad cold and stomach ailment took rookie right wing Dan Chicoine out of the lineup. A foreign object thrown on the ice, causing center Vern Stenlund to crash into the boards, sustaining knee, groin and back injuries, reduced the number of forwards to six.Salt Lake scored twice against the Runner power play for a 6-4 victory and twice more the following night for a 2-0 shutout in which Yves Belanger had to make just four saves per period.The shutout was the fourth against Phoenix this season and there have only been five in the league. They have won only four of 23 games with three ties.Nistico, a hard hitting competitor who compiled 166 penalty minutes while scoring 56 points for Birmingham in the World Hockey Association last season, failed to score a point and didn&rsquo;t take a penalty in four games with the Roadrunners.He was playing on an ankle sprained during a three-game look with the Rockies, before they sent him to Phoenix.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01272/3925152-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="565" height="598"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILLY INGLIS</figcaption></div>&ldquo;My ankle won&rsquo;t get better without resting it,&rdquo; explained the five-foot-seven, 170-pound, 24-year-old. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t play my game&mdash;I tried to hit somebody tonight and my ankle almost exploded&mdash;and I can&rsquo;t afford to stay here and rest it.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re on a trial, you don&rsquo;t get paid if you don&rsquo;t play.&ldquo;When my ankle is better, I might try to get back into the WHA. Colorado probably wouldn&rsquo;t sign me or Mark (Lomenda) when our trials are up, anyway.&rdquo;Right wing Mark Lomenda and Jeff Allan, a defenseman who had just joined the club, are on tryouts. Rookie defensemen Owen Lloyd and Tom Anderson, two of the more consistent hitters in the league, were dropped during the previous week after 12 and 13 games of 15-game tryouts.DALLAS: The Dallas Black Hawks marked the first time they have won back-to-back games this season but goaltender Pierre Hamel will carry the mark for some time.Hamel had made one save and allowed two goals when he left the game at 6:23 of the first period after being struck in the face with a shot. He has a suspected broken nose.Dave Elenbaas came back to play 53 minutes and 37 seconds of shutout hockey with 26 saves and the Black Hawks downed the Salt Lake Golden Eagles 5-2 to regain a tie for third place with the Eagles and the Tulsa Ice Oilers.Greg Hubick broke a 2-2 tie with five seconds left in the first period and the Hawks skated away with the victory.The Hawks had upset their freeway rival Fort Worth Texans, the Central League leaders, the previous night, 6-3.They had started a three-game weekend by losing 3-2 in overtime to Kansas City.KANSAS CITY: Terry Richardson is giving the Kansas City Red Wings the goaltending they need if they&rsquo;re going to catch the Central Hockey League leading Fort Worth Texans.Richardson has allowed just 15 goals in his last seven starts, including one shutout, and seven of those goals were in an 8-6 loss to Dallas. He has posted a 5-2 record over that span and has reduced his goals-against average to a league leading 2.71.J.P. Leblanc provided the winning goal as the Red Wings won their only two starts of the week to raise his game winning goal total to four, tops in the league.The veteran center scored at 2:11 of overtime for a 3-2 victory over Dallas, completing a comeback from a two-goal deficit which was erased by rookies Fem Leblanc and Kevin Schamehorn.J.P. Leblanc broke a 2-2 tie at 12:02 of the second period and defenseman Jean Hamel scored two more for a 5-2 win over Tulsa before a crowd of 4,780 which gave the Red Wings a total of 9,461 for their last two home games. The Wings went on to set a new Kansas City record when they attracted 13,626 in a 6-2 victory over Salt Lake.Mike Bloom&rsquo;s three goals and 18 assists for 21 points leave him one out of the CHL&rsquo;s top 10. Leblanc is one more point back with 10 goals and 10 assists.The Red Wings trail Fort Worth by seven points and are three ahead of the three-way traffic jam in third.FORT WORTH: Richie Hansen scored a goal and an assist in Fort Worth&rsquo;s only game of the week to raise his league leading points total to 33&mdash;11 goals and 22 assists&mdash;but the Texans were knocked off by their next door rivals, the Dallas Black Hawks.The loss completed Swedish import goaltender Goran Hogosta&rsquo;s two-week stay with Fort Worth and he returned to the New York Islanders, leaving a 3-2 record and a 3.84 goals-against average.The Texans were leading 2-0 when the Black Hawks erupted for four goals in the second period in Fort Worth.SALT LAKE CITY: Lyle Bradley scored two goals in each as the Golden Eagles took a pair of victories from the Phoenix Roadrunners, 6-4 and 2-0.Goaltender Yves Belanger hardly worked up a sweat in recording his shutout and the Eagles&rsquo; second against Phoenix as he faced a total of 12 shots.Doug Palazzari, since called up to the parent St. Louis Blues, broke the first game open, setting up John Smrke for a third period goal while the Eagles were a man short and scoring another 24 seconds later while his team was two players shorthanded. &#9632;

