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.

May 5, 1978

The Hockey News May 5, 1978

Cover-01

IN THIS ISSUE

The Hockey News

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02871/4146618-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DENIS POTVIN&hellip;Reached 30-Goal Plateau</b> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce Bonnet)</span></figcaption></div><p>LONG ISLAND&mdash;</p><p>Denis Potvin of the Islanders finished as the undisputed scoring leader among National Hockey League defensemen this season.</p><p>The talented Islander rearguard racked up 94 scoring points to top the NHL&rsquo;s select field of offensive defensemen that included Larry Robinson, Borje Salming, Ian Turnbull and Brad Park.</p><p>Potvin also shot his 30th goal of the season in the league finale against Buffalo to help the Islanders tie an NHL record set by the Buffalo Sabres for most 30-goal scorers on a team in one season. Potvin and Bob Bourne both hit for their 30th in the same game to become the fifth and sixth members of the team to reach that plateau this season.</p><p>Potvin, who appears to be the No. 1 candidate for the Norris Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s best defenseman this season, lifted the scoring title from Robinson, who was No. 1 last season with 85 points. Potvin was second with 80 in 1976-77.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0011-02

Islanders’ Potvin Becomes Top Scoring Defenseman

<h2><b>Salming Rejects Sweden</b></h2><p>TORONTO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>D</span>efenseman Borje Salming decided against playing with Tre Kronor, Sweden&rsquo;s National Team, in the 1978 World Tournament at Prague, long before it started.</p><p>The Swedes had been trying to get the ace defenseman of the Toronto Maple Leafs to return in time for the start of the Prague action but two things appeared to preclude Salming&rsquo;s appearance &mdash; he injured an eye and was knocked out of the playoff action and it appeared the Leafs were not about to be rushed out of their quarter-final playoff round with the Islanders. Besides, Salming said he wanted to remain in Toronto after the playoffs and have some minor surgery done on his troublesome sinus condition.</p><h2><b>Deputy Hurt In Wild Playoff</b></h2><p>MUSKEGON&mdash;</p><p>An off-duty Muskegon policemen got more than he bargained for when he tried to play the role of peacemaker during a wild International Hockey League playoff game between Muskegon and Fort Wayne.</p><p>Ron Shaffer, a 28-year-old county sheriff&rsquo;s deputy, was a spectator at the IHL playoff when fighting got out of hand. He intervened and was reportedly struck on the head by a stick wielded by Wayne Norris of Fort Wayne. Shaffer went to hospital with head injuries. A lady fan also needed hospital treatment when she, too, was struck by a stick behind the Fort Wayne bench.</p><h2><b>Gordie Becomes A Grandfather</b></h2><p>HARTFORD&mdash;</p><p>Gordie Howe has gone full cycle during his hockey life. Now He&rsquo;s a grandpa and might happy about it.</p><p>Howe, who is 50 years old and finishing up his 30th professional hockey season with New England Whalers, became a grandfather for the first time when his son Mark&rsquo;s wife, Ginger, gave birth to an 8-pound, 7-ounce boy at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford. Neither Gordie nor Mark were present for the occasion. Both were in Edmonton performing in a WHA playoff game with the Whalers. The baby&rsquo;s name is Travis Gordon Howe.</p><h2><b>Has Pro Draft War Started?</b></h2><p>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;</p><p>Hockey insiders are wondering if the WHA hasn&rsquo;t fired the first broadside in the amateur player signing war.</p><p>The Quebec Nordiques have announced that they have already negotiated with wayne Babych of the Portland Winter Hawks of the Western Canada Major Hockey League and are awaiting his decision to sigh with the WHA team for the future. Wayne Babych of the Portland Winter Hawks of the Western Canada Major Hockey League and are awaiting his decision to sign with the WHA team for the future, on record as saying it will be more aggressive this time around in efforts to sign hockey&rsquo;s top amateur stars.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

DEADLINE STOPPERS

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY Bill Hilts</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01273/4148739-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="341" height="428"></div><h2><b>Midwest League</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>S</span>t. Paul Vulcans will play two post season games at Aldrich Arena, both against the Charleswood Hawks of the Manitoba Major Jr. League&hellip;Vulcans won the Midwest Jr. Hockey League Clark Cup for the third time in five years this season. They have been invited to play a best-of-five series with the winner of the Manitoba Major Jr. League in Winnipeg for the Labatt Cup. The Labatt Cup series will be played entirely in Winnipeg and begins on April 22&hellip;After winning the Clark Cup in the Midwest Division of the MJHL, Vulcans were knocked out by Waterloo Blackhawks in semi-final series of playoffs. Sioux City and Waterloo are playing a best-of-seven series for the MJHL playoff championship.</p><h2><b>Alberta League</b></h2><p>Fort Saskatchewan Traders, Calgary Canucks and St. Albert Saints advanced to the Alberta Jr. Hockey League semi-final round-robin playoff. The Traders needed a late goal by John Ewasiuk to post a 5-4 decision over Edmonton Crusaders and win their series in seven games&hellip;Calgary Canucks disposed of Pincher Creek Chinooks in six games but Chinooks had the pennant winners down two games to one at one stage in the series. Pincher Creek received strong performances from goaltender Randy Jaycock rearguards Dan Krutz and Blair Peebles, plus forwards Myron Luker, David Barr and Ray Cote&hellip;St. Albert Saints defeated Red Deer Rustlers in seven games in a hard-fought series which saw the league suspend both coaches, Doug Messier of St. Albert and John Chapman of Red Deer, for the balance of current playoffs and fine each club $500 for pre-game brawls and lack of player control&hellip;Off the ice, league president Jim Scoular announced his resignation effective the end of the current season, after serving in that capacity for seven campaigns. Scoular stated business and family pressures, but there is no doubt the current hassle between AJHL, AAHA and CAHA over the helmet rule for officials and the refusal of the CAHA to allow the AJHL in Centennial Cup play had an effect on his decision.</p><h2><b>New England League</b></h2><p>New England Jr. League regular season champion Fitchburg completed a three-game semi-final sweep of Tri Valley during the week. In game two, Mickey Rego had six points including his second straight hat trick. Steve Hakala and Mark Levasseur two goals each for Fitchburg, Jim Griffiths had three assists. In game three, Rego and Hakala had two power play goals and two assists each&hellip;For Tri Valley, Bill Anderson scored three goals, including two shorthanded in game two of the series. Dennis Sholes had four points, Chris Nilan two power play goals for Tri Valley in game three&hellip; Springfield stayed alive in the other semifinal series with South Shore by recording a come-from-behind, overtime win after South Shore had grabbed a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. Down 3-1 and 4-2 in game three, Springfield got third period goals from Jeff Wojcik and Pat Dwyer to tie it and then Peter Herd&rsquo;s second of the game won it in overtime. In game two, Paul Greeley and Tom Barrett scored two goals each for South Shore. Barrett the game-winner in the third period after South Shore lost a 4-1 lead. Dean Lombardi scored two goals for Springfield.</p><h2><b>Great Lakes League</b></h2><p>This marks the second straight season Fraser Highlanders of Great Lakes Jr. League have played a crucial fifth game in semi-finals of the playoffs. Last season Highlanders enjoyed a 2-1 advantage over Paddock Pools but lost the next two games to the eventual National Champions&hellip; Detroit may have lost high scoring forward Kevin Knight for the remainder of the playoffs. The big center suffered a severe ankle sprain in game three of Detroit&rsquo;s semi-final with Fraser&hellip;Detroit&rsquo;s Chris Guertin who finished second to Bill McCreary of Cleveland in the regular season scoring race, took an early lead in the playoff scoring on the strength of 10 points in his first four games. Guertin who was recently named to the U.S. All-American Jr. team, racked up five goals and five assists as the Jr. Wings split their first four verdicts with the Highlanders&hellip;League goaltending champ Dave Tardich of Paddock Pool Saints picked up where he left off by posting a fine 2.26 GAA in his three contests against Wayne Chiefs.</p><h2><b>NY-Penn League</b></h2><p>Andy Laing&rsquo;s Rochester Monarchs won it all in the N.Y.- Penn League&mdash;Gannett Trophy and Empire Cup&hellip;Despite an obvious disappointment in the Empire Cup championship round, Binghamton Barons continued their upward climb in the 1977-78 season and provided local hockey fans with a good deal of excitement during just-concluded campaign&hellip;Barons, finishing second, one point behind Rochester during the regular season, ousted Syracuse in the semi-finals, with three of the four games Barons won in overtime. Coach Wayne Kitchingman&rsquo;s talented gang, reached the playoff finals for the first time in the two-year history of the club. They were then beaten by the defending champion Monarchs&hellip; Individually, Barons boasted the league&rsquo;s regular season leading scorer, Joe Modafferi, the league&rsquo;s top scoring defenseman. Paul Iskyan and the loop&rsquo;s number one goaltender. Ron Petronella&hellip;Iskyan, headed for Northeastern University and Petronella, Cornell or Merrimack, have both earned college scholarships while Modaferri will head the cast of players returning for next season. Other Barons figured on for next season include rugged Hap Grabeidinger, talented center Jay Wall, hard skating defenseman Rick Gotkin and backup goaltender Chris Horky. Kitchingman has also made it clear that he is very hopeful that at least five local players will be able to make the squad. Kitchingman summarized the past season&mdash;&rdquo; I&rsquo;m very proud of the progress the team and the organization have made in just two years. Our goal for next season, obviously, is to win it all.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>Mid-Atlantic League</b></h2><p>The final scoring stats in Mid-Atlantic Jr. League show Tom Malloy of Hershey edging out Dean Shemansky of Bucks County for the regular season scoring crown. Malloy posted a 22-20-42 mark and Shemansky came in with 30-1040. The Bucks County star did take top goal-getter honors with his 30 markers&hellip;The scoring race was rounded out by Vin Kowalski of Ironbound-14-23-37, Jeff Parone of Hershey-9-26-35, Bill Borger of Ironbound-23-9-32. Mike Lawrence of Bucks Co.-17-12-29, Neil Jordan of Firebirds-13-16-29, Duncan Wine of Hershey-19-6-25, Dave Stoll of Bergen-10-15-25 and Ken Dulabohn of Hershey-8-14-22.</p><h2><b>Central League</b></h2><p>In Central Jr. Hockey League play, Tom Peluse of Elmhurst Huskies leads the scoring race by 10 points, with 37 goals and 36 assists for 73 points. Bob Kimball of Waukegan Shields is next with 37-26-63 record, while John Everding of Skokie Nordics had 35-28-63 mark. Next are Ron Hayden of Huskies-27- 30 -57, Mike Boudreau of Shields-29-24-53, Jim Wilson of Nordics-22-29-51, John LaBahan of Shields-25-24-49, Paul Martin of Chicago Saints-26-22-48 and teammate Mike Mihalik 15-29-44 and Jim Beuttergen of Shields-20-22-42&hellip;Bob Long of Shileds leads goalies with a 3.15 GAA. Next it his teammate Tom Butera with 4.20 GAA, and Mike Smollen of Saints-4.90 GAA&hellip;Mark Korosic of Shields is the top penalty-getter with 100 minutes.</p><h2><b>American League</b></h2><p>Framingham won the American Jr. Hockey League regular season title with a 23-10-7 record and 53 points. Beverly was close with 48 points, followed by MassConn-46 and Maine with 44 points&hellip;A pair of Maine players ran off with the scoring title. Dan Mathieu posted a 70-50 mark for 120 points, followed by Steve Sabine with 43-60 for 103 points. Closest was Don Duchesne of MassConn with 74 points. A pair of Framingham players were next, Jamie Lord-73 and John McAvoy-72. Bob McKenzie of Beverly had 64, as did Bob Hess of MassConn and Bill Ferguson of MassConn. Steve Bellio of Beverly had 63 points.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0039-01

