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 31, 1978

The Hockey News March 31, 1978

<h2><b><i>Looking At The Minor League Scoreboard</i></b></h2><h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. March 21)</b></p><h3><b>NORTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01304/4131920-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="593" height="144"></div><h3><b>SOUTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02247/4131913-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="598" height="191"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. March 14</b></p><p>Binghamton 3 at Nova Scotia 5</p><p><b>Wed. March 15</b></p><p>Nova Scotia 5 at Hershey 3</p><p>Binghamton 2 at Philadelphia 6</p><p>Now Haven 1 at Rochester 2</p><p><b>Thu. March 16</b></p><p>Springfield 5 at Philadelphia 3</p><p><b>Fri. March 17</b></p><p>Hershey 3 at Binghamton 8</p><p>Rochester 3 at Nova Scotia</p><p>New Haven 2 at Springfield 4</p><p><b>Sat. March 18</b></p><p>Maine 3 at Philadelphia 2</p><p>Hershey 3 at Springfield 8</p><p><b>Sun. March 18</b></p><p>New Haven 7 at Binghamton 5</p><p>Philadelphia 5 at Hershey 0</p><p>Rochester 8 at Nova Scotia</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03183/4131906-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="599" height="560"></div><h2><b>GOALING RECORDS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04149/4131899-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="598" height="514"></div><h2><b>CENTRAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. March 21)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05114/4131892-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="586" height="170"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. March 14</b></p><p>Tulsa 1 at Dallas 6</p><p><b>Wed. March 15</b></p><p>Salt Lake 7 at Fort Worth 2</p><p><b>Fri. March 17</b></p><p>Salt Lake 4 at Dallas 2</p><p>Kansas City 4 at Fort Worth 4</p><p><b>Sat. March 18</b></p><p>Salt Lake 0 at Fort Worth 4</p><p>Dallas 4 at Tulsa 3</p><p><b>Sun. March 19</b></p><p>Kansas City 6 at Dallas 2</p><p>Salt Lake 3 at Tulsa 5</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0695/4131885-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="609" height="331"></div><h2><b>GOALING RECORDS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0786/4131878-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="600" height="328"></div><h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. March 20)</b></p><h3><b>NORTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0868/4131871-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="591" height="172"></div><h3><b>SOUTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0964/4131864-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="581" height="136"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Mon. March 13</b></p><p>Kalamazoo 3 at Milwaukee 5</p><p><b>Tue. March 14</b></p><p>Fort Wayne 7 at Grand Rapids 3</p><p><b>Wed. March 15</b></p><p>Port Huron 2 at Fort Wayne 8</p><p>Kalamazoo 2 at Saginaw 1</p><p>Grand Rapids 4 at Toledo 7</p><p><b>Thu. March 16</b></p><p>Grand Rapids 2 at Flint 4</p><p>Kalamazoo 5 at Muskegon 2</p><p>Fort Wayne 2 at Toledo 8</p><p>Saginaw 6 at Milwaukee 0</p><p><b>Sat. March 18</b></p><p>Toledo 1 at Muskegon 9</p><p>Flint 5 at Port Huron 6</p><p>Grand Rapids 2 at Kalamazoo 3</p><p>Saginaw 4 at Milwaukee 0</p><p><b>Sun. March 19</b></p><p>Saginaw 3 at Fort Wayne 3</p><p>Kalamazoo 1 at Port Huron 6</p><p>Muskegon 3 at Flint 4</p><p>Toledo 8 at Grand Rapids 2</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1054/4131857-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="600" height="436"></div><h2><b>GOALING RECORDS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1149/4131850-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="610" height="833"></div><h2><b>PACIFIC HOCKEY LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Sat March 18)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1240/4131843-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="604" height="140"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Wed. March 8</b></p><p>San Francisco 3 at Phoenix 6</p><p><b>Thu. March 9</b></p><p>Long Beach 3 at San Diego 10</p><p><b>Fri. March 10</b></p><p>San Diego 5 at San Francisco 3</p><p>Long Beach 3 at Phoenix 2</p><p><b>Sat. March 11</b></p><p>Phoenix 5 at 8an Diego 8</p><p><b>Mon. March 13</b></p><p>Long Beach 12 at San Francisco 5</p><p><b>Thu. March 16</b></p><p>San Francisco 6 at San Diego 2</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1335/4131836-1-eng-US/f0035-132.jpg" title="f0035-13" width="608" height="387"></div><h2><b>Who They&rsquo;re Affiliated With&hellip;</b></h2><h3><b>NHL TEAMS</b></h3><p>1&mdash;Shontreal</p><p>2&mdash;Chicago</p><p>3&mdash;Boston</p><p>4&mdash;Rangers</p><p>5&mdash;Detroit o&mdash;Toronto</p><p>7&mdash;Philadelphia o&mdash;Los Angeles o&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>16&mdash;Cleveland</p><p>17&mdash;Colorado</p><p>18&mdash;Washington</p><h3><b>WHA TEAMS</b></h3><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>26&mdash;Birmingham</p><h3><b>INTER-LEAGUE</b></h3><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) & Buffalo (NHL)</p><p>31&mdash;Independent</p><p>33&mdash;Los Angeles (NHL) 5 New England (WHA)</p><p>35&mdash;Chicago (NHL) & Toronto (NHL)</p><p>30&mdash;Vancouver (NHL) & Atlanta (NHL)</p><p>37&mdash;Islanders (NHL) & Minnesots (NHL)</p><p>40&mdash;Detroit (NHL) & Atlanta (NHL)</p><p>41&mdash;St Louis (NHL) & Washington (NHL)</p><p>42&mdash;Chicago (NHL) & Colorado (NHL)</p><p>43&mdash;Vancouver (NHL) & Minnesota (NHL)</p><p>44&mdash;Buffalo (NHL) & Philadelphia (NHL)</p><p>45&mdash;islanders (NHL) & Atlanta (NHL)</p><p>46&mdash;Rangers (NHL) & Cleveland (NHL)<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0035-01

IN THIS ISSUE

ONTARIO MAJOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

<p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><p>PITTSBURGH&mdash;</p><p>Success, as Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; new center Derek Sanderson well knows, isn&rsquo;t always as easy to hold on to, as it is to acquire. The Penguins, who two weeks ago were in the thick of contention for second place in the Norris Division, are now faced with a life and death struggle with the New York Rangers for the fourth and final wild card spot in the National Hockey League playoffs.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02609/4130886-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="562" height="1164"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DEREK SANDERSON&hellip;Now With Penguins</b></figcaption></div><p>And 1-3 weeks aren&rsquo;t making things any easier.</p><p>Sanderson has tried to help. The former Calder Trophy winner as Rookie of the Year with the Boston Bruins in 1968 scored two goals in the four Penguin games last week, but the rest of the team could only come up with a total of eight, at the same time surrendering 21 goals to the opposition.</p><p>After shedding nearly 30 pounds in a month of workouts, Sanderson played in four games for the Kansas City Red Wings, the Central League farm team of Detroit, whose general manager Ted Lindsay had granted Sanderson a chance to make it back to the NHL. However, when Sanderson learned that the Red Wings wanted him to finish the season with Kansas City, take on a summer training program and then report for a tryout with the big club in the fall, he signed with Pittsburgh.</p><p>Sanderson joined the Penguins in time for a four-game road trip beginning in Los Angeles and the Penguins were hoping for at least a split to stay in the wild card race. It wasn&rsquo;t to be. They dropped a 4-2 decision to the Kings after Pete Mahovlich (his 24th) and Blair Chapman (his 18th) had tied the score. The next night in Vancouver, the Penguins were outgunned 6-4, despite scores from Chapman. Rick Kehoe (his 25th), Sanderson and Tom Edur (9th).</p><p>Perhaps the biggest surprise was a victory in Maple Leafs Gardens, where Toronto is always tough. Sanderson counted his second score of the season on a breakway late in the first period and Chapman and Wayne Bianchin scored a little more than a minute apart in the third period to reverse a 2-1 deficit.</p><p>Chicago awaited the Penguins on their fourth stop and made the Penguins look like the victim of a scalping. Final score Chicago 9-Pittsburgh-1 with Dave Schultz scoring his ninth of the season for the only Pittsburgh offense.</p><p>The loss left the Penguins with 61 points after 71 games, while the Rangers have the same number of points, but with one more game to play.</p><p>Penguins complete their road journey with a stop in Minnesota before hosting Colorado and Detroit.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-02

THE NHL

Success Eludes Slipping Penguins

<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/f0029-01307/4131414-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="558" height="708"></div><h3><b>APRIL</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02242/4131407-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="552" height="693"></div><p><b>(End of achedule)</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0029-01

OTHER LEAGUES

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY RICH PASSAN</div><p>CLEVELAND&mdash;</p><p>The title to this little piece is easy. It is called, &ldquo;Anatomy of a Slump.&rdquo;</p><p>Its subtitle is, &ldquo;How the Cleveland Barons Blew the 1978 Stanley Cup Playoffs.&rdquo;</p><p>The worst time of the season to experience a slump, of course, is the month of February when stretch runs are usually begun.</p><p>The Barons, chose February to begin their third&mdash;and, to date, most ill-timed&mdash;prolonged slump of the 1977-78 National Hockey League season.</p><p>The first two, believe it or not, did not prevent them from having a crack at their first playoff appearance in nearly a decade. Mid-season trades by Harry Howell helped a great deal.</p><p>The Cleveland general manager brought in some new muscle and a wealth of experience and things began turning around almost immediately.</p><p>Then came February and everything fell apart. Most everybody stopped scoring. The club, at this writing, had won just one of its last 14 games.</p><p>And in a 19-game stretch dating just prior to the league&rsquo;s All Star game, the Clevelanders scored a meager 44 goals. The enemy sniped for 79 goals.</p><p>Those 19 games reveal some rather interesting scoring statistics.</p><p>Only one forward line&mdash;Dave Gardner centering for wingers Chuck Arnason and Mike Fidler&mdash;has been scoring. The other three units saw their minus figures pile up to staggering heights.</p><p>Arnason and Fidler each had eight goals in those 19 games. That represented just a little more than one-third of the entire team production. Add Gardner&rsquo;s three goals and that is 43 percent of the goals.</p><p>Nothing, or at least next to nothing, came from the points.</p><p>Cleveland&rsquo;s five defensemen contributed just two goals in those 19 games.</p><p>And those came off the sticks of low-scoring Bob Stewart and Jim Neilson.</p><p>The slump also affected Dennis Maruk, the Barons&rsquo; leading scorer and offensive fireplug.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03493/4130537-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="558" height="589"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MIKE FIDLER&hellip;Continues Scoring</b></figcaption></div><p>After missing four games because of a bruised shoulder and chest, Maruk scored goals in his first two games back. Then he was blanked in his next 10. Maruk is too good a hockey player to go 10 games without depositing a puck behind an enemy goaltender.</p><p>The biggest puzzle to coach Jack Evans has been Cleveland&rsquo;s power play. It has all the power of a water pistol. In those same 19 games, the Barons have had at least a one-man advantage 61 times. The number of conversions is a paltry two, a percentage of just a little over 30 percent.</p><p>It doesn&rsquo;t take much to figure out why the Barons are getting blown out of more games this season than any of the last two compaigns.</p><p>When a Jean Potvin can go those 19 games without scoring and setting up only six goals, and a Kris Manery goes 10 games without scoring, and a J.P. Parise goes nine games without scoring, something is decidedly wrong.</p><p>The lack of scoring has spread like a cancer throughout the team with the exception of Arnason and Fidler.</p><p>&ldquo;Maybe they can&rsquo;t (score),&rdquo; said Evans, close to his wit&rsquo;s end with his men. There is a ring of truth in what Evans says.</p><p>There are some gunners on this club. Arnason and Fidler are two. Maruk is a third. Several others have the potential. But potential does not put the puck in the net.</p><p>Howell, it would appear, had better set his sights on getting some offensive power for his club. Scoring two and three goals a game will not win many games, no matter how good your defense and goaltending are.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-03

Punchless Barons Picked Wrong Time For Scoring Slump

Cover-01

The Hockey News

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02926/4129457-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg"></div><h2><b>Bowling Green Pulls Major Playoff Upset</b></h2><p>BOWLING GREEN&mdash;</p><p>The Bowling Green Falcons pulled the biggest college playoff upset in modern times when they eliminated Colorado College from the 1978 championship tournament.</p><p>The Central Collegiate Hockey Association titleholders were making the CCHA&rsquo;s first venture into major conference playoff competitions against the strong WCHA and the outcome left college hockey heads spinning. The Falcons won 5-3 and earned the right to accompany Wisconsin of the WCHA into the NCAA tournament at Providence March 23, 24 and 25 against the two Eastern college representatives, Boston College and Boston University.</p><p>Bowling Green had won the CCHA title by sweeping two from St. Louis Billikens 3.-l and 10-2. Colorado knocked off Denver 9-7 in a two-game WCHA semifinal while Wisconsin disposed of Michigan Tech 11-7. Boston College won the ECAC championship against Providence 4-2 but the later did not make it to the NCAA&rsquo;s because of an unusual college ruling that forced them to play Boston University, whom they had upset 5-1. BU won the replay 5-3 and advanced with BC as ECAC hopefuls.</p><h2><b>Vachon Will Stay If Price Is Right</b></h2><p>LOS ANGELES&mdash;</p><p>Goaler Rogie Vachon thinks the Los Angeles Kings are dragging their feet in contract negotiations with him. He says he&rsquo;ll stay with the Kings only if the price is right.</p><p>Vachon is one of six Kings playing on the final year of their NHL contracts and those who don&rsquo;t come to terms, are expected to move on. The list includes several promiment members of the team, including Vachon.</p><h2><b>Hammarstrom&rsquo;s Going Home</b></h2><p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;</p><p>Inge Hammarstrom says he&rsquo;s had enough of the NHL life and plans to return to his native Sweden at the close of the current season.</p><p>The fast-skating left winger of the St. Louis Blues said he will be available for the forthcoming World Hockey Tournament in Prague and he will line up with the Swedish Nationals. He also said he will perform with the Brynas team in Sweden next season. The 30-year-old Swede has completed five NHL seasons, four of which were spent with Toronto Maple Leafs.</p><h2><b>Maple Leafs Surprised Maloney Was Available</b></h2><p>TORONTO&mdash;</p><p>Toronto coach Roger Neilson said he was frankly astonished that the Leafs could acquire a player of such proven calibre as Don Maloney at this stage in the NHL race.</p><p>Neilson and GM Jim Gregory said they were surprised that Detroit would part with the hard-nosed Maloney when the Wings were battling for their lives to catch a playoff berth in the NHL&rsquo;s wild card race.</p><p>But the Wings claimed they needed an experienced scorer and Errol Thompson fitted into their plans. The Leafs swapped Thompson for Maloney and a handful of draft picks dating to 1980. Thompson said he expected the trade because he didn&rsquo;t fit into Neilson&rsquo;s style of play. Maloney is perfect for the role and the Leafs were ectastic at getting the rugged left winger.</p><h2><b>WHA Fines, Suspends 41 On Jets, Bulls</b></h2><p>HARTFORD&mdash;</p><p>The WHA fined and suspended 20 members of the Winnipeg Jets, including team president Michael Gobuty and 21 of the Birmingham Bulls for their part in a bench-clearing brawl between the teams.</p><p>Larry Gordon, the WHA&rsquo;s executive director, said $10,300 in fines and suspensions totaling 15 games were meted out to the Jets and Bulls. Most seriously hit was defenseman Steve Durbano of Birmingham, who was set down for 12 games and fined $500.</p><p>Gobuty, who only recently became the new club president, was fined $500 for his actions in the vicinity of the Winnipeg bench during the brawl.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0002-02

DEADLINE STOPPERS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011022/4129426-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PETER McNAB&hellip;Still Bruins Goal Leader</b></figcaption></div><p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><p>BOSTON&mdash;</p><p>The Bruins have only one player in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Top 10 scorers, the unlikely Mr. Hustle Terry O&rsquo;Reilly. But they&rsquo;re starting to open some daylight on the Buffalo Sabres in the battle for the Adams Division crown (which the Bruins have won three of the last four years) and they&rsquo;re doing it with perhaps the most balanced scoring lineup in the team&rsquo;s history.</p><p>Last week was a good example of the kind of hockey the Bruins have been playing while locked in a fierce struggle with the Sabres. Bruins hosted the Minnesota North Stars for a 7-2 victory feast, dropped into Madison Square Garden to take a 6-3 triumph from the Rangers and then hopped back home for a 6-4 win over the Maple Leafs for their 11th win in 14 games. Highlighting the victories were 11 different goal-scorers, including a half a dozen players who scored two or more goals.</p><p>One of those was Peter McNab the Bruins&rsquo; goalscoring leader for the second year in a row. After a somewhat quiet finish last year, McNab had 38 goals, a figure he is rapidly approaching with 35 this time around with 11 games left on the schedule. But he&rsquo;s expected to score goals, as is Bobby Schmautz who had 24 goals and then has added another after returning from more than a month on the sidelines with a broken heel. Write down Jean Ratelle, too, who scored his 21st, plus an assist in the Rangers&rsquo; game. He&rsquo;s been the number two pointgetter on the team behind O&rsquo;Reilly and has managed to stay just below the top 10-with slightly better than a point a game average.</p><p>But the true strength of the Bruins is reflected in the scoring which is being produced from every line on the club.</p><p>Second-year man Stan Jonathan had one of his biggest NHL weeks in the three games, scoring four goals and three assists, including a pair of each in the Minnesota game. He&rsquo;s scored 26 goals.</p><p>Then there&rsquo;s ex-Ranger Rick Middleton, an excellent skater who&rsquo;s learned to play defense for coach Don Cherry, while not neglecting his offense. He had a pair of goals last week to reach the 20 mark. Don Marcotte, in the running for the Selke Trophy for defensive forwards, is another 19-goal man. As is hardworking center Gregg Sheppard who missed numerous games with a knee injury.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03693/4129419-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="565" height="738"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>WALTER TKACZUK Comeback Of The Year?</b></figcaption></div><p>Veterans like Brad Park, whom Cherry insists is the best NHL defenseman and Wayne Cashman, are yet another duo with 19 goals. Park ranks third on the team in scoring, and is the leader on defense.</p><p>Two players not even expected to remain with the club, center Bob Miller from the University of New Hampshire and left winger John Wensink surprised everyone including Cherry by not only holding their own in the NHL, but also contributing to the Bruins&rsquo; offense which has the third highest goals total in the league. Miller has accounted for 18, Wensink 15.</p><p>With Ron Grahame handling just about all of the goaltending chores backed up by Jim Pettie while veterans Gerry Cheevers and Gilles Gilbert are on the &gt;mend from injuries, the Bruins have not faltered in their hotly contested struggle with Buffalo.</p><p>Cherry called his team&rsquo;s depth the best he had ever seen and that, along with the balanced offense, has kept the Bruins on top.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0002-01

Balanced Offense Carrying Bruins To Title In Tough Adams Division

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011029/4129502-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="564" height="1278"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02884/4129495-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1755" height="1285"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03597/4129488-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="564" height="1270"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Bryan Trottier reflects on his role with the Islanders at left and on the right. In between the young Islander super scorer gets the hero treatment from team captain Clark Gillies.</b></figcaption></div><p>LONG ISLAND&mdash;</p><p>For the first two-thirds of the season, everything progressed in storybook fashion for Bryan Trottier and the rest of the upstart Islanders, who are hoping to cash in one their first Patrick Division crown. Bryan led the league in scoring, helped young Mike Bossy break Rick Martin&rsquo;s old rookie goal-scoring mark, and made the Isles look like genuine Stanley Cup contenders.</p><p>Everything came easily for the Islanders through mid-February. They filled the net with regularity, and just about every game against the lesser lights was an automatic two points in the bank by virtue of showing up for the opening face-off.</p><p>There are many reasons for the Islanders&rsquo; success this season, but the main one became apparent early in March. That&rsquo;s when Trottier finally had to succumb to a combination back and hip injury after playing for more than two weeks in agonizing pain.</p><p>Although he had pulled a back muscle some time earlier, Bryan first sat out the Isles&rsquo; game at Atlanta on Feb. 22, a game in which the club appeared sluggish, but held on to a 3-3 tie. He returned to the lineup a few days later, got his share of points, but somehow wasn&rsquo;t the same firebrand he was earlier in the season.</p><p>His stride became hitched, and it was obvious that he was playing his all-out game in extreme discomfort. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t hurt so much,&rdquo; was about all the quiet center would comment about the situation.</p><p>The back began to bother him more and more, but he still refused to take a seat on the bench. He still took his customary line shift, plus the power play, and occasionally killed penalties.</p><p>The last straw came against the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 5. It was just an everyday play where it looked like the Isles would be guilty of an icing infraction, as Penguin defenseman Tom Edur prepared to tough the puck behind his goal line.</p><p>But Trottier, streaking from way down the ice, suddenly cut in front of him, beat him to the puck, and touched it just as he crashed into the boards at full steam. Trots got up slowly, tried to take the next shift, but then sat out the last 10 minutes of the period, as well as most of the following week.</p><p>The Hart Trophy is given annually to the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player&mdash;presumably the player who is most responsible for him team&rsquo;s success. If that, indeed, is the definition, Trottier should win this year&rsquo;s hardware in a walk.</p><p>Without a healthy Trottier, the Islanders suddenly became nothing more than just another above average team. Not only did Bossy stop scoring, he didn&rsquo;t even get the puck. Clark Gillies picked up some of the slack, but even when Bryan was out there at 25 percent capacity, Clark&rsquo;s goals weren&rsquo;t &ldquo;line&rdquo; goals. In most cases he got the puck from a defenseman and ripped a slap shot past the opposing netminder.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question what he means to our team,&rdquo; commented Gillies.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a leader, one of the many leaders we have on this club. He makes the plays so well and so easily that after a while you take it for granted. When he&rsquo;s not here, you really miss him.&rdquo;</p><p>In addition to missing Trottier&rsquo;s offensive punch, they also suffered from not having his defensive abilities on display. There isn&rsquo;t a player in the league who can carry the puck near Trottier without getting a bump. A hard one. Scoring and setting up goals is as only half of Bryan&rsquo;s game; getting a piece of everyone who goes by is the other.</p><p>Without Trottier leading the way, the Islanders suddenly forgot that the way that they got on top in the first place is by giving 60 minutes of hard work and playing the body. During the span that Trottier was injured, the only check that some Islanders saw was the paper variety signed by Roy Boe (Islanders&rsquo; president).</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just not playing the way we were earlier in the season, and not having Bryan healthy is a big part of it,&rdquo; said Chico Resch, who according to some of his teammates, was the only Islander awake in early March. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so easy not to play hard, especially when you can just get by without going all out. This is something that we&rsquo;ll just have to straighten out by the time the playoffs come around. If we don&rsquo;t, well, we&rsquo;ll be in a lot of trouble, that&rsquo;s for sure.&rdquo;</p><p>Having healthy Bryan Trottier would certainly solve part of the problem.</p><p><b>ISLAND SOUNDS:</b> Bill Smith had his problems in goal, and by his own admission felt he should be benched in favor of Resch&hellip;Chico played in 10 of 13 games during one stretch after playing second fiddle to Smitty in the early going&hellip;Resch stopped another penalty shot (his third save on four attempts lifetime) when he made a nifty arm save on Vancouver&rsquo;s Ron Sedlbauer at the Coliseum on March 7&hellip;Eddie Westfall picked up his first short-handed goal of the season in the same game&hellip;After a slow start, the Islander power play was statistically the best in the league by early March.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0003-01

BRYAN TROTTIER: THE MAN WHO MAKES THE ISLANDERS GLOW

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011080/4129561-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="482" height="475"></div><p>&#9679; <b>THE STATES OF</b> Minnesota and New York each placed two players on the 1977-78 Junior Hockey All-America team with the players honored at the Lester Patrick Dinner in New York. Defenseman Jeff Lundgren of Austin, Minnesota and forward Jim Mroszak of St. Paul, along with goaltender Frank De Mayo of Massapequa Park, New York and defenseman Jim Brown of Rochester, N.Y. were chosen for the team with the other two players from Michigan and Massachusetts. They were Christopher Guertin of Davison, Mich., and Dean Lombardi of Ludlow, Mass&hellip;New York Islanders&rsquo; captain Clark Gillies who presented the players was asked by MC George Plimpton where Moose Jaw (his home town) is. Said Gillies, &ldquo;Moose Jaw is located six feet from Moose&rsquo;s rear&rdquo;&hellip;For those in favor of overtime periods in the National Hockey League, it is worth noting that New England of the World Hockey Association leads its loop in tie games with four, while there are four NHL teams with at least 15 ties this year&hellip;Pat Quinn made his coaching debut behind the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; bench in a 6-2 victory over Colorado. Fred Shero watched from the press box&hellip; Based on statistics gathered from a recent edition of THE HOCKEY NEWS, one reader points out that County College of Morris (N.J.) a junior college which plays against four-year schools in the New York Metropolitan Collegiate Conference is the highest scoring team in North American college hockey, averaging 10.13 goals per game in its first 15 games (152 goals). The team is coached by 25-year-old New Jersey native Ed Nelson.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021035/4129554-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="296" height="454"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Pat Quinn</b></figcaption></div><p>&#9679; <b>BOSTON BRUINS</b> have an excellent chance of breaking a National Hockey League record for most 20-goal scorers this year as they have 11 players with 18 or more goals and another player (John Wensink) with 15 goals with more than 10 games to play. The record of 10 players is held by the Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens&hellip;Joe Starkey, Colorado Rockies&rsquo; broadcaster has seen only one win in Philadelphia&rsquo;s Spectrum, that on his first visit in 1972 when he was with the California Seals. Starkey missed the only road victory by the Rockies this year, in Vancouver, because he was broadcasting a football game&hellip;Next year&rsquo;s International League All Star celebration is being expanded to a two-day affair with the All Star dinner on Mon. Feb. 5 in Saginaw Civic Center&rsquo;s Unity Hall, while the game will be the following evening in the Civic Center&hellip;One reason for the New York Islanders&rsquo; continued improvement is the consistency of the team&rsquo;s players. Billy Harris has had 20 goals or more six years in a row, while Bob Nystrom has done the same for five years&hellip;The loss for the season of Kings&rsquo; enforcer Dave Hutchison with a broken foot puts a damper on the L.A. club&rsquo;s playoff hopes as his absence allows the opposition too much freedom in outmuscling the Kings&hellip;When Mike Bossy&rsquo;s No. 17 jersey was retired on March 15 by his former junior team, the Laval Nationals, it marked only the second sweater in the history of the Quebec Major Junior League to be retired&hellip;Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s Quebec Remparts sweater was the other&hellip;Boston University, which posted the best record among major colleges this year, (24-1) will lose only three players to graduation.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03930/4129547-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="295" height="444"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Billy Harris</b></figcaption></div><p>&#9679; <b>THE AMATEUR</b> Hockey Association of the United States (AHAUS) has announced a five-man council is being set up to assist in the development of U.S. personnel for positions professional in hockey as players, coaches, trainers, game officials and management&hellip;The council reported that 12.01 percent of players in professional hockey are Americans, a percentage which is growing each year&hellip;25 Americans are now listed on National Hockey League rosters&hellip;Injuries have certainly hampered the Colorado Rockies this season as the club had 149 games missed due to sickness or injury by the middle of March&hellip;Joe Watson of the Flyers was named winner of the Philadelphia hockey writers&rsquo; second annual &ldquo;class guy&rdquo; award at a recent luncheon attended by 130 people, including the Flyers. The writers&rsquo; &ldquo;Not Ready For Anytime Players&rdquo; performed again, this time their version of a Flyers&rsquo; team meeting with Reverend John Casey in the role of Fred Shero&hellip;L.A. Kings&rsquo; Lady Byng award candidate Butch Goring has topped 30 goals for the third straight season. Goring&rsquo;s career ratio of points to penalty minutes is the best in the league outside of Dave Keon over a 20-year period&hellip;Danny Grant, also of the Kings, who won the &ldquo;Showdown&rdquo; contest on Hockey Night In Canada two years ago, recently went a month without a goal&hellip;Toronto&rsquo;s Stan Weir has been extremely effective since his recall from the minors and has scored nine goals already. Weir was slated for a return earlier in the season but suffered a broken nose.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04828/4129540-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="297" height="421"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Stan Weir</b></figcaption></div><p>&#9679; <b>TRADES BETWEEN</b> the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association and players going back and forth between the two leagues are becoming more and more common. Recently, Tim Sheehy went to the New England Whalers after starting the season with the Birmingham Bulls and then being traded to the NHL&rsquo;s Detroit Red Wings&hellip;Thommie Bergman is another example as a player who started with the Red Wings in the NHL, played a few seasons with the WHA&rsquo;s Winnipeg Jets and now has been reacquired by the Red Wings&hellip;If Mario Tremblay of the Montreal Canadiens, who has not dressed for a number of games this year gets traded he hopes it&rsquo;s to a contender and says that he won&rsquo;t play for the Washington Capitals among other NHL teams&hellip;It seems that Gordie Howe was upset by the reception he and sons Marty and Mark received from the fans at Houston&rsquo;s The Summit&hellip;A chorus of boos greeted the Howe clan&rsquo;s appearance on the ice&hellip;Boston coach Don Cherry likes workers and that&rsquo;s why the Bruins&rsquo; mentor has given John Wensink, the noted roughneck, a chance to be a regular performer for the Bruins. Wensink has responded with 15 goals and a creditable defensive job&hellip;Cherry also received some aid from his brother Dick, who pointed out that Wensink was making big circles in his skating, rather than risking a fall. Cherry told Wensink just to skate like Terry O&rsquo;Reilly and forget about how he looked on the ice. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the only way he&rsquo;ll improve,&rdquo; said Cherry&hellip;While the published salaries of NHL players in several Canadian dailies have brought mostly laughs from the players, people in the NHL offices, especially Brian O&rsquo;Neill, have been said to be very upset about the leaked information.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05689/4129533-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="291" height="388"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Tim Sheehy</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0004-01