f0031-01

Tulsa Rookie Hanlon Impressing Coach, League

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div>GRAND FORKS&mdash;With Denver University playing like a bunch of professionals in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, one need only look at the leadership to see the reason why.Denver has won 11 straight games after an opening-game 10-4 loss to Michigan to assume command of the WCHA race with an 11-1 record, two games ahead of preseason favorite Michigan.A good reason for Denver&rsquo;s hot start might be the leadership of two former professional players who coach the Pioneers.Denver&rsquo;s head coach is Marshall Johnston, a former NHL player as well as coach of the California Seals. Johnston is in his first year as head coach after replacing the legendary Murray Armstrong, who has retired.Johnston&rsquo;s first assistant is another NHL great, Ralph Backstrom, a former Calder Trophy winner as Rookie of the Year while playing with the Montreal Canadiens.It&rsquo;s not just coaching that has put the Pioneers on top. In wings Mark Davidson and Perry Schnarr and center Doug Berry, Denver has three of the most feared scorers in the WCHA.Denver&rsquo;s potent offense (over six goals a game) has been virtually impossible for other WCHA teams to handle. Davison, Berry and Schnarr all rank among the top six scorers in the WCHA.Berry, a six-foot-one. 197-pound junior from Vancouver, popped in five goals as Denver routed North Dakota 10-3 and 8-3 to maintain its two-game edge over Michigan, an NCAA tourney finalist last year.Michigan has loomed as Denver&rsquo;s strongest challenger after whipping defending national champion Wisconsin 11-3 and 7-3 in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Wolverines ran off eight straight goals to whip Wisconsin in the first game to gain some revenge for a 6-5 overtime loss to the Badgers in the national championship game last March.Dave Debol, the leading scorer in the WCHA last year, is again setting the pace for Dan Farrell&rsquo;s Wolverines, who are the highest scoring team in the league.A closer look at the WCHA:WICONSIN: As defending national champs, the Badgers are a marked team this year and the slaughter in Ann Arbor by Michigan proved it. Centers Mike Eaves and Mark Johnson give the Badgers two of the best centers in the WCHA. But the loss of junior Craig Norwich a year early to Cincinnati of the WHA has hurt Wisconsin&rsquo;s defense.MINNESOTA: The Gophers snapped a four-game losing streak by nipping Colorado College twice to move into fourth place. The four losses came to Michigan and Wisconsin, who join Denver in forming the early-season power in the league. Coach Herb Brooks is molding a strong team out of a young group that often features 15 players with less than&rsquo;two years college experience.MICHIGAN TECH: The Huskies continue to play up-and-down hockey. Coach John Maclnnes&rsquo; Huskies ripped North Dakota 7-0 one night, then lost 5-4 the next. They then returned horn only to split with Notre Dame.COLORADO COLLEGE: As usual, injuries play a big part in Colorado College&rsquo;s success or failure. Big (six-foot-two, 220) Dean Magee has been sidelined with a knee injury and CC also lost Mike Reilly for the year with a broken ankle. The Tigers have a strong candidate for Rookie of the Year honors in freshman Greg Whyte, from Winnipeg, who continues to rank among the scoring leaders in the WCHA.NORTH DAKOTA: The Sioux have yet to sweep a home series in three attempts and it&rsquo;s cost them dearly. With only two seniors on the team, North Dakota has found rough sledding in the WCHA. Freshman Doug Smail, from Moose Jaw. has provided much of UND&rsquo;s offense and is another candidate for Rookie of the Year. Defense once again is a sore spot with the Sioux. No other WCHA team has given up more goals than North Dakota.MICHIGAN STATE: Coach Amo Bessone&rsquo;s Spartans started strongly but have since dropped five straight. Still, Michigan State can be dangerous, as proven by a 9-4 win over Michigan, picked by the coaches in a pre-season poll by the Grand Forks Herald to win the WCHA.NOTRE DAME: Things can only get better for Notre Dame. Coach Lefty Smith&rsquo;s Fighting Irish dropped their first eight games, but have rebounded to win three of their last four. Kevin Nugent, the biggest player in the WCHA at six-foot-five. 230, is a big reason for Notre Dame&rsquo;s comeback. He popped in two goals as Notre Dame beat Michigan Tech 4-2 on Tech&rsquo;s home ice.DULUTH: The Bulldogs have come to life to move into a tie for ninth place with Notre Dame. Duluth lost two tough games in overtime to Denver in Duluth, but rebounded to sweep Michigan State 8-5 and 10-6 the next weekend. John Rothstein had three goals and defenseman Curt Giles five assists in the 10-6 win over Michigan State. Giles&rsquo; outburst tied a school record for most points in a game set by Keith Christiansen against Minnesota in 1966.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0638/3925214-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="505" height="595"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARSHALL JOHNSTON &hellip;Coaching Pioneers</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0727/3925207-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="543" height="693"><figcaption class="caption-body">DOUG BERRY &hellip;Feared Scorer</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0032-06

Leadership Nets Denver WCHA Lead; Wolverines Rip Badgers In Rematch

<h2>WCHA CONFERENCE</h2>.Standings on Mon. Dec. 5)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01277/3925273-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="573" height="295"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri.-Sat. Nov. 25-26Wisconsin 4, Minnesota 1Wisconsin 5, Minnesota 3Colorado College 5, Michigan 2Michigan 6, Colorado College 3Denver 4, Minn-Duluth 3Denver 5, Minn-Duluth 4Notre Dame 4, Michigan State 3Notre Dame 10, Michigan State 2Michigan Toch 7, North Dakota 0North Dakota 5, Michigan Toch 4Fri-Sat. Dec. 2-3Denver 10, North Dakota 3Denver 8, North Dakota 3Michigan 11, Wisconsin 3Michigan 7, Wisconsin 3Duluth 8, Michigan State 5Duluth 10, Michigan State 6Minnesota 7, Colorado College 6Minnesota 3, Colorado CoIlego 1Notro Dame 4, Michigan Toch 2Michigan Toch 7, Notro Dame 1<h2>LEADING SCORESRS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02210/3925266-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="575" height="476"></div><h2>CCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 5)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03148/3925259-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="573" height="189"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Ohio State 5, St. Louis 3St. Louis 6, Ohio State 3<h3>NON-CONFERENCE</h3>Lake Superior 3, Gustavus Adolphus 2Lake Superior 6, Gustavus Adolphus 4<h2>ICHA CONFERENCE</h2><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wisconsin-Superior 8, Bemidji Stat. 1St. Scholastica 5, Bemidji Stat. 2Bemidji Stat. 9, Lakehead University 4<h2>CANADIAN COLLEGES</h2>ONTARIO CONFERENCE(Standings on Thu. Dec. 1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0492/3925252-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="577" height="627"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Waterloo 3, Windsor 5York 4, Toronto 5Waterloo 0, Laurier 3Western 5, Guelph 3McMaster 5, Brock 3Ryerson 1, Ottawa 4Toronto 15, Queen&rsquo;s 1Laurentian 6, Guelph 4Waterloo 5, Windsor 7Toronto 4, Queen&rsquo;s 4Brock 7, RMC 1Western 6, Laurior 4Laurentian 6, York 7Waterloo 10, Windsor 3<h2>NEW YORK COLLEGES</h2>(Standings on Tue. Nov. 29)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0556/3925245-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="569" height="820"></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

