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.

March 17, 1978

The Hockey News March 17, 1978

<p>OTTAWA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>ob Smith of the Ottawa 67s is enjoying a fantastic season in the Ontario Major Hockey League and has launched himself on a record setting scoring course.</p><p>Smith etched his name in the OHA record books this past weekend when he scored once and assisted on three other goals to raise his 1977-78 season total to 173 points&mdash;a new league scoring record.</p><p>The Ottawa center, who is touted by many as the best junior hockey player in Canada, erased the name of Mike Kaszycki from the records when he racked up his 64th goal and 109th assist giving him a league-leading 173 points to better Kaszycki&rsquo;s total of 172 set in 1975-76 when he was a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Kaszycki is presently with the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League.</p><p>A crowd of 3,614 was on hand at London&rsquo;s arena as Smith sparked Ottawa to a 5-3 decision over the London Knights.</p><p>In other OHA developments last week, knights&rsquo; scoring are Dino Cicciarelli went Knights&rsquo; scoring ace Dino Cicciarelli went on a four-goal spree to lead his teammates to a 10-3 romp over the Toronto</p><p>The Peterborough Petes extended their unbeaten streak to 11 straight games as they trounced Sudbury Wolves 8-3 with Mike Meeker leading the way with a hat trick. Bill Gardner also notched two goals in the same game.</p><p>The Ottawa 67s picked up two wins in three starts last week to maintain their Leyden Division lead over Peterborough. The 67s were hard pressed by Kingston Canadians before winning 6-5 on Jim Fox&rsquo;s power play goal with only nine seconds remaining in the game. Smith set Fox up for the game-winning goal and scored twice as well.</p><p>Gary Dillon scored twice as the Marlboros edged Kitchener Rangers 5-4 and goaler Al Jensen fashioned his third shutout of the OHA campaign when Hamilton Fincups turned back Niagara Falls Flyers 3-0.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

IN THIS ISSUE

Ottawa’s Smith Sets OH A Mark For Points

<p>KANSAS CITY&mdash;</p><p>Larry Wilson&rsquo;s Red Wings won only once in a busy four-game week, but they set an attendance record for professional minor league hockey. A crowd of 14,084 turned out for Merchants Night in Kemper Arena. Unfortunately, that was one of two home games the Wings lost during the week, a 5-1 setback against Dallas as Bob Ritchie had the lone KC goal.</p><p>Earlier they were victimized at home, 7-5, by a five-goal Salt Lake outburst in the last period, and lost a 6-5 thriller in Dallas. But a Saturday night home game broke the losing streak, as they handled Fort Worth, 53.</p><p>Danny Gruen, Roland Cloutier, Mike Bloom, Al Cameron and Fred Berry scored in the close loss at Dallas. While against Salt Lake, Gruen, John Taft, J.P. Leblanc and Al McDonough had the Red Wings in front, 4-2 after two periods. The Eagle explosion turned the game around in 10-and-a-half minutes of the third.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Wings Draw Record 14,084

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02317/4199001-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="700" height="657"></div><h2><b>BIRMINGHAM BULLS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01404/4199008-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="154" height="168"></div><h2><b>CINCINNATI STINGERS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03273/4198994-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="131" height="154"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04216/4198987-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="705" height="726"></div><h2><b>EDMONTON OILERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05179/4198980-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="186" height="185"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-06146/4198973-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="710" height="689"></div><h2><b>HOUSTON AEROS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-07134/4198966-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="253" height="110"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-08122/4198959-1-eng-US/f0026-082.jpg" title="f0026-08" width="702" height="574"></div><h2><b>INDIANAPOLIS RACERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-09116/4198952-1-eng-US/f0026-092.jpg" title="f0026-09" width="202" height="157"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-10111/4198945-1-eng-US/f0026-102.jpg" title="f0026-10" width="713" height="677"></div><h2><b>NEW ENGLAND WHALERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-11107/4198938-1-eng-US/f0026-112.jpg" title="f0026-11" width="210" height="218"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1299/4198931-1-eng-US/f0026-122.jpg" title="f0026-12" width="713" height="657"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1397/4198924-1-eng-US/f0026-132.jpg" title="f0026-13" width="182" height="187"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1489/4198917-1-eng-US/f0026-142.jpg" title="f0026-14" width="704" height="646"></div><h2><b>WINNIPEG JETS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1581/4198910-1-eng-US/f0026-152.jpg" title="f0026-15" width="195" height="204"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1672/4198903-1-eng-US/f0026-162.jpg" title="f0026-16" width="697" height="625"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0026-02

WHA’S SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02745/4197378-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RON GRAHAME&hellip;Fate Makes Him Vital To Bruins</b></figcaption></div><p>BOSTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>F</span>orgive me for saying it but there are times when the best trade in hockey turns out to be the one that wasn&rsquo;t made. It&rsquo;s been said a lot around Boston lately. It may even become a cliche.</p><p>The trade that wasn&rsquo;t made in this case was the deal that general manager Harry Sinden has been working on since last summer, the one that didn&rsquo;t send one of the three Bruins&rsquo; goaltenders away in exchange for a defenseman.</p><p>Sinden closed down the trading mart abruptly at 6:07 of the first period Feb. 21 in Denver when Colorado rookie Joe Contini crashed into goalie Gerry Cheevers, putting him on the shelf for the rest of the season.</p><p>Cheevers suffered what was described as tom ligaments on the inside of his right knee and strained ligaments on the outside. It was the same knee in which he suffered strained ligaments Oct. 29, sidelining him for seven weeks.</p><p>The new injury came only a few games after coach Don Cherry had designated Cheevers as the goalie who was going to play most of the games down the stretch and quite possibly all of the Bruins games in the playoffs.</p><p>&ldquo;I had planned to use Cheevers at least every other game,&rdquo; said Cherry. &ldquo;I wanted to get him tuned up like a Stradivarius going into the playoffs and he was just starting to play well.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen Cheevers win championships in the AHL and the NHL and I can tell when he&rsquo;s right. I played on the same team with him in Rochester and he singlehandedly won us the Calder Cup one year.</p><p>&ldquo;The really can&rsquo;t come back and play for us it will be a blow but not a knockout punch.&rdquo;</p><p>Complicating matters further was the fact that Gilles Gilbert, who may be called the No. 2 goalie, suffered a sprained right ankle in practice Feb. 16 in Toronto and, as this is written it wasn&rsquo;t responding as he would like.</p><p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t skate well and I can&rsquo;t go down,&rdquo; said Gilbert. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t move much side to side. I can play in an emergency but I don&rsquo;t want to make a fool of myself.</p><p>&ldquo;I had a bad back three or four years ago and I came back too soon. I don&rsquo;t want that again. Cheevers is out for the year now and it looks like it&rsquo;s going to be a while for me.&rdquo;</p><p>, That, of course, dropped the whole thing squarely in the lap of Ron Grahame, the refugee from the WHA who is the Bruins No. 3 netminder.</p><p>After Cheevers injury, Grahame played while Gilbert sat on the bench mostly to fulfill the rule that an NHL team must dress two goalies for a game.</p><p>The Bruins declined to call up either Jim Pettie or Dave Parro from Rochester, a non-move that had Terry O&rsquo;Reilly and rookie Bob Miller drawing straws. O&rsquo;Reilly was a goalie in minor hockey and Miller &ldquo;fooled around with the pads&rdquo; with the U.S. Olympic team in 1976.</p><p>&ldquo;Once we get Gilly back I&rsquo;m going to go with the rotation and see which one is playing the best,&rdquo; said Cherry. &ldquo;When we get in the playoffs I&rsquo;m going to go with the one because I don&rsquo;t think you can go with two. They&rsquo;ve got to get themselves psyched up.&rdquo;</p><p>Cheevers, known as a money goalie; played all but 20 minutes in the Bruins&rsquo; 14 playoff games last spring. Gilbert starred in a losing effort in the 1974 playoffs but has seen little action since. Grahame has never been in the NHL playoffs.</p><p>&ldquo;We lose probably the best clutch goaltender in the history of hockey,&rdquo; said defenseman Mike Milbury. &ldquo;When the chips are down Cheevers is always there.</p><p>&ldquo;And he contributes so much off the ice in keeping the team together. With Cheevers around there&rsquo;s always a good laugh when things are a little too tense.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very disappointing especially when we&rsquo;re in the run for first place and trying to win the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; said Cheevers. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always felt we&rsquo;re close to winning the Cup and I would sure like to be part of it.</p><p>&ldquo;Maybe I wonder at this time in my career. I&rsquo;m 37-years-old. I felt I could play three or four more years easily. But you never can tell about a knee. It&rsquo;s a very delicate thing. It wasn&rsquo;t built for sports.</p><p>&ldquo;I felt I was just starting to get back into the groove again after that last injury. I&rsquo;ve always played better late in the season, anyway. I could feel the difference in the way I was moving.</p><p>&ldquo;I won&rsquo;t let them cut me. If it&rsquo;s bad enough to require surgery and they operate now, there&rsquo;s no way I can be ready for the playoffs. I might as well wait and try to let it heal by itself.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0005-02

THE NHL

Bruins’ Grahame To Carry Goaling Load

Cover-01

The Hockey News

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02944/4197188-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg"></div><h2><b>Flyer Trade Rumors Continue To Fly</b></h2><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Philadelphia Flyers continue to slip behind the division leading New York Islanders and their lack of consistency to challenge the Islanders is causing endless trade rumors to crop up around the NHL.</p><p>The latest trade being blown about has goaler Bernie Parent being shipped to the L.A. Kings along with Mel Bridgman and Rick MacLeish for ace netminder Rogie Vachon and other considerations. Another that was reportedly close to fruition before the Flyers squashed it, would have sent Parent, Bridgman and Paul Holmgren to Pittsburgh in exchange for goaler Denis Heron, Dave Schultz and Dave Burrows.</p><p>The later deal was supposed to have received the approval of the Penguins but was later rejected by the Flyers, obviously when they pinched themselves and realized what they were giving away for their return.</p><h2><b>Leafs Relent On Sweater Lettering</b></h2><p>TORONTO&mdash;</p><p>Flamboyant Harold Ballard of the Maple Leafs finally relented and has had his players&rsquo; names emblazoned in readable white letters on the backs of their blue Maple Leaf jerseys.</p><p>Ballard had openly defied NHL president John Ziegler over the matter following a new league bylaw that required players&rsquo; last names to be printed on the backs of their sweaters both at home and on the road. Ballard refused saying it interferred with his program sales.</p><p>The Leafs&rsquo; owner circumvented the rule by having his players wear blue lettering on blue jerseys making them totally unreadable.</p><h2><b>Ellis Scores 300th NHL Goal</b></h2><p>TORONTO&mdash;</p><p>When Ron Ellis decided to make a comeback this season to the NHL he wanted very much to achieve two things. The speedy Maple Leaf winger was out to prove he still had it as a major leaguer and he wanted to score his 300th major league goal.</p><p>It goes without saying Ellis has already proved his two-year sabbatical from the NHL didn&rsquo;t slow him down and this past week he accomplished his other objective when he scored his 300th career goal. Ellis became the fourth NHLer to hit the 300-goal mark this season. Dennis Hull, Pit Martin and Jean Pronovost did it earlier. Next to reach the 300 mark is likely to be Canadiens&rsquo; Guy Lafleur, who has 290. Richard Martin of Buffalo also has 290 but he is on the disabled list indefinitely with a head injury.</p><h2><b>Canadian Government May Help WHA Teams</b></h2><p>WINNIPEG&mdash;</p><p>The Canadian Government may jump into the professional hockey business to help the three Canadian teams in the WHA&mdash;Edmonton, Winnipeg and Quebec&mdash;in their bid to get franchises in the NHL.</p><p>The government is apparently only committed to lobbying the cause of the three Canadian pro teams with the NHL. A spokesman said there is no thought of offering financial assistance to the WHA clubs. Of the three teams involved, only the Edmonton Oilers have a rink that would meet NHL crowd specifications. Both Quebec and Winnipeg need new rinks or the old ones enlarged.</p><p>One member of the Canadian Government said that while direct financial assistance to a team is out of the question, federal funds might be found to build or expand arenas.</p><p>All three teams said they would apply for NHL franchises after the current season closes.</p><h2><b>Western Major League To Lose President</b></h2><p>BRANDON&mdash;</p><p>One of Canada&rsquo;s most respected and innovative major junior hockey league executives is about to throw in the towel.</p><p>Ed Chynoweth, president of the powerful Western Canada Major Junior Hockey League, said he plans to resign from office June 15. Chynoweth added he regretted his announcement had become public since he wanted to give the WCHL sufficient time to select a successor. The outgoing league head is quoted as saying that &ldquo;there comes a time when any job is no longer fun and I&rsquo;ve reached that time.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0002-02

DEADLINE STOPPERS

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><p>NEW YORK&mdash;</p><p>Ranger fans, concerned over recent announcements from Winnipeg to the effect that the Jets will match the New York offer for forwards Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson, should be of good cheer.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011041/4197157-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="578" height="1320"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ULF NILSSON&hellip;Makes Things Happen</b></figcaption></div><p>John Ferguson, the Rangers general manager said, &ldquo;They&rsquo;re just buying time. What&rsquo;s happened doesn&rsquo;t surprise us. We expected it. But it doesn&rsquo;t mean much. We&rsquo;re still certain Hedberg and Nilsson will be with us next season.&rdquo;</p><p>Don Baizley, the attorney for the Swedes confirms Ferguson&rsquo;s thinking. The Jets were entitled to six weeks grace and they took it, he notes.</p><p>The contract Hedberg and Nilsson signed with Winnipeg allowed them to negotiate with the NHL this winter, but it also permitted Winnipeg, whether a member of the WHA or NHL&mdash;to keep the swift Swedes by coming within $20,000 of the bid for each player.</p><p>There was a timetable&mdash;30 days in which Winnipeg could announce they would meet the offer. And then another 30 days while a neutral accountant explains the Jets finances and decides if the Swedes should accept.</p><p>The Rangers bid was dated Jan. 27. The Jets answered the weekend of Feb. 25-26. Now they have to deposit $930,000 in the bank, or half of the Rangers offer of $1,860,000 over the following two seasons.</p><p>The only way that will happen is for the NHL to have a change of heart and embrace Winnipeg as a 1978-79 member. Otherwise, the Jets won&rsquo;t raise the monies. There is pressure from the Canadian government to take in Edmonton, Winnipeg and Quebec in order to save pro hockey in those cities should the WHA go under. That is about the only thing Winnipeg has going for them.</p><p>The Jets might enter the NHL in two different ways. They can buy an existing NHL team such as Colorado. This requires unanimous NHL approval, and the Rangers would shoot it down. Or they can enter as an expansion franchise at the $6 million fee, assuming the NHL expands. If the NHL places expansion on its agenda, which isn&rsquo;t likely, 14 of the 18 teams would have to agree.</p><p>All of which means that Nilsson, Hedberg and Pat Hickey will form the Rangers first line next season&mdash;and because of his closeness to the Swedes, general manager John Ferguson&rsquo;s job is safe for at least a year.</p><p>A source at Madison Square Garden noted. &ldquo;Ferguson had two chances, slim and none, but now the high level brass are afraid to turn the Hedberg deal off by making any change involving Fergy.&rdquo;</p><p>Bobby Kromm, the coach of the Detroit Red Wings, who coached the swift Swedes during his tenure with Winnipeg in the WHA, has a couple of very salient opinions regarding Hedberg and Nilsson.</p><p>&ldquo;Nilsson is the better player,&rdquo; opines Kromm. &ldquo;The Rangers are getting two very fine boys. They have to do other things to turn their problem around, but they can&rsquo;t go wrong with Nilsson or Hedberg. Nilsson makes things happen.&rdquo;</p><p>When the Rangers beat the Red Wings, 3-2, at the Garden on March 1, it was the biggest game in Ferguson&rsquo;s time in New York&mdash;and the first time New York had pulled off a must win in a contest they couldn&rsquo;t afford to lose.</p><p>Dave Maloney, the 1976-77 MVP, returned after missing 19 of 20 games with a knee problem. The young defenseman enthused, &ldquo;This is the first time we have won a big game since I have been here (two-and-a-half years). It was Atlanta that we had to fight for a playoff spot in the past&mdash;and we would go down there and lose, 7-3, and then come back up to the Garden and blow it, 6-1. This was important to us as a team.&rdquo;</p><p>Phil Esposito, the Rangers captain got two goals in the game including the game winner.</p><p>He noted. &ldquo;I consider myself an extra edge in the stretch drive because of my previous record in the playoffs and Stanley Cup. If I didn&rsquo;t think that way I would quit&mdash;and I feel the guys on the team feel that way about me, too.&rdquo;</p><p>Esposito, who sometimes tries to make out that he is just a hockey playing businessman, cares deeply about what has happened to him in New York and about making the playoffs. Not everyone likes or understands Espo, but we heartily applaud his selection as one of the Lester Patrick Award winners for 1977-78.</p><p><b>BLUE CHIPS</b>: Esposito was honored at the Patrick Award Dinner March 6 at the Plaza Hotel&hellip;Walter Tkaczuk and Espo switched linemates in the Red Wing game, Espo working with Steve Vickers and Don Murdoch and Tkaczuk with Dan Newman and Eddie Johnstone&hellip;Ranger win over Red Wings tied them with Detroit for final wild card playoff spot.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03701/4197150-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="571" height="748"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PAUL HENDERSON Scoring Like Old Times</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0002-01

Winnipeg Just Trying To Buy Time Says Ferguson Of Offer To Swedes

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011048/4197233-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="603" height="1316"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02902/4197226-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1110" height="1311"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03611/4197219-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="1115" height="1313"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>The change in the new Hawks begins with coach Bob Pulford, left, and extends through the Chicago lineup to such rookies as Ted Bulley, center, and defenseman Doug Wilson, right. Bulley has produced a surprising 15 goals and Wilson has fit into the team set up like he&rsquo;s been around the big time for years. It is the progress of players like Bulley and Wilson that has helped make Pulford&rsquo;s job easier.</b></figcaption></div><p>CHICAGO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>D</span>uring his first day at his new desk last summer. Robert Jesse Pulford looked up at the far wall, and ignited still another cigarette, and talked in that basso profundo voice.</p><p>&ldquo;We will have something here not when the players start liking to win, but when they start hating defeat.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There is a difference.&rdquo;</p><p>And if his Chicago Black Hawks have learned one thing under the stewardship of their new general manager-coach, it&rsquo;s that there is a pleasant alternative to losing, and that alternative can be habit forming, too.</p><p>To fairly appraise the team&rsquo;s progress, one must first consider whence it came. During the last couple seasons, the Black Hawks have been underwhelming, undermotivated, and underachieving. They were pushed around on the ice, and scoffed at off the ice. They were ac corded little respect, deserved little, probably had little for themselves.</p><p>Give them a crutch, and they would take it. The most common one pertained to management, and to a point, it was valid. Former general manager Tommy Ivan and coach Billy Reay not only failed to get along, they were both ripe for changes in title. The staleness above contributed to the staleness below, and when the Wirtzes named three coaches to replace Reay at Christmas, things got worse.</p><p>The new look of the Black Hawks begins where the problems of the old Black Hawks began&mdash;the executive office.</p><p>There, Pulford now rules, but communicates well with, and leans heavily upon, assistant general manager Jack Davidson and assistant coach Bobby Orr. For three new people at three new jobs, the relationship has been smooth, the vibes positive.</p><p>Pulford has tried to rejuvenate the on-ice product by improving the Hawks&rsquo; scouting system, their preparation, their conditioning, their mental outlook, what have you. He has also devoted whatever time possible to revamping the club&rsquo;s public relations philosophy, which for many years, has been no bargain.</p><p>The Hawks still make grievous errors, like failing to give out even free hot dogs to those 527 fans who braved a blizzard to watch a late January game. But at least there is a conscious effort to better the club&rsquo;s image.</p><p>And though attitude has been the prime mover of the Hawk renaissance, the personnel is better and more effective than last season. Doug Wilson, the rookie defenseman, has fit in like a glove and until he became ill, Mike Veisor provided excellent backup goalkeeping. If Ed Johnston can stop even one puck out of every two, he&rsquo;ll be an improvement over Gilles Villemure.</p><p>Pierre Plante has his good nights and his mediocre nights, rookie Ted Bulley has surprised with 15 goals and Bob Kelly is fulfilling his function best when he is bumping. Both have provided more sinew up front, where it was most needed.</p><p>The club&rsquo;s most veteran players&mdash;Tony Esposito. Stan Mikita, Cliff Koroll, Keith Magnuson&mdash;are responding, but they are not alone. Everybody is involved in the chemistry, everybody feels important. which is the way Pulford insists it be&mdash;he eschews the star syndrome, which is one reason why he didn&rsquo;t push for Bobby Hull&rsquo;s return here.</p><p>Physically, the club is not only stronger, but more willing. The minor hurts that plagued the Hawks in recent seasons have diminished markedly. Injuries are often accidents. but not all the time. A player who is not in shape, and not alert, is infinitely more likely to pull up lame than a player who comes to work ready. A new gymansium, harder and more frequent practices, and prescribed calisthenics have cut the fat out of Hawk midsections.</p><p>Pulford, who is big on skull sessions, has helped the Hawks be better honed by presenting a picture of the opposition before games and providing between period updates.</p><p>&ldquo;He always has something worthwhile to say,&rdquo; said one player.</p><p>All the talk about the &ldquo;system&rdquo; can be overrated to a point&mdash;it is merely an adherence to basics, with emphasis on knowing one&rsquo;s job in any situation, then performing with maximum effort.</p><p>Maximum effort means clutching, grabbing, interfering and fighting when necessary. Pulford&rsquo;s practices dwell on fundamentals, but they are varied and interesting, and almost fun. Every once in a while, Pulford will split up the entire squad, including himself and Orr, then drop the puck for a half hour of scramble&mdash;11 to a side.</p><p>Many Hawk players claim they have never worked harder, but even those who dislike practice most indicate that the days now go faster and are put to better use. When Pulford expends a favor&mdash;such as a day off, or a can of soda after a tough drill&mdash;the athletes cheer, grateful for the little things in life.</p><p>Pulford forever believes that athletes crave discipline rather than shun it, and he has invoked curfews, bed checks, dress codes. While he does not keep constant surveillance, the threat is always there. Players who were expecting a country club have been rudely awakened; players who were expecting a complete curmudgeon have been pleasantly surprised.</p><p>On the bench, Pulford is studious. Twice this year&mdash;at Buffalo and Toronto&mdash;he has succeeded in out-maneuvering opposing coaches on line matchups, even though the home team has last call. In his first victory at Buffalo, Pulford&rsquo;s chess game kept the Sabres&rsquo; French Connection sitting more than skating. Then at Toronto, the Maple Leafs&rsquo; best player, Darryl Sittler, played less than he might have, once all the jockeying was over.</p><p>All of the strategems, techniques and philosophies would mean little, of course, if they did not translate into victory. But so far, they have, and there is a certain excitement building on the Hawks&rsquo; now that this positive feeling will be a constant, not just a mood.</p><p>Pulford, who not only coaches his athletes but will sign them to contracts, continually deflates balloons that arise from mere five-game winning streaks. But he cannot, or will not, discourage his athletes from thinking that while the job requires more time and more devotion now, it is more meaningful. Come playoff time, given a few more months of togetherness in purpose, the Hawks could be in position to spill-an elite club or perhaps even become one.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s coming,&rdquo; said Phil Russell. &ldquo;And you can&rsquo;t underestimate the influence one man has had on it all Pulford.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0003-01

Black Hawk Improvement Starts At The Top

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011099/4197292-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="471" height="486"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b><i>Ken McKenzie&rsquo;s</i></b></figcaption></div><p>&#9679; COLORADO ROCKIES are now averaging more than 8,000 a game which isn&rsquo;t anything to get excited about in major pro hockey but it does show a steady increase and it is far and away the best average the team has shown to date&hellip;Cleveland Barons are the only other NHL club with a lower average attendance than the Rockies but the Cleveland owners are determined to stick it out&hellip;Chances are the same 1-8 teams in the NHL today will all start the season next October&hellip;Los Angeles Kings miss Dan Maloney more with each passing game. The Kings lack a tough &ldquo;cop&rdquo; up front. They had hoped Dan Kozak might fill the bill but he hasn&rsquo;t. A number of players feel Jack Evans, coach of the Cleveland Barons, is the type of coach Team Canada needs for&rsquo; the world championships in Prague. Jack is quiet, firm and well respected&hellip;John Millar, who does such an outstanding job as producer, director, researcher and editor of the excellent Hockey Night in Canada intermission films, advises us that during the 1933-34 season the Montreal Canadiens had quite a few players who wore high numbers on their jerseys. Jack Riley wore No. 33, Johnny Gagnon, No. 58; Armand Mondu, No. 64; Leroy Goldsworthy, No. 75 and Roger Jenkins. No. 88. The goalie wore No. 11. So Phil Esposito&rsquo;s No. 77 with New York Rangers is nothing new&hellip;One of the best young publicists around is Doug Helton of the Fort Worth Texans&hellip;Bill Dineen has his Houston Aeros right on schedule as the WHA playoffs approach. Dineen has had an amazingly successful stay at Houston. Coach of the Aeros since the club&rsquo;s inception in 1972, Dineen hasn&rsquo;t missed the playoffs once while winning the Avco World Trophy twice.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021054/4197285-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="287" height="451"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Bill Dineen</b></figcaption></div><p>&#9679; PHILADELPHIA FLYERS will go all out to land Rogie Vachon from the Los Angeles Kings for next season. The Flyers realize they must have a proven major leaguer in goal for next October. Vachon&rsquo;s contract with the Kings expires at the end of this season and he is reported to be seeking a hefty salary increase which could make him expendable. Flyers have reportedly offered goalie Bernie Parent, defenseman Rick Lapointe and forward Mel Bridgman to the Kings&hellip;Bobby Brown, a native Texan who trains the Houston Aeros, says he&rsquo;s trained professional athletes for 30 years, and has never seen a better-conditioned athlete than Rich Preston, the 25-year-old right winger of the Aeros. &ldquo;Preston does everything well. He is our acknowledged leader. With a team of Prestons on the ice, you&rsquo;d never lose a game,&rdquo; stated Brown&hellip;In 720 scheduled NHL games last season a total of 43,227 shots were fired on goal by the 18 teams. Out of these 43,227 shots a total of 4,783 scored, meaning 38,444 shots were stopped by the goalkeepers&hellip;Don Cherry, Boston&rsquo;s colorful coach, had everyone in stiches when he accused the NHL referees of using hairspray and posturing for the TV cameras. The outspoken Cherry said there must be a balding, fat referee somewhere who is capable of working NHL games. &ldquo;All we&rsquo;ve got now is pretty guys,&rdquo; he added&hellip;It&rsquo;s been reported that Lou Nanne, the new general managercoach of the Minnesota North Stars, has already offered the coaching job of the North Stars to longtime pal Phil Esposito when Phil&rsquo;s playing days are over. s</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03949/4197278-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="290" height="461"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Don Cherry</b></figcaption></div><p>&#9679; A PLAQUE was unveiled in Montreal&rsquo;s Forum in honor of Howie Morenz by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada before a game between the Canadiens and the New York Rangers, two of the teams Morenz played for&hellip;Morenz joined the Canadiens in 1923 and helped them win three Stanley Cups. Known as the most exciting player of his day, Morenz led the league in scoring twice and won the Hart Trophy as Most Valuable Player three times&hellip;If the Buffalo Sabres don&rsquo;t win the Adams Division championship this year, they might lay some of the blame at the feet of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The two teams met five times this year and every game has ended in a tie. Championship teams can&rsquo;t afford to play .500 hockey against teams in middle of the standings&hellip;Another deal which seems to be working out for the Penguins is the acquisition of John Flesch who started the year in the International League. All Flesch has done for the Pens is score two gamewinners and a pair of game tiers in his first nine games&hellip;With all the attention focussed on Guy Lafleur and Bryan Trottier and the battle for the NHL scoring leadership, people may be overlooking the fact that Darryl Sittler is on his way to his best season ever and has the longest consecutive games streak with points this year&hellip;Sittler looks a good bet to reach the 100-point mark for the second time&hellip;Per Olov Brasar. the North Stars&rsquo; rookie from Sweden is the club&rsquo;s candidate for the Bill Masterton Trophy&hellip;16.7 percent of World Hockey Association games this year have gone into overtime compared to 13.2 percent last year.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04847/4197271-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="300" height="456"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>John Flesch</b></figcaption></div><p>&#9679; THERE WILL BE great names from sports past and present in Hartford on March 30 when Gordie Howe&rsquo;s 50th birthday will be celebrated by a roast with Howard Cosell as master of ceremonies. Among the roasters are Bobby Orr, WHA president Howard Baldwin and NHL president John Ziegler&hellip;A black tie affair, proceeds from the evening will be used to help establish a program for the planning of a Gordie Howe/Greater Hartford Hockey Hall, which is expected to house much of Howe&rsquo;s memorabilia from 30 years in the sport&hellip;Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; rookie goaltender Jim Corsi has faced the highest average number of shots per game among goalies who&rsquo;ve played at least 1,000 minutes. Corsi sees 35.8 shots directed at his goal each game, but has the best record among Quebec goaltenders, 10-7&hellip;Selection of the Lady Byng Trophy will be difficult this year with excellent players such as Butch Goring (one minor), Mike Bossy and Peter McNab (two minors) and Guy Lafleur (11 minutes) expected to draw support&hellip;Serge Savard of the Canadiens says that the days of the Philadelphia Flyers going out and scaring everyone are over. &ldquo;You need big guys but not goons like they had. You need guys with heads on their shoulders. That&rsquo;s how you win,&rdquo; said Savard in a Montreal daily paper&hellip;NHL rules prohibit the placing of ice, snow or other obstacles in the goaler&rsquo;s crease, but several hockey buffs were wondering what the ruling would be if a goalie, skating off the ice for an extra attacker &ldquo;accidentally&rdquo; broke his stick and just happened to leave the stick in the crease&hellip;Concordia Stingers look like Quebec&rsquo;s representative for the third consecutive year for the Canadian College hockey championships which are being played this year in Moncton, N.B.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05708/4197264-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="305" height="484"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Mike Bossy</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0004-01