COLUMNISTS

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;</p><p>The current season has been somewhat unpleasant for Curt Bennett.</p><p>Bennett and his wife, Sue, were settled in their home in Atlanta last fall as Curt began his sixth season with the Flames. Their first child, Cameron, was born last season, and the Bennett family was in the habit of living in Atlanta throughout the year.</p><p>But in December Bennett was part of the seven-player trade between the Flames and the St. Louis Blues. Phil Myre and Barry Gibbs, also involved in the trade, were eager to get to St. Louis, where they would get more playing time, but Bennett was not as enthusiastic.</p><p>Bennett called the moving from one city to another &ldquo;quite a disruption,&rdquo; although he had a warm feeling for the Blues, the NHL team which drafted him out of Brown University.</p><p>The trade has been helpful to the Blues but it has not reversed what has been a very poor season for the Blues. Bennett has felt the pain of losing along with his teammates.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a hard road for anybody,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t seem to get out of the doldrums. We&rsquo;re standing still. The other teams in our division aren&rsquo;t winning either. They must be feeling awful, too.</p><p>&ldquo;We have a lot of good hockey players in St. Louis, but everybody&rsquo;s up tight,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Atlanta had good players, too, but had a motivational problem.&rdquo;</p><p>Bennett thinks some of the problems of the league&rsquo;s struggling teams are not due to bad luck. He blames the NHL&rsquo;s power structure for perpetuating a system that precludes widespread prosperity.</p><p>&ldquo;The whole league is geared for the top six teams,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They make a lot of money off the other 12 and they don&rsquo;t care about the league.</p><p>&ldquo;Montreal is No. 1 in hockey and gets all the top draft choices,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That makes no sense, especially to the people in places like St. Louis and Colorado.&rdquo;</p><p>Bennett chided the league for always increasing, rather than decreasing, the number of games in a season.</p><p>&ldquo;The people have to be entertained, and we should be fair with the number of games,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to run it to death. People are going to get turned off eventually.&rdquo;</p><p>Like many others, Bennett thinks major-league hockey missed a signpost for the future when the merger of the NHL and WHA failed to materialize.</p><p>&ldquo;Some owners are vindictive, and under the rules one guy can block anything,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The main objective should be a good product. The fans will pay any price if they&rsquo;re entertained.</p><p>&ldquo;The strong are going to get stronger, and the weak weaker the way it&rsquo;s set up,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everybody wants to see the big teams, but we need more excitement.&rdquo;</p><p>Bennett, who majored in Russian studies at Brown and was a nominee for a Rhodes scholarship, was taken by the Blues in the second round of the amateur draft in 1968, when he was a sophomore.</p><p>He started playing pro hockey with the old Kansas City Blues in the fall of 1970 and made his NHL debut late that season.</p><p>&ldquo;It was in St. Louis against Pittsburgh that I scored my first two NHL goals,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Scotty Bowman was the coach, and I was up on a four-game trial and scored twice in one game.&rdquo;</p><p>Bennett split the following season between the Blues and the old Denver Spurs, then was traded with goalie Peter McDuffe to the New York Rangers so the Blues could get Steve Durbano. Bennett was with the Rangers for 16 games at the beginning of the 1972-73 season before he was traded to Atlanta for Ron Harris.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-06409/4129592-1-eng-US/f0004-062.jpg" title="f0004-06" width="572" height="1026"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>CURT BENNETT&hellip;Calls For Excitement</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0004-06

Structure Of NHL Keeps Teams Weak Says Blues’ Bennett

<p>Following are the latest player movements in hockey:</p><h2><b>NATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p>BOSTON&mdash;<b>Darryl Edestrand</b>, D, sold outright to Los Angeles.</p><p>BUFFALO&mdash;<b>Joe Kowal</b>, LW, returned to Hershey of AHL. <b>Larry Carriere</b>, D, signed as free agent for rest of season.</p><p>CLEVELAND&mdash;<b>Mike Crombeen</b>, RW, recalled from Salt Lake of CHL. <b>Ken Kuzyk</b>, RW, recalled from Binghamton of AHL and reassigned to Salt Lake as replacement.</p><p>DETROIT&mdash;<b>Thommie Bergman</b>, D, signed as free agent from Winnipeg of WHA. <b>Dan Maloney</b>, LW, traded to Toronto along with a second round draft choice in return for <b>Errol Thompson</b>, LW. and two first round draft picks and one second round draft pick.</p><p>LOS ANGELES&mdash;<b>Charlie Simmer</b>, LW, recalled from Springfield of AHL.</p><p>MINNESOTA&mdash;<b>Gary Smith</b>, G, assigned to Fort Worth of CHL. <b>Doug Hicks</b>, D, and third round draft pick in 1980 traded to Chicago in exchange for NHL rights to <b>Eddie Mio</b>, G, with Indianapolis of WHA. <b>Steve Jensen</b>, LW, recalled from Fort Worth. <b>Jerome Engele</b>, D, and <b>Jamie Gallimore</b>, LW, recalled from Fort Worth.</p><p>PITTSBURGH&mdash;<b>Derek Sanderson</b>, C, signed as free agent.</p><p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;<b>Ken Richardson</b>, C, recalled from Salt Lake of CHL as replacement for <b>Bill Fairbairn</b>, RW, who is on disabled list with injury.</p><p>WASHINGTON&mdash;<b>Mark Lofthouse</b>, C, sent to Salt Lake of CHL on loan.</p><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;<b>Orest Kindrachuk</b>, C, placed on disabled list with sprained knee.</p><h2><b>WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.</b></h2><p>BIRMINGHAM&mdash;<b>Bob Stephenson</b>, RW, assigned to Tulsa of CHL. <b>Dan Djakalovic</b>, C, assigned to Tulsa.</p><p>CINCINNATI&mdash;<b>Floyd Lahache</b>, D, recalled from Binghamton of AHL. <b>Dave DeBol</b>, C, signed from Michigan University to pro try out.</p><p>WINNIPEG&mdash;<b>Veli-Pekka Ketola</b>, RW, signed as free agent. <b>Bill Davis</b>, D, recalled from Philadelphia of AHL.</p><p>EDMONTON&mdash;<b>Ray McKay</b>, D, and <b>Cal Sandbeck</b>, D, signed as free agents. <b>Chris Ahrens</b>, D, placed on injury list.</p><p>QUEBEC&mdash;<b>J.C. Tremblay</b>, D, placed on injury list. <b>Wally Weir</b>, D, returned to lineup from injury list.</p><p>HOUSTON&mdash;<b>Cam Connor</b>, C, placed on disabled list for rest of season after undergoing surgery for broken bone in his hand. <b>Ted Taylor</b>, LW, returned to lineup from injury list.</p><h2><b>CENTRAL LEAUGE</b></h2><p>TULSA&mdash;<b>John McCahill</b>, D, secured from Colorado of NHL on amateur tryout.</p><h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p>PORT HURON&mdash;<b>Ron Roscoe</b>, F, returned to Kalamazoo. <b>Tim Sanche</b>, F, returned to Flint. <b>Mike McDougal</b>, F, placed on disabled list for rest of season with shoulder separation. <b>Mark Toffolo</b>, D, secured from Grand Rapids on loan.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Hockey Players On The Move

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>R</span>emember the good old days when he asked to be traded? When he showed up late for practice and was sent home? When he practiced half-heartedly and wondered aloud why he wasn&rsquo;t getting any ice time?</p><p>Well most of those &ldquo;good old days&rdquo; were last year when things weren&rsquo;t going too smoothly for Rick Chartraw, the busting-at-the-seams hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens. You remember Chartraw, eh? The guy who came to town as Montreal&rsquo;s third round choice in the 1974 draft from the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey Association and proceded to rent a penthouse suite. Only to spend most of the year living in Halifax with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs.</p><p>Chartraw, the guy who forms one half of a trivia answer along with Atlanta&rsquo;s Willi Plett when the question is raised: Who are the two NHL players born in South America? Chartraw was born in Caracas, Venezuela, grew up in Pennsylvania and played junior hockey in Ontario. How&rsquo;s that for traveling?</p><p>Chartraw, a growing young man at six-foot-two, 210 (and seemingly bigger) who was known to spend a good deal of his time in some of Montreal&rsquo;s watering holes, but who couldn&rsquo;t seem to afford an alarm clock which worked in time for several of Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s morning practices?</p><p>But on the ice, Chartraw drew considerable recognition in last spring&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs. After playing in only slightly better than half of the regular season games, Bowman inserted Chartraw at right wing for 13 of the 14 post-season encounters and for once the affable Chartraw felt like he was needed by the Canadiens.</p><p>Chartraw came out on the ice like a bull in a china shop, hitting everything that moved and causing those he didn&rsquo;t hit to look around to see where he was. He hustled, he dug in the comers, he even potted a couple of goals and at long last he settled into the Canadiens&rsquo; game plan.</p><p>With the versatile Jimmy Roberts getting set to wind up his career traded to St. Louis, Chartraw inherited Roberts&rsquo; role as a player who could shift between defense and right wing.</p><p>Although chosen for the first All Star team twice while a defenseman with Nova Scotia in the American League, Chartraw said he enjoyed playing on the forward line and that it offered him a chance to learn while not having to face the enormous pressure placed on the defensemen. He talked to the management and seemed satisfied with the club&rsquo;s plans for him, while realizing that he was coveted property by such teams as the New York Rangers and Cleveland Barons who supposedly made overtures in his direction.</p><p>Right from the start of this season. Chartraw, equipped with a new outlook, if not a changed attitude, has been a different and better player. Aligned with pesky centerman Doug Jarvis and defensive standout Bob Gainey, the trio has formed the Canadiens&rsquo; number one checking unit and undoubtedly its most physical forward line.</p><p>Chartraw, who leads the team in soaked sweatshirts and downing soft drinks at practices, has been an uncomplaining worker. Even when a disputed call took away a goal (he had only one at the time) he just shrugged it off and went about his game.</p><p>His game, most forwards have noticed, is hitting. Though he doesn&rsquo;t make as much contact as Gainey (does anyone?) Chartraw can level people with the best of the hitters in the league. When he takes an opponent into the boards, everyone in the rink knows it and when he misses, the boards know it.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01936/4129678-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="565" height="733"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RICK CHARTRAW&hellip;Happy To Find Spot</b></figcaption></div><p>In a physical game against the Maple Leafs on March 9, Chartraw scored a goal on his third shot on a breakaway (no one ever accused him of being a fast skater) and then laughingly proclaimed scoring a hat trick&hellip;for the season.</p><p>Less than a week later the Gainey-Jarvis-Chartraw line helped the Habs to dominate the first period of a game in Chicago. It took Jarvis just 28 seconds to notch his seventh goal of the season with-assists from Gainey and Chartraw and then in the final minute of the stanza with Montreal leading 2-1, Chartraw dented the twine, with help from his linemates, for the second time in four games. At one point, after scoring in the team&rsquo;s second game of the season, Chartraw had gone through a period of 45 games without scoring (he didn&rsquo;t dress for all of them and was injured for awhile), but to his credit he stayed after practice for shooting, worked hard and finally broke back into the scoring column.</p><p>It is a measure of the Canadiens&rsquo; depth that the club can regularly employ a trio which has accounted for only 26 goals on the season (Gainey has 14). But it is also true that the line does a masterful job of blunting the opposition&rsquo;s top combos, performing an essential role for the defensively-conscious club.</p><p>In the same contest against Chicago, Jarvis turned a Hawks&rsquo; power play into a 4-1 lead with a shorthanded goal, making it two goals on the night, his first multigoal of the season, if not his NHL career.</p><p>When the Canadiens get scoring like that from their checking line, it&rsquo;s easy to see why they are heavy favorites for another Stanley Cup this May.</p><p><b>HABS&rsquo; NOTES:</b> Guy Lafleur is set to surpass his one-season best of 56 goals which he&rsquo;s. accomplished the last two years. Also within range is the NHL record for right wingers of 61 held by Philly&rsquo;s Reg Leach&hellip;Lafleur, by the way, scored at least once against every team in the league this year&hellip; Steve Shutt failed to score against Chicago, the only club which blanked him this year&hellip;Bill Nyrop scored a power play goal against the Hawks, his fifth goal of the season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02738/4129671-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="553" height="1444"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BOB GAINEY</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0005-01

Chartraw Playing With New Outlook As Regular On Habs’ Checking Line

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011111/4129709-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="330" height="468"></div><h2><b>Work To Be Done</b></h2><p><b>WHY WOULD A NICE</b> man of 36 years who is already losing his hair take a job as general manager and coach of the Minnesota No Stars?</p><p>Latent masochistic tendencies?</p><p>Desire to wear a straitjacket?</p><p>Maalox on his mind?</p><p>None of the above, surprise, surprise. What&rsquo;s more, after a few weeks at his desk, Lou Nanne&rsquo;s letter opener still is being used to slit envelopes only.</p><p>&ldquo;There is work to be done here, lots of work,&rdquo; noticed Looie, one of only two GM-coaches in the National Hockey League, the other being the infinitely more experienced Bob Pulford of Chicago. He&rsquo;s gray already, and he&rsquo;s in first place.</p><p>At press time, the No Stars had no chance of succeeding even in the mighty Smythe Division, where the best way to gain ground is to have your game cancelled by snow.</p><p>&ldquo;It happened suddenly, but there is no doubt on my mind that I&rsquo;m prepared,&rdquo; continued Nanne, who started this season worrying about just one person&mdash;Lou Nanne, defenseman, right wing, nice guy, No Stars since 1976.</p><p>Now resting upon his virgin shoulders is the considerable albatross of resurrecting a franchise which has degenerated from an expansion showpiece to a team that nobody loves anymore.</p><h2><b>Blessing And Curse</b></h2><p><b>THE TWIN CITIES</b> is great hockey country, which can be both a blessing and a curse. You don&rsquo;t have to tell Minnesotans what the blueline is; nor do you have to tell them that their hockey team more often than not has trouble crossing it.</p><p>Once upon a time, circa last spring, it appeared that the North Stars were on their way back. But they let a couple of players escape for nothing&mdash;goalie Gary Smith, scorer Ernie Hicke&mdash;and this season commenced in abysmal fashion.</p><p>Ted Harris, the incumbent coach, was jettisoned for Andre Beaulieu, who didn&rsquo;t win the cup, either. So it came as no surprise to Nanne one day when a member of the team&rsquo;s board of directors tucked him into a corner.</p><p>&ldquo;They asked me what my ideas were on how to run the team,&rdquo; said Nanne. &ldquo;They said some things might be happening, and they wanted my thoughts on paper. What I told them we had to improve our scouting, develop kids better, get players that will be a help to the franchise on and off the ice selling the game.</p><p>Nanne was offered only the general manager&rsquo;s role, but to have a change there and retain Beaulieu would have been illogical. So Nanne agreed to coach for 29 games until season&rsquo;s end, at which point he will search for the best coach possible.</p><p>Harry Neale, vocal bench director for the WHA New England Whalers, is the prime candidate. But University of Minnesota coach Herb Brooks and Denver University coach Marshall Johnston will be considered, too.</p><h2><b>Toughness Paramount Need</b></h2><p>&ldquo;<b>WE&rsquo;LL GET THE RIGHT MAN</b>,&rdquo; promised Nanne. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to do both jobs. As it is now, until we get our people in here, I&rsquo;m doing four jobs. Run practice, do the GM duties, then maybe jump a plane to scout a game at night somewhere. Too much.&rdquo;</p><p>Paramount among the North Stars&rsquo; needs is toughness. When you run this team, you beat this team. Boston coach Don Cherry called them a bunch of chickens and, true to form, few North Stars begged to gobble back.</p><p>Nanne knows, too, that he must acquire a blue chip player or three from other clubs if at all possible. He has mentioned Phil Esposito, the New York Rangers&rsquo; famous pivot, and also brother Tony, who plays goal for the Black Hawks but owns a contract which expires at year&rsquo;s end.</p><p>Tony-O could be a free agent if he wishes and, businessman that he is, feel free to assume that he will at least listen. He likes Nanne, he likes Chicago, he also likes security. The North Stars could comer no greater building block that hockey&rsquo;s most durable goalkeeper.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve talked to the Black Hawks about him already,&rdquo; Nanne admitted. &ldquo;Naturally, I&rsquo;d be interested in getting him. Who wouldn&rsquo;t? But I got the answer I expected. They&rsquo;re hot interested in trading him, and if they are, it will take a lot to get him. It&rsquo;s not going to be easy. We&rsquo;ll have to crawl before we walk here.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0006-01

HOCKEY TALK

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02853/4129740-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RICK LaPOINTE&hellip;Worked To Say In Shape</b></figcaption></div><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;</p><p>Not long ago a Flyers&rsquo; program carried a story headlined &ldquo;Remember Rick LaPointe?&rdquo;</p><p>A cynic wrote &ldquo;Who?&rdquo; after LaPointe&rsquo;s name and showed it to the young defenseman, who was settled in his usual place&mdash;the Spectrum press box.</p><p>It is a measure of LaPointe&rsquo;s nature, and that of most Flyers, that even in the most tense times they can smile. LaPointe&rsquo;s reply amounted to a grin and a &ldquo;what are you gonna&rsquo; do&rdquo; shrug.</p><p>What LaPointe did, when given an opportunity to play, was respond like the first-round draft choice he was in 1975. With Kevin McCarthy sidelined until the playoffs and Jimmy Watson out six games with an infected elbow, the Flyers were forced to play LaPointe regularly.</p><p>All the Victoria, B.C. native did was play well enough to earn this tribute from assistant coach Pat Quinn: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been one of our best defensemen the last few games.&rdquo;</p><p>The straight-talking Quinn doesn&rsquo;t praise his blueline brigade unless they deserve it. LaPointe has deserved it. His offensive skills and size (six-foot-two, 200) were the reasons Detroit drafted him. Those assets were also the reasons the Flyers traded four players for him in February last season.</p><p>LaPointe&rsquo;s defense and motivation were the big question-marks. Some people close to the team regarded him as a bit spoiled&mdash;a youngster who was living the good life and didn&rsquo;t worry when his team was struggling, as the Flyers have been since December. Such an attitude didn&rsquo;t blend with the team-oriented spirit that emanates from Bobby Clarke and veterans such as Gary Dornhoefer and Joe Watson.</p><p>Again, Quinn endorses LaPointe&rsquo;s performances.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing with more smarts than he did before,&rdquo; said Quinn. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not gating trapped, he&rsquo;s playing well in front of the net and he&rsquo;s handling the puck with more confidence than you&rsquo;d expect for someone who had been out so long. Usually when someone hasn&rsquo;t played much he handles the puck like a hot potato.&rdquo;</p><p>During his extended idle periods LaPointe has remained a cool cucumber.</p><p>&ldquo;I could have gone in and asked for a trade, but what would have that accomplished?&rdquo; he said after playing in his 10th consecutive game. &ldquo;I just tried to work hard in practice and keep in shape. As long as I did that, they could never say anything.</p><p>&ldquo;When an opportunity to play came, I had to make the best of it. But it&rsquo;s hard to keep sharp that way for four months: I wouldn&rsquo;t wish that on anybody.&rdquo;</p><p>LaPointe finds that knowing he will play makes a great difference in a player&rsquo;s attitude.</p><p>&ldquo;Playing one game here, one there is a tough situation,&rdquo; LaPointe said. &ldquo;Now when I get up in the morning I don&rsquo;t question whether I&rsquo;m gonna play. I can start thinking about the game. When I do play I&rsquo;m killing penalties, getting the odd shift on the power play&mdash;that&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s all about.&rdquo;</p><p>Perhaps LaPointe&rsquo;s most embarrassing moments were not dressing the first two times the Flyers played in Vancouver this season. Relatives and friends from Victoria were there, hoping to see him play. Wasn&rsquo;t it awkward, trying to explain how a recent first-round draft pick wasn&rsquo;t judged good enough by Fred Shero to face the Canucks?</p><p>&ldquo;Not really. My friends would like to see me play and they were just as mad as I was.. But we could still go out after the game and have a good time without talking hockey. One of my friends is a plumber, but when we got out we don&rsquo;t have to talk about plumbing.&rdquo;</p><p>The Flyers&rsquo; plumbing was fine, and so were their injuries except for Kevin McCarthy. The talented rookie defenseman began exercising after having the cast removed from the right knee he injured when checked by Denis Potvin Feb. 19.</p><p>Jimmy Watson was back in the lineup for the 6-2 victory over Boston (raising the Flyers&rsquo; record against the NHL&rsquo;s best to 2-10-5). Watson missed six games with an infected elbow.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0006-02

Flyers’ LaPointe Responds To Belated Ice Opportunity

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01991/4129771-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GARY SMITH&hellip;GIad To Get Another Chance In Minnesota</b> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</span></figcaption></div><p>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>N</span>ational Hockey League trivia riddle: Tony Esposito, with a 1.76 goals-against average, had his name embossed as a 1971-72 winner of the Vezina Trophy. Who was the other Chicago goalie to share the honor that season?</p><p>They call him the &ldquo;Axe&rdquo; in Minnesota, Gary Edward Smith.</p><p>Since working as Esposito&rsquo;s backup for two seasons in 1971-72 and 1972-73, Smith has bounced from Chicago to Vancouver to Minnesota to Washington and now, back to Minnesota.</p><p>General manager-coach Lou Nanne acquired Smith on waivers from the Capitals Feb. 20 and sent him to the Central League to get some conditioning work in.</p><p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t get by with just two goaltenders anymore and Smitty certainly has the credentials to play with our team,&rdquo; explained Nanne, who has been making numerous deals to build for Minnesota&rsquo;s future.</p><p>Smith was recalled the first week of March and made his first start in Detroit. Minnesota lost, 4-3, but Smith was named one of the game&rsquo;s three stars with 32 saves including a penalty shot by Andre St. Laurent. (It was the first penalty shot Smith has faced in 14 pro seasons).</p><p>The 34-year-oId goalie had played 17 games with the Capitals with a 4.16 goals-against average, but had not played since Dec. 7. One reason was the emergence of Jim Bedard as Washington&rsquo;s No. 1 goalie.</p><p>But Smith felt he should have been able to play. &ldquo;We won the last game I played with Washington and then they gassed me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know the reason.&rdquo;</p><p>But he was happy to be back in Minnesota, where he became a free agent after last season because of contract difficulties and decided to sign with the Caps.</p><p>&ldquo;I liked placing in Minnesota last year,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I never thought I&rsquo;d be back here. I&rsquo;m glad to get the chance.&rdquo;</p><p>Smith has not lost his ability to keep his teammates loose.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad to be with a team where the coach and general manager will get along,&rdquo; he said without a smirk. GM-coach Lou Nanne only smiled&mdash;he knows Smitty will perform for him.</p><p>&ldquo;The North Stars are not going so good this year,&rdquo; Smith said, &ldquo;but they will be back. We had a good club last year&hellip;I&rsquo;don&rsquo;t know what happened. But I know Lou Nanne has made some acquisitions, and will make some more, to make this team a contender as early as next year.&rdquo;</p><p>Barely had Smith uttered those words that Nanne announced the acquisition from the Toronto Maple Leafs of defenseman Jim McKenny, effective at the start of next season.</p><p>McKenny, who has been playing in the Central League, becomes the third defenseman Nanne has obtained since taking over as GM-coach. Bill Butters and Bryan Maxwell are the two others.</p><p>Also, Nanne claimed 22-year-old right winger Kelly Greenbank from Montreal after learning Greenbank was playing senior hockey in Winnipeg while a contract dispute with the Canadiens remained unsettled. The right winger who played the last two years in the American League reported to Fort Worth and scored a goal in his first CHL game.</p><p>If Nanne&rsquo;s charm works on that deal, Greenbank could be the next trivia tidbit in a few years.</p><p>What NHL right winger came out of senior hockey to play in Minnesota?</p><p><b>STAR DUST:</b> Steve Jensen wasrecalled from Fort Worth and Alex Pirus was due for a callup after spending a few games in the Central League&hellip;Nanne has mentioned the names of WHA coaches Harry Neale and Glen Sonmor, university coaches Herb Brooks and Marshall Johnston as possible North Star coaches for next season, but said he has not talked to any of them about the job and would seek permission to do so from their employers if he decided on any of the four&hellip;Center Bill Hogaboam was sent back to Fort Worth&hellip;Ron Zanussi returned from a pulled hamstring to score a goal and add two assists in a loss to Detroit&hellip;Smith is called the &ldquo;Axe&rdquo; for his stickwork when opposing players who daretread through the crease, his no-man&rsquo;s land.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0007-01