College Races

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>PROVIDENCE&mdash;Dick Toomey peers out over the dasher, and something is different. That big black ball with the number eight on it is nowhere to be seen.Toomey is the Brown University hockey coach, in his fourth full year at the helm. Fans and experts all expected his team to beat everybody but the Montreal Canadiens last year, and they wound up 16-11, losing along the way to many other teams than Le Club de Hockey, which it is rumored would not play Brown last year since the Bruins were too strong.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01247/3925311-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="568" height="729"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE LAYCOCK &hellip;Backstopped Win</figcaption></div>But seven seniors have graduated, leaving Dick with one of the youngest clubs in ECAC Division One. The Browns have only three senior skaters, and eight freshmen are playing regularly. The preseason polls nevertheless pick Brown to finish among the playoff participants, or no worse than eighth Brown has yet to miss the playoffs under Toomey&rsquo;s direction. but he still expresses some surprise at the early polls.&ldquo;We skated a lot of freshmen tonight.&rdquo; he remarked after his team lost to Boston College, 4-3 on the road, evening their record at 1-1.&ldquo;And we re going to continue to get better. We had a lot of chances out there tonight, especially in the beginning and in the third period. I thought we played well enough to win.&rdquo;B.C.. a team with almost as much youth as Brown, bolted out to a 4-1 lead after yielding the first tally of the game. Senior. Paul Barrett, netted the winner on a power play at 13:43 of the second period, and while Brown got no closer than Mark Gherity&rsquo;s proximate goal at 18:21 of the third, Toomey was satisfied that his team made few youthful mistakes in its performance.&ldquo;Maybe people don&rsquo;t remember that we didn&rsquo;t have that good a defense last year,&rdquo; he remarked. &ldquo;One of the kids we were counting on didn&rsquo;t come back to school, and another turned pro. I think that&rsquo;s the reason we didn&rsquo;t do as well as some writers expected.&rdquo;Much of the scoring punch has left the Providence campus, but also absent are steady defenseman Jim Lundquist and fine goalie Kevin McCabe. The latter&rsquo;s graduation opened up the job to junior Mike Laycock and sophomore Mark Holden. Holden had 28 saves in the loss to B.C., while Laycock turned aside 22 in Brown&rsquo;s opener, an 8-3 decision over Princeton. Toomey hasn&rsquo;t decided who will play as the top goalie, but maintains that both will see considerable action.&ldquo;You know, we didn&rsquo;t have any preseason games or non-division game before the league season,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;I really haven&rsquo;t decided on my lines yet, and here we are already into the ECAC schedule.&rdquo;In the first two games, Brown used four lines which comprised of six freshmen, and two sophomores, (juniors, and seniors each). Among them they must replace the top two all-time leading scorers for Brown. Bill Gilligan (68-112-180) and Bob McIntosh (81-79-160). These two. and a few classmates, terrorized opposing goalies for three years, but their departure makes Brown&rsquo;s youthful emphasis even more obvious than it has ever been, because when their class was maturing Brown had no need to use freshmen even though the Ivy League grudgingly approved.This is the first season that Brown has had to rely on the kids, but Toomey isn&rsquo;t overly concerned because he considers this group the best freshman contingent he&rsquo;s had. He also recalls that it wasn&rsquo;t until their junior year that Gilligan, McIntosh et al., really took off, so with this group being thrown into varsity competition sooner, development should be faster.Gherity is the only rookie on Brown&rsquo;s top line, centered by junior Dave Roberts with senior Mark Wenda on right wing. The all-freshman line has Steve DiCarlo between Steve DeBlois and Dan Santanello, while another unit has fresh Rick Hall between classmate Dave Miller and soph Rick Scully. The most experienced trio is junior Jim Bennett pivoting senior Skip Stovem and soph Jim Lawson.In the first two games, only Santanello managed to score two goals in a single contest, clicking for a pair against Princeton. In fact, Brown&rsquo;s two leading scorer returnees (both defenseman) were with these two bruisers heading rearguard, it appears that the main objective for a good season in Meehan Auditorium would be the fashioning of a balanced scoring attack. Though it&rsquo;s a bit early to tell, this appears quite possible for the current season, in which case Toomey might be peering over that eight bail once again.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0766/3925304-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="1816" height="1190"><figcaption class="caption-body">SHARING THE WEALTH: RPI coach Jim Salfi holds trophy with help of Clarkson athletic director Bill Fiesenger, right, as two schools shared championship of North Country Tournament held over Thankgiving holiday weekend. Looking on are two of Salfi&rsquo;s RPI stars, co-captains Joe Ens, left, and Don Armstrong. Both Clarkson and RPI finished with 2-1 records.</figcaption></div>Elsewhere in the ECAC, Clarkson and RPI split the North Country Thanksgiving Tournament title by virtue of identical 2-1 rounds in the three day, round robin event. The Knights managed to remain unbeaten in ECAC Division One play, however, since their only tourney loss was to Concordia University of Montreal by a 6-5 count, in overtime. In the RPI-Clarkson game the second night Jay Wescott&rsquo;s second goal with 2:13 to play proved the winner.Meanwhile, down the road in Canton, rebuilding St. Lawrence was blasting Concordia 8-0 for their only win in the tourney. Sophomore forward Dick Popeil, converted to defense by coach Leon Abbot, had a pair of goals against Concordia and two more against Clarkson the following evening as the Golden Knights prevailed 6-3.Boston College found a backup goalie to highly regarded Paul Skidmore in their win over Brown. Skidmore received a deep cut in his forearm during practice in the previous week, pressing junior Mike Cronin into service. Though he&rsquo;d never played a varsity game, Cronin stopped 31 Brown shots for the win. &#9632;

f0033-01

Brown’s Youth Promising With Pressure Off

<h2>ECAC CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Nov. 30)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02191/3925370-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="579" height="476"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>NORTH COUNTRY TOURNEYConcordia 6, Clarkson 5RPI 4, St. Lawrence 2Clarkson 5, RPI 4St. Lawrence 8, toncordia 0RPI 7, Concordia 3Clarkson 6, St. Lawrence 3(Clarkson, RPI divided tourmanent)(championship)<h3>OTHER GAMES</h3>Boston University 5, Providence 2Princeton 4, Dartmouth 3Northeastern 6, Yale 6Vermont 2, Bowling Green 1Bowling Green 10, Vermont 5Boston College 4, Brown 3Northeastern 4, New Hampshire 3St. Lawrence 6, Vermont 3<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03145/3925363-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="582" height="168"></div><h3>LEADING GOALIES</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04118/3925356-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="590" height="158"></div><h2>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Thu. Dec. 1)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0594/3925349-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="577" height="164"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0675/3925342-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="577" height="264"></div> &#9632;