COLUMNISTS

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">BY BOB WHITLEY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-06419/4197323-1-eng-US/f0004-062.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DAVE SCHULTZ&hellip;Feels Referees Out To Get Him</b></figcaption></div><p>PITTSBURGH&mdash;</p><p>What Dave Schultz thinks of it will only get The Hammer in more hot water.</p><p>The Penguin winger, set down for two games last week after drawing his fourth game-misconduct penalty of the season, feels National Hockey League referees are out to get him.</p><p>&ldquo;I deserve most of the penalties I get and I don&rsquo;t mind serving my minutes for the things I&rsquo;ve done,&rdquo; Schultz said after his most recent brush with the long arm of NHL justice. &ldquo;What burns me is the extra minutes I get for things I either didn&rsquo;t do or things that wouldn&rsquo;t be called if it were anyone else but me.&rdquo;</p><p>Since coming to the Pens from Los Angeles in a Nov. 1 trade, Schultz has incurred three game-misconducts. He had one with the Kings. His third of the season (second with Pittsburgh), a dubious third-man-in call during a nonfight in a Feb. 1 game with Minnesota led to a one-game suspension, Schultz&rsquo; first as a Penguin.</p><p>He missed the Penguins&rsquo; next game against Boston. Nearly three weeks later Schultz grabbed a minor official in the St. Louis penalty box after the official refused to confirm Schultz&rsquo; charge that St. Louis&rsquo; Gary Holt threw a chunk of ice at him while both were serving major penalties for fighting.</p><p>Referee Andy Van Hellemond rightfully ejected Schultz for laying his hands on the minor official.</p><p>&ldquo;I called Brian O&rsquo;Neill (NHL vice president) to try and appeal.&rdquo; Schultz said calmly. &ldquo;We had a good talk, but he explained the misconduct couldn&rsquo;t be appealed because it was automatic. Touching the minor official was the same as touching the referee.</p><p>&ldquo;Holt threw ice at me in the penalty box and when I tried to bring it to someone&rsquo;s attention the guy lied. I shouldn&rsquo;t have grabbed him, but I don&rsquo;t understand why he lied. O&rsquo;Neill said he would investigate, so I don&rsquo;t know how it will come out. There was even some talk that I might get an extra suspension, but I don&rsquo;t think they&rsquo;ll do that once they get all the facts.&rdquo;</p><p>Schultz was forced to miss games against St. Louis and another former team, the Philadelphia Flyers. It goes back to his days as the ringleader of the so-called Broad Street Bullies to pinpoint when it was he feels the referees made up their minds to subdue the often raging Schultz.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure the word came down not to let me get away with anything,&rdquo; Schultz says. &ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t. I know I get carried away sometimes, but it&rsquo;s just that I&rsquo;m frustrated at my own play.</p><p>&ldquo;I have to be aggressive. If I don&rsquo;t play physically, I won&rsquo;t be around. I can&rsquo;t imagine what it would be like to be able to just skate up and down my wing and score 30 goals a year.&rdquo;</p><p>Schultz has been victim this season of the recently adopted rule that provides for an automatic suspension for anyone accruing more than two gamemisconducts over the course of a season. The first mistake (third game; misconduct) takes a one-game suspension, the second two-games, the third three games and so on.</p><p>&ldquo;You know who that rule was put in for don&rsquo;t you? Me, that&rsquo;s who,&rdquo; Schultz adds. &ldquo;At least I seem to be the only one getting hurt by it. The real bad thing is, what if some guy makes a mistake and whistles me off too fast when maybe I didn&rsquo;t deserve it? Because of the way the rule is set up, I&rsquo;m stuck. It&rsquo;s a brutal rule. It&rsquo;s unfair.&rdquo;.</p><p><b>PENGUINS NOTES</b>: Goalie Denis Herron started all 11 games in February, losing just twice. His second setback, a 31 home loss to the Flyers, snapped a seven-game unbeaten streak, the Pens&rsquo; longest of the season.</p><p>With a 4-4 tie in Buffalo the Pens also extended their road unbeaten streak to six games, also longest of the season.</p><p>Center Peter Mahovlich continues to play in spite of a sprained left, wrist. Checking winger&rsquo; John Flesch continues to score important goals in spite of his reputation to the contrary.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0004-06

Two-Game Suspension Riles Penguins’ Schultz

<p>Following are the latest player movements in hockey:</p><p><b>NATIONAL LEAGUE</b></p><p><b>ATLANTA</b>&mdash;<b>Hal Philipoff</b>, LW, returned to lineup from injury list.</p><p><b>CHICAGO</b>&mdash;<b>Jean Savard</b> C, recalled from Dallas of CHL and later returned. <b>Kirk Bowman</b>, C, and <b>Reg Kerr</b>, LW, recalled from Dallas.</p><p><b>CLEVELAND</b>&mdash;<b>John Baby</b>, D, recalled from Binghamton of AHL.</p><p><b>COLORADO</b>&mdash;<b>Denis Dupere</b>, C, recalled from Philadelphia of AHL. <b>Bob Neely</b>, LW, sent to Philadelphia as replacement.</p><p><b>DETROIT</b>&mdash;<b>Al Cameron</b>, D, and <b>Roland Cloutier</b>, C, recalled from Kansas City of CHL. <b>Perry Miller</b>, D, returned to lineup from injury list. <b>Derek Sanderson</b>, C, assigned to Kansas City. <b>Rick Szabo</b>, G, recalled from Flint of IHL and assigned to Kansas City on loan.</p><p><b>LOS ANGELES</b>&mdash;<b>Steve Short</b>, D, recalled from Springfield of AHL as replacement for <b>Dave Hutchison</b>, D, who was placed on disabled list for rest of season with cracked bone in his foot.</p><p><b>MINNESOTA</b>&mdash;<b>Gary Smith</b>, G, recalled from Fort Worth of CHL. <b>Bill Hogaboam</b>, C, <b>Steve Jensen</b>, LW, and <b>Alex Pirus</b>, RW. assigned to Fort Worth.</p><p><b>MONTREAL</b>&mdash;<b>Rabin Sadler</b>, D, assigned to Nova Scotia of AHL.</p><p><b>PHILADELPHIA</b>&mdash;<b>Bobby Clarke</b>, C, returned to lineup from injury list. <b>Jimmy Watson</b>, D, placed on disabled list after undergoing elbow surgery.</p><p><b>ST. LOUIS</b>&mdash;<b>Jack Brownschidle</b>, D, returned to lineup from injury list.</p><p><b>TORONTO</b>&mdash;<b>Ron Wilson</b>, RW, recalled from Dallas of CHL. <b>Randy Carlyle</b>, D, and <b>Kurt Walker</b>, RW, assigned to Dallas. <b>Bruce Boudreau</b>, C, placed on disabled list with knee injury.</p><p><b>VANCOUVER</b>&mdash;<b>Ron Sedlbauer</b>, LW, recalled from Tulsa of CHL. <b>Rob Flockhart</b>, RW, sent to Tulsa as replacement.</p><p><b>WASHINGTON</b>&mdash;<b>Blair Stewart</b>, LW, assigned to Hershey of AHL. <b>Yvon Labre</b>, D, sent to Hershey for 14 days for conditioning after coming off injury list, recalled from Hershey.</p><h2><b>WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.</b></h2><p><b>CINCINNATI</b>&mdash;<b>Alf Handrahan</b>, RW, signed to seven-game trial from Philadelphia of AHL. <b>Bryon Baltimore</b>, D, placed on disabled list for three weeks with sprained knee. <b>Craig Norwich</b>, D, returned to lineup as replacement.</p><p><b>EDMONTON</b>&mdash;<b>Pierre Jarry</b>, LW, and <b>Chris Ahrens</b>, D, secured from Minnesota of NHL for future considerations. <b>Gerry Pinder</b>, RW. <b>Craig Topalansky</b>, D, and <b>Dale McMullen</b>, LW, added to roster.</p><p><b>QUEBEC</b>&mdash;<b>Markus Mattson</b>, G, returned to Winnipeg. <b>Charles Constantin</b>, D, traded to Indianapolis for future considerations.</p><p><b>INDIANAPOLIS</b>&mdash;<b>Ray Adduono</b>, C, released outright.</p><h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>SPRINGFIELD</b>&mdash;<b>Bob Berry</b>, LW, named player-coach of Indians replacing Gary Dineen, who was fired by club.</p><h2><b>NHL Leaders</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01950/4197409-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="592" height="390"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0005-01

Hockey Players On The Move

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011130/4197440-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="342" height="485"></div><h2><b>Hockey News And Views</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>H</span>OCKEY NEWS</b>: Professional Hockey Writers Association honors ex-NHL president Clarence Campbell with gifts, cocktail party at All Star game in Buffalo.</p><p><b>Hockey News Views</b>: In behalf of this fine organization, I can say that we waited and waited and waited for the National Hockey League itself to throw a bash for Mr. Campbell, at which point the PHWA could have asked for a minute of the NHL&rsquo;s time to cast our salute. We waited. We waited. We&rsquo;re still waiting.</p><p><b>Hockey News</b>: World Hockey Association showing signs of fiscal exhaustion.</p><p><b>Hockey News Views</b>: When the man in Winnipeg starts saying the WHA can no longer sell itself as a major league, maybe that is the beginning of the end. The NHL is poised to swoop in for the pieces, no doubt, and some clubs have rights to be overanxious.</p><p>Atlanta has NHL rights to Kent Nilsson, Detroit the rights to Marty Howe, Pittsburgh the rights to Morris B. Lukowich, Boston first call on Mark Howe, Chicago the title to Real Cloutier, John Garrett, Terry Ruskowski and Bobby Hull, and Montreal the properties of Marc Tardif, Mark Napier and, oh yes, Detroit the nod at Steve Durbano. Just to name a few. Oddity: last year&rsquo;s most valuable player, Robbie Ftorek of the Cincinnati Stingers, is not on any NHL team&rsquo;s list. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean he won&rsquo;t be on any NHL team, does it?</p><h2><b>TV Shouldn&rsquo;t Run Hockey</b></h2><p><b>HOCKEY NEWS</b>: Networks in United States say that hockey isn&rsquo;t desirable because it doesn&rsquo;t have a halftime intermission, but two between periods intermissions.</p><p><b>Hockey News Views</b>: The complaint seems to be that two intermissions rather than one allows the viewer twice as many excuses to flip the dial around, never to return. Well, TV has done a lot for sports and sports has done a lot for TV. Super Bowls have started at 5:09 p.m. on the dot, championship baseball games have been played in quagmires, winner-take-all tennis matches have been staged where the winner takes all then gives half to the loser, and Joe Frazier has almost drowned in a pool so we could have that phenomenon called Superstars But when TV starts hinting to hockey that it must change the game to make the tube, and hockey starts listening, then hockey is headed only one way. Down the tube.</p><p><b>Hockey News</b>: NHL institutes Selke Trophy to honor best defensive forward at season&rsquo;s end.</p><p><b>Hockey News Views</b>: This is a perfectly lovely idea, although the league is getting a bit too carried away with awards, it would seem. After all, what is going to happen in the spring when Montreal&rsquo;s Bob Gainey wins the award, as he should, and then we check our plusminus figures and find that he has one of the worst minuses in the league? He did in the first half, you know. Hmm.</p><h2><b>Victims Of Oversell</b></h2><p><b>HOCKEY NEWS</b>: Minnesota No Stars hire Lou Nanne as general manager and coach.</p><p><b>Hockey News Views</b>: After last season&rsquo;s optimistic happenings, the No Stars oversold themselves on this year&rsquo;s team. Good luck, Looie.</p><p><b>Hockey News</b>: St. Louis Blahs hire Barclay Plager as coach.</p><p><b>Hockey News Views</b>: After last season&rsquo;s optimistic happenings, the Blahs oversold themselves on this year&rsquo;s team. Good luck, Barclay.</p><p><b>Hockey News</b>: Only 527 fans attend Black Hawks-Barons game in Chicago because of a raging snowstorm. Chicago management fails to show appreciation by giving the diehard even a free pretzel.</p><p><b>Hockey News Views</b>: Sorry, what you have just read isn&rsquo;t really news, after all.</p><p><b>Hockey News</b>: All NHL players wear their names on the backs of their jerseys except members of the Toronto Maple Leafs.</p><p><b>Hockey News Views</b>: You can&rsquo;t tell the players without a scorecard, Harold Ballard once said. That&rsquo;ll be a quarter, please.</p><p><b>Hockey News</b>: Don Cherry blasts Minnesota No Stars, then draws huge Met crowd the next time Boston Bruins play there.</p><p><b>Hockey News Views</b>: Don Cherry is the most lively coach that&rsquo;s happened to the NHL in a long time. Please, 17 more of him.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0006-01

HOCKEY TALK

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02865/4197471-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GARRY HOWATT&hellip;Apt To Be Where Traffic&rsquo;s Heaviest</b> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruco Bennott)</span></figcaption></div><p>LONG ISLAND&mdash;</p><p>Although the calendar showed that March was approaching, Garry Howatt could still count the number of goals he scored this season on one hand.</p><p>No, Garry is not a serious threat to walk off with the Ross Trophy this semester, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean that he isn&rsquo;t an important member of the New York Islanders.</p><p>If anything, Garry is still the personification of the Islanders. It was only three short years ago that they first became a dominant factor on the scene, and they did it without a cast of super-duper stars. They did it with guts, and work, and more work.</p><p>The Isles never would have gone anywhere if they believed that things come easily, especially out on the ice. They&rsquo;ve worked hard for everything they&rsquo;ve got, even at this date. They know that they still have to go out and make things happen.</p><p>Ever since he came up at the end of the 1972-73 season along with his best buddy, Bobby Nystrom, Howie has been the perfect example of the player blessed with lesser talents than most of his colleagues, yet still is able to help the team by putting out 100 percent.</p><p>Last month, Garry was installed in a new line with Wayne Merrick at center and Billy Harris on the right, marking his return to the regular lineup. Since then his play has rated raves from general manager Bill Torrey on down, even though he may not reach double figures in the goal department this year.</p><p>&lsquo;Howie&rsquo;s been playing very well lately,&rdquo; said Torrey, who does not spread praise unless the recipient is deserving. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been going into the corners, and more often than not, he&rsquo;s got the puck with him when he comes out.&rdquo;</p><p>Despite his smallish appearance&mdash;he&rsquo;s only five-foot-nine, 175-pounds, Howatt has the strength of a man much larger. When he takes his shirt off, Garry looks like the bully who used to kick sand in the face of the 97-pound weakling&mdash;only Garry smiles too much.</p><p>Howatt is one of the strongest players in the game today (he&rsquo;s already literally lifted opponents straight up during altercations more than once this year), but it wasn&rsquo;t something he was born with. Like everything else about him, he&rsquo;s worked dam hard for it.</p><p>It was last summer that Garry started to get friendly with Mike Revien, the son of the Islanders&rsquo; visual consultant. Mike had administered his father&rsquo;s now-famous eye exercises to a number of players, including Howatt.</p><p>Mike is built vaguely like Paul Bunyan&rsquo;s blue ox. and has been working with weights for a number of years. One day after going through the eye program, Revien suggested that the two go to the weight room for a little workout.</p><p>&ldquo;I had never worked with weights before,&rdquo; said Howatt. &ldquo;We started off slowly on the bench press, and worked out way up. The machine only goes up to 255 pounds, and before long I was handling it easily.</p><p>&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t as much time for workouts during the season, but I still like to work out if I can two or three times a week. I&rsquo;ll Lift the lighter weights of a 100-pounds or so in repetitions, and then I&rsquo;ll cap it off by doing 60-or-70 pushups.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;You have to give Garry credit,&rdquo; says Revien. &ldquo;Maybe he doesn&rsquo;t have all the hockey talent in the world, but he works hard at it. Some guys are wondering why he spends so much time doing it, but just look at him. He just stands out in a crowd now.</p><p>&ldquo;When training camp opened, there was a tremendous difference in him. He was almost twice the size. One of his teammates who hadn&rsquo;t seen him since the spring thought he was on steroids. Garry said, &lsquo;No way, man. I wouldn&rsquo;t touch those thing. This is all with exercise&rsquo;!&rdquo;</p><p>In addition to the physical benefits, Howatt also feels that his hard work in the exercise room has helped his mental outlook. &ldquo;It gives you confidence, and let&rsquo;s fact it, without confidence you can&rsquo;t do anything whether it&rsquo;s playing hockey or whatever. I feel sometimes that I can just go out on the ice and run over guys. Of course, they have a few other ideas,&rdquo; he smiled.</p><p>Coach Al Arbour also feels the exercises have a positive effect. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good that the players go out and maintain their edge. Some of the guys like to play tennis, others like to run. But in a game like this, you can never get enough strength. It has to help.&rdquo;</p><p>In addition to working with Howatt, Revien has also helped Bob Bourne, Clark Gillies, and now Merrick. But Howie is his favorite, partly because he has such a good time doing it&mdash;almost as much fun as he has playing hockey.</p><p>&ldquo;I do enjoy it,&rdquo; concluded Howatt. &ldquo;Besides, us small guys need all the help they can get.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ISLAND SOUNDS</b>: Dave Lewis&rsquo; shoulder injury was less serious than first believed, and the defenseman returned in less than a week. Gerry Hart recently played his 400th game for the Islanders. He celebrated the event by suffering two face cuts and stopping a hard shot with his ankle&hellip;The Isles recalled home-grown product Richie Hansen from Fort Worth for another look-see.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0006-02

Islanders’ Rugged Howatt Personifies Team Courage

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011008/4197502-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="509" height="1387"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BUTCH GORING</b></figcaption></div><p>LOS ANGELES&mdash;</p><p>It would be small consolation to him, but if this is not the Kings&rsquo; Year, it still could be Butch Goring&rsquo;s year. Maybe the Most Valuable Player in the history of the Los Angeles team, it remains surprising to realize that he has now won the team MVP prize any single season. He could do so this season. Maybe more important, he could capture the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Lady Byng Trophy, which he maybe should have won any one of several recent seasons.</p><p>A number of fine players could be credited with the dubious distinction, but Butch probably is the most underrated player in the league. A twoway player who not only centers a top line, but is among the best in the business playing on the power play and killing penalties, he is a tireless worker, always hustling all over the ice, putting pressure on the opposition, taking goals from them, and averaging about 30 a season, himself.</p><p>The senior citizen of the team in service, he leads its all-around time history in games played, goals, assists, and points. If he has not received the publicity to be well known around the circuit, there is not a player or coach in the business who does not know what an important player he is to his team, and not a team for which he would not take a regular turn.</p><p>Recently while his team has been in a terrible slump, Butch has. as usual, been doing whatever he could do. While the Kings were going eight straight games without a win the first part of February and winning only one game of an important six-game trip, Butch has been streaking, tying his own team record with goals in six straight games and scoring 12 goals in 11 games.</p><p>The Kings have made the playoffs rather easily recent seasons and done will in them, but for the first time in several seasons they are in real danger of not making them. Pittsburgh and Detroit have closed to within a couple of points of the Kings at this writing and are applying pressure for second place honors. The Kings are not pulling together, but Goring has taken the lead and is trying to pull them through.</p><p>Eddie Joyal, Gerry Desjardins, Ross Lonsberry, Joha Widing, and Giles Marotte won the writers&rsquo; vote as the first five MVPs on the team. All are long gone, now. Rogie Vachon won the next three years, Marcel Dionne the next two, and Vachon and Dionne divided the award last year. But this has not been their best year. Suffering from a sore shoulder injured Thanksgiving eve, Dionne has fallen back a bit. Overworked, Vachon may be the best goaltender in the league, but he has been better.</p><p>At 28, in his ninth season as a pro, all or part of all spent with the Kings in the NHL. Goring looks like he is in line for long overdue recognition. Second on the team in scoring with 85 points last season, he is first with 50 points at the three-quarter pole this season and recently came within one of his team records with points in nine straight games. He has scored at a point-a-game pace for several seasons now.</p><p>He has never scored less than 20 goals a season since he became a regular, had 30 last season, and 30 again this season with 20 games to go. He scored the milestone 200th goal of his career this season.</p><p>Although the chunky little guy is a spectacular player, charging around on choppy strides, long straight hair flying from his helmet, it has been his fate to be overshadowed. Dionne has stolen the spotlight from him on his own team and was the All Star center last season. Certainly there are a lot of outstanding centers in the league, including Bryan Trottier, Gil Perreault, Darryl Sittler, and Bobby Clarke, but as reader Mel Powell wrote THE HOCKEY NEWS recently, it is hard to believe Butch never once has been selected to play in the mid-season All Star game. And it is an appalling neglect of effort and performance.</p><p>More appalling is his failure to have won the Lady Byng Award, though he has placed high in the voting a fewtimes and was third in 1973. Jean Ratelle won with four minutes in penalties in 1972 and 18 in 1976. Perreault with 10 in 1973, Johnny Bucyk with eight in 1974, and Dionne with 14 in 1975 and 1977. Ratelle also has been second twice and Bucyk second once and third once. It is as if the voters think only of a few fellows.</p><p>Meanwhile, Goring has never has more than eight minutes in penalties in a season, had four seasons with only two, and may make it five as he has only two so far this season. Two seasons straight he drew his single minor only in the last period of the last game. He has only 36 minutes in 566 games over nine seasons. Of course the award is for excellence as well as for sportmanship and gentlemanly conduct, but few winners have played as aggressively or as well as Butch. He is on top of foes all the time, but simply does not foul them.</p><p>Bob Borgen, a young journalist researched and discovered the only player with a comparable points to penalty minutes career ratio in the last 30 years is two-time winner Davey Keon.</p><p>Third the last two years, Guy Lafleur probably is the favorite this year but may have 20 minutes or so. Linemates Jacques Lemaire and Steve Shutt, as well as Mike Bossy. Perreault, and Ratelle all are deserving candidates. But the voters could do themselves credit by considering the candidacy of Goring, who deserves this honor.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0007-01

Unheralded Goring Kings’ Best This Season

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011121/4197540-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="408" height="461"></div><h2><b><i>Life In Limbo&hellip;</i></b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE CROWD IN LONG BEACH</b> where the Sharks took on the San Diego Gulls was announced later as 966, low in the Coast League&rsquo;s brief history, but it was lower than that. I could not resist the temptation and my count came to 338 when the game got under way. I doubt that more than 600 more arrived late or were in the rest rooms or at the refreshment stands.</p><p>Walt Marlow, the league administrator, sighed and admitted it didn&rsquo;t look like the league had a future in this city, but then what does? Sports certainly have not succeeded here in the shadow of Los Angeles, where major league teams provide deep competition.</p><p>Newsman Marlow&rsquo;s mistake was helping the World Hockey Association get started. He has been a gypsy since. One Orest Hershick was heading a group of four Canadians who had supposedly pledged $100,000 to purchase the team, but to move it, maybe to Spokane, Salt Lake, Seattle or Tucson, or Portland, but the money hadn&rsquo;t arrived yet, the players hadn&rsquo;t been paid, and were playing under protest.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021010/4197533-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="813" height="854"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Randy Wyrozub joined the Pacific Hockey League with the hope of being noticed by scouts for another chance with an NHL team. Wyrozub played briefly for the Buffalo Sabres.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Robert Shaver)</span></figcaption></div><p>The old black and white uniforms with which the Sharks started the season were so worn their pads were threading through so when the Hampton Gulls of the American League folded recently their black and yellow uniforms were flown out. The fans were surprised to see their Sharks skate out in strange colors, with numbers on their back that did not correspond to those on the scorecards, and with Gulls on their chests instead of Sharks. Except for a few faces that swiftly have become familiar, like the spectacularly savage Dale Smedsmo with his Fu Manchu moustache and good old Oil Can Harry Shaw with his bushy beard, one team couldn&rsquo;t be told apart from the other.</p><p><b>DENNIS MURPHY, WHO HELPED</b> found the ABA and WHA and, with Marlow, Jim Browitt, and, most of all, San Diego&rsquo;s Peter Graham, this league this season, looked around at the empty seats and insisted they could be filled with proper promotion. However, Murphy, who has a minority interest in Jerry Saperstein&rsquo;s San Francisco Shamrocks, has problems of his own, although the Phoenix and San Francisco franchises are above the believed breakeven points of attendance at 4,400 and 4,300 per game. San Diego is struggling at 3,200 and Long Beach at 2,300. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll make it,&rdquo; the Smiling Irishman assured a doubter.</p><p>Murphy&rsquo;s brother, John, general manager in San Francisco had problems with his players when he issued paychecks on the 1st and 15th of each month although all were on weekly salaries for the short 16week season. Missing two or three days&rsquo; salary most months, they threatened revolt until they got their way. He also had problems with the contract of his star. Randy Wyrozub, who was to be a free agent at season&rsquo;s end although league policy said contract would be paid off for players who moved up to the majors. Wyrozub is typical of the talent in the PHL hoping to be spotted by big league scouts, and whose hopes were reinforced when San Francisco goaler Paul Hoganson recently was purchased by Cincinnati of the WHA.</p><p>The Alberta-born forward is 27 and has been a professional since 1970 when he broke in with Buffalo in the NHL. He divided five seasons between Buffalo and its minor league teams in Salt Lake City and Cincinnati, and while he always did well in the minors, he had only eight goals in 100 games in the majors. He went to Washington in the expansion draft in 1974. Frustrated, he jumped to the WHA, but spent the following season in the minors in Richmond. He joined Indianapolis of the WHA, but spent most of the last two seasons at Mohawk Valley in upstate New York. When the North American League folded, he found himself out of hockey.</p><p><b>RANDY SAYS, &ldquo;I WAS</b> the fourth center behind good centers at Buffalo and seldom played. Punch Imlach treated me well and saw&rsquo;to it that I qualified for the pension plan, but I had little luck there. I was going well at Indianapolis until the team changed coaches and I was sent out. I wasn&rsquo;t invited back this season, but as I read my contract I still have a year to be paid and I&rsquo;m in with about 20 others in the same situation suing their teams and their league.&rdquo;</p><p>A lot of high-priced fringe players have been dropped into this position. Randy was making maybe $75,000 for playing in the minors, but this season he jumped at the chance to play for $500 a week in this low-budget league. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been bounced about a bit, but hockey has been good to me and I&rsquo;m not bitter. My parents were schoolteachers and I have a brother who became a lawyer after he got hurt in hockey. I didn&rsquo;t, prepare for my future, but I had started to sell insurance when this chance came to give the game one more go.&rdquo;</p><p>Randy and his wife, Cindy, have three daughters, Jamie, Jennifer, and Jodi. He says, &ldquo;We have a home back in Buffalo, but we thought we might like the West Coast and want to settle there. We heaped a lot of our possessions in a U-Haul and towed it cross-country with the kids, one of them just a baby. I didn&rsquo;t make much money until the last few seasons, but we&rsquo;ve saved&rsquo;and we could afford to take a chance although we couldn&rsquo;t afford to live on what I&rsquo;m making now.&rdquo;.</p><p>He sighs and says, &ldquo;I guess a lot of guys jumped on the gravy train and thought the ride would never end. Now we&rsquo;re faced with figuring out a future for ourselves.&rdquo; So the Wyrozub family is living in the suburbs of San Francisco and waiting to see what happens. If the league lasts, it expects to expand next season. Although the Cow Palace is an antique, hockey has always done well there and this franchise is one of those without a lot of competition which would do well, but it is not clear it would be a league which could afford family men.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><p>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>ryan Maxwell and assistant general manager John Mariucci were strolling to the Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; dressing room soon after Maxwell&rsquo;s signing had been formally announced to the media.</p><p>&ldquo;This could be the start of a great career for you,&rdquo; Mariucci said, adding after a pause, &ldquo;or the end of a bad one.&rdquo;</p><p>The 22-year-old Maxwell (no relation to Stars&rsquo; rookie defenseman Brad Maxwell) was Minnesota&rsquo;s No. 1 choice in the 1975 amateur draft after an impressive career as a defenseman for Medicine Hat in the Western Canadian junior league.</p><p>Maxwell passed up an offer from the North Stars, signed with Cleveland of the World Hockey Association and had a good rookie season. Things went downhill from there, though, along with Maxwell&rsquo;s conditioning and attitude.</p><p>When Cleveland moved its WHA franchise. Maxwell wound up in Cincinnati and spent a lot of 1976-77 in the minors. From there, he went to New England and spent most of the current season in the minors.</p><p>The Whalers eventually decided on breaching the contract, choosing to go with less expensive and more experienced defensemen.</p><p>Lou Nanne, new GM-coach of the North Stars, wanted to take a look at the six-foot-one, 210-pound Maxwell, especially since Philadelphia and the New York Rangers had expressed an interest.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to trade anyone I haven&rsquo;t seen,&rdquo; said Nanne.</p><p>Maxwell had not played in three weeks when he joined the Stars, and he showed up with a scuffed up pair of skates. The departure from New England was less than cordial&mdash;the Whalers refused to give Maxwell a new pair of skates he had been using and his set of sticks.</p><p>Nanne was quite impressed after one workout. &ldquo;He showed me mobility, arid that&rsquo;s good for a big, tough kid, and he had the initiative to stay in some kind of shape by running. How can we go wrong&mdash;we&rsquo;re getting a player who was rated among the best juniors in hockey three years ago. I hope he realizes that this is the place he should have been from the start.&rdquo;.</p><p>Maxwell played his first NHL game before a full house in Philadelphia. Nanne shrewdly put him in as the game&rsquo;s starting center to let him get a feel of the atmosphere before shuttling him back to defense after a few seconds.</p><p>It turned out to be a memorable night for Maxwell and the Stars, who-had not won in eight seasons at the Spectrum. Maxwell got his first NHL goal and assisted on the tie-breaker on the way to a 4-2 victory. He was on the ice for the other two Minnesota goals. Not too bad a night for anyone, much less a rookie and one who had not played in three weeks.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03856/4197571-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="562" height="884"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BRYAN MAXWELL&hellip;Shows Confidence</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m tickled to be with the North Stars,&rdquo; Maxwell said. &ldquo;I have the confidence to. play in the NHL and I feel I can contribute. I could never get settled the last couple of years. I felt, eventually, I would end up in the NHL. I want this to be my last stop. I waited three years to get here&mdash;now I want to play here the rest of my career.&rdquo;</p><p>Nanne has paired Maxwell with another new acquisition, Bill Butters, to play defense behind the Swedish trio of Per-Olov Brasar. Roland Eriksson and Kent Andersson.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want anyone taking any liberties with our Swedes,&rdquo; said Nanne. &ldquo;Maxwell has made our club tougher. Butters will make it even tougher.&rdquo;</p><p>Butters; too, came from the Whalers, who had just acquired defenseman Ron Plumb to go along with the likes of Rick Ley, Brad Selwood, Marty Howe and Gordie Roberts. At time of their departure, Maxwell was a plus nine and Butters a plus 21.</p><p><b>STAR DUST</b>: A flu virus forced regulars Brad Maxwell, Steve Jensen and&rsquo; Glen Sharpley to miss a game with Los Angeles and a half-dozen other players played with fevers&hellip;But the Stars won, 4&rdquo; 1, on Paul Harrison&rsquo;s goaltending and Per-Olov Brasar&rsquo;s sensational dash around four L.A. players for the tiebreaking goal in the third period&hellip;Bill Hogaboam was called up from Fort Worth to fill in and contributed to two of the goals, earning a longer stay&hellip;Winger Jamie Gallimore was up from the minors for two. games and returned to Fort Worth. The Stars signed Gary Smith, who was with the team last season, on waivers from Washington.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-03