Bouncing Smith Back With North Stars

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011102/4129809-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="415" height="470"></div><h2><b><i>Something&rsquo;s Missing&hellip;</i></b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>D</span>ENNIS VERVERGAERT</b> was born in Hamilton and later moved to Grimsby, Ont. His father, Andrew, was a laborer. He and his wife, Josephine, had four children&mdash;a daughter, Patricia, who is a secretary, and three sons, Peter, who is in the aluminum siding business; Gary, who died, and Dennis, who is a professional hockey player.</p><p>Dennis says, &ldquo;I go home to Grimsby summers to see my parents, my sister, my brother, and I am always sad that I don&rsquo;t get to see Gary. I am always thinking of him. There isn&rsquo;t a day goes by that I don&rsquo;t think of him. We were the closest in age. Gary was 22 when he died and I was 18. We were the closest.</p><p>&ldquo;We played together. We didn&rsquo;t have a lot of money. We had a lot of love, but not a lot of money. If he had an extra buck, he took care of me. He bought me my first bike. He saved for it so I could ride it to school. He was super kind. We doubledated. We just did everything together.</p><p>&ldquo;Peter played a little hockey, but he wasn&rsquo;t too good. Gary played junior and was fairly good, but he had gone for a degree in engineering instead before he was killed in a car crash six or seven years ago. I was the best of the bunch as a player and I&rsquo;m sorry he didn&rsquo;t get to see me make the majors. He would have been proud of me.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02992/4129802-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="822" height="1148"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Dennis Ververgaert came from a close-knit family and perhaps the death of his brother and closest companion has been a factor in not reaching the potential forecasted for him after a great final two years of junior hockey.</b></figcaption></div><p>A superb prospect, Dennis came into his own as an amateur after he was traded from St. Catherine&rsquo;s to London. &ldquo;Bep Guidolin gave me my chance,&rdquo; Dennis says of his coach in junior ranks. Dennis totalled 117 points and 147 points his final two seasons as a junior. He scored 58 goals his final season.</p><p>Vancouver made him the third choice of the 1973 amateur draft, behind Denis Potvin and Tom Lysiak, ahead of Lanny McDonald and John Davidson, as well as Bob Gainey, Bob Dailey, and Pat Hickey further down the list. It was said that if the Canucks hadn&rsquo;t taken him, Toronto, next in line, would have.</p><p>&ldquo;<b>KIDS OUT OF ONTARIO</b> are supposed to want to play for the Maple Leafs, but I wanted to go to Vancouver, and I got my wish,&rdquo; Ververgaert recalls. &ldquo;Vancouver was a new team and I figured I&rsquo;d get a better chance to play right away.&rdquo; This was the way it worked out as he has been first-string from the start.</p><p>It isn&rsquo;t clear whether life with the Leafs or Canucks would have been more chaotic, but he has survived, if not starred. Leafs no doubt do not regret taking McDonald, who has developed into one of the majors&rsquo; most dynamic performers. &ldquo;He has been one of the best. I don&rsquo;t know why I haven&rsquo;t been better,&rdquo; Dennis admits. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been a good player, but not a great one.&rdquo; The Canucks thought he would be great.</p><p>A strong skater with size, strength, and stamina, he broke in brilliantly with 26 goals and 31 assists, but fell to 19 goals and 32 assists his second season when he missed 23 games with an injury. &ldquo;It was a freak,&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;I threw such a hard fake I threw my knee out and threw myself into the boards, suffering a shoulder separation. I had to have an operation and a pin inserted to pull the shoulder together. And I couldn&rsquo;t skate because of the knee injury.</p><p>He came back brilliantly with 37 goals, within one of the team record, and 34 assists the following season, and had the biggest thrill of his career with two goals in the All Star game. However, last season, he fell off to 27 goals and 18 assists, and this season he will be lucky to get 20 goals at his present pace, although he may make a career high of 40 assists.</p><p>&ldquo;<b>I HAVEN&rsquo;T BEEN</b> the defensive forward I might have been,&rdquo; he confesses with a rueful grin. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had different coaches who wanted me to concentrate on defense. I&rsquo;ve worked on defense and it has cost me some offense. I think I&rsquo;ve become a better team player. I&rsquo;m better all-around and make better plays and passes than I used to. But I&rsquo;m at my best as a scorer free-wheeling and I feel like I&rsquo;m playing under restraint right now.&rdquo;</p><p>A six-foot-tall, 195-pound right-winger, Ververgaert doesn&rsquo;t throw his weight around as much as he might. &ldquo;I should do more hitting. It would make my checking more effective and make more room for me to make moves,&rdquo; he points out. It is similar to soccer wherein the player who creates space for himself, opens up opportunities. The big guy is a powerful fighter, but seldom fouls or fights. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a lover,&rdquo; he laughs. When he wears his hair long and a long, fat mustache he looks far more ferocious than he is.</p><p>While a bachelor, he bought a home in Blue Ridge, north of Vancouver, sharing it with the likes of John Grisdale, John Gould, and Brian McSheffrey, before booting them out and moving in Maureen McWhirter. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s a better roommate,&rdquo; he remarks smiling. He and his wife of almost two years have a son of almost one year, Ryan. &ldquo;My son is my hobby,&rdquo; Dennis says. &ldquo;My marriage is marvellous. My wife is an old-fashioned gal who cooks and sews and cares for our kid. I fix up the house a little. I play golf a little. I don&rsquo;t miss my single days. At least I eat three meals a day these days.&rdquo;</p><p>His family emigrated from Holland and his wife&rsquo;s family came from Holland and Ireland. He is a family sort of fellow who has made a home for himself in the hockey-mad area of Vancouver, but reportedly may be traded by the disappointed and disappointing Canucks. &ldquo;Wherever, I&rsquo;ll live my life as best I can,&rdquo; he comments, remembering his brother.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-01

Hockey AdLib

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><p>BUFFALO&mdash;</p><p>Rick Martin came back in through the revolving door and Rene Robert went out, along with Jim Lorentz.</p><p>It seems that the Buffalo Sabres always lose a key man when one comes back off the injury list. That&rsquo;s the way it happened earlier in the season when Jocelyn Guevremont returned after a long absence because of a knee injury. Jim Schoenfeld had his right foot hurt again and went out. At one time both these regular defensemen were sidelined by injuries.</p><p>When Martin returned to action after missing 11 games following a concussion suffered against the New York Rangers Feb. 8, Robert, another of the Sabres&rsquo; leading scorers, was in the hospital because of a back injury. And Lorentz, who had replaced Martin in the lineup, was out because of a knee injury.</p><p>Robert and Lorentz both were hurt in a game against the Montreal Canadiens. When Robert went down, fans feared he might suffer the same fate as Martin. The speedy right winger took a pass and, shooting while at full speed and off balance, was checked by Mario Tremblay.</p><p>Robert crashed against the back boards but, fortunately, his shoulder took the brunt of the blow, rather than his head. Since Martin suffered his head injury, Robert is one of only four Buffalo players who do not wear helmets.</p><p>Martin returned with a flourish. He had practiced with the team only once before dressing for a game against the Los Angeles Kings. Coach Marcel Pronovost said he expected to use Rico only on power plays and perhaps for a shift or two.</p><p>When the Kings received their first penalty, Martin skated out onto the ice to a rousing ovation from the usual sellout crowd of 16,433.</p><p>Twenty-four seconds after the puck was dropped, Martin had scored, his 21st goal of the season. He deflected a longshot by Guevremont into the net.</p><p>That gave the Sabres a 3-2 lead and it looked as though that was the way the game would end, which would have made quite a story. Unfortunately for the home crowd, however, the Kings tied it in the third period on young Dave Taylor&rsquo;s second goal of the game.</p><p>The tie kept the Sabres from gaining on the Boston Bruins, Adams Division leaders, who on the same night were tied by the Detroit Red Wings.</p><p>The Sabres lost the division lead to the Bruins a few days earlier in an NHL Network-televised game in Boston. They played one of their poorer games of the season while the Bruins were at their best. Boston won, 7-3.</p><p>Then, two days later, with Boston coach Don Cherry as color commentator, the Sabres played on NHL network television again. This time, playing at home, they knocked off the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1, shutting out the Stanley Cup champions until Guy Lafleur scored a power-play goal in the final minute of play with goalie Ken Dryden off in favor of an extra attacker.</p><p>That was only Montreal&rsquo;s second defeat in its last 34 games and the goal was league scoring leader Lafleur&rsquo;s first and only one in the season series against the Sabres. Buffalo ended up with the edge in the series, three wins to two.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03840/4129840-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="574" height="1756"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RENE ROBERT&hellip;Went To Hospital</b></figcaption></div><p><b>ICE CHIPS:</b> Don Edwards, who led the league&rsquo;s goaltenders in wins and minutes played going into the Montreal game, set a club record with his 32nd victory in the game.</p><p>Since the season began, these Sabres have been sidelined by injuries&mdash;Schoenfeld (twice), Guevremont, Martin, Robert, Lorentz, Don Luce, Lee Fogolin and Danny Gare.</p><p>Goaltender Gerry Desjardins, who missed the early part of die season while recuperating from an eye operation, suffered a shoulder injury just as he was ready to return and he has played in only three games.</p><p>Gil Perreault, one of the league&rsquo;s leading goal scorers, had only one goal in his last 10 games but he picked up 12 assists in that time.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-03

Multiple Injuries Hindering Sabres In Division Chase

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011063/4129878-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DAVE TAYLOR&hellip; Exhibiting Great Puck Control</b></figcaption></div><p>LOSANGELES&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>O</span>ne of the few bright spots of this season for the Kings has been the performance of two rookies&mdash;Dave Taylor and Rob Palmer&mdash;pulled out of late rounds of amateur drafts. Neither is a candidate for &ldquo;rookie of the year&rdquo; laurels in the league, but both made the team fresh from collegiate ranks, both have made enormous strides during this first professional season, and both loom as stars of the future.</p><p>Taylor could become a superstar. The six-foot, 185-pound right winger from Levack, Ontario, scored 41 goals in 34 games with Clarkson College in upstate New York last season and his 67 assists tied the Eastern Collegiate Conference record and his 108 points tied the NCAA record.</p><p>Injured awhile and playing irregularly on different lines, Taylor missed 15 games the first three-fourths of this season. Since starting to play regularly, lately on a line with Marcel Dionne and Danny Grant, Taylor has been an opportunistic scorer and should top 20 goals for the campaign.</p><p>More important, while the Kings knew he could shoot, they did not know he could skate and defend as he can. He is a fearless checker and digger, an extremely tough 22-year-old. He is strong and his greatest asset is his ability to control the puck and hold it until the best possible time to make a move with it. Lately, he has been making some marvellous moves.</p><p>In a contest with Colorado, he swerved solo through a broken field, spun a complete turn to feint a final defender, and rifled a wrist shot off the pivot. He hit the goalpost with the puck, but when a teammate took a rebound and passed back to him, Taylor rifled it into the net.</p><p>It was like getting an Academy Award for the wrong performance, but Taylor tends to cash in his chances. He is a superior player for a youngster and could become outstanding.</p><p>We have written about Taylor because he has been with the team from the start of the season, but not about Palmer because he was in Springfield for almost three months from mid-October to early January. Both Taylor and Palmer had impressive pre-seasons and were surprise starters this season, but the Kings were deep in defensemen and it was decided to send Palmer to the minors so he could play.</p><p>Palmer, who has long hair and a mustache, was sent down after nine games and after 19 games in the AHL, recalled prior to the Kings&rsquo; 37th game. He looked like a surprisingly solid defenseman for such an inexperienced player right off and this impression has held up since he started taking a regular turn. A five-foot-11, 190-pounder, he is a defensive defenseman who is not too physical, but plays superb positional hockey and makes few mistakes.</p><p>A helmeted right-hander he is a good skater and fair stickhandler, but he prefers to clear the puck from the defensive zone by passing it to his forwards and is not inclined to rush much, shoot much, or score much. However, at 21, he plays like an old-timer and looks like he could become one of the better defensemen in the league.</p><p>Palmer was born in Sarnia, Ont., in September of 1956. At eight, he moved to Toronto. At 18, his father, Ross, a traffic boss for an oil company, died. Mother Anna had one other child, an older daughter, Margaret, now a teacher.</p><p>Rob also leaned toward education. He played Junior &ldquo;B&rdquo; for the Toronto Nationals, but passed up a shot at Junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; with the Marlboros to take a scholarship to the University of Michigan, graduating with a 3.1 grade average and degree in business administration.</p><p>Palmer played every game, 185, for four years of Wolverine hockey and scored five goals and totalled 42 points in 45 games his senior season as the Wolves went to the finals before losing to Wisconsin in overtime in the NCAA tournament. Signing with the Kings, he finished last season with Fort Worth in the Central League playoffs.</p><p>He says, &ldquo;The college game was good experience for me because it was wide open and on defense I had to handle a lot of offense in our end. I held my own in eight games in the Central League and figured I&rsquo;d play this season in the American League, but in the pre-season I saw I could play in the National League.</p><p>&ldquo;The thing is you have to play to improve. Playing in the minors helped me, but I can play in the majors. I know I&rsquo;m not going to be the greatest player in the league, but I&rsquo;m good and I&rsquo;m going to get better. I&rsquo;m not outstanding at any one thing, but I&rsquo;m not weak at anything, either. I&rsquo;m not flashy, but I have a knack of being in the right place at the right time and I try to do the right thing.&rdquo;</p><p>Both Palmer and Taylor are confident kids who seem surprised when you say you were surprised they made it so fast. Taylor was the Kings&rsquo; 15th round pick in 1975, Palmer the fifth-round pick in 1976, the 210th and 85th players selected, respectively, and looks like they will be the latest of many steals spotted by George Maguire and the Kings&rsquo; scouts.</p><p><b>KINGS THINGS:</b> The Kings swung into the final four weeks of the season in a tight race with four other teams&mdash;Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and the Rangers&mdash;for four available playoff spots and the home ice edge in the short series that opens post-season play&hellip;They had defeated only three of the weakest teams on the tour in the last 13 games before starting a stiff four-game trip with a surprising 5-1 win in Toronto, their first there in more than three years. Butch Goring, who now has 30 or more goals for the third straight season, tallied two to give him a career-high 34&hellip;Mike Murphy missed five games before returning, but Glenn Goldup, Don Kozak, and Larry Brown were out and Dave Hutchinson was out for the season, the worst season for injuries the Kings have had.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02899/4129871-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="560" height="922"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ROB PALMER&hellip;Has The Knack</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0009-01

Kings’ Rookie Duo Taylor, Palmer Drawing Raves As Stars Of Future

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011089/4129909-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div><p><b>DO YOU HAVE AN OPINION ON HOCKEY?</b></p><p><b>Write to:</b></p><p><b>FAN FORUM,</b></p><p><b>The Hockey News,</b></p><p><b>1434 St. Catherine St., W., Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7</b></p><h2><b>Bruins&rsquo; Park Deserves Norris Trophy</b></h2><p>Brad Park of the Boston Bruins is the best defenseman in the National Hockey League. An expert at playing defense, Park never seems to be out of position. He plays the game exactly as his coach Don Cherry, wants him to play. Park thus has become a great defensive defenseman, while continuing to excel at playmaking.</p><p>Maybe the young defensemen in the league like Salming, Larson, Robinson, and Potvin will some day have the savvy of Park, but not yet.</p><p>Park deserves some recognition for being one of the game&rsquo;s greatest defensemen for close to 10 years.</p><p><b>SCOTT PRENTICE, Queenston, Ont.</b></p><h2><b>Keep Franchise Alive Says Edmonton Supporter</b></h2><p>As a fan of the Edmonton Oilers I am writing to express an opinion on the situation that has developed concerning WHA teams and their attempts to get into the NHL.</p><p>It appears as many as three or four WHA teams may fold next year, leaving the remaining teams to try and get into the NHL. Failing this, they will also undoubtedly fold, leaving the cities open to the NHL, who will probably transfer some financially troubled franchises into these good areas.</p><p>I hope the NHL will see fit to allow a franchise like Edmonton which has a greatly improved team and steadily increasing fan support, into the league or combine it with one of the troubled teams and let them play in Edmonton.</p><p>I think it is important to keep present owners and players involved as the fans now relate to these players as their team. I think the owners can see the advantage of having a team that already has fan support rather than start from scratch and try to build support for a team.</p><p>I for one, will not be fooled into going to see an NHL team transferred from somewhere else because they weren&rsquo;t good enough to make it in that city.</p><p><b>STANLEY JOHNSON, Edberg, Alta.</b></p><h2><b>Pleasure To Read About Lou Nanne</b></h2><p>I have been a N.Y. Rangers fan since the mid &lsquo;40&rsquo;s and always will be through thick and thin. But what a pleasure it was to read the article in the March 10 THE HOCKEY NEWS about Lou Nanne, the new coach and general manager of the Minnesota North Stars, by one of my favorite and most respected writers, Bill Fleischman.</p><p>In my opinion, Lou Nanne is one of the finest gentlemen in the NHL. I have always admired and respected his style of play, spirited, aggressive, hard-hitting, yet very clean. It&rsquo;s too bad there aren&rsquo;t many more players with his style of play in the NHL.</p><p><b>MARVIN BLANK, Keyport, N.J.</b></p><h2><b>Plus-Minus Statistics Have No Validity</b></h2><p>The most recent NHL plus-minus statistics are proof positive of the adage that you can prove anything with statistics.</p><p>For example, they show that Bob Gainey and Doug Jarvis (of Montreal), considered among the top defensive forwards in hockey are in fact among the worst plus-minus players in the NHL. Since they play against the top offensive lines, they would be doing a magnificent job if they could break even with the opposition in goals scored during evenhanded situations.</p><p>However, playing for a team which scores roughly twice as many goals as the opposition, puts them well into the minuses with the present system, which I feel has no validity when comparing players on different teams against each, other.</p><p><b>DONALD FRASER, Halifax, N.S.</b></p><h2><b>Boston Coach Cherry Hockey&rsquo;s Best Ever</b></h2><p>Don Cherry, coach of the Boston Bruins is the best coach in hockey of all time.</p><p>Just look at what he has done with his players. Gary Doak wasn&rsquo;t really effective as a defenseman until Don Cherry got him to stop taking foolish penalties. Mike Milbury probably wouldn&rsquo;t have made the NHL last year, if Cherry had not showed his confidence in him by using him as a regular defenseman. Cherry also got Bob Miller and John Wensink onto the Bruins roster and both have done well.</p><p>But the player who has shown the most improvement after coming to Boston and playing for Cherry is Rick Middleton. He hasn&rsquo;t scored as many goals yet this year, but he is one of the best two-way players in the league. He can still score, but now he can check and block shots, something that never would have happened if Rick had stayed with the Rangers, and the reason is Cherry.</p><p>Cherry is also a good promoter for the NHL because of his good relationship with the press. He adds a lot to the game and to the Boston Bruins. Thank you Don Cherry.</p><p><b>RON COTE, Auburn, Me.</b></p><h2><b>LETTER OF THE WEEK</b></h2><h2><b>10-Minute Overtime Would Add Excitement</b></h2><p>For years, the NHL has refused to return to the usage of overtime in regular season games. I was astounded that the NHL permitted overtime in this year&rsquo;s All Star game.</p><p>If it was an experiment, fine, but it is unfair to all those in an arena, listening to the radio, or watching a game on TV that many games must end in a tie. That includes a lot of people.</p><p>The old Western Hockey League had a workable setup. Following a tie, a 10minute sudden-death overtime was played. If there was still no score, then the game went into the record as a tie. I feel this procedure should be adopted by the NHL.</p><p>Overtime is great for the fans and the additional 10 minutes or less would add to the drama that a well played, exciting hockey game can be. A good argument can be constructed to keep overtime out of All Star games. That is OK, but if the NHL can have overtime in an All Star game, then any official excuse the league can give to avoid regular season overtime will be very shallow.</p><p>Let&rsquo;s hope that overtime will be a regular feature starting in the 1978-79 season.</p><p><b>keith McDONOUGH, Victoria, B.C.</b></p><h2><b>Addition Of Kelly Great For TV Hockey</b></h2><p>If there was ever a real attempt by the National Hockey League to improve its presentation to the television audience it is certainly enhanced by the acquisition of Dan Kelly as the play by play man.</p><p>He is articulate, expresses genuine enthusiasm for what he is doing and his knowledge of the sport far exceeds anyone previously used. Dan was outstanding when used a few years ago and he hasn&rsquo;t lost his touch.</p><p>Dick Stockton very nicely compliments Dan Kelly and together they do a great job.</p><p>Hockey when well presented is the most exciting sport on television. Dan Kelly is a step in the right direction for attracting new fans. We need them.</p><p><b>FRED BRIGGS, Groton, Ct.</b></p><h2><b>Agrees With Verdi On NHL Realignment</b></h2><p>I have never been more in agreement concerning realignment of the NHL divisions and playoff setups than the one recommended by Bob Verdi in his March 10 column in THE HOCKEY NEWS.</p><p>The three division structure is as good as they come, although I do have one complaint. His idea of joining Pittsburgh and Cleveland is a good one, but I see the merger of Cincinnati and Indianapolis as shaky. Both cities offer little support to relatively bad hockey teams. Yet I agree totally with the suggested input of the New England Whalers, Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques and Edmonton Oilers into the National Hockey League.</p><p>One idea of his I thought should have been considered years ago is the one concerning the Canadian Division. Hooray!</p><p>Thanks to Bob Verdi and his suggestions maybe the confused NHL divisional set-up can be straightened out once and for all.</p><p><b>JERRY McQUAY, Charlotte, N.C.</b></p><h2><b>Stop Verbal Abuse Against Rangers&rsquo; Murdoch</b></h2><p>We are writing regarding the &ldquo;antics&rdquo; following the injury of Don Murdoch during the Ranger-Islander game at the Nassau Coliseum on Jan. 28.</p><p>Among other things, the most disgraceful comments were those made in connection with the drug charges pending against Murdoch to the effect that he is a drug addict. These destructive verbal expressions are not new, however, to Murdoch, especially where the Nassau Coliseum is concerned. Islander, and perhaps Ranger, fans have denounced Murdoch as a drug addict not only through conversations with the party in the next seat but with Coliseum spectactors through the use of banners.</p><p>We thought it was a disgrace how people have already pre-judged him. To our knowledge he has a clean record in all respects. In any event, we are sure that he now knows that he made a very grave mistake. Isn&rsquo;t that knowledge and shame enough for a person to live with? Must he continue to be punished?</p><p>We do not pretend to advocate the use of drugs in any form. However, neither do we support the type of admonishment that is constantly being &ldquo;bestowed&rdquo; upon this young man.</p><p><b>JAMES G. MARINO, Claymont, Del.</b></p><h2><b>Don&rsquo;t Forget Penguins&rsquo; Solid Core</b></h2><p>I look forward to and appreciate your news weekly and feel it offers well-written as well as informative profiles on NHL players.</p><p>Being from the Steel City, Penguin hockey has captured not only mine but thousands of other local residents attention with their open-style hockey There has been much written about the newcomers to the club but not enough coverage concerning the solid core of the team, Dave Burrows, Jean Pronovost, and Dennis Herron. They are consistent in both sense and attitude.</p><p>One problem I see in the NHL is the divisional line-ups. Proposed changes: Norris Division: Montreal, Toronto, Buffalo, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Minnesota. Smythe Division: New York Islanders, Los Angeles, Chicago, Colorado, Vancouver, St. Louis. Patrick Division: Boston, Philadelphia, New York Rangers, Atlanta, Cleveland and Washington. The first place teams in each division plus five wildcards similar to the system now would enter the Stanley Cup playoffs.</p><p><b>LOUIS SORENDO, Pittsburgh, Penn.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-01

OTHER FEATURES

FAN FORUM

<p><b>1. Which two National Hockey League teams chare the record for moat 20-goal scoresr In a season, 10?</b></p><p><b>Boston, Montreal &#9633; Boston, Buffalo &#9633; Montreal, Philadelphia &#9633;</b></p><p><b>2. One NHL team recorded a record 24 ties in a single season. Which team?</b></p><p><b>Chicago &#9633; Montreal &#9633; Philadelphia &#9633;</b></p><p><b>3. Next to Montreal with 24 appearances, which team has been in the Stanley Cup finale the most?</b></p><p><b>Chicago &#9633; Detroit &#9633; Toronto &#9633;</b></p><p><b>4. Of the eight World Hockey Association teams, how many have won a divisional championship at come time In their history?</b></p><p><b>Three &#9633; Five &#9633; Six &#9633;</b></p><p><b>5. Entering the current saeson, which of these 1967 expansion teams had earned the moat points?</b></p><p><b>Los Angeles &#9633; Minnesota &#9633; Pittsburgh &#9633;</b></p><p><b>6. True or false: In the last five years, no HL team has had a player on either the flret or second All Star team every year?</b></p><p><b>7. Who was the last member of the Detroit Red Wings to earn either a first or second All Star berth?</b></p><p><b>Marcel Dionne &#9633; Mickey Redmond &#9633; Danny Grant &#9633;</b></p><p><b>8. Which WHA team holds the record for the fewest losses during a regular season, 24?</b></p><p><b>Winnipeg &#9633; Houston &#9633; New England &#9633;</b></p><p><b>9. Who holds the WHA record for points In a season, 148</b></p><p><b>Anders Hedberg &#9633; Andre Lacroix &#9633; Marc Tardif &#9633;</b></p><p><b>10. Next to Dale McCourt, who was the next center selected in the 1977 Amateur Draft?</b></p><p><b>Ric Selling &#9633; Ron Duguay &#9633; Jean Savard &#9633;</b></p><h2><b>QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS</b></h2><p><b>1. Boston, Montreal. 2. Philadelphia. 3. Toronto, 19 times. 4. Five. 5. Los Angeles, four more than Pittsburgh. 6. True. 7. Redmond. 8. Houston. 9. Tardif. 10. Duguay, chosen 13th.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Fans’ Quick Hockey Quiz

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011042/4129971-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DARRYL SITTLER&hellip;Enjoying Fantastic Season</b></figcaption></div><p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><p>TORONTO&mdash;</p><p>Outside of Darryl Sittler&rsquo;s 250th National Hockey League goal, the Toronto Maple Leafs did not have much to cheer about in a week which saw them win one of three games.</p><p>Sittler&rsquo;s glorious moment, heartily applauded by the Maple Leaf Gardens&rsquo; full house, came just after a second-period power play which boosted the Leafs into a 2-1 lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Toronto controlled the puck for nearly the entire two minutes which Bob Paradise of the Penguins spent in the penalty box. After several wide shots at Penguins netminder Denis Herron, Lanny McDonald spotted Sittlers cruising towards the net on the right side and hit him with a cross-ice pass which Sittlers flipped in on the short side. It was his 43rd goal of the season coming just one second after the penalty expired.</p><p>To begin the week, the Leafs were hard-pressed in Washington to earn two points against the Caps. The game was tied 2-2 heading into the third period before Toronto could managed three unanswered scores. Borje Salming, Pat Boutette, Lanny McDonald, Stan Weir and George Ferguson supplied the Toronto goals.</p><p>A late first-period goal by Derek Sanderson had put the Leafs behind the Penguins&rsquo; at Maple Leaf Gardens, but the Leafs owned the only two scores of the middle period as Boutette tied the game with his 16th of the season and Sittlers gave the Leafs a one-goal advantage at 18.39 of the frame.</p><p>However, the Penguins struck back for goals by Blair Chapman and Wayne Bianchin just 62 seconds apart and despite 18 shots by the Leafs in the period, the game ended 3-2 in favor of Pittsburgh.</p><p>Sunday took the Leafs to Boston and the Leafs were obviously in a fighting mood. Newcomer Dan Maloney tangled with Boston&rsquo;s Terry O&rsquo;Reilly after just 19 seconds of play, while &ldquo;Tiger&rdquo; Williams fought with Dennis O&rsquo;Brien of the Bruins at 1.04. Later in the period, Sittlers hooked up with pugnacious Stan Jonathan and the Leafs&rsquo; Brian Glennie was banished from the game as the third man in the fight. After the first period Boston led 2-1.</p><p>In the second stanza, McDonald connected on a power play score in the opening minute of the period and then Kurt Walker fought with Jonathan at 1.57. Later Pat Boutette and Wayne Cashman exchanged unpleasantries as the Leaf earned a double minor and major, and the Boston Captain a minor, major and gross misconduct for their efforts. O&rsquo;Reilly then scored on a breakaway and the wind went out of the Leafs&rsquo; sails.</p><p>Three straight Bruins goal to open the third period gave them a 6-2 lead with the Leafs responding with too little, too late as Boutette and Salming closed out the scoring.</p><p>The pair of losses dropped the Leafs eight points behind the second-place Buffalo Sabres in the Adams Division race and 13 behind the Bruins who own a game in hand.</p><p>Toronto coach Roger Neilson said that he would ease the workloads of his top players when the divisional race is pretty well decided and it appears that such a time is right around the corner for the Leafs.</p><h2><b>Looking At NHL Goalers</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011044/4129964-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="590" height="2109"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0011-01

Sittler’s 250th NHL Goal Lost In Leafs’ Ineptness

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011063/4130009-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"></div><h2><b>Ellis&rsquo; Great Comeback</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE GOAL WAS</b> the type of score you&rsquo;d expect Ron Ellis to produce, even for a milestone in his career&mdash;No. 300&mdash;a no-fuss or nonsense slapshot from 30 feet in front of the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; net.</p><p>Ellis, the Toronto Maple Leaf right winger, is a man who operates with little fuss in all areas of his life.</p><p>When Ellis decided in 1975 that he needed a break in his life following a decade in the National Hockey League, he walked away from a $115,000 per season contract. The fun was out of the game for him and he wanted some space in his life to take a look around.</p><p>It was tribute to the high regard in which Ellis was held by his mates that even though he retired on the eve of a season, there wasn&rsquo;t one gripe heard.</p><p>When Ellis decided to return to hockey this season, he did it the same way&mdash;a little soul-searching, then a decision.</p><p>There was some speculation about Ellis&rsquo; ability to return to the NHL and attain any standard in his play after two years away from the game.</p><p>Perhaps the best way to evaluate his return is to speculate on where the Leafs would be without him. They&rsquo;d have a very large hole on right wing. Their young players would also have missed a good lesson in how a professional operates because Ellis is the consummate pro&mdash;consistent, not too high when things are going well or too low when they&rsquo;re not, a player who will make the necessary sacrifices for the team.</p><p>Thus, Ellis&rsquo; 24th goal of the season and the 300th of his career (Dave Keon is the only other Leaf to have scored that many goals) was a happy event for those around him. It&rsquo;s a measure of the respect in which a man is held when his peers receive great satisfaction from his achievements.</p><p>&ldquo;Maybe there&rsquo;s a little irony in my scoring 300 goals,&rdquo; Ellis said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always thought of myself more as a defensive player than a scorer. Or maybe it would be better to say that I look on myself as a two-way player with a bit of emphasis on the defensive side of the game.</p><p>&ldquo;When I decided to resume my career, there was a little bit of a thought about reaching that plateau this season. It was no burning ambition because my only real goal was to help the club. But maybe I did look ahead at scoring 24 goals as a measure of the season I could have.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02901/4130002-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="526" height="678"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Ron Ellis</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>Vienna Restored Confidence</b></h2><p><b>IF ELLIS HADN&rsquo;T JOINED</b> Team Canada for the 1977 world championships in Vienna and played extremely well, it&rsquo;s doubtful if he would have returned to the NHL. He was working as the manager of a golf course and recreation complex for a developer and when his personal lawyer, Alan Eagleson, was assembling the team for Vienna under one of his other hats, Ellis asked for a tryout.</p><p>He prepared himself for Vienna in long, solitary workouts.</p><p>&ldquo;I just asked for a chance to try to play on the team and if I wasn&rsquo;t good enough, then that was that,&rdquo; Ellis said. &ldquo;Luckily the team had a fairly lengthy exhibition series before the tournament which gave me a chance to get some game action.&rdquo;</p><p>Ellis played well for Team Canada in Vienna and that effort gave him an idea that perhaps he could return to the Leafs.</p><p>&ldquo;I enjoyed the tournament but, of course, it was only a month-long project, not a seven-month grind like the NHL schedule,&rdquo; Ellis said.</p><h2><b>No Thought To The Future</b></h2><p><b>ELLIS CLAIMS HE</b> has made no definite plans beyond this season and the playoffs, although it&rsquo;s likely he&rsquo;ll be back with the Leafs for at least one more season. The key to his comeback was his remarkably easy skating style, something which a couple of seasons away couldn&rsquo;t erode. Had he been a struggling mover, the path back would have been much more uphill.</p><p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t allowed myself to think beyond this season,&rdquo; Ellis said. &ldquo;I have found that I still have the love of hockey and playing it, something I&rsquo;d lost a little in the season or two before I retired.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;d needed some time to step back and take a look at my life. It&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ll never regret.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-01