OTHER FEATURES

JUNIOR JOTTINGS

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><p>NEW YORK&mdash;</p><p>Jean Guy Talbot was in tears in the New York Rangers dressing room after the Buffalo Sabres had eliminated his young men, 4-1, in the third game of their best-of-three opening round playoff.</p><p>&ldquo;They beat us fair and square,&rdquo; said Talbot, in a barely audible voice. &ldquo;I wish them luck.&rdquo;</p><p>In all likelihood, it was the swan song for the former Montreal Canadiens defenseman, who was selected by general manager John Ferguson as his coach last summer, after serving as the assistant the year before.</p><p>Garden sources indicate that Ferguson has been told to select another bench boss, one who can bring along the youthful talent the Rangers possess.</p><p>&ldquo;The experience gained in the playoffs will help the young guys on this team.&rdquo; said sophomore right wing Don Murdoch. &ldquo;You have to play 60 minutes of hockey in the playoffs, that&rsquo;s for sure, and there can&rsquo;t be any letups.&rdquo;</p><p>One rumor had Murdoch being traded to Toronto for Tiger Williams, but that seems rather far-fetched.</p><p>Dave Maloney, the youthful defenseman many feel is the real leader of the club, noted, &ldquo;Making the playoffs was a step in the right direction. But, we have a long way to go. We have good young players in Ron Duguay, Lucien DeBlois, Mario Marois, Ron Greschner and Pat Hickey, but that talent has to be developed so that this team can mature. The nucleus is there.&rdquo;</p><p>The rumors of a trade involving captain Phil Esposito continue to swirl, but the big guy observed, with some bite, &ldquo;Those rumors are all started by the New York press. No one has said anything to me.&rdquo;</p><p>Any realistic evaluation of the Rangers must start with their porous defense, which allowed 280 goals, one more than the attack scored. That is an improvement over last season&rsquo;s horrendous 310 goals against. Two years back, in 1975-76. they reached their nadir, with 333 goals against. In 1974-75, the last time they reached the playoffs before this season, they allowed 276 goals&mdash;a figure close to the 280 total of this season.</p><p>Maloney is a solid asset, a player whose plus-minus figures are near the top of the NHL. Ron Greschner moves the puck very well, and scores like a forward. Greschner totaled 24-48-72, and was the third highest point man on the team behind only Esposito and Hickey.</p><p>Dave Farrish had a bad first half, went to New Haven and bounced back with a solid job as a regular in February and March. He hits pretty well, but is not an offensive threat, and has some defensive problems, too.</p><p>Vadnais has disappointed fans, and management alike since he arrived on the New York scene as part of &ldquo;The Trade&rdquo; in which Brad Park and Jean Ratelle went to Boston in November of 1975. His 1977-78 totals. 6-40-46 speak volumes, and his low rated plus-minus also tells a tale. Ferguson, most likely, will trade him.</p><p>One player, who would like to play for the Rangers and might prove to be an asset, is Jean Potvin, Denis&rsquo; older brother, now with the Cleveland Barons. Potvin plays the point well, can play right wing and is a right handed shooting defenseman.</p><p>Don Awrey and Dallas Smith, part of the lost legion in 1977-78, are almost assuredly gone. Marois, a young defenseman, will get a chance to work onto the roster next year in pre-season.</p><p>Amongst the forwards, Hickey&rsquo;s 40-goal season was a super accomplishment, Hitch is a likely candidate for left wing with Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg next fall.</p><p>With the advent of Nilsson, as one of the centers, Walt Tkaczuk, the team&rsquo;s 1977-78 MVP, and Esposito on the roster, it appears certain that either Espo or Wayne Dillon will move. Dillon proved his worth in the stretch run, taking a regular turn after Duguay was moved to right wing. With Nilsson, Tkaczuk, Esposito and Dillon around, changes are inevitable.</p><p>When the season began, the Rangers right wingers included Murdoch, Rod Gilbert, Bill Goldsworthy, Ken Hodge and DeBlois. At the end they were DeBlois, Murdoch and Duguay with occasional help from the very willing Mark Heaslip.</p><p>&ldquo;Duguay is going to be a star,&rdquo; observed Ferguson. &ldquo;Right wing appears to be his position.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011026/4146104-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="565" height="1097"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JEAN GUY TALBOT&hellip;On The Way Out?</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0002-01

Ranger Coaching Change Rumored As Club Seeks To Improve Defense

<div class="byline">RY BILL LIBBY</div><p>LOS ANGELES&mdash;</p><p>Eight months after Ron Stewart was introduced as the Kings&rsquo; coach for years to come and eight days after Stewart&rsquo;s team concluded what owner Jack Kent Cooke called a &ldquo;bitterly disappointing&rdquo; season by losing the playoffs in two games, Bob Berry was introduced as the new Kings&rsquo; coach for years to come.</p><p>Berry follows Red Kelly, Hal Laycoe, Johnny Wilson, Larry Regan, Fred Glover, Bob Pulford, and Stewart as the eighth coach in the 11-year history of the team. Since Pulford stayed five seasons, the other six averaged about one season each.</p><p>Stewart, fired in mid-season of his first season as Ranger coach, now has been fired twice in two seasons as an NHL coach, both within the last three years.</p><p>Since he still has a second season remaining on his contract, he probably will remain as director of player personnel, a post he held with the Rangers, and replace George Maguire as chief scout.</p><p>The Kings did not have a full-time scout this season, but they don&rsquo;t have any draft picks, either. They do have their picks for next season, however.</p><p>Simply by serving as host of the April 21 presentation of Berry as the new coach. Maguire&rsquo;s position as manager for a second season was confirmed.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02930/4146135-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="560" height="655"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BOB BERRY&hellip;Kings&rsquo; New Coach</b></figcaption></div><p>Berry, who was 34 in November, becomes the youngest coach in the NHL. His appointment marks a dramatic turn of fortune from the start of the season when, having fallen in disfavor as a player, he was, to his deep disappointment, demoted to Springfield to serve out the remaining year in his $90,000-a-season contract in the minor American League.</p><p>Late in the season he was named player-coach and took the team to a 9-4-3 record before being beaten out in the playoffs by a Nova Scotia club coached by another ex-King, Frank St. Marseille. Berry received a two-year contract at a cut in pay, but coaches aren&rsquo;t paid like players.</p><p>&ldquo;I have been thinking of coaching since I slowed down as a player. I want to stay in the game,&rdquo; Berry remarked.</p><p>He played professionally 10 years, seven with the Kings, and held several scoring and longevity records when sent down.</p><p>He was a smart player, rather than an aggressive one, and may have trouble winning public support.</p><p>Attendance declined this season as the fans turned on Stewart. Ron blamed members of the media, who, he said, were out to get him.</p><p>Ron admitted he made mistakes, underestimating Pulford&rsquo;s popularity and shuffling players too freely.</p><p>The players, press, and public never gave him a chance.</p><p>Popular with players and the press, Berry hopes to swing weight with six key free-agents who might leave.</p><p>A class guy, Bob is bright enough to become a fine coach.</p><p>He has a lively wife Lynn, her daughters, Gina, 13, and Cori. nine, and their son, Brad, prematurely born during the 1977 playoffs, but thriving. They never sold their Palos Verdes home, used by Garry Simmons this past season. Now Gary will have to give it back.</p><p>Stewart and his wife Linda didn&rsquo;t move into a new home in Valencia until late&rsquo; in the season and even now a swimming pool is being built.</p><p>To the last, he hoped to be back, but fellows like he and Berry take coaching jobs when they are offered although they know they are jobs of jeapordy, performed under dreadful pressure.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0002-02

Stewart’s Reign Ended As Kings Install Berry

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE HALPIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011033/4146218-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Edmonton&rsquo;s Glen Sather has performed a superlative coaching job this season considering the player injuries he has had to contend with. It was his first full season as a pro hockey coach.</b></figcaption></div><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p>When Marc Tardif lay motionless in a Quebec City hospital two years ago there was much speculation about his hockey future.</p><p>After all, hockey players who incur serious head injuries don&rsquo;t quickly come back to play. Some never make it back. Others become timid and their quality of play becomes suspect.</p><p>But some display untold determination and make it back. Like Marc Tardif of the Quebec Nordiques, who defied the cynics who said he was done for as a professional after having his skull cracked by an errant hockey stick wielded by one Rick Jodzio, then of the Calgary Cowboys.</p><p>This season, Tardif continued his sensational return to the pro ranks. In fact, he so dominated the WHA scene that he was readily the choice as the best player in the league this season. The editors of THE HOCKEY NEWS agreed and promptly selected the high-scoring left winger of the Nordiques as their choice for player of the year in their fifth annual awards.</p><p>Tardif&rsquo;s selection as the No. 1 player in the WHA climaxed a most successful year for the talented Nordique, who went on to score a record 154 points and a career high of 65 goals in an awesome display of offense for the Quebecers.</p><p>While Tardif was the outstanding player choice, Glen Sather of the Edmonton Oilers was picked as the man who did the best coaching job in the WHA this season with the material he had at his disposal. No pro hockey coach encountered the injuries that faced Sather in his first full season at the helm of the Oilers and still managed to lead his team into the post-season playoff round.</p><p>The editors of THE HOCKEY NEWS returned to an old-time precedent when they picked WHA president Howard Baldwin and Larry Gordon, the league&rsquo;s executive director, as the co-recipients of the outstanding executive of the year award. In the early days of their NHL awards, they chose Al Leader, then the head of the old Western Hockey League, as their best executive and this season, the decision to pick Baldwin and Gordon reflects on the highly efficient job these two hockey executives performed in the course of directing the fortunes of the WHA.</p><p>Tardif&rsquo;s selection as player of the year was his second in the last three seasons and allowed him to join such select WHA performers as Anders Hedberg, Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe as past winners of the award.</p><p>The Nordiques live or die by Tardif&rsquo;s scoring production much like the Montreal Canadiens depend on Guy Lafleur. Tardif hasn&rsquo;t let the Quebec team down and if the Nordiques manage to make it past Houston and into the WHA semi-finals against New England, much of the load will have to be carried by the 30-year-old league scoring champ.</p><p>Sather&rsquo;s performance behind the Edmonton bench this season was truly a tribute to his ability to manipulate players. Once he was overtaken by serious injuries to several of his key players, notably, his defensemen, he quickly improvised and brought the Oilers into the playoffs. Losing All Star rearguard and team captain Al Hamilton for the season was a bitter blow to Sather and the Oilers, but he didn&rsquo;t falter as Edmonton, with a rash of last-minute replacements, battled off a stretch challenge from Birmingham and Cincinnati to gain fifth place.</p><p>The selection of Baldwin and Gordon came during a year when both men had been prominent in various stages of negotiations to keep the WHA afloat. Baldwin, who wears two hats as WHA president and the managing general partner of the New England Whalers, served as the league&rsquo;s go-between with the NHL in attempts to bring about a merger last summer. Baldwin has always maintained a high level of enthusiasm for the WHA and contends the league is here to stay no matter what happens with the NHL.</p><p>Named THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; top executive for 1976-77, Baldwin returns this season to share the award with Gordon.</p><p>Baldwin, who is pro hockey&rsquo;s youngest president at age 35, is a moving force behind the WHA and he has maintained the league will be more aggressive in its future dealings with players and the rival NHL. He insists the WHA will be back at the same level doing business next year and if changes are needed to make the league more viable, he intends to carry them out.</p><p>Gordon has contributed in no small way to the WHA&rsquo;s growth in both attendance and stability. His stem, yet tactful and fair leadership, has been a big plus for the WHA.</p><p>Appointed to the top administrative post in the WHA last July, Gordon has been responsible for approving player signings and transactions, doling out league discipline, and keeping the WHA&rsquo;s profile on a high level on both the international and domestic scene.</p><p>The 39-year-old attorney and ex-minor league player has a wealth of experience in hockey and all professional sports. His career includes a stint as licensing agent for the Boston Bruins, marketing director for all of Nick Mileti&rsquo;s Cleveland based teams&mdash;the Cavaliers (NBA), the Crusaders (WHA), and the Indians (baseball).</p><p>In 1974 he was named vice president of WHA Properties, and promptly negotiated licensing contracts in the lucrative European and Japanese markets. Beginning in 1975, Gordon, along with Ben Hatskin, proved to be tough negotiators on the international scene. Through these negotiations, the WHA was soon competing on a global basis, including games at home against the top European teams which counted for points in league standings.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04361/4146211-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="497" height="1972"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MARC TARDIF&hellip;Remarkable Comeback</b></figcaption></div><p>In addition to overseeing the day to day business and hockey operations of the league, Gordon is a member of the Board of Hockey Canada, chairs meetings of the owner-player council, and serves as corporate secretary of the board of trustees of the WHA.</p><p>Gordon is known as a superb organizer and doer. He blames many of today&rsquo;s hockey problems on the lack of direction, dedication, and experience at the front office level.</p><p>Together with Baldwin, Gordon has brought the management leadership, which has allowed the WHA to complete its sixth season without a franchise failure or move, and in fact, the WHA has shown an attendance increase of 6.1 percent despite the tragic building disaster in Hartford.</p><h2><b>Shared Executive Award&hellip;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02888/4146204-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="779" height="1040"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>LARRY GORDON</b></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03601/4146197-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="760" height="1049"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>HOWARD BALDWIN</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>NEWS&rsquo; AWARDS WINNERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-05204/4146190-1-eng-US/f0003-052.jpg" title="f0003-05" width="1174" height="356"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0003-01