No. 1 Pick Maxwell Joins North Stars Three Years Later

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011081/4197602-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>STEVE SHUTT&hellip;Worked Out To Gain Extra Edge</b></figcaption></div><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>t might be hard to believe that a guy who has averaged 53 goals for the last two seasons and who is a good bet for another 50-goal campaign this time around, could have been in a slump for the first half of the 1977-78 season.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like last year, all over,&rdquo; exclaimed Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; vicepresident Jean Beliveau following Steve Shutt&rsquo;s first four-goal game as a professional. Indeed. Shutt had taken five shots and four had gone in versus the Cleveland Barons on Feb. 23, the high water mark on a surge which vaulted him into the top 10 in scoring in early March.</p><p>Shutt, the NHL&rsquo;s defending goal scoring champion the year before with 60, finished the 1977 portion of the current campaign with 18 goals, but since that time he&rsquo;s reeled off 21 scores, including 20 goals in a 24-game stretch and 14 in 15 contests, capping the streak with his 39th goal and three assists in the Habs&rsquo; 7-1 snowjob of the Philadelphia Flyers in Montreal&rsquo;s Forum.</p><p>Shutt, named the first star in the game, was feeling pretty good about his four-point night, so good in fact that he was kidding Guy Lafleur about messing up a two-on-one situation in the latter stages of the Flyers game.</p><p>&ldquo;You should have shot the puck,&rdquo; insisted a reporter to Shutt.</p><p>&ldquo;No, I drew the defenseman over, and passed off to Guy&rdquo;, Shutt remarked.</p><p>&ldquo;But the pass was in his skates,&rdquo; answered the reporter.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s because Guy wasn&rsquo;t where he was supposed to be,&rdquo; said Shutt. &ldquo;His stick was supposed to be there not his skates.&rdquo;</p><p>The locker-room levity may have been an outgrowth of the surprisingly easy game against the Flyers, but for Shutt, it was no doubt also influenced from the relief of having regained his confidence and his scoring touch.</p><p>Just prior to the four-goal explosion against the Barons, Shutt had been shifted off the Canadiens &ldquo;Big Line&rdquo; which of course features Lafleur and the unsung Jacques Lemaire who is fourth in the league in scoring.</p><p>Shutt has been with Lafleur for nearly all of the games of the last three years, with first Pete Mahovlich and then Lemaire as the pivotmen.</p><p>Coach Scotty Bowman, however, who plays as many hunches about line changes, line-up shuffles and personnel changes, as Lafleur has moves, slipped Rejean Houle into Shutt&rsquo;s left wing spot and Houle caught fire. Shutt smouldered. He began hitting people in practice, staying afterwards to work out in the gym.</p><p>&ldquo;I was in a rut,&rdquo; said Shutt, &ldquo;I was standing by the boards looking to pass the puck to Guy. So I guess getting away from Lafleur gave me a chance to work on my game, to start making the plays myself.&rdquo;</p><p>Shutt also talked about his unspectacular first half of the season.</p><p>&ldquo;I had noticed that I seemed a half a stride slow on most plays. I wasn&rsquo;t skating enough and coming in on the plays late or not getting there at all. So in January I started working out more, riding the bike (in the team&rsquo;s mini-gym) just so I could get some kind of an edge. You&rsquo;d be surprised what a half a step can do for you. It&rsquo;s the difference between being in the clear and being covered by another guy.</p><p>&ldquo;I guess you might say that I was thinking about the season I had last year when I got off to a slow start this year. It&rsquo;s in the back of your mind, you can&rsquo;t help it. And then I started pressing a little, but I&rsquo;ve been skating better lately, carrying the puck more, so things have been going well.&rdquo;</p><p>One of Shutt&rsquo;s goals this year was to exhibit better control of the puck, holding onto it longer to set up his teammates and in the game against the Flyers, he showed that part of his game is improving rapidly.</p><p>With the Canadiens holding a 2-1 lead in the middle frame, Shutt assisted on a goal scored by Lemaire and then on his next shift circled behind the net and halfway to the blueline before firing a cross-ice pass to Lemaire who was cruising towards the goal, some 30 feet in front of Flyers&rsquo; netminder Rick St. Croix. Lemaire&rsquo;s blast went in the net and St. Croix was headed for a seat on the bench.</p><p>Less than three minutes later Shutt slipped a width of the rink pass to Lafleur in full flight down the right side and the NHL&rsquo;s leading goalgetter went to his backhand to easily beat St. Croix&rsquo;s replacement, Wayne Stephenson. In the third period, Shutt showed he had been paying attention.</p><p>Taking a pass from Lafleur, Shutt skated in on Stephenson, went to his backhand (which is the opposite of Lafleur&rsquo;s) and scored.</p><p>&ldquo;I use the backhand a lot,&rdquo; said Shutt, &ldquo;when you&rsquo;re breaking in alone like that, it&rsquo;s a split-second decision, but you want to make up your mind and stick with it. otherwise you&rsquo;ll find yourself past the net without even shooting.&rdquo;</p><p>Obviously, Steve&rsquo;s thinking is fast enough. And it looks like he&rsquo;s out of his rut and in the groove.</p><p><b>FORUM REBOUNDS</b>: Canadiens passed the 100-points mark for the fourth consecutive year and sixth in last seven&hellip;The last time they failed to get 100 points was in the 1973-74 season when they finished in second place in the East Division with 99 points.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0009-01

Canadiens’ Shutt In Groove After Lacklustre Beginning

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011108/4197633-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div><p><b>Write to:</b></p><p><b>FAN FORUM,</b><br><b>The Hockey News,</b><br><b>1434 St. Catherine St., W., Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7</b></p><h2><b>Agreement Concerning Habs&rsquo; Exciting Cournoyer</b></h2><p>In the Feb. 17 Fan Forum there was a letter from Mark Allen of Borden, Ont., stating that Yvan Cournoyer is the NHL&rsquo;s most exciting player to watch. I agree completely. I have been following hockey for the past 10 years and especially the career of The Roadrunner, Montreal&rsquo;s captain Cournoyer. To me there is nothing more exciting than watching him whizzing past defensemen and then putting the puck home.</p><p>When people hear the name Cournoyer, the first thing that comes to mind is his incredible speed. They tend to forget, however, that Cournoyer is also adept at scoring as his career total of over 400 goals shows. Another of his talents is ambidexterity. Cournoyer, like Gordie Howe, can shoot both left and righthanded with speed and accuracy.</p><p>I enjoy THE HOCKEY NEWS and particularly liked the Jan. 13 article, &ldquo;Cournoyer&rsquo;s Second Comeback Contributes To Habs&rsquo; Success.&rdquo; Keep up the good work.</p><p><b>MARK NAPPER,</b><br><b>Hamilton, Ont.</b></p><h2><b>Ranger Management Trades Away Stars</b></h2><p>I wonder what is on the minds of the management of the New York Rangers. They have made trades that have helped every club, except their own.</p><p>Over the past few seasons they have traded away talent like Ed Giacomin, Cesare Maniago, Brad Park, Andre Dupont, Rod Seiling, Rick Middleton, Jean Ratelle, Curt Bennett, Derek Sanderson, Don Luce, and Syl Apps. The Rangers seem to enjoy the idea of letting their loyal players play to their All Star ability, and then trading them.</p><p>I am not a Ranger fan, but I am a hockey fan, and it hurts deeply to see loyal players disregarded like trash.</p><p><b>DENNIS KELLEY,</b><br><b>Ellsworth, Me.</b></p><h2><b>Flyers&rsquo; Parent Making Great Comeback</b></h2><p>I am a 17-year-old goalie from Ottawa. I buy a copy of THE HOCKEY NEWS every week at the local store. I&rsquo;m writing to you to thank you for the article on Bernie Parent entitled &ldquo;He&rsquo;s No. 1: Parent Displaying Old Time Form as Flyers Try One Goaler System&rdquo;.</p><p>In my opinion he&rsquo;s the best goalie in pro hockey. I was saddened by the unfortunate injuries he suffered last year. And people had the nerve to say and think that he was finished as a goalie and at the end of the line. But dedication and determination by Bernie has let him return to be one of the great goalies of today.</p><p>I think the fans in Philadelphia are the best fans to be found anywhere. They are with the Flyers whether they win or lose. I myself am a Bernie Parent, Philadelphia Flyers fan, I am now and I will always be.</p><p><b>JIM McCAUGHEY,</b><br><b>Ottawa, Ont.</b></p><h2><b>Rushing Defenseman Sorely Needed By Pens</b></h2><p>I&rsquo;ve been watching Penguin hockey for 10 years and they still need the same thing to become a top team. That is a defenseman who can skate the puck out of the defensive zone and set up the talented Penguins forwards.</p><p>For many years opposing teams have sent two forwards into the corners against the Penguins because they know we don&rsquo;t have the players who can skate the puck out. What sets the Penguins apart from the top clubs is that gamebreaking defenseman (Potvin, Park, Salming, etc.) who can control the game.</p><p>For years the Penguins have drafted primarily for forwards. I feel it is time to draft a top junior defenseman or acquire one in a trade.</p><p>It is common knowlege that Toronto wants Dave Burrows and might be willing to part with Ian Turnbull to get him. Turnbull would move the Penguins a step closer to the top teams.</p><p>As long as the Penguins continue to draft poorly and play with a passive defense corps, they will remain just an average team in the NHL.</p><p><b>JEFF LANDERMAN,</b><br><b>Pittsburgh, Pa.</b></p><h2><b>Kent Nilsson Tops As Rookie Of The Year</b></h2><p>I am writing about the WHA&rsquo;s Rookie of the Year award. The two main candidates are Kent Nilsson of the Winnipeg Jets and Ken Linseman of the Birmingham Bulls with Scott Campbell of the Houston Aeros with an outside chance. My candidate is Nilsson and the reasons are obvious.</p><p>He led the league in scoring for the first few weeks and after a mid-season slump he has remained a member of the top 10. Entering March his totals were 32 goals and 47 assists.</p><p>He plays the point on the Jets power play and keeps on scoring even when his regular linemates (Danny Labraaten, who is out for the season and Willy Lindstrom) are hurt.</p><p>Nilsson is a potential 40-50 goal man and 100-point man. He scored his first WHA hat trick on Feb.-11 against Indianapolis.</p><p><b>JEFF NORTON,</b><br><b>Starbuck, Man.</b></p><h2><b>Touch Of Class Brought By Giacomin</b></h2><p>Eddie Giacomin will probably be remembered by most fans for being one of the New York Ranger veterans who were cast out when The team &ldquo;swept house&rdquo; in 1975. But Giacomin is one of the finest goaltenders who ever played in the NHL. Eddie was an All Star goalie in 1967, &rsquo;68, &rsquo;69, &rsquo;70, &rsquo;71 and &rsquo;73. In 1971, he and Gilles Villemure combined to win the Vezina Trophy.</p><p>What I will always remember Ed Giacomin for, however, is not the outstanding statistics he compiled over the years, but the touch of class he brought to those less-than-great Ranger teams, and later to the struggling Red Wings.</p><p>He&rsquo;s one of those rare players who gave to hockey much more than it could ever give back. Steady Eddie will be remembered&mdash;and missed very much.</p><p><b>CHARLES REYNOLDS,</b><br><b>Auburndale, Fla.</b></p><h2><b>Wednesday Games Would Stop Complaints</b></h2><p>I am writing because I think if they put Hockey Night In Canada back on television on Wednesday nights there wouldn&rsquo;t be many complaints in hockey.</p><p>MIKE ODERKIRK,<br>Elmsdale, N.S.</p><h2><b>NHL Realignment By Geographic Divisions</b></h2><p>I am an avid hockey fan who would like to see continued improvement in the NHL scene and feel that one area which can have a big effect on the overall success of the league is realignments. Here is my suggestion:</p><p>Southern: Atlanta, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Washington; Western: Los Angeles, Colorado, Minnesota and Vancouver; Northern: Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit. Montreal and Toronto; Eastern: Boston, Buffalo, Islanders, Rangers, and Philadelphia.</p><p>These divisions are competitive and most of all the teams are placed by geographic regions. Granted the Eastern Division is &ldquo;stacked&rdquo;, but if you follow the current wildcard format, most of these teams would make the playoffs</p><p>To accommodate expansion, which I think would include Edmonton, Houston and possibly New England, these teams could be placed in their own geographical regions, i.e. Edmonton in Northern, Houston in Western, N.E. in East, etc.</p><p><b>M. BRISEBOIS,</b><br><b>Medley, Alta.</b></p><h2><b>LETTER OF THE WEEK</b></h2><p><b>Suggestions For Selling Hockey For TV</b></p><p>I am a long time reader of your excellent paper and would like to list some random thoughts on how to improve hockey and sell it to the American fan and eventually to TV.</p><p>1. Allow no assists to be awarded to players while they (and the puck) are in their defensive zones. Awarding of too many assists confuses the TV public.</p><p>2. Allow no goals to be awarded unless they go in off a hockey stick. Hockey is played with skates and sticks, and pucks that go into the net off heads, arms, posteriors should not count as this takes no special talent.</p><p>3. Adopt the international rule on icing. We fans are being cheated out of valuable playing time, waiting for someone to touch the puck to create the icing call.</p><p>4. Let&rsquo;s knock off all fighting. This is 1978 not the 50&rsquo;s and I&rsquo;m afraid hockey is not growing-up if it condones fighting and &ldquo;goon hockey tactics.&rdquo;</p><p>5. Abolish the center red line and this will keep the game simple and easy to understand and make it a joy to watch.</p><p><b>DAVID GELDART,</b><br><b>Arlington, Mass,</b></p><h2><b>Watered Down NHL Not Holding Its Fans</b></h2><p>Only one word can qualify the NHL Board of Governors decision in changing their playoff format without realignment: Idiotic.</p><p>The original expansion to six more teams in 1967-68 was based on television considerations for more geographical appeal in the States. We were told that eventually there would be a balancing out between the teams and that parity would eventually exist.</p><p>Since then, more expansion, more trouble, more leagues, more players, more money and less hockey; what we have today is a watered down American Hockey League.</p><p>Having been an ardent hockey, fan for many years, I just relish the thought of how such players as Fred Glover, Art Jones, Guyle Fielder, Orval Tessier, etc., would be rewriting the NHL record books if only expansion had come during their prime.</p><p>This new move may be just the straw that broke the camel&rsquo;s back. There is no way that I personally can look forward next year to Hockey Night in Canada showing us the Canadiens play 32 games against Washington, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and Detroit while considering that Atlanta will have to play the Islanders, the Rangers and the Flyers, and Cleveland will be battling Toronto, Boston and Buffalo.</p><p>The NHL wonders why they are not drawing at certain gates the NHL wonders why they can&rsquo;t sell their television rights to a major American, TV network; the NHL wonders why less people are watching their games in Canada, etc., etc&hellip;Meanwhile, we, the fans, are wondering what is going on in the NHL?</p><p>1 for one will not sit home every Saturday night and watch Laugh-In. Sorry! I mean Hockey Night in Canada, if the proposed format is allowed.</p><p><b>DICK SHAW,</b><br><b>Edmondston, N.B.</b></p><h2><b>64-Game Point Time For NHL Break</b></h2><p>I think that after 60 games the NHL should have a break from action. Sure there&rsquo;s the AU Star break but that&rsquo;s only two or three days.</p><p>The break should come around the time of the Hockey Tournament and should be about two weeks. Then selected players would have time to get ready and be acquainted with the other players.</p><p>If this happened, Canada would be able to send over a high calibre team and give the Europeans stiff competition</p><p><b>KEITH RANDELL,</b><br><b>Port Rexton, Nfld.</b></p><h2><b>Don Edwards Deserves Recognition</b></h2><p>I am a Buffalo Sabres fan and I don&rsquo;t think that Don Edwards gets the credit he deserves. The Sabres don&rsquo;t have a good defense and he gets 30-40 shots a game, but always keeps the Sabres in there.</p><p>Ken Dryden? He has a superior defense and gets 20 shots a game. Rogie Vachon? He&rsquo;s an average goalie who is overrated.</p><p>I think Edwards should get Rookie of the Year, too. Now, Mike Bossy is a great goalscorer, but Edwards is excellent.,</p><p><b>ROBERT MEDUROS,</b><br><b>Dorchester, Mass.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-01

OTHER FEATURES

FAN FORUM

<p>1. Which of these players has not had 50 goals in a National Hockey League season?</p><p>Danny Grant &#9633; Jacques Lemaire &#9633; Jean Pronovost &#9633;</p><p>2. Which one of these players has had a 50-goal NHL season?</p><p>Bill Barber &#9633; Gil Perreault &#9633; Yvan Cournoyer &#9633;</p><p>3. Which NHL team has had the most different 100-point scorers?</p><p>Montreal &#9633; Boston &#9633; Philadelphia &#9633;</p><p>4. Two NHL teams completed their 1977-78 season&rsquo;s series with a tie in every game. Who were the teams?</p><p>Atlanta and Chicago &#9633; Toronto and Chicago &#9633; Pittsburgh and Buffalo &#9633;</p><p>5. What is the highest consecutive number of times an NHL players has won a post-season award? By whom?</p><p>Five &#9633; Six &#9633; Eight &#9633;</p><p>6. Which coach won the 1977 Jacks Adams award?</p><p>Don Cherry &#9633; Scotty Bowman &#9633; Fred Shero &#9633;</p><p>7. Who is the only player, who was not a goaltender to win the Conn Smythe Trophy with a losing team?</p><p>Reg Leach &#9633; Bobby Orr &#9633; Yvan Coumoyer &#9633;</p><p>8. When Anders Hedberg of the Winnipeg Jets scored his record 50 goals in 47 games, he set another record for goals in the last three games on the road to 50. How many goals did he get?</p><p>10 &#9633; 11 &#9633; 13 &#9633;</p><p>9. Only one defenseman has been selected most valuable player in a WHA All Star game. Who is he?</p><p>Paul Shmyr &#9633; Lars-Erik Sjoberg &#9633; C. Tremblay &#9633;</p><p>10. Who is the only WHA general manager whose team has won the Avco Trophy twice?</p><p>Rudy Pilous &#9633; Maurice Filion &#9633; Bill Dineen &#9633;</p><h2><b>QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS</b></h2><p>1. Lemaire. 2. Barber. 3. Boston, four. 4. Pittsburgh, Buffalo. 5. 8, Bobby Orr, Norris Trophy. 6. Bowman. 7. Leach. 8.11. 8. Shmyr. 10. Dineen.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Fans’ Quick Hockey Quiz

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02878/4197695-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DANNY GARE&hellip;Aebounds From Bad Year</b> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Stove Babineau)</span></figcaption></div><p>BUFFALO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>hile Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders was closing in on the rookie scoring record, one of his principal competitors for Calder Memorial Trophy honors was setting records of his own.</p><p>Don Edwards, the young goaltender Buffalo fans are backing for rookie of the year honors in the National Hockey League, set one club record and equalled another the day after Bossy tied the league scoring mark of one of Edwards&rsquo; teammates, Rick Martin.</p><p>Ironically, while this was going on, Martin was on the sidelines, recuperating from a concussion suffered against the Rangers two weeks before.</p><p>Bossy tied Martin&rsquo;s rookie record of 44 goals by scoring twice in the Islanders&rsquo; 33 tie with Atlanta. It was only his 52nd game of the season.</p><p>The next night, the Sabres beat an old nemesis, the Philadelphia Flyers, and did it with a shutout, 4-0. That was Edwards&rsquo; third shutout in his last five games and his fifth of the season, setting a new club record. The old record of four in a season was set by Gary Bromley in 1974-75.</p><p>The shutout also was Edwards&rsquo; 31st goaltending victory of the season, which tied the club record set by Gerry Desjardins in 1976-77.</p><p>While Buffalonians feel that Bossy probably will win the rookie award&mdash;goal scorers usually win out over defensive stars&mdash;they thing Edwards certainly should be in the running. Many think that he has meant more to the success of the Sabres this season than any other goaltender in the league has meant to any other club.</p><p>In beating the Flyers&mdash;the club the Sabres have had the least success against in their eight NHL seasons&mdash;Edwards was playing in his 55th game of the campaign, out of the 59 his team had played. He had been in goal for 3,241 minutes and had made 1,381 saves.</p><p>His won-lost-tied record was 31-11-13, which gave him more wins than any other goaltender in the league at the time. His goals-against average was 2.47.</p><p>The 22-year-old netminder seems to be getting stronger as the season goes on. &ldquo;For the last month or so. I&rsquo;ve felt super,&rdquo; said Edwards, after the Philadelphia game. &ldquo;I feel that if the year started all over, I could play 80 games. Physically I feel fine and mentally I am sharp.&rdquo;</p><p>The victory was especially sweet for the Sabres, not only because they rarely have beaten the Flyers, but because they were bouncing back from a 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.</p><p>Danny Gare, the Sabres&rsquo; team captain, scored his 30th and 31st goals of the season in the game. This made him feel great because he was coming off a year when he had suffered from back trouble and scored only 11 goals.</p><p>Those two gave Gare nine, plus four assists, in his last 12 games. His line, with Don Luce at center and Craig Ramsay at left wing, has been the only one on the club that has been together throughout the season and has been one of the outstanding two-way forward combines in the league.</p><p>Gil Perreault scored his 38th goal of the season in the Philadelphia game and it was one of the most spectacular of the year. It broke a scoreless tie early in the second period and was the only score of the game until the ninth minute of the third period.</p><p>Perreault took a pass from Jocelyn Guevremont at the red line and zigzagged in on the goal. He faked his way past two defenders, with only one hand on his stick at one point, pulled rookie goalie Rick St. Croix, and shot from an almost impossible angle into the far corner of the net.</p><h2><b>Penalty Minutes</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011060/4197688-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="600" height="668"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0011-02

Record-Setting Edwards Backbones Sabres’ Drive

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011082/4197733-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2><b>Eagle&rsquo;s End Run</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE EAGLE HAS LANDED</b> and, all of a sudden, Canada&rsquo;s participation in the international picture is in focus. Alan Eagleson, the man of many hats, made a flying trip to Europe and straightened things out.</p><p>Eagleson had resigned as the chairman of the international committee of Hockey Canada because, he said, he was fed up with the meddling and criticism of the folks from the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association.</p><p>But that didn&rsquo;t mean that the Eagle was finished with international hockey. As executivedirector of the National Hockey League Players&rsquo; Association, he&rsquo;s very much the big force in any future international matches.</p><p>After all, a Team Canada without NHL players would be up the track&mdash;if it ever got on it. Unless Eagleson is involved, the NHL players won&rsquo;t follow. It&rsquo;s that simple.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02919/4197726-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="516" height="552"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Alan Eagleson</b></figcaption></div><p>Now, the European hockey countries have no interest at all in international matches which don&rsquo;t include Eagleson and the NHL workers. Thus when the Eagle flew to Europe, he was dealing from strength on both sides of the Atlantic.</p><p>As a result of his meeting with several officials of the International Ice Hockey Federation, including the president Dr. Gunther Sabetzki, Eagleson gained an important concession. In the future it&rsquo;s likely that Eagleson will be allowed to sit on the IIHF committee to represent the players and the NHL.</p><p>&ldquo;Sabetzki told me he&rsquo;d find a way to permit me and the players to by-pass the CAHA and sit on the committee,&rdquo; Eagleson said.</p><p>&ldquo;The CAHA can&rsquo;t be asked to withdraw because it is Canada&rsquo;s official representative to the IIHF but Sabetzki will ask the IIHF committee to invite the players&rsquo; association to be represented. That way we can deal directly with the IIHF and get around the CAHA.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>Canada Cup In &lsquo;79?</b></h2><p><b>EAGLESON DISCUSSED</b> a long-range plan for international competition with the IIHF people which would see one major competition each year&mdash;a Canada Cup tournament, the world championship or the Olympics.</p><p>There could be a second Canada Cup in September, 1979, according to Eagleson.</p><p>&ldquo;I see our participation in international hockey as a gigantic jigsaw puzzle,&rdquo; Eagleson said. &ldquo;The first piece in the puzzle is the world championships this year in Prague. The ultimate goal is another Canada Cup.</p><p>&ldquo;We could have a Canada Cup series in 1980 or, quite possibly, by 1979 if we can get the machinery working in time. It will be discussed by the HHF summer congress.</p><p>&ldquo;Now that the players&rsquo; association can deal directly with the IIHF, I&rsquo;m certain we&rsquo;ll have NHL players&rsquo; backing for a team to go to Prague in April. The players simply couldn&rsquo;t go along with being represented by the CAHA.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>He Doesn&rsquo;t Understand</b></h2><p><b>DR. MIL SUBRT</b>, the chairman of the &rsquo;78 world tournament in Prague, expressed some puzzlement at the way Canadians operate in international hockey. That places him in the same boat as many Canadians.</p><p>&ldquo;Maybe there are too many organizations in Canada,&rdquo; Subrt said. &ldquo;We had good contact with the CAHA for a long time, then 10 years ago we were introduced to Hockey Canada. In the last two or three years, we&rsquo;ve had good contact with professional hockey.</p><p>&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t understand the situation because in Europe, there is just one organization in each country. However, it&rsquo;s Canada&rsquo;s affair to solve this problem and it&rsquo;s not for foreigners to mix into it.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-01

FRANK ORR SAYS

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;</p><p>Perhaps the worst advice anyone could give around the NHL was to sneak up behind a Philadelphia player and snap &ldquo;Boo!&rdquo;</p><p>The player&rsquo;s reaction would be either to begin shaking as if he had just grabbed 5,000 volts of electricity or an uppercut to the jaw. During the biggest crisis period of their puzzling season, the Flyers were strung tighter than a Stradivarius.</p><p>A shutout loss in Buffalo to the Sabres, a team the Flyers dominated as recently as last season, underscored Philadelphia&rsquo;s problems.</p><p>No. 1 problem was the absence of Bobby Clarke. People who said the Flyers aren&rsquo;t the same team without Clarke were right: in the first six games of his recuperation from a broken thumb the team&rsquo;s record was 3-3-0, making a second-place finish in the Patrick Division look likely.</p><p>Clarke&rsquo;s on-ice leadership, considered in a class by itself for years, was sorely missed. Opposing defenders were discovering, to their relief, that no Clarke meant there was no one pestering them.</p><p>The most disappointing aspect of toiling without Clarke was failure of other Flyers to provide the inspiring big plays that are their captain&rsquo;s trademark. The most obvious candidates to hoist the Flyers were Rick MacLeish and Reggie Leach. They are the Flyers&rsquo; gamebreakers, but during Clarke&rsquo;s civilian duty neither was producing as required. MacLeish had only two goals in six games (one empty-netter) while Leach had just one assist after being benched for two games.</p><p>After an All Star caliber start, Bob Dailey&rsquo;s offensive contributions from the right point had tailed off to only two goals in 22 games. Ross Lonsberry was as steady as ever, but he was unable to capitalize on several excellent Scoring opportunities.</p><p>&ldquo;We should be compensating (for Clarke) a little more than we are,&rdquo; said Lonsberry.</p><p>&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have enough guys doing what Clarkie does,&rdquo; said Paul Holmgren, who returned to the lineup after missing just two games with a fracture of a lower-back vertebrae tip.</p><p>The Flyers&rsquo; lethargy and inability to win against the league&rsquo;s other top teams (1-8-4 record) triggered the inevitable trade speculation. The hottest rumor&mdash;at least for sheer quantity&mdash;had the Flyers and Pittsburgh swinging a four-for-four exchange. The Flyers were said to be particularly interested in goaltender Denis Herron and the ever-popular Dave Schultz.</p><p>A Penguins&rsquo; spokesman insisted his club would not trade Herron or Schultz. But the fact that Herron&rsquo;s name was even mentioned indicates the Flyers dissatisfaction with Bernie Parent and Wayne Stephenson in games involving the top NHL teams.</p><p>In an effort to uncover a consistent goaltender, rookie Rick St. Croix was given a chance to win the job. The Flyers&rsquo; fourth-round draft choice in 1975 out of Oshawa lost his first two starts, then beat Pittsburgh, 3-1, as he impressed everyone with his stand-up style and poise.</p><p>&ldquo;The way he played tonight I think we saw a major-league goaltender,&rdquo; said coach Fred Shero after the 4-0 setback in Buffalo.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little surprised about playing now,&rdquo; admitted St. Croix. &ldquo;But this (NHL) is where I want to play. If they tell me to play, great. I know I can do well.&rdquo;</p><p>Many observers believe that Schultz&rsquo; enthusiasm and winning attitude would give the Flyers the spark they are missing. An opinion among Philadelphia players and press is that trades like the one that dismissed Schultz have cost the Flyers proven winners.</p><p>&ldquo;We have to look at our teams that won the Stanley Cups and see what we did,&rdquo; emphasized Clarke. &ldquo;Those teams weren&rsquo;t that talented, but guys like (Ed) Van Impe, (Barry) Ashbee and Schultz had hearts bigger than all outdoors.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03673/4197764-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="565" height="685"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RICK MacLEISH&hellip;Not Leading Flyers</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0012-03

Faltering Flyers Seeking To Recapture Former Spark

<div class="byline">BY RUSS WHITE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011038/4197802-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DAVE FORBES&hellip;Wants To Be Part Of Caps&rsquo; Growth</b></figcaption></div><p>WASHINGTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>C</span>oming&rsquo; to Washington to play for the Capitals isn&rsquo;t necessarily the dream of every hockey player. The game is easier to play when a team wins and the Capitals haven&rsquo;t been winning very often this year.</p><p>Life with losing teams has soured many participants.</p><p>This life didn&rsquo;t sour goaltender Gary Smith, who didn&rsquo;t enjoy anywhere near the kind of success he worked for in Washington but who left last week having gained the respect of everyone who knew him.</p><p>Smith, 34, tried to get untracked with the Caps after an off-year in Minnesota. He did everything asked of him by coach Tom McVie and lost over 30 pounds in the process.</p><p>Early in the season Smith played reasonably well in goal, but when rookie Jim Bedard was called up from Hershey, Smith went from No. one goalie to No. two and eventually No. three as Bernie Wolfe moved into the backup spot to Bedard.</p><p>With young Rollie Boutin, playing this year at Port Huron in the International League, recently signed to a multi-year contract, the Caps knew that they were settled in goal and began looking for another NHL club for Smith, who hasn&rsquo;t played since December.</p><p>Lou Nanne, the recently appointed general manager of the North Stars, claimed Smith last week. All of the Caps wished the best to Smith.</p><p>&ldquo;Gary is one of those rare individuals who is willing to sacrifice himself for his team.&rdquo; said Dave Forbes of the Caps. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t gripe or complain about what happened to him with Washington, even though he wasn&rsquo;t in a game for two months.</p><p>&ldquo;He came to practice each day, worked hard and had as much spirit if not more than most of the others.</p><p>&ldquo;His attitude showed me a lot, especially in this day and age when almost everyone seems to be looking out for themselves, hardly concerned with anyone else.</p><p>&ldquo;If everyone on a hockey team gave as much to his club as Gary Smith did to the Capitals, you&rsquo;d see a great hockey team emerge,&rdquo; Forbes said.</p><p>At 29, Dave Forbes was working unselfishly toward being one of the Capitals of the future. His own transition from a valuable utility man with the Boston Bruins to full time forward duty with the</p><p>Caps was beginning to bear fruit after causing Forbes much frustration.</p><p>&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t sure just what to expect with the Capitals,&rdquo; Forbes admitted. &ldquo;I came over from the Bruins just after training camp had ended and I thought that I had a very good camp for Boston.</p><p>&ldquo;Obviously, there were many good things that came with playing for a new team like Washington. I knew I was going to get more ice time and I had a chance to be a complete player. I anticipated scoring points, and I was determined to do all I could to help the Capitals toward improvement.&rdquo;</p><p>Once the season rolled on, the Caps experienced a deadly 20-game winless streak, making life awfully tough on everyone. Forbes felt responsible for several games because he was unable to cash in on breakaways.</p><p>&ldquo;There were so many times when I had a big chance to score and when a goal would have been the turning point,&rdquo; Forbes said. &ldquo;For some reason I just didn&rsquo;t put the puck into the net.&rdquo;</p><p>It took Forbes 58 games to accumulate 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists), but his 20th point was a big one. helping the Caps to a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota North Stars.</p><p>Forbes carried the puck down the right wing boards to lead a three-on-two break. He passed to Rick Bragnalo, who made a smart backhand pass to rookie Robert Picard, who shot and scored the winning goal against the Stars with only seven seconds remaining in the second period.</p><p>It was the kind of play that ought to be in a hockey textbook and the kind of play Dave Forbes feels he is capable of creating again for the Capitals.</p><p>&ldquo;Big things are going to happen to this team in Washington,&rdquo; Forbes predicted. &ldquo;I think the hockey here will grow even quicker and bigger than it did in Philadelphia. We&rsquo;ve already got some great fans and we&rsquo;ll get more. I certainly want to be part of the team&rsquo;s growth.&rdquo;</p><p>Forbes may get that wish but a guy he respected, goalie Gary Smith, has moved on without tasting the wine. Dave Forbes, for one, regrets that.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02833/4197795-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="570" height="907"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GARY SMITH&hellip;Gained Respect</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0013-01