FRANK ORR SAYS

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03667/4130040-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>WALT TKACZUK&hellip;One Of The Few Rangers On Plus Side</b> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</span></figcaption></div><p>NEW YORK&mdash;</p><p>Walter Tkaczuk roared over the Philadelphia blueline and drove a blazing shot past Flyers&rsquo; goalie Bernie Parent. Almost immediately, he was jumped by Bill Barber, who was objecting to Tkaczuk&rsquo;s firing on goal after the whistle.</p><p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t hear the whistle,&rdquo; explained the 30-y ear-old Ranger center.</p><p>It could have been that Walter is more intent on going to the net this year than in the past&mdash;certainly his goal stats would bear this out. Since 1974-75 Tkaczuk has logged 11,8, and 12 goals.</p><p>Running third most of the season in the Rangers scoring parade, Tkaczuk already has 25 goals, in the same ball park as Don Murdoch&rsquo;s 26 and Phil Esposito&rsquo;s 28. Only Pat Hickey with 36 is out of reach.</p><p>More importantly, Tkaczuk is one of three Rangers who have stayed on the positive side of the plus-minus stats all year. The others are the oft-overlooked Steve Vickers, and defenseman Dave Maloney. Espo and Hickey are minus players.</p><p>The six-foot, 190-pound native of West Germany is the Rangers best penalty killer&mdash;working with a variety of partners all year. Greg Polis, before he tore up his knee, Eddie Johnstone and lately, Hickey, have all killed off enemy power plays for the Rangers.</p><p>The Rangers had killed off all but 40 of 203 occasions when they were playing shorthanded, with Polis scoring three shorthanded goals early in the year.</p><p>&ldquo;I hope to get 30 goals, but realistically I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m doing that much differently this year than before,&rdquo; says Tkaczuk. &ldquo;The puck just seems to be going in. I never got 30, even in my best year, 1969-70 when I had 27.&rdquo;</p><p>Tkaczuk centers the Rangers most consistent line, with Steve Vickers on the left and Murdoch on the right.</p><p>Freddie Shero, the Flyers coach noted after New York&rsquo;s 2-2 tie with Philadelphia March 15, &ldquo;Tkaczuk is a steadying influence on the Rangers. He gets the puck out, plays defense, goes both ways and can set up his wingers.&rdquo;</p><p>In any assessment of the Rangers most valuable player this year, Tkaczuk has to rate highly. Esposito, Hickey and defenseman Ron Greschner are also candidates, but Tkaczuk&rsquo;s. solid two-way play makes him very much front and center.</p><p>Last year Maloney was selected the MVP, as the media turned in a &ldquo;no&rdquo; vote on the performance of Esposito. Maloney has missed too many games to be considered this year, so it may come down to Tkaczuk and Hickey, with consideration for Greschner.</p><p>Meanwhile, on the ice, big John Davidson has bounced back from adversity. In his last eight starts, J.D. is 5-1-2.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing, I have my confidence and everything is coming up super right now. I just want to get us into the playoffs.&rdquo;</p><p>Davidson is 12-9-3, compared to Wayne Thomas&rsquo; 9-18-7. Thomas has rusted away since a late February wrist injury, as coach Guy Talbot goes with the hot goalie.</p><p>Davidson had reduced his goals-against to 2.75&mdash;and was once more playing the goal he was considered capable of when the St. Louis Blues made him their number one pick in 1973.</p><p>&ldquo;If I get ice time, I get sharper,&rdquo; said J.D., echoing the words previously uttered by Thomas earlier in the season.</p><p>With the Rangers power play running second in the NHL with 59 goals, Esposito is properly being credited with its humming performance.</p><p>&ldquo;Esposito runs a text book power play,&rdquo; noted Tom McVie, the Washington Capitals coach, after the Rangers had dissected Washington March 12. In that game the Rangers had two power play goals in four chances.</p><p>Rumors of Esposito&rsquo;s trade to the Minnesota North Stars seemingly have died down for the present, but the big guy&rsquo;s future in New York might be termed somewhat questionable.</p><p>However, Phil values to the Rangers off the ice are not really appreciated. His young teammates are aware that he takes the brunt of the media fire, often shielding a teammate.</p><p><b>BLUE CHIPS:</b> Rumors have Tom McVie as a candidate for the Ranger coaching post next year, if John Ferguson is back&hellip; Dallas Smith seems to be the odd man out of the Rangers defense plans these days, sitting out most games&hellip;Lucien DeBlois who missed five games with a viral infection is still looking for his 20th goal as he returned to action.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-03

Puck Bouncing For Tkaczuk As Club’s Steadiest Player

<div class="byline">BY LARRY BORTSTEIN</div><p>DENVER&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>D</span>uring a two-game home stand in early March, the Colorado Rockies completely outplayed the Cleveland Barons and Chicago Black Hawks, respectively, getting sterling work in goal from Michel Plasse in both games and outshooting their opponents 74 to 38.</p><p>But both games ended in 2-2 ties as the Rockies consistently blew scoring opportunities and frustrations continued to mount at the team&rsquo;s lack of steady scoring punch.</p><p>Coach Pat Kelly, while applauding the hustle and determination of his youthful bunch, acknowledged that the accumulation of points by tying games at this late stage of the season would not be sufficient to get the Rockies into the playoffs.</p><p>And he acknowledged, too, that the season-ending injury suffered by Paul Gardner at the end of January, and the failure of Wilf Paiement to score goals consistently were the chief reasons for the breakdown of the Rockies&rsquo; offense, which was flying high in the early stages of the year.</p><p>&ldquo;I know Wilf is giving it everything he&rsquo;s got,&rdquo; said Kelly of his captain. &ldquo;Earlier in the season I thought he wasn&rsquo;t putting out all he could, but that hasn&rsquo;t been the problem lately. He&rsquo;s working very hard, and making some good plays and doing a good job on the physical end of the game. But, unfortunately, we don&rsquo;t have many guys who can put the puck in the net, and that&rsquo;s where Wilf was supposed to help, but isn&rsquo;t. It&rsquo;s just a frustrating thing for him, I know.&rdquo;</p><p>Gardner was ordered to avoid all physical exercise for eight weeks after suffering the shifting of two vertebrae and a hairline fracture of the transverse process of his back during a 6-4 victory over Philadelphia on Jan. 28. He had scored 30 goals in 46 games at that point.</p><p>When the Rockies played a 2-2 tie here with the Black Hawks on March 5, they unleashed a 39-shot barrage on Tony Esposito, but couldn&rsquo;t dent the net after scoring two goals in the first period.</p><p>Ironically, Gardner, who watched the game from the radio booth where he worked the game with regular Rocky air men Joe Starkey and Bill Struck, was celebrating his 22nd birthday that night.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very tough not to be playing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s also tough seeing the guys play well and not get anything better than a tie out of it. They&rsquo;re really playing in bad luck, hitting posts and everything. I&rsquo;m not saying we would have won a lot more games if I had been able to play, but, gee, I did have those 30 goals already and I was developing that touch around the cage, and maybe I would have had something over 40 goals by now and it might&rsquo;ve helped.&rdquo;</p><p>Kelly feels that way. &ldquo;Without Gardner out there,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;we don&rsquo;t have a lot of natural goal-scorers. We&rsquo;ve been running into some hot goaltenders, but on the other hand we haven&rsquo;t been putting the puck away when we could. That&rsquo;s something you can&rsquo;t teach. You either know how to score goals or you don&rsquo;t. We work really hard, and I appreciate the way the guys have been working, but some of them just can&rsquo;t put the puck in.&rdquo;</p><p>Kelly also pointed out that even his better goal-producers sometimes show signs of inexperience. The Rockies fired 35 shots at Gilles Meloche in a 2-2 deadlock with the Barons, but only Mark Suzor and Dave Hudson beat the Cleveland netminder.</p><p>&ldquo;Joe Contini told me that Meloche gave him the whole side of the net, but when he shot it there, Meloche caught it,&rdquo; Kelly said. &ldquo;These guys are so young, they just haven&rsquo;t been around long enough to learn the tricks, to finish the plays.</p><p>&ldquo;And because a lot of our guys are young,&rdquo; Kelly went on, &ldquo;they feel the pressure. I can tell. You can see it at times. What the heck, I&rsquo;m new in this league too. I feel the pressure too.&rdquo;</p><p><b>ICE PEBBLES:</b> Needing a playmaking center, the Rockies recalled Denis Dupere from the Philadelphia Firebirds, and the veteran had an assist in his first game back&hellip;In the same game, a 2-2 tie against Chicago, Mike Kitchen appeared to score his first goal of the season, but credit went instead to Gary Croteau, off whose stick Kitchen&rsquo;s shot deflected into the cage&hellip;Toronto, which lost to Colorado 4-2 in the first-ever Rockies&rsquo; game in 1976-77, beat the Mile High City club in all four meetings between the clubs this season&hellip;Looking at the 80-game NHL season as five separate 16-game periods, the Rockies were 2-7-7 during the fourth 16-game stretch this year&mdash;games 49-64. After their first 16 games of the year, they were 6-7-3, but had added only seven more victories, as opposed to 26 losses and 15 ties in the next 48 games&hellip;Going into the season&rsquo;s final weeks, the Rockies were contenders to tie one of the most dubious records in the NHL&mdash;the one road victory in a season mark set by the Washington Capitals, who were winless in their first 37 road games of 1974-75 before defeating the California Golden Seals in Oakland, 53, on March 28, 1975. After 32 games away from home this season, the Rockies were 1-21-10.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02828/4130071-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="566" height="1184"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PAUL GARDNER&hellip;Sorely Missed</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0013-02

Rockies’ Silent Offense Dampens Playoff Bid

<div class="byline">BY RUSS WHITE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011021/4130102-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ACE BAILEY&hellip;Set Club Record With Seven Points</b></figcaption></div><p>WASHINGTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>ith only 18 games to play on the Washington Capitals&rsquo; schedule, Garnet (Ace) Bailey didn&rsquo;t have a goal. Ace had missed a slew of games because of a bad knee and a few more because he was in coach Tom McVie&rsquo;s doghouse.</p><p>Then, came a home game against the Colorado Rockies.</p><p>Bailey was ready for this one, scoring three goals (he also had an assist), the Caps&rsquo; first hat trick in two years and one week. Tony White had the last Caps&rsquo; hat trick, Feb. 21,1976.</p><p>To prove his performance in the 7-4 romp over the Rockies was no fluke, Bailey followed with a three-assist effort that produced a 3-3 tie at St. Louis. Bailey began the play that gave the Caps the tie with only 28 seconds to play.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen a guy go from the doghouse to the penthouse so quickly,&rdquo; remarked teammate Bugsy Watson.</p><p>Bailey is a throwback to those sudsy days of the Capitals&rsquo; first years on ice in the National Hockey League. He used to chum with ex-Caps Stan Gilbertson and Tom (Bomber) Williams. On the ice their line was known affectionately as the &ldquo;Brew Line.&rdquo;</p><p>Those fledgling Caps used to lose 10-1 and 12-2 night after night, prompting Williams to say, &ldquo;The way we play, we need a drink to forget.&rdquo;</p><p>There was one beautiful evening when Gilbertson scored-four goals, Williams two goals and four assists and Bailey four assists as the Caps closed their first season with an 8-4 romp over the Penguins.</p><p>Bailey remembered that night after his hat trick this year.</p><p>&ldquo;The Bomber and Stanley would be proud of me now,&rdquo; Bailey said.</p><p>Coach Tom McVie obviously enjoyed the Ace&rsquo;s first major league hat trick and only the sixth in Caps&rsquo; history (Gilbertson, Ron Lalonde, Hartland Monahan and Tony White (twice) had the others).</p><p>&ldquo;Ace has been in my doghouse,&rdquo; McVie said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a full time thing being a left-winger in the NHL, and I wish Ace would do it full time&hellip;sure, he&rsquo;s been injured but he&rsquo;s also been&hellip;well, he&rsquo;s been himself, Ace Bailey.</p><p>&ldquo;That wouldn&rsquo;t really be so bad,&rdquo; McVie explained, &ldquo;if I weren&rsquo;t Ace&rsquo;s coach. If I were still a player, I&rsquo;d love Ace Bailey and I know he&rsquo;s the guy I&rsquo;d chum around with when we were off the ice.&rdquo;</p><p>Good Time Ace, everybody&rsquo;s friend, even became a daddy three months ago.</p><p>When Todd Garnet Bailey was born on Nov. 28, Bailey promised to keep going the hockey tradition that when he scored his next goal he&rsquo;d fetch the puck from the nets and bring it home to his son.</p><p>&ldquo;The way I was going, it looked for awhile that Todd would score a goal before I did,&rdquo; Bailey admitted.</p><p>Kathy Bailey, a former Eastern Airlines stewardess Ace met when he was with the Boston Bruins, took some of the credit for Ace&rsquo;s hat trick.</p><p>&ldquo;His secret,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;was spending the afternoon baby sitting Todd. It was the first time I ever went shopping on the day of a home game, leaving him home with the baby.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I stayed awake,&rdquo; Bailey admitted.</p><p>Bailey had scored 19 goals a year ago, his best NHL total, and was counted on for more goals this year. He had only four assists, though, into the last game of February, his 1977-78 season almost a wipeout.</p><p>The next two games produced seven points, something no other Capital had ever done, and Bailey was flying high. His 11 points for the year pushed him over 100 points as a Capital and to 270 lifetime. Bailey entered the year as a 100-goal scorer in the NHL.</p><p>If Bailey&rsquo;s hat trick night didn&rsquo;t surprise the fans in the nation&rsquo;s capital, the postponement of the Friday, March 3 game against the Rangers, certainly did the trick. Caps&rsquo; management received permission from Montreal NHL headquarters, to call the Ranger game off because of hazardous driving conditions in the Landover, Md. area, where Capital Centre is located.</p><p>Rangers&rsquo; general manager John Ferguson lodged an official complaint, citing the weather conditions hardly warranted the postponement and that the Rangers were not consulted over the March 26 makeup date. In his angry protest, Ferguson asked that the Rangers be awarded a forfeit victory.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0013-01

Bailey Emerges As Caps’ Scoring Ace’

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><p>DETROIT&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>D</span>ennis Polonich&rsquo;s wit is unsurpassed on the Red Wing roster, and he uses it often. Like the day he told his teammates between periods that they needed to play better and beat the Washington Capitals.</p><p>&ldquo;Washington was playing well defensively. It was a tight game,&rdquo; Polo explained afterwards. &ldquo;Between periods we talked about how we had to win this game, how important it was for the playoffs. I told everybody we had to make the playoffs because I needed the extra money.</p><p>&ldquo;I want to be mayor of Foam Lake (Sask.) and I need the money for my campaign,&rdquo; Polonich told them.</p><p>At last, Polonich&mdash;who scored twice in that game to help the Wings to a 4-1 victory&mdash;was being his uninhibited self. It hasn&rsquo;t always been that way this season. It&rsquo;s been obvious from the start that Polo wasn&rsquo;t being himself, on and off the ice.</p><p>It reached a point where coach Bobby Kromm decided to replace him on the regular line with Dan Maloney and Andre St. Laurent. But Polo earned a reprieve, thanks to his teammates.</p><p>&ldquo;I was nervous, tense,&rdquo; Polonich said. &ldquo;I got upset early in the season and it stayed with me. I was coming off that line, I knew it. That&rsquo;s when Danny, and Andy went in (to the coach). It goes to show how our line sticks together. I appreciate what they did.&rdquo;</p><p>The next day, Kromm and Polonich met. &ldquo;He just said that I wasn&rsquo;t playing like the Dennis Polonich he had heard about,&rdquo; Polo said.</p><p>Said Maloney: &ldquo;Polo was better than anyone they could have put in his place. And we needed him on our line. He gets things stirred up.&rdquo;</p><p>Kromm acknowledged that the feisty right winger was playing better.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02865/4130140-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="559" height="1351"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BERNIE PARENT&hellip;Shutout King</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s mucking it&mdash;what I call getting involved in the game. That&rsquo;s how he has to play this game.&rdquo;</p><p>The Wings have earned the distinction of being a serious playoff contender. But it won&rsquo;t be easy and there will be numerous obstacles along the way&mdash;like the one presented bv the St. Louis Blues, a costly 3-1 setback at Olympia. It was St. Louis&rsquo; only victory against Detroit this season, following three losses.</p><p>Polonich continued his spree, scoring his 13th goal and fourth in three games&mdash;he also scored the third period goal that gave the Wings a 2-2 tie in Atlanta in a game dominated by goalie Ron Low.</p><p>Of the loss to St. Louis, the coach said: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s disappointing because of the fact that we had a chance to move within one point of second place (Los Angeles) in our division (Norris) and still have a game in hand.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03639/4130133-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="1172" height="1492"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DENNIS POLONICH&hellip;Hat Mates To Thank For Reprieve</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;And there are 19 guys in that room just as disappointed. We just didn&rsquo;t have one of our better games, but they (the Wings) gave it all they had; I can&rsquo;t complain at all about that. Sometimes you don&rsquo;t get the breaks, or capitalize on your chances. Now we have to regroup and look to the future, not dwell on the past.&rdquo;</p><p>In other matters, defenseman Perry Miller, a guy who made the transition, is certain his former teammates with the WHA&rsquo;s Winnipeg Jets&mdash;Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson&mdash;will do well in the NHL, should their much-publicized switch materialize.</p><p>Miller, 25, left Winnipeg to sign as a free agent with Detroit and his old coach, Kromm, who earlier had taken over the Red Wing coaching duties. Last season, as a member of the high-powered Jets, he scored 14 goals and 31 assists&rsquo; for 45 points. He holds two WHA records for defensemen&mdash;most goals in a game, four; and most points in a game, six. With the Wings&rsquo; his priorities begin with defense.</p><p>&ldquo;I think they&rsquo;ll do well here,&rdquo; Miller said of Hedberg and Nilsson. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re the two leaders. I don&rsquo;t know how the other Swedes will do without them.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-02

Feisty Polonich Uninhibited Again, Red Wing Plays Style Kromm Wants

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><p>CHICAGO&mdash;</p><p>Billy Wirtz, president of the Black Hawks, do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?</p><p>&ldquo;I do.&rdquo;</p><p>Do you like what you&rsquo;ve seen of your hockey team?</p><p>&ldquo;Absolutely. We&rsquo;ve become a believable club again, a club worth seeing.&rdquo;</p><p>Will we be seeing more of them, as in TV?</p><p>&ldquo;Yes. There is a very good chance we&rsquo;ll be on television here for all our road playoff games. No chance for the rest of the regular season, but absolutely for the playoffs and I think that will carry on right into next season.&rdquo;</p><p>Who, where and how many?</p><p>&ldquo;I expect we&rsquo;ll have a 25-game road package next year, probably on Channel 32. The general manager there is working very hard at it, and we want it, so I think it will happen. When we were in Montreal playing the Canadiens, no way that game shouldn&rsquo;t be on television back to Chicago.</p><p>&ldquo;At one time, I felt that we should have all 40 road games on T.V, like we used to. But I&rsquo;ve changed my thinking, on that. The way that line costs are going up,&rsquo; you have to drop some games, like from the West Coast. It costs $11,000 for TV lines just to start with, and that doesn&rsquo;t even count what you spend otherwise. We&rsquo;ll do the games out east, at Boston, at New York, at Toronto, at Philadelphia, at Buffalo, plus a lot of the others.&rdquo;</p><p>What&rsquo;s holding the TV package up?</p><p>&ldquo;Sponsors, we need sponsors. We could have about 50 percent sold right now.&rdquo; Would you, the Black Hawks, ever buy the time?</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011004/4130185-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="556" height="1145"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>WILLIAM WIRTZ&hellip;Watches Balcony Seats</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;No. We did that once, and lost a lot of money. Did it on radio too, last year at WMAQ and lost about $85,000. This year, we&rsquo;ll break even at WCFL. They&rsquo;re charging us less for air time, though: $500 a game, compared with $1,500 at WMAQ. That&rsquo;s a saving of $80,000 right there.</p><p>&ldquo;No complaints with radio, and no complaints with the newspapers. They&rsquo;ve given us good coverage all year, and at the start we didn&rsquo;t even deserve any. But you have to have TV. We&rsquo;re more believable now, like I said. The interest is picking up. I read what Bobby Clarke said, that the days of the sellout are gone. I don&rsquo;t agree.&rdquo;</p><p>How are the Stadium crowds?</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re averaging just under 11,000; last year, when we lost $2 million on the Black Hawks, we averaged about 12,500. But our crowds have been going up as the season progresses; last year, they went down. Plus, we lost about 1,000 season subscribers who cancelled over the summer. We&rsquo;re down to 8,700 from about 9,600. In our best days, we had about 11,000.</p><p>&ldquo;But I look at the first and second balconies. Those fans are coming back again. That&rsquo;s the indication to me. Most of the more expensive seats are corporate seats, but the $6 and $4.50 balcony seats are where I look and they&rsquo;re starting to fill up again. It will take time, but the people are realizing that this club is better. Reminds me of the 1970 spirit when we went from last place to first.&rdquo;</p><p>But, as it stands now, the current Black Hawks still will lose money?</p><p>&ldquo;Yes, but our payroll is down about 18 percent from last year&mdash;exclusive of Bobby Orr. We shed some big contracts when we traded Pit Martin and Dennis Hull. Have to. When you&rsquo;re not selling out, you have to cut costs.&rdquo;</p><p>How good do you think the Black Hawks are compared with last year?</p><p>&ldquo;Different team completely. I think one thing Bob Pulford has done in a short time is command complete respect and dedication. He works hard, the whole front office team works hard. I wouldn&rsquo;t trade our management of Bob Pulford, Bobby Orr and Jack Davison for any in the world.</p><p>&ldquo;Pulford was a great catch for us. And Orr has done whatever Pulford has asked him to do. I know Bobby wants to try playing again next year. I don&rsquo;t know how that knee is. I would discourage it, but nothing I say or Al Eagleson says or his wife says is going to influence him if he wants to try. I never thought he&rsquo;d play for Team Canada last year and look what happened.&rdquo;</p><p>But you&rsquo;re satisfied?</p><p>&ldquo;Definitely. Last year was a terrible year. This year, I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s any way this team won&rsquo;t finish first. After that&hellip;who knows?&rdquo;</p><h2><b>1978 WORLD HOCKEY TOURNAMENT DATES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02798/4130178-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="1126" height="842"></div><h2><b>PLAYOFF PAIRINGS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03621/4130171-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="1126" height="370"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0015-01

Black Hawks Plan TV Exposure For Playoffs

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01849/4130468-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="376" height="763"></div><h2><b>ATLANTA</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02716/4130461-1-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/f0016-03572/4130454-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="718" height="613"></div><h2><b>BOSTON</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04448/4130447-1-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/f0016-05342/4130440-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="713" height="629"></div><h2><b>BUFFALO</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06279/4130433-1-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/f0016-07253/4130426-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="722" height="671"></div><h2><b>CHICAGO</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08233/4130419-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="163" height="154"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09210/4130412-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="715" height="659"></div><h2><b>CLEVELAND</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-10188/4130405-1-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/f0016-11174/4130398-1-eng-US/f0016-112.jpg" title="f0016-11" width="717" height="579"></div><h2><b>COLORADO</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-12157/4130391-1-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/f0016-13143/4130384-1-eng-US/f0016-132.jpg" title="f0016-13" width="708" height="662"></div><h2><b>DETROIT</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-14136/4130377-1-eng-US/f0016-142.jpg" title="f0016-14" width="156" height="90"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-15126/4130370-1-eng-US/f0016-152.jpg" title="f0016-15" width="710" height="603"></div><h2><b>LOS ANGELES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-16122/4130363-1-eng-US/f0016-162.jpg" title="f0016-16" width="194" height="124"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-17114/4130356-1-eng-US/f0016-172.jpg" title="f0016-17" width="713" height="629"></div><h2><b>MINNESOTA</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-18107/4130349-1-eng-US/f0016-182.jpg" title="f0016-18" width="154" height="135"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-19100/4130342-1-eng-US/f0016-192.jpg" title="f0016-19" width="711" height="682"></div><h2><b>MONTREAL</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2081/4130335-1-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/f0016-2175/4130328-1-eng-US/f0016-212.jpg" title="f0016-21" width="715" height="639"></div><h2><b>ISLANDERS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2273/4130321-1-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/f0016-2370/4130314-1-eng-US/f0016-232.jpg" title="f0016-23" width="713" height="580"></div><h2><b>RANGERS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2468/4130307-1-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/f0016-2563/4130300-1-eng-US/f0016-252.jpg" title="f0016-25" width="712" height="598"></div><h2><b>PHILADELPHIA</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2660/4130293-1-eng-US/f0016-262.jpg" title="f0016-26" width="161" height="111"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2751/4130286-1-eng-US/f0016-272.jpg" title="f0016-27" width="716" height="639"></div><h2><b>PITTSBURGH</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-2849/4130279-1-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/f0016-2942/4130272-1-eng-US/f0016-292.jpg" title="f0016-29" width="719" height="641"></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/f0016-3042/4130265-1-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/f0016-3142/4130258-1-eng-US/f0016-312.jpg" title="f0016-31" width="714" height="613"></div><h2><b>TORONTO</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3237/4130251-1-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/f0016-3337/4130244-1-eng-US/f0016-332.jpg" title="f0016-33" width="712" height="638"></div><h2><b>VANCOUVER</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3433/4130237-1-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/f0016-3519/4130230-1-eng-US/f0016-352.jpg" title="f0016-35" width="713" height="582"></div><h2><b>WASHINGTON</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3618/4130223-1-eng-US/f0016-362.jpg" title="f0016-36" width="177" height="98"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-3718/4130216-1-eng-US/f0016-372.jpg" title="f0016-37" width="710" height="632"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0016-01

NHL SCORING and PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02628/4130506-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DON EDWARDS&hellip;Ranks Second In Shutouts</b></figcaption></div><p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p>The goaltenders in the National Hockey League could not be faulted if they found themselves wondering who is going to be the netminder to end the longest non-shutout drought in NHL history.</p><p>There has not been a shutout since Gord McRae of Toronto Maple Leafs blanked Washington Capitals 4-0 at Toronto, Feb. 25. A total 97 games have been played since then and during those games, 710 goals were scored, an average of 7.32 goals per game for both teams.</p><p>According to NHL researcher Carol Randall, the previous longest streak in which there were no shutouts recorded was 56 games between March 5 and March 25, 1972. During that stretch, 390 goals were scored, an average of 6.96 goals per game.</p><p>There have been 59 shutouts in the NHL this season, compared to 71 in the first 630 games of 1976-77. In the 630 games up to now, 4,141 goals were scored for an average of 6.57 goals per game, more than half a goal lower than during the 97-game nori-shutout string.</p><p>In 28 games last week, 212 goals were scored for an average of 7.57 goals per game, the second-highest average of any week this season. During the five-day period ended Dec. 23, 160 goals were scored in 21 games, which averaged out to 7.62 goals per game.</p><p>Philadelphia Flyers, led by Bernie Parent&rsquo;s six, lead all teams with nine shutouts so far this season. New York Islanders and Chicago Black Hawks have six each while Montreal, Boston, Buffalo, Toronto and New York Rangers each have five. The only clubs which have not recorded a shutout are Detroit and Pittsburgh. Don Edwards of Buffalo is recond to Parent in individual shutouts with five.</p><p>There has been only one shared shutout so far this season. That was by Bill Smith and Goran Hogosta when New York Islanders blanked Atlanta Flames 90, Nov. 1, at Long Island. Neither goaltender is credited with a shutout but the team is.</p><p>Despite the recent increase in goals, only one player so far has reached the 50-goal mark. He is Guy Lafleur of Montreal Canadiens, whose 56 goals are included among his league-leading 120 points. Lafleur had equalled his goal-totals of the last two seasons. He has a 13-point lead Over runner-up Bryan Trottier of Islanders. Darryl Sittler of Toronto remains third but he moved to within a point of Trottier. No Leaf has finished as high as second since Gaye Stewart was runner-up to Chicago&rsquo;s Max Bentley in 1945-46.</p><p>Rookie Mike Bossy of the Islanders, who already has the record for goals by a rookie, needs one more to join Lafleur in the 50-goal club. Sittler, with 43 goals, and teammate Lanny McDonald, 42, are the next closest to 50.</p><h2><b>Teams Penalties</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01741/4130499-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="583" height="666"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0017-02