f0033-02

<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 CanadaGRAND RAPIDS&mdash;The Dayton Owls have flown from Hara Arena and will now operate out of Grand Rapids, Mich, thus joining five other franchises in this state, Port Huron, Muskegon, Flint, Saginaw and Kalamazoo.Though the Owls were victorious in three of the last four games prior to the move, including a game in Milwaukee following an 11-hour bus ride through a snow storm, attendance problems in Dayton forced owner Al Savill to relocate in Grand Rapids.Savill warned Dayton fans that if attendance at the team&rsquo;s games didn&rsquo;t improve, he would most certainly move the franchise elsewhere. Savill chose Grand Rapids, though it has a small rink seating only 3,600, it also has a most rabid bunch of hockey fans.The first game on Grand Rapids ice will be Sunday Dec. 17 when Kalamazoo visits.The recent on-ice success of the Owls allowed them to slip past Milwaukee into third place in the standings.FORT WAYNE: A summer-long campaign is paying off for the Komets at the box office so far this season. And the team is also proving a winner on the ice.A 10-day undefeated streak has put the Komets in a battle for first place in the South Division with the defending South Division champion Toledo Goaldiggers. It was Toledo which snapped Fort Wayne&rsquo;s undefeated string with a 4-1 triumph in Toledo. But the Komets&rsquo; on-ice success was reflected in turnouts for two subsequent home games.A capacity crowd of 8,034 jammed the Memorial Coliseum Thanksgiving Night and watched the Komets whip Dayton. 41 The following Saturday a crowd of 6,030 was in the stands as the Komets and Flint battled to a 3-3 tie.The sellout was the first for the Komets since the second game of the semi-final Turner Cup playoffs against Flint in 1973. It was also the first sellout in the club&rsquo;s history on Thanksgiving night.The attendance started climbing for the fifth home game of the season when 5,353 turned out. In nine home dates the attendance has reached 47,922&mdash;an average of 5,323. Only three times has the crowd been under 5,000. The smallest was 2,797 on Nov. 11.TOLEDO: A 2-1-0 performance put the Diggers at the head of the class in the South Division and they prepared for a three-game road trip. The Diggers whipped challenger Fort Wayne, 4-1, lost at Dayton, 7-2 and recovered with an 8-5 triumph over Kalamazoo at home, Jim McCabe led the attack with four goals.Coach-general-manager Ted Garvin solved his goaltending problem by putting rookie Tom McNamara on waivers. The Goaldiggers will go with Ted Tucker and Tony Piroski, the latter apparently doomed earlier but was given a reprieve when all clubs passed on him on waivers and he proceeded to win the job during a five-game tryout.MILWAUKEE: The Admirals increased their unbeaten string on the road to five with a 2-1 victory at Port Huron as Yves Preston scored both goals. But the Admirals had their homecoming spoiled by Dayton, 3-2. A crowd of 3,612 braved slippery streets and slushy sidewalks to greet the team after the road trip but were disappointed with a lackluster performance.FLINT: Flint continued its hot streak with a 3-0-1 run which was capped by a 64 triumph over Port Huron to open up a four-point spread in the battle for North Division supremacy. The tie was a 3-3 thriller at Fort Wayne in which the Generals came from three goals downKey to the Flint success of late is a point power play. Mike Clarke scored the Generals&rsquo; 20th power goal of the season in the tie at Fort Wayne&mdash;that&rsquo;s an average of a power goal a game. And coach Doug Carpenter said earlier in the season such an average would win a lot of games. The Generals ended the week with a 12-6-1 mark&mdash;tops in the league.PORT HURON: Port Huron coach Ron Ullyot has a simple explanation for the Flags&rsquo; current slump. &ldquo;We just aren&rsquo;t scoring enough goals.&rdquo;Maybe the needed punch will be found in Dave Faulkner, obtained in a trade with Fort Wayne but unavailable for duty until just this week because of a freak injury just prior to his scheduled first start with the Flags. Faulkner was struck by a puck in the warmup for a game in Fort Wayne and suffered a broken nose.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01269/3925401-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="569" height="592"><figcaption class="caption-body">AL SAVILL &hellip; Warned Fans</figcaption></div>But he was on target in his third start, scoring a pair of goals to help the Flags come from behind and salvage a 4-4 tie with Saginaw at home. But the week concluded with another loss at Flint, leaving the Flags 0-3-1 for the week&mdash;and four points behind pace-setting Flint.SAGINAW: Pierre Chagnon brightened up things for manager-coach Don Perry&rsquo;s Gears by posting a 4-0 shutout over Muskegon. It was the first regular season shutout for a Gear goalie since Mario Lessard blanked Kalamazoo back in December of 1975. It was a key victory as well as it enabled the Gears to move into third place all alone.MUSKEGON: The Mohawks appear to have turned things around considerably. Following an eight-game losing streak, Muskegon has skated at a .500 clip over the last seven games. During the stretch, Muskegon has won three, dropped three and tied one.The reversal of form couldn&rsquo;t come at a better time. The next six games will see Muskegon skate against teams which are currently first or second in the north and south divisions of the league.KALAMAZOO: The K-Wings have found some scoring punch but it hasn&rsquo;t reflected in the victory column. Over a four-game run, Kalamazoo scored no less than 17 goals but had only a tie to show for the efforts. Three times the K-Wings had five-goal games and managed only a tie&mdash;a 5-5 skate with Muskegon. Five goals wasn&rsquo;t enough in 7-5 and 8-5 losses to Muskegon and Toledo, respectively. &#9632;

f0034-01

Savill Moves Owls To Grand Rapids; Komets Gain On Ice, At Box Office

<h2>DAYTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02213/3925495-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="576" height="511"></div><h2>FLINT</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03161/3925488-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="572" height="486"></div><h2>FORT WAYNE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04106/3925481-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="569" height="487"></div><h2>KALAMAZOO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0568/3925474-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="575" height="564"></div><h2>MILWAUKEE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0645/3925467-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="578" height="256"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0739/3925460-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="577" height="270"></div><h2>MUSKEGON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0834/3925453-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="573" height="534"></div><h2>PORT HURON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0924/3925446-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="574" height="479"></div><h2>SAGINAW</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1022/3925439-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="575" height="480"></div><h2>TOLEDO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1119/3925432-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="577" height="532"></div> &#9632;

f0034-02

IHL Team Scoring

<h2>DECEMBER</h2>Wed. 14 Flint at DaytonPt. Huron at MilwaukeeThu. 15 Pt. Huron at MilwaukeeFri. 16 Grand Rapids at MuskegonToledo at SaginawFt. Wayne at FlintSat. 17 Muskegon at Ft. WayneFlint at Pt. HuronKalamazoo at Grand RapidsMilwaukee at SaginawSun. 18 Fort Wayne at Grand RapidsMilwaukee at FlintPt. Huron at KalamazooMuskegon at ToledoTue. 20 Ft Wayne at MilwaukeeWed. 21 Kalamazoo at ToledoSaginaw at Grand RapioidsFri. 23 Muskegon at SaginawGrand Rapids at KalamazooFlint at ToledoSun. 25 Milwaukee at Ft. WayneKalamazoo at MuskegonToledo at Grand RapidsFlint at Saginaw &#9632;