Departed Smith Praised By Mates; Forbes Predicts Caps’ Resurgence

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011062/4197833-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="577" height="935"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MIKE PELYK&hellip;Realizes Situation</b></figcaption></div><p>TORONTO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>F</span>or the second consecutive season, the National Hockey League career of defenseman Mike Pelyk with the Toronto Maple Leafs is having a revival late in the campaign.</p><p>Pelyk spent much of the &rsquo;76-77 schedule with the Dallas Black Hawks of the Central League but when the Leafs encountered a barrage of injuries to their backliners late in the season, Pelyk was summoned and performed well in the playoffs against the Philadelphia Flyers.</p><p>This season, the Leafs didn&rsquo;t wait quite as long to decide that they needed Pelyk again. He played the first half of the season with the CHL Tulsa Oilers, then rejoined the Leafs in early January. He&rsquo;ll fill the utility role&mdash;defenseman, winger and penalty-killer&mdash;for the duration of the season.</p><p>But then Pelyk&rsquo;s on-again, off-again career with the Leafs never has been smooth. When he was recalled this time, his replacement with Tulsa was Randy Carlyle, a young man who played a large role in Pelyk&rsquo;s return to the Leafs from the World Hockey Association in 1976.</p><p>In the summer of &rsquo;74, the Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA made Pelyk an offer to defect which (a) neither he nor his lawyer Alan Eagleson could believe at firsthand (b) he couldn&rsquo;t refuse. Pelyk spent a season with the Vancouver Blazers and then joined the Stingers in their first WHA season.</p><p>In the 1976 amateur draft. Carlyle was a top prospect but his agent made it known that he already was committed to the Cincinnati team. When the Leafs&rsquo; second round turn came up. they claimed him, anyway, then discovered that he hadn&rsquo;t signed with the Stingers and promptly acquired his name on a contract.</p><p>The Stingers threatened legal action against the Leafs and the entire matter was settled when the Toronto club agreed to take Pelyk&rsquo;s contract off the Stingers&rsquo; hands in return for the Leafs&rsquo; keeping Carlyle with no hassles.</p><p>Pelyk spent the &rsquo;76-77 season with Dallas in the CHL. where Neilson was the coach.</p><p>&ldquo;Pelyk had an excellent season for me in Dallas,&rdquo; Neilson said: &ldquo;He played well and he did a good job helping our younger players.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Without a doubt, technically Roger is the best coach I&rsquo;ve ever had,&rdquo; Pelyk said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s meticulous in his approach and he&rsquo;s done many things which haven&rsquo;t been done very often in hockey but have been used in other sports.&rdquo;</p><p>This season, Pelyk played strongly at Tulsa and when the Leafs needed an addition, Neilson called on Pelyk. The Toronto fans gave Pelyk his accustomed roasting on his return but the boos slowly subsided as he played well in spot duty.</p><p>Pelyk feels his situation with the Leafs is a day-to-day arrangement.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been going okay for me so far but I have no false beliefs about the future.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Sure, I&rsquo;d like to play regularly but I have to wait for the situation with the team to change.</p><p>&ldquo;Until it does, I have to be ready to do well in any assignment Roger gives me. I figured I&rsquo;d be in Tulsa for the duration of the season but now I have the chance to do the best I can again in the NHL.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-01

Pelyk Content Filling Relief Role

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;</p><p>The St. Louis Blues broke their 12-game winless streak in Barclay Plager&rsquo;s first game as coach but then seemed to be settling into a spot out of the playoffs.</p><p>Plager had hoped to drive the team until it displaced the Vancouver Canucks in second place in the Smythe Division. But even the Canucks&rsquo; poor record on a long road trip did not help the Blues to gain much in the standings.</p><p>However, Plager is trying hard to instill a new spirit in the Blues and he was helped greatly by that first big victory, a 4-3 decision over the Canucks to break the longest winless streak in the Blues&rsquo; history.</p><p>&ldquo;They went out to win for me, and I&rsquo;m sure you&rsquo;ll see them playing with a lot more confidence,&rdquo; Plager said. &ldquo;The biggest reason to win is just to look at their faces in the dressing room and to look at the faces of the fans leaving the rink.&rdquo;</p><p>One of the first changes Plager made was to put his old teammate, Jimmy Roberts, back on defense. Roberts had been alternating between defenseman and wing under former coach Leo Boivin.</p><p>Another former Plager teammate, Red Berenson, the team&rsquo;s captain, said: &ldquo;Bare is going to wake this team up. If somebody doesn&rsquo;t care about winning, he won&rsquo;t be here. Bare is competitive and doesn&rsquo;t tolerate losing. And he doesn&rsquo;t care whether you&rsquo;re an old player or a new player; you have to work.&rdquo;</p><p>After the Blues snapped their winless streak, Berenson said: &ldquo;Now we know it wasn&rsquo;t Leo&rsquo;s fault; it was the players&rsquo; fault. Bare tells us we&rsquo;re better hockey players than we think; it&rsquo;s a matter of confidence.&rdquo;</p><p>Garry Unger, more like Boivin than Plager in personality, endorsed the change of coaches.</p><p>&ldquo;I think the change is for the best,&rdquo; Unger said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s best for Leo because he was starting to fight himself. And we couldn&rsquo;t have got a better man than Bare. He&rsquo;s an all-around winner and he&rsquo;s a true blue St. Louis Blues man.&rdquo;</p><p>Unger added: &ldquo;There are three things that make a hockey player work hard&mdash;money, fear of holding your job, or pride. The money has gone up for everybody, and the fear has gone away because there are a lot more jobs. So, if you&rsquo;re not playing for pride. you&rsquo;re in trouble.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02875/4197864-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="514" height="706"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GARRY UNGER&hellip;Calls Coach Winner</b></figcaption></div><p>Plager can appreciate the expression of those sentiments by Unger. The two men with different outlooks on life share a love for hockey and a sense of personal pride that makes them excel in whatever they try.</p><p>Unger, who had his 30th birthday a couple of months ago, recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of his streak of consecutive games. The streak would pass 800 games before the end of the season.</p><p>After the Blues had beaten Vancouver and lost to Buffalo, 6-2, Plager and general manager Emile Francis called high-scoring Tony Currie and goalie Doug Grant from Salt Lake City, where Plager had coached earlier this season, and sent Ed Staniowski to the farm club.</p><p>Currie, the Blues&rsquo; fourth draft choice last year, had been leading the Central Hockey League in goals with 33. He scored his first NHL goal on his first NHL shot, although the Blues lost to Pittsburgh, 5-4.</p><p>&ldquo;That first goal took the pressure off, and Bare told me to keep shooting,&rdquo; Currie said. &ldquo;He needs guys to score goals, and that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ve done all my life.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Blues Have Faith In Plager’s Bid To Restore Pride

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01868/4198147-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="366" height="766"></div><h2><b>ATLANTA</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02726/4198140-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="145" height="130"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03580/4198133-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="720" height="621"></div><h2><b>BOSTON</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04456/4198126-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="125" height="128"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05350/4198119-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="719" height="618"></div><h2><b>BUFFALO</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06287/4198112-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="118" height="119"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07261/4198105-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="720" height="590"></div><h2><b>CHICAGO</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08241/4198098-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="163" height="154"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09218/4198091-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="719" height="672"></div><h2><b>CLEVELAND</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-10196/4198084-1-eng-US/f0016-102.jpg" title="f0016-10" width="139" height="143"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-11182/4198077-1-eng-US/f0016-112.jpg" title="f0016-11" width="718" height="587"></div><h2><b>COLORADO</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-12165/4198070-1-eng-US/f0016-122.jpg" title="f0016-12" width="125" height="124"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-13151/4198063-1-eng-US/f0016-132.jpg" title="f0016-13" width="719" height="617"></div><h2><b>DETROIT</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-14144/4198056-1-eng-US/f0016-142.jpg" title="f0016-14" width="156" height="90"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-15134/4198049-1-eng-US/f0016-152.jpg" title="f0016-15" width="713" height="594"></div><h2><b>LOS ANGELES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-16130/4198042-1-eng-US/f0016-162.jpg" title="f0016-16" width="194" height="124"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-17122/4198035-1-eng-US/f0016-172.jpg" title="f0016-17" width="718" height="625"></div><h2><b>MINNESOTA</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-18115/4198028-1-eng-US/f0016-182.jpg" title="f0016-18" width="154" height="135"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-19107/4198021-1-eng-US/f0016-192.jpg" title="f0016-19" width="712" height="653"></div><h2><b>MONTREAL</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2088/4198014-1-eng-US/f0016-202.jpg" title="f0016-20" width="143" height="114"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2182/4198007-1-eng-US/f0016-212.jpg" title="f0016-21" width="715" height="651"></div><h2><b>ISLANDERS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2280/4198000-1-eng-US/f0016-222.jpg" title="f0016-22" width="138" height="131"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2377/4197993-1-eng-US/f0016-232.jpg" title="f0016-23" width="719" height="592"></div><h2><b>RANGERS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2475/4197986-1-eng-US/f0016-242.jpg" title="f0016-24" width="141" height="137"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2570/4197979-1-eng-US/f0016-252.jpg" title="f0016-25" width="715" height="644"></div><h2><b>PHILADELPHIA</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2667/4197972-1-eng-US/f0016-262.jpg" title="f0016-26" width="161" height="111"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2758/4197965-1-eng-US/f0016-272.jpg" title="f0016-27" width="710" height="638"></div><h2><b>PITTSBURGH</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2856/4197958-1-eng-US/f0016-282.jpg" title="f0016-28" width="146" height="140"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2949/4197951-1-eng-US/f0016-292.jpg" title="f0016-29" width="716" height="617"></div><h2><b>ST. LOUIS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3049/4197944-1-eng-US/f0016-302.jpg" title="f0016-30" width="108" height="96"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3149/4197937-1-eng-US/f0016-312.jpg" title="f0016-31" width="715" height="595"></div><h2><b>TORONTO</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3243/4197930-1-eng-US/f0016-322.jpg" title="f0016-32" width="127" height="131"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3343/4197923-1-eng-US/f0016-332.jpg" title="f0016-33" width="711" height="573"></div><h2><b>VANCOUVER</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3439/4197916-1-eng-US/f0016-342.jpg" title="f0016-34" width="117" height="84"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3525/4197909-1-eng-US/f0016-352.jpg" title="f0016-35" width="715" height="594"></div><h2><b>WASHINGTON</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3622/4197902-1-eng-US/f0016-362.jpg" title="f0016-36" width="177" height="98"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3722/4197895-1-eng-US/f0016-372.jpg" title="f0016-37" width="707" height="649"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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NHL SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>D</span>etroit and Pittsburgh are maintaining their edge over the New York Rangers for the final two wild card positions in the tense National Hockey League stretch race.</p><p>With just over a month left in the NHL season, which ends April 9, the two Norris Division clubs, the Red Wings and the Penguins will gain the final two playoff wild card berths if the clubs continue at their present pace.</p><p>The two top teams from each division will qualify for the playoffs as well as the next four teams with the highest points total, regardless of division.</p><p>This means that the second place Smythe Division club, currently Vancouver. which had 48 points after 64 games will qualify for the playoffs instead of the Rangers, who are fourth in the Patrick Division with 55 points after 64 games.</p><p>Toronto, third in the Adams Division, leads the wild card candidates with 82 points after 63 games, while the Atlanta Flames hold down second spot with 65 points in as many games. Detroit, which won a pair of weekend games from Minnesota, has taken over the wild card spot with 59 points in 63 matches, while the Penguins are two points further back after the same number of games.</p><p>Cleveland, which had an outside chance at a wild card berth, has faded to only 47 points after 66 games, but either Colorado or St. Louis, four and eight points back of Vancouver after the same number of games, still hold chances of qualifying for the playoffs if they can surpass the Canucks.</p><p>Meanwhile, right winger Guy Lafleur of Montreal Canadiens scored four goals and added five assists in three games during the past week to take the lead in the individual scoring race. The nine points also enhanced his chances at becoming the first Montreal player ever to win three scoring titles.</p><p>Lafleur recorded his third three-goal game of the season and added three assists against Detroit, to move into first place, ahead of New York Islanders&rsquo; Bryan Trottier, for the first time since Nov. 13. Lafleur now leads the NHL with 47 goals and 107 points while Trottier has 102 points. Trottier managed only two points in Islanders&rsquo; four games last week.</p><p>One of the contributing factors to Lafleur&rsquo;s lead over Trottier can be found in a comparison between the two in games between the Canadiens and Islanders. The teams met four times this season and Lafleur picked up 10 points while Trottier was limited to three.</p><p>Lafleur, although the NHL&rsquo;s top goal-scorer, has yet to score against two of the clubs he has faced this season. He has been unable to score against Buffalo and Chicago.</p><p>The only player in the NHL to score against every club is Toronto&rsquo;s Darryl Sittler, who is third in the individual scoring race. Sittler, currently on a 17 consecutive-game point-scoring streak, now trails second-place Trottier by eight points compared with 16 two weeks ago.</p><p>While Chicago and Buffalo have stymied Lafleur, among others, Sittler has been able to score five goals against Chicago and three times against Buffalo.</p><p>Trottier, Jean Pronovost of Pittsburgh Penguins and Steve Shutt of Montreal are next with goals against every team except Chicago although Pronovost, like Shutt and Lafleur, has one final chance against the Hawks.</p><p>In the Vezina Trophy race, Montreal&rsquo;s duo of Ken Dryden and Michel Larocque leads with 146 goals against in 63 games while Boston&rsquo;s trio of Ron Grahame. Gilles Gilbert and Gerry Cheevers are second.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Wings, Penguins Hold Edge Over Rangers In Wild Card Race

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><p>VANCOUVER&mdash;</p><p>There were calls for the head of Andre Beaulieu in Minnesota, and it was forthcoming.</p><p>Leo Boivin&rsquo;s St. Louis job was under severe pressure, and he succumbed.</p><p>Now the heat is on Orland Kurtenbach of the Vancouver Canucks, and many a railbird is predicting that his head may soon be the next victim in. the Smythe Division revolution. Nobody, with the possible exception of Bob Pulford and Colorado&rsquo;s Pat Kelly, is safe in the division as losing has become accepted.</p><p>In Vancouver, Canucks have just come off one of the most disastrous road trips in the history of the hockey club, which now stretches eight years. Despite playing in cities not generally considered to be the toughest in the league, Canucks emerged with two of a possible 14 points on the seven-game tour, the pair coming in a win over the Washington Capitals.</p><p>The pressure on Kurtenbach is understandable. He has only a one-year contract from general manager Jake Milford, so it would be quite inexpensive for the hockey club to terminate his services. Further, many believe that the talent on the Canucks is capable of playing .500 hockey or just under that, and at this point in the season, they have exactly twice as many losses as victories. Further pressure results from the fact that Minnesota seems to have experienced that natural turnaround which lasts three weeks or so after a coaching change and they now appear to be getting ready to join Colorado in the pursuit of the final playoff spot in the Smythe Division.</p><p>But Milford is sticking to his guns in that the refuses to push the panic button, even when it comes to coaches.</p><p>On the return of the club from the road Milford was quick to give his coach a vote of confidence saying that he would finish the year and that he would then see how things stood.</p><p>Further, Milford hinted that he may have a Swede or two lined up to bring in for next year&rsquo;s team, when he was asked on a local television show if he planned to raise ticket prices.</p><p>He admitted that in order that the club could raise the tariff to the games, they would have to get some sort of drawing card, and that included some well-known names that could help the Vancouver hockey club. Naturally he isn&rsquo;t saying who they will be as he said he looked at many players in Sweden as well as the Czech national team which happened to be playing a series of games in Stockholm while he was there. What the crafty 62-year-old has up his sleeve at this point is unknown, but suffice it is to say he has some money to spend, the Canucks saying repeatedly that they have no aversion to spending money in order to make it.</p><p>The biggest question around town nowadays though is whether Kurtenbach, a proven winner in the Central League with the Tulsa Oilers, will be around next year.</p><p>By his own admission, he has said that if the club continues to flounder there will have to be some changes made.</p><p>&ldquo;Right now I&rsquo;m just thinking about this year and making the playoffs,&rdquo; says Kurtenbach. &ldquo;There are still 22 more games to go and we have a fight on our hands to stay in the playoffs. But I guess you never know when the last nail of your coffin is going to be driven.&rdquo;</p><p>The crisis in Vancouver is difficult to pin exclusively on the coaching staff. There are many veterans on the club playing nowhere near their capabilities, and what can a coach do or say to someone who&rsquo;s been in the league five years and is not doing his job.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01760/4198202-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="558" height="749"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ORLAND KURTENBACH&hellip;Thinking About Playoffs</b></figcaption></div><p>Symptomatic of the team&rsquo;s problems was a case in point in Cleveland. Due to injuries to Brad Gassoff and Jack Mcllhargey the coaching staff recalled veterans Gerry O&rsquo;Flaherty and Garry Monahan from Tulsa for the two games, and then they were supposed to be returned to the Central League team at the conclusion of the road trip. When they arrived, they were the best two players on the ice for the team, as they each scored a goal and assisted on each other&rsquo;s, the club still losing on a last minute goal 3-2.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-01

Kurtenbach’s Job Reeling After Poor Road Showing

<h2><b>Looking At NHL Goalers</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01777/4198240-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="557" height="1980"></div><h2><b>NHL&rsquo;S&hellip;<i>Player of the Week</i></b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>S</span>parked by a six-point outburst against the Detroit Red Wings, Guy Lafleur picked up nine points last week and took over first place in the National Hockey League scoring battle.</p><p>Lafleur netted three goals and three assists against the Red Wings in a 9-3 Montreal victory to overcome a two-point lead held by Bryan Trottier of the Islanders. Lafleur also notched a goal, his 47th of the season, tops in the NHL, and a pair of assists in a 7-1 triumph over the Philadelphia Flyers.</p><p>The nine points boosted Lafleur to 107 points, marking the fourth consecutive year he has passed the century mark. Bobby Orr holds the league record with six consecutive 100-plus point seasons.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02627/4198233-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="502" height="790"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GUY LAFLEUR&hellip;Montreal Canadiens</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0018-01

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><p>DETROIT&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>here was a good deal of snickering in rival camps on the eve of the National Hockey League season when the Red Wings dished out $50,000 for a young man named Paul Woods out of the Montreal system.</p><p>Nobody&rsquo;s laughing any more.</p><p>The Wings had first choice in the intraleague draft and they selected the slender, hard-working forward. Woods was a center in the Canadiens chain but once with the Wings, he became a regular left winger on a line centered by rookie sensation Dale McCourt.</p><p>After a slow start, Woods began to find his scoring touch in February&mdash;and gave the Wings a great Sunday punch. He helped win one Sunday game over Cleveland with a third-period goal and assist, then scored his first NHL hat trick in an 8-3 triumph over Vancouver, also on a Sunday.</p><p>It&rsquo;s not that the Wings were ever concerned about their investment. GM Ted Lindsay and coach Bobby Kromm were convinced that based on sheer hustle and determination, Woods was a bargain. Here&rsquo;s a guy who worked hard all the time, the club&rsquo;s Mr. Perpetual Motion. And he played as hard on the road as he did at home.</p><p>Then came the scoring outburst and it was a bonus.</p><p>&ldquo;I only had six goals at Christmas and I was really concerned,&rdquo; Woods admitted. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a goal scorer but I can score if I get the chance. I was getting the chances before and not putting them in. There&rsquo;s no difference now. They&rsquo;re going in.&rdquo;</p><p>Just then, Lindsay sauntered past.</p><p>&ldquo;Great game,&rdquo; said the beaming Lindsay to Woods. &ldquo;That second goal was strictly effort. The guy trips you; you get up, then down again. Up again, down again and you finally score.&rdquo;</p><p>Kromm was ecstatic over Woods&rsquo; play.</p><p>&ldquo;What can you say about the little guy?&rdquo; Kromm said. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t be happier to see anybody get three goals. He&rsquo;s always giving you 200 percent effort out there.</p><p>&ldquo;We managed to slow him down from 200 miles an hour to 60 and that&rsquo;s helped his scoring. He had to learn to wait for his linemates, so they could help him once they got over the blueline.&rdquo;</p><p>Woods said his lifelong dream was to play in the. NHL. &ldquo;I enjoy playing and that&rsquo;s half the battle,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You can put up with a lot of things if you enjoy the game.&rdquo;</p><p>Woods was asked if he ever gets tired, because he never stops working.</p><p>&ldquo;Oh yeh, I get tired,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It goes in stages. Sometimes you feel tired for a couple of games, and then you feel better. When you feel tired, you just have to work harder to get to where you should be.&rdquo;</p><p>The schedule appeared to favor Detroit in its bid for a playoff berth, either by finishing second in the Norris Division or as a wildcard. With 25 games left, the Wings had 13 at home and 14 against teams with record below .500. The Wings also enjoyed three games in hand on the New York Rangers at this writing, should it come down to a wildcard situation between them. Point-wise, the Wings passed the Rangers when they chalked up their 50th points, nine more than they had all last season.</p><p>The Rangers have a difficult schedule. They have plenty of home games left but most of their total remaining games are against competition like Montreal, Toronto. Boston, Philadelphia and the Islanders. That includes an awesome final week that sees the Rangers on the road against the Bruins, the Flyers and the Islanders.</p><p>Captain Dan Maloney put the Red Wings&rsquo; playoff drive in perspective when he said the team was tired of the season ending early and the club has worked hard to make the playoffs this season.</p><p>Defenseman Greg Joly thinks the Wings can continue their strong&mdash;and surprising&mdash;showing.</p><p>&ldquo;We have as many home games left as any other team in the NHL, so all we have to do is put a string together,&rdquo; he said.</p><p><b>MOTOR CITY SHORTS</b>: Andre St. Laurent, enjoying his finest NHL season, celebrated his 25th birthday and goalie Jimmy Rutherford, playing some amazing hockey of late, turned 29 and is reaching his prime as an NHL netminder.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Woods’ Sunday Punch Elating Wings As Club Battles For Playoff Spot

<h2><b>NHL</b></h2><h2><b>CENTERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01743/4198358-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="581" height="244"></div><h2><b>RIGHT WINGS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02597/4198351-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="578" height="245"></div><h2><b>LEFT WINGS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03450/4198344-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="574" height="243"></div><h2><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04377/4198337-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="581" height="244"></div><h2><b>GOALERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05312/4198330-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="589" height="248"></div><h2><b>WHA</b></h2><h2><b>CENTERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-06241/4198323-1-eng-US/f0019-062.jpg" title="f0019-06" width="575" height="246"></div><h2><b>RIGHT WINGS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-07210/4198316-1-eng-US/f0019-072.jpg" title="f0019-07" width="579" height="246"></div><h2><b>LEFT WINGS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-08193/4198309-1-eng-US/f0019-082.jpg" title="f0019-08" width="574" height="282"></div><h2><b>DEFENSEMEN</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-09168/4198302-1-eng-US/f0019-092.jpg" title="f0019-09" width="575" height="241"></div><h2><b>GOALERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-10148/4198295-1-eng-US/f0019-102.jpg" title="f0019-10" width="591" height="245"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0019-01

Leading Players To Help You Select Your All Stars

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-11133/4198396-1-eng-US/f0019-112.jpg" title="f0019-11" width="552" height="587"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BRYAN TROTTIER</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-12125/4198389-1-eng-US/f0019-122.jpg" title="f0019-12" width="566" height="585"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RON PLUMB</b></figcaption></div><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>F</span>or those hockey fans who have been sitting restlessly awaiting their chance to try their hand at picking the All Star teams, the wait is over.</p><p>This week THE HOCKEY NEWS is publishing the first of two All Star ballots to allow the fans to select their 1978 teams from both the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association.</p><p>Last season we afforded our readers the opportunity to pick teams from both the NHL and the WHA on the same ballot and the response was overwhelming.</p><p>So here goes fans. Another chance to pick the best of the major leagues.</p><p>Beginning our 31st consecutive year of selecting All Star teams, the editors of THE HOCKEY NEWS are again giving their readers a chance to put themselves in the role of hockey experts. It poses a real challenge for the staunch hockey fans and readers are advised they have just two weeks to fulfill their dreams. Remember there will be All Star ballots in two issues only before we close the 1978 selections So hurry and get started right away.</p><p>Selections will follow the same procedure as last season when readers picked two goals, four defensemen, two centers, two right wings and two left wings from both the NHL and WHA.</p><p>Picking the All Star teams is only half the challenge.</p><p>In addition to the first and second All Star teams, the editors are also requesting that readers select a most valuable player and the outstanding rookie of the year from both the NHL and WHA.</p><p>Picking All Star teams is something most avid hockey fans relish but get very few opportunities to do. THE HOCKEY NEWS gives its readers this chance to exercise their right to select a first and second All Star team. Don&rsquo;t miss out on this test of your hockey knowledge.</p><p>It&rsquo;s really fun and might require a little more concentration on your part to come up with the best teams. With nearly 350 eligible players from the NHL and 160 from the WHA to choose from, you can expect to have your work cut out for you.</p><p>Merely clip the ballot shown on this page and then fill in your selections. It&rsquo;s both simple and exciting.</p><p>As we mentioned previously, All Star ballots will appear in two issues of THE HOCKEY NEWS and final results of the NHL selections will be published in the issue of April 14. The final WHA selections will appear one week later in the April 21 issue.</p><p>Remember if one of your favorites should fail to gain a berth on the fans&rsquo; All Star teams by the margin of just a few points, it could be because you didn&rsquo;t take the time to send in your ballot. So right now, while it&rsquo;s still fresh in your mind, fill out the ballot and mail it right away to All Star Editor, THE HOCKEY NEWS, 1434 St. Catherine St. West, Montreal, Canada, H3G 1R7.</p><p>If you need any player help in making your selections, kindly consult the leading player lists of both the NHL and WHA shown in column one and two of this page.</p><p>So, hurry hockey fans. You only get two chances to pick your favorite All Star teams.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-11

Hockey News Readers Pick Their NHL, WHA All Stars

<div class="byline">BY AL SMITH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01578/4198427-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GUY CHOUINARD&hellip;Defensive Play Draws Coach&rsquo;s Praise</b></figcaption></div><p>ATLANTA&mdash;</p><p>To say Guy Chouinard got off to a slow start this season would be putting it mildly.</p><p>First of all, he reported to training camp about six or seven pounds overweight. This didn&rsquo;t help Chouinard&rsquo;s skating ability and he&rsquo;s the first to admit he has problems with that already.</p><p>His training camp was so bad that Atlanta Flames coach Fred Creighton didn&rsquo;t use Chouinard in the Flames first three games.</p><p>&ldquo;Depressing,&rdquo; is the way Chouinard describes the early part of the season and admits, &ldquo;It looked like a long season a couple of months ago.&rdquo;</p><p>But all of a sudden Chouinard turned things around. It wasn&rsquo;t too surprising&hellip;he&rsquo;s had a history of slow starts and fast finishes. Chouinard himself pointed out the 1975-76 season when he Was playing for Nova Scotia of the American Hockey League.</p><p>He ended the season with 40 goals and 40 assists for 80 points. He can&rsquo;t remember exactly how many of these came after Christmas, but knows he scored between 50 and 60 of his points after Santa Claus made his annual visit.</p><p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t explain it,&rdquo; Chouinard said. &ldquo;Maybe I&rsquo;m just in the right place at the right time, but I don&rsquo;t seem to do anything different.&rdquo;</p><p>Creighton disagrees to some extent, especially about Chouinard&rsquo;s defensive game.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s improved his checking a lot,&rdquo; Creighton said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s become a much better all around hockey player. His defense has improved and it could stem from the fact he&rsquo;s worked like hell in our conditioning program.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a lot stronger than he used to be.&rdquo;</p><p>Earlier in the season general manager Cliff Fletcher was down on Chouinard and said the most important thing the Flames needed was a good center ice man. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t look like Guy is going to get the job done for us,&rdquo; Fletcher said. He&rsquo;s changed his tune lately.</p><p>And it&rsquo;s easy to see why.</p><p>Through his first 41 games Chouinard had only seven goals and six assists for 13 points. But then something happened. The Quebec City native scored two goals in game No. 42 and he was on his way. In the next 29 games, the five-foot-U, 182-pounder hit for 12 goals and six assists and moved up to seventh place among Flames&rsquo; scorers.</p><p>It&rsquo;s easy to see why folks in Atlanta are keeping an eye on Chouinard now. Last season amid all the hoopla of the Flames&rsquo; Willi Plett winning the Calder Trophy, they let Chouinard slip by. Although only 20-years-old and a rookie, Chouinard ended the season with 50 points&mdash;only six less than Plett.</p><p>&ldquo;I think the thing we tend to overlook,&rdquo; Creighton said, &ldquo;is the fact Guy is still so young. He looks older than he is and maybe we expect too much of him at times.&rdquo;</p><p>And because of the fact that Chouinard does have a mature look for his age, he has picked up the tag of &ldquo;Gramps&rdquo;.</p><p>Another reason Chouinard&rsquo;s accomplishments went almost unnoticed last season is the fact he is a very quiet person. There isn&rsquo;t a lot of fanfare where he is concerned.</p><p>But his talents are many for a player so young. He is an excellent stickhandler and passer and may be the most accurate shooter on the team.</p><p>That&rsquo;s why Creighton has used Chouinard on the power play all season. While Creighton has not been happy with the Flames&rsquo; man-advantage goals, he has been happy with the production of Chouinard. Through 41 games, Chouinard had 10 power play goals and it was almost a sure bet he would break the team record of 12 power play goals in a season held by Eric Vail.</p><p>Now, when they talk about Guy Chouinard around Atlanta, the talk isn&rsquo;t of him returning to the minors or being traded, and Fletcher isn&rsquo;t saying too much about a center ice man&mdash;maybe Chouinard can get the job done.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-01

Flames’ Chouinard On Track After Usual Slow Beginning

<div class="byline">BY RICH PASSAN</div><p>CLEVELAND&mdash;</p><p>There are times in a man&rsquo;s life when he has trouble believing in himself.</p><p>Not too long ago, Greg Smith had this problem. It was perplexing and seemed never ending.</p><p>The young defenseman for the Barons seemed to be on the ice every time a goal was scored against his club. In one two-game stretch. Smith was on the ice for 13 of 16 goals by the opposition.</p><p>That would drive most hockey players to the rubber room. It definitely had Smith wondering.</p><p>&ldquo;My opinion of myself was not too high on the way I was playing,&rdquo; the second-year professional said &ldquo;I&rsquo;m probably my best and worst critic.&rdquo;</p><p>Confidence, being what it is to an athlete, plays a big part in Smith&rsquo;s performance, When he&rsquo;s got it, everything becomes automatic and his performance reflects it.</p><p>For the first half of the 1977-78 season. Smith was coach Jack Evans&rsquo; most reliable defenseman. The Colorado College product played his regular shift, the point on the power play and killed penalties.</p><p>He logged more ice time than any other Cleveland rearguard and suffered some because of it. No other Baron was on the ice for more goals than Smith.</p><p>Now Smith is as confident a young man as any on the club It isn&rsquo;t a loud, cocky confidence. It is quiet and unassuming.</p><p>But if you ram a steel ball against a stone wall enough times, that wall is going to collapse. Smith&rsquo;s confidence eroded to the point where he &ldquo;finally got down on myself.&rdquo;</p><p>The nadir was reached when the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal cranked the Barons on successive nights with Smith&rsquo;s head spinning from all the goals-against.</p><p>&ldquo;I knew I was a much better hockey player than I had shown,&rdquo; he said. So he went out and proved it and the improvement was noticeable almost immediately.</p><p>&ldquo;Maybe I was pressing too much,&rdquo; Smith said, trying to reason it out. &ldquo;Maybe the pressure was too much I don&rsquo;t really know.&rdquo;</p><p>Smith&rsquo;s plus-minus figure, which dipped as low as minus-25, started going the other way shortly after those two disastrous games and should be respectable by the end of the season.</p><p>Smith, in addition to his defensive prowess, is also quite handy with his fists. Not many National Hockey Leaguers will pick a fight with him.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02279/4198489-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="562" height="884"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GREG SMITH&hellip;Regained Confidence</b></figcaption></div><p>The strong, six-foot, 195-pounder does not go looking for trouble. But he won&rsquo;t back away from it, either. He hasn&rsquo;t lost a fight yet.</p><p>&ldquo;I fight only when I need to,&rdquo; he said, preferring to downplay this aspect. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I have any reputation.&rdquo; He does.</p><p>After a few early-season scraps, he has been left alone. And that&rsquo;s all he wants now that he&rsquo;s got his iron-willed confidence back.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0021-02