Shooters Taking Deadly Aim at NHL Goalers

f0018-01

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

<p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p>One of the best kept secrets over the years in the National Hockey League has been individual player contracts. Teams have always been reluctant to discuss salaries in the prints.</p><p>But now it is all out in the open following startling disclosure by two of Canada&rsquo;s leading newspapers and already the controversy is mounting over what&rsquo;s true and what&rsquo;s not.</p><p>The Toronto Globe and Mail started the ball rolling with a copyrighted story under the byline of Don Ramsay which revealed exactly how much each player in the NHL was making from the highest priced Phil Esposito at $325,000 down to rookie Joe Contini of Colorado Rockies, whom the newspaper alleges makes $30.000 for his first NHL year.</p><p>Shortly after the disclosures were out. the Montreal Gazette, also in a copyright article written by columnist Tim Burke, declared the Globe&rsquo;s listings were not authentic and proceeded to produce a new set of salary figures that they claimed were closer to the truth.</p><p>Needless, to say, the itemized salary lists raised considerable resentment from players&rsquo; agents, teams and the NHL. Executive vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill disputed the accuracy of the Toronto paper&rsquo;s report claiming that only 12 per cent of the Globe&rsquo;s figures were correct. Alan Eagleson, the executive director of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, and a man who represents 100 NHL players, termed the figures &ldquo;reasonably accurate.&rdquo;</p><p>O&rsquo;Neill hotly claimed that a comparison of the Toronto media figures and the salaries registered with the NHL&rsquo;s Montreal head office showed some were close but others were far off base.</p><p>&ldquo;The first salary I checked was 70 per cent out. The next one I checked was 50 per cent out,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neill said. &ldquo;Some cases are only 3 or 4 per cent off, but there are a number of cases which are 20 to 40 per cent out.&rdquo;</p><p>His greatest complaint was that in his view the article left the impression that the information came from the NHL executive office. The figures were gathered in a survey of agents and club executives.</p><p>While the Toronto paper contended Esposito was the highest paid and Marcel Dionne was second highest with a salary of $320,000, the Montreal Gazette article maintained it had more accurate figures and named Gilbert Perreault as the highest paid at $325,000. The paper said Esposito earned $215,000 and Marcel Dionne $240,000. The Globe and Mail said Perreault only carried a $200,000 contract with the Buffalo Sabres.</p><p>NHL president John Ziegler frowned on the whole episode. He said the league owners were not happy with the disclosures, even if they are inaccurate, because the NHL is busily trying to restore economic sanity to the game and the salary listings wouldn&rsquo;t help their cause.</p><p>Despite the disparity in the two salary lists, the revelations grabbed the headlines in the daily prints and the ones who appeared to be most concerned about it all were the general managers&mdash;the men who have to do the hard bargaining with the players at contract signing time.</p><p>As one NHL manager put it, these kind of lists are certainly not going to make our jobs any easier.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05311/4130924-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="558" height="742"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PHIL ESPOSITO&hellip;Is He Highest Paid?</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-06240/4130917-1-eng-US/f0019-062.jpg" title="f0019-06" width="570" height="736"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GILBERT PERREAULT&hellip;Or Is He The Highest?</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0019-05

Canadian Media Display Disparity Over NHL Salaries

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01409/4130955-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="572" height="910"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GARRY MONAHAN&hellip;Has Higher Profile</b></figcaption></div><p>VANCOUVER&mdash;</p><p>When a team is going as badly as the Vancouver Canucks have been this year, it is often difficult to find bright spots.</p><p>One such spot, or more accurately person, is Garry Monahan, who has experienced a tremendous roller coaster season, one with disappointments, some satisfaction and a lot of mental anguish.</p><p>For the first time in seven years, Monahan was sent to the minors, Tulsa to be exact, with his inseparable friend Gerry O&rsquo;Flaherty. It was one of the low points of his career and at the time he expressed some desire to remain in the NHL by the trade route.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel I can play any better than I have been recently,&rdquo; said Monahan at the time of his departure to Oklahoma. &ldquo;Maybe some playoff club will be looking for some experience down the stretch and pick me up. But you have to wonder when you clear waivers with nobody wanting to pick you up. I&rsquo;m never going to score a bushel of goals for anyone, but you have to look at the plus-minus (figures) to see where I think I&rsquo;m doing the job.&rdquo;</p><p>Exit Monahan. But during a&rsquo; recent road trip in which the team was doing poorly, coach Orland Kurtenbach recalled Monahan and O&rsquo;Flaherty from Tulsa and the two were the best two players on the ice for the club in that first game back.</p><p>Since that return, with Dennis Ververgaert on right wing, Monahan has centered what has been the club&rsquo;s top line. It is the first time in quite a few years that the 33-vear-old former Toronto Maple Leaf has been in the middle, and judging from his comments about the position, he quite likes it.</p><p>&ldquo;I spent almost six years on a wing with the Leafs just going up and down and dumping the puck out to (Dave) Keon in the middle,&rdquo; said Monahan. &ldquo;Now that I&rsquo;m at center, you get to wheel with the puck a bit more and it&rsquo;s kind of fun. I&rsquo;ve always enjoyed carrying the puck, although I&rsquo;m not so sure I&rsquo;m anymore successful at center than I have been on the wing this year. I think with the right amount of ice time, I could have been doing this all year.&rdquo;</p><p>As Canucks began their toughest road trip of the season, a six-game affair with stops in Toronto, Boston, Long Island. Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Detroit, Monahan was still keeping his head above plus-minus water.</p><p>&ldquo;It certainly was a disappointment going to Tulsa,&rdquo; said Monahan. &ldquo;It was a little tough to get up for the games down there because it had been so long since I played down there. But since coming back up, I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m playing that much better than when I went down. I&rsquo;m not putting the puck in the net any more really than I did before, I think it&rsquo;s just because at center I seem to have the puck more.&rdquo;</p><p>Indeed carrying the puck gives Monahan a higher profile, one which some of the other Canucks might be wise to assume. In one recent game against Chicago Black Hawks, everyone on the team was carrying the puck well in the first two periods and as a result they were drawing penalties, creating opportunities and gave themselves a 2-0 lead.</p><p>But in the third period, the team retreated into its shell, and while they did pull the game out 3-2, they were on shakey ground much of the third period until an empty net goal made it 3-1, only to have Hawks score with four seconds remaining.</p><p>It has been the tentative play of the club which has really given them trouble, particularly at home where the tendency for most teams is to take the offensive initiative.</p><p>Meanwhile, Canucks, who had remained injury free much of the season, are starting to get their share.</p><p>Sheldon Kannegiesser, who has already missed nearly 15 games since joining the team from the American League, has come up with a mysteriows ailment in which he can barely move at times. He had blood tests taken in Boston which gave no clue as to what might be the problem.</p><p>And the team&rsquo;s top scorer, Mike Walton, has been having trouble with the knee that he injured last season and needed an operation in January of last year. He got it rapped in a game against Toronto and missed games in Boston and Long Island. On the same road trip, Harold Snepsts came up with gastritis and it left the club with only four defensemen, which can be a little tough when you&rsquo;re playing six games in nine nights.</p><p>Canucks remain four points ahead of Colorado with 17 games remaining, with the club&rsquo;s to meet only once, in Denver, before the season ends.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0021-01

Monahan Thriving In Center Spot

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE WARRINER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02344/4131269-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="546" height="893"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MIKE ROGERS&hellip;Overtime Winner</b></figcaption></div><p>HARTFORD&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>fter losing six consecutive overtime contests, the New England Whalers finally pulled one out. It was a crucial win, coming on the heels of a five-game losing streak and a stretch where they had managed just one win in nine games thereby plummeting the Whalers out of contention for first place.</p><p>Coach Harry Neale had been at a loss to explain his team&rsquo;s downfall. The players were working hard night after night but coming up on the wrong side of the ledger at the final buzzer. Nobody had an answer! When Winnipeg ended its lengthy winning streak the door was opened for the Whalers to close in again on the top spot. But while the Jets were losing four or five in a row, the Whalers matched them loss for loss&mdash;to remain 12 points behind.</p><p>In the meantime, the Houston Aeros had been creeping up from the rear and suddenly New England found itself at The Summit with the Aeros only two points behind in the standings. By the end of the evening the Whalers had company in second place as the Aeros handed them their fifth straight defeat, 6-4.</p><p>Coach Neale wasn&rsquo;t too pleased with his team&rsquo;s performance and pointed out that there was too much individual effort rather than team effort.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a natural reaction when things are going bad to have players try to do too much by themselves,&rdquo; said Neale. &ldquo;One guy didn&rsquo;t get us into this mess and one guy won&rsquo;t get us out of it,&rdquo; he continued.</p><p>The next night the Whalers were in Birmingham to face a team that, a week earlier, had dumped them 5-2 in front of the home folks at the Springfield Civic Center. It was apparent from the start that the Whalers had decided to &lsquo;take the Bull(s) by the horns! Although 19-year-old rookie Ken Linseman opened the scoring for the Bulls, a man 30 years his senior almost immediately tied the score. Gordie Howe was credited with the goal just three seconds later as he whipped the puck past John Garrett from a faceoff deep in the Bulls end.</p><p>The Whalers dominated the game from that point on but the score at the end of two periods was not indicative of that fact. Birmingham led 4-2 at that juncture, and Garrett was superb in thwarting many Whaler forays. At the other end Louie Levasseur was playing his first game in over a month but he wasn&rsquo;t to be faulted on any of the Bulls goals. (Coach Neale had used Al Smith in 14 consecutive contests).</p><p>In the third period Papa Howe pumped in another to get the Whalers close. For Gordie it was his 30th goal of the season&mdash;the 18th time in his career he has accumulated that many goals in a season. Then with only two minutes left in regulation, 41-year-old John McKenzie got his 20th of the season to knot the count at 4-4 and send the game into OT.</p><p>At 3:58 of the extra session Brad Selwood sent Mike Rogers scooting in on a brilliant individual effort. Mike made no mistakes as he blasted the disc into the top comer. The Whalers bench emptied to mob Rogers and everyone had the feeling the drought was over.</p><p>&ldquo;You couldn&rsquo;t have asked for a better way to break out of a slump,&rdquo; said coach Neale. &ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t grab onto that win with all our tenacity, we&rsquo;re not the team I think we are&hellip;&rdquo;</p><p>When asked about his coaching future, Neale talked about a meeting he had with GM-coach Lou Nanne of the Minnesota North Stars. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been offered the coaching job. He asked me if anything should happen to my contract, the team, or the league&mdash;any one of the three&mdash;if I would be interested in coaching the North Stars&hellip;I&rsquo;m not looking to move, I like it in New England. There is no place I&rsquo;d rather work. I have a contract here for next year.&rdquo;</p><p>But Neale went on to say, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a difficult situation for me. I&rsquo;m sure I&rsquo;m not the only one Nanne&rsquo;s talked to. It&rsquo;s kind of a dinned if you do, damned if you don&rsquo;t thing. If I actively seek another job, I&rsquo;m being disloyal. If I don&rsquo;t, I&rsquo;m not protecting me.&rdquo;</p><p><b>QUEBEC:</b> With only 14 games left in the season the Nordiques were involved in a four-team scramble for the last three playoff berths. A strong winning streak could move them up to challenge Houston and New England for second or third spots. It seemed more likely, however, that the battle would be with the likes of Edmonton, Cincinnati, and Birmingham for those final three places in the WHA playoff format.</p><p>After general manager Maurice Filion relieved coach Marc Boileau to step behind the bench himself, the Nordiques spurted to a 4-0-1 record in the ensuing five contests. Suddenly, though, they cooled off and were able to come up with only one victory in their next four games. Although Quebec City fans were getting a little edgy about their team&rsquo;s playoff chances, they did get an opportunity to witness an historic occasion at the Colisee&hellip;Bobby Hull notched his 44th goal of the season before a full house in Quebec. More importantly, it was the 1,000th goal of his career.</p><p>The Nordique faithful rendered due respect and congratulations to Hull, but they were not thrilled with the outcome of the game. Jets&rsquo; rookie, Kent Nilsson notched a hat trick while teammates contributed three additional goals and the Jets left town with a 7-4 victory. In the process they kept the Nords from vaulting over Edmonton into fourth place. The only consolation for the home folks was that Buddy Cloutier matched Hull with his 44th goal of the season.</p><p>Meanwhile Marc Tardif maintained his lead in the scoring race, eclipsing the 50-goal mark for the second time in his career. Tardif also had 76 assists for a total of 126 points in 65 games. During the 1975-76 season the Nordiques captain won the Hunter Trophy with 71 goals and 77 assists in 81 games.</p><p>The Nordiques defense was dealt another blow when J.C. Tremblay suffered another injury and was lost to the team.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-02

Overtime Win Lets Whalers Regroup; Nordiques Locked In Playoff Fight

f0024-01

WORLD HOCKEY ASSOCIATION

<div class="byline">BY JIMMY BRYAN</div><p>CINCINNATI&mdash;</p><p>The track record of Jacques Demers shouts loudly that the recent surge of Cincinnati&rsquo;s Stingers was not made with a Ouija Board.</p><p>The World Hockey Association should have known these Stingers would be storming rinks around the league when snow began to melt along the banks of the Ohio.</p><p>Cincinnati took a giant move toward securing a playoff spot by winning a face-to-face confrontation with its No. 1 rival, Birmingham, at Riverfront Coliseum in the middle of March.</p><p>The Stingers are making their move at the proper time. A horrible start had Cincinnati fans wondering why Demers was brought in from Indianapolis in the first place, but now solid evidence is piling up.</p><p>&ldquo;It happens every spring,&rdquo; is what Stinger publicist John Hewig said, explaining the surge of Cincinnati under Demers.</p><p>Indeed, it appears to. Demers-coached teams traditionally finish with a flourish.</p><p>&ldquo;A secret?&rdquo; Demers pondered a question. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s anything out of the ordinary. But one thing I don&rsquo;t do is overwork my teams late in the season. I don&rsquo;t want to be skating against teams like Winnipeg at the end of the year with our legs back at practice.</p><p>&ldquo;We practice a half hour every day and we always work on coming out of our end with the puck,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;I have five ways to get the puck up ice, and practicing these every day has meant more wins to us than anything else.&rdquo;</p><p>The Stingers slipped ahead of Birmingham with a five-of-six act, while the Bulls were going precisely the opposite direction with five losses in six games. Cincinnati was winning at home and on the road. It made little matter. Just get the Stingers to a rink.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01372/4131307-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="876" height="1181"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>CRAIG NORWICH&hellip;Getting Job Done For Stingers</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;Since December we&rsquo;re 11-8-2 on the road, and winning on the road is very important,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;Our guys have gotten to the point they&rsquo;re optimistic when we go on the road. It&rsquo;s not an automatic loss when we leave Riverfront Coliseum.&rdquo;</p><p>That could be important as the season winds down. The Stingers had eight of their final 13 on the road.</p><p>If tradition holds, this will be no big drawback for the talented Stingers.</p><p>Cincinnati began its move after Demers swung several trades, most with his former club down the road, Indianapolis.</p><p>&ldquo;We made some trades and finally got the proper blend of players,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;My type game is a tight checking game, because if you keep enough pressure on you&rsquo;ll eventually get the puck. You can&rsquo;t score without it.</p><p>&ldquo;Getting the players I wanted and getting them to play the way I want is finally beginning to click. We&rsquo;re playing as a team now. There&rsquo;s no one or two or three guys carrying us. It&rsquo;s everybody.</p><p>&ldquo;What is amazing is we&rsquo;ve been winning with two rookies on defense&mdash;Craig Norwich and Barry Melrose. But it&rsquo;s a credit to all the players. Everybody is doing his job.&rdquo;</p><p>A load was thrown at the rookie defenseman when All Star blueliner Darryl Maggs went on a holiday. Maggs failed to show for the Birmingham game of March 15.</p><p>&ldquo;Darryl and I have been talking. He says he wants to retire,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;Right now he just feels he&rsquo;s had it with hockey. If he feels he doesn&rsquo;t want to play, then he&rsquo;s doing the proper thing. It&rsquo;s no personality problem. Darryl and I have been together for several years. When it comes to the point where he doesn&rsquo;t show up for a game, then he really must be fed up,&rdquo; Demers said.</p><p>The Stingers perhaps strengthened their hand when college All-America Dave Debol signed on March 16. The five-foot-11, 175-pounder was a standout for the University of Michigan the past four years and during this time he fractured every scoring record in sight. Last season Debol had 99 points in just 45 games, 43 goals and 56 assists.</p><p>On another front, Birmingham owner John Bassett announced coach Glen Sonmor has been signed for next season. The veteran Sonmor took over at Birmingham this season when Pat Kelley went to Colorado of the National Hockey League. Like Demers, Sonmor required time to acquaint his new team with his coaching personality and as a result Birmingham also got off to a terrible start.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02270/4131300-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="1176" height="1184"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>STEVE DURBANO&hellip;Next Suspension Will Be Last</b></figcaption></div><p>The Bulls broke the major league record for penalty minutes in a season during a game at New England (March 14). Rookie defenseman Rod Langway took a two-minute hooking assessment in the first period and it was Birmingham&rsquo;s 1,980th minute of the season. It broke the record of the Philadelphia Flyers of 1972.</p><p>Bulls&rsquo; defenseman Steve Durbano, currently serving a 12-game suspension has been warned by the league that he may face a lifetime suspension for his next &ldquo;overtly violent infraction.&rdquo;</p><p>Saying that the World Hockey Association would not stand for bench clearings, executive director Larry Gordon said, &ldquo;When Durbano returns I hope that he&rsquo;ll play clean and hard. This is the fourth time that we have suspended him this season. The next time will be the last time.&rdquo;</p><p>In addition to his suspension, Durbano was fined $500 for leaving the players&rsquo; bench and violently charging Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; Bobby Hull.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0025-01

THE WHA

Stingers Rising With Typical Demers Finish

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01385/4131338-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GORDIE HOWE&hellip;TO Be Honored For 30 Hockey Years</b></figcaption></div><p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><p>HARTFORD&mdash;</p><p>The gala, two-day celebration in honor of Gordie Howe&rsquo;s 50th birthday will get off to a&rsquo; flying start on Wednesday, March 29, at the Springfield Civic Center when the New England Whalers take on the Cincinnati Stingers.</p><p>Some of the greatest names in hockey&mdash;Bobby Orr, Gump Worsley, Bobby Hull, Eddie Shore, Sid Abel, and Bill Gadsby, just to name a few&mdash;will be on hand to participate in pte-game ceremonies for Gordie, who will turn 50 on March 31.</p><p>These hockey legends and others, who have played with and against Gordie during his 30 years as an active player, will be introduced&mdash;in their former game jerseys&mdash;to form one of the greatest hockey teams ever assembled in one place at one time.</p><p>In addition to the players, the presidents of both major hockey leagues, Howard Baldwin of the&mdash;World Hockey Association and John Ziegler of the National Hockey League, will make a special presentation to Gordie for his great accomplishments in both leagues.</p><p>Howe is the second WHA star honored this month as the Winnipeg Jets held a special presentation for Bobby Hull on Wed. March 15, after the &ldquo;Golden Jet&rdquo; had matched Howe&rsquo;s feat of scoring 1,000 goals in professional major league hockey.</p><p>Howe, of course, reached 1,000 goals after being stuck at 999 for 10 games and with Hull, the pair are the only major leaguers to have reached the unprecedented figure which includes playoff matches as well as regular season play.</p><p>&ldquo;The celebration at the game is a perfect way to get everyone&mdash;especially the fans&mdash;involved,&rdquo; said Gordie&rsquo;s wife Colleen. &ldquo;It gives the people who are not able to attend the &lsquo;Roast of Gordie Howe&rsquo; on March 30 a chance to share in the festivities.&rdquo;</p><p>The &ldquo;Roast,&rdquo; slated to be held at Connecticut General Insurance Company in Bloomfield is sold out. Originally, it was scheduled for the Hartford Civic Center Coliseum where the seating would have been unlimited, but because of the roof collapse, it is now impossible.</p><p>&ldquo;We also tried to get the Civic Center assembly hall, but that was booked for a convention well in advance,&rdquo; said Colleen. &ldquo;We are great ful to Connecticut General for making its facility available, the only regret being that there isn&rsquo;t room for more people to attend.</p><p>&ldquo;C.G. tried to expand the room, but found it was physically impossible to handle more than 700 people.&rdquo;</p><p>The proceeds from the &ldquo;Roast&rdquo; will provide the seed money to establish a program for the planning of a Gordie Howe Greater Hartford Hockey Hall which will be housed in the rebuilt Civic Center Coliseum. Along with Gordie Howe and Whaler memorabilia, amateur hockey will be represented.</p><p>&ldquo;The Hockey Hall will be beneficial to everyone in Greater Hartford,&rdquo; Colleen continued. &ldquo;We are open to suggestions from anyone on what they would like to see on display. The real purpose of the Hockey Hall is to have our fans feel they are a part of it.&rdquo;</p><p>In conjunction with the game celebration and the &ldquo;Roast,&rdquo; a special &ldquo;Gordie Howe Commemorative Magazine,&rdquo; is being printed and will be available to the public beginning on March 29. The book will contain articles, facts, figures and pictures all relating to Gordie Howe&rsquo;s fabulous career.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0026-01

Whalers Plan Giant-Sized Birthday Party For Howe

<div class="byline">BY JOHN McCLAIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02274/4131376-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>TED GREEN&hellip;Applies Himself By Importance Of Game</b></figcaption></div><p>WINNIPEG&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Jets&rsquo; 13-game winning streak was in jeopardy. They were hosting second-place New England, which needed a victory to stay within striking distance of the Jets. A sellout crowd in Winnipeg Arena anticipated a barnburner between the two best teams in the World Hockey Association.</p><p>This game, however, failed to live up to the pre-game buildup. The Jets crushed the Whalers, 7-2, for their 14th win in a row and solidified their hold on first place. The 10,301 fans roared their approval, and when they left the Arena, they were not discussing Anders Hedberg or Bobby Hull. The topic of conversation was the outstanding performance of Ted Green.</p><p>&ldquo;Ted is the type of player who applies himself according to the importance of the game,&rdquo; Jets&rsquo; coach Larry Hillman said later. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of our steadiest defensemen. Being older and more knowledgeable, he knows when to really turn it on.&rdquo;</p><p>Against the Whalers, the 38-year-old Green stepped to the forefront to lead one of the Jets&rsquo; most physical games of the season. He cleared Winnipeg&rsquo;s end with reckless abandon, played the body viciously and even jousted with Gordie Howe. Green was the dominant factor in the game.</p><p>&ldquo;There are players on teams who hang their heads and say I wonder if we&rsquo;ll ever win again&rsquo;?&rdquo; Green said after the game. &ldquo;Then there are other teams, like this one. where the players say &lsquo;I wonder if wes&rsquo;ll ever lose again&rsquo;?&rdquo;</p><p>Green fits into the latter category. Now 38, he is far away from his Boston Bruins&rsquo; image as &ldquo;Terrible Teddy.&rdquo; He no longer accumulates 100 penalty minutes a season, but he hasn&rsquo;t lost his zest for the game.</p><p>&ldquo;I know in Boston I wasn&rsquo;t all that bad,&rdquo; Green recalled about his days with the Bruins. &ldquo;They called us the Big, Bad Bruins but we didn&rsquo;t have but a couple of guys that did a lot of fighting. My game hasn&rsquo;t changed all that much. I still do most of the things I used to do.&rdquo;</p><p>In 20 years of professional hockey, Green has been called a lot of things, not all of them good. But no one can accuse him of not being a winner. He has been a member of two Stanley Cup champions with the Bruins and&rsquo; a pair of Avco Trophy winners at New England and Winnipeg. Now in the twilight of his career, he recalls the past with a boyish enthusiasm.</p><p>&ldquo;I guess the low point of my career was playing for the Bruins in the early sixties when we were the doormat of the league and everybody fattened their statistics against us,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;The biggest thrill I&rsquo;ve had in hockey was when we won the first Cup with the Bruins (196970). After being so bad, I can&rsquo;t describe the feeling. Everybody in Boston just went crazy.&rdquo;</p><p>His career has not been all wine and roses. After a stick fight with Wayne Maki of St. Louis in an exhibition game in 1969, Green missed the season that produced a Boston championship because he was recovering from a fractured skull that almost ended his career.</p><p>&ldquo;Even though I wasn&rsquo;t playing because of the accident, I still shared in every bit of the glory,&rdquo; he remembered. &ldquo;The second Cup with Boston (1971-72) and the Avco&rsquo;s with New England and Winnipeg were nice, but nothing can compare to that first one.&rdquo;</p><p>Green has played eight years since the stick fight.</p><p>&ldquo;I was out a full season, and it took me three more to get completely over the effects of the accident,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My last two years in Boston I was taking non-, convulsive medication and I never felt right physically or mentally. I didn&rsquo;t get off the medication until I went to New England in 1972.</p><p>&ldquo;It was a very difficult experience overcoming the accident, but it&rsquo;s very satisfying to recover and be able to continue playing and making a living.&rdquo;</p><p>After jumping to the WHA, Green spent three seasons at New England. Now he is in his third with Winnipeg, far away from Boston and the Bruins.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy and satisfied here,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a very private person, and I like to be in the background. In Boston, we couldn&rsquo;t go anywhere without being recognized. Don&rsquo;t get me wrong. I loved playing for the Bruins and the Boston fans, but here I&rsquo;m able to go out with my family without any problems.&rdquo;</p><p>Green thought about retiring after the current season, but he is having second thoughts.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03190/4131369-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="562" height="842"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RICH PRESTON&hellip;Wins Aeros&rsquo; Trophy</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;I had said this would be my last year,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but since there&rsquo;s been talk that this team might have a chance to play in the NHL next season, I might stay around one more year. The challenge of the NHL, one more go-round in that league, really excites me.</p><p>&ldquo;When I do retire, I won&rsquo;t miss the game. I&rsquo;ve been in pro hockey for 20 years, and I used to think it would be tough to get out. Now I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;ll be tough because I&rsquo;ve got two or three things going in business that offer me a new career, a new challenge.&rdquo;</p><p><b>JETS&rsquo; NOTES:</b> Defenseman Bill Davis has been called up from the Philadelphia Firebirds. Davis has replaced Thommie Bergman, who was sold to the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit had sold Bergman to the Jets in 1974&hellip;Winnipeg also has reacquired center Veli-Pekka Ketola, whom the Jets traded to Calgary last season. Ketola had been playing in Finland.</p><p><b>EDMONTON:</b> For all the miracle working he has done with the Oilers, coach Glen Sather has been able to do little to overcome the outbreak of injuries. When defenseman Al Hamilton went out after getting hit in the face with a puck, the Oilers were in third place and moving closer to New England for second. Since Hamilton&rsquo;s exit, wins have been few and far between as the team has dropped in the standings. The Oilers finally went a week without an injury, and Sather is counting on the return of Hamilton and Joe Micheletti for the playoffs&hellip;Blair MacDonald scored his 30th goal in an 8-4 loss at Winnipeg. MacDonald is a leading contender for the Most Sportsmanlike Player Award. In 68 games he had only seven penalty minutes. Norm Ferguson had not been penalized in 63 games&hellip;The Oilers have one of the more unheralded rookies in the league in center Mike Zuke, who appeared in 15 games with Indianapolis last season. Traded to the Oilers during the off-season, Zuke and MacDonald have complemented each other exceptionally well. Zuke had 23 goals through 68 games and has been one of the most effective penalty killers on the team.</p><p><b>HOUSTON:</b> At the Aeros Appreciation Banquet, which annually attracts more than 400 fans, right wing Rich Preston won the William Gray Godfrey Award as the Aeros&rsquo; outstanding player this season. The award also is symbolic of the player who displays character and professionalism away from the ice. Defenseman Poul Popiel was the winner last year&hellip;Defenseman John Hughes and his wife, Sandy, are the parents of Jason John, born March 14&hellip;The Aeros lost Cam Connor with a month left in the season. Connor underwent surgery for a broken bone in his left hand, injured in a fight with Dave Inkpen of Indianapolis. Ted Taylor came off the injured list to replace Connor.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0027-02