Where IHL Teams Play

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Dec. 14)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01259/3925620-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="578" height="349"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Dec. 6Philadelphia 1 at Binghamton 1Wed. Dec. 7Philadelphia 0 at Hampton 4Nova Scotia 1 at Hershey 1Springfield 2 at Maine 6Fir. Dec. 9Nova Scotia 8 at New Haven 4Hampton 0 at Philadelphia 4Binghamton 2 at Rochester 3Maine 3 at Springfield 7Sat. Dec. 10Rochester 0 at Hampton 4New Havon 2 at Hershey 7Nova Scotia 3 at Maine 6Binghamton 3 at Springfield 3Sun. Dec. 11Springfield 5 at Binghamton 3Nova Scotia 2 at Philadelphia 3New Haven 6 at Rochester 4<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02216/3925613-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="576" height="584"></div><h3>GOALING RECORDS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03161/3925606-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="587" height="763"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04130/3925599-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="586" height="181"></div><h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Dec. 13)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0599/3925592-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="578" height="192"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Dec. 7Fort Worth 5 at Phoenix 4Sell Lake 2 at Tulsa 4Fri. Dec. 9Tulsa 4 at Dallas 4Salt Lake 2 at Kansas City 6Fort Worth 6 at Phoenix 5Sat. Dec. 10Fort Worth 3 at Dallas 2Phoenix 1 at Salt Lake 6Kansas City 1 at Tulsa 2Sun. Dec. 11Dallas 2 at Kansas City 5Tulsa 4 at Phoenix 3<h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Dec. 14)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0680/3925585-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="580" height="345"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Nov. 30Fort Wayne 2 at Toledo 1Saginaw 4 at Dayton 4Thu. Dec. 1Milwaukee 3 at Kalamazoo 1Fri. Dec. 2Fort Wayne 7 at Muskegon 2Flint 6 at Dayton 4Saginaw 4 at Port Huron 3Toledo 4 at Kalamazoo 3Sat. Dec. 3Fort Wayne 3 at Saginaw 2Toledo 4 at Saginaw 4Port Huron 10 at Kalamazoo 4Milwaukee at Dayton (Cancelled)Sun. Dec. 4Flint 12 at Fort Wayne 4Dayton 3 at Saginaw 2Port Huron 6 at Muskegon 3Milwaukee 3 atToledo 3Tue. Dec. 6Saginaw 3 at Milwaukee 1Wed. Dec. 7Saginaw 8 at Milwaukee 1Muskegon 1 at Fort Wayne 1Fri. Dec. 9Muskegon 6 at Flint 6Saginaw 1 at Kalamazoo 3Port Huron 3 at Toledo 3Fort Wayne 7 at Milwaukee 1Sat. Dec. 10Toledo 4 at Fort Wayne 2Flint 2 at Muskegon 6Dayton 5 at Port Huron 5Kalamazoo 3 at Saginaw 7Sun. Dec. 11Saginaw 5 at Flint 3Fort Wayne 4 at Kalamazoo 4Dayton at Toledo (Ppd.)Muskegon 0 at Milwaukee 3<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0771/3925578-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="576" height="429"></div><h3>GOALING RECORDS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0853/3925571-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="577" height="943"></div><h2>U.S. &mdash; MIDWEST LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Nov. 30)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0950/3925564-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="578" height="290"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Nov. 23Sioux City 10, Bloomington 8Austin 6, St. Paul 4Thu. Nov. 24Waterloo 10, Green Bay 6St. Paul 7, Bloomington 4Fri. Nov. 25Bloomington 5, Austin 1Sat. Nov. 26Green Bay 3, Waterloo 2Sioux City 9, St. Paul 2Sun. Nov. 27Waterloo 5, Bloomington 2Austin 8, Sioux City 7<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1042/3925557-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="581" height="508"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1137/3925550-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="580" height="252"></div> &#9632;

f0035-01

Looking At The Minor League Scoreboard

<h2>NHL TEAMS</h2>1&mdash;Montreal2&mdash;Chicago3&mdash;Boston4&mdash;Rangers5&mdash;Detroit6&mdash;Toronto7&mdash;Philadelphia8&mdash;Los Angeles9&mdash;St.Lodis10&mdash;Minnesota11&mdash;Pittsburgh12&mdash;Islanders13&mdash;Vancouver14&mdash;Buffalo15&mdash;Atlanta16&mdash;Cleveland17&mdash;Colorado18&mdash;Washington<h2>WHA TEAMS</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;Pittsburgh (NHL) & Houston (WHA)30&mdash;Washington (NHL) & Buffalo (NHL)31&mdash;Independent32&mdash;New England, Birmingham, Cincinnati and Quebec (all WHA).33&mdash;Los Angeles (NHL) & New England (WHA)34&mdash;Colorado (NHL) & Cleveland (NHL)35&mdash;Chicago (NHL) & Toronto (NHL)36&mdash;Vancouver (NHL) & Atlanta (NHL)37&mdash;Islanders (NHL) & Minnesota (NHL)40&mdash;Detroit (NHL) & Atlanta (NHL)41&mdash;St.Louis (NHL) & Washington (NHL)42&mdash;Chicago (NHL) & Colorado (NHL)43&mdash;Vancouver (NHL) & Minnesota (NHL)44&mdash;Buffalo (NHL) & Philadelphia (NHL)45&mdash;Islanders (NHL) & Atlanta (NHL)46&mdash;Rangers (NHL) & Cleveland (NHL) &#9632;