Pair Of Disastrous Games Turn Barons’ Smith Around

<div class="byline">BY LARRY BORTSTEIN</div><p>DENVER&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>R</span>andy Pierce&rsquo;s problem as a rookie with the Colorado Rockies hasn&rsquo;t been just learning to play in the National Hockey League, but surviving in it.</p><p>&ldquo;I played three games in a row and for me that was a long streak,&rdquo; laughed the Rockies&rsquo; 20-year-old right winger after a recent outing. Since joining the Rockies for good on Jan. 4 after a couple of early-season callups to replace injured Rockies, Randy has been hospitalized for back spasms, and has missed games because of sore shoulders and assorted other ailments.</p><p>And that&rsquo;s not all. Pierce&rsquo;s run of physical problems began all the way back in training camp. He contracted the flu and missed valuable time, and then when he was sent to Phoenix for seasoning he began having problems with his kidneys.</p><p>Then when he was starting to round into shape he pulled a muscle. After being called up for the first time to Colorado he played one shift and pulled another muscle. Returning to Phoenix, he remained there until the club folded shortly thereafter and spent the next two weeks completely off the ice before he was assigned to Hampton.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to think that one of the reasons I&rsquo;ve been injured so much,&rdquo; says Pierce, &ldquo;is that I haven&rsquo;t really been in shape all season. I&rsquo;ve missed so much time that I&rsquo;m just starting to get into shape now.&rdquo;</p><p>The Rockies had one scary time with Pierce in early February when he suffered severe back spasms near the end of a game in Philadelphia. He remained hospitalized in Philly for two days after the Rockies returned to Denver. When the spasms overcame Randy while he was sitting on the Rockies&rsquo; bench, he collapsed and the incident so frightened the crowd in the Spectrum that silence fell upon the entire arena as Pierce was carried off on a stretcher.</p><p>Fortunately, the problem wasn&rsquo;t as serious as first believed. &ldquo;I never had anything like that happen to me before,&rdquo; Randy recalls. &ldquo;It felt like something was stabbing me.&rdquo;</p><p>Pierce admits he felt that some sort of change was needed, and being superstitious like most hockey players, started looking for an answer. Colorado coach Pat Kelly seems to have come up with it.</p><p>&ldquo;The coach asked me to stop wearing number eight on my jersey and switch to seven instead,&rdquo; says Pierce. &ldquo;Ever since training camp he&rsquo;s been asking me to do that. It seems he&rsquo;s had guys in the past who wore eight and were getting injured all the time, and he really thought the number was bad luck. After all the injuries I was having he finally told me to get rid of eight, and I did. I played my big &lsquo;streak&rsquo; of three games with number seven, so maybe it&rsquo;s doing the trick. I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s more psychological than anything else, but if it helps I&rsquo;m all for it.&rdquo;</p><p>The Rockies&rsquo; number seven&mdash;formerly the Rockies number eight&mdash;finally seemed ready to have something of a rookie season in the closing weeks of 1977-78 with the Rockies still contending for second place in the Smythe Division.</p><p>&ldquo;I think getting to double figures in goals would be a pretty good accomplishment,&rdquo; he says. Randy had six goals in his first 25 games with Colorado, which drafted him on the third round last summer. He was the 47th player chosen after a 38-goal, 60-assist year with the Sudbury Wolves. His centerman there was Ron Duguay, who became the first-round draft choice of the New York Rangers.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01427/4198458-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="501" height="881"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RANDY PIERCE&hellip;Changed His Number</b></figcaption></div><p>Pierce began on a line here with Paul Gardner and Joe Contini, another good rookie &ldquo;find&rdquo; for Colorado. And when Gardner was shelved with a fractured vertebrae, Ron Andruff took over the centering duties between Randy and Joe.</p><p>&ldquo;Joe and I played on a line together at camp a little bit last fall,&rdquo; recalls Pierce, &ldquo;and we got to know each other&rsquo;s moves pretty well. I think the three of us are doing a pretty good job of moving the puck and getting our share of goals.&rdquo;</p><p>Randy scored his first NHL goal on Jan. 18 against the Detroit Red Wings, a game that ended in a 4-4 tie. Pierce&rsquo;s goal came on a rebound which dribbled off Jim Rutherford&rsquo;s glove. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t exactly a picture goal,&rdquo; he laughs, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;ll take it. The first one is always the hardest I figure.&rdquo;</p><p>Two nights later Randy scored the Rockies&rsquo; third goal of the game, which proved to be the game-winner in a 5-2 triumph over Los Angeles. On Jan. 28, the Rockies scored their first-ever victory over Philadelphia, 6-4, and Pierce scored two of Colorado&rsquo;s four third-period goals in that one.</p><p>Randy shares a bachelor apartment in Denver with the Rockies&rsquo; strong Calder Trophy candidate, Barry Beck.</p><p>&ldquo;I want to come in stronger next season,&rdquo; says the six-foot, 190-pounder whom Rockies&rsquo; general manager Ray Miron calls &ldquo;a smart player.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I need to work with weights to build up my upper body and my shoulders,&rdquo; Pierce concludes.</p><p>Maybe, as Pat Kelly believes, getting rid of the burden that Pierce&rsquo;s number eight uniform was becoming is the best weight work Randy could have done.</p><p><b>ICE PEBBLES</b>: The Rockies&rsquo; 4-4 tie with the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night, Feb. 19, was Colorado&rsquo;s 15th tie of the season in 57 games. They participated in 14 draws all of last year&hellip;Ron Andruff, in a long goalscoring slump, had two goals against Montreal and another against the Rangers in a two-game Eastern trip, but suffered strained neck muscles when cross-checked by New York&rsquo;s Mike McEwen&hellip;John Van Boxmeer, having a good season for the Rockies without fanfare, continued to pile up assists, and after going the first 36 games without a goal, had six goals in the next 21 outings&hellip;The Rockies got a taste of the Montreal might in a rude way at the Forum on Feb. 18. After one period Colorado led 1-0, and the Rockies still led 3-2 after 40 minutes. But the Canadiens blasted seven goals past Michel Plasse in the final stanza en route to a 9-4 triumph&hellip;In an attempt to win one on the road, coach Pat Kelly sent Plasse out to work the third period of the Feb. 19 game against the Rangers after Doug Favell had worked the first two periods. It was a 3-3 game with Favell, and Plasse, who admitted he didn&rsquo;t like coming in cold, allowed New York its final goal for the tie. It gave the Rockies a 1-19-9 road record, and 0-17-8 in their last 25 away games through the next-to-last week of February&hellip;&ldquo;We wanted to try something different,&rdquo; Ray Miron said of the decision to let Plasse work the final 20 minutes of the Ranger game.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0021-01

Pierce Learning Survival’s Tough

f0022-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<h2><b>WHA&rsquo;S&hellip;<i>Player of the Week</i></b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>Q</span>uebec Nordiques&rsquo; Marc Tardif broke out of a brief goalscoring slump with five goals last week, plus four assists to continue to lead the World Hockey Association in scoring.</p><p>After scoring just one goal the week before, Tardif managed five goals as the Nordiques downed Houston 5-2, New England, 4-3, tied Houston 3-3 and nipped the Whalers, 2-1. Tardif scored a goal in each of the four games, including the first New England match where he had two goals and two assists, with the second goal deciding the contest in overtime.</p><p>Tardif raised his points total to 119 on the season, on 47 goals, 72 assists, putting him eight in front of his closest pursuer, Ulf Nilsson of Winnipeg.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02361/4198803-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="503" height="593"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MARC TARDIF&hellip;Quebec Nordiques</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0024-02

THE WHA

WORLD HOCKEY ASSCOCIATION

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE WARRINER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01454/4198841-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>REAL CLOUTIER&hellip;Hot Hand On Nordique Power Play</b></figcaption></div><p>HARTFORD&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>E</span>mbarking on a five-game road trip, New England had high hopes of closing the gap between themselves and the Winnipeg Jets who had taken the WHA lead away from them two weeks earlier. But it wasn&rsquo;t to be. Two important losses to the Jets in back-to-back encounters in Winnipeg forced the Whalers to begin looking back over their shoulders at Edmonton and Houston instead. There was considerable concern that the Whalers slump might push them even further down in the standings.</p><p>The glance back at the charging Oilers and Aeros may have spurred the Whalers to victory in Edmonton in the last game of the trip. Having lost three straight (Quebec, and Winnipeg twice), the Whalers got off the mark quickly and carried a comfortable 6-2 lead into the final period against the Oilers.</p><p>But, as has been the case of late, the Whalers had to hold on at the end in order to preserve the victory. Miscues contributed greatly to three goals for the Oilers in the final eight minutes of the game. The Whalers were fortunate to survive with a 6-5 win.</p><p>Upon arriving home from their western swing the Whalers looked forward to the month of March when they would be playing the bulk of their games in their new home at the Springfield Civic Center. In the month and a half since the Hartford Civic Center roof collapse, they had played only five &lsquo;home&rsquo; games in Springfield.</p><p>Since other events were booked into their new home, the Whalers experienced considerable difficulty getting ice time for practice on their new rink. In fact, the Whalers were able to practice on their new ice only twice in the six-week period that followed the collapse.</p><p>A number of things led to the plummeting from first place by the Whalers. The team was suddenly having difficulty holding a lead&mdash;a strong point earlier in the season. But one of the things that had contributed to the problem was a number of &lsquo;bad penalties&rsquo;&rsquo;&mdash;away from the puck.</p><p>Earlier, the Whalers were perhaps able to get away with such misdemeanors. Their penalty killing was the most efficient in the WHA. Lately, however, the art has deserted the Whalers. On the road trip they gave up eight power play goals in 17 shorthanded situations. That was enough to slide the Whalers down into fourth place in the official WHA stats of shorthanded efficiency.</p><p>It was hard to figure because the team has several very capable penalty-killing combinations&mdash;even though they had traded away Greg Carroll who had been very effective in that capacity.</p><p>Carroll was missed more in the faceoff department where he had been used almost exclusively in key situations. At least three recent losses might be attributed to the failure to win a crucial draw in the defensive zone. But the Whalers do not regret that trade with Cincinnati because the acquisition of defenseman Ron Plumb is still regarded as a real steal for New England.</p><p><b>WHALER WAVES</b>: Gordie Howe scored a goal in each of the five games on the recent road trip, thereby keeping him among the top 10 scorers in the WHA The ageless wonder had 26 goals, 46 assists for 72 points in 50 games. At his current pace Gordie will accumulate over 90 points by his 50th birthday on March 31.</p><p>Left winger George Lyle was expected to be sidelined for approximately three weeks by a shoulder injury&hellip;The Whalers have played only 500 hockey since their 13-game win streak very early in the season. Mike Rogers summed up a common feeling&mdash;and confirmed a dilemma&mdash;when he said, &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no way we should be anywhere near .500 I really don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s wrong&hellip;&rdquo;</p><p><b>QUEBEC</b>: After stumbling home from a dismal road trip where they lost seven in a row, Quebec won a thriller from New England at the Colissee. Veteran J.C. Tremblay wristed one into the net for the 6-5 overtime win. But two nights later the Nordiques traveled to Birmingham and were trounced 7-3. At that juncture in the schedule, general manager Maurice Filion relieved Marc Boileau of his coaching duties and stepped behind the bench himself.</p><p>The move surprised many observers since Boileau had been forced to work under very adverse conditions most of the season, having as many as 11 regulars out at one time. The infirmary battalion&rsquo; was just beginning to get back into action when Filion pulled the rug out from under his coach.</p><p>Defenseman Jim Dorey had recently returned. Valuable centerman Christian Bordeleau played in Boileau&rsquo;s final game and Francois Lacombe returned for Filion&rsquo;s debut. Both had been out since October. Defensemen Dorey and Lacombe were expected to help the Nordiques overcome their most blatant deficiency.</p><p>Although second in the WHA in the &ldquo;goals for&rdquo; department, the Nordiques were cementing themselves into the bottom spot in &ldquo;goals against&rdquo;, as they averaged almost 4.6 per game in that department.</p><p>Offensively the league&rsquo;s top scorer, Marc Tardif, failed to pick up a goal in seven consecutive games, but he did manage eight assists during the drought. Linemate Buddy Cloutier picked up much of the slack as he notched two goals in three consecutive contests, including three power play goals.</p><p>When Chris Bordeleau returned to center for Tardif and Cloutier, Matti Hagman slid into the background&mdash;at least temporarily. Although he was the Nords fourth leading point scorer Hagman was high in the &lsquo;minus&rsquo; department and apparently lost some ice time because of it. Actually, of the regulars, Cloutier and Andre Boudrias Were the only ones on the plus side of the ledger.</p><h2><b>WHA Leaders</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01390/4198834-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="607" height="1020"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0024-01

Whalers’ Slump Turns Strengths To Weaknesses

<div class="byline">BY JOHN McCLAIN</div><p>EDMONTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>bout the time the Edmonton Oilers began to suffer some serious injuries to defensemen Joe Micheletti and Al Hamilton and left wing Jerry Holland, the team needed a spark. Locked in a furious battle for third place with the Houston Aeros, the time was right for someone to step to the front and take charge of the Oilers.</p><p>To the rescue came Blair MacDonald, who took charge while the fans poured into the Edmonton Coliseum for an average of almost 10,000 a game. MacDonald has been the new hero, and each time he steps onto the ice, he receives a thunderous ovation.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting more ice time, the opportunity to do more things, and I&rsquo;ve got Mike Zuke, an excellent playmaker, beside me,&rdquo; the modest MacDonald explains his success.</p><p>After scoring 13 goals in the first 43 games, MacDonald exploded for 14 in the next 16 games. He bombarded New England with a four-goal game, and later added three, including the game winner, in a crucial overtime victory over Houston.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not playing much different than I did last year at Indianapolis,&rdquo; MacDonald says. &ldquo;I guess I&rsquo;m a little better around the net. I know I have a lot more confidence, plus I&rsquo;ve been a little bit lucky. I&rsquo;ve been going out to do something, instead of si-ting back and waiting for something to happen.&rdquo;</p><p>During the off-season, the Oilers engineered a trade with Indianapolis. Edmonton received MacDonald. Zuke and defenseman Dave Inkpen for defenseman Barry Wilkins and forwards Kevin Devine, Rusty Patenaude and Claude St. Sauveur. At first the trade appeared to favor the racers because St. Sauveur got off to a fast start offensively and Patenaude made the All Star team.</p><p>However, when Zuke recovered from an injury and centered MacDonald and Pierre Guite, the line clicked at an amazing frequency.</p><p>&ldquo;When I heard about the trade, I wasn&rsquo;t really surprised,&rdquo; MacDonald admits. &ldquo;The initial feeling after a trade is always one about why didn&rsquo;t they want me. I had two good years with the Racers (54 goals), but I didn&rsquo;t like what happened last summer when we didn&rsquo;t know what our status was.&rdquo;</p><p>The trade to Edmonton was a homecoming for MacDonald, who started his career with the Oilers in 1973-74.</p><p>&ldquo;This is a different club than when I left here (1975-76 season),&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Only Al Hamilton is still left from the team I played with. This is a good club. The organization is more stable. The attitude is more positive. The crowds have changed, especially the last two months. The fans give us a big lift.</p><p>&ldquo;The way things have turned out, I couldn&rsquo;t be happier. The Oilers wanted me when the Racers didn&rsquo;t and now I&rsquo;m doing everything I can to justify the trade.&rdquo;</p><p>And what a job MacDonald is doing. At 24, he plays with the poise of a veteran. He is one of the best forecheckers in the World Hockey Association. His backchecking is solid, and he is an excellent penalty killer.</p><p>&ldquo;I love to kill penalties,&rdquo; MacDonald says. &ldquo;This is the first year I&rsquo;ve killed them on a steady basis. Killing penalties gets me in the game more. I love the challenge.&rdquo;</p><p>MacDonald&rsquo;s style fits nicely with that of the Oilers.</p><p>&ldquo;We check more than some teams,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We shoot the puck in and go after it. We try to bottle up the other team with tight checking. We don&rsquo;t play defensively too much. We can score goals and we&rsquo;ve got a lot of balance. We try to forecheck the opponent early to break up their plays before they really get started.</p><p>We try to take advantage of the other team&rsquo;s mistakes and capitalize on our opportunities. &ldquo;I think we found ourselves in December. We started winning and we started believing in ourselves.&rdquo;</p><p>The Oilers believe in MacDonald, and so do opponents. Just ask the Whalers and the Aeros about Edmonton&rsquo;s newest star.</p><p><b>OILER NOTES</b>: Micheletti, the brilliant rookie defenseman, strained a knee in a recent game against Quebec. He decided against surgery, which would have knocked him out for the rest of the season and the playoffs. The Oilers are hoping Micheletti can return at the end of the season in time for the playoffs. In 51 games, he had 13 goals and 44 points. Coach Glen Sather also used Micheletti at left wing with Ron Chipperfield and Bill Flett&hellip;Hamilton, the top-scoring defenseman in the league with 54 points, is out for a minimum of two weeks. In a game against the Aeros, a slap shot by John Gray smashed Hamilton in the face. Hamilton was bleeding behind an eye. Fortunately, he should be able to return. With Micheletti and Hamilton out, Sather used left wing Brett Callighen on defense in some games. Trying to solve a void at left wing, Sather has given Gerry Pinder a 10-game tryout. Pinde who played at San Diego last season, was playing senior hockey. Gary MacGregor has also seen duty on the left side. Dave Semenko, the big rookie who plays on the fourth line with Jim Troy and Bryan Campbell, was tried with Chipperfield and Flett&hellip;Center Dennis Sobchuk, out with a shoulder separation, started skating the last week of February and should be full speed for the rest of the season.</p><p><b>WINNIPEG</b>: While Winnipeg hockey fans danced in the sreets at the news that eight new owners had matched the New York Rangers&rsquo; offers for Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson and are seeking membership into the NHL, the Jets continued to win. A recent 15-game winning streak set a major league hockey record. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got some ingredients of the Montreal Canadiens,&rdquo; coach Larry Hillman says. &ldquo;We have pride, character and discipline that comes from a winning tradition. One of the reasons we&rsquo;ve played so well has been our depth. I use 20 players. Our defense is also underrated. I said at the first of the season we could have the best defense in the league, and now I know we do.&rdquo;&hellip;The Jets lost goaltender Joe Daley for at least a month with a fractured hand suffered in a 9-6 victory over Houston. Luckily Gary Bromley has been excellent while splitting time with Daley&hellip;Winger Kent Ruhnke was returned to the minors&hellip;After scoring two goals in a victory over the Aeros, which gave him 997 for his career, Bobby Hull said, &ldquo;Scoring goals doesn&rsquo;t make a big difference to me. If they come, fine. As long as I&rsquo;m having fun and we&rsquo;re winning, it doesn&rsquo;t make a bit of difference if I score or not.&rdquo;</p><p><b>HOUSTON</b>: The Aeros made two deals, neither of which made any difference in the team. Defenseman Glen Irwin, who was not playing, was sent to Indianapolis for a draft choice. The Aeros then acquired minor league defenseman Paul Terbenche from Birmingham for future considerations. Terbenche, who had his best season at Calgary last year, later cracked a cheekbone while playing for Springfield, Mass&hellip;The Aeros&rsquo; hottest goal scorer has been John Gray, who had 25 after 56 games. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m in the groove.&rdquo; Gray said. &ldquo;Of course, I said I was in the groove as soon as I saw I&rsquo;d be playing on the same line with Andre Lacroix&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02283/4198872-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="560" height="647"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BLAIR MacDONALD</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0025-02

MacDonald Playing Like Veteran As Oilers Battle Injury Factors

<div class="byline">BY JIMMY BRYAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01383/4199046-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PAUL HENDERSON&hellip;Scored Three Hat Tricks</b></figcaption></div><p>BIRMINGHAM&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>irmingham Bulls hockey fans are seeing the real Paul Henderson this season, and the dashing hero of Team Canada&rsquo;s unforgettable win over the Russians in 1972 is still something to see when he has the throttle open.</p><p>Henny has the throttle open this season.</p><p>The New Henny, as he jokingly called himself ear her in the season, has taken over as leader of the Bulls. The quick&rsquo; skating left winger has scored three hat tricks in less than a month, each keying a comeback win which has kept Birmingham in the thick of the battle of the middle-of-the-league standings and a playoff spot.</p><p>Henderson&rsquo;s first hat trick came on his 35th birthday, Jan. 28, and keyed a Bulls&rsquo; push from a 5-2 deficit to an 8-5 win over league-leading Winnipeg in Birmingham.</p><p>The second came Feb. 17, and all three goals were dramatic ones, much like those for Team Canada against the Russians. Birmingham trailed Indianapolis 4-2 in the second period and Henny scored three straight goals, including the winner in overtime to front a 5-4 win.</p><p>Six nights later, Feb. 23, Henny had three more goals-waiting in his talented stick to help the Bulls rush from a 2-1 deficit to a 7-3 win over Quebec. He scored the tying and go-ahead goals in this game.</p><p>Barring a major catastrophe, Henderson is headed toward his most productive season of a 15-year career. Through 61 games he had scored 29 goals, assisted on 24 for 53 points. His best goalscoring season was 1971-72 when he put in 38 for Toronto Maple Leafs. His best point-total in a season was&rsquo; the year before when he totaled 60 on 30 goals, 30 assists.</p><p>Henny has long since zoomed past his sub-par numbers of last season, which were 23 goals and 25 assists for 48 points.</p><p>Changes in attitude, environment and personnel on the Bulls are factors Henny credits for his stunning about-face.</p><p>&ldquo;I made up my mind when training camp started to get in the best possible condition and give my best shot every shift,&rdquo; Henny said. &ldquo;As a result I got off to a good start and things continue to go well.</p><p>&ldquo;This year we have guys who want to win. Anybody with a bad attitude won&rsquo;t last long around here. Last year we were losing and everybody knew we weren&rsquo;t going anywhere. Now we re all confident we can make the playoffs,&rdquo; Henny said.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a much more physical team this year, and though I&rsquo;m not a physical player, I like the atmosphere our new guys create. I&rsquo;m not taking the cheap shots I did last season. It&rsquo;s just a joke the way teams are playing us now as opposed to the way they used to. They&rsquo;re like pussy cats now, because they know if anybody takes a run at me or some of our other players, retribution is not long coming.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02290/4199039-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="561" height="794"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PETER MARRIN&hellip;Henderson&rsquo;s Linemate</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;Gilles Bilodeau, Dave Hudson, Frank Beaton, Steve Durbano&mdash;they&rsquo;ll be looking them up in a hurry.&rdquo;</p><p>The new personnel also includes Joe Noris, Tony Cassolato and Brent Hughes from the old San Diego Mariners, plus Serge Beaudoin from Phoenix by way of Cincinnati.</p><p>There&rsquo;s also the new coach, firebreathing Glen Sonmor.</p><p>Henderson is determined to squeeze the best from the years he has left in hockey.</p><p>&ldquo;I guess any athlete who&rsquo;s getting a bit older wonders if he&rsquo;s losing it,&rdquo; Henny said. &ldquo;I had some serious doubts after last season, and that&rsquo;s why I was determined to give it my best shot this year. I feel I have some good years left, and I want to make the most of them.&rdquo;</p><p>The slim, handsome Henderson weighs no more now than when he broke in 15 years ago.</p><p>&ldquo;I take care of myself,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I watch my diet carefully, get enough rest and just generally look after my health. My attitude is much better. I guess I was subconsciously using our poor season last year as an excuse for my off-year.</p><p>&ldquo;This year I&rsquo;ve been settled in on a line with Peter Marrin and Tony Cassolato and that helps. We&rsquo;ve been together all season and familiarity breeds confidence. We&rsquo;re basically a working line, nothing too fancy. We go out and skate and make our own breaks,</p><p>&ldquo;The last two years I&rsquo;ve played with anybody and everybody, so it&rsquo;s nice to settle in on a regular line.</p><p>&ldquo;Ice time has been a big thing for me this year, too,&rdquo; Henderson said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m on the ice more than I&rsquo;ve ever been in my career. Our line starts most of the games, plus I&rsquo;m playing on the power play and killing penalties. When you feel good, nothing could be better than skating as much as possible.&rdquo;</p><p>Henderson says the WHA is more competiive now than at any time in its history.</p><p>&ldquo;The product has improved immensely.&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Every game is a dogfight. I think we&rsquo;re better than a sixth place club, and I&rsquo;m sure Quebec is wondering what it&rsquo;s doing in fifth place. We keep thinking Cincinnati will cash in, but they keep coming back. Edmonton is a solid club, and Indianapolis is no pushover since they&rsquo;ve toughened up with some recent trades.</p><p>&ldquo;Of course, Winnipeg, New England and Houston are 1-2-3 and the class of the league. But I&rsquo;d about as soon play any of them as Indy or Cincinnati. They&rsquo;re all tough, top to bottom.&rdquo;</p><p>With the league at its competitive best, Henny sees no reason for it not to be around awhile.</p><p>&ldquo;We have tremendous buildings all around the league now, and competition for jobs is fierce,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s plenty of good hockey talent available. It&rsquo;s just a matter of whether the owners want to hang tough.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;ll be merger down the line,&rdquo; Henny said, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;ll be next season. I know Birmingham can be one of the best franchises anywhere. My family and I sure love it here.&rdquo;</p><p>There&rsquo;s no retirement in Henderson&rsquo;s immediate plans. &ldquo;I have one more year on my present contract, so I&rsquo;ll definitely play next year. When it&rsquo;s time to renegotiate, that will be a big indicator. If I can still help, I&rsquo;ll continue to play. But it&rsquo;s been great. I wouldn&rsquo;t change a thing.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0027-01