Jets’ 20-Year Professional Green Still Derives Pleasure From Game

<div class="byline">BY JIM LEAHY</div><p>HALIFAX&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>ll of a sudden the Voyageurs have lost only two of their last eight and now challenge the Springfield Indians for second place in the American Hockey League&rsquo;s Northern Division race. In the last two weeks the Voyageurs have posted an impressive 5-2-1 record.</p><p>Last week the Vees went undefeated in four home games; beating Hershey twice, and inflicting defeats upon Maine and Springfield. During the skein, the powerful Vees outscored the opposition 25-12. One fact that some people tend to overlook is Nova Scotia&rsquo;s fine defensive record. At this writing, the Vees have given up the least number of goals while playing most of their games on the road.</p><p>Right now the Voyageurs are in third place, two points in back of Springfield and 11 behind front-running Maine. The Vees have two games in hand on both clubs as well as a nine-game home ice advantage. With 21 games left in the regular season, it&rsquo;s possible that Nova Scotia could end up in their all-too familiar position, first place in the American Hockey League.</p><p><b>HERSHEY:</b> This has been a tough season for the Bears. Unless they turn things around in a hurry, Hershey fans will have a last place club on their hands. The Bears are now nine points in back of the third place Philadelphia Firebirds, but Philly has one game in hand.</p><p>With four losses in five games last week, the Bears didn&rsquo;t help themselves in their attempt to get out of the cellar. A 64 win at home on Saturday was offset by a winless four-game road trip. The Voyageurs roared to a 9-2 win, Springfield won an 8-6 shootout, the Vees posted another 6-4 win and Rochester edged the Bears 5-4 in overtime.</p><p><b>PHILADELPHIA:</b> Coach Dan Belisle has his expansionist Firebirds playing consistent hockey despite a raft of changes to his club. The latest moves saw the Colorado Rockies recall center Denis Dupere and return Bob Neely. In addition, Alf Handrahan joined the WHA Cincinnati Stingers for a seven-game tryout.</p><p>After 59 games, the Firebirds have a respectable 26-24-9 record and the club has split their last eight games. The acid test comes this month when the &lsquo;Birds must play 20 times in 31 days.</p><p>Gordie Brooks and Bob Collyard continue to pace the Firebird scoring attack. Brooks has 77 points in 59 games and Collyard has 74 in the same number of contests. That&rsquo;s good enough to rate them 2-3 in the AHL scoring race. Goaltender Rejean Lemelin has posted a fine 3.04 GAA including three shutouts in his 45 appearances.</p><p><b>ROCHESTER:</b> The Amerks came to New Haven and won a game that they simply had to win. Their 3-1 victory over the Nighthawks behind Jim Pettie&rsquo;s strong goaltending, moved the Amerks closer to first place in the Southern Division.</p><p>The big win over New Haven, as well as a 3-2 victory at Maine and a 5-4 overtime win in Rochester against Hershey may have given Rochester momentum. The club has now won six of seven in a strange season which has seen the Amerks go up and down like a yo-yo.</p><p>Center Rick Adduono now leads the AHL in scoring with 79 points. His 35 goals ties him with Binghamton&rsquo;s Rich Grenier for the league lead in that department. Jim Pettie and Dave Parro have given the Amerks strong goaltending, with Pettie edging out Parro 3.30 to. 3.68 in the goals-against average.</p><p><b>NEW HAVEN:</b> Even though netminder Hardy Aastrom is back from the Rangers, the Nighthawks are in a slump. In three home games last week, the &lsquo;Hawks were only able to post a 1-1-1 record. An unimpressive 7-5 win over Binghamton was followed by the 3-1 loss to Rochester and a 3-3 tie with Maine.</p><p>Since few clubs in the AHL can skate with New Haven, some of them have started to intimidate the speedy Nighthawk wingers. Most Nighthawk fans don&rsquo;t appreciate seeing their dub get pushed around in their home rink, a situation that has occurred ever since Mario Marois was shelved with a broken ankle.</p><p>&ldquo;In my opinion, Mario Marois is the best fighter we have ever had in New Haven,&rdquo; said coach Parker MacDonald. Even better than the legendary Kevin Morrison? &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said the Nighthawk leader. Is it possible to teach a youngster to go into the corners? MacDonald replied, &ldquo;We supply everything but the guts. A player has to have it in him to have the courage to go into the comers, it&rsquo;s not something you can teach them.&rdquo;</p><p>The Nighthawks were forced to vacate their 9,000 seat Veterans Memorial Coliseum for two games when the Aetna World Cup tennis tournament was moved from the caved in Hartford Civic Center. The Hawks entertained Nova Scotia and Philadelphia in the 3,400 seat Yale Ingalls Rink. It is affectionately called the &ldquo;Yale Whale&rdquo; because of it&rsquo;s highly unusual design. It is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful rinks in the country and indeed a strange setting for professional hockey.</p><p><b>MAINE:</b> The Mariners won a thrilling 2-1 contest in Springfield when they scored twice in the last 16 seconds to hand Indians a crushing defeat. The next night in New Haven, the Mariners skated to a 3-3 tie with the New Haven Nighthawks. Two losses during the week prevented the Mariners from pulling away from the slumping Tribe. Rochester edged the Mariners 3-2 in Portland and Nova Scotia won a 4-3 contest in Halifax.</p><p><b>BINGHAMTON:</b> A record of 2-2 last week left the Dusters at 3-3-1 during the last two weeks of AHL action. Since Nova Scotia is hot now and also has four games in hand on the Dusters as well as a 10- point lead, Binghamton will finish in the Northern Division cellar unless a miracle occurs.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03155/4131445-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="570" height="691"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>REGGIE LEMELIN&hellip;Lifts Firebirds</b></figcaption></div><p>The Dusters edged Philadelphia twice in overtime contests played at the Arena, however losses on the road to New Haven (7-5) and Philadelphia (3-2) prevented the Dusters from gaining on Nova Scotia.</p><p><b>SPRINGFIELD:</b> Bob Berry has taken over as player-coach of the Springfield Indians from Gary Dineen. Owner George Leary obtained the approval of the parent Los Angeles Kings before Berry was elevated to his new position.</p><p>Berry expressed a desire for coaching duties last year to then general manager of the Kings, Jake Milford, now general manager of the Vancouver Canucks. Milford had Berry slated to coach the CHL Phoenix Roadrunners or be an assistant coach for the Kings, but the plans fell through. Milford said of Berry recently: &ldquo;Bob Berry will make a fine coach. He is a true professional athlete in every sense of the word. He had the best in training for a coaching job and has a solid hockey background. He gives 100 percent all day every day.&rdquo;</p><p>Berry will continue to play left wing for the Tribe but he has a big job in front of him in trying to halt the Tribe&rsquo;s slump. Springfield lost three of four last week and the club has now dropped seven of their last eight.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0029-03

First Place Possible For Hot Vees; Outmuscled Nighthawks In Slump

<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/f0030-01344/4131483-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="512" height="355"></div><h3><b>APRIL</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02272/4131476-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="524" height="212"></div><p><b>(End of schedule)</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0030-01

CENTRAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div><p>SALTLAKE&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>ittle Doug (Pizza) Palazzari was making a runaway of the CHL individual scoring race, as the Golden Eagles regained first place, but the Birds were still being hard-pressed.</p><p>Palazzari, a 25-year-old center from Eveleth, Minn., who starred for Colorado College, was keeping healthy for the first time in three seasons. He collected nine points in the Eagles&rsquo; four games, running his total to 78 (30 goals, 48 assists), and was 14 points in front of his closest challenger, Richie Hansen of Fort Worth.</p><p>The Eagles moved back into first with a 5-3 Monday home victory over Tulsa, then took the road for three games. They won in Fort Worth, 4-2, on Friday, lost a 3-2 decision in Dallas the next night, but closed the week with a 7-3 romp in Kansas City.</p><p>That last victory gave the Utah club a two-point margin over runner up Dallas, and three points over Fort Worth, while Tulsa dropped six back, and Kansas City trailed by 11.</p><p>The five-foot-five, 174-pound Palazzari got all three goals on power play, two in the second period at Fort Worth, and the opening goal at Dallas, for a leagueleading total of 13 with a manpower advantage.</p><p>Linemate Rick Bourbonnais had seven goals for the week, including a hat trick against Tulsa, and Palazzari assisted on each one. John Smrke, on the other end of that red hot line, had six assists for the week.</p><p>New coach Bob Plager had to be pleased with the way his Eagles were playing on the road. They had a 15-12-2 record on the road (18-21-1 at home), winning five of their last six road starts, and 13 of their last 17. Three of those road losses were by one goal, and the other was a one-goal margin until an empty net tally in the closing seconds.</p><p>The Eagles had five players with 49 points or more. After Palazzari&rsquo;s 78, there were three at 50 (tied for eighth in the league)&mdash; Smrke, Lyle Bradley and Tony Currie (called up by the St. Louis Blues)&mdash;and Floyd Thomson had 49.</p><p>Palazzari, the son of former National League forward Aldo Palazzari, had a full rookie season with St. Louis in 1974-75, but missed part of the next season (with Providence in the American League), because of a shoulder separation, and part of last winter (with Kansas City in the CHL), becuase of a facial injury. Both injuries required surgery.</p><p>With 48 assists, he had the league lead in that department by two over Hansen. Currie was still the top CHL goal-scorer with 33 (although he had been gone two weeks). Dallas&rsquo; Ron Wilson had 31, one more than Palazzari, but was promoted to the Toronto Maple Leafs.</p><p>Boubonnais had two goals in the first period against Tulsa, the second coming on a power play, and another at the start of the middle period. Thomson added an unassisted goal in the second, and Len Frig scored into an empty net with 21 seconds left.</p><p>The Eagle power play was sizzling at Fort Worth. Bourbonnais and Neil Labatte had power goals in the first period, and Palazzari added two more in the second, for a 4-0 lead. Salt Lake was trying for a fifth power goal early in the third, but it backfired when Mike Hordy scored shorthanded for the Texans.</p><p>Palazzari got his 13th power play goal after just two minutes in Dallas, but the Black Hawks came back with a goal in the second period and two in the third. Plager lifted goalie Ed Staniowski, and Bourbonnais closed the gap to 3-2 with 56 seconds to play.</p><p>With 12 seconds left, a hassle arose, with the Eagles protesting to referee Greg Madill that Dallas&rsquo; Alain Belanger should have been called for tripping Labatte. When the Hawks joined in the &ldquo;conversation&rdquo;, a team brawl ensued, which eventually brought the ejection of Plager and Eagle trainer Al Olson.</p><p>Ken Richardson had two goals, including the winner, at Kansas City. He tied the score early in the first period, only 12 seconds after Al McDonough had put the Wings in front. Bourbonnais and Jamie Masters scored for the Eagles, but KC rallied to tie before the first stanza ended. Richardson had the only goal of the second period, then Bourbonnais, Mike Korney and Denis Meloche wrapped it up in the third. Salt Lake scored on its first shot in each period.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03204/4131521-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="560" height="586"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DOUG PALAZZARI&hellip;Owns Scoring Lead</b></figcaption></div><p><b>TULSA:</b> A shortage of players had coach Johnny Choyce talking to himself, and the Oilers lost their only two starts of the week. After bowing in Salt Lake, 5-3, they moved to Dallas, where the Hawks scored six times in the second period for an 8-2 rout.</p><p>The Oilers had already lost center Sid Veysey for the rest of the season (shoulder surgery) and center Rob Tudor for at least two weeks (broken hand). Center Red Laurence was sidelined by a knee injury, and defenseman Kevin Campbell, just acquired from Toronto, tore up an ankle in Dallas (where he played before being loaned to Tulsa).</p><p>Left wing Ron Sedlbauer, down from Vancouver, counted six goals in six games, but returned to the Canucks at the end of his two-week visit. Then left wing Rob Flockhart came down from the same parent club, but Choyce still needed a couple of forwards to make up three lines.</p><p>The only bright note was the schedule. The Oilers were to play 10 of their last 15 games at home.</p><p>Right wing Brian Hill was on a sevengame pointscoring streak. He tied the score briefly at Salt Lake, with Laurence and Larry Goodenough also scoring, but the Oilers couldn&rsquo;t repeat their victory of two nights earlier.</p><p>In the unhappy spectacle at Dallas, Gary McFayden scored in the middle period (after the Hawks had a 5-0 lead), and Sedlbauer tallied in the third.</p><p><b>KANSAS CITY:</b> Coach Larry Wilson and his Red Wings had their backs to the wall, but they weren&rsquo;t ready to give up. They had only 12 games left in the regular schedule, and were only five points out of the fourth and final playoff position. However, nine of those 12 remaining games were to be on the road!</p><p>J.P. LeBlanc&rsquo;s hat trick featured a 7-2 home win over Fort Worth, and the Wings went into Dallas to take a 3-1 decision, with Derek Sanderson scoring a shorthanded goal. But the Kansas Citians fell in Fort Worth, 4-2, then came home to take a 7-3 shellacking from Salt Lake.</p><p>Ron Plumb&rsquo;s two goals, and others by Brian McCutcheon and Rick Vasko supported J.P.&rsquo;s barrage. Mike Frawley, doing all the KC goaltending since Terry Richardson&rsquo;s injury, had a shutout until late in the second period.</p><p>McDonough had the first goal against Salt Lake, and Fern LeBlanc and McCutcheon gained a 3-3 tie in the first period. But that was all the Wings could do against Eagle goalie Ed Staniowski.</p><p>Captain Larry Giroux, protesting a penalty call in the last period, eventually was ejected after throwing a stick and a glove at referee Bob Kilger.</p><p>Center Roland Cloutier, in Detroit for one game, was returned to KC. Mike Bloom was the club&rsquo;s top scorer with 60 points, fourth in the CHL, while J.P. LeBlanc and Giroux were tied for eighth with 50.</p><p><b>DALLAS:</b> Wholesale movement of players continued, but coach Gerry McNamara had the Black Hawks rolling. An 8-2 triumph over Tulsa, gained a share of first place. The Hawks bowed to Kansas City, 3-1, then regained a tie for first by knocking off Salt Lake, 3-2. But as the week ended, the Eagles had pulled two points in front, and had two games in hand on Dallas.</p><p>The Hawks&rsquo; top three scorers had gone to the NHL&mdash;right wings Ron Wilson (62 points) and Paul Evans (45) to Toronto, and defenseman Mike O&rsquo;Connell (38) to Chicago. Left wing Reggie Kerr came back after a brief visit to Chicago, as did center Jean Savard, and right wing Kurt Walker came back from Toronto.</p><p>Kerr scored in the first and last periods of the waltz over Tulsa, but didn&rsquo;t tally in the six-goal second-period bombardment. Those goals came from Duane Wylie, Evans, Savard, Alain Belanger, Wilson and Randy Carlyle.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04140/4131514-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="554" height="895"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DAVE ELENBAAS&hellip;Seven Straight Wins</b></figcaption></div><p>Evans&rsquo; power play goal in the first period was all the Hawks could muster against Kansas City goalie Mike Frawley. The next night against Salt Lake, the Hawks couldn&rsquo;t touch Ed Staniowski until Evans scored at 16:07 of the second. But Jim McKenny&rsquo;s power goal and Don Ashby&rsquo;s marker at 15:56 of the third provided the victory.</p><p>Dave Elenbaas in the Hawk nets racked up his seventh straight victory. Pierre Hamel had taken the loss against KC. Greg Vaydik had his nine-game point streak snapped against Salt Lake. Belanger added 20 penalty-minutes for the week, boosting his league-leading total to 208.</p><p><b>FORT WORTH:</b> A 7-2 shelling in Kansas City ran the Texans&rsquo; unhappy road streak to six straight losses. They came home to lose to Salt Lake, 4-2, but then handled the KC Wings in a rematch at home, also by a 4-2 margin.</p><p>Richie Hansen had a goal and three assists for the week, but gained no ground in the league scoring race. Neil Nicholson and Bob Lorimer scored in Kansas City, but not until after the Wings had taken a 5-0 lead. At home against Salt Lake, the Texans were stung by four Eagle power plays in the first two periods before Mike Hordy scored shorthanded, and Kelly Greenback got his first Fort Worth goal. He was obtained from the Nova Scotia Voyageurs.</p><p>Garth MacGuigan, Alex Pirus and Jamie Gallimore all scored in the second period in the rematch with Kansas City, and Hansen tallied in the third before the Wings scored a pair of late tallies.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0030-03

‘Pizza’ Makes Scoring Race Runaway But ‘Hawks, Texans Pressing Eagles

<h2><b>IHL TEAM SCORING</b></h2><h3><b>FLINT</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01319/4131622-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="601" height="463"></div><h3><b>FORT WAYNE</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02241/4131615-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="601" height="486"></div><h3><b>GRAND RAPIDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03187/4131608-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="588" height="451"></div><h3><b>KALAMAZOO</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04147/4131601-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="591" height="474"></div><h3><b>MILWAUKEE</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05130/4131594-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="598" height="456"></div><h3><b>MUSKEGON</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06103/4131587-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="591" height="454"></div><h3><b>PORT HURON</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0790/4131580-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="599" height="515"></div><h3><b>SAGINAW</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0881/4131573-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="591" height="428"></div><h3><b>TOLEDO</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-0967/4131566-1-eng-US/f0031-092.jpg" title="f0031-09" width="592" height="484"></div><h2><b>MARCH</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1055/4131559-1-eng-US/f0031-102.jpg" title="f0031-10" width="559" height="653"></div><h2><b>APRIL</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1146/4131552-1-eng-US/f0031-112.jpg" title="f0031-11" width="562" height="684"></div><p><b>(End of schedule)</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0031-01

INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-1227/4131653-1-eng-US/f0031-122.jpg" title="f0031-12" width="556" height="508"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MARC BOILEAU&hellip;Takes Over Generals</b></figcaption></div><p>MILWAUKEE&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>M</span>ilwaukee has been one of the major surprises in the International Hockey League this season. The expansion team has proven most competitive and has a good shot at finishing no worse than third in the South Division. With eight of the nine clubs qualifying for the post-season playoffs, the Admirals are a good bet to extend their initial season beyond the regular 80-game voyage.</p><p>But coach Gene Ubriaco has been somewhat surprised&mdash;make that upset&mdash;over some of the tactics employed in the IHL. He recognizes hockey for what it is&mdash;a rough, tough contact sport. But he doesn&rsquo;t go for much beyond that.</p><p>While his team skated away with a 6-3 road triumph at Port Huron, Ubriaco&rsquo;s satisfaction over the key road triumph was lost because of some of the tactics used by the Flags when they fell in arrears.</p><p>&ldquo;Why even bother about talking about the game itself,&rdquo; Ubriaco said following the game. &ldquo;No wonder no one comes to see this team (Port Huron) play. Hockey people don&rsquo;t want to see what this team pulls.&rdquo;</p><p>Port Huron averages around 1,800 a game. A crowd of 1,651 was on hand for the game in question.</p><p>Ubriaco was upset about the tactics of Port Huron&rsquo;s Archie Henderson. Henderson apparently tried for, but did not receive, a fighting major in a penalty-marred game that lasted more than three hours. A total of 116 minutes was called by referee Jim Naglos.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know who was sending them out to do these things,&rdquo; Ubriaco said. &ldquo;But that&rsquo;s not the kind of hockey people pay to see. I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s fair to Henderson himself. I know I wouldn&rsquo;t have him doing the things he does if he were on my team.&rdquo;</p><p>Henderson hit Rene Hamelin of Milwaukee in the face at 17:17 of the third period, after the Admirals had taken a three-goal lead, but was given only a roughing penalty.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not up to us to control the game,&rdquo; Ubriaco continued. &ldquo;And you can&rsquo;t blame the officials. Someone in this building has to do something about it. They were trying to start a riot out there.</p><p>&ldquo;At first I felt sorry for Henderson when he got hit over the head with a stick (by Willie Trognitz). The kid got thrown out for life. Only now I see what could happen. My God, it just isn&rsquo;t right.&rdquo;</p><p><b>FORT WAYNE:</b> The Komets are looking forward to hitting the road again&hellip;While coach Gregg Pilling&rsquo;s team has lost just once in the last six road games, they have won only two of the last three in the Memorial Coliseum.</p><p>Still, the Komets held a healthy, 11-point lead over second-place Toledo in the South Division race. And they are just two points back of Saginaw with games in hand.</p><p>A knee injury to veteran Terry Pembroke and a lingering ankle injury to Robbie Laird have caused Pilling problems with the player deadline. approaching.</p><p><b>TOLEDO:</b> The Goaldiggers remain within range of Fort Wayne in the South Division race. A wild, 7-7 tie on the road at Grand Rapids plus a classic, 1-0 shutout at home over Kalamazoo chopped two points from Fort Wayne&rsquo;s lead during the week.</p><p>General manager-coach Ted Garvin has been encouraged by the club&rsquo;s recent performance (5-2-2 over the last nine games). The play of veteran Paul Tantardini and new goalie Lindsay Middlebrook have been especially pleasing, Middlebrook recorded the shutout against Kalamazoo&mdash;his second in five games.</p><p><b>GRAND RAPIDS:</b> The Owls have become prominent in the postseason playoff picture of late also. Responding to increasing support from fans and an extended home stand, the Owls picked up eight of a possible 10 points to greatly improve their playoff chances.</p><p>Two of the victories were over teams which are in the playoff fight with them&mdash;Milwaukee and Muskegon. The Admirals fell, 3-1, and Muskegon, 5-1. In addition, the Owls were impressive in skating over Port Huron, 8-3, and displayed offensive strength against Toledo&mdash;if a defensive lapse&mdash;while gaining a 7-7 tie.</p><p><b>SAGINAW:</b> The physical condition of veteran John Gravel has manager-coach Don Perry of the Gears quite concerned. Especially with the player deadline close.</p><p>Gravel is having back problems and &ldquo;It&rsquo;s bothering him a great deal. He&rsquo;s had problems for a long time but it&rsquo;s never been this bad before. I guess we&rsquo;re going to have to wait a few days to see if he is going to be able to play any more,&rdquo; Perry said about the veteran of more than a decade in the IHL&mdash;mostly with Toledo.</p><p>With the deadline near, Perry will have to decide whether or not to protect Gravel or replace him on the roster. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s hard to find a player at this time of year,&rdquo; Perry said.</p><p>On the ice, the Gears had a light week but a costly one. In their only start, they lost at Fort Wayne, 5-2.</p><p><b>PORT HURON:</b> While the Flags have been geared to close in on Saginaw, their secure hold on second place in the North has slipped to a paper-thin margin over red-hot Kalamazoo. The Flags launched a critical, four-game road trip with a 4-4 tie at Flint, coming from three goals back. The trip followed an even split in two home games&mdash;the 6-3 loss to Milwaukee and a 7-5 win over Flint.</p><p><b>KALAMAZOO:</b> Bob Lemieux&rsquo; brief return behind the Wings bench didn&rsquo;t work out so well. Lemieux, who relinquished the coaching reins to Pete Slater earlier in favor of moving into an executive role in the K-Wing scheme, took over for Slater in a game at Toledo because of illness in Slater&rsquo;s family.</p><p>Slater left Lemieux with a 12-game undefeated string. It ended with a 1-0 loss to the Diggers. Still Kalamazoo which suffered through the early months in the North Division basement, appears quite secure now in third and is threatening second-place Port Huron.</p><p><b>FLINT:</b> Despite a winless streak of 11 games the Generals maintained a strong bargaining position for the upcoming playoffs. That&rsquo; is if the current trend reverses itself soon.</p><p>The Generals have dropped to fourth but hold a comfortable margin over all three of the clubs which represent a threat to an invitation for post-season play. The Generals were nine up on Muskegon in the North and 10 and 11 to the good against Milwaukee and Grand Rapids of the South.</p><p>While not choosing to use injuries and illness as an excuse, manager-coach Doug Carpenter could make a strong case He&rsquo;s been forced to play with as few as nine players at times during the slump. Jimmy Johnston, the IHL&rsquo;s leading scorer, has had his rib cracked three times. &ldquo;And it has to hurt when you can&rsquo;t use the league&rsquo;s leading scorer in your lineup,&rdquo; Carpenter said.</p><p>Carpenter decided to bring in Marc Boileau as coach allowing him to concentrate on the GM duties. Boileau was recently fired by the Quebec Nordiques.</p><p><b>MUSKEGON:</b> A 3-2 win at Flint featured the Mohawks&rsquo; week which brought four out of a possible six points. The win at Flint was the second on the road in less than a week&rsquo;s span&mdash;an area where the Mohawks must improve if they are to maintain an edge on their rivals for playoff position.</p><p>The Hawks helped themselves with a 73 win over Milwaukee at home but lost some ground in a 5-1 loss at Grand Rapids. Mike Wong has gone four straight games in which he has scored at least one goal. Bill Hamilton became the sixth Mohawk at the 20-goal level with a goal in the Milwaukee victory.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0031-12

Playoffs In Sight For Admirals; Long Home Stand Has Owls Rising

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div><p>HOUGHTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>f Michigan Tech is the fourth best college hockey team in the United States, you&rsquo;ll have a difficult time convincing North Dakota it isn&rsquo;t the fifth best.</p><p>Michigan Tech, rated fourth in the polls, needed an overtime goal by freshman John Haddad 7:47 into the ex&rsquo; tra session to oust stubborn North Dakota from the first round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association two-games-total-goals playoffs.</p><p>The two teams skated to a 2-2 tie in the opening game and were deadlocked at 2-2 the second night, too. But Haddad got his stick on a shot from the left point by defenseman Nick Schwartz to allow Tech to survive the first round scare.</p><p>North Dakota goalie Bill Stankoven, the hottest goalie in the league down the stretch, had no chance on Haddad&rsquo;s goal. Haddad&rsquo;s deflection shot straight up from his stick, caught the underside of the bar on top of the net and kicked right back out.</p><p>There was no question that the puck went in and North Dakota never argued the call.</p><p>Stankoven stopped 44 Tech shots after turning back 41 the first night. The junior from Enderby, B.C., played a major role in North Dakota&rsquo;s move into a tie for fifth in the final league standings. He played the last seven games straight for the Sioux and gave up just 17 goals in that time. His goals-against average in those games was a sparkling 2.43 after his average was above 5.00 much of the year.</p><p>Michigan Tech&rsquo;s win spelled the end of the coaching career of Rube Bjorkman at North Dakota. Bjorkman resigned under pressure in January in the middle of his 10th season at North Dakota.</p><p>Bjorkman will be missed. He&rsquo;s regarded as one of the finest gentlemen in coaching and is held in high regard by all of his coaching colleagues.</p><p>Bjorkman&rsquo;s 10-year coaching record was 149-182-11 at the school. He has not announced his future plans.</p><p>The North Dakota-Michigan Tech series was a defensive classic as Michigan Tech received brilliant goaltending from Bruce Horsch and John Rockwell to match Stankoven&rsquo;s performance.</p><p>When the series ended on Haddad&rsquo;s goal, Michigan Tech coach John Maclnnes came out on the ice to personally congratulate each member of the North Dakota team for what many fans called one of the finest series&rsquo; seen in Houghton in years.</p><p>The first round featured tight contests at other locations, too. In fact, the first night produced three ties and one runaway.</p><p>Colorado College battled Minnesota to a 3-3 tie the first night, then shocked the Gophers 5-4 on Minnesota&rsquo;s home ice the next night to eliminate Herb Brooks&rsquo; Gophers from the playoffs. Senior Dean Magee got the winning goal on a power play rebound just 21 seconds before the game would have gone into overtime.</p><p>League champion Denver received a scare from Notre Dame, which just made the playoffs as the eighth place team. The Irish tied Denver 6-6 the first night after once leading the Pioneers 5-3.</p><p>But Denver put Notre Dame out of the playoffs the next night with a 7-1 romp as Doug Berry and Mark Davidson, two big guns all year for the Pioneers, each scored twice. Denver, the nation&rsquo;s No. 1 ranked team, is now 32-5-1 and the winningest team in school history under the first-year guidance of Marshall Johnston.</p><p>Wisconsin, runnerup to Denver in the WCHA regular season standings, had little trouble with Minnesota-Duluth. The Badgers, defending national champs, tuned up for another run the NCAA crown by blasting Duluth 9-2 the first night.</p><p>Les Grauer then scored two goals the next night as Wisconsin nipped Duluth 54 to win the series 14-6. Dan Lempe scored twice for Gus Hendrickson&rsquo;s Bulldogs while WCHA co-scoring champion Mark Johnson bagged the winning goal for the Badgers.</p><p>Second round play finds Colorado College at Denver for two games and Michigan Tech at Wisconsin.</p><p>Denver, however, cannot advance to the nationals regardless of how the Pioneers fare the rest of the way. Denver is serving the last year of a two-year probation by the NCAA for hockey recruiting violations.</p><p>&ldquo;Denver is one of the most outstanding hockey teams I&rsquo;ve seen. It&rsquo;s really too bad they can&rsquo;t go to the NCAA playoffs. Winning 30 games this year was much harder for Denver than in the 1960-61 series,&rdquo; said Colorado College coach Jeff Sauer.</p><p>Denver was 30-1-1 in 1960-61 on its way to the NCAA championship. And a key player on that Denver team was none other than Marshall Johnston, who obviously hasn&rsquo;t lost his winning touch.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03172/4131743-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="549" height="868"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BILL STANKOVEN&hellip;Tough To Beat</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0032-03

Michigan Tech Gains Semi-final Spot Colorado College Surprises Gophers

<h2><b>College Races</b></h2><h2><b>CANADIAN COLLEGES</b></h2><p><b>Championship Tournament</b></p><h3><b>DIVISION I</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01324/4131712-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="574" height="111"></div><h3><b>DIVISION II</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02246/4131705-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="577" height="110"></div><h2><b>PLAYOFF SOCRES</b></h2><p>Alberta 7, Regina 3</p><p>St. F. Xavier 5, Ragina 0</p><p>Alberta 7, St F. Xavier 3</p><p>Toronto 7, Moncton 3</p><p>Concordia 7, Moncton 3</p><p>Toronto 9, Concordia 3</p><p>SUDDEN-DEATH FINAL</p><p>Alberta 6, Toronto 5</p><h2><b>College Races</b></h2><h2><b>WCHA PLAYOFFS</b></h2><p><b>Quarter-Final Playoffs</b></p><p>Michigan Tech 2, North Dakota 2</p><p>Michigan Tech 5, North Dakota 4</p><p>(Michigan Tech wins two-game total-goal series 7-6)</p><p>Colorado College 3, Minnesota 3</p><p>Colorado College 5, Minnesota 4</p><p>(Colorado College wins two-game total-goal series 8-7)</p><p>Denver 6, Notre Dame 6</p><p>Denver 7, Notre Dame 1</p><p>(Denver wins two-game total-goal series 13-7)</p><p>Wisconsin 9, Minn-Duluth 2</p><p>Wisconsin 5, Minn-Duluth 4</p><p>(Wisconsin wins two-game total-goal series 140614-6)</p><h2><b>Semi-Finals</b></h2><p>Colorado College 6, Denver 3</p><p>Denver 4. Colorado College 3</p><p>(Colorado College wins two-game total-goals 9-7)</p><p>Wisconsin 4, Michigan Tech 3</p><p>Wisconsin 7, Michigan Tech 4</p><p>(Wisconsin wins two-game total-goals 11-7)</p><h2><b>CCHA-WCHA Playoffs</b></h2><p>Bowling Green 5, Colorado College 3</p><p>(Sudden-death game)</p><h2><b>ECAC PLAYOFFS Quarter-Finals</b></h2><p>Boston University 6, Now Hampshire 5</p><p>Providence 8, Cornell 5</p><p>Brown 6, Clarkson 2</p><p>Boston College 7, RPI 6</p><h2><b>Semi-Finals</b></h2><p>Boston College 6, Brown 4</p><p>Providence 5, Boston University 1</p><h2><b>Finals</b></h2><p>Boston College 4, Providence 2</p><h2><b>Consolation</b></h2><p>Boston University 8, Brown 4</p><h2><b>Special Playoff</b></h2><p>*Boston University 5, Providence 3</p><p>(*-BU awarded berth in NCAA championships)</p><h2><b>NCAA TOURNAMENT March 23-24-25</b></h2><p>Wisconsin vs Boston University</p><p>Bowling Green vs Boston College</p><p>(At Providence Civic Centre)</p><h2><b>WCHA CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01291/4131698-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="588" height="305"></div><h2><b>FINAL GOALING RECORDS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02218/4131691-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="596" height="486"></div><h2><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03164/4131684-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="598" height="1022"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0032-01

COLLEGE HOCKEY

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD JABLONSKI</div><p>MONCTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Alberta Golden Bears are back on top of the Canadian College hockey world wearing the 1978 Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union championship crown for the first time since 1975.</p><p>The Bears, who swept through the six-team championship tournament unscathed, defeated the favorite Toronto Varsity Blues 6-5 in the deciding game as Clare Drake came up with the magic formula for the fourth time since 1964 when he first brought the Bears to the throne room.</p><p>Alberta, lumped with the University of Regina Cougars and St. Francis Xavier X-Men of the Maritimes, won both their division games beating each team by identical 7-3 scores. Toronto, grouped with Concordia Stingers, the Quebec titleholders, and Moncton Blue Eagles, the host team who automically earned a bye into the championship tournament, had little trouble with either Concordia or Moncton. They beat the Eagles 7-3 and walloped Concordia 9-3 to advance along with Alberta into the CIAU showdown game.</p><p>Star of the final game was team captain Kevin Primeau, who scored twice including the game-winning goal, was selected the best player in the tournament and was named on the All Star team.</p><p>Dave Breakwell, also selected to the All Star team, had two goals and two assists with John Devaney and Stan Swales getting the other Alberta goals.</p><p>Dan D&rsquo;Alvise, Larry Hopkins, Doug Herridge, Cary Farelli and Rocci Pagnello scored the goals for the Blues, who failed in their bid for their 10th national title.</p><p>Toronto had won the last two, including a 4-1 triumph in Edmonton over the Golden Bears last March.</p><p>&ldquo;A lot of guys remembered that,&rdquo; said Primeau. &ldquo;Except for three rookies, everybody knew what it was like to be on the other (losing) side after last year&rsquo;s game.</p><p>&ldquo;We played well the whole game here. I knew we had the best defence in the country. Our offence missed a lot of chances, but we put enough in.&rdquo;</p><p>The Golden Bears had 47 shots at Toronto goaltender Dave Jenner while the Blues mustered just 23 at Ted Poplawski.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04106/4131774-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="564" height="632"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>CLARE DRAKE</b></figcaption></div><p>Goaltender George Barrett of St. Francis, who blanked Regina for the tournament&rsquo;s only shutout, was picked as the all-star goaltender with Joe Grant of Toronto and Don Spring of Alberta chosen as the top defencemen in the tournament. Farelli joined Primeau and Breakwell as an all-star forward.</p><p>One disappointing aspect of the tournament was the fact it was poorly attended for the most part. No official attendance figures were available, but the Coliseum was half empty for the final and &lsquo;there were many more empty seats during the round-robin competition.</p><p>In the games leading up to the national St. Francis X-Men pulled of one of the major upsets of the Canadian collegiate hockey season when they dumped the highly regarded Saint Mary&rsquo;s Huskies 4-2 in the deciding game of the best-of-five Atlantic Association championship series.</p><p>Few observers gave the X-Men any real chance of upsetting the defending champion Huskies, as St. FX was able to gain only a split of the first two games of the series on its home ice in Antigonish, N.S.. With the final three games to be played in Halifax, Saint Mary&rsquo;s backyard, the feeling was that the Huskies would, once again, represent the AUAA at the national playoffs.</p><p>Saint FX quickly dispelled any notions of a Huskie walkover with a hard-earned 4-3 victory in the third game. Brothers Bill and Jim Young gave the X-Men an early 2-0 lead and goaltender George Barrett, who was unoficially credited with 52 saves, made it stand up. It was left to defenseman Paul Richarson, on a slapper from the point, to score the eventual game winner at 6:49 of the third period.</p><p>St. Mary&rsquo;s rebounded the next day, outshooting Saint FX 44-30 on the way to a 43 win in game four. Frank Donnelly led the Huskie attack, netting two goals including the backbreaker at 17:44 of the third. Mac Davis and Grant Thompson wrapped up the scoring for SMU, while Steve Croucher, Laurie Cuvelier and Richardson responded for St. FX. Thus the stage was set for Monday&rsquo;s fifth game.</p><p>Surprisingly enough, the host Huskies chose to play the deciding game in the brand new Halifax Metro Centre, rather than skate on their home ice. Several spectators surmised that the large ice surface in the new building was a factor in the 4-2 success of the X-Men, a fastskating, finesse team.</p><p>Penalties also played their part. The least-penalized team in the AUAA this season, St. FX capitalized on two Huskie infactions, scoring goals three and four while enjoying a manpower advantage. The sharpshooting was done by defenseman Jay McMullen and forward Tony Cuomo, and gave the X-Men an insurmountable 4-1 lead.</p><p>The star of the series was undoubtedly St. FX goaltender Barrett. The 5&rsquo;9&rdquo;, 165 pound rookie from Ottawa stopped 140 Huskie shots in the final three games of the series, including a penalty shot by SMU&rsquo;s Tom MacDonnell in game four. Placed in the difficult position of filling in for first string netminder. Fred Cuvelier, Barrett did the job and was a moving force behind the X-Men&rsquo;s upset.</p><p>The Alberta Golden Bears, the champions of the Canada-West Association for the 10th time in the last 14th years, earned their trip to Moncton by taking two out of three games from the British Columbia Thunderbirds in the Canada-West final series.</p><p>The concluding game of the series, a 91 blowout for Alberta, was in decided contrast to the first two games. The host Bears, behind Primeau&rsquo;s two goals, took the first game 4-2. British Columbia bounced back the following day, as defenseman Doug Tottenham scored a power play goal in the final minutes of a 2-1 Thunderbird victory.</p><p>The turning point in the final game may well have been provided by Alberta forward Dave Hindmarsh, who crashed heavily into UBC netminder Ron Patterson during the early going in game three. Patterson, a controversial selection as the conference&rsquo;s top goaltender, had more than justified his All Star ranking in the first two games. However, the combined effect of Alberta&rsquo;s continuing pressure and the Hindmarsh collision served to put the Thunderbird All Star on the bench halfway through the 9-1 bombing.</p><p>The Bears, as was their custom during the regular season, spread their scoring liberally. Primeau added two more goals to his impressive playoff stats. Other Alberta goalscorers were Hindmarsh, Ted Olson, Don Spring, Bruce Rowan, Darrell Zapernuik, Mike Broadfoot and Jim Carr.</p><p>Alberta were led all year by Dave Breakwell (17-20-37), John Devaney (19 goals), defenseman Randy Gregg (the top-scoring blueliner in the league with 30 points) and Primeau (22 points in an injury-abbreviated season). Alberta also excelled at keeping the puck out of the net, as evidenced by bear goaltender Ted Poplawski&rsquo;s gaudy 2.31 goal against average.</p><p>The Concordia Stingers advanced to the CIAU playoffs on the basis of their fifth game 7,-4 victory over Trois Rivieres. The home ice advantage held up throughout the final series, as the Stingers took all three of their wins at the West End Athletic complex in Montreal.</p><p>The outcome of the final game was never really in doubt. Concordia, which had difficulty finding the range throughout the regular season, continued its playoff march with three early goals against Patriote netminder Daniel Coutu. Seven Stingers, Yvon Disotell, Alex Westgate, Dwayne Byers, Randy Borbely, Steve Gibson, Daniel Vinet, and Dave Boyd, contributed goals to the Concordia attack.</p><p>The surprise star of the series for Concordia was forward Randy Borbely, whose scoring stats are usually nothing to crow about. Borbely netted six goals and added three assists in the Stingers&rsquo; championship run.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0032-04

Alberta Bears Canadian Champs Edging Favorite Toronto In Final

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04130/4131805-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DIVISION CHAMPS: Bowdoin captured the 1978 ECAC Conference Division II title after a 3-0 victory over Merrimack. Showing their jubilation at winning are from the left, goalie Rob Menzies, who was voted MVP, co-captains Paul Sylvester and Dave Leonardo, right.</b></figcaption></div><p>BOSTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>oston University, defeated in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference playoff semi-finals 5-1 by upstart Providence College, became the first team ever to get another chance at their conquerors.</p><p>The National Collegiate Athletic Association Ice Hockey Committee, at their recommendation of its Eastern Advisory Board chaired by Harvard coach Bill Cleary, decided to let BU, 27-2, play an NCAA regional playoff at Providence&rsquo;s Schneider Arena eight days after the ECAC championship tournament. The winner would get second spot as East representative for the NCAA tournament in Providence, along with Eastern playoff winner Boston College, automatically accorded the position of East number one.</p><p>Predictably, the talk show phones in Boston were jumping off their hooks at the announcement. The callers had three basic views: 1) agreement with the decision; 2) Providence should go to the NCAA&rsquo;s automatically; and 3)BU should be taken automatically.</p><p>The reason for the move was the BU had had such a fine season, leading the league all year and nearly going unbeaten. Providence&rsquo;s record after the playoffs was 17-14-2, and the Friars were only seventh seeded and made it to the finals by upsetting Cornell and BU before BC knocked them off 4-2.</p><p>This writer thinks that it was a poor move, dictated by pressures of a flawed system.</p><p>The Eastern playoff finalists should each be given automatic berths in NCAA Tournament play. The argument that, well, just one game could wipe out a whole season and therefore a good seasonal record should override one upset is specious. If there is such a possibility in ECAC playoff competition, it&rsquo;s because the league is so well balanced. If this is true, then the teams which make it to the finals will be good representatives for the league.</p><p>Boston University benefited from this sort of decision seven years ago. Leading the league all year, BU was upset by Harvard in the Boston Garden semi-finals. Harvard went on to defeat Clarkson 7-4 for the title while BU won the consolation game, as they did this year. At 26-2-1 overall, BU was named the second Eastern team, bypassing Clarkson which had an &ldquo;inferior&rdquo; 28-4-1 mark. So what if BU went on to win the NCAAs? There is bitterness to this day.</p><p>This year&rsquo;s decision is worse than that one, since Providence actually beat BU when it counted most.</p><p>Perhaps the worst harm will be long term. From now on, you will hear loud cries of anguish from every ECAC consolation game victor whose overall record is better than the playoff runnerup, or who had beaten said runnerup during the season.</p><p>The only reason for a selection committee to exist is in case of a team of high caliber that plays good hockey outside of the existing playoff structure. This is why they have the NCAA Regional out west, due to the rapid growth of the CCHA. Air Force plays Division One hockey too, and if they were to have a 27-2 season record, they would deserve playoff shot. But a team that&rsquo;s already lost?<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0033-04

NCAA Ruling Allows Boston Univ. Second Chance In ECAC Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY DICK PROCTOR</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01319/4131958-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="558" height="635"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BOB SMITH&hellip;New Scoring Record</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02257/4131951-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="559" height="631"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>TONY McKEGNEY&hellip;Fastest Accelerator</b></figcaption></div><p>TORONTO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he 10 Ontario Major Junior Hockey League teams to earn playoff berths have been determined, but final positions and home-game advantages will be decided during this, the final week of the regular season.</p><p>The Emms division remains the most unsettled with London and Windsor still battling for top spot while Toronto has an outside chance to dislodge Kitchener for fourth place.</p><p>Ottawa 67s clinched first place in the Leyden Division. The only item that remains undetermined here is whether the streaking Sault Greyhounds can overtake Kingston Canadians for fourth place.</p><p>Ottawa will earn a week&rsquo;s rest while the Greyhounds and Canadians engage in a best-of-five series. Meanwhile, the second-place Peterborough Petes will meet third place Oshawa Generals in what promises to be a rugged best-of-seven series. Ottawa will then play the winner of the Canadians-Greyhounds series and the winner of that will meet the victor in the Petes-Generals clash for the Leyden Division championship.</p><p>In other OMJHL news, Leighton (Hap) Emms has reached an agreement to sell his Niagara Falls Flyers franchise to Toronto businessman Reg Quinn. The sale, which isn&rsquo;t expected to be announced formally until after the regular season ends, ends 33 years of association between Emms and Ontario junior hockey. The team will stay in Niagara Falls.</p><p>In more than three decades, Emms estimates about 100 players who played for his teams in Barrie, St. Catharines and Niagara Falls made it to the NHL or WHA.</p><p>Fincups coach Bert Templeton has received two suspensions totalling 10 games and $300. The first was for six games for failure to control the Hamilton bench during a game in Hamilton involving Kingston. Ontario Hockey Association president Hugh &lsquo;McLean tacked on the $300 fine for that incident.</p><p>Templeton, who is expected to coach in Niagara Falls next year under Quinn&mdash;a long-time friend, then received four games last week for verbally abusing referee Tom Lundy after the Fincups lost to Oshawa. Should Templeton or the Fincups pay $100, that suspension would be reduced to two games.</p><p><b>LONDON:</b> &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to meet both Windsor and Hamilton in the playoffs and the only way to guarantee that is to finish in first place.&rdquo; Those words were from Knights coach and general manager Bill Long after London tied Toronto 3-3 in one of the best games this season.</p><p>That tie gave the Knights a fragile one-point lead in the battle with Windsor for first place. Knights have three games remaining while the Spitfires play twice. The team that finishes second will play off with third place Hamilton.</p><p>In London&rsquo;s only other game last week, they rebounded from a 3-0 first period with six consecutive goals to defeat Canadians 6-5. Rick Doyle scored twice in that one, while Dino Ciccarelli notched his 70th of the season as London scored twice in the final 10 minutes to tie Marlies.</p><p>Pat Riggin made his first start in goal in almost a month after stretching ligaments in his left leg. He blocked 45 Toronto shots to preserve the tie and said he got stronger as the game progressed.</p><p>Reporters who follow the Knights are unanimous that the play of defenseman Brad Marsh has been the key to the team&rsquo;s second-half surge. Marsh, one of the biggest players in the league, has been in the forefront in any rough going the Knights have encountered&mdash;especially in action against the Fincups and Spitfires. Marsh was presented the best defenseman award voted to four players Long will lose this season to overage.</p><p><b>WINDSOR:</b> Spitfires won two and lost one last week. They crushed Hamilton, breaking a scoreless tie after two periods, with seven goals in the third. Eleven game misconducts resulted in 240 penalty minutes. John Kibyuk and Dave Hannan scored twice for the win with singles to Gerry Leroux, Wes Jarvis and Bo Schryer.</p><p>After being mowed down&mdash;11-4 by Greyhounds. Spitfires rebounded with a 10-1 win over the Sudbury Wolves. George Kotsopolous, Jarvis Kibyuk and Ron Friest each scored twice in that rout.</p><p>Spitfires&rsquo; Brian Gustafson, who started the season with the Greyhounds, is closing in on the league penalty record of 363 minutes.</p><p><b>HAMILTON:</b> Between league suspensions, team suspensions and injuries, the Fincups are reeling as they head into the final week of the schedule. On the heels of the departure of Steve Hazlett, Paul Marshall and Gaston Gingras, at least for the regular season, for breaking club rules, comes the double suspension to Templeton. Several other Fincups are out with injuries and the team has called up a handful of Junior B players to fill in.</p><p>Hamilton lost three of four starts last week. Besides the 7-0 loss to Windsor, Fincups were thumped 7-1 and 3-1 by Oshawa. Their lone win was 4-1 in Kingston on goals by Rob Meirkains, Mike Szabo, Greg Terrion and Jim McGeachie.</p><p>Rick Walmsley, who leads the league with a goals-against mark of 3.05, lost his bid for a shutout in the final three minutes. However, in Oshawa, Walmsley was beaten on his first three chances and was replaced early in the first period by Al Jensen who has the league&rsquo;s secondbest average&mdash;3.40.</p><p><b>KITCHENER:</b> Rangers are in the driver&rsquo;s seat in their bid to finish fourth and enjoy any extra home-game advantage in the playoff with Marlies.</p><p>Rangers had two ties against Oshawa and the Sault and defeated Sudbury 8-5 last week. Brian Schnurr scored twice for Kitchener as the team came back in the final minute to tie Oshawa. Defenseman Kevin Reinhart and Doug Sulliman added singles.</p><p>In a 3-3 draw against the Greyhounds, Tim Zwijack, Jody Gage and Sulliman each scored.</p><p>Against Sudbury, former Wolves&rsquo; player John Walker scored twice for Rangers in a game marred by 126 penalty minutes. Gage. Kerry Williston, Doug Shedden, Sulliman, Reinhart and Don Maloney also scored as Rangers rained 52 shots at the Sudbury net.</p><p><b>TORONTO:</b> &ldquo;One game does not a goaltender make,&rdquo; was coach George Armstrong&rsquo;s overview of Marlies&rsquo; impressive 3-3 tie with London. Nevertheless, Armstrong was pleased with the play of Stuart Birenbaum, making one of his rare starts in the second half of the season. Now, all Armstrong has to do is predict accurately whether Terry Wright or Birenbaum is the hot goalie before each playoff game with Kitchener!</p><p>Toronto clinched a playoff spot with a 5-4 win over Niagara Falls on Dave Aquin&rsquo;s two goals. Aquin, who has been spotted much of the season, appears to be the team&rsquo;s third-line center with his impressive play in recent weeks. Aquin is between two other rookies, Stewart Gavin and Jim Peplinski.</p><p>Marlies lost a chance to move up on Kitchener in a 9-5 loss to Peterborough. Terry Wright started for Toronto and was beaten on his first two chances and the first shot of the second period. He was replaced by Birenbaum midway through the second, who gave up a goal on his first shot. Brian Paton, Aquin, Peplinski, Rob Garner and defenseman Brian Crichton scored for Marlies.</p><p><b>NIAGARA FALLS:</b> Flyers will play out the string under Emms without key players like team scoring leader Stan Adams, John Gibson and Bob Phillips, all out with injuries. Only 13 skaters and two goalies were in uniform as Flyers lost their last chance to get a playoff berth against Toronto.</p><p>That was one of three losses incurred by the Flyers. Ottawa doubled them 8-4 and Peterborough crushed them 11-5. Greg Foy had two goals against the Petes with singles by Guy Losier, Gerry Rioux and Brent Armstrong.</p><p>There&rsquo;s no doubt Quinn is inheriting the unhappiest team in the league. Emms, whose trademark always has been one of thriftiness, is the only owner who deducts the price of tape and skate laces from his players&rsquo; salaries.</p><p>On the other hand, Flyers have an excellent nucleus losing only Losier, Lou Franceschetti and goalies&mdash;Bob Froese and Mark Locken. Under a man like Templeton, Flyers could easily make a good run in the Emms Division&mdash;named after Hap&mdash;next season.</p><p><b>OTTAWA:</b> Brian Kilrea&rsquo;s 67s clinched first place with road victories over Niagara Falls, Oshawa and Kingston. The 6-5 win in Oshawa snapped an impressive undefeated streak by the Generals. And Kilrea, who admits to calling each contest against Kingston &ldquo;a hate game&rdquo; was delighted to clinch first place right in Kingston with a 7-5 win.</p><p>Against Niagara Falls, Dave MacQueen &lsquo;counted three with other goals from Shane Pearsall, Yvan Joly, Steve Payne, Larry Elson and Steve Marengere.</p><p>Pearsall counted two more the next afternoon in Oshawa. Marengere, Bob Smith, Bjorn Skaare and Tim Higgins also scored. Against Kingston, Smith collected five points on two goals and three assists. Higgins, recently recovered from a leg injury, added two more with MacQueen, Payne and Jim Fox adding singles, as 67s led 6-2 after 40 minutes.</p><p>Smith continues to lead the scoring race and now has 67 goals and 116 assists for 183 points and a league record breaking the 1975-76 mark of 170 set by Mike Kaszycki. Fox, a first-year player, is in sixth place with 42 goals and 79 assists.</p><p>With three more regular-season games, 67s will then wait to meet the winner of the Kingston-Sault series.</p><p><b>PETERBOROUGH:</b> Despite an unbeaten streak that has now stretched 14 games, Petes couldn&rsquo;t overhaul Ottawa.</p><p>Petes, who weren&rsquo;t scoring a lot of goals earlier in the season, collected 20 in two appearances last week. They gave up a total of 10 in 9-5 and 11-5 wins over Toronto and Niagara Falls.</p><p>Mike Meeker scored three against Marlies giving him 29 goals since coming from the Wisconsin Badgers. Meeker also sat out a month with a broken collar bone. Mark Reeds, Randy Johnston, Bob Attwell, Steve Larmer, John Olds, and Mark Kirton added singles.</p><p>Reeds, who specializes in penalty killing, scored three more goals against the Flyers. That gives this first-year player 11 for the season. Larmer and Terry Bovair scored twice with Keith Acton, Johnston, Meeker and Chris Halyk adding singles.</p><p>Petes currently lead Oshawa by 11 points. But the two teams overall goals for and against are extremely close and this should prove to be a tenacious playoff series.</p><p><b>OSHAWA:</b> Generals defeated Hamilton twice and tied Kitchener 4-4. But the week was marred by a home-ice loss to Ottawa&mdash;Oshawa&rsquo;s first defeat at the Civic Auditorium in 18 games.</p><p>Against Kitchener, Les Campbell and Bob Crawford scored twice.</p><p>In the loss to Ottawa, John Liprando had two Oshawa goals with singles by Mike Pidgeon, Tom McCarthy, and Stelio Zupancich.</p><p>Peter Horachek scored three goals in a 7-1 win over the Fincups. Jim Jackson with two, Joe Campagnola and McCarthy had the others. It was the teams&rsquo; 30th win of the season&mdash;a six-fold increase over last year under freshman coach Bill White.</p><p>John Campbell, who was claimed by Oshawa for $600 after unimpressive appearances in Ottawa and Hamilton, may be the Generals&rsquo; power play answer on the point. Under White, Campbell is playing with confidence for the first time this season and his strong point shot has not gone unnoticed by Oshawa fans.</p><p><b>KINGSTON:</b> Canadians lost three in a row last week after starting the week with a 4-2 win over Kitchener. Coach Jim Morrison, who played for Hap Emms when the Barrie Flyers won their first Memorial Cup in 1950-51, said the Canadians&rsquo; bad luck is just the way things have been going lately.</p><p>&ldquo;We had London 3-0 after one period and it should have been five because we hit two posts. But they got a fluke goal to get back in.&rdquo;</p><p>Kingston&rsquo;s lead over the fifth place Greyhounds has shrunk to three points with Canadians having a game in hand. They play the Hounds in the Sault this weekend in what could decide final positioning.</p><p>Although team captain Tony McKegney hasn&rsquo;t been scoring as many points as he did last year, Morrison thinks he&rsquo;s having a fine year. &ldquo;Tony&rsquo;s improved his defensive play so much and don&rsquo;t forget, he was injured earlier in the season.&rdquo;</p><p>Opposition players say McKegney has the fastest acceleration in the league. &ldquo;Let him make that little circle of his and you can&rsquo;t catch him,&rdquo; one player said.</p><p><b>SAULT STE. MARIE:</b> Greyhounds have still lost only one game under new coach Paul Theriault. They returned home from a successful road trip to rout Windsor 11-4. Paul Mancini scored six goals in the game and, linemate Wayne Gretzky had six assists. Brent Jarrett, Ted Nolan, Dan Lucas, Ian Bedford and Dave Watson had singles.</p><p>Two nights later the Sault tied Rangers 3-3 as Gretzky added two more assists. That gave him 172 points, breaking the old Greyhounds&rsquo; single-season scoring mark of 170 points, set two years ago by Mike Kaszycki, now with New York Islanders.</p><p>Greyhounds completed their successful road trip by clinching a playoff spot with a 6-5 win over the Sudbury Wolves.</p><p><b>SUDBURY:</b> Wolves owner Bud Berke had a hunch that Marcel Clements could beat the Greyhounds to a playoff berth. So last month, Berke dropped Bep Guidolin and hired Clements to coach.</p><p>But things didn&rsquo;t work out that way and the Wolves are at least as abject under Clements as they were under Guidolin and Noel Price before him.</p><p>Wolves lost three straight last week. In the 8-5 decision to Rangers, Bob Lekun scored twice with Mike McParland, Brad Smith and Dan McCarthy adding singles. The 10-1 shellacking by Windsor was Sudbury&rsquo;s 40th loss of the season. Their record of 15-40-10 is the worst in the league.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0034-01

Playoff Teams Determined, But Not Positions

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE PENTON</div><p>MEDICINE HAT&mdash;</p><p>In was in January when Lionel Williams&rsquo; hockey career abruptly ended. The 18-year-old rookie defenseman with Medicine Hat Tigers was taking part in a regular practice session when an errant puck struck him in the eye.</p><p>Within a week, Williams underwent surgery for removal of the eye. His last hope for a WCHL career was taken away from him by surgeon&rsquo;s tools.</p><p>But in the following weeks,&rsquo; Williams found out that just because he was out of hockey, he wasn&rsquo;t out of the fans&rsquo; minds. A Lionel Williams fund has passed the $21,000 mark and threatens to go higher.</p><p>The fund was organized by Tigers&rsquo; broadcaster Bob Ridley. Tigers&rsquo; business manager Doug Smeaton sent out letters to almost every hockey club in North America, giving them the details, asking if they were interested in donating to the fund.</p><p>The Tigers took on the Junior B Medicine Hat Cubs in an exhibition benefit game, which drew 5,810 people in the 4, 000-seat Arena Convention Centre. &ldquo;This is the greatest thing I have ever seen in Medicine Hat,&rdquo; said Tigers&rsquo; coach Vic Stasiuk.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been around a long time and have never seen a reaction to a benefit game like this one. I&rsquo;m kind of a hard guy, but this response brings tears to my eyes.&rdquo;</p><p>WCHL rivals of the Tigers also jumped into the spirit of things. Lethbridge Broncos&rsquo; fans raised $1,300 when Medicine Hat visited their provincial rival for a regularly-scheduled game. Doug Barkley, general manager of Calgary Wranglers who was also victim of an eye loss while playing hockey, sent a cheque and offered to be of any other help to Williams.</p><p>Former Tiger star Lanny McDonald, now a certified super star in the National Hockey League, contributed some Maple Leaf souvenirs to be given away to lucky ticket holders. One fellow donated his day&rsquo;s wages from his backhoe operation, a sum of more than $200.</p><p>&ldquo;Donations came from so many various sources, they were too numerous to mention,&rdquo; said Ridley.</p><p>Other NHLers to contribute odds and ends to be given away at the benefit game were Tom Lysiak of Atlanta Flames (another former Tiger star), Montreal&rsquo;s Guy Lapointe, Peter Mahovlich of Pittsburgh, and former Canadiens&rsquo; captain Henri Richard.</p><p>The Tigers, meanwhile, have been semi-hot on the ice, opening a five-point lead over Calgary in the race for the Central Division&rsquo;s final playoff berth.</p><p>After a 4-2 loss in Lethbridge, the Tigers gained a 2-2 tie with the Wranglers on Calgary ice and then went home to beat New Westminster 7-5, jumping into a 5-0 first-period lead and hanging on.</p><p>Defenseman Lorne Anderson scored his first goal in the game with the Bruins, after getting 19 assists in the first five-and-a-half months of the season.</p><p><b>CALGARY:</b> The Wranglers managed a pair of 2-2 ties at home, against Medicine Hat and New Westminster, before heading out to the West coast for a four-game swing. Mel Hewitt, a former defenseman, scored the two goals against the Tigers, with captain Ray Mawhinney setting them both up.</p><p><b>LETHBRIDGE:</b> Rod Guimont increased his point total to 85 with a four-goal week, getting two in a 4-2 win over Lethbridge and single goals in the Broncos other two games, a 7-3 loss in Brandon and a 6-4 win in Saskatoon. Doug Morrison was the offensive spark in Saskatoon, scoring twice and assisting on one other goal. Earl Ingarfield potted his 20th goal in Brandon.</p><p><b>BILLINGS:</b> A 6-1 loss in Brandon meant that the Wheat Kings were the only team the Bighorns failed to beat on their home ice. Coach Dave King&rsquo;s team had scored victories in the WCHL&rsquo;s other 10 rinks this season. Before the loss in Brandon, Billings got a goal from Don Nachbaur in the final minute to tie Flin Flon 5-5, and wound up with three of a possible four points on the Bombers&rsquo; ice this year. Finally at home, the Bighorns split with New Westminster, losing 3-2 as both teams scored in the final minute, and winning 7-3 behind the three-point performances of Doug Robb and Harvie Pocza and the two-goal game of rookie Blake Sullivan.</p><p><b>SASKATOON:</b> For the Blades, it was an average week. Four games, one win&mdash;at home. Dan Erickson fired four goals, and sophomore Ken Federko, one of the league&rsquo;s hottest point-getters since the first of February, had a goal and four assists at the Blades&rsquo; other three games, all losses, to give the big 19-year-old leftwinger 30 for the season. Two of the defeats were in Flin Flon, 5-2 and 7-4, and the other was a 6-4 setback at home to Lethbridge.</p><p><b>REGINA:</b> Even some nasty words from coach Lome Davis questioning his team&rsquo;s will to win didn&rsquo;t help. The Pats went down to three successive losses, giving up 27 goals in the process. The worst was a 12-5 shellacking in Brandon. Earlier, Regina lost 9-7 in Saskatoon and capped the week by losing 6-3 at home to the Wheat Kings. Dirk Graham (four goals and three assists) and Gerry Galloway (two goals, one assist) both climbed over the 100-point mark to join center Gerry Minor in that category. Defenseman Kevin Krook has a back ailment and is expected to be lost for the season.</p><p><b>FLIN FLON:</b> Defenseman Kelly Davis was the Bombers&rsquo; big point man as they picked up five of six points in a home stand. Davis scored once and set up seven others as Bombers downed Saskatoon 5-2 and 7-4 and tied Billings 5-5. Jordy Douglas closed in on the 60-goal mark with four goals (giving him 54&hellip;and 103 points), but the bad news was that defenseman Gregg Tebbutt, the over-age 26-goal shooter, had left the club.</p><p><b>BRANDON:</b> The Wheat Kings stretched their unbeaten streak to 13 games (12 wins, one tie) by winning three times at home and once on the road. Brian Propp had his second seven-point game of the season, scoring twice and setting up five others, in a 12-5 romp over Regina. Propp&rsquo;s point total of 165 is 24 more than his closest rival, linemate Ray Allison. Bill Derlago upped his WCHL-leading goal total to 74 with eight goals in four games, including a hat trick in a 6-1 win over Billings. A bench-emptying brawl in a 6-3 win in Regina meant that four Wheat Kings would sit out suspensions for incurring their fifth (or more) game misconducts of the year&mdash;Propp, Don Hobbins, Mike Perovich and captain Brad McCrimmon. Defenseman Tim Lockridge had a three-assist night as Brandon also beat Lethbridge 7-3.</p><p><b>NEW WESTMINSTER:</b> The Bruins wound up an eastern swing by losing 7-5 in New Westminster, but the trip was bountiful. They won four, lost three and tied one to pull to within two points of third-place Victoria in the West. Two goals by rookie Bill Hobbins paced a 3-2 win over Billings, but the Bighorns got past New West 7-3 the next night. John Ogrodnick, who finished the week with 48 goals, tops for a rookie in the league, scored once in a 2-2 tie with Calgary.</p><p><b>VICTORIA:</b> Geordie Robertson fired three goals to go over the 50 mark as the Cougars opened the week with a 6-4 home-ice win over Portland. But they hit the road and lost 6-3 in Seattle to allow the Bruins to move precariously close.</p><p><b>PORTLAND:</b> The Winter Hawks lost just once in four starts, padding their Western Division lead. Dale Yakiwchuk, had four goals in the week to hit the 30 mark, while Wayne Babych&rsquo;s two goals, giving him 45 on the season, vaulted the Hawks past hometown Seattle 5-4. Elsewhere, Doug Lecuyer had two goals as Portland tied 5-5 with Seattle and Babych got the winner in a 4-3 victory over the Breakers.</p><p><b>SEATTLE:</b> The Breakers got three of eight points to move two up on Victoria in the second-place battle in the West. Their only win was 6-3 at home over Victoria, as Ryan Hatfield, defenseman Owen Lloyd and team scoring leader Errol Rausse had three points apiece. Rookie Glen Merkosky, up from Kamloops of the B.C. Junior League, also scored in that game. But the Breakers had trouble with Portland, losing 5-4 and 4-3 at home, and tying 5-5 in Portland. The Breakers have yet to beat Portland on Seattle ice this season, getting two ties and four losses.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01280/4131989-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="566" height="632"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>KEN FEDERKO&hellip;Hot Since February</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0036-01

Tigers Praised For Williams Fund; Western Division Race Tightening

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02215/4132020-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="563" height="696"></div><h2><b>Faking Through</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>ead and eye faking can be very effective as you approach a defenceman. Your eyes, your head and shoulder movements can telegraph which way you&rsquo;re going to move.</p><p>Every hockey player learns early not to look down. Keeping your head up is the only way you&rsquo;ll survive the body checks you&rsquo;ll get from opponents.</p><p>Defending players learn to watch your upper body, your head and eyes to be able to anticipate which way your&rsquo;re going to move when he tries to avoid checks. As an attacker you must learn to fake by leaning and looking to one side, then quickly moving to the other.</p><p>Learn to slow down and speed up quickly, lean one way and move another. Learn to control the puck with your stick in either hand so you can try sweeping around defencemen on either side.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0036-02

Hockey for Minors

<p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><p>SAN FRANCISCO&mdash;</p><p>Everybody wore skates&mdash;except the preacher, the bride and the bridesmaids.</p><p>It was to be sure, a coolish on-ice wedding when Shamrock center Greg Post and Sandra Fonteno exchanged marriage vows March 12 at the Cow Palace before the Shamrocks hosted the Long Beach Rockets.</p><p>The best man was Shamrock teammate Ric Garcia, captain Steve Cardwell gave the bride away while Keith Kokkola and Randy Wyrozub escorted the bridesmaids.</p><p>The San Francisco management gave away door prizes, and you might say that the bride made a grand sweep, getting a television set to keep her occupied while husband Greg is on the road.</p><p>With the wedding recorded as history, the Shamrocks went out and turned aside the Long Beach Rockets, 5-2, to pull into a first place Pacific Hockey League deadlock with the Phoenix Roadrunners.</p><p>Following the game, Biff Reddin&mdash;general manager of the last place Rockets proclaimed: &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to be out-done by the Murphys&rsquo; matrimonial services. I&rsquo;m planning a divorce court at the Long Beach Arena, for general managers like myself. If there are any hockey players who want to participate they&rsquo;re welcome.</p><p>Meanwhile, it&rsquo;s a two-team race for the PHL title with the Shamrocks and Roadrunners running neck-and-neck.</p><p>San Francisco virtually guaranteed themselves second place March 16 with a 6-2 pounding of San Diego, leaving the Mariners nine points removed from a playoff spot with eight games to play.</p><p>At this juncture, it would appear that the Shamrocks and Roadrunners will meet in a best-of-five series for the PHL championship.</p><p>Regardless of how the two teams finish, the playoff dates are: April 9&mdash;Phoenix at San Francisco, April 13 and 15&mdash;San Francisco at Phoenix, April 16 and 19 (if necessary) Phoenix at San Francisco.</p><p>The PHL regular season schedule concludes April 8 with San Diego at Long Beach, a game that well could determine the third place club unless San Francisco and Phoenix go into a complete nosedive. The league&rsquo;s board of trustees have determined that only the two top teams qualify for the playoffs.</p><p>With eight games to play and three in hand on San Francisco, Phoenix trailed the Shamrocks by a mere two points heading into the stretch drive. The edge appeared to be with them to finish first, particularly in light of the acquisition of veteran defenseman Harry Shaw on waivers from Long Beach.</p><p>The Roadrunners and Shamrocks battle for first, the PHL scoring race also was heating up, with the Shamrock&rsquo;s Randy Wyrozub moving into second place back of Phoenix&rsquo;s Frank Hughes. Hughes, in 32 games, had 27 goals and 30 assists for 57 points, while Wyrozub, in 36 starts, had logged 26 goals and 27 assists for 53 points.</p><p>Following a league meeting in San Diego March 11, league owners agreed to take in at least two expansion teams for next season. There is no indication at this juncture, however, which cities hold priority status.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03130/4132051-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="560" height="641"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>HARRY SHAW&hellip;Roadrunners&rsquo; Edge</b></figcaption></div><p>Meanwhile, the San Francisco franchise was fined $500 by the league office for usage of an ineligible player in the game of March 13 when defenseman Keith Kokkola sat out a one-game suspension. The suspension, by league rules, reduced the playing roster to 15 men&mdash;but a 16th man, on a five game tryout without prior notification to the league office, was dressed.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0037-03

Shamrocks’ Post Wed At Cow Palace

<h2><b>Amateur Scoreboard</b></h2><h2><b>WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings On March 13)</b></p><h3><b>WEST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01290/4132166-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="588" height="136"></div><h3><b>CENTRAL DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02227/4132159-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="590" height="131"></div><h3><b>EAST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03169/4132152-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="588" height="138"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. March 7</b></p><p>Portland 4 at Victoria 6</p><p>Now Westminster 3 at Billings 2</p><p>Saskatoon 2 at Flin Flon 5</p><p>Medicine Hat 2 at Calgary 2</p><p>Regina 5 at Brandon 1</p><p><b>Wad. March 8</b></p><p>Now Westminster 3 at Billings 7</p><p>Saskatoon 4 at Flin Flon 7</p><p>Portland 4 at Seattle 3</p><p><b>Thu. March 9</b></p><p>Now Westminster 5 at Medicine Hat 7</p><p>Lethbridge 3 at Brandon 7</p><p>Victoria 3 at Seattle 6</p><p><b>Fri. March 10</b></p><p>Lethbridge 6 at Saskatoon 4</p><p>Brandon 6 at Regina 3</p><p><b>Sat. March 11</b></p><p>Calgary 3 at Now Westminster 9</p><p>Seattle 7 at Victoria 6</p><p>Lethbridge 7 at Medicine Hat 4</p><p><b>Sun. March 12</b></p><p>Medicine Hat 6 at Billings 4</p><p>Seattle 4 at Now Westminster 5</p><p>Calgary 1 at Portland 4</p><p>Saskatoon 3 at Brandon 6</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04119/4132145-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="609" height="794"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><h3><b>LEBEL DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0591/4132138-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="595" height="162"></div><h3><b>DILIO DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0670/4132131-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="592" height="167"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Mon. March 13</b></p><p>Shawinigan 0 at Sherbrooke 18</p><p>Chicoutimi 4 at Laval 7</p><p><b>Tue. March 14</b></p><p>Montreal 5 at Hull 3</p><p>Verdun 3 at Trois-Rivieres 3</p><p><b>Wed. March 15</b></p><p>Hull 0 at Laval 9</p><p><b>Thu. March 16</b></p><p>Trois-Rivieres 4 at Cornwall 8</p><p>Quebec 1 at Hull 2</p><p><b>Fri. March 17</b></p><p>Verdun 5 at Chicoutimi 4</p><p>Sherbrooke 1 at Montreal 7</p><p>Quebec 9 at Shawinigan 2</p><p><b>Sun. March 19</b></p><p>Laval 2 at Hull 6</p><p>Chicoutimi 2 at Quebec 8</p><p>Cornwall 8 at Sherbrooke 11</p><p>Shawinigan 3 at Trols-Rivitres 16</p><p>Montreal 5 at Verdun 4</p><h2><b>FINAL LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0762/4132124-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="592" height="295"></div><h2><b>ONTARIO MAJOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Sun. March 20)</b></p><h3><b>EMMS DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0847/4132117-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="578" height="187"></div><h3><b>LEYDEN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0940/4132110-1-eng-US/f0038-092.jpg" title="f0038-09" width="583" height="191"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Sun. March 13</b></p><p>Toronto 3 at London 3</p><p>Sudbury 1 at Windsor 10</p><p>Kitchener 3 at Sault Ste. Marie 3</p><p>Hamilton 1 at Oshawa 7</p><p>Kingston 5 at Ottawa 7</p><p><b>Tue. March 15</b></p><p>Toronto 2 at Hamilton 3</p><p>Longon 4 at Kingston 3</p><p>Kitchener 4 at Niagara Falls 2</p><p>Sudbury 5 at Sault Ste. Marie 7</p><p><b>Wed. March 16</b></p><p>Ottawa 3 at Hamilton 4</p><p><b>Thu. March 17</b></p><p>Kitchener 2 at Windsor 3</p><p>Oshawa 3 at Peterborough 4</p><p><b>Fri. March 18</b></p><p>Kingston 2 at Sault Ste. Mario 11</p><p>London 7 at Sudbury 8</p><p>Hamilton 1 at Kitchener 3</p><p>Windsor 4 at Toronto 6</p><p>Oshawa 0 at Ottawa 12</p><p><b>Sat. March 19</b></p><p>Windsor 4 at Toronto 5</p><h2><b>Looking At The Races</b></h2><h2><b>WESTERN INTERNATIONAL</b></h2><p><b>(Standings On Mon. March 6)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01269/4132103-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="601" height="167"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. Feb. 28</b></p><p>Trail 7, Nelson 4</p><p><b>Fri. March 3</b></p><p>Kimberley 7, Nelson 0</p><p><b>Sat. March 4</b></p><p>Spokane 13, Nelson 3</p><p>Trail 3, Cranbrook 2</p><p><b>Sun. March 5</b></p><p>Spokane 10, Cranbrook 3</p><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02199/4132096-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="602" height="310"></div><h2><b>U.S.-MIDWEST LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed. March 8)</b></p><h3><b>U.S. CONFERENCE</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03152/4132089-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="607" height="117"></div><h3><b>MIDWEST CONFERENCE</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04127/4132082-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="602" height="116"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Austin 5, St. Paul 2</p><p>St. Paul 5, Green Bay 1</p><p>Sioux City 5, Austin 3</p><p>Waterloo 9, Bloomington 7</p><p>Green Bay 8, St. Paul 6</p><p>Waterloo 6, Bloomington 2</p><p>Austin 4, Sioux City 1</p><p>Waterloo 5, Bloomington 4<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0038-01

QUEBEC MAJOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY DANNY YOUNG</div><p>LAVAL&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>O</span>n March 15, nearly 3,000 fans jammed into the Laval Sports center to see the Laval Nationals play the Hull Olympics, and pay tribute to former Laval great, Mike Bossy. While Mike was clearly the main attraction, Hull&rsquo;s Yves Dandurand and Laval&rsquo;s Mike Parker tried to steal the show.</p><p>Dandurand, the Quebec Major Junior League&rsquo;s penalty minutes leader, was out to prove that he&rsquo;s number one in that department. With just 37 seconds played in the game, Dandurand dropped gloves with Mario Tardif. Later in the period, he was scrapping again, this time with Robert Charrette. When the officials cut in to break it up, Dandurand started hitting the linesman. At that moment, the referee slapped Dandurand with a game misconduct.</p><p>However, the Hull golden glove was not finished. He broke away from his teammates and began fighting with Pat Daley. Finally, Dandurand was escorted to the dressing room with two fighting majors, a double game misconduct, and a new record for penalty minutes for one season.</p><p>This performance was witnessed by the league&rsquo;s major officials who were on hand to honor Bossy. The league&rsquo;s actions should be an accurate measure of their desire to cut out violence.</p><p>With Dandurand out, Laval goaltender Mike Parker took over the show. Returning from a suspension he received as a result of a dispute with coach Jacques St. Jean, Parker thrilled the crowd with several acrobatic saves. He went on to stop 28 Hull shots, many of them tough, and shut them out as Laval won 9-0.</p><p>Bossy was honored during the first intermission. The crowd gave him a standing ovation for several minutes, and rose again when he put on his number 17 Laval jersey which the team has now retired.</p><p>The New York Islanders&rsquo; star received gifts from the team, the league, and from Quebec premier Rene Levesque, who made a short speech thanking Bossy for the fine example he has set for young Quebecers.</p><p>The 9-0 victory completed a perfect week for Laval. Earlier they defeated Chicoutimi 7-4 and Sha winigan 11-2.</p><p><b>MONTREAL:</b> With just two games remaining, the Juniors are in two major races with Sherbrooke. The first is for the third rank in the overall standings, and the second is a personal battle for the league scoring championship between Montreal&rsquo;s Kevin Reeves and Sherbrooke&rsquo;s Ron Carter. Three wins in as many games put Montreal&rsquo;s point total at 84, just one point back of Sherbrooke. Reeves picked up 16 points, putting him one ahead of Carter at 169.</p><p>The Reeves&rsquo; hot streak coincided with the placement of Jean Pierre Dubois on his right wing. Dubois and the line&rsquo;s left winger Richard Suwek each had hat tricks as Montreal walked away with a 123 win over Shawinigan. Reeves had two goals and six assists. Dubois repeated the three-goal performance against Hull and the Juniors won 11-4. In Hull, Montreal won again, 5-3.</p><p><b>SHERBROOKE:</b> Montreal and Reeves were hot, but Sherbrooke and Carter remained steady. The Beavers wiped out Shawinigan 18-0. Carter had six points, including his 84th and 85th goals. Sylvain Locas scored five goals and added three assists, and Mark Green had a sevenpoint night. Ricky Vaive was serving a game suspension and did not play. Against Hull, the Beavers fell behind 2-0, but eventually won 7-3. Locas tallied for numbers 80 and 81. Sherbrooke has averaged 6.7 goals a game.</p><p><b>CORNWALL:</b> The battle for first place between Trois Rivieres and Cornwall will go right down to the last game. Both clubs have two games remaining and Trois-Rivieres holds a slim one point advantage. Cornwall won their 45th game this season topping Sherbrooke 6-3. 18-year-old Bob Crawford scored twice to pace the most important win. The Royals will close the season with two difficult games, meeting Trois Rivieres at home and Sherbrooke away. The Cornwall vs. Trois Rivieres date is certainly the game of the year.</p><p><b>TROIS RIVIERES:</b> Four points in two games against Verdun would&rsquo;ve clinched at least a tie with Cornwall, in view of the fact that the Draveurs meet Shawinigan on the last day of the season. However, the Draveurs missed that accomplishment by one goal.</p><p>In Verdun, they won 4-2. Captain Richard David netted a pair. In Trois Rivieres, the two clubs tied 3-3 as Verdun notched the spoiler late in the third period. Carey Haworth scored two of the Draveur goals. Coach Michel Bergeron has been forced to juggle lines as a result of injuries to Daniel Vallee and Jean Gaston Douville.</p><p><b>VERDUN:</b> Former Shawinigan coach Marc Picard has been hired as a coaching assistant and the results have already paid off. The Hawks were more organized in getting the puck out of their end as they defeated Chicoutimi 7-5. Normand Aubin had a goal and three assists.</p><p>In two games against Trois Rivieres, Verdun played good hockey. They lost the first game 4-2, but skated well and held Trois Rivieres to only six shots in the third period. Jean Francois Boutin had both Hawk goals. The second game ended in a 3-3 tie thanks to Ghyslain Gelinas&rsquo; late equalizer.</p><p><b>HULL:</b> Although the Olympiques had been hot of late, they dropped four games last week. They lost to Sherbrooke 7-3 and two to Montreal, 11-4, and 5-3. Paul MacLean had three goals in the 11-4 game. Daniel Metivier has returned to action but is far from one hundred percent.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1037/4132197-1-eng-US/f0038-102.jpg" title="f0038-10" width="557" height="530"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RON CARTER&hellip;Has 85 Goals</b></figcaption></div><p>The usually speedy forward is not skating well and lacks intensity. &lsquo;Mets&rsquo; had a few shots on goal against Laval but couldn&rsquo;t score. In fact, not one Hull player could. The Olympics were blanked 9-0.</p><p>QUEBEC: Denis Halle and Michel Goulet demonstrated why they&rsquo;re Remparts&rsquo; top two scorers in an 11-7 victory over Chicoutimi. Halle scored four and added two assists, while Goulet scored three and set up two others. The score was 6-6 early in the third period when Halle and Goulet went to town.</p><p><b>CHICOUTIMI:</b> Summer vacation is not far away for the Sagueneens. Only two games remain and the Sags will not make the playoffs. They dropped three games last week, losing to Verdun 7-5, Quebec 11-7, and Laval 7-4. Louis Sleigher is ending his QMJHL career in style. He scored twice against Verdun and picked up a hat trick in the Quebec game. Most people around the league agree that Chicoutimi&rsquo;s rebuilding efforts this year have been successful. The Sags should be much stronger next year.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0038-10

Nationals Blank Hull While Honoring Bossy

<div class="byline">BY MIKE LYNCH</div><p>KIMBERLEY&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>ith time running out on the Western International League hockey schedule, Cranbrook and Kimberley continue to contend for the runner-up spot and an advantage in the British Columbia playoffs.</p><p>When the playoffs begin the league champion will play the fourth-place team in one semi-final while the second and third place clubs play in the other. Spokane and Trail will meet in one best-of-seven series and Kimberley and Cranbrook in the other.</p><p>What needs to be determined is the second-place finish and the advantage of one extra home game should the series go seven games. While Kimberley has a 7-5 record since the first of February, Cranbrook has lost seven of 10.</p><p>Spokane won its first league title in three seasons with a fast finish, building a seven-game win streak. The Flyers buried Nelson 13-3 to clinch the championship with four league games to play. Mendel Vysohlid celebrated his 22nd birthday with five goals in that game.</p><p>In building the winning streak the Flyers outscored opponents 64-15 overall. Center Ron Huston boosted his point total to 112, six short of the league record. Kimberley&rsquo;s Len Hicks has virtually clinched the goal-scoring title with 40.</p><p>Entering the playoffs all four qualifiers are concerned about conditioning. Cranbrook&rsquo;s Danny Spring, the club&rsquo;s playing coach, has a recurring knee problem and may miss more playing time. Spring is Cranbrook&rsquo;s leading point producer.</p><p>In addition, Trail may not be able to play in its own rink because of a civic workers&rsquo; strike. One recent game was rescheduled in nearby Rossland&rsquo;s rink.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

The WIHL Scene

<p><b>Special To The Hockey Nows</b></p><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f00c4-01217/4132266-1-eng-US/f00c4-012.jpg" title="f00C4-01" width="567" height="636"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JERE GILLIS</b></figcaption></div><p>Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; Guy Lafleur has clinched his team&rsquo;s Molson Cup Competition for the fourth consecutive time with an insurmountable lead in the Three Stars&rsquo; competition.</p><p>Lafleur, who first won the award in 1974-75 secured two First Star ratings in the fifth and final segment of the competition to amass 135 points, some 60 points better than his closest competitors, Bob Gainey and Jacques Lemaire. In Toronto and Vancouver, however, the overall races are very close.</p><p>Darryl Sittier captured the fourth (February) segment of the competition by being chosen a star in eight of the club&rsquo;s 11 games. During that stretch, Sittier scored 21 points, including 13 goals. His February surge enabled him to move within five points or one star selection of Lanny McDonald in the season&rsquo;s competition.</p><p>Vancouver netminders Curt Ridley and Cesare Maniago are battling for the club lead in that city as Ridley captured the February segment with 15 points to move five in front of Maniago in the overall contest. Not to be counted out is rookie Jere Gillis who tied for the runnerup spot in the February competition with Pit Martin, and who now ranks third overall with 40 points on the season, 10 behind Ridley.</p><p>Bob Gainey of the Canadiens held a five-point lead over Lafleur, Steve Shutt and Pierre Larouche in the March segment of the competition, earning one first star selection and third star honors twice in the first seven games of March.</p><p>Larouche gained 10 points on two third star ratings versus Minnesota and Los Angeles, while Shutt and Lafleur were named first stars in March for 10 points in the fifth segment race.</p><p>The overall runnerup in each city also receives $500 and there are four main competitors in Montreal. Besides Gainey and Lemaire, Larry Robinson, who has accumulated 65 points on five first star and eight second star selections, and Ken Dryden with four first star, four second star and two third star selections, for 50 points, stand as the logical candidates to finish second to Lafleur.</p><p>Rick Chartraw earned his first star selection of the season in a game against the Leafs when he scored his third goal of the season and was named the number two star.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f00c4-02194/4132259-1-eng-US/f00c4-022.jpg" title="f00C4-02" width="860" height="1123"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f00c4-03173/4132252-1-eng-US/f00c4-032.jpg" title="f00C4-03" width="893" height="1125"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Darryl Sittier of the Leafs, left, had an exceptional month in February winning star selection in eight of 11 Toronto games to challenge Lanny McDonald for the leadership in the Molson Cup competition. Spectacular Guy Lafleur, meanwhile, clinched his fourth straight overall championship and the $1,000 prize and trophy which go with It. Lafleur has won three of the four Montreal segments this year.</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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March 31, 1978

ONTARIO MAJOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

Success Eludes Slipping Penguins

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE

Punchless Barons Picked Wrong Time For Scoring Slump