Who They’re Affiliated With…

<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 CanadaHAMILTON&mdash;At the outset of this hockey season, it was a foregone conclusion that the best junior goaltender in Ontario, and perhaps Canada, was Pat Riggin of the London Knights. Scouts at last spring&rsquo;s Memorial Cup drooled in anticipation of Riggin&rsquo;s eligibility for the pro draft.However, as teams approach the midway point of the season, the goaltender with the top statistics is not Riggin, but Al Jensen of the Hamilton Fincups.Jensen, who has played in all but eight Fincups&rsquo; games, has a goals-against average of 2.68. Fincups&rsquo; 83 goals-against is 21 ahead of the Knights who are second best in the league.Riggin, Jensen, Tim Bernhardt of Cornwall Royals and Jim Lockhurst of the Kingston Canadians are the four net-minders who have been invited to try out for Team Canada in the upcoming junior world cup hockey championships.Jensen, whose average has dropped by one goal per game since mid-October, credits his improved play to the use of a wire face mask. Early in the season, before a game in Niagara Falls, Jensen had his fibreglass mask stolen. It was impossible for him to get a fibreglass mask immediately so he donned a wire mask.&ldquo;I can see better when I look down and sideways through the wire mask than I ever could before and I feel safer wearing it since I know I can&rsquo;t get hurt,&rdquo; Jensen said.In two victories last week, Jensen allowed just two goals as he whitewashed Toronto Marlboros 4-0 wearing his Tretiak-style mask.Defenseman Willie Huber said the Fincups are playing a much different style of game than last year when they had so much firepower, led by Dale McCourt, now with Detroit Red Wings.&ldquo;Last year, we&rsquo;d win by scores like 11-4 and 12-5, this year we re not scoring that many but we re winning by scores like 4-1 and 5-2,&rdquo; Huber said. The towering defenseman is the only other Fincup to be invited to Team Canada&rsquo;s training camp.Fincups&rsquo; coach Bert Templeton summed up his team&rsquo;s commitment to defensive hockey: &ldquo;We take pride in our defensive statistics and if a player isn&rsquo;t interested in playing defensively, he doesn&rsquo;t play&mdash;it&rsquo;s as simple as that.&rdquo;In London, the Knights seem to be having trouble scoring goals lately. They scored only 10 goals in three games that included a loss to Niagara Falls and a tie against the Marlies.After the tie against Toronto, Knights&rsquo; coach Bill Long said: &ldquo;The way we&rsquo;ve been going lately, I&rsquo;ll settle for the point.&rdquo; The Knights also have suddenly had difficulty winning at home. When Niagara Falls beat them 7-5 at the London Gardens Nov. 4, it was Knight&rsquo;s first regular season loss at home in more than a year. But since then, they&rsquo;ve played only .500 at home with three wins, three losses and a tie.Knights&rsquo; team captain Brad Marsh is not playing as well defensively as he has in the past. Long said that Marsh and newcomer Pat Crombeen have been getting burned and added he was thinking of making defensive changes. Marsh was on the ice for all three goals against Toronto.The first two London goals in that game were scored by overage player Rick Doyle. The center returned to London after being released by Colorado Rockies of the National Hockey League. To make room for Doyle, Long sent Dave Hilborn to North Bay Trappers. Doyle scored twice in 39 seconds to give Knights a brief lead which they couldn&rsquo;t protect.WINDSOR: The Sptifires continue to score goals, taking five of six points in victories against the Soo and Kingston and a 6-6 tie in Oshawa. Windsor&rsquo;s 158 goals is tops in the league, four ahead of Ottawa. Their five points kept them three ahead of the Fincups in the Emms Division.HAMILTON: Fincups had a perfect week with victories over Kitchener and Toronto. Their only loss didn&rsquo;t count in the standings. The Moscow Selects, in their initial game of a North American tour, defeated Fincups 5-2.LONDON: Knights&rsquo; lone victory against Soo Greyhounds by a 5-4 score. London lost 4-2 in Niagara Falls and tied Toronto 3-3.NIAGARA FALLS: The Flyers reached their loftiest position of the season moving into fourth place in the Emms Division, one point ahead of the Kitchener Rangers. Flyers, began the season in the cellar but vacated that position, leaving it to Toronto. After dropping an 8-5 game to Oshawa, Flyers doubled the Knights 4-2.KITCHENER: The Rangers slipped to fifth spot losing 5-2 to Hamilton and edging Sudbury 2-1. The Rangers, like the Knights are having difficulty scoring goals. But, unlike London, their goals-against is much worse.TORONTO: Despite playing two of three games in Maple Leaf Gardens. Marlies failed to win. They managed two of six points in ties against Peterborough and London. Fincups shut them out 4-0.Coach George Armstrong noted that his team has difficulty scoring goals. Marlies have scored 99 in 27 games, worst in the league.However, there were signs they were beginning to play better defensively. Terry Wright who has filled in for the injured Stuart Birenbaum played in all three games allowing eight goals. Unfortunately, his teammates could only score four times in that span.Wright was at his best in the final two periods against London when he blocked 28 shots, several from point blank range, to preserve the 3-3 tie. Marlies are also playing without defenseman Brian McCafferty sidelined with a shoulder injury. Against London, Marlies went with four defensemen after Scott McGeown injured his ankle in a high school basketball game.OTTAWA: The team with the fewest losses are the first-place Ottawa 67s. With high scoring wins against Sudbury and Kingston, the 67s had perfect week giving them a record of 17-5-3 and a five-point lead over Peterborough Petes.Like most clubs, 67s are upset that more of their players weren&rsquo;t invited to the Team Canada tryout. Center Bob Smith and right winger Tim Higgins were the only two selected. Ottawa officials also feel that Steve Payne and Steve Marengere should have been invited.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01235/3925675-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="570" height="662"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE MARENGERE &hellip;Left Off Team</figcaption></div>PETERBOROUGH: The Petes didn&rsquo;t have anyone invited to Team Canada but this well-drilled unit remains solidly entrenched in second place. Peterborough defeated Kingston 5-1 at home before travelling to Toronto.for a 1-1 tie last week. It marked the end of a busy part of the schedule for Peterborough which had a six-day rest after the Toronto game.The 1-1 tie was an entertaining game although coach Gary Green was disappointed in some erratic shooting by his forwards. Keith Crowder scored the Pets&rsquo; only goal, offsetting Mark Murphy&rsquo;s goal for the Marlies. Green made some defensive adjustments in the final two periods to contain Marlies&rsquo; line of Gary Dillon, Murphy and Brian Paton. Green assigned Mark Kirton to shadow Dillon and Jeff Brubaker opposite Murphy.OSHAWA: The only other team to improve its league standings over the previous week besides Niagara Falls was the Generals who moved into third place, ahead of the injury-riddled Kingston Canadians.Oshawa scored a total of 14 goals as they defeated the Flyers 8-5 and tied the Windsor Spitfires 6-6. A third game against Hamilton was postponed because of bad weather.The win was Oshawa&rsquo;s 10th of the year as they rebounded from their disastrous season of a year ago.INGSTON: The Canadians continue to flounder, due largely to their injury situation. Against the two top teams in their own division and Windsor, which leads the Emms Division parade, the Canadians failed to gain a point. They lost to Peterborough and Windsor by identical 5-1 scores before 67s outscored them 9-7. Of the many serious injuries, the biggest loss is Tony McKegney who is just getting back into action after being sidelined with a strained knee. The three losses dropped Kingston into fourth place in the Division.SUDBURY: Only the Soo Greyhounds are keeping the Wolves out of the cellar. Sudbury dropped both its games last week losing by scores of 7-6 to Ottawa and 2-1 to Kitchener. Both games were on the road. The losses were Sudbury&rsquo;s 14th and 15th of the season against eight wins and six ties. &#9632;

f0036-01

Fincups’ Jensen Upstaging Goalers; Knights, Rangers Can’t Find Scorers

<h2>DECEMBER</h2>Mon. 12 Niagara Falls at Sault Ste.Marie Tue. 13 London at HamiltonPeterborough at TorontoThu. 15 Sault Ste.Marie at Peterborough Sudbury at WindsorKitchener at OshawaFri. 16 Peterborough at Kitchener Sault Ste.Marie at Ottawa Windsor at TorontoSudbury at LondonHamilton at Niagara FallsOshawa at KingstonSun. 18 Hamilton at OshawaNiagara Falls at London Kitchener at TorontoPeterborough at Windsor Ottawa at KingstonSudbury at Sault Ste.MarieTue. 20 Sault Ste.Marie at Toronto Kingston at OttawaSudbury at HamiltonWed. 21 Sault Ste.Marie at OshawaThu. 22 Toronto at WindsorSudbury at Peterborough &#9632;