Revived Bulls’ Henderson On Scoring Rampage

<h2><b>Where WHA Teams Play</b></h2><h3><b>MARCH</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01369/4199203-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="576" height="894"></div><h2><b>The WHA Scoreboard</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. March 7)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02270/4199196-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="589" height="243"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. Feb. 28</b></p><p>Houston 2 at Quebec 5</p><p><b>Wed. Mar. 1</b></p><p>Winnipeg 9 at Birmingham 4</p><p>Cincinnati 8 at Edmonton 4</p><p>Houston 1 at Indianapolis 5</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 3</b></p><p>Indianapolis 8 at Edmonton 8</p><p>Houston 3 at New England 2</p><p>Cincinnati 5 at Winnipeg 1</p><p><b>Sat. Mar. 4</b></p><p>Winnipeg 6 at Indianapolis 8</p><p>Birmingham 5 at New England 2</p><p>Houston 3 at Quebec 3</p><p><b>Sun. Mar. 5</b></p><p>Edmonton 4 at Birmingham 3</p><p>Cincinnati 2 at Indianapolis 4</p><p>New England 1 at Quebec 2</p><p>Houston 4 at Winnipeg 3</p><h2><b>WHA&rsquo;s Scorers</b></h2><h3><b><i>&hellip;This Week</i></b></h3><p><b>BIRMINGHAM</b>: Henderson 30,31,32,33, Cassolato 17, Beaton 4, Hanson 5, Roberto 5, Linseman 29,30, Mahovlich 12, Marrin 25.</p><p><b>CINCINNATI</b>: Marsh 18,19,20, Hislop 18,19, Deadmarsh 5, Handrahan 2, Harris 9, Ftorek 43,44,45, Carroll 11, Maggs 8.</p><p><b>EDMONTON</b>: Zuke 20,21, MacDonald 28, Chipperfield 25,26, Flett 31,32,33,34,35, Ferguson 22, Jarry 1, Callighen 15, Shmyr 6.</p><p><b>HOUSTON</b>: Connor 20, Lacroix 26,27, Campbell 7, Lukowich 32, Lund 6,7, Preston 22, Gray 26.</p><p><b>INDIANAPOLIS</b>: St. Sauveur 28,29,30. Larose 15,16,17,18,19, Devine 13, Patenaude 21, Morrison 13,14, Driscoll 20,21, Stoughton 14,15, Wilkins 2, Marotte 3, Parizeau 7, Constantin 3.</p><p><b>NEW ENGLAND</b>: McKenzie 18,19, Keon 18, Hangsleben 10, G. Howe 27,28 Mayer 10,11.</p><p><b>QUEBEC</b>: Cloutier 41,42,43, Tardif 43,44,45,46,47, J. Bernier 7, C. Bordeleau 2,3, S. Bernier 16,17, Dorey 1.</p><p><b>WINNIPEG</b>: Hedberg 53,54, Guindon 12,13,14, Hull 42,43, Kryskow 14,15, Lindstrom 25,26, K. Nilsson 33, U. Nilsson 30.</p><h2><b>Sun. Feb. 26</b></h2><h2><b>INDIANAPOLIS 6, BIRMINGHAM 3</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Indianapolis, 1&mdash;Larose (Patenaude, Leduc) 12:21. 2&mdash;Wilkins (Leduc, Leclerc) 16:07. 3&mdash;Driscoll (St. Sauveur, Leclerc) 16:37.</p><p>Penalties: Inkpen, Hanson (majors) 6:59, Westrum 7:55. Patenaude, 13:38. Marrin 15:25.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Birmingham, 4&mdash;Marrin (Napier, Henderson) 8:17</p><p>Penalties: Cassolato. Leduc (majors) 2:32. Langway 4:46. Wilkins 6:03. Inkpen 6:59.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Indianapolis, 5&mdash;Parizeau (Wilkins, Devine) 2:35. 6&mdash;Driscoll (St, Sauveur) 7:44. Birmingham. 7&mdash;Napier (Langway, Marrin) 17:03. 8&mdash;Linseman (Beaudoin, Cassolato) 18:02.</p><p>Penalties: Hanson (double minor), Irwin, Beaudoin (majors) 5:27.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03207/4199189-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="612" height="111"></div><p>Attendance: 5,643.</p><h2><b>HOUSTON 6, WINNIPEG 9</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Winnipeg, 1&mdash;K Nilsson (Kryskow, Clackson) 12:20 2&mdash;Hull (U. Nilsson. Dunn) 5:49. Houston, 3&mdash;Gray (Lacroix, Popiel) 11:44. Winnipeg. 4&mdash;K. Nilsson (U. Nilsson. Hull) 14:46.</p><p>Penalties: Huskowski 9:22, Sullivan 9:49, Connor 14:02.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Houston, 5&mdash;Hansis (Tonelli, Campbell) 1:52. Winnipeg. 6&mdash;Lesuk (Guindon, Sullivan) 13:59. 7&mdash;Hull (K. Nilsson, Lindstrom) 16:14. 8&mdash;Green (Baird, Powis) 18:36.</p><p>Penalties: Larway 4:30, U. Nilsson 5:40, Houston nench (served by West) 7:20.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Houston, 9&mdash;Gray (Larway, Lacroix) 4:42. 10&mdash;Popiel (Connor, Tonelli) 10.20. Winnipeg. 11&mdash;U Nilsson 10:33. 12&mdash;U. Nilsson (Hull, Hedberg) 11:46. Houston, 13&mdash;Gray (Larway, Lund) 16:54. Winnipeg. 14&mdash;Baird (Moffat, Powis) 17:26 Houston. 15&mdash;Lukowich (Hughes, Lund) 19:31.</p><p>Penalties: U. Nilsson 2:53. Connor 5:38. Lacroix 11:47. Hansis. Bergman (minors, majors) 14:17.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04161/4199182-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="599" height="113"></div><p>Attendance: 9,669.</p><h2><b>NEW ENGLAND 6, EDMONTON 5</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Edmonton, 1&mdash;Shmyr (Zuke, MacDonald) 5:35. New England, 2&mdash;Antonovich (G. Howe, McKenzie) 6:06 3&mdash;Hangsleben (S, Carlson) 12:21. 4&mdash;Antonovich (Selwood. G. Howe) 18:21.</p><p>penalties: Rogers 3:48. Semenko 8:10. Ley 13:04.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>New England. 5&mdash;Sheehy (Keon, Mark Howe) 1:1 6&mdash;Rogers (Mayer, Selwood) 2:35. 7&mdash;G. Howe (Keon, Plumb) 5:23. Edmonton, 8&mdash;DeMarco (Chipperfield, Flett) 16:22.</p><p>Penalties: Busniuk 4:48. Plumb 14:54, Zuke 20:00</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Edmonton, 9&mdash;Flett (Campbell, Busniuk) 12:27. 10&mdash;Zuke (Shmyr, Guite) 15:57. 11&mdash;Guite (MacDonald, Zuke) 16:47.</p><p>Penalties: Ley 5:10.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05140/4199175-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="596" height="102"></div><p>Attendance: 14,735.</p><h2><b>Tue. Feb. 28</b></h2><h2><b>HOUSTON 2, QUEBEC 5</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Quebec, 1&mdash;Cloutier (C. Bordeleau, Tardif) 0:34, Houston. 2&mdash;Connor (Hughes, Hansis) 16:59, Quebec. 3&mdash;Tardif (Cloutier, Tremblay) 19:50.</p><p>Penalties: Ruskowski, S. Bernier 3:38, McLeod 8:03. Tardif 8:58. Ruskowski, S. Bernier 18:48, Hughes 19:27.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Houston, 4&mdash;Lacroix (Popiel, Drake) 1:47.</p><p>Penalties: Popiel 2:19. Ruskowski 7:04, Schella 10:20. Ruskowski. Baxter 19:40, Dorey, Connor (majors) 20:00.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Quebec, 5&mdash;J. Bernier (Lariviere) 0:59, 6&mdash;Cloutier (C, Bordeleau) 3:30,7&mdash;Cloutier 14:44.</p><p>Penalties: Dorey 10:17, Ruskowski, Dorey 17:48.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-06122/4199168-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="585" height="105"></div><p>Attendance: 7,673.</p><h2><b>Wed. March 1</b></h2><h2><b>WINNIPEG 3, BIRMINGHAM 4</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Winnipeg, 1&mdash;Hedberg (U. Nilsson, K. Nilsson) 16:27. Birmingham. 2&mdash;Henderson (Marrin, Napier) 18:34.</p><p>Penalty: Durbano 14:45.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Birmingham, 3&mdash;Cassolato (Hanson, Gorman) 4:05. Winnipeg. 4&mdash;Guindon 7:43, Birmingham, 5&mdash;Beaton (Linseman, Westrum) 19:02.</p><p>Penalties: None.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Birmingham, 6&mdash;Hanson (Linseman, Roberto) 4:39. Winnipeg. 7&mdash;Hull (U. Nilsson, Dunn) 12:46.</p><p>Penalty: Dunn 9:25.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-07112/4199161-1-eng-US/f0028-072.jpg" title="f0028-07" width="588" height="99"></div><p>Attendance: 6,135.</p><h2><b>CINCINNATI 6, EDMONTON 4</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Cincinnati, 1&mdash;Marsh (Maggs, Harris) 5:04.</p><p>Penalties: Ftorek 3:24, Shmyr 3:35, Handrahan 17:28. Gilligan. Handrahan. Busniuk. Callighen 20:00.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Cincinnati, 2&mdash;Hislop (Stapleton) 5:02, 3&mdash;Marsn (Carroll) 14:16. Edmonton, 4&mdash;Zuke (MacDonald, Guite) 16:57.</p><p>Penalties: Gilligan 10:42.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Edmonton, 5&mdash;MacDonald (DeMarco, Zuke) 5:49 6&mdash;Chipperfield (Rota, Flett) 10:45, 7&mdash;Flett (Shmyr) 13:15, Cincinnati. 8&mdash;Deadmarsh (Melrose, Ftorek) 13:25. 9&mdash;(Gilligan, Harris) 16:02.10&mdash;Harris (Ftorek, Hislop) 18:55.</p><p>Penalties: Shmyr 1:00, Cincinnati bench (served by Stewart) 4:30. Carroll 7:23. Handrahan 11:44.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-08103/4199154-1-eng-US/f0028-082.jpg" title="f0028-08" width="592" height="112"></div><p>Attendance: 8,566.</p><h2><b>HOUSTON 1, INDIANAPOLIS 5</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Indianapolis, 1&mdash;St. Sauveur 9:39, 2&mdash;Larose (Morrison, Wilkins) 12:51.</p><p>Penalties: Driscoll 10:48. Gray 12:08, Marotte 17:01. Preston 18:27, Tonelli (double minor). Leduc 19:29.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Indianapolis, 3&mdash;Devine (Parizeau, Inkpen) 9:59, Houston. 4&mdash;Campbell (Connor, Ruskowski) 17:26.</p><p>Penalties: Gray 15:22, Connor, Inkpen 18:37.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Indianapolis, 5&mdash;Larose (Morrison, Parizeau) 2:05, 6&mdash;Patenaude (Devine, Marotte) 2:35.</p><p>Penalty: Campbell 6:36.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0997/4199147-1-eng-US/f0028-092.jpg" title="f0028-09" width="592" height="113"></div><p>Attendance, 5,213.</p><h2><b>QUEBEC 4, NEW ENGLAND 3</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>New England, 1&mdash;McKenzie (Antonovich, G. Howe) 8:22.</p><p>Penalties: Selwood 9:10, Rogers 13:17, Baxter 18:02</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Quebec, 2&mdash;C Bordeleau (Cloutier, Tardif) 6:12, New England. 3&mdash;Keon (Mark Howe, G. Howe) 12:02. Quebec, 4&mdash;Tardif 13:45.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>New England. 5&mdash;McKenzie (Antonovich) 2:54. Quebec, 6&mdash;S. Bernier (Tardif, Dorey) 19:00.</p><p>Penalties: Hangsleben 8:25, Sutherland. Hangsleben 10:58.</p><h3><b>OVERTIME PERIOD</b></h3><p>Quebec, 7&mdash;Tardif (Cloutier) 5:51.</p><p>Penalties: None.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1094/4199140-1-eng-US/f0028-102.jpg" title="f0028-10" width="594" height="96"></div><p>Attendance, 7.053.</p><h2><b>Fri. March 3</b></h2><h2><b>INDIANAPOLIS 8, EDMONTON 8</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Indianapolis, 1&mdash;Morrison (Leclerc, St. Sauveur) 1:44, Edmonton, 2&mdash;Chipperfield (Jarry, Flett) 12:05. 3&mdash;Ferguson (Zuke, Shmyr) 13:23, 4&mdash;Flett (Zuke, Chipperfield) 17:29.</p><p>Penalties: Callighen 1:02, Inkpen 4:55, Patenaude 13:12,16:38.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Indianapolis, 5&mdash;Morrison (Driscoll) 0:23, 6&mdash;Driscoll (Leduc) 0:43, Edmonton. 7&mdash;Flett (Chipperfield, DeMarco) 1:09, 8&mdash;Jarry (DeMarco) 9:55, Indianapolis. 9&mdash;Driscoll (Leclerc) 13:11. Edmonton. 10&mdash;Callighen (Busniuk, Ferguson) 17:07, Indianapolis, 11&mdash;Stoughton, (Larose, Marotte) 18:16, 12&mdash;Larose (Stoughton, Wilkins) 18:40</p><p>Penalties: Stoughton, Chipperfield 13:36.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Indianapolis, 13&mdash;Larose (Leduc, Inkpen) 1:48, 14&mdash;Wilkins (Leduc) 19:31.</p><p>Penalties: None.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1186/4199133-1-eng-US/f0028-112.jpg" title="f0028-11" width="594" height="114"></div><p>Attendance: 10,260.</p><h2><b>HOUSTON 3, NEW ENGLAND 2</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Houston, 1&mdash;Lukowich (Hansis) 0:29.</p><p>Penalty: Marty Howe 18:37.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Houston, 2&mdash;Lund (Campbell, Connor) 12:09.</p><p>Penalties: Schella, Hangsleben 4:02, G. Howe 15:15.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>New England. 3&mdash;Hangsleben (G. Howe. Marty Howe) 3:11. 4&mdash;G. Howe (Roberts) 6:17.</p><p>Penalties: Hansis. Hangsleben 1:02, Connor 5:59, Preston 9:53.</p><h3><b>OVERTIME PERIOD</b></h3><p>Houston, 5&mdash;Preston (Tonelli, Lacroix) 7:11.</p><p>Penalty: none.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1282/4199126-1-eng-US/f0028-122.jpg" title="f0028-12" width="594" height="105"></div><p>Attendance: 2,230.</p><h2><b>CINCINNATI 5, WINNIPEG 1</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Winnipeg, 1&mdash;Hull (U, Nilsson) 10:35, Cincinnati.</p><p>2&mdash;Ftorek (Hislop, Gregg) 17:45.</p><p>Penalties: Long 7:04, Legge 9:56, Bergman 12:05, Greig 14:43, Stewart, Clackson (majors) 18:27.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Cincinnati, 3&mdash;Ftorek (Marsh, Norwich) 2:49.</p><p>Penalty: Deadmarsh 9:20.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Cincinnati, 4&mdash;Marsh (Hislop, Ftorek) 14:07, 5&mdash;Ftorek (Norwich) 15:04, 8&mdash;Carroll (Liut) 15:47.</p><p>Penalty: Dunn 12:34.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1376/4199119-1-eng-US/f0028-132.jpg" title="f0028-13" width="602" height="109"></div><p>Attendance: 10,221.</p><h2><b>Sat. March 4</b></h2><h2><b>WINNIPEG 6, INDIANAPOLIS 8</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Indianapolis, 1&mdash;Marotte (Leclerc, Inkpen) 6:09.</p><p>Penalties: Clackson 0:38, Stoughton 2:27, Leduc 7:43. Marotte 16:16.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Winnipeg, 2&mdash;Lindstrom 1:14, Indianapolis. 3&mdash;Patenaude (Parizeau, Devine) 6:15, Winnipeg, 4&mdash;Kryskow (Lindstrom, K. Nilsson) 6:41. 5&mdash;K. Nilsson (Sjoberg, U. Nilsson) 7:17, 6&mdash;U. Nilsson (Hedberg, Hull) 8:04. Indianapolis. 7&mdash;St. Sauveur (Block, Fortier) 8:19, 8&mdash;Larose (Stoughton, Marotte) 14:34. Winnipeg, 9&mdash;Hedberg (U, Nilsson) 15:24. Indianapolis, 10&mdash;Parizeau 16:08.</p><p>Penalties: U. Nilsson 2:43, Inkpen 7:08, Dunn 19:32.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Indianapolis, 11&mdash;Constantin (Morrison, Wilkins) 2:02, Winnipeg 12&mdash;Guindon (Lesuk, Sullivan) 5:32, Indianapolis, 13&mdash;Stoughton (Morrison, Wilkins) 9:29, 14&mdash;St. Sauveur (Constantin, Wilkins) 19:39.</p><p>Penalties: Dunn 1:54, Patenaude 3:05, Bergman 7:33.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1467/4199112-1-eng-US/f0028-142.jpg" title="f0028-14" width="595" height="107"></div><p>Attendance: 8,811.</p><h2><b>BIRMINGHAM 5, NEW ENGLAND 2</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Birmingham, 1&mdash;Linseman (Roberto, Beaudoin) 0:57, New England, 2&mdash;G. Howe (Mark Howe) 1:19, Birmingham. 3&mdash;Henderson (Marrin) 5:49, New England. 4&mdash;Mayer (Ley, Seiwood) 7:26.</p><p>Penalties: Beaton. Plumb 3:14, Bilodeau. J. Carlson (majors) 7:15, Hughes 7:40.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Birmingham, 5&mdash;Mahovlich (J.C. Stewart, Beaudoin) 1:15, 6&mdash;Marrin (Napier) 14:41.</p><p>Penalties: Beaton, Bolduc, (majors) 4:15, G. Howe 7:07, J. Carlson, J.C. Stewart 13:21, Westrum. McKenzie 16:19.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Birmingham, 7&mdash;Linseman (Hanson) 17:26.</p><p>Penalties: J.C. Stewart, Durbano, Cassolato, J. Carlson, Hangsleben (majors), Garrett (triple minor, game misconduct) Smith (minor) 17:54.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1566/4199105-1-eng-US/f0028-152.jpg" title="f0028-15" width="594" height="109"></div><p>Attendance, 8,125.</p><h2><b>HOUSTON 3, QUEBEC 3</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Houston, 1&mdash;Lacroix (Lukowich, Popiel) 16:31.</p><p>Penalties: Hansis, 5:52, Dube, 8:32, Connor, 19:02 Baxter. 19:52.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Houston, 2&mdash;Gray (Lukowich, McLeod) 5:36, Quebec, 3&mdash;Tardif (Cloutier, C. Bordeleau) 8:28, 4&mdash;Dorey (Fitchner, Miller) 13:15.</p><p>Penalties: None.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Houston, 5&mdash;Lund (Connor, Tonelli) 12:18, Quebec. 6&mdash;S. Bernier (Cloutier, Tardif) 14:35.</p><p>Penalties: Connor 12:49, Fitchner 16:03.</p><h3><b>OVERTIME PERIOD</b></h3><p>No scoring.</p><p>Penalties: None.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1654/4199098-1-eng-US/f0028-162.jpg" title="f0028-16" width="597" height="112"></div><p>Attendance: 8,113.</p><h2><b>Sun. March 5</b></h2><h2><b>EDMONTON 4, BIRMINGHAM 3</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Edmonton, 1&mdash;Shmyr (Callighen, Widing) 18:03.</p><p>Penalties: Beaudoin 4:19, Durbano 16:35, Hanson, Shmyr 18:57.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Birmingham, 2&mdash;Roberto (Beaudoin, Hanson) 4:43, 3&mdash;Henderson (Westrum, Marrin) 9:03, 4&mdash;Henderson (Langway, Hughes) 12:38.</p><p>Penalties: Hanson (major), Guite (minor, major) 11:16, Ahrens (major, misconduct), Beaton (minor, major) 13:24.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Edmonton, 5&mdash;Zuke (DeMarco) 4:58, 6&mdash;Flett (Chipperfield) 7:58, 7&mdash;Flett (DeMarco) 14:04.</p><p>Penalty, Callighen 6:35.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1741/4199091-1-eng-US/f0028-172.jpg" title="f0028-17" width="591" height="104"></div><p>Attendance: 8,362.</p><h2><b>CINCINNATI 2, INDIANAPOLIS 4</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Indianapolis, 1&mdash;Constantin (Morrison, Leclerc) 4:55.</p><p>Penalties: Maggs 3:23, Harris 6:44, Leduc 7:32, Indianapolis bench (served by Paiement) 14:09, Leduc (major and misconduct) 14:09, Deadmarsh 17:10.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Indianapolis, 2&mdash;Leduc 11:58, 3&mdash;Leclerc (Inkpen, St-Sauveur) 16:47.</p><p>Penalties: Coates 2:22, Marotte 8:15, Melrose 10:35.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Indianapolis, 4&mdash;Leduc (Larose, Fortier) 2:23, Cincinnati, 5&mdash;Maggs (Ftorek) 13:51, 8&mdash;Hislop (Ftorek) 16:24.</p><p>Penalties: Morrison 5:10, Melrose 6:39.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1838/4199084-1-eng-US/f0028-182.jpg" title="f0028-18" width="593" height="109"></div><p>Attendance: 9,045.</p><h2><b>NEW ENGLAND 1, QUEBEC 2</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>New England, 1&mdash;Mayer (S. Carlson, Selwood) 3:01.</p><p>Penalties: Sheehy 5:32, Lariviere 13:56.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Quebec, 2&mdash;Tardif (Hagman. C. Bordeleau) 3:52. 3&mdash;C. Bordeleau (P. Bordeleau, J, Bernier) 8:39.</p><p>Penalties: G. Howe, Baxter 1:48, Plumb 5:43, Fitchner 9:09.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1935/4199077-1-eng-US/f0028-192.jpg" title="f0028-19" width="586" height="106"></div><p>Attendance: 9,105.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0028-01

WORLD HOCKEY A5SH. SUMMARIES

<h2><b>Where AHL Teams Play</b></h2><h3><b>MARCH</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01323/4199234-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="535" height="760"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0029-01

OTHER LEAGUES

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY JIM LEAHY</div><p>HALIFAX&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he largest crowd ever to see a game in Halifax, some 8,449 fans, attended the opening of the Halifax Metro Centre on Feb. 19. The Nova Scotia Voyageurs treated this season&rsquo;s biggest American Hockey League crowd to a 4-3 victory over the Hershey Bears.</p><p>After playing four more road games last week the Vees were starting to come to life. Wins over Philadelphia (5-3) and Binghamton (6-2) on the road helped move the club ahead of Binghamton and into position for a late-season surge towards front-running Maine and Springfield.</p><p>Never count the Vees out. This has been a weird season for the club since, until now, they have played most of their games on the road. If they can physically withstand the grind of playing their tremendous number of home games, the Vees could be in the thick of things. Few clubs could go through what they went through so far this season and still manage to play .500 hockey.</p><p><b>HERSHEY</b>: The Bears may be having a tough season but you couldn&rsquo;t tell that by their attendance figures. The club is averaging 4,189 per game, fourth best in the AHL despite the fact that they have a losing record.</p><p>Last week they lost all three games. Thursday it was a 4-3 loss in overtime at Philadelphia. Saturday night the Mariners skated to a 4-1 victory in Portland and Sunday the Bears opened the Halifax Metro Centre with a 4-3 loss to the Voyageurs.</p><p>Help finally came from Hershey&rsquo;s NHL affiliates, Buffalo and Washington. Defenseman Richard Dunn joined the Bears in Portland after being with the Sabres since Dec. 19. Bill Stewart, Richard Dunn and Wayne Ramsey from</p><p>Buffalo comprise half of the Hershey defensive corps. Yvon Labre, Jean Lemieux and Hershey-owned Bob Bilodeau form the other half. Defenseman Glenn Patrick, younger brother of left wing Craig Patrick is with the Bears on a 25-game pro tryout. He&rsquo;s skating in Hershey with center Ron Areshenkoff and left winger Joe Kowal, both of whom are out with injuries.</p><p><b>ROCHESTER</b>: The Amerks lost their fifth game of the season to New Haven on the road last week. The loss lowered Rochester&rsquo;s mark against New Haven to 1-5, a trend that must be reversed if the team has any chance of overtaking the front-running Nighthawks. They came from behind three times in the second period to tie up the contest at 3-3 before the Nighthawks pulled away with a 5-3 win.</p><p>Two nights later in Springfield the Amerks hit pay dirt. After the lead changed hands five times, the Amerks scored twice in the third period to nail down a 75 win over the Indians. Gordie Clark scored twice and added two assists, while Rick Adduono and Brad Anderson each chipped in with a goal and two assists.</p><p>In other news from Rochester, the club continues to do well at the gate. An average of 4,385 fans per game gives the Amerks the second best attendance mark in the league.</p><p><b>NEW HAVEN</b>: Two great crowds totaling 10,440 fans, saw a recent two game series in New Haven between the two divisional leaders in the AHL. The Southern Division leading Nighthawks met the Northern Division leaders, the Maine Mariners in what could have been a preview of the Calder Cup series. When the dust settled, the Nighthawks were on top.</p><p>On Friday night, the Nighthawks scored two goals late in the third period to hold the Mariners to a 6-6 overtime tie. Bobby (the cat) Sheehan electrified the crowd of 4,558 with two goals in 17 seconds to overcome a 6-4 Mariner lead.</p><p>Two nights later, a pair of goals by rookie left winger Benoit Gosselin paced the &lsquo;Hawks to a 5-2 win over the Mariners. A season-high crowd of 5,811 in New Haven saw netminder Hardy Aastrom boost his league-leading record to an amazing 14-2-2. Sunday&rsquo;s victory gave the streaking Nighthawks an eightpoint lead over second place Rochester.</p><p>Saturday night in Philadelphia the Nighthawks continued to battle their Southern Division foes. This time the Firebirds fell victim to the Nighthawks by a 5-2 margin before 5,129 at the Civic Center. The win gave New Haven an 18-72 record against their Southern Division rivals and set a club record for consecutive road wins at six.</p><p>The club&rsquo;s depth will be tested now since Mario Marois, one of the league&rsquo;s top rookie defenseman, has been lost for several weeks due to a broken ankle.</p><p><b>SPRINGFIELD</b>: The Springfield Indians parlayed character and hard work into two important victories against divisional rivals last week to move within two points of the Mariners. After a 7-5 loss to Rochester at home on Friday night, the Tribe bounced back to beat Nova Scotia at the Big E on Saturday and traveled to Binghamton on Sunday where they beat the Dusters 4-2.</p><p>In Springfield the Tribe came back from a 3-0 deficit to edge the Vees 5-4. Center Pete LaFramboise scored two goals and an assist to earn the number one star of the night honors. His second goal was number 100 in his AHL career. Springfield forwards, Jim Moxey, Derek Haas and Russ Walker all contributed a goal and goaltender Eddie Walsh made 43 saves against his former mates.</p><p>The next night in Binghamton the 4-2 win made it a clean sweep of all five games at Binghamton by the Indians. The two back-to-back wins gave the Tribe 60 points, three more than the club had all of last season.</p><p><b>BINGHAMTON</b>: The Dusters have the dubious honor of leading the AHL in attendance but also having the fewest number of points in the AHL. It&rsquo;s a great tribute to the fans in Binghamton who have made this new AHL franchise the best in the league.</p><p>On the ice, it was a winless week. Friday night the Nova Scotia Voyageurs came into the Broom County Arena and skated away with a 6-2 win over the Dusters. Sunday night it was a 4-2 win for Springfield which dropped the Dusters six points in back of the third place Voyageurs.</p><p><b>MAINE</b>: With an average of 4,297 fans per game, the Mariners are in third place in the AHL attendance race but lead the Northern Division in total points. Last week the Mariners posted a record of 2-11. They beat Hershey and Nova Scotia at home and lost to the Nighthawks on the road.</p><p>Maine has a two point lead over Springfield in the Northern Division with one game in hand. Blake Dunlop leads the club in scoring with 59 points in 44 games and goaltender Jerome Mrazek has a fine 3.13 goals against average.</p><p><b>PHILADELPHIA</b>: Winger Denis Dupere, defenseman Roger Lemelin and goaltender Bill McKenzie have been added to the Firebirds roster by the NHL Colorado Rockies. All three were obtained by Philadelphia from the defunct Hampton Gulls. In addition, John C. Stewart was returned to the Firebirds by the WHA Birmingham Bulls.</p><p>New line combinations, defensive pairings and the change in goaltenders led to a more cautious style of play for the Firebirds last week and the result was a 1-2 record. The Birds experienced a 5-3 loss to Nova Scotia and a 5-2 defeat at the hands of New Haven. The club bounced back to beat Hershey 4-3 in overtime to keep them in third place in the Southern Division.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02255/4199272-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="561" height="740"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PETE LAFRAMBOISE&hellip;Hits Century Mark</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03164/4199265-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="563" height="690"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BILL McKENZIE&hellip;Over From Hampton</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0029-02

Vees Draw 8,449 For Metro Opener; Indians Keeping Mariners In Sight

<h2><b>Where CHL Teams Play</b></h2><h3><b>MARCH</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01363/4199303-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="535" height="753"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0030-01

CENTRAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div><p>TULSA&mdash;</p><p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t see a team come back like that very often. I&rsquo;m proud of the whole gang. They just never quit. They kept fighting back and fighting back, and it paid off.&rdquo;</p><p>Oiler coach Johnny Choyce was enjoying Tulsa&rsquo;s rallying victory over the Fort Worth Texans, the team he coached a year ago. The Texans mounted a 5-1 lead in the opening period at Tulsa&rsquo;s Assembly Center, but didn&rsquo;t score again, and the Oilers came back to win it, 6-5.</p><p>Rookie center Don (Red) Laurence scored two power play goals in the third period for the tying and winning tallies, the decisive one coming with 3:19 left in the game. Captain Ralph Stewart had scored only 25 seconds into the contest, before the Fort Worth avalanche. Glen Richardson started the Oiler comeback in the middle period, and veteran defenseman Larry (Izzy) Goodenough scored two in that frame.</p><p>Laurence the 20-year-old Atlanta Flames second-round draft choice from the Kitchener Rangers, was just rounding into shape after a long injury layoff. He broke his right leg in December. 1976. had to have two operations, and was still hobbled when the Flames opened training camp last September.</p><p>Red reported to Tulsa in late November, saw token duty in a few December games, and then missed 14 contests with an injury to his right knee. He resumed regular duty Feb. 4, but was still skating on &ldquo;a leg and a half,&rdquo; according to Choyce. But the youngster showed speed, aggressiveness and a quick wrist shot that promised great things to come.</p><p>The rallying victory over Fort Worth broke a three-game losing streak for the Oilers, who continued to be hurt by callups by three parent clubs. The latest bad news came when the Vancouver Canucks recalled wingers Gerry O&rsquo;Flaherty and Garry Monahan on an emergency basis, after the Toronto Maple Leafs summoned left wing Jack Valiquette.</p><p>Toronto dipped into the Dallas roster to assign defenseman Kevin Campbell to Tulsa. It was a welcome addition, since Choyce had been down to four defensemen after Bob Manno was recalled by Vancouver.</p><p>The Oilers scored just once on four power plays that night, and suffered a 6-4 home loss to the surging Salt Lake City Golden Eagles. Alex Forsyth had given Tulsa a brief lead in the first period. Sid Veysey and Laurence (on a power play) tied it at 3-3 midway of the second period, and Richardson scored in the third, but the Oilers were giving up goals faster than they could score them.</p><p>Two nights later, things looked even worse, and the Tulsa power play backfired on its first opportunity, when Fort Worth coach Billy MacMillan scored shorthanded to ignite the Texans&rsquo; five-goal barrage in the first period.</p><p>But when the Oilers took charge, their power play bloomed. Goodenough&rsquo;s second goal and the two by Laurence made it three power play tallies on six chances, as the Oilers boosted their league-leading total to 50, while having yielded 35.</p><p>When the Texans made it 4-1 at 14:16 of the first period, rookie goalie Glen (Carrot) Hanlon relieved Mike Belhumeur in the Oiler net, making his first appearance after a four-week layoff with an ankle injury. Hanlon was beaten on the first shot he faced, but blanked the Texans the rest of the way. That lowered his goals-against average to 2.96. and he took over the league lead as the only CHL goalkeeper with an average under 3.00.</p><p><b>SALT LAKE</b>: &ldquo;Coaching is tougher than playing,&rdquo; moaned 34-year-old Bob Plager, after his first night behind the Golden Eagles bench, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m drained.&rdquo; But the results couldn&rsquo;t have been better. His Big Birds had just flown to a 6-4 triumph in Tulsa, and had moved into first place by a point over idle Fort Worth.</p><p>The next night in Dallas, Tony Currie&rsquo;s second goal of the game, after 3:39 of overtime play, brought a 5-4 victory. The new coach had a 2-0 record, and his Eagles had opened up a three-point first-place margin.</p><p>Bob began this season as a St. Louis scout, but was called back to active duty in December. He met his new club in Tulsa the morning before the game. Barclay had a 28-20-3 record with the Eagles this season, and a two year coaching mark of 74-71-12.</p><p>The win in Dallas gave the Birds a 5-1 record for the long road trip. They had lost-in Tulsa a week earlier, and had a game in Dallas snowed out.</p><p>The victory in Tulsa which vaulted the Eagles into first place as Bob made his coaching debut, saw Currie score in the first period; Denis Meloche, Mike Korney and John Smrke in the second, Jamie Masters and Bourbonnais in the third.</p><p>Korney and Currie each scored twice in the overtime win in Dallas, with Floyd Thomson contributing the other Eagle goal. Currie&rsquo;s winning goal was his 33rd. five more than his closest challenger.</p><p>Doug Palazzari padded his league scoring lead to six points by collecting two goals and three assists for the week.</p><p><b>DALLAS</b>: Two victories over the Kansas City Red Wings, 6-5 at home and 5-1 in KC, ran the Black Hawks&rsquo; string to four straight, but it was snapped by Salt Lake in overtime, 6-5 back in the Dallas Fair Park Coliseum.</p><p>John Anderson&rsquo;s 50-foot slapshot with 1:12 won the Thursday game, after the Wings had twice rallied to tie. Ron Wilson had two goals for the Hawks, with others from Kirk Bowman. Greg Vaydik and Hubick. Pierre Hamel made 40 saves in the Dallas nets, earning his first victory in almost two months.</p><p><b>FORT WORTH</b>: Can anything good come out of a six-game losing streak? Texans&rsquo; coach Billy MacMillan thought so. &ldquo;The team is more together now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We know we&rsquo;ve hit the skids, but we&rsquo;re in good spirits. We haven&rsquo;t been playing well, and we know the areas we have to improve. We had a meeting (the morning after the sixth loss), and it was very-productive.&rdquo;</p><p>MacMillan personally had a goal in each of the two Fort Worth losses for the week. But scoring wasn&rsquo;t the big problem, it was how to keep the other teams from scoring more. And goalies Don Cutts and Bill Hughes, both seeing service in each game, were not sharp.</p><p>Danny Gruen and Doug Rombough gave the Texans a 2-1 lead after two periods in Kansas City, but the Wings scored four goals in the third before MacMillan counted. Hughes relieved Cutts after the burst was over, at 9:34 of the third.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02288/4199334-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="563" height="780"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RED LAURENCE&hellip;Sparked Tulsa</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0030-02

Power Play Spurt By Oilers Caps Comeback

<h2><b>Where IHL Teams Play</b></h2><h3><b>MARCH</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01336/4199389-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="563" height="899"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0031-01

INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div><p>KALAMAZOO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Kalamazoo K-Wings who finished a little short of the International Hockey League championship a year ago, are making a late run to duplicate that feat.</p><p>Mired in the North Division cellar much of the early campaign and suffering through reported internal problems, the K-Wings are just about the hottest club in the nine-team circuit as the season heads into the stretch run.</p><p>Since Pete Slater took over the coaching responsibilities from Bob Lemieux, the latter moved to an executive post, Kalamazoo has skated at a 17-16-8 clip. The record since Dec. 9 has been 17-10-7. And since defenseman Ron Wilson rejoined the club&mdash;he was on suspension&mdash;the K-Wings haven&rsquo;t lost. They&rsquo;ve put together an unbeaten string of seven.</p><p>The surge has opened up a five-point gap between the K-Wings and Muskegon, last in the North. Of more importance, the Wings have four more points than the Milwaukee Admirals and eight more than Grand Rapids&mdash;two southern division teams also in the fight for the final playoff spot. So, it would appear the K-Wings are all but in the annual postseason party.</p><p>But the K-Wings have their sights set on greater things. Port Huron is just four points away now. Second-place Flint has but a five-point spread. North Division leader Saginaw appears out of reach&mdash;14 points up, but a second-place finish could lead to an eventual Saginaw-Kalamazoo shootout for the finals in the North Division playoffs.</p><p>The K-Wings reeled off four more victories during the week&mdash;capped by a 4-1 decision over Milwaukee. It was the second straight win over the young expansion team after the two had played five ties. Also victims of the Wings were Muskegon (on the road), 4-3, and Flint, 6-4.</p><p><b>SAGINAW</b>: The Gears split a pair of games with North Division rivals but could do no better than a 1-1 tie with the young Milwaukee Admirals of the South Division.</p><p>Following a 5-2 loss at Port Huron, the Gears rebounded to bounce Flint, 7-2. Saginaw still holds a healthy lead over the second-place Generals&mdash;nine fat points&mdash;but has seen its lead over Fort Wayne of the South in the race for the overall league championship dwindle to one. In addition, Fort Wayne has played three less games than Saginaw.</p><p><b>FLINT</b>: A three-game road trip resulted in nothing for the Generals&mdash;save disaster. The Generals dropped all three to slip nine points behind Saginaw. In addition, Port Huron is just one point back.</p><p>The trip started with a 7-3 loss at Muskegon, snapped a six-game winning streak. The trip continued with a 7-2 loss at Saginaw and ended in a 6-4 loss at Kalamazoo.</p><p><b>PORT HURON</b>: It took a four-goal rally in the third period for the Flags to turn back Grand Rapids and complete a successful two-game home stand. The near-miss against the Owls followed one of the Flags&rsquo; top performances of the season, a 5-2 whipping of front-skating Saginaw. Gary Rissling led the attack with a pair of goals.</p><p>&ldquo;It was a case of us going to sleep in the first period,&rdquo; said Flag coach Ron Ullyot. The Owls had the Flags down, 4-1, after the initial period and Ullyot replaced starting goalie Rollie Boutin with Ted Tucker after the period. The Flags started the comeback on a goal by Brian Ellacott. Larry Gould pulled the Flags to within one just 43 seconds before the second period ended but the Owls went back two up on Lynn Jorgenson&rsquo;s goal 19 seconds later.</p><p>Archie Henderson and Tom Roulston scored early in the third period to tie the score and Paul Nicholson got the winner at 17:58. Ellacott completed the scoring with a 65-footer into the empty net.</p><p>The Flags didn&rsquo;t fair so well on the road, however. They dropped an 11-5 decision at Toledo and fell to Fort Wayne, 4-2.</p><p><b>MUSKEGON</b>: If the Muskegon Mohawks had their way, they&rsquo;d play the Flint Generals all season. The Mohawks blitzed the Generals, 7-3, for their lone victory in a three-game week&mdash;marking the fifth time this season Muskegon has demoted the Generals. They have lost one and tied one.</p><p>Over the last 18 games in the L.C. Walker Arena, Muskegon holds a 15-2-1 edge on the Generals. In the seven games between the two clubs this season, Muskegon has pumped in 42 goals for an average of six per game. Defensively, Muskegon has yielded just 24.</p><p><b>FORT WAYNE</b>: The Komets have put together an eight-game undefeated string and have moved to within one point of Saginaw in the race for the Huber Trophy&mdash;emblematic of the league championship. The string includes seven wins and a tie. Five of the games have been on the road.</p><p>A three-point series with Toledo (a 4-4 tie in Toledo and a 7-6 win at home) boosted the Komets into a 14-point lead over the runner-up Diggers in the South Division race.</p><p>&ldquo;There is no way Toledo can catch us now,&rdquo; said Fort Wayne coach Gregg Pilling. &ldquo;It would take a total collapse on our part. They would have to play better against the South Division teams than we have. It&rsquo;s no longer a matter of how many points. But how many games left.&rdquo;</p><p><b>TOLEDO</b>: Maybe Ted Garvin&rsquo;s goaltending problems are over. The &ldquo;Great China Wall&rdquo; has plugged the leak&mdash;at least temporarily.</p><p>Lindsay Middlebrook, a 22-year-old, nicknamed the &ldquo;Great China Wall.&rdquo; arrived in Toledo by way of New Haven of the American League. In two starts for the Diggers, he&rsquo;s sporting a 2.5 goals-against average. His second start was a shutout, 5-0, over the Muskegon Mohawks.</p><p>Middlebrook&rsquo;s performance was the bright spot of a week which saw the Diggers lose two more points to Fort Wayne in the South Division race. In their other start. Toledo bombed Port Huron, 11-5, for a 2-1-1 week.</p><p><b>MILWAUKEE</b>: A 1-1 tie against North Division leader Saginaw featured a three-game road trip for the Admirals. The point was almost an unexpected bonus as Milwaukee has been hit by injuries and has been skating short-handed.</p><p>The Admirals weren&rsquo;t as fortunate at Kalamazoo, however. They lost a pair of games, 5-2 and.4-1.</p><p><b>GRAND RAPIDS</b>: The Owls aren&rsquo;t having any trouble scoring goals&mdash;but a leaky defense has kept them from moving up in the South Division race. The Owls punched home 11 goals in two weekend games but lost both. Fort Wayne turned back the Owls, 7-6, and the Owls lost, 7-5, at Port Huron after once leading 4-1.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02255/4199420-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="556" height="726"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RON WILSON&hellip;Brought K-Wings Luck</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0031-02

K-Wings Begin Stretch-Run Climb; Komets Streak Towards Point Lead

<h2><b>CANADIAN COLLEGES</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Fri. March 3)</b></p><h3><b>CANADA WEST</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01343/4199458-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="597" height="141"></div><h3><b>GREAT PLAINS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02265/4199451-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="594" height="164"></div><h2><b>Playoff Games</b></h2><h2><b>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</b></h2><h3><b>Semi-Finals</b></h3><p>Concordia 8, Bishop&rsquo;s 4</p><p>Concordia 8, Bishop&rsquo;s 1</p><p>(Concordia wins Best-of-three series 2-0)</p><p>UQTR 4, McGill 2</p><p>UQTR 5, McGill 4</p><p>(UQTR wins best-of-three series 2-0)</p><h3><b>Finals</b></h3><p>UQTR 6, Concordia 4</p><p>Concordia 8, UQTR 2</p><p>Concordia 5, UQTR 3</p><p>(Concordia loads best-of-five series 2-1)</p><h2><b>ONTARIO CONFERENCE</b></h2><h3><b>Semi-Finals</b></h3><p>Toronto 8, York 6</p><p>Wilfrid Laurier 6, Western 0</p><p>(Suddon-Death Games)</p><h3><b>Finals</b></h3><p>Toronto 3, Wilfrid Laurier 2</p><p>Toronto 4, Wilfrid Laurier 1</p><p>(Toronto wins Best-of-three series 2-0)</p><h3><b>Great Plains</b></h3><p>Regina 3, Lakehead 1</p><p>(Best-of-three final tied 1-1)<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0032-01

College Races

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div><p>HOUGHTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>lmost overlooked in all the hoopla about Denver&rsquo;s rush to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association title has been the steady progress of Michigan Tech up the WCHA ladder.</p><p>Coach John Maclnnes&rsquo; Michigan Tech Huskies were locked in a battle with defending national champion Wisconsin for second place going into the final weekend of the regular season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03183/4199489-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="567" height="747"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DAVE CHRISTIAN&hellip;Ended Long Slump</b></figcaption></div><p>It wasn&rsquo;t always that rosy for Michigan Tech. The Huskies were 6-6 at one time early in the season, but have rebounded to-win 14 of their last 18 games.</p><p>Michigan Tech has done it without the benefit of big-name scorers. Only Dana Decker ranks among the top 20 scorers in the WCHA and he holds 20th place.</p><p>Balanced scoring and solid goaltending has been the key for Michigan Tech. Rodger Moy, Dave Joelson, Stu Ostlund and Gord Salt are all within five points of Decker in league scoring.</p><p>In John Rockwell and Bruce Horsch, Michigan Tech has the fourth and fifthranked goalies in the league. Rockwell sports a 3.92 goals-against average and Horsch is at 3.94. Horsch is one of two goalies in the league with a save percentage above .900. He&rsquo;s at .901 while Rockwell is at .893.</p><p>Should Wisconsin and Michigan Tech end up tied for second, Wisconsin would get the nod in playoff seedings based on a better ratio of goals for-and against. The two teams each had 40 points heading into the final weekend. Michigan Tech finished at Duluth while Wisconsin hosted Notre Dame.</p><p>The battle between Wisconsin and Michigan Tech wasn&rsquo;t the only thing of interest going into the final weekend.</p><p>Only three teams has clinched positions. Denver wrapped up the title two weeks ago, Minnesota can finish no better or no worse than fourth and Michigan State can&rsquo;t escape the cellar.</p><p>The most interesting race is for fifth through ninth places. Colorado College, Notre Dame, Duluth, Michigan and North Dakota are just six points apart in the jockeying for those spots.</p><p>It&rsquo;s so tight that even fifth place Colorado College could drop to ninth and miss the playoffs based on final weekend results. The top eight regular season finishers advance to the league playoffs.</p><p>Around the league:</p><p><b>DENVER</b>: Coach Marshall Johnston&rsquo;s Pioneers can erase the all-time league winning record of 26-5-1 set by Wisconsin last year. A sweep of Colorado College on the last weekend would give Denver a 275 record. Johnston may not be back at Denver next year. He&rsquo;s one of the three finalists to be the new coach at North Dakota next year.</p><p><b>WISCONSIN</b>: Mark Johnson, a sophomore, and Mike Eaves, a senior, continue to battle for the scoring title. Johnson leads Eaves by three points while averaging better than a goal a game. He had 35 goals in 27 games for Wisconsin.</p><p><b>MINNESOTA</b>: Coach Herb Brooks&rsquo; Gophers became just one of five teams to beat Denver this year when John Meredith&rsquo;s goal 2:11 into the overtime session gave Minnesota an 8-7 victory. Denver goalie Jim Bales had to make 54 stops to just 33 for Gopher goalies Steve Janaszak and Paul Joswiak. It was Denver&rsquo;s first overtime loss in four years of league play. Denver&rsquo;s seniors had never lost an overtime game.</p><p><b>COLORADO COLLEGE</b>: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been playing excellent hockey the last three weeks,&rdquo; said CC coach Jeff Sauer. &ldquo;Our confidence is at an all-time high.&rdquo; CC has three players among the top 10 scorers in rookie Greg Whyte, Dave Delich and Jim Warner. Whyte is a virtual cinch to be named the league&rsquo;s rookie of the year.</p><p><b>NOTRE DAME</b>: The Irish may be suffering from jet lag. Notre Dame must play six games in 10 days, all on the road, to close the season. After splitting at Michigan State on Friday and Saturday, the Irish flew to Grand Forks to face North Dakota Monday and Tuesday in a makeup series. Then Notre Dame had to fly to Wisconsin to battle the Badgers on the weekend to close the season. Injuries continue to dog the Irish. Steve Schneider, a senior wing, is out with a knee injury.</p><p><b>DULUTH</b>: John Harrington scored two goals to lead Duluth over Colorado College 8-5 but CC came back to win 6-3 the next night. Junior John Rothstein is nearing the Duluth school record for goals in a season (30) held by Lyman Haakstad. Rothstein needed six goals in the last four games to break the mark.</p><p><b>MICHIGAN</b>: Coach Dan Farrell&rsquo;s Wolverines continue to falter. Michigan Tech beat Michigan 4-3 and 2-1 (overtime) to hand Michigan its 15th and 16th losses in its last 19 games.</p><p><b>NORTH DAKOTA</b>: The Sioux kept playoff hopes alive by upsetting Wisconsin 4-2 as freshman Dave Christian set the pace with a goal and two assists. He had gone 23 games without a goal until putting the Sioux on the board first in the win over Wisconsin. Goalie Bill Stankoven recovered his form to limit Wisconsin to two goals on 46 shots on net.</p><p><b>MICHIGAN STATE</b>: Wins have been scarce for Amo Bessone&rsquo;s Spartans. But Russ Welch scored with just 34 seconds left in the game to enable the Spartans to beat Notre Dame 3-2 and split the weekend series. Len Moher gave Notre Dame shutout goaltending the night before in a 2-0 win for the Irish.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0032-03

Tech Threat For Second In WCHA; Five Others Join Playoff Scramble

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD JABLONSKI</div><p>MONCTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he participants in this season&rsquo;s Atlantic Universities final series have been determined, with the St. Mary&rsquo;s Huskies prepared to defend their title against the St. Francis Xavier X-Men. St. Mary&rsquo;s reached the finals by downing the Moncton Aigles Bleu 6-5 and 6-3. while St. FX topped Prince Edward Island 8-4 and 7-5. The two winners will now square off in a best-of-five series, with the Huskies enjoying a home ice advantage should a fifth game be necessary.</p><p>In spite of its consecutive victories, St. Mary&rsquo;s had considerable difficulty in dispatching Moncton, the association&rsquo;s fourth place team. The Blue Eagles led the first game of the semi-final series 5-4 late in the third period, only to succumb to a pair of Tom MacDonnell goals at 17:23 and 17:39.</p><p>The second game ran more closely to regular season form. All Star right wing Mac Davis led a 50-shot Huskie barrage, scoring three of his team&rsquo;s six goals. Teammate MacDonnell assisted on all three of Davis&rsquo; scores.</p><p>Moncton&rsquo;s offensive leader was Roger Bosse, who clicked for three goals in the two game series, and since Bosse and the Blue Eagles will be the host team in this year&rsquo;s CIAU national tournament, they&rsquo;ll lave another try at advancing towards he National championship.</p><p>The other semi-final series offered little by way of surprise for AUAA fans. The X-Men dominated the first game, riding two Greg Keating goals to an easy victory. The second game was ultimately decided by Bryan Flaman goal 8:35 into the third period. Flaman and linemates Tony Comeau and Keating combined for five scores, thereby ending the season for UPEI.</p><p>The final series, which got underway March 3, will consist of two games at Antigonish, N.S., the home of St. FX, and three games on the Huskies home ice in Halifax, if five games are needed.</p><p>With the regular season completed, the AUAA&rsquo;s coaches turned to the task of selecting a league All Star team. St. Mary&rsquo;s and UPEI led the balloting with two stars apiece. Goaltender Steve Davies and right wing Mac Davis were the Huskies&rsquo; All Stars, while center David Cameron and defenseman Wilfred MacDonald of UPEI were similarly honored. The team was rounded out by left wing Greg Keating of St. FX and defenseman Allie MacDonald of Dalhousie. Jack Hynes of UPEI was named coach of the year.</p><p><b>QUEBEC</b>: The Trois Rivieres Patriotes got off to a fast start in this week&rsquo;s QUAA final series, dumping Concordia 6-4 in the first game of the best-of-five matchup. Defenseman Bernard Noreau scored a goal in each period to lead the Patriote attack.</p><p>Trois Rivieres reached the final by downing McGill in two straight games. After winning the first game 4-2 in Montreal, the Pats were forced to come from a 4-1 deficit to defeat the Redmen 54 in overtime at Trois Rivieres. Pierre Gingras scored two goals, including the winner, for Trois Rivieres. Left wing Jeff Taylor had a goal and three assists for the Redmen.</p><p>Concordia had little trouble in eliminating Bishop&rsquo;s 8-4 and 8-1. The second and third games of the final series will be played on Concordia&rsquo;s ice.</p><p><b>ONTARIO</b>: Playoff action has pared eight teams down to two finalists in the OUAA. As expected, the Toronto Blues and the Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks, both regular members of this year&rsquo;s CIAU top 10, will meet in the league&rsquo;s best-of-three championship series.</p><p>Toronto heads into the finals on the basis of playoff victories over Ryerson and York. The Ryerson game provided little competition for the powerful Blues, as Toronto won 11-0. York, which had defeated Toronto during the regular season, was a far tougher nut to crack. The Yeomen led 4-2 after one period, and seemed to be on the verge of a major upset before wilting under a persistent Toronto barrage.</p><p>Laurier ran into a surprisingly tough McMaster team, representing the supposedly weak Central Division. The Golden Hawks needed every one of defenseman Barry Musselman&rsquo;s four goals to top the aroused Marauders 5-4. Semi-final action pitted Laurier against Western, the result being, according to Hawk coach Wayne Gowing, &ldquo;our best game of the year&rdquo;. All Star goaltender Al MacSorley posted the shutout as Laurier whipped the Mustangs 6-0.</p><p>Each of Ontario&rsquo;s three division selected an All Star team, with Toronto, Laurier and McMaster each placing three players on the squads. Included amongst the All Star performers were the divisions&rsquo; leading scorers: Doug Caines (30-27-57) of Toronto, Dave Nadeau (2027-47) of Western and Tom Jaxczenko (2124-45) of McMaster.</p><p>Wayne Gowing of Laurier was named as Ontario&rsquo;s coach of the year.</p><p><b>GREAT PLAINS</b>: After a two-team race for the greater part of the season, the GPAC final series matchup between the Regina Cougars and the Lakehead Norwesters came as no surprise. The two teams have been virtually assured&rsquo; of playoff slots since January, the only question being which would have the home ice advantage. As it turns out, Regina, on the basis of its 18-4 regular season record, will host the best-of-three shootout. Lakehead wound up at 16-6.</p><p>In spite of the difference in record, the two teams have split their four regular season games, with each taking one game on the other guy&rsquo;s ice.</p><p>Lakehead is a wide open, run and gun team, featuring the conference&rsquo;s top offensive weapon, forward Vince Friyia, Friyia, a refugee from the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Major Junior League, was far and away the top scores in the GPAC this season.</p><p>Regina is led by defenseman Mike Wirachowsky, a talented playmaker and a steady defender. The Cougars are oriented toward the defensive side of hockey, employing balanced scoring to get the job done at the other end of the rink.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Stubborn Blue Eagles Get Second Shot At CIAU Crown

<h2><b>ECAC CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 27)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01308/4199572-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="584" height="481"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Providence 7, Yale 5</p><p>Clarkson 7, Vermont 6</p><p>Boston College 5, Bowdoin 2</p><p>Cornell 6, Harvard 3</p><p>Boston University 6, Northeastern 4</p><p>Colgate 3, Providence 3</p><p>RPI 3, Brown 1</p><p>New Hampshire 4, Vermont 2</p><p>Cornell 4, Harvard 3</p><p>Boston College 7, Army 4</p><p>St. Lawrence 7, Penn 4</p><p>Clarkson 5, Princeton 4</p><p>Providence 4, Dartmouth 1</p><p>Brown 6, Dartmouth 4</p><p>Boston University 6, Colgate 5</p><p>Cornell 10, Northeastern 8</p><p>Clarkson 7, Penn 3</p><p>Princeton 4, St. Lawrence 1</p><p>RPI 8, New Hampshire 5</p><p>Yale 3, Harvard 2</p><h2><b>WCHA CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 27)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02229/4199565-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="598" height="295"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Denver 4, Minnesota 3</p><p>Minnesota 8, Denver 7</p><p>Wisconsin 7, North Dakota 5</p><p>North Dakota 4, Wisconsin 2</p><p>Michigan Tech 4, Michigan 3</p><p>Michigan Tech 2, Michigan 1</p><p>Notre Dame 2, Michigan State 0</p><p>Michigan State 3, Notre Dame 2</p><p>Minn-Duluth 8, Colorado College 5</p><p>Colorado College 8, Minn-Duluth 3</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03172/4199558-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="587" height="665"></div><h2><b>CCHA CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04136/4199551-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="586" height="192"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Bowling Green 7, St. Louia 0</p><p>Bowling Green 3, St. Louia 2</p><p>Lake Superior 9, Northern Michigan 6</p><p>Lake Superior 4, Northern Michigan 4</p><p>Ohio State 5, Western Michigan 3</p><p>Ohio State 7, Western Michigan 2</p><h2><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05109/4199544-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="586" height="589"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0033-01

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>HE HOCKEY NEWS was fresh from the presses and it should have been a cause for happiness around the Class of &rsquo;23 Rink. The East&rsquo;s big story was the University of Pennsylvania&rsquo;s modest 3-0-1 streak, the best such skein since 1972-73, the Quakers&rsquo; last playoff year.</p><p>But if Bob Finke, the young man who took over as Penn coach two years ago, saw the story in this space he could only grimace at the irony of it all. Another paper, the Daily Pennsylvanian, had already told him that he&rsquo;d be out of a job after Penn&rsquo;s game with Cornell on March 4. The student journal had blown the cover on a recent decision by the Penn administration to drop the varsity hockey program. The newspaper story had been Finke&rsquo;s first inkling of the drastic move.</p><p>Also feeling the slash of the auditor&rsquo;s red pen were the women&rsquo;s hockey program and the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s gymnastics programs at Penn. Athletic director Andy Geiger made the decision to do away with them as part of Penn&rsquo;s effort to cut down on expenses. His share of the budget trimming was to reduce expenditures by around $150,000. and rather than make across-the-board cuts in every sport he elected to lop off four programs entirely.</p><p>The move nips Finke&rsquo;s rebuilding program in the proverbial bud. A 1971 graduate of Penn, Bob guided a&rsquo;veteran team to 9-17 record last season and had posted a 7-13-2 mark when the lightning struck. But as the story two weeks ago started, Penn was actually playing its best hockey of the season and Finke was encouraged by the maturation of his eight regular freshman skaters.</p><p>The news was so unexpected &ldquo;that Finke had to call up a bunch of freshman recruits who were due in to tour the campus the next day and tell them to cross Penn off their selection list of hockey colleges. He felt that a good recruiting year was in the offing, since several high school seniors had indicated to him that Penn was their first choice. Things couldn&rsquo;t have been made official until April when the school sends out notices of acceptance, but all signs pointed toward a good incoming crop.</p><p>Finke was very much upset with the secrecy of the decisions made by the school&rsquo;s administration. The budget committee had wanted to keep the lid on it until after the season, but someone told the Pennsylvanian. Finke indicated that his main concern over the next few weeks would be to try and arrange for transfers of his players to other schools who might need help. Since Penn is dropping hockey entirely, those who transfer needn&rsquo;t sit out a year.</p><p>&ldquo;I won&rsquo;t be proud to be a part of this school, or to be an alumnus,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Unless the school does something for these kids and helps them find a place to continue with hockey. We all deserved a little more respect than the administration gave us. I never thought we&rsquo;d go through a year unbeaten or anything like that, but we could have come up to be a solid team, year in and year out.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be sitting down with a lot of coaches in the league pretty soon to discuss the players and see if they can find a place for any of the kids,&rdquo; he added.-</p><p>As for himself, Finke needn&rsquo;t worry about employment. He is both a certified public accountant and a licensed physical therapist as well a manager of the Class of &rsquo;23 Rink. He could possibly stay on at Penn as a member of the training staff, but he also indicated that he would investigate a few of the college coaching jobs which would be &lsquo;opening after the season. He likes coaching and had won the respect of his peers in ECAC Division One, a league in which one would need at least four seasons to rebuild a program from scratch.</p><p>Most of the players on the team will have a good amount of varsity eligibility left, should they decide to transfer. Just three seniors will be playing their last game against Cornell; three juniors are also playing full time. For this trio, Tom Whitehead, Norm Kerr, and Dave Taylor, the news must have been especially tough since other schools aren&rsquo;t likely to want a man for just one campaign.</p><p>One of the more coveted players will be freshman goalie Bob Sutton, who&rsquo;d played with a goals-against average of 2.52 during Penn&rsquo;s spurt. Several teams will need a topnotch goalie badly next season, and Sutton has shown that he belongs in the league. Another rookie, Bob Mann, who&rsquo;d been edged by Sutton for the duties during the early season, shared the net with him in the next game after the announcement, a 7-3 loss to Clarkson. Finke was obviously showing him, too.</p><p>. The team&rsquo;s leading scorers are sophomores Tom Cullity and Gary Prior, and they should go high as &ldquo;free agents.&rdquo; Graham Carter and Chuck Gaudet are other classmates who have seen action while the freshman eligibles are Doug Berk, Geoff Roeszler, Greg Dudzik, Dave Akre, Tim Strawman, Jay Wisentaner, Steve Shandley, Dave Fenkell and Tom Bruch, in addition to the two goalies.</p><p>Part of the problem with Penn hockey has been the poor attendance in recent years. The program had not been earning money, but would have had to do much better with attendance in order to avoid the cleaver, according to athletic director Geiger.</p><p>&ldquo;But that (money) wasn&rsquo;t the only consideration. We decided that the programs to go would be the youngest, the ones not indigenous to the area. We are the southernmost school in the East, and the supporters of hockey are a small but local group,&rdquo; Geiger said.</p><p>Although the Class of &rsquo;23 Rink, built just eight years ago, will still be a burden to maintain, Geiger said that the school would be able to get more money from rentals of its ice in addition to saving on salaries, equipment and recruiting costs.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0688/4199603-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="557" height="578"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BOB FINKE&hellip;Not Informed</b></figcaption></div><p>So Division One will comprise 16 teams next year, of which six will belong to the Ivy League. A by-product of the end of Penn hockey after 11 years should be an immediate strengthening of the Ivy Division and availability of two more opponents for the members of this loop. With a limit of 26 games and insistence on playing a full Ivy round robin, these schools have usually been stumbling blocks to establishment of a balanced schedule throughout Division One.</p><p>It&rsquo;s too bad, though, because Penn seemed on the way up as does Princeton, its southern neighbor. Like Yale, they no longer could be regarded as two automatic wins to pad the Eastern records of the league&rsquo;s traditionally better teams.</p><p>As Bob Finke said, &ldquo;We were turning the comer.&rdquo;</p><p>Unfortunately, the comer turned down a blind alley for the Quakers.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0033-06

Penn Stunned As Administrators Cancel Varsity Hockey Program

<div class="byline">BY JIM SCHNEIDER</div><p>BOWLING GREEN&mdash;</p><p>Balanced scoring, a veteran defense and a pair of freshman, goaltenders helped Bowling Green State University capture its second Central Collegiate Hockey Association regular season title in the past three years.</p><p>The Falcons did it in convincing style with a 25-7 overall record and a 15-3 CCHA mark. In fact, BG finished the regular season with an 18-game home winning streak to set a team record.</p><p>In CCHA competition the Falcons were 10-0 at home and scored 96 goals and allowed just 42 in 18 games. The next best league record was St. Louis University with a .500 record (20-15-1; 10-10 CCHA). The second highest scoring team was Western Michigan (15-17-1; 7-12-1 CCHA) with 83 goals in 20 games, while St. Louis was second in defense allowing 71 goals in 20 games.</p><p>The Falcons are coached by Ron Mason who pushed his career coaching percentage to .701 (247-102-12) at the finish of the regular season. Mason, who is in his fifth year at Bowling Green, has now had seven 20-win seasons in a row including two years at Lake Superior State College. Mason was the CCHA coach of the year for the 1975-76 season.</p><p>The balance in the BG attack stems from the fact that the top three lines have combined for 135 goals for an average of 45 goals a line. In fact the line totals are 46, 44 and 45.</p><p>Leading scorer John Markell (29-19-48) from Cornwall, Ont., is playing on the right wing of the top scoring line with Mark Wells (10-26-36), (St. Calir Shores, Mich.), at center. The left wing on the alljunior line for the Falcons is Paul Titanic (Toronto), who has scored seven goals.</p><p>Sophomore Tom Newton (20-16-36), (Uxbridge, Ont.), has joined the 20-goal club for the first time at BG after missing all of the 1976-77 season after knee surgery. T. Newton plays on the right side with senior tri-captains Dave Easton (1317-30), (Glen Morris, Ont.), and left winger Byron Shutt (11-27-38), (Toronto). Shutt is the brother of Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; left winger Steve Shutt.</p><p>Senior Mike Hartman (27-12-39), (Don Mills, Ont.), recently became the second BGSU player to score 100 goals in a career, and he centers the third line with senior Steve Murphy (7-16-23), (Montreal), on right wing and either Steve Dawe (five goals), (Ottawa), or Bruce Newton (six goals), (Uxbridge, Ont.), on the left side.</p><p>Spearheading the defense is AllAmerican candidate Ken Morrow, a junior from Flint, Mich., who has been an All-CCHA selection his first two years at BG and an all-tournament selection in both the Great Lakes Invitational and the Cornell Tournament. Morrow, a high draft pick of the New York Islanders after his freshman season, puts his six-foot-four. 210-frame to good use on offense too as he leads BG&rsquo;s defensemen in goals.</p><p>Morrow&rsquo;s partner is senior John Mavity, (Stratford, Ont.), a two-time All-CCHA performer and the all-time leading defensive goal scorer at BG.</p><p>Senior tri-captain Tom Thomas, (St. Clair Shores, Mich.), and sophomore Mike Cotter (Toronto), form the other regular defensive unit. Thomas has been selected the most valuable defenseman on the team by his teammates the past, two seasons.</p><p>The big question mark for the Falcons at the start of the season was the goaltending as Mason had to replace Mike Liut (Cincinnati Stingers) and AI Sarachman after four successful seasons.</p><p>The two replacements, Brian Stankiewicz (Thornlea, Ont.), and Wally Charko, (Islington, Ont.), have filled the bill and then some. Stankiewicz captured the CCHA goaltending title with an amazing 1.83 mark that included shutouts over Northern Michigan and St. Louis. He allowed three goals in his last four league starts and his 9-1 win over Lake Superior clinched the title for BG. His two shutouts tied a BGSU record for shutouts in a season and he just missed a third when Canadian power University of Toronto scored in the last minute of a 4-1 BG win.</p><p>Charko has had to battle illness several times, but lists wins over Notre Dame, 5-1 and St. Louis, 3-2 on his record.</p><p>Elsewhere in the CCHA:</p><p><b>ST. LOUIS</b>: Bill Selman&rsquo;s Billikens clinched second place and home ice in the first round of the league playoffs as Northern Michigan lost at Lake Superior.</p><p>Selman has called the season &ldquo;puzzling, we&rsquo;re a veteran championship club, playing .500 hockey.&rdquo;</p><p>Senior goalie Brian O&rsquo;Connell&rsquo; (St. Mary&rsquo;s, Ont.), has been the iron man of the league playing in all but one of the first 36 SLU games due to injuries suffered by backup sophomore Carl Bloomberg, (Bloomington, Minn.).</p><p>Senior Gary Murphy (19-31-50), (Ajax. Ont.), has been the offensive leader for the Bills and he earned his 200th career point late in the season on a goal scored by linemate Chuck Durocher (15-24-39), another Ajax product.</p><p>The Billiken offense through most of the year came from the center position or the defense. At the end of the regular season Durocher was the only winger in the top seven scorers. Murphy was first followed by Durocher, center Grant Goegan (17-16-33), (Belleville, Ont.); defenseman Kent Jackson (8-21-29), (Toronto) center Bob Keeler (14-14-28), (Toronto) defenseman Brian Roll (7-2128), (Blue Island, Ill.) and defenseman George Kryzer (13-13-26), (St. Paul, Minn).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Bowling Green Wins CCHA Title