Tardif Selected Player Of The Year; Sather, Gordon, Baldwin Win Honors

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011084/4146277-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="471" height="477"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b><i>Ken McKenzie&rsquo;s</i></b></figcaption></div><p>&#9679; <b>HARRY NEALE</b> appears to have the inside track for the Minnesota North Stars coaching job and Glen Sonmor could become the team&rsquo;s head scout. Neale is currently with New England Whalers and Sonmor with the Birmingham Bulls&hellip;New York Rangers will announce their new coach any day now&hellip;Los Angeles Kings made a wise choice in selecting Bob Berry as their new coach. Berry, 32, is the youngest coach in the NHL, and one of the brightest mentors to come along for a while&hellip; When Ted Lindsay, Detroit general manager, was informed that Canadiens were charging $17.50 for their top seats to the playoff games, he replied: &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t pay $17.50 to see any hockey game. That&rsquo;s just gouging the fans&rdquo;&hellip;Bobby Kromm, Detroit&rsquo;s excellent coach, selected Montreal&rsquo;s Guy Lafleur as the finest right winger he&rsquo;s ever seen. A number of present-day hockey writers and broadcasters are also getting on Lafleur&rsquo;s bandwagon&hellip; When Greg Joly fractured his left wrist and was lost for the balance of the playoffs, the Red Wings suffered a major loss. The same thing to Toronto when Borje Salming was sidelined due to a badly-cut eye. Gary Dornhoefer, Philadelphia veteran, is another who has missed playoff games. Dornhoefer is suffering from a bursitis infection in his elbow&hellip;Bobby Smith, Ottawa 67s outstanding center, will be the No. 1 draft pick of Minnesota next month. Smith was selected as the top player in the OHA. He is reported to be hockey&rsquo;s next super star&hellip;Looks like Philadelphia Flyers hit the playoffs in peak form, and Fred Shero, the wily coach, is getting maximum effort out of his charges&hellip;Boston&rsquo;s four-game sweep over Chicago makes the Bruins a top choice to meet Canadiens in the Stanley Cup finals.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021039/4146270-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="289" height="442"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Harry Neale</b></figcaption></div><p>&#9679; <b>MIKE BOSSY,</b> the Islanders great rookie scoring sensation is proving he&rsquo;s just as good during the Stanley Cup playoffs as he was during the regular schedule. His overtime game-winning goal against Toronto in their series was a fine illustration of his amazing goal-scoring sense&hellip; Another member of the Islanders who has played brilliantly for his club during the playoffs against Toronto has been Stefan Persson, a Swedish player who hails from the same part of that country as Borje Salming. He&rsquo;s only 23 now and will possibly end up a better all-around performer than Salming. Persson, like Salming, is tall and thin and resembles him in many ways. Persson claims that Salming&rsquo;s outstanding contribution to NHL play made the move to North American that much easier for other Swedish players to make the grade on this side of the ocean&hellip;Maine Mariners proved to be the finest and most successful first-year operation in the minor pro leagues this season. The Mariners prospered on the ice and at the box office. Attendance passed the 190,000 mark this year and averaged over 4,650 a game, which is indeed remarkable for the Portland, Maine area&hellip;Jim Coleman, the astute and usually accurate columnist of the Southam Newspaper chain of Canada, thinks that political pressure will be put to the heads of the NHL to accept Winnipeg, Edmonton and Quebec into the National League. In order to do this money must be allocated by the various provincial and federal government agencies to enable Winnipeg and Quebec to enlarge or rebuild their present arenas and thus increase the seating capacity to NHL standards.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03934/4146263-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="298" height="436"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Stefan Persson</b></figcaption></div><p>&#9679; <b>HOWARD BALDWIN, WHA</b> president, assured everyone that the World Hockey Association will start the 1978-79 season with the same eight teams it had during the past season. The WHA will be taking a different attitude towards signing juniors this year according to Baldwin. The signing of underage kids is once again a possibility he says&hellip;Houston Aeros recently hosted two young juniors from the Portland Winter Hawks. The Aeros are seeking to sign defenseman Larry Playfair and left winger Paul Mulvey. They are two of the juniors Houston named in the WHA&rsquo;s earlier &ldquo;special designation draft&rdquo;&hellip;Six members of the Los Angeles Kings played out their options this past season and several of them are expected to move elsewhere. It&rsquo;s rumored that Butch Goring will move to Vancouver&hellip;Hockey observers feel that Glen Hanlon, Vancouver&rsquo;s talented young goalie, is the best netminder to hit the major leagues in years&hellip;The CTV television network will again feature exclusive television coverage of the World Cup championships from Prague. CTV&rsquo;s on-air team will be headed by Johnny Esaw, vice president CTV Sports and co-hosts Bill Stephenson, Bernie Pascall and Tom Watt. The CTV network is the leader in international hockey coverage in Canada&hellip;Stefan Persson of the New York Islanders became only the third NHL rookie to score 50 assists in a season. Oddly enough, the other two are currently with the Islanders. Jude Drouin was the first to do it when he played for Minnesota, and Bryan Trottier is still record-holder with 63&hellip;Lou Vairo, newly appointed program director of the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States has been named head coach of the 1979 U.S. National Junior Hockey team which will play in Sweden in December.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04832/4146256-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="282" height="444"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Johnny Esaw</b></figcaption></div><p>&#9679; <b>AFTER SUCH A</b> disappointing first year as coach of the Los Angeles Kings, it was no surprise that Ron Stewart was fired. General manager George Maguire, though, will likely be retained &hellip; After firing Orland Kurtenbach of the Vancouver Canucks as coach, Jake Milford, the club&rsquo;s general manager, said a strange thing. Milford said: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m to blame for the failures, too. but I still have a year left on my contract to prove myself.&rdquo;&hellip;Kurtenbach had two years left on his&hellip; Kevin O&rsquo;Brien, the Colorado Rockies&rsquo; first-year publicity director impressed the Philadelphia writers with his thorough preparation and service for the Rockies&rsquo; first playoff game&hellip; Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; left winger Dave (Tiger) Williams was ejected from a game during the last week of the regular schedule and had a chance to broadcast part of the third period of the Leafs-Pittsburgh game over Toronto&rsquo;s CKFH. Most broadcasters refer to the dropping of the puck to start play as &ldquo;From the faceoff.&rdquo; Williams did it this way: &ldquo;They&rsquo;re off.&rdquo;&hellip; A minor hockey linesman in Calgary was supended from officiating for the rest of the season by the Alberta Hockey Referees Association. The reason for the suspension was that he allegedly made a $1 bet on the outcome of a midget game in March&hellip;Krazy George, the Colorado Rockies&rsquo; drum-beating cheerleader, visited the Flyers&rsquo; dressing room after they clinched the opening round series over Colorado. A couple of years ago the Flyers would have wrapped George&rsquo;s drum around his neck. But everyone was smiling this time.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05693/4146249-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="290" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Jake Milford</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0004-01

COLUMNISTS

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">BY RUSS WHITE</div><p>WASHINGTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>here were no champagne bottles being opened, no back-slapping and very little commotion. The players gave &ldquo;hip-hip-hoorays&rdquo; for the three stars of the final night of the season and then a sincere hooray for coach Tom McVie.</p><p>The Washington Capitals&rsquo; fourth hockey season was history.</p><p>By winning, 4-2 over the Atlanta Flames, the Caps closed with their first three-game win streak of what was a long, disappointing season. No other National Hockey League team closed with three straight wins.</p><p>Yet, the Capitals 17-49-14 record was the second worst in the league, three points better than the Minnesota North Stars, who managed to win one more game in an 18-53-9 season.</p><p>Thus, the North Stars will get the first pick in this year&rsquo;s amateur draft.</p><p>&ldquo;It may not seem like the Washington Capitals made any headway,&rdquo; McVie said, &ldquo;but we did. Half the battle is over in this town. There are no quitters on the Washington Capitals hockey club.&rdquo; McVie said that, &ldquo;there could have been a real mess&rdquo; had the Capitals lost heart and quit.</p><p>Instead the Capitals lost only one of their last seven games and that one was a 3-2 defeat when Mike Bossy scored with five seconds to go in a game at the Nassau Coliseum.</p><p>Gerry Meehan, the veteran center, scored his 18th and 19th goals in the finale against Atlanta and talked about the club&rsquo;s surge in the homestretch. Meehan was among the players who felt that McVie&rsquo;s job was in jeopardy and that this was the worst thing that had occurred in the long season. Meehan suggested strongly that the Caps had rallied for their coach.</p><p>&ldquo;I really believe that each one of us went out to do his best for his sake in the final games,&rdquo; Meehan said.</p><p>Bob Sirois, a 24-goalscorer, added: &ldquo;At no time did we work harder and appreciate Tom McVie as we did in the final games.&rdquo;</p><p>Guy Charron ended up with 38 goals, two more than his club record the previous year and was chosen as the team&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player for a second straight season.</p><p>Robert Picard was chosen as the club&rsquo;s top rookie and top defenseman.</p><p>Goalie Jim Bedard, who played in 43 of the 58 games by the team after he reported from Hershey on Dec. 2, and had a 3.68 goals-against average. Having worn No. 31 all year, Bedard requested No. 1 for next year. &ldquo;I believe I have gained the players&rsquo; confidence and I want to do even more next year,&rdquo; said Bedard.</p><p>Ace Bailey, Yvon Labre and Billy Collins have played out their contracts with the Caps and have to be re-signed or be declared free agents. Dave Forbes has entered the option year of his contract but is close to signing a new pact.</p><p>Mike Marson and Tom Rowe played excellent hockey in the last two weeks and are being counted on for next year. Marson suddenly started clicking with his passes and all-around play. Rowe, one of the fastest skaters and best shots, ended with 13 goals, five of them in the last six games.</p><p>The Caps finally cleared their payroll of a dozen players who cost them an estimated $1 million in salaries last year but did not appear even once with the major league team. Among them: Murray Anderson, Gordie Brooks, Ron Jones, Paul Nicholson, Brian Kinsella, Bill Mikkelson and Don MacLean.</p><p>Me Vie said he was definitely staying on in Washington despite rumors he might go to New York to join old friend John Ferguson.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not leaving,&rdquo; McVie said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m proud to be part of Abe Pollin&rsquo;s Washington Capitals. I&rsquo;m not interested in any other job and no one has talked to me. The only way Mr. Pollin would ever get rid of me is tell me that I&rsquo;m not wanted.&rdquo;</p><p>The Caps averaged almost 11,000 per game, around 500 more a game than Pollin&rsquo;s Washington Bullets basketball team. There are still someseason ticket holders who won&rsquo;t renew Caps&rsquo; hockey for next year but the club&rsquo;s fine finish prompted many to keep the faith.</p><p>The Caps were 10-23-7 at home this year, nowhere near last year&rsquo;s 17-15-8 pace.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-06413/4146308-1-eng-US/f0004-062.jpg" title="f0004-06" width="545" height="839"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GERRY MEEHAN&hellip;Rallied For Coach</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0004-06

THE NHL

Flourish At End Proved Capitals Were Not Quitters

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011115/4146370-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="334" height="470"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>H</span>OCKEY NEWS columnist Bob Verdi compares hockey goalers with baseball pitchers&mdash;they rarely if ever win the top awards. But here he makes a pitch for the maligned puck stoppers and outlines his choices for the forthcoming NHL awards and why they should win them.</b></p><h2><b>NHL Awards Time</b></h2><p><b>IT&rsquo;S AWARD TIME</b> in the National Hockey League, which has the biggest cage of trophies in professional sports.</p><p>Ballots have been collected from members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, and before all votes are announced in May, the league will have saluted everybody but the least dangerous trainer, most titillating organist and worst-dressed reporter. The latter contest, presumably, would be too close to call.</p><p>Before we leave for Japan, in an excursion suggested by readers from Denver to Washington, may we provide the categories, the candidates, and the reasons?</p><p>HART TROPHY: The Montreal Canadiens might not have been the same without Kenny Dryden, the Black Hawks might not even have won the rancid Smythe Division without Tony Esposito and the Buffalo Sabres are sending out nice little buttons urging you to vote for Don Edwards.</p><p>But goalies seldom win the Hart Trophy for the same reason that pitchers don&rsquo;t win the most valuable player award in baseball all that often&mdash;they have an award of their own, the Vezina Trophy, which belongs to Dryden and Bunny Larocque on numbers. The last goalie to win the Hart was Jacques Plante of the 1962 Habs.</p><p>Guy Lafleur of the Canadiens likely will receive the most Hart support; not only did he lead the NHL in scoring, but he is being properly recognized as a two-way player. New York Islander center Bryan Trottier, Toronto&rsquo;s Darryl Sittler, maybe even Boston&rsquo;s Terry O&rsquo;Reilly will score heavily. Best bet: Lafleur.</p><h2><b>Calder Knotty Problem</b></h2><p><b>CALDER TROPHY:</b> A real knotty problem for voters. The best rookie is logically Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders, a flame-throwing right wing who scored more goals than any other rookie in history.</p><p>But Edwards, too, qualifies because he played &ldquo;only&rdquo; 25 games for the Sabres last season, the maximum number permitted before a man is suddenly a sophomore.</p><p>&ldquo;If real hockey people were voting, Edwards would win hands down,&rdquo; barked Sabres&rsquo; general manager Punch Imlach. Hmm. Punch once considered the Writers Association real enough to be a card-carrying member; during his year off from real hockey, he wrote a real column.</p><p>Colorado&rsquo;s Barry Beck has been an outstanding first-year defenseman, as has Chicago&rsquo;s Doug Wilson. Others will reap scattered votes: Detroit&rsquo;s Dale McCourt, for instance. Best bet: Bossy.</p><p><b>NORRIS TROPHY:</b> Bestowed to the defenseman who demonstrates greatest &ldquo;all-around ability at that position.&rdquo; This will be close. Montreal has incumbent winner Larry Robinson, plus Guy Lapointe and Serge Savard. Toronto&rsquo;s Borje Salming will score high, as will Boston&rsquo;s Brad Park and New York Islanders Denis Potvin. The latter did just about everything right this season, and he did it before the best audience possible&mdash;New York, which, because it has two teams, gets twice as many votes. Ergo, best bet: Potvin.</p><p><b>LADY BYNG TROPHY:</b> This is not a Goody Two-Shoes award for the man who commits the fewest infractions. But history says that if there&rsquo;s a lady in a hockey player&rsquo;s future, he must keep his act clean.</p><p>This season, Montreal&rsquo;s Jacques Lemaire was productive but not destructive. Ditto Boston&rsquo;s Pete McNab, Bossy, Gil Perreault of the Sabres, Guy Charron of the Capitals, among others. But the best bet: Butch Goring of the Los Angeles Kings.</p><h2><b>All Star Teams</b></h2><p><b>SELKE AWARD:</b> A new monument to the best defensive forward, this comes at a strange time. The NHL just instituted a plus-minus system whereby the better defensive forwards can be penalized for being with the better teams. Right, Bob Gainey, Montreal? Competition will come from Don Marcotte of Boston, and Craig Ramsay of Buffalo, but the best bet: Marcotte.</p><p><b>FIRST ALL STAR TEAM:</b> Dryden in goal, Potvin and Park on defense, Trottier at center for Lafleur on right wing and Clark Gillies on the left wing.</p><p><b>SECOND TEAM:</b> Maybe Esposito in goal, Salming and Savard on defense with Sittler pivoting for left wing Steve Shutt of Montreal and Toronto&rsquo;s Lanny McDonald.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02857/4146363-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="787" height="1321"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Goaler Ken Dryden may be more valuable to the Canadiens than Guy Lafleur says Bob Verdi. But what chance does he have of winning the Hart Trophy? Says, Verdi, likely none.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce Bonnett)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0006-01

HOCKEY TALK

<div class="byline">BY RICH PASSAN</div><p>CLEVELAND&mdash;</p><p>If Jeff Allan had wanted to see the United States, he would have become a Greyhound bus driver. Or airplane pilot. Or railroad conductor.</p><p>As it was, he became a hockey player and saw plenty of the U.S. anyway.</p><p>In fact, the big defenseman saw more of the U.S. in his first professional season than most players see in a lifetime.</p><p>At the tender age of 20, the Toronto native grew up quickly by playing for five teams in five cities in five different leagues. Not bad for a neophyte, eh?</p><p>And he missed the first two months of the season by tearing up a knee before the beginning of the season.</p><p>Right now, the six-foot-two, 200-pounder is property of the Cleveland Barons in a very circuitous way.</p><p>He originally was drafted six (in the 1977 amateur draft) by the Barons and fourth by the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association.</p><p>The Barons offered a tryout, but no guarantees. The Stingers made some guarantees. Off to Cincinnati for Allan. It made sense.</p><p>Soon, though, he found himself with the Hampton Gulls of the American Hockey League for more experience. A short while later, the Gulls folded. Allan wanted no more of the Cincy organization.</p><p>He gave Cleveland general manager Harry Howell a call. Off to Phoenix of the Central Hockey League went Allan to play for the Barons&rsquo; farm club there. A dozen games later, that franchise folded, too.</p><p>The young man must have thought he was walking around under a black cloud all the time.</p><p>Howell immediately dispatched the bewildered youngster to Toledo of the International Hockey League, a seemingly more permanent spot for the rest of the season.</p><p>Not quite.</p><p>The Barons ran into injury problems on defense and Howell wanted to take a look at the young man, who likes to use the body.</p><p>When he reported, Allan professed to be nervous. It took him one game to lose those nerves. But it took him less than one shift to throw his weight around.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to use my size and clear guys out in front of the net,&rdquo; said Allan, who has been instructed to work on the defensive aspect of his game. He doesn&rsquo;t need much work with the offense.</p><p>Allan, who could not avoid the traditional rookie shaving at two of his stops, sported the Marines Corps boot camp look when he reported to the parent club.</p><p>One area in which Allan can definitely help is protection. In a game with Chicago, Black Hawks&rsquo; defenseman Keith Magnuson roughed up Mike Crombeen of theBarons well after the whistle.</p><p>First man on the scene, although he had to get there from the point, was Allan, making sure nothing was going to happen. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how he (Magnuson) plays,&rdquo; said Allan.</p><p>After the regular season ended, Allan headed back for Toledo to resume his place along the back line for Ted Garvin&rsquo;s Goaldiggers.</p><p>The coming summer will be one Allan will take full advantage of to recover. Playing for five teams in five cities in five leagues is not easy to do.</p><p>It will not be easy for Allan to recommend professional hockey as a career to his ambitious friends. Chances are, however, he would not change a thing if he had to do it over again.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03577/4146401-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="552" height="1467"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JEFF ALLAN&hellip;He Gets Around</b></figcaption></div><p><b>BARONS&rsquo; BITS:</b> Dennis Maruk took the top offensive honors for the 1977-78 Barons, while Randy Holt set a club record in penalty minutes&hellip;Greg Smith and Al MacAdam were the only Barons to play in all 80 games this season&hellip;The Barons&rsquo; averaged around 5.600 patrons per game this season, <i>a</i> drop of about 400 a game from last season.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0006-03

Barons Fifth Ice Stop In Single Campaign For Hockey Neophyte

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03843/4146470-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>CRAIG RAMSAY&hellip;Led Sabres&rsquo; Plus-Minus</b></figcaption></div><p>BUFFALO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he best thing about the end of the regular season for the Buffalo Sabres, other than the fact that they discovered how to win again, was the reunion of the Don Luce&mdash;Craig Ramsay-Danny Gare line.</p><p>Gare, the team captain, missed the last nine regular-season games because of a knee injury. The Sabres won only three of those games, including the last two.</p><p>Those last two figured to be very important. when viewed from an early-season standpoint, but they turned out to be meaningless because Boston, the first opponent, already had clinched the Adams Division title and Toronto, the second, was too far behind the second-place Sabres for the game to matter.</p><p>That&rsquo;s why Gare, who might have been able to play against the Maple Leafs, sat out that one last game, to make sure he was ready for the playoffs.</p><p>Even though Danny missed 11 games during the season through injury, he finished as the club&rsquo;s second-leading goal scorers, with 39. Only Gil Perreault&rsquo;s 41 was higher.</p><p>The Luce&mdash;Ramsay&mdash;Gare line topped the club both in goals, with 93, and in plusminus (Sabres&rsquo; ratings) with a plus total of 101.</p><p>Ramsay, the club iron man, ran his consecutive regular-season game streak to 401 and led the club in plus-minus with a plus-37.</p><p>Under the National Hockey League&rsquo;s new revised system of plus-minus, Ramsay also led the club, with a plus-10 in the latest ratings released by the league.</p><p>Ramsay led the league in shorthanded goals, with five, as he and Don Luce set the pace in making the Sabres the best penalty-killing team in the NHL. The Sabres allowed just 31 power play goals in 218 times short for an 85.6 percent average. That also was a club record for fewest power play goals given up in a season.</p><p>Ramsay scored the most goals. 28, of any of his seven seasons in the league. He was fourth on the Sabre scoring list, after Perreault, Gare and Rene Robert.</p><p>Ramsay is deceptively frail looking for a team iron man. He weighs only about 175 pounds during the season, often less, and has a bad stomach that keeps him watching his diet.</p><p>He has had an assortment of ailments and injuries but none has kept him playing in a scheduled game. Off the ice he is a slow-moving individual, usually last out of the dressing room and last to make it from the plane to the bus on trips.</p><p>But on the ice, Rammer is just fast enough to check the opposition all over the ice and to break away when Luce gets him the puck during an opposition power play.</p><p>The French Connection actually scored one more goal during the 1977-78 season than the Luce line but Gil Perreault. Rick Martin and Rene Robert didn&rsquo;t play together much. They started the season as a unit, then had the line broken up in late November to gain more scoring balance for the club.</p><p>Only at the end of the season did the high-scoring trio get together again. The three totaled 94 goals for the campaign. Perreault had 41 but Martin and Robert, both suffered serious injuries and had subpar years with 28 and 25, respectively.</p><p>The Connection&rsquo;s plus-minus total was plus 54.</p><p>The Andre Savard-Gary McAdam-Ric Seiling line, which was put together about mid-season and came to be known as the checking line, had each player end up with 19 goals.</p><p><b>ICE CHIPS:</b> Don Edwards, the Sabres&rsquo; 22-year-old rookie goalie, set an NHL record for minutes played by first-year netminders when he led the league&rsquo;s goaltenders with 4,209. The old record of 4,200 was set by Terry Sawchuk in 1950-51 and tied by Glenn Hall in 1955-56.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-03

Ramsay Line Back To Provide Buffalo With Playoff Spark

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011106/4146439-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="405" height="459"></div><h2><b><i>California Kid&hellip;</i></b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>T IS HARD</b> to believe, but a boy from sunny southern California can find fame, fortune, and happiness on the ice of the National Hockey League. Peter Maxwell McNab is the son of Maxwell Douglas McNab, who played a few seasons in the National League, but spent most of his managing and coaching career in the minors in the Western League, before returning to the big leagues with Washington. Peter was born in Vancouver, but spent the formative part of his youth in San Diego.</p><p>It was a traumatic move Peter made at 10 when his father became boss of the long-gone Gulls. &ldquo;There was hardly any hockey when I got there. There was only one team for the kids and anyone under 18 could play for it. Younger guys had to keep up with older guys. And there weren&rsquo;t enough of us. Sometimes we&rsquo;d only have eight to 10 guys for a game,&rdquo; Peter recalls.</p><p>&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t get many games and the competition wasn&rsquo;t great. And we didn&rsquo;t put in much practice time. There weren&rsquo;t many local rinks and we had to take the ice time when we could get it, like long before dawn. A lot of guys didn&rsquo;t like that. Sometimes we were driven a long way to get in a game. We&rsquo;d drive three or four hours to play in the L.A. area.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02995/4146432-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="822" height="739"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Peter McNab may have been held back during his youth by a lack of Ice time In southern California, but the eon of Washington Caps&rsquo; GM Max McNab has been Boston Bruins&rsquo; leading goal-scorer the last two seasons.</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;A lot of parents put out a lot for us and 1&rsquo;m grateful to them. I was lucky that my dad had a hockey team. I could get on the ice a lot with the Gulls, but the fact is he didn&rsquo;t want me to get in the way of the players, so I usually skated alone before and after practice and spent a lot of time shooting at an empty net. I guess I got to be a good shooter this way.</p><p>He is a superior shooter, especially around the net, and Harry Sinden, manager of his Boston Bruins, says Peter reminds him of Phil Esposito, but Peter has not developed Phil&rsquo;s consistency. Nor is he as good a puckhandler and playmaker as Esposito, nor the checker a six-foot-three, 205-pounder should be. From San Diego, he went to Denver University, where he got to play fewer games in three seasons than some Canadian Juniors play in one season. At 26, after five seasons in the big leagues, he is still far behind much younger players in experience.</p><p><b>AT DENVER, HIS</b> coach was Murray Armstrong, and his assistant was the late Harry Ottenbreit, both of whom knew the elder McNab well. Ottenbreit once said, &ldquo;When Peter came to us he was so slow I never thought he&rsquo;d make it, but as it turned out he had ability.&rdquo; Armstrong said, &ldquo;He developed. He was strong and he had that good shot.&rdquo; The elder McNab says, &ldquo;If it hadn&rsquo;t been for the help he got at Denver, he&rsquo;d never have made it. He had ability, but he didn&rsquo;t have the background. He was big, but slow and awkward, and had to be developed.&rdquo;</p><p>He scored 78 goals in 90 games at Denver. Drafted by Buffalo, he scored 34 goals in 39 games at Cincinnati in the American League, but only three in 22 games with the Sabres in the National League in his first professional season. The next two seasons he scored 22 and 24 goals for the Sabres, despite shoulder and knee injuries, but Buffalo wasn&rsquo;t happy with him and he wasn&rsquo;t happy with Buffalo.</p><p>A free agent when his contract expired in the summer of 1976, Peter signed with Boston. The last two seasons he has led the Bruins with 38 and 41 goals. He gunned in five goals in last season&rsquo;s playoffs and figures to be a big gun for Boston in the current playoffs.</p><p>He could have signed with Washington and dad could have used him, but Max himself advised his son against it. &ldquo;He&rsquo;d had a hard time in Buffalo and I thought he might have a hard time in Washington, where I might be accused of playing favorites. He&rsquo;d have helped us, and we sure need help, but it was more important that he help himself. I&rsquo;m happier for his success than any I&rsquo;ve ever had, myself,&rdquo; Max says.</p><p>Peter says, &ldquo;I wish I could have helped Dad, but I took his advice. I had a good offer from Houston and I wish I could have played with the Howes, but dad thought it best I stay in the National League, so I went with Boston. Both of my coaches, Floyd Smith in Buffalo and Don Cherry in Boston, have been on me about becoming more of a checker, but I&rsquo;m not a good skater and I&rsquo;m not by nature a hitter. I was unhappy in Buffalo, but I learned a lot from the experience and I&rsquo;ve been happier in Boston, although my situation is similar.&rdquo;</p><p><b>INSTEAD OF PRAISING</b> players for what they are, coaches often criticize them for what they&rsquo;re not. Smith said, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a good all-around player so we let him go.&rdquo; Cherry says, &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t do all he could do, but he does do some good things.&rdquo; They say in Boston that Cherry would prefer 18 checkers to 18 Guy Lafleurs, but he has about 15 checkers so he hasn&rsquo;t yet traded McNab and about mid-season told him to just do what he does best. Manager Sinden sighs and says, &ldquo;He&rsquo;dbe one of the best if he had the experience Canadian kids get.&rdquo;</p><p>The California kid says, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sorry I grew up where I did. I lived the good life with the good weather with the beaches and all. I got to see big league sports besides hockey and got to play more different sports than most Canadians. I played football, basketball, and baseball in high school, and actually went to college on a baseball scholarship. However, while my dad didn&rsquo;t pressure me, I was headed for hockey all along.&rdquo;</p><p>He is a bright agreeable guy who is into Transcendental Meditation. He took a degree in Physical Education and a wife out of college. The former Diana Gibson is a former member of the Canadian national skiing team who continued her college studies in Buffalo and taught in Toronto and Buffalo before she settled down with her husband in suburban Andover Mass.</p><p>&ldquo;She&rsquo;s a better athlete than I am,&rdquo; he points out proudly. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s a great girl and I feel guilty that she&rsquo;s given up a lot for me. She used to take eight-hour round-trip drives to a teaching job so she &lsquo;nld continue to live with me. We&rsquo;ve been apart a lot, but now we&rsquo;re together. We hope to have a family and lead a good life, no matter what happens in hockey.&rdquo;</p><p>Peter, himself, is the oldest of Max and June&rsquo;s three sons. Michael is a law student at the University of San Diego. David is majoring in communications at the University of Wisconsin and has played goal at the school. Max says, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re proud of our family and as proud of one son as another, no matter that one is in hockey.&rdquo; In fact, he remembers being unhappy in Vancouver when Peter was eight, he sneaked into a between-periods shooting-contest for fans, won $300, and refused to return it. &ldquo;Whatever else he is, he always was a shooter,&rdquo; pop points out.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011067/4146501-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GARRY UNGER&hellip;Only Doing His Job</b></figcaption></div><p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;</p><p>Garry Unger is looking forward to taking his annual recess from the streak.</p><p>At season&rsquo;s end Unger had played in 803 consecutive games. He does not have to answer the bell for the 804th National Hockey League game for more than five months, although he has joined Team Canada for the World Championships in Prague.</p><p>During spring and summer Unger tends to think more about his NHL record of consecutive games. There is satisfaction in knowing your endurance is better than anybody else who ever played major-league hockey.</p><p>&ldquo;I hate to think about the streak during the season,&rdquo; Unger said. &ldquo;It ruins my game because you can start worrying about getting hurt. So far, it hasn&rsquo;t changed my game but it could.&rdquo;</p><p>Unger takes pride in the fact the streak does not include any token appearances. At times when he has been hurt he has played a full shift. He has a high tolerance for pain and considers hisstreak a part of his job.</p><p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t been hurt and haven&rsquo;t had reason to miss any games,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not doing more than what my job calls for. I don&rsquo;t want to miss a game, but if I miss a game with an injury and then start another streak, I&rsquo;d be doing my job.&rdquo;</p><p>The length of the streak is difficult to believe. About two weeks before the end of the season Unger completed 10 years without missing a, game. He now is more than two years past the previous record holder, Andy Hebenton, who played 630 straight games.</p><p>In his 800th game, which was the Blues&rsquo; final home game of the season, Unger celebrated by setting up two goals in a 3-1 win over the Cleveland Barons. He passed the puck out to Barry Gibbs for a goal on a shot from the point, and Unger&rsquo;s shot from the faceoff circle was deflected past goalie Gary Edwards by Gary Holt for the winning goal.</p><p>Unger led the Blues this season with 32 goals, 52 points, 10 power-play goals, five game-winning goals and three game-tying goals. The season was his seventh straight with 30 or more goals and 10th straight with 20 or more goals.</p><p>When Barclay Plager was named the Blues&rsquo; coach in February, Unger noted Plager is his 15th coach in the NHL. Although Unger was traded to the Blues in their fourth season, he has played for all 11 St. Louis coaches, Lynn Patrick, Al Arbour, Scotty Bowman, Sid Abel, Bill McCreary, Jean Guy Talbot, Lou Angotti, Garry Young, Emile Francis, Leo Boivin and Plager. Patrick and Arbour coached the Blues before Unger arrived but returned for second stints as St. Louis coaches.</p><p>&ldquo;I played for Punch Imlach in Toronto and Bill Gadsby, Ned Harkness and Doug Barkley in Detroit,&rdquo; Unger said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a total of 15.&rdquo;</p><p>All of those coaches kept Unger&rsquo;s streak intact. When Imlach sent Unger over the boards Feb. 24, 1968, he certainly did not realize what he was starting.</p><p>Unger played two or three shifts that night as the Leafs beat the Boston Bruins, 1-0. The game&rsquo;s only goal was scored by rookie Jim McKenny with assists by Murray Oliver and Bob Pulford.</p><p>Unger played with five teams that season. He started with London of the Ontario Hockey Association, then played nine games with Tulsa and five with Rochester before starting his NHL career with the Leafs. He played 10 games and was on the bench before the streak began Feb. 24.</p><p>&ldquo;The Leafs had plenty of centers,&rdquo; Unger said. &ldquo;They had Dave Keon, George Armstrong, Mike Walton and Pete Stemkowski. I was only 20-years-old, and they didn&rsquo;t need me. Besides, I didn&rsquo;t think sitting on the Leafs&rsquo; bench was any big deal; I wanted to go back to the minors and Play&rdquo;</p><p>After the first five games of the streak in a Toronto uniform, Unger was traded to Detroit along with Stemkowski, Frank Mahovlich and the rights to Carl Brewer for Paul Henderson, Floyd Smith, Norm Ullman and Doug Barrie.</p><p>Unger played 216 games in a Detroit uniform before he was traded with Wayne Connelly to the Blues for Red Berenson and Tim Ecclestone. The streak in a St. Louis uniform now is 582 games and counting.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0009-01

Time Off From 10-Year Streak Awaiting Unger After Prague

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011093/4146532-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div><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>Capitals&rsquo; Fans Show True Loyalty</b></h2><p>Let&rsquo;s give credit where credit is due. I doubt if the great hockey fans of Toronto and Montreal would turn out more than 10,000 strong night after night to see the likes of some of the players that have donned Washington Capitals&rsquo; jerseys the past few years. Like most successful sports towns that have been blessed with a winner year after year, they would not support a loser.</p><p>The Caps&rsquo; only hope is to work through the system, but does the system work? As far as the Caps are concerned they seem to be approaching the right combination. They now have such stellar players as (Guy) Charron and (Gerry) Meehan, and future stars such as (Jim) Bedard and (Robert) Picard to build with. That they never had before.</p><p>Granted there are a few problem teams, but if we had made the ultimatum 10 years ago that all teams must play .500 or be banished from the face of the earth, then Les Canadiens would be awfully lonely up there on their pedestal. They wouldn&rsquo;t even be able to play the Yankees.</p><p><b>NEIL RIORDAN,</b><br><b>Cockeysville, Md.</b></p><h2><b>Hedberg, Salming Overrated By Press</b></h2><p>I am writing in regard to the sad situation which exists between the Swedes and the press. In the WHA, Anders Hedberg has been built up to the extent that some put him right beside the incomparable Guy Lafleur as the best right winger in hockey. This comparison seems ridiculous enough alone but, when coupled with the fact that it is yet to be determined whether Hedberg is the best right wing in the WHA, the situation seems rather silly.</p><p>There is another right wing by the name of Real Cloutier of Quebec Nordiques who, finished ahead of Hedberg in scoring. He might be a better winger than Hedberg.</p><p>Does the press write many stories about him? No!! Does the press compare him to Lafleur, let alone Hedberg? No!! He is almost completely ignored. Another example concerns Quebec&rsquo;s other ace, Marc Tardif. He is a mile ahead in scoring but he is also brushed aside by the press. They Certainly Deserve More Coverage!! I am sure that I am speaking for others as well as myself.</p><p>I would also like to say that it is a mistake to think that Salming is the best defenseman in the NHL&mdash;let alone Toronto. As far as I am concerned, Robinson, Park, Potvin and, yes, Turnbull are all better. (Turnbull because of superior defense skills).</p><p><b>BRIAN BUSH,</b><br><b>Quesne&rsquo;, B.C.</b></p><h2><b>Black Hawk Fan Salutes GM Pulford</b></h2><p>I have been a Chicago Black Hawks fan all my life. Like any true-blue fan, I have seen many peaks and many valleys through the years. Bobby Hull leaving for the rival WHA, a few players retiring, and some players playing like they were retired.</p><p>Then came general manager-coach Bob Pulford. Pulford likes to build a team around draft choices so Pit Martin and Dennis Hull were both dealt away for &ldquo;future considerations.&rdquo; And if Pulford can come up with blue-chippers each year like Doug Wilson and Ted Bulley, it won&rsquo;t be long before the Hawks could become a very respectable team again.</p><p>Tony Esposito is still one of the top goaltenders in hockey! Stan Mikita is 38, but plays like 28. With Mikita&rsquo;s experience and an assistant coach like Bobby Orr, it just has to add a steady influence on the younger players. The Hawks have a very good nucleus of talent to build around. It might take a few years for them to become one of the elite of hockey, but they sure have a good start.</p><p>Hats Off to Bob Pulford. Keep up the good work.</p><p><b>JIM LOWE,</b><br><b>Fowler, Ind.</b></p><h2><b>Flyers Better Than Fleischman Says</b></h2><p>After reading Bill Fleischman&rsquo;s (p. 12 columnist) playoff predictions, I was appalled at his rating of Philadelphia&rsquo;s chances in post-season play.</p><p>It seems everyone loves to take pokes at the Flyers, notably because of their brawling reputation which they no longer deserve. So many people seem to have forgotten the talents of one of hockey&rsquo;s greatest goalies, Bernie Parent? I let this year&rsquo;s statistics speak for themselves.</p><p>Philly&rsquo;s cohesive defensive unit (second lowest goals-against total in the league), their balanced scoring attack led by Clarke, MacLeish and company, and most important of all, their team spirit and ability to perform in the clutch will carry them far higher than what Mr. Fleischman has predicted.</p><p>Finally I&rsquo;d like to see hockey&rsquo;s finest coach, Fred Shero, get the recognition he deserves in some form or another for revolutionizing the sport of hockey, turning it into one of the world&rsquo;s most exciting and interesting sports.</p><p><b>BOB McLEOD,</b><br><b>Brandon, Man.</b></p><h2><b>Lousy Management Made Rangers Pushovers</b></h2><p>Because of lousy management, the N.Y. Rangers have gone from Stanley Cup contenders in 1971-72, to the NHL pushovers they&rsquo;ve been the past few years. I am tempted to think that they have done it again with the Hedberg-Nilsson deal.</p><p>These two virtually unproven players have been handed the title of superstar along with 2.7 million dollars. How could they be superstars when they have been playing in a league of NHL outcasts and NHL hasbeens? How can you expect them to score as well in the NHL?</p><p>Hedberg may have his 115 points and Nilsson may have 120 going by the stats in the April 7 edition&mdash;but scoring goals is much easier in the WHA as can be seen by the fact that the WHA has allowed 2,354 goals-against, compared to the 1,665 goals scored against the top eight NHL teams. That&rsquo;s a difference of 689 goals! When you compare them to the worst NHL teams you see that the WHA has allowed only 50 less.</p><p>This deal also shows the weakness of the NHL front office. This type of thing&mdash;where teams can &lsquo;buy&rsquo; players&mdash;should have stopped when the draft system was installed. Yet there wasn&rsquo;t any intervention from the NHL when the Rangers slapped down their 2.7 million dollars.</p><p><b>LOU SATTERTHWAITE,</b><br><b>Peachree City, Ga.</b></p><h2><b>U.S. Juniors As Good As Canadians</b></h2><p>I feel that it is unfair that junior hockey players in Canada are rated above those in the United States. I know there are many talented hockey players in Canada, but there are also some fine young players in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and a few other states.</p><p>I am happy that lately there have been more young players coming out of the U.S. into the NHL, like Mike Milbury, Bob Miller and Bill Nyrop.</p><p>I would like to play in the NHL some day and since NHL scouts are beginning to scout here as well as Canada, I feel that I have a better chance of being observed.</p><p><b>RODERICK MARTIN,</b><br><b>Townsend, Mass.</b></p><h2><b>Bobby Kromm Put Life In Wings</b></h2><p>I am writing about a forgotten man who has brought the Detroit Red Wings back to life&mdash;Bobby Kromm.</p><p>They finished second in the standings and reached the playoffs. Along the way they surprised Buffalo 7-0 and Montreal. 4-0.</p><p>I think Bobby Kromm should win the most valuable coach award.</p><p><b>BILLY DAOUSSIS,</b><br><b>Montreal, Que.</b></p><h2><b>World Series Between WHA, NHL</b></h2><p>The WHA and the NHL should take a lesson from baseball and not merge but play a World Series between the Avco Cup and Stanley Cup winners.</p><p>It is apparent that some NHL owners are not going to allow a merger but fan pressure could demand an interleague playoff. This would put back the excitement and allow for expansion of major league hockey.</p><p>I can see the possibility of the WHA expanding into Phoenix and San Diego where they once had franchises and San Francisco and Kansas City, cities the NHL has abandoned.</p><p>If this were done an East and West division could be set up and balance would result. With Edmonton, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco and Kansas City in the West and Winnipeg, Birmingham, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, New England and Quebec in the East. With each team playing eight games with their division teams, six against each team in the other division and four international teams you have a total of 80 games, less travel and more excitement with every game counting.</p><p>The NHL should also structure their league into East and West making it easier for fans to follow, cutting travel and having more balanced divisions.</p><p>All of this would result in better balance and each team keeping their own identity, producing greater fan interest, better crowds and maybe even a national TV contract. Baseball does it and so can hockey if the powers quit bickering and use their heads.</p><p><b>JOHN BUSH,</b><br><b>Edgewood, Ky.</b></p><h2><b>Colorado Rockies Here To Stay</b></h2><p>I disagree with all of the negative statements pertaining to the Colorado Rockies. Attendance has been climbing steadily ever since people started to learn about hockey. The simple mention of the words &ldquo;Stanley Cup Playoffs&rdquo; was the cause of five consecutive games with attendance of over 11,000, quite an accomplishment for a second year franchise.</p><p>I also feel that John Van Boxmeer deserves some recognition as the most improved player in the NHL. He has become much more aggressive and, with the help of Barry Beck, has developed into an above average defensive defenseman.</p><p>Unfortunately for fans of WHA teams trying to get into the NHL, there has been no talk in Detroit of the Rockies being sold. There is no doubt in the minds of Colorado hockey fans that the Rockies are here to stay.</p><p><b>STEVE WINGATE,</b><br><b>Colorado Springs, Colo.</b></p><h2><b>LETTER OF THE WEEK</b></h2><h2><b>Time For Norris Trophy II&rdquo;</b></h2><p>The Norris Trophy will most likely be awarded to Denis Potvin of the Islanders. In my opinion the trophy he is winning is the Art Ross Trophy for defensemen. In the past six or seven years the trophy has been given to the defenseman with the most points.</p><p>This is totally unfair to the defenseman who stops goals, which is his job as opposed to scoring goals, which is the forwards&rsquo; job. Therefore there should be a trophy for the best offensive defenseman and one for the best defensive defenseman.</p><p>This is shown in Larry Robinson&rsquo;s case. Last year he had an outstanding year as an offensive defenseman and was awarded the Norris. This year he hasn&rsquo;t been as productive offensively, but has probably played better defensively, but he won&rsquo;t receive the Norris because he didn&rsquo;t score enough points.</p><p>Defensive defensemen such as Jim and Joe Watson, Gerry Hart, Jim Shoenfeld, Harold Snepts, Brian Glennie and Dave Burrows play excellently, but because they aren&rsquo;t scorers they haven&rsquo;t a prayer of getting a defense award.</p><p>The NHL needs a defensive trophy for blueliners, while the offensive defenseman award could be called the Bobby Orr Trophy.</p><p><b>DAVE WHITE,</b><br><b>Scarborough, Ont.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-01

FAN FORUM

<p>1. <b>Which of these teams does not hold an advantage over Montreal In terms of head-to-head playoff series?</b></p><p><b>Toronto &#9633; Rangers &#9633; Boston &#9633;</b></p><p>2. <b>Atlanta Flames have won only one playoff game in four years of post-season action. Who did they beat and In what year?</b></p><p><b>Philadelphia-1974 &#9633; Los Angeles-1976 &#9633; Los Angeles-1977 &#9633;</b></p><p>3. <b>Philadelphia Flyers have played playoff series against 10 NHL teams. Besides Montreal, from which two teams have they not won playoff series?</b></p><p><b>Minnesota, Boston &#9633; St. Louis, Rangers &#9633; Chicago, St. Louis &#9633;</b></p><p>4. <b>Which two World Hockey Association teams were defeated In the 1977 semi-finals?</b></p><p><b>Indianapolis, Calgary &#9633; Now England, Houston &#9633; San Diego, Calgary &#9633;</b></p><p>5. <b>After Montreal and Toronto, which NHL teams has appeared In the playoffs the most number of times?</b></p><p><b>Chicago &#9633; Detroit &#9633; Boston &#9633;</b></p><p>6. <b>When was the only year In the last 50 that no Stanley Cup playoff games went into overtime?</b></p><p><b>1976 &#9633; 1963 &#9633; 1957 &#9633;</b></p><p>7. <b>In 1977 Winnipeg scored 12 goals In an Avco Cup playoff game. Which team Is the only other to reach double figures in a WHA playoff game?</b></p><p><b>Quebec &#9633; Houston &#9633; New England &#9633;</b></p><p>8. <b>The NHL record for consecutive wins In the playoffs Is 11 held by Montreal (accomplished three times) and one other club. Which one?</b></p><p><b>Detroit &#9633; Toronto &#9633; Boston &#9633;</b></p><p>9. <b>Which NHL team had the line which scored the most points in one playoff year?</b></p><p><b>Chicago &#9633; Philadelphia &#9633; Montreal &#9633;</b></p><p>10. <b>Which WHA team has suffered the most losses in a row in the playoffs, seven?</b></p><p><b>Houston &#9633; Quebec &#9633; Edmonton &#9633;</b></p><h2><b>QUICK QUIZ ANSWERS</b></h2><p><b>1. Boston. 2. Los Angeles-1977. 3. Chicago, St. Louis. 4. Indianapolis, Calgary. 5. Boston. 8. 1983. 7. Houston. 8. Boston. 9. Chicago. 10. Edmonton.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Fans Quick Hockey Quiz

<div class="byline">BY HARRY KLAFF</div><p>LONG ISLAND&mdash;</p><p>As the buzzer sounded, the electronic brain that hangs from the rafters at the Nassau Coliseum heralded the official countdown:</p><p>&ldquo;2,008 days, 19 hours, 27 minutes, and 14 seconds since birth&mdash;the Islanders are champions!&rdquo;, it read.</p><p>That was computed from the opening faceoff of the Isles&rsquo; first game ever against the Atlanta Flames on Oct. 7,. 1972. &ldquo;Somehow it doesn&rsquo;t seem that long,&rdquo; said a happy Bob Nystrom, who wasn&rsquo;t on hand for the official opener&mdash;he was in New Haven, but made it to the Islanders by the end of the first campaign.</p><p>The Islanders pulled out all the stops in their frantic celebration party in their Coliseum dressing room after they had crushed the New York Rangers&mdash;who last finished first in 1942&mdash;by a score of 72 in a nationally televised afternoon game on April 8. It no longer mattered what Philly did; it no longer mattered if the Islanders even bothered to show up at Boston Garden the next day (they did, and won, 5-2). They were the Patrick Division and Clarence Campbell Conference champions.</p><p>The thrill of victory and the taste of champagne was something new to most of the Islanders. Eddie Westfall&mdash;the old pro of Stanley Cup winners in Boston, Bill Smith led the Springfield Kings to a Calder Cup title in the AHL, and captain Clark Gillies&rsquo; Regina Pats won the Memorial Cup, but that&rsquo;s about it.</p><p>And it didn&rsquo;t take the rest very long before they handled the bubbly bottles like an expert.</p><p>&ldquo;You think this is some kind of party. Wait&rsquo;ll you see what we do when we win the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; said defenseman Dave Lewis, who played the kind of hockey in the last three weeks of the season that he was supposed to play all year. Of course Big Lewie was forgetting about a few obstacles that might cross the Islanders&rsquo; path, including but not limited to the Montreal Canadiens.</p><p>The Islanders seemed to be on the ropes with about two weeks to go in the regular season, and the once-adequate lead began to fritter away. Yet as unsure as the Islanders were of themselves near the end, they lost only one of their final nine outings. When you&rsquo;re striving for number one though, you look twice at the ones that got away, notably a horrendous 4-4 tie to Cleveland and a 5-1 loss to the Rangers during that stretch.</p><p>Although the Islanders have been known to create a few heart palpitations over the last few years and have established a reputation as a team that can&rsquo;t stand prosperity, they are far from what anyone would call a &ldquo;choke&rdquo; team. On the contrary, they are almost always at their best when their backs are to the wall. They only win when they have to.</p><p>After a successful weekend which saw them edge the Washington Capitals on a goal by Mike Bossy with only five seconds to go in the game, and easily defeat Detroit 5-2, the Islanders could have wrapped it up with a victory over the Flyers at the Coliseum on April 4. The game turned out to be a classic chess match, and the resulting 3-3 tie put the Islanders on the doorstep.</p><p>They didn&rsquo;t want to back in, though, and everyone looked to the April 8 game with the Rangers as the clincher. It would be sweet to end it all against their old crosstown nemesis, especially in light of the thrashing they received at the Garden a week earlier.</p><p>The Rangers couldn&rsquo;t have come into the building in worse shape, even though they had already clinched their first playoff berth in three years via the back door. They were beaten&mdash;literally and figuratively&mdash;at the Spectrum two nights before, and were nursing an assortment of injuries.</p><p>The Isles took the bull by the horn from the opening faceoff, and Mike Kaszycki&rsquo;s 12th goal of his rookie season put them on top early. Chico Resch held the fort during a Ranger power play, and then the Isles poured it on. The score stood at 5-0 before the game even went on the tube in Philly, and was seven-zip after two. In fact, the celebration had really begun 20 minutes too soon.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a long time coming, but it&rsquo;s so pleasant,&rdquo; said a satisfied Westfall after the bottles ran dry. &ldquo;In the beginning we were a bad expansion team No one knew if we would even last. Then we gained respectability&mdash;that was the next step.</p><p>&ldquo;Since then we&rsquo;ve been filling in the holes, and now we&rsquo;ve got an excellent hockey club. You don&rsquo;t finish first in this division by being lucky. We worked damn hard for it.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011046/4146587-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="556" height="953"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>EDDIE WESTFALL&hellip;Winner Again</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0011-01

Patrick Division Title Makes Year Most Successful One For Islanders

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011067/4146649-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="280" height="458"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b><i>Bill Fleischman&rsquo;s</i></b></figcaption></div><h2><b>It Took Too Long</b></h2><p>FRED SHERO SPENT too long coaching in the minor leagues before Keith Allen sent him a one-way ticket to Philadelphia.</p><p>Others in Shero&rsquo;s overdue category include Don Cherry, Bobby Kromm, Jack Evans and Fred Creighton. All were wondering if they&rsquo;d ever coach from behind an NHL team&rsquo;s bench. While some people bounced from job to job, or retired players were immediately named to coaching vacancies, the Kromms and Sheros waited and waited.</p><p>Among the latest to prove they deserved major-league jobs long ago are Ray Miron and Pat Kelly. Miron manages and Kelly coaches the Colorado Rockies. When the Rockies qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 19-40-21 record, there were snickers at almost every NHL stop&mdash;except Vancouver. One month before the season ended the uninspired Canucks held a seven-point lead over Colorado for the mighty Smythe Division&rsquo;s final playoff berth.</p><p>Perhaps the loudest snickers were in Philadelphia, where one columnist scoffed at an NHL playoff system that allows a team with a record like Colorado&rsquo;s to rub shoulder pads with teams such as Montreal, Boston, the Islanders and Flyers.</p><p>The distressed columnist&rsquo;s timing was less than sensational, because his criticism appeared the morning after the Rockies had forced the Flyers into overtime in their playoff opener. When Doug Favell&rsquo;s one-man stand against 89 Philadelphia shots had ended two nights later in Denver, the Rockies were vacation-bound&mdash;but they had shown that next season, with strengthening at certain positions, they&rsquo;ll be challenging Chicago for the Smythe Division&rsquo;s tattered pennant.</p><h2><b>Grinders Around Talent</b></h2><p>&ldquo;THIS IS A TALENTED young club,&rdquo; said defenseman Dennis Owchar, one of the players Miron acquired through trades. &ldquo;It has a lot of guts. Now we have a little experience. Next year we&rsquo;ll be 20 points better.&rdquo;</p><p>As Owchar pointed out, the Rockies are following patterns set by teams like the Islanders and Flyers. Assembling a cast of grinders around several talented young players is the path to hockey respectability.</p><p>Barry Beck is a franchise foundation on defense. Up front they have a 40-goal producer in right winger Wilf Paiement and unfulfilled center Paul Gardner, who was injured at mid-season. In parts of two NHL seasons, Gardner has scored 60 goals in 106 games.</p><p>Until a super young goalie develops for the Rockies, Favell can do the job in the nets. With his unhappy days in Toronto behind him, the rejuvenated Favell and his family are enjoying mountain living.</p><p>After the Rockies had bowed to the Flyers before the third consecutive sellout crowd at McNichols Arena, Favell sat at his locker defeated, but proud.</p><p>&ldquo;Maybe this put the franchise over the jump,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There was a lot of pressure on us the last month to do something and make the playoffs. This is one of the hardest working bunch of guys I&rsquo;ve ever played with.&rdquo;</p><p>Favell played with the Flyers from their inception until the 1973 Stanley Cup semi-finals, so his compliment to his current teammates shouldn&rsquo;t be taken lightly.</p><h2><b>Kelly Realized Dream</b></h2><p>SHARING CREDIT WITH Miron and Aldo Guidolin, the shrewd player personnel director, for the Rockies&rsquo; two-year rise, a stocky career minor-league player, Lelly, now 42, began polishing the disciplined style left in Denver by Johnny Wilson.</p><p>Kelly played and coached in such hamlets as Springfield, Cherry Hill, Clinton and Charlotte before answering a rescue call from the WHA&rsquo;s Birmingham Bulls a year ago. When Miron, who knew Kelly from their old Eastern League days, called late last summer offering the Colorado coaching job, Kelly said, &ldquo;it took me all of a couple seconds to accept. Coaching in the NHL has always been my dream.&rdquo;</p><p>Kelly doesn&rsquo;t deny that the Paul Newman film &ldquo;Slapshot&rdquo; could have been his life story.</p><p>&ldquo;I remember in Cherry Hill the defensemen had to step over a pipe near the blueline because sometimes the ice wouldn&rsquo;t freeze right,&rdquo; Kelly recalled as he stood in a Spectrum corridor.</p><p>People such as Pat Kelly and Ray Miron appreciate life in the major leagues. But you can&rsquo;t blame them for wondering why it took so long to get there.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-01

HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02905/4146680-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>WAYNE CASHMAN&hellip;Reaching Peak For Playoffs.</b></figcaption></div><p>BOSTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>ayne Cashman might have gone unnoticed all season if he hadn&rsquo;t scored four goals for the Boston Bruins against the New York Rangers on April 2.</p><p>That started some people asking around.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been watching Wayne Cashman since he started in hockey.&rdquo; said general manager Harry Sinden, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;ve never seen him skating and handling the puck as well as he has in the past few weeks.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;If you remember,&rdquo; said coach Don Cherry, &ldquo;he did the very same thing at the very same time last year. He was hurt and then he came back and he was the best player on the team. He led us all the way.&rdquo;</p><p>Sure enough, in the 1976-77 season, Cashman broke his left thumb beating Neil Komadoski, then with the Los Angeles Kings, missed 15 games and came back to score four goals and 10 assists in the last 12 games as the Bruins won the Adams Division title.</p><p>This season, after cracking a knuckle on the helmet worn by Dave Logan of the Chicago Black Hawks on Feb. 18, he recovered to account for nine goals and 13 assists in the last 15 games as the Bruins again captured the Adams Division crown.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing the best hockey of his life now and a lot of it is because I&rsquo;m leaving him on the right side,&rdquo; said Cherry. &ldquo;It used to upset him terribly to go back and fourth from the right to the left side. He never complained but it drove him crazy.&rdquo;</p><p>Cashman, of course, gained his first fame as a right handed shot playing left wing on a line with Phil Esposito and Ken Hodge, one of the highest scoring combinations in hockey history.</p><p>Most recently, he has played right wing with Gregg Sheppard and Don Marcotte on a line which, thanks to Marcotte&rsquo;s defensive expertise, is usually out as a checking line against the other team&rsquo;s big scorers.</p><p>At the age of 32, one of only four surviving Bruins from the 1971-72 Stanley Cup team and a brawler only when it&rsquo;s absolutely necessary, Cashman has become the leader of the Bruins both in fact and name.</p><p>He was named captain in March, 1977, succeeding Dallas Smith, who in turn had succeeded the ailing Johnny Bucyk only a few weeks before.</p><p>&ldquo;In the dressing room and on the ice he&rsquo;s a real team man,&rdquo; says goalie Ron Grahame, who is playing with Cashman for the first time this year. &ldquo;On the ice he&rsquo;s leading by example and off the ice he&rsquo;s more vocal than anyone else, yapping at us to keep it going.</p><p>&ldquo;I used to hear stories about what a wild man he was. I never knew him firsthand until now but the guys here tell me all those stories were true. He has really mellowed now, though.</p><p>&ldquo;When I first came here he was the one who told me about the Bruins and New England and how nice it was to play in Boston. He talked about the Stanley Cup years.</p><p>&ldquo;He was so cordial to a guy he had never met before. He gave me the feeling that we were going to hit it off and that I was going to have a friend for life.&rdquo;</p><p>Cashman himself is inclined to play down his role of captain.</p><p>&ldquo;Everybody on this team contributes,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We just rely on everyone on this team. Every night we seem to have a different leader.</p><p>&ldquo;These are all grown men in here. They&rsquo;re professionals. When they go on the ice, if they&rsquo;re not going to give out for themselves, they&rsquo;re not going to give out for anyone else on the team. The big thing is that everyone feels he&rsquo;s part of the team.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that being captain means that I have to try to do anything special. I have my job, same as everybody else. Sometimes you get the feeling that you should go out and do something to lift the team.</p><p>&ldquo;But you notice when you try to do a little too much instead of just doing your job you end up making mistakes and hurting the team.</p><p>&ldquo;Oh, I try to help get the guys up for a game. I never used to say too much in the dressing room but now, if I see that we&rsquo;re not 100 percent ready, I feel it&rsquo;s my responsibility to say something, to help get them going.&rdquo;</p><p>One leveling influence on the Cashman captaincy is the fact that ex-captain Bucyk, still a spot player on the club, has a locker right across the dressing room from captain Cash.</p><p>&ldquo;I always consider John my captain,&rdquo; said Cashman. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been around for 23 years and it&rsquo;s just that&hellip;well, he&rsquo;s still the No. 1 Indian.&rdquo;</p><p><b>BRUINS BITS:</b> The Bruins, who enjoyed sellouts in every game from 1969 through 1973, had the 11th full house of the 1977-78 season in the finale against the Islanders, bringing the year&rsquo;s attendance to 494,744 or 85 percent of capacity. That&rsquo;s up from 469,823 in the previous season.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-02

Boston’s Captain Cashman Playing Best Hockey Ever

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><p>LOS ANGELES&mdash;</p><p>The Kings have not been the same since they let Terry Harper and Dan Maloney go to Detroit in compensation for free-agent Marcel Dionne. No one knows this better than Dionne, himself, who, following the final game of this regular season, smiled wistfully and admitted he felt guilty because &ldquo;we&rsquo;ve gone down every year since I&rsquo;ve been here.&rdquo;</p><p>The Kings continued declining this season and the campaign concluded with a thud when they were roughed up and routed out of the opening round of the playoffs by Toronto recently. Toronto is not the most physical team in the league, but they knew, as other teams know, the best way to beat the Kings is to play them physically.</p><p>The Kings have not been a physical team since Maloney and Harper left. Maloney not only is an outstanding fistfighter, who intimidates opponents, but he bodychecks hard, especially in the corners. fighting for the puck. Harper hates to fight, but he isn&rsquo;t afraid to provoke fights by punishing foes and he never left the opposition&rsquo;s scorers alone around the crease.</p><p>These roles have not been filled by any Kings since these two departed.</p><p>Those that have been brought in to do the job have not. Dave Schultz might have, but he preferred to try to prove himself a player. Others have been deemed not good enough to play. Most of the players available to the Kings have been like Ernie Hicke and Danny-Grant, shooters, not checkers. Most teams will give up shooters, but believe you win with checkers. A timid team, the Kings have only, a few checkers and they check only in spurts. Bob Nevin was the best they had, but they gave up on him as too old two seasons back. Dave Hutchison has given them muscle but he has been hurt, and defensemen may not be as important as forwards in making a team tough.</p><p>It is not that the Dionne deal was a bad one. Marcel is a marvel and the only outstanding scorer the Kings have had. He is the only player they have had who can just go out and get a big goal when the team needs one. It is not to be forgotten that until this season the team did a lot better in the playoffs the last two seasons than they did the last season Maloney and Harper were here, when they also lost the opening round to Toronto. The last two seasons the Kings won opening rounds and then extended Boston, a tougher team than Toronto, in the quarter-finals.</p><p>However, the Kings have not been able to replace what they lost when they landed Dionne and it has resulted in a steady decline in regular-season results, culminated this season in a collapse in their playoff performance. It is nonsense to say the Kings have not been trying. But they are not tough, they did not play with enthusiasm this season, but they are suffering from declining confidence. With Bob Pulford as coach they continued to forecheck and backcheck as aggressively as they could, but they did not give Ron Stewart the same sort of effort.</p><p>Their two top players on offense, Dionne and Butch Goring, are small. Lady Byng types. When others are allowed to rough them up, they are reduced to the ordinary. Checked primarily by Jimmy Jones and Darryl Sittler, Dionne and Goring were held to two shots each in the two games it took Toronto to oust the Kings from the playoffs.</p><p>Toronto tossed 88 bodychecks at the Kings in the first game in Maple Leaf Gardens, 45 in the first period, and drove the Kings out of the arena in retreat. The Kings have the skaters to sometimes overcome tough tactics and might have frightened Toronto into another style of play had Danny Grant hit an open net from close in early on, but his miss was symbolic of a season full of wasted opportunities.</p><p>The club crumbled as the Leafs powered their way from there to a 6-0 lead before easing off. Pete Stemkowski, Darryl Edestrand, and Glenn Goldup scored in the final 11 minutes of a game that wound up, 7-3.</p><p>In their home Forum, the Kings skated and checked with the Leafs for 10 terrific minutes before the first goal of the game spoiled their spirit and the Leafs went on to win, 4-0, without the Kings having put a single strong attack on goaler Mike Palmateer.</p><p>Sadly, the 12,889 disappointed fans proceeded to boo the Kings in their final minutes of a disappointing season.</p><p>Actually, this season&rsquo;s Stewart Kings fell only three victories short of last season&rsquo;s Pulford Kings, prior to the playoffs. But it may be that this was the difference in the playoffs. Had the Kings beaten St. Louis, a poor team, in the last week of the season, for example, they would have met Atlanta, a team they beat in the last two playoffs, instead of Toronto. Atlanta is more physical than Toronto, but less talented.</p><p>It is ironic that Maloney and Harper helped Detroit on the drive this season that made up 23 points on the Kings from last season, capped by the concluding upset of Montreal on the last day of this season to put the Wings in second place, a point ahead of the Kings in their division.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011025/4146711-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="548" height="645"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DAVE HUTCHISON&hellip;His Absence Hurt</b></figcaption></div><p>It is also ironic that Maloney, inexplicably traded to Toronto late in the season, was one of those hard-hitting Leaf forwards who contained the Kings in the playoffs. It is ironic that teams like the Kings and Wings talk of Maloney as the heart of their team, then trade him. All his teams do is win.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0013-01

Kings ‘Pushed’ Out Of NHL Playoffs

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011048/4146770-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b><i>spectrum salute For Mr. Elbows</i></b></p><p><b>Gary Dornhoefer of the Flyers accepts congratulations from team captain Bobby Clarke at right before stepping up to thank Spectrum fans for warmth shown to him and his family during night in honor of the 11-year Flyer veteran. Dornhoefer received trip to Hawaii for himself and his family among the many gifts bestowed on him.</b></p> <span class="photo-credit">(Photos by Bernie Moser)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02868/4146763-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="1268" height="933"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b><i>CPO Sharkey Hockey Fan</i></b></p><p><b>Los Angeles Forum has long been a haven for visiting Hollywood and TV celebrities. Here&rsquo;s comedian Don Rickies, left, being Interviewed by the Kings&rsquo; color man, Rick Marotta, between periods of a game in the L.A. Forum. Kings&rsquo; owner Jack Kent Cooke built a celebrity lounge into his lavish Forum and people like Rickies, who was the star of the TV series, &lsquo;CPO Sharkey&rsquo;, are often In attendance at NHL games.</b></p></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03641/4146756-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="2422" height="1212"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b><i>Vote Of Confidence From The Top</i></b></p><p><b>There were smiles all around as Cleveland Barons&rsquo; owner George Gund, left, and team president John Karr, right, announced they had extended general manager Harry Howell&rsquo;s contract three more years. Here&rsquo;s Karr shaking Howell&rsquo;s hand to seal the deal at Barons&rsquo; hockey offices in the Cleveland Coliseum.</b></p></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04447/4146749-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="1165" height="1344"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-05313/4146742-1-eng-US/f0014-052.jpg" title="f0014-05" width="1184" height="1024"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b><i>Keeping It In The Family</i></b></p><p><b>When Billy Smith of the Islanders was voted the MVP of the NHL&rsquo;s All Star game this season, his prize was a spanking, new automobile. The presentation ceremonies were a little late coming but Smith picked up his car March 27 and promptly turned over the keys to his wife, Debbie. NHL president John Ziegler was among those who attended the presentation to Smith.</b></p></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0014-01

HOCKEY PEOPLE

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>ike other Flyers, Joe Watson was ready to start the Stanley Cup quarterfinal series against Buffalo. Watson&rsquo;s problem was. Fred Shero wasn&rsquo;t ready to start him.</p><p>Watson had a respectable season, playing in 65 games, tying brother Jim in goals (five), but losing the coveted Smithers Cup when Jim collected three more assists for 17 points.</p><p>In the regular season&rsquo;s homestretch, however, the original Flyers&rsquo; defenseman played in only one of the last five games. When the playoffs began against Colorado, Watson was assigned to a press box observation point, where he either sent cringing writers scurrying for ear muffs or (thank you, Harlan Singer) provided analysis for the radio-TV broadcasts.</p><p>At 34, it&rsquo;s clear Joe Watson may be near the end of his Flyers&rsquo; playing career. The Smithers, B.C., native can still play well enough to help many NHL teams, but the arrival of Kevin McCarthy and improvement of Rick LaPointe have dropped Watson to No. 7 among Philadelphia defensemen.</p><p>Shero makes it clear he still has confidence in the Flyers&rsquo; No. 1 cheerleader player.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not worried about our defense,&rdquo; the Flyers&rsquo; coach said. &ldquo;If we had an injury or something, I wouldn&rsquo;t hesitate to put Joe in.&rdquo;</p><p>Joe Watson was worried. Unlike some veterans who are content to barely break a sweat while picking up their sizeable paychecks, Watson still wants to play. He is facing reality, that his future with the Flyers looks bleak, but he says, &ldquo;This is killing me. I know they have to go with the younger guys, but I still think I can help the team.&rdquo;</p><p>It&rsquo;s not Watson&rsquo;s nature to disrupt the Flyers&rsquo; mission. Over the years he has been annoyed when some players worried more about themselves than the team. But now that he&rsquo;s &ldquo;on the bubble,&rdquo; as they say in auto racing, ready to be displaced, he wants the Flyers to either play him or trade him.</p><p>If Watson has his choice of destinations, it will be Vancouver, in his British Columbia paradise. However, as much as Watson loves B.C., the thought of leaving Philadelphia pains him.</p><p>Through his 11 seasons with the Flyers, he has made many friends&mdash;in hockey and among people who simply like him as an enthusiastic, friendly person. Watson&rsquo;s popularity was reflected when the Philadelphia chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association made him the second recipient of its &ldquo;Class Guy&rdquo; award.</p><p>Watson&rsquo;s wife, Marianne, has also made many friends in the Philadelphia area. She has been active in the Flyers&rsquo; Wives Fight For Lives, which has raised more than $180,000 for cancer research. Seeing the Watsons leave would sadden their many friends, but those people also want to see the couple and their robust son, Ryan, happy.</p><p>&ldquo;The years here have been great,&rdquo; said Watson. &ldquo;Being part of this team&rsquo;s development, winning the Stanley Cups, well, I&rsquo;ll never forget it all.</p><p>&ldquo;You know, if it weren&rsquo;t for hockey I&rsquo;d probably still be back in B.C. working in a lumber mill in 20-or-30 below weather.&rdquo; Friends often joke with Joe about his loud voice, but his spirit has been a vital part of the Flyers for those 11 years. No one cared more about the Flyers than Joe Watson.</p><p><b>FLYERS FACTS:</b> An oddity of the Flyers-Colorado series was Bob Dailey, the club&rsquo;s highest scoring defenseman, had only one shot of the 89 fired at Doug Favell&hellip;Rick MacLeish was l-for-14 in the Colorado series&hellip;Don Saleski continuing his steady late-season play scored the game-winner in Denver.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011006/4146801-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="558" height="896"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JOE WATSON&hellip;What&rsquo;s Ahead?</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0015-01

Joe Watson Still Wants To Play

<div class="byline">BY AL SMITH</div><p>ATLANTA&mdash;</p><p>This was to be THE year of the Flames.</p><p>The year the Atlanta franchise was to become one of the best in the National Hockey League. The talk was no longer of the Flames just making the playoffs, it was how far they could go.</p><p>But after 82 games&mdash;80 regular season and two playoffs&mdash;the Flames are right back where they started from five years ago. Still trying to get out of the first round of the playoffs.</p><p>It didn&rsquo;t look that way coming down the stretch. They had a 12-2-2 record in their last 16 games and during that time they knocked off the New York Islanders, Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres and tied the Philadelphia Flyers.</p><p>The Flames were poised and ready for the playoffs and the word around the league was, &ldquo;They&rsquo;re the dark horses.&rdquo;</p><p>But the dark horses ran into the underdogs and the horses ran out.</p><p>Detroit Red Wing Bill Lochead scored his second goal of the third period with only 1:26 left in the game and the Flames had been eliminated for the fourth time in four tries in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.</p><p>General manager Cliff Fletcher and assistant general manager David Poille sat in the press box at Detroit&rsquo;s Olympia Stadium just staring into space long after the game was over.</p><p>They, like so many other Atlanta followers couldn&rsquo;t believe the Flames&rsquo; best regular season ever had ended so quickly. So much like the others.</p><p>Later, in a funeral parlour-like dressing room, Fletcher said he wasn&rsquo;t worried about his team for the future.</p><p>&ldquo;We re young and we have a lot of potential,&rdquo; Fletcher said. &ldquo;This is going to hurt in a very critical area, though&mdash;season ticket sales.&rdquo;</p><p>And that may be an understatement. Atlantans have long dealt with losers in all sports except hockey. The Flames have always given the city respectability, but this year they were looking for more.</p><p>When the Flames started out playing around or just under the .500 mark, fans stayed away in droves and attendance lagged.</p><p>But just after the first of the year, things picked up. Many players who had been in slumps started to come out of them and Yves Belanger started paying dividends to the team. The Flames started playing better and attendance increased.</p><p>In fact the last two games the Flames played were sellouts&mdash;the only two of the season.</p><p>And the big reason was the way the Flames had played. They broke or tied 18 team records&mdash;including most points in a season, 87. On top of that they had the seventh best record in the NHL and for the first time in their six-year history they had the home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.</p><p>But the big thing was that everyone had contributed. The Flames had seven players with 20 or more goals and 13 with 10 or more. To go with this, the defense had improved in the latter stages of the season and goalie Dan Bouchard had his best year in an Atlanta uniform posting a 25-12-19 record.</p><p>But then came Game One of the playoffs and in a four-minute stretch, everything the Flames had worked for all season went down the drain.</p><p>The Flames picked up three penalties, two of them questionable, and in that time the Red Wings scored three power play goals and then humiliated the Flames with a shorthanded goal to make it 4-0. True, the Flames came back and outplayed the Wings and made a game of it at 4-3, but for all intents and purposes the season ended for the Flames in that four-minute span.</p><p>Now, the Flames are faced with the task of bringing fans back into their building. And it&rsquo;s not going to be easy. Third place in the Patrick Division isn&rsquo;t going to be enough.</p><p>If the Flames are going to once again capture the hearts of Atlanta they must compete for the top spot in the division. And that means picking up 24 points on the New York Islanders and 18 points on the Flyers. On top of that they must stay ahead of the New York Rangers, who have already strengthened themselves with the addition of Swedes Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02799/4146832-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="553" height="1007"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>CLIFF FLETCHER&hellip;Stunned By Loss</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0015-02

Top Spot Challenge Needed By Flames To Interest Fans

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01853/4146863-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="562" height="962"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ORLAND KURTENBACH&hellip;Disappointed Milford</b></figcaption></div><p>VANCOUVER&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>s predictable as a Pavlovian response, as sure as the guillotine. That was the story in Vancouver as coach Orland Kurtenbach and his assistant Arnie Brown were fired following Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; disastrous season.</p><p>It happened swiftly, bringing to mind the infamous firing of Punch Imlach, when he was gone before he could return to the dressing room after his team&rsquo;s last game. Kurtenbach and Brown lasted four days longer than that, but their departure had been rumored as early as Christmas, and working under those conditions is not exactly ideal.</p><p>In making the announcement, general manager Jake Milford said it was the cold hard facts that the club was not winning which forced the change.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unfortunate in the pro sports business that when you don&rsquo;t win, even though it may not have been Kurt&rsquo;s fault, that the team did as poorly as it did that the coach is often the first one to go,&rdquo; said Milford. &ldquo;I thought we had a team capable of getting 70 points this year, and we were aiming for 80. It wasn&rsquo;t a situation where he had to get so many points this year, and we were aiming for 80. It wasn&rsquo;t a situation where we had to get so many points or be fired, but I thought we had an awful season.&rdquo;</p><p>The first thing that came to mind in Vancouver was who will replace the two departees. But Milford said he has no answers to that question, except that he has five or six candidates in mind and that at least three of them were involved in the playoffs at the time of the move.</p><p>&ldquo;We would like to go with a disciplinarian,&rdquo; said Milford in describing the general type of man he&rsquo;s looking for. &ldquo;I was getting reports on some of the things the club was doing and I imagine others were getting the same reports. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we were the best conditioned club in the league either. I think often times we weren&rsquo;t ready to play back-to-back important games when we had to.&rdquo;</p><p>The move came swiftly in the wake of the disastrous ending to the season the team experienced in Los Angeles where they had to beat the Kings on the final night to advance to the playoffs.</p><p>Going into the night&rsquo;s play, both Canucks and Colorado Rockies had the same number of points, with the Rockies playing the Blues. About midway through the second period and the score tied 1-1, the news that the Rockies had beaten the Blues came through and was relayed to the Vancouver bench. Cuirous that at that point, the team was in the middle of the one worst periods in the team&rsquo;s season as they proceeded to fall behind 3-1 and get outshot 13-1. Only the fantastic goaltending of Glen Hanlon kept Canucks close.</p><p>Then a show of life from Canucks, as they came out in the third period and promptly tied the game on goals by rookie Bob Manno and veteran Pit Martin. It appeared that both teams would be in a position to have to pull their goalkeepers, as a tie was no good to either team. At the 15 minute mark, the luck which had plagued the team all year struck yet another blow, sending them to their cruel fate.</p><p>A seemingly harmless drifting shot from the left points by Gary Sargent was inadvertently deflected by Dennis Kearns and through the legs of a screened Hanlon and the Kings had the lead. Kurtenbach was forced to remove his goaltender for another skater with over two-and-one-half minutes remaining to get back into the game, but it was too late. All that was achieved was another goal by Sargent which concluded the worst season in eight years for Canucks. Their total of 20 victories was tied with the 1971-72 team for fewest ever by a Vancouver team and they gave up 320 goals-against, the second highest the team has ever surrendered.</p><p>After the game, the players were dejected, but admitted that they hadn&rsquo;t deserved to make the playoffs.</p><p>&ldquo;We simply didn&rsquo;t deserve to be in the playoffs,&rdquo; said Hilliard Graves, who played with injuries all year and had a tremendously consistent season.</p><p>&ldquo;Somebody has to take this team and give it strong direction,&rdquo; said captain Don Lever. &ldquo;We pressured ourselves all year by constantly losing. Every time we had to win more and more. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. There are 20 guys here who have to share the blame.&rdquo;</p><p>Said Ron Sedlbauer: &ldquo;There is something about this club that we just can&rsquo;t seem to shake. Whatever it is, it was here last year too. We just dug ourselves too big a hole, too deep.&rdquo;</p><p>Said Mike Walton: &ldquo;This business of having to win our last game to get into the playoffs was ridiculous. We had chances all year to make the playoffs and we never took advantage of them.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-01

Canucks’ Coach Fired As Predicted

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><p>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;</p><p>Ron Zanussi began his pro hockey career two summers ago as a virtual unknown outside the Toronto area.</p><p>The Minnesota North