Where OHA Teams Play

<h2>CONTINENTAL SENIOR</h2>(Standings on Tua. Nov. 29)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02175/3925737-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="578" height="209"></div><h2>LEADING SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03128/3925730-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="580" height="344"></div> &#9632;

f0036-02

HOW THEY STAND

<h2>DECEMBER</h2>Tue. 13 Billings at Med. HatBrandon at SaskatoonLethbridge at CalgaryPortland at VictoriaWed. 14 Saskatoon at LethbridgeSeattle at PortlandThu. 15 N. Westminster at SeattleFri 16 Saskatoon at PortlandWed. Hat at CalgaryFlin Flon. at ReginaSat. 17 N. Westminster at SeattleLethbridge at Med. HatSun. 18 Seattle at N. WestminsterSaskatoon at PortlandCalgary at LethbridgeFlin Flon at ReginaMon. 19 Flin Flon at BrandonTue. 20 Saskatoon at VictoriaRegina at Flin FlonWed.21 Regina at Flin FlonThu. 22 Victoria at SeattleMon. 26 Med. Hat at LethbridgeSaskatoon at BrandonWed. 28 Brandon at ReginaThu. 29 Billings at Med. HatVictoria at SeattleFri. 30 Saskatoon at ReginaBillings at Lethbridge &#9632;

Where WCHL Teams Play

<h2>WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tua. Dec. 8)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02159/3925879-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="585" height="484"></div>Mon. Nov. 28Regina 2 at New Westminster 10Tue. Nov. 29Regina 2 at Victoria 4Calgary 8 at Billings 9Brandon 7 at Saskatoon 3Wed. Nov. 30New Westminster 4 at Lethbridge 4.Calgary 1 at Billings 8Regina Oat Victoria 12Thu. Dec. 1New Westminster 4 at Medicine Hat 1Regina 3 at Seattle 6Fri. Dec. 2New Westminster 3 at Brandon 4Billings 6 at Calgary 7Saskatoon 3 at Lethbridge 7Sat. Doc. 3Seattle 2 at Portland 4Now Westminster 5 at Flin Flon 9Medicine Hat 2 at Billings 5Sun. Doc. 4Now Westminster 3 at Flin Flon 5Regina 1 at Brandon 6Medicine Hat 6 at Billings 7Seattle 5 at Victoria 8Lethbridge 5 at Calgary 3<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03117/3925872-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="568" height="478"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0494/3925865-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="565" height="376"></div><h2>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 12)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0576/3925858-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="578" height="370"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Dec. 5Sherbrooke 0 at Laval 11Tue. Dec. 6Shawinigan at Hull (Ppd.-snow)Chicoutimi 1 at Troto Rivieres 6Wed. Dec. 7Sherbrooke 6 at Verdun 3Thu. Dec. 8Shawinigan 4 at Chicoutimi 4Montreal 2 at Cornwall 6Fri. Dec. 9Trots Rivieres 2 at Montreal 1Chicoutimi 4 at Quebec 8Verdun 12 at Shawinigan 2Cornwall 6 at Sherbrooke 6Sun. Doc. 11Chicoutimi 2 at Cornwall 9Montreal 6 at Hull 4Verdun 2 at Laval 5Sherbrooke 1 at Trois Rivieres 6<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0658/3925851-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="578" height="346"></div><h2>ONTARIO MAJOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Dec. 12)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0743/3925844-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="581" height="425"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Dec. 6Oshawa at Hamilton (Ppd.)Toronto 3 at London 3Thu. Dec. 8Oshawa 10 at Sudbury 6Kitchener 4 at Windsor 7Ottawa 4 at Peterborough 4Sat. Dec. 10Kingston 7 at Niagara Falls 3Sun. Dec. 11Niagara Falls 3 at Sudbury 6Windsor 5 at Kitchener 4Peterborough 3 at Oshawa 4Kingston 2 at Toronto 7London 6 at Ottawa 7<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0838/3925837-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="577" height="289"></div><h2>N.Y. METRO JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Mon. Nov. 29)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0930/3925830-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="581" height="214"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1025/3925823-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="579" height="192"></div> &#9632;

f0037-02

The Amateur Scoreboard

<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 CanadaNEW WESTMINSTER&mdash;When the 1977-78 Western Canada Hockey League season got under way, there were at least 11 teams in contention. Everyone, it seemed, had counted out Ernie McLean&rsquo;s New Westminster Bruins.But the Bruins, led by possibly junior hockey&rsquo;s finest coach, have revived the sports cliche that a team is a champion until a new one has been officially crowned.&ldquo;We knew it was going to be a tough year,&rdquo; said McLean. &ldquo;But right now, we&rsquo;re sitting in pretty good shape.&rdquo;The Memorial Cup champion Bruins lost most of their stars from the 1976-77 team. Guys like Barry Beck, Brad Maxwell, Miles Zaharko and Mark Lofthouse are playing regularly in either the National Hockey League or high minors.But McLean, with nine holdovers and the rest rookies, has done a commendable patchwork job of getting his team into the thick of contention.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely a rebuilding year, but we re in first place,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;By the time playoffs come, we&rsquo;ll be right there, knocking on the door.&rdquo;Brian Young is the only returning regular defenseman, but he has lined up with sophomores Dave Orleski and Carl Van Harrewyn and rookies Bruce Howes and Boris Fistric to make things rough on opposing forwards. Orleski and Van Harrewyn are versatile, feeling at home either up front or on defense, but this season, they&rsquo;ve spent most of their time patrolling the blueline.Stan Smyl, John Paul Kelly, Randy Betty and John Ogrodnick, already a 20-goal man, are the veterans doing most of the scoring, while sophomore Doug Derkson is the team&rsquo;s key faceoff man and playmaker. Rookies Randy Irving and Terry Kirkham have fitted right in, and overage goalie Carey Walker has steadied that position.After a fast start (4-0), the Bruins tailed off to 7-7 and third place in the West. But that was during a period of ill health for the Bruins, with the fireplug Smyl missing the first few weeks, Young not playing at 100 percent, and Betty being out of action. But now those key players have returned, and the Bruins have overtaxen Portland Winter Hawks, another team suffering from a rash of injuries, for first place in the competitive West.It&rsquo;s plainly evident, from the Bruins&rsquo; three consecutive WCHL championships, and the fact that they&rsquo;ve never been out of the playoffs under his direction, that McLean himself is primarily responsible for the Bruins&rsquo; success.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a great organization,&rdquo; said McLean. &ldquo;And I keep a finger on every part of the operation&hellip;except for management, which is my partner, Bill Shinske&rsquo;s job.&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve got a great knack of potting talent in a youngster at the age of 15 or 16 and knowing how they&rsquo;ll probably develop through the age of 20.&rdquo;In a particular game, McLean says he can &ldquo;pick up the weaknesses of the other team in about four minutes. Once I do that, then I make an adjustment with our club to take advantage.&rdquo;Conversely, if it&rsquo;s a strong point McLean spots in an opposition, he&rsquo;ll do something to counteract it.It is his track record as a coach that has made Ernie (Punch) McLean a household name in Canada junior hockey circles. And it is his talent as a hockey man which has kept those WCHL pennants flying in Queen&rsquo;s Park Arena.PORTLAND: The Winter Hawks are short three star centermen&mdash;Brent Peterson (shoulder separation), Dale Yakiwchuk (strained knee ligaments) and now Perry Turnbull (strained ankle ligaments). Their woes showed when they were beaten 4-0 by Regina while the Pats were on a non-productive tour of the west coast. The win over Portland was Pats&rsquo; only win in eight games.SEATTLE: The Breakers swept a pair from road-weary Regina, winning 5-4 and then 6-3. Ryan Walter and George Buat led the way in the opener with two points each, and Walter&rsquo;s two goals spiced their attack in the second game. Seattle, which has yet to play a road game outside the Western Division, is three games over .500, but still at the bottom of the West pack.VICTORIA: The Cougars exploded for their biggest offensive spurt of the year with a 12-0 win over Regina, led by the line of rookie Barry Pederson, up from Nanaimo Clippers for the game, George Fritz and Mike Shields, which connected for 13 points. Geordie Robertson and Shields were the individual gunners with five points each and Steve Amiss posted his first WCHL shutout with 33 saves. Earlier, the Cougars had dropped the Pats 4-2 and split a home-and-home weekender with New Westminster. Dennis Fenske had the decisive two goals in the 4-2 win over Regina.MEDICINE HAT: An advertisement in the Medicine Hat News (six columns, top to bottom) was bought and paid for by Lethbridge Broncos, the Tigers&rsquo; rivals that night. Amongst other degrading things, it said the Tigers&rsquo; magician (Merlin, the Magician, Malinowski) would get a hat trick of &ldquo;three goals against.&rdquo; Twenty-five hundred people came out to hoot at the Broncos, but the teams fought to a 7-7 tie. after Lethbridge had taken a four-goal lead in the opening period. Tigers roared back again the next night for a 6-6 tie in Lethbridge. Medicine Hat stayed in the Central basement after losing 4-1 at home to New Westminster.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01209/3925768-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="577" height="844"><figcaption class="caption-body">DENNIS FENSKE &hellip;Decisive Goals</figcaption></div>CALGARY: The Wranglers had their own league-within-a-league with Billings Bighorns, their opposition four times last week. But nothing was settled, with each team winning twice at home. Team scoring leader Eugene O&rsquo;Sullivan frolicked with 12 points while Scott McLeod and Rod Danchuk, linemates again after a successful season with Kelowna of the B.C. Junior League last year, each had 10. Veteran Dave Morrison became the third Wrangler to hit the 20-goal mark, joining O&rsquo;Sullivan and rookie Larry Roberts, by getting six in the four games.BILLINGS: Although they split the four games with Calgary, Billings remained on top of the Central Division, and had a lot of goal-scoring fun doing it. In all, they tallied 30 goals in the four games, winning 9-8 and 8-1 and losing 9-7 and 7-6. Dell Chapman led the way with five goals and five assists, Doug Robb had nine points and Pat Conacher seven. Partly because of the 22 goals-against. coach Dave King went with 16-year-old rookie goalie Randy Jacock in the 7-6 loss in Calgary.LETHBRIDGE: With Doug Morrison completely healthy once again and veteran center Steve Tambellini steamrolling, the Broncos had an unbeaten&mdash;but not perfect&mdash;week. They beat Saskatoon 7-3, led by Tambellini&rsquo;s goal and three assists, snapping a string of three straight ties. Tambellini was in on every goal in a 4-4 home-ice tie with New Westminster, which followed a pair of wild ties, 7-7 and 6-6, with arch-rival Medicine Hat. In both those games. Broncos blew big leads. Tambellini wound up with 14 points in the four games, giving him 65 after the Broncos 30 games, a pace that would give him 156 points at season&rsquo;s end.REGINA: &ldquo;There are beginning to be a lot of similarities to last season and that bothers me,&rdquo; said Pats&rsquo; coach Lome Davis, and well it should. The Pats won only eight games last season and set all sorts of records for futility. Davis spoke in the midst of Regina&rsquo;s eight-game road trip, which produced just one win, 4-0 over Portland. Some of the losses were embarrassing&mdash;12-0 in Victoria, 10-2 in New Westminster and 10-4 in Portland, while others were respectable. 6-3 and 5-4 in Seattle. 4-2 in Victoria and 5-3 in New West. Gerry Galloway&rsquo;s two goals and Pat Ansell&rsquo;s shutout goaltending (34 saves) were the highlights of the win in Portland.SASKATOON: Trying to snap his lethargic Blades out of a season-long slump, coach Jackie McLeod dipped onto the farm and plucked out Ron Boehm. The rookie responded with two assists in his debut, on goals by Dan Erickson, but the Blades lost again, 7-3 at home to Brandon. Hitting the road, the score and result, 7-3 and a loss, were the same, this time in Lethbridge. The Blades have now lost twice as many games, 16, as they&rsquo;ve won.FLIN ELON: The Bombers dropped out of the Eastern Division lead during the week, and a 7-5 loss in Brandon didn&rsquo;t help. Rookie defenseman Craig Levie had four assists, one of them on Jordy Douglas&rsquo; 25th goal of the year, while Brad Cox tallied two.BRANDON: Bill Derlago scored six goals in three games, all Wheat Kings wins, moving him into third place on the all-time WCHL goal-scoring list, one ahead of former Flin Flon Star Reg Leach, who formerly held third with 188 behind Ron Chipperfield (261) and Dennis Sobchuk (192). Brian Propp had three goals in a 7-5 win over Flin Flon; Derlago three in a 7-3 triumph in Saskatoon; and four players got one each in a 4-3 edging of New Westminster. Defenseman Larry Naismith got his first goal of the year, a shorthanded effort against the Blades, and the Wheat Kings rookie line of Dave Stewart, Laurie Boschman and Eric Ponath picked up 14 points in three games, easing the pressure on Derlago&rsquo;s high-scoring line. &#9632;

Search for your favorite player or team

December 23, 1977

Call Goes Out For ‘Loyal’ Thomson As Blues Struggle In Early Going

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT ALL INSIDE

Hockey Ad Lib

Wolfe’s Demotion Upsets Caps’ Supporters