<h2><b>WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings On Tue. Feb. 26)</b></p><h3><b>WEST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01338/4199721-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="587" height="139"></div><h3><b>CENTRAL DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02271/4199714-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="590" height="114"></div><h3><b>East Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03200/4199707-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="589" height="105"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Sat. Feb. 18</b></p><p>Seattle 4 at Victoria 9</p><p>Flin Flon 3 at New Westminster 5</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 19</b></p><p>Regina 6 at Brandon 7</p><p>Medicine Hat 2 at Lethbridge 5</p><p>Portland 4 at Billings 3</p><p>Saskatoon 3 at New Westminster 8</p><p>Flin Flon 7 at Seattle 9</p><p><b>Mon. Feb. 20</b></p><p>Portland 3 at Billings 5</p><p><b>Tue. Feb. 21</b></p><p>Lethbridge 6 at Calgary 4</p><p>Portland 8 at Regina 4</p><p>Saskatoon 2 at Victoria 7</p><p>Flin Flon 1 at Seattle 4</p><p><b>Wed. Feb. 22</b></p><p>Portland 5 at Brandon 8</p><p>Regina 1 at Lethbridge 5</p><p>Saskatoon 2 at Seattle 7</p><p>Billings 3 at Medicine Hat 7</p><p><b>Thu. Feb. 23</b></p><p>Flin Flon 7 at Victoria 10</p><p>Saskatoon 3 at Seattle 10</p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 24</b></p><p>Saskatoon 3 at Now Westminster 7</p><p>Portland 10 at Lethbridge 3</p><p>Regina 8 at Calgary 5</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 26</b></p><p>Portland 3 at Calgary 3</p><p>New Westminster 4 at Lethbridge 2</p><p>Flin Flon 1 at Brandon 5</p><p>Saskatoon 4 at Medicine Hat 6</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04125/4199700-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="605" height="344"></div><h2><b>ONTARIO MAJOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. March 7)</b></p><h3><b>EMMS DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0586/4199693-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="597" height="198"></div><h3><b>LEYDEN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0661/4199686-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="588" height="191"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. Feb. 28</b></p><p>Niagara Falls 0 at Hamilton 3</p><p>Ottawa 6 at Kingston 5</p><p>Kitchener 4 at Toronto 5</p><p><b>Wed. March 1</b></p><p>Kitchener 5 at Hamilton 3</p><p><b>Thu. March 2</b></p><p>Oshawa 1 at Windsor 2</p><p>Sudbury 3 at Peterborough 8</p><p>Toronto 3 at London 10</p><p><b>Fri. March 3</b></p><p>Hamilton 3 at Toronto 5</p><p>Sudbury 1 at Niagara Falla 5</p><p>Sault Ste. Mario 5 at Kingston 7</p><p>Ottawa 4 at Kitchener 7</p><p>Oshawa 5 at London 5</p><p><b>Sun. March 5</b></p><p>Sault Ste. Marie 3 at Toronto 1</p><p>Kingston 4 at Kitchener 4</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0753/4199679-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="595" height="296"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. March 6)</b></p><h3><b>LEBEL DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0846/4199672-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="586" height="166"></div><h3><b>DILIO DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0936/4199665-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="590" height="165"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Mon. Feb. 27</b></p><p>Montreal 3 at Laval 7</p><p><b>Tue. Feb. 28</b></p><p>Verdun 6 at Cornwall 6</p><p>Hull 4 at Trois-Rivieres 13</p><p><b>Wed. March 1</b></p><p>Quebec 6 at Laval 6</p><p>Trois-Rivieres 6 at Shawinigan 6</p><p>Hull 10 at Montreal 3</p><p><b>Thu. March 2</b></p><p>Cornwall 7 at Chicoutimi 2</p><p><b>Fri. March 3</b></p><p>Shawinigan 4 at Montreal 17</p><p>Cornwall 8 at Quebec 2</p><p>Verdun 2 at Sherbrooke 7</p><p>Laval 0 at Trois-Rivieres 9</p><p><b>Sun. March 5</b></p><p>Sherbrooke 5 at Chicoutimi 5</p><p>Hull 2 at Cornwall 4</p><p>Quebec 5 at Montreal 4</p><p>Laval 3 at Verdun 5</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1034/4199658-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="594" height="327"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-01

Amateur Scoreboard

<h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. March 7)</b></p><h3><b>NORTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01317/4199881-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="588" height="134"></div><h3><b>SOUTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02254/4199874-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="593" height="165"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Wed. March 1</b></p><p>Hershey 4 at Nova Scotia 8</p><p>Rochester 3 at Maine 2</p><p>Binghamton 5 at New Haven 7</p><p>Springfield 3 at Philadelphia 5</p><p><b>Fri. March 3</b></p><p>Philadelphia 5 at Binghamton 6</p><p>Rochester 3 at New Haven 1</p><p>Maine 3 at Nova Scotia 4</p><p>Hershey 6 at Springfield 8</p><p><b>Sat. March 4</b></p><p>Rochester 4 at Hershey 6</p><p>Binghamton 2 at Philadelphia 3</p><p>Maine 2 at Springfield 1</p><p><b>Sun. March 5</b></p><p>Philadelphia 3 at Binghamton 4</p><p>Maine 3 at New Haven 3</p><p>Springfield 3 at Nova Scotia 6</p><p>Hershey 4 at Rochester 5</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03189/4199867-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="599" height="410"></div><h2><b>GOALING RECORDS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04153/4199860-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="594" height="465"></div><h2><b>CENTRAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed. March 8)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05118/4199853-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="598" height="171"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Mon. Feb. 27</b></p><p>Tulsa 3 at Salt Lake 5</p><p><b>Wed. March 1</b></p><p>Tulsa 2 at Dallas 8</p><p>Fort Worth 2 at Kansas City 7</p><p><b>Fri. March 3</b></p><p>Kansas City 3 at Dallas 1</p><p>Salt Lake 4 at Fort Worth 2</p><p><b>Sat. March 4</b></p><p>Salt Lake 2 at Dallas 3</p><p>Kansas City 2 at Fort Worth 4</p><p><b>Sun. March 5</b></p><p>Salt Lake 7 at Kansas City 3</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0699/4199846-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="590" height="296"></div><h2><b>GOALING RECORDS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0790/4199839-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="572" height="355"></div><h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. March 7)</b></p><h3><b>NORTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0872/4199832-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="587" height="171"></div><h3><b>SOUTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0968/4199825-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="583" height="137"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. Feb. 28</b></p><p>Muskegon 4 at Kalamazoo 6</p><p>Saginaw 5 at Flint 5</p><p><b>Wed. March 1</b></p><p>Port Huron 3 at Grand Rapids 8</p><p><b>Fri. March 3</b></p><p>Milwaukee 6 at Port Huron 3</p><p>Muskegon 3 at Flint 2</p><p><b>Sat. March 4</b></p><p>Milwaukee 3 at Muskegon 7</p><p>Flint 5 at Port Huron 7</p><p>Toledo 7 at Grand Rapids 7</p><p><b>Sun. March 5</b></p><p>Saginaw 2 at Fort Wayne 5</p><p>Port Huron 4 at Flint 4</p><p>Muskegon 1 at Grand Rapids 5</p><p>Kalamazoo 0 at Toledo 1</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1058/4199818-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="591" height="427"></div><h2><b>GOALING RECORDS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1153/4199811-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="595" height="870"></div><h2><b>PACIFIC HOCKEY LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Thu. March 2)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1244/4199804-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="588" height="142"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Wed. Feb. 22</b></p><p>San Diego 7 at Long Beach 3</p><p><b>Fri. Feb. 24</b></p><p>Phoenix 3 at San Diego 1</p><p>San Franciso 3 at Long Beach 2</p><p><b>Sat. Feb. 25</b></p><p>Long Beach 4 at San Francisco 2</p><p><b>Sun. Feb. 26</b></p><p>San Francisco 2 at San Diego 7</p><p>Phoenix 2 at Long Beach 4</p><p><b>Tue. Feb. 28</b></p><p>Long Beach 2 at San Francisco 7</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1339/4199797-1-eng-US/f0035-132.jpg" title="f0035-13" width="594" height="508"></div><h2><b>GOALING RECORDS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1429/4199790-1-eng-US/f0035-142.jpg" title="f0035-14" width="594" height="250"></div><h2><b>MID-CENTRAL CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 20)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1525/4199783-1-eng-US/f0035-152.jpg" title="f0035-15" width="589" height="190"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Miami 13 Michigan-Dearborn 0</p><p>Miami 9 Michigan-Dearborn 1</p><h2><b>NON-LEAGUE</b></h2><p>Humber 7 Kent Sate 2</p><p>Humber 8 Kent State 6</p><p>Lake Forest 8 Hillsdale 3</p><p>Lake Forest 6 Hillsdale 4</p><p>Mich. State JV 5 Eastern Mich. 2</p><p>Missouri 8 Eastern Michigan 4</p><p>Eastern Michigan 6 Missouri 2</p><p>Eastern Michigan 6 Illinois 3</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1623/4199776-1-eng-US/f0035-162.jpg" title="f0035-16" width="603" height="353"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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Looking At The Minor League Scoreboard

<h2><b>NHL TEAMS</b></h2><p>1&mdash;Montreal</p><p>2&mdash;Chicago</p><p>3&mdash;Boston</p><p>4&mdash;Rangers</p><p>5&mdash;Detroit</p><p>6&mdash;Toronto</p><p>7&mdash;Philadelphia</p><p>8&mdash;Los Angeles</p><p>9&mdash;St Louis</p><p>10&mdash;Minnesota</p><p>11&mdash;Pittsburgh</p><p>12&mdash;Islanders</p><p>13&mdash;Vancouver</p><p>14&mdash;Buffalo</p><p>15&mdash;Atlanta</p><p>18&mdash;Cleveland</p><p>17&mdash;Colorado</p><p>18&mdash;Washington</p><h2><b>WHA TEAMS</b></h2><p>19&mdash;New England</p><p>20&mdash;Quebec</p><p>21&mdash;Winnipeg</p><p>22&mdash;Houston</p><p>23&mdash;Indianapolis</p><p>24&mdash;Edmonton</p><p>25&mdash;Cincinnati</p><p>28&mdash;Birmingham</p><h2><b>INTER-LEAGUE</b></h2><p>27&mdash;Boston (NHL) & St Louis (NHL)</p><p>28&mdash;Montreal (NHL) & Atlanta (NHL)</p><p>29&mdash;Pittsburgh (NHL) & Houston (WHA)</p><p>30&mdash;Washington (NHL) 4 Buffalo (NHL)</p><p>31&mdash;Independent</p><p>33&mdash;Los Angeles (NHL) 4 New England (WHA)</p><p>35&mdash;Chicago (NHL) 4 Toronto (NHL)</p><p>36&mdash;Vancouver (NHL) 4 Atlanta (NHL)</p><p>37&mdash;Islanders (NHL) 4 Minnesota (NHL)</p><p>40&mdash;Detroit (NHL) 4 Atlanta (NHL)</p><p>41&mdash;St Louis (NHL) 4 Washington (NHL)</p><p>42&mdash;Chicago (NHL) 4 Colorado (NHL)</p><p>43&mdash;Vancouver (NHL) 4 Minnesota (NHL)</p><p>44&mdash;Buffalo (NHL) 4 Philadelphia (NHL)</p><p>45&mdash;Islanders (NHL) 4 Atlanta (NHL)</p><p>48&mdash;Rangers (NHL) 4 Cleveland (NHL)<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Who They’re Affiliated With…

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE PENTON</div><p>VICTORIA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>hen the Western Canada Hockey League playoff format was announced in January, a lot of Jack Shupe boosters were saying things like: Isn&rsquo;t it too bad Jack&rsquo;s going to have a fairly decent record, yet miss out on the playoffs,&rsquo; and &lsquo;It&rsquo;s too bad Victoria&rsquo;s in the league&rsquo;s toughest division.&rsquo;</p><p>They&rsquo;re still saying things like that these days, but they&rsquo;re saying them about New Westminster Bruins&mdash;not Shupe&rsquo;s rejuvenated Cougars.</p><p>In mid-January, the Cougars took on the appearance of solid basement dwellers in the tough Western Division. They&rsquo;d win one, then lose one&hellip;a state of treading water that had them seven or eight points out of the third and final playoff spot.</p><p>But at the time, Shupe expressed confidence.</p><p>&ldquo;WeTl be in the playoffs.&rdquo; he said, matter-of-factly. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know who we&rsquo;re going to beat out, New Westminster or Seattle but will be there.&rdquo;</p><p>Most observers took it as the usual coaches optimism. Never-say-die and all that.</p><p>But within a month. Shupe&rsquo;s prediction has taken shape, to the point now where the Cougars are sitting pretty.</p><p>True, the Cougars sit third, a shaky six points ahead of the Bruins, who have five games in hand. But it&rsquo;s also true that both teams have equal home games remaining, seven. The Bruins have 12 road games, while Victoria has seven. And the Bruins have won just two of their 24 road games to date.</p><p>Portland holds a wide lead atop the Western Division, with Seattle Breakers owning a one-point lead over Victoria, with two games in hand.</p><p>Victoria&rsquo;s catapult to playoff contention came on a recent nine-game road swing, where they lost just once. The hot streak pulled them three games over .500, one of their loftiest positions of the season.</p><p>Victoria did most of its road damage without 18-year-old centerman Geordie Robertson, the team&rsquo;s-highest scorer. He missed most of the trip with a shoulder injury, but has recently returned to surpass the 100-point plateau.</p><p>With Robertson out of the lineup, veteran left winger Curt Fraser and sophomore 18-year-old Gary Lupul picked up the slack, and with spectacular goaltending from Steve Amiss, the Islanders became almost unbeatable.</p><p>In the last month, Fraser has connected for 17 goals, giving him 44 for the season and a sure shot at his first 50-goal campaign in four years in the WCHL.</p><p>After a 107-point season as a 17-year-old, Fraser had injury problems last year, missed all of 12 games and parts of about 20 others, and wound up with 75 points.</p><p>The skeptics were wondering about his health, but he has proved it&rsquo;s perfect with his outstanding season.</p><p>Lupul, who picked up 101 points as a rookie last year, had injury problems at the start of this year, but he, too, has returned to show the scouts his health is A-l. With a hot finish, the 18-year-old could again hit the 100-point mark. After 59 games, he had 29 goals and 35 assists, but he had missed 13 of those games.</p><p>Sophomore 17-year-old Bob Jansch (33 goals) and rookie George Fritz (26) have also been pulling more than their share of the load</p><p>The defense, led by Leroy Heck, Glenn Cochrane and Mark Robinson, has provided Amiss with capable protection.</p><p>It all adds up to the Cougars snarling. Come the end of March, they could also be smiling. Especially Shupe, who could wind up with the last laugh at those midseason sympathizers.</p><p><b>NEW WESTMINSTER</b>: The Bruins picked on a pair of Eastern Division clubs for three home-ice victories, setting the stage for the opener of an eight-game Eastern road trip, which could turn out to be one of their most vital trips of the years. Bruins swept a pair from Saskatoon. 8-3 and 7-3 as Boris Fistric and Doug Derkson scored two goals to help snap a 3-3 tie in the second game.</p><p><b>PORTLAND</b>: Outstanding individual performances helped give the Winter Hawks three victories in five road starts. After splitting the first four games. Perry Turnbull took over in the fifth contest to rattle in five goals, giving him 26, and add two assists in a 10-3 win over Lethbridge. Wayne Babych fired his 40th goal, tops on the team, in that game. Earlier, Dale Yakiwchuk netted four goals, exactly the difference in an 8-4 win at Regina. After losing the opener 5-3 in Billings, Dave Ross&rsquo; goal in the third period broke a tie and gave the Hawks a 4-3 win over the Bighorns in a game where Doug Lecuyer (two goals and two assists) was the star.</p><p><b>SEATTLE</b>: It was Errol Rausse and Co., for about the fifth straight week in Seattle. The 18-year-old sophomore increased his seasonal totals to 53 goals and 76 assists for 129 points, breaking team records for goals (held by Rob Flockhart) and pointy (Darryl Ferner). His biggest output was a seven-point night (two goals, five assists) in Breakers&rsquo; 9-7 win over Flin Flon. Lenny Dies had a big week, getting eight goals in five games, as the Breakers beat Saskatoon 10-3 and 7-2 and downed Flin Flon 4-1. Their lone loss was 9-4 in Victoria.</p><p><b>LETHBRIDGE</b>: The Broncos played well, outscoring their opponents 16-7 in three victories at the start of the week, but then they collapsed at home towards the end, losing-10-3 to Portland. Darryl Sutter got his 30th of the year in a 5-2 win over Medicine Hat, and Steve Tambellini increased his goal cout to 60 with two each in 6-4 and 5-1 wins over Calgary and Regina respectively.</p><p><b>CALGARY</b>: The Wranglers lost a pair of important home games, losing excellent chances to overtake Medicine Hat for the final playoff spot in the Central Division. But it wasn&rsquo;t Dave Morrison&rsquo;s fault. He scored three goals in an 8-5 loss to Regina and had two in a 6-4 defeat to Lethbridge.</p><p><b>BILLINGS</b>: After an excellent western trip, the Bighorns came back to more-familiar territory and lost two of three. They split a home-ice doubleheader with Portland, winning 5-3 as rookie Mike Kouwenhoven and Pat Conacher figured in two goals each, and losing 4-3. They were also beaten 7-3 in Medicine Hat, despite Harvie Pocza&rsquo;s two goals.</p><p><b>REGINA</b>: Captain Gerry Minor went on a sizzling tear, but it only helped the Pats win one game in four. Minor, moving up to fifth place in the league scoring derby, had seven goals and six assists in four games to give him 114 points. His biggest game, a three-goal, three-assist night vs. Calgary, helped the Pats win 8-5 coming back from a 4-1 deficit to overhaul the hometown Wranglers. Minor, linemate Gerry Galloway and defenseman Kevin Krook connected for 14 points in a 7-6 loss to Brandon; Minor scored the only goal in a 5-1 Pats&rsquo; defeat in Lethbridge; and the Pats were beaten 8-4 by visiting Portland.</p><p><b>SASKATOON</b>: The Blades sunk further into the East basement, losing five straight on a western swing by a combined score of 39-13. Their most impressive game turned out to be a 7-2 loss in Victoria, but they outshot the Cougars 60-38. Other defeats were 8-3 and 7-3 in New Westminster, and 7-2 and 10-3 in Seattle.</p><p><b>BRANDON</b>: Rookie Laurie Boschman scored his first WCHL hat trick, leading the Wheat Kings past Portland 6-5. Brian Propp, who scored three goals in a 7-6 Wheat King win over Regina earlier in the week, got his 92nd and 93rd assists of the year to break the Brandon team one-season record, with 14 games still to play. He has a good crack at Bobby Clarke&rsquo;s all-time WCHL record of 117.</p><p><b>FLIN FLON</b>: The Bombers were involved in one of the wildest games of the season, finally losing 10-7 in Victoria. The Cougars led 6-0 after one period and 10-1 midway through the second before the Bombers came back to make it close. Three goals within 20 seconds in the final minute of the second period helped immensely. Defenseman Gregg Tebbutt led the way in that game with a goal and four assists. Tebbutt fired three goals in a 9-7 Bomber loss at Seattle and scored the only goal as the Bombers went down 4-1 in a later loss to the Breakers.</p><p>Defeats almost guaranteed Brandon a first-place finish in the Eastern Division.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01299/4199943-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="564" height="664"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>CURT FRASER&hellip;Picks Up Slack</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>Looking At WHA Goalers</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01259/4199936-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="605" height="914"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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Shupe’s Hot Cougars Surprise As Promised

<p>SAN DIEGO&mdash;</p><p>Peter Graham, president of the San Diego Mariners of the Pacific Hockey League, has let it be known that his players, or for that matter any contract players in the PHL, are not to be tampered with.</p><p>Reports that newly-acquired right winger Paul O&rsquo;Neil, was leaving to take up residence with the Birmingham Bulls, after just five games with the Mariners prompted Graham to take immediate restrictive steps.</p><p>He took the matter to Federal court.</p><p>The Mariners were granted a temporary restraining order by Judge Iceland 0. Neilson in Federal District Court here, restraining O&rsquo;Neil from playing for any team other than the Mariners.</p><p>Basis of the complaint was that the Birmingham Bulls had induced O&rsquo;Neil to break his contract with the PHL team and play for Birmingham.</p><p>A hearing was scheduled for March 13.</p><p>Graham, who serves as president of the first-year PHL, said he took the action because the contract between O&rsquo;Neil and the Mariners was perfectly valid. &ldquo;Additionally,&rdquo; said Graham, &ldquo;the Pacific Hockey League had promised it&rsquo;s fans that players would not be moving up and down all season.&rdquo;</p><p>O&rsquo;Neil was reported to have left the club March 2 and gone to Birmingham. Certainly he wasn&rsquo;t with the club that night in San Francisco where the Mariners dropped a 5-1 decision.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Long Beach Sharks are no longer. They&rsquo;re now the Long Beach Rockets&mdash;since the takeover of the franchise by Orest Hershick of Calgary.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to go after as many. American kids as possible,&rdquo; said Long Beach&rsquo;s new general manager. Biff Reddin, 49, long involved in junior development programs.</p><p>All seats to a Long Beach game are now $2 across the board with no reserved seating. Hershick conceded that if the Rockets can&rsquo;t sell tickets at that price, the franchise stands a good chance of relocating next season.</p><p>The PHL&rsquo;s overall league average through 53 games was 3,589, while the single game high attendance mark belonged to Phoenix Roadrunners with 7,544.</p><p>Through 14 Cow Palace dates, the San Francisco Shamrocks were leading the league averaging a highly respectable 4,431 while the Roadrunners were close behind at 4,413.</p><p>And reflective of that fan interest was the fact that San Francisco and Phoenix remain locked in a fight for first place. Through games of March 2 the Shamrocks, with 16 wins and a tie, held a two-point lead, on the explosive Roadrunners.</p><p>Nor are the Shamrocks standoffish in the physical department. In a 7-2 thumping of Long Beach Feb. 28, both teams combined for 100 minutes in penalties, which included 10 fighting majors, 15 minors, and two misconducts.</p><p>High scoring Bill Evo came out of it with a two game suspension for roughing up lineman Don Elias, while Long Beach&rsquo;s Dale Smedsmo&mdash;said to be the league&rsquo;s Mr. Badman with 122 PIM&mdash;reverted to the role of a peacemaker, collecting only a two-minute minor for hooking.</p><p>The major combatants were Evo, Bill Humphrey and Steve Cardwell for San Francisco, while the Rockets countered with Greg Agar, John Sherridan and newcomer Terry Ballingall.</p><p>Previous high in penalty minutes for a PHL game was 98, also involving San Francisco&mdash;with the Phoenix Roadrunners.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02185/4199974-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="558" height="632"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PAUL O&rsquo;NEIL&hellip;Restrained By Mariners</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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Graham Halts O’Neil With Injunction

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03134/4200005-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="973" height="720"></div><h2><b>Poke or Body Check?</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>ow would you stop this puck carrier? Poke check or body check? Statistics show a puck carrier has a better chance of avoiding a poke check than a body check.</p><p>With a one-on-one situation &mdash; no other opponent near to pick up a loose puck &mdash; the best thing is to play the man. At least, you&rsquo;ll take him out of action, probably break up an organized team attack. If you try to poke check there are too many &ldquo;its&rdquo;. The attacker has the initiative because he knows which way he&rsquo;s going to move the puck. Always remember that you as a defenseman aren&rsquo;t as fast as most forwards. You were picked as a defenseman because you&rsquo;re bigger and stronger than most forwards and can stop them.</p><p>Do your job; protect the goalie and leave the speed to your forwards.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Hockey for Minors

<div class="byline">BY DANNY YOUNG</div><p>SHERBROOKE&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>e talks with a Philadelphia accent. He is the captain of the Sherbrooke Beavers. He is the third leading scorer in the Quebec Major Junior League. His name is Mark Green.</p><p>Green is one of the few Americans who moved north to play hockey in Canada&rsquo;s junior leagues. Now in his fourth and final year with Sherbrooke, he has become one of the league&rsquo;s superior players.</p><p>Growing up in Philadelphia, Mark was an avid Flyers fan and became extremely attached to the game of hockey. He excelled as a player in the Little Flyers organization, and was encouraged by Andre Lacroix to consider playing junior in Canada. Lacroix took Green to see Ron Racette of the Quebec Remparts. Since there were no English schools in Quebec City, Racette referred Green to Ghislain Delage, the general manager of the Sherbrooke Beavers. Mark tried out for the team and made it.</p><p>That was in 1974. Since then, Mark has developed into a great two-way centerman and has earned the post of team captain.</p><p>As Delage explains: He&rsquo;s in his fourth year with Sherbrooke. He has a great attitude. He made a lot of sacrifices to play here, and he&rsquo;s a great player.&rdquo;</p><p>The &ldquo;C&rdquo; on his jersey has put Mark on cloud nine. &ldquo;I never thought I&rsquo;d be captain. When I first came to Quebec, I thought that they would be prejudiced against the English and especially Americans. I was wrong. They have treated me very well. There&rsquo;s no prejudice against anyone.&rdquo;</p><p>Besides his scoring heroics 52 goals and 89 assists in 64 games, Green is probably the best defensive center in the league.</p><p>&ldquo;He will play pro because of his defense,&rdquo; says Delage. &ldquo;Mark is a good worker. He skates, he checks, and he never quits.&rdquo;</p><p>According to Mark, the hard-working style was picked up back in Philly. &ldquo;I had season&rsquo;s tickets to the Flyers games. When you watch Philadelphia play, especially Bobby Clarke, the style wears off on you. Besides, they expect you to play like that when you come up here.</p><p>&ldquo;I came to Quebec because it&rsquo;s better preparation for the pros than college. In college, there aren&rsquo;t as many games and you don&rsquo;t have the stiff competition. In junior, there&rsquo;s a lot of hitting, a lot of games, and you travel a lot. You don&rsquo;t get the experience in the states, although the youth hockey programs are improving.&rdquo;</p><p>Mark&rsquo;played for Team U.S.A, in the World Junior Championships last December, leading his team in scoring despite the fact that he was shaking in his skates from the knowledge that many professional scouts were watching the games.</p><p>I get nervous when the scouts are at a game. My goal is to turn professional. My fantasy is to play in Philadelphia.&rdquo;</p><p><b>HULL</b>: Daniel Metivier, the star winger of the Hull Olympics will be out for the remainder of the regular season. Metivier entered Thornhill hospital in Toronto to have a hernia operation. Metivier had scored 70 goals and 60 assists.</p><p>Hull knocked off Shawinigan 10-7. Claude Larochelle had two goals and four assists and Paul MacLean added a pair. Pitted against Trois Rivieres, the Olympics fell 13-4.</p><p><b>CORNWALL</b>: The Royals got five of a possible six points in league action last week. First, they defeated Shawinigan 62. Dan Geoffrion and Cam MacGregor tallied twice. The Royals then bested Verdun 3-1. MacGregor picked up two goals including the unassisted winner midway through the second period. Cornwall closed the week by tying Verdun 6-6.</p><p><b>TROIS RIVIERES</b>: With only eight games remaining, the Darveurs hold a five-point lead over Cornwall. Trois Rivieres blanked Quebec 5-0, but needed four goals from Carey Haworth to tie Shawinigan 6-6. Haworth scored two late goals to tie it. Then the Draveurs returned to form, trouncing Hull 13-4.</p><p><b>MONTREAL</b>: The Juniors are chasing Sherbrooke for the third spot in the standings. They are four points behind, but have three games in hand.</p><p>Montreal exploded with seven third-period goals to roll over Chicoutimi 9-2. Kevin Reeves had a hat trick and newcomer Glen Knight scored twice. In Laval, the Juniors lost 7-5. According to Laval coach Jacques St. Jean, &ldquo;the Juniors are the best team in the league.&rdquo;</p><p><b>SHERBROOKE</b>: Sylvain Locas scored six goals to boost his total to 73 and give the Beavers a 12-9 win over Chicoutimi. Mark Green had a hat trick. Against Laval, the Beavers won easily, 9-3. Jimmy Mann, Ron Carter, and Ricky Vaive all had two goals. Sherbrooke has averaged 6.6 goals a game this season and boasts the top four scorers in the league.</p><p><b>CHICOUTIMI</b>: The Sags are 10 points behind Quebec and their chances to make the playoffs are slim. They lost to Montreal 10-2 and Sherbrooke 12-9. Center Guy Charbonneau scored twice in the latter contest.</p><p><b>LAVAL</b>: The nationals rebounded from a 9-3 loss to Sherbrooke and a 3-3 tie with Quebec to defeat Montreal 7-5. The win was a milestone for the Nationals as it was their 31st of the season, setting a new club record. They won it before the largest crowd in Laval this season, 3,381.</p><p>Center Glen Currie, who played without winger J&rsquo;at Daley, was delighted with the win. &ldquo;I got more room to skate than I usually do. I&rsquo;m trying to carry the puck more and I think it will help my game.&rdquo;</p><p>Currie now has 132 points, just 17 short of Mike Bossy&rsquo;s 76-77 total of 149. Bossy, however, did not play the entire season.</p><p><b>VERDUN</b>: The Hawks played back-to-back games with Cornwall. They lost the first 3-1 despite a fine defensive effort in which they held Cornwall to 26 shots. In the second game, they tied 6-6. Defenseman Raymond Bourque leads all blueliners in scoring with 21 goals and 53 assists.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01309/4200036-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="548" height="742"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MARK GREEN&hellip;Plays Flyers&rsquo; Style</b></figcaption></div><p><b>SHAWINIGAN</b>: The Dynamos held a 52 lead over Trois Rivieres but had to settle for a 6-6 tie. Gilles Hebert and Andre Lapensee scored twice. Shawinigan lost to Cornwall 6-2, and to Hull 10-7. Sylvain Cote scored three and Lapensee added Two against Hull.</p><p><b>QUEBEC</b>: The Remparts held Trois Rivieres off for one period but lost 5-0. At home, they tied Laval 3-3. Jean Francois Brisson scored twice.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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U.S. Native Green Tabbed Future Pro

<h2><b>ONTARIO PROVINCIAL JUNIOR</b></h2><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01288/4200116-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="595" height="331"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Newmarket 9, Markham 3</p><p>(Newmarket wins sudden-death game to decide Final Playoff berth)</p><h2><b>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Fri. March 3)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02211/4200109-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="594" height="249"></div><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03158/4200102-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="599" height="538"></div><h2><b>GOALING RECORDS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04133/4200095-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="589" height="297"></div><h2><b>U.S.-MIDWEST LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Fri. Feb. 24)</b></p><h3><b>U.S. CONFERENCE</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05104/4200088-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="580" height="111"></div><h3><b>MIDWEST CONFERENCE</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0687/4200081-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="588" height="108"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Austin 11, St Paul 5</p><p>Sioux City 9, Green Bay 3</p><p>St. Paul 5, Bloomington 5</p><p>Waterloo 7, Green Bay 2</p><p>Sioux City 5, Austin 3</p><p>Green Bay 6, Waterloo 5</p><p>Sioux City 5, Bloomington 4</p><p>Austin 6, St. Paul 2</p><h2><b>U.S. CONFERENCE</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0774/4200074-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="591" height="275"></div><h2><b>MIDWEST CONFERENCE</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-0867/4200067-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="583" height="268"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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Looking At The Races

<div class="byline">BY MIKE LYNCH</div><p>CRANBROOK&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>C</span>ranbrook and Kimberley are barely 20 miles apart in the Kootenays of British Columbia, but this season Kimberley has not been too neighborly in Western International League hockey competition.</p><p>Cranbrook, with ambitions of winning its second WIHL championship in the last three years, had the league lead most of the early season, but recently ran afoul of Kimberley and, to a lesser degree, league-leading Spokane.</p><p>In the first dozen games of their 14-game season series, the Dynamiters won eight and lost four. More recently Kimberley has won six straight over Cranbrook, moving into sole possession of second place, temporarily at least.</p><p>Kimberley, with eight wins in 11 games, was shut out by Spokane and goalie Ron Lefebvre to end a torrid stretch. It was the second shutout for Lefebvre. He and teammate Frank Turnbull have two each. No other league goalie has more than one.</p><p>Peter Morris scored a hat trick for Spokane in that. The Flyers boosted a modest streak to three games, the first time they have won more than two straight in more than two months.</p><p>Trail split in its two games in midmonth, but the Smokies won 3-2 at Nelson and that victory could have all but clinched the fourth and last playoff spot for them.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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March 17, 1978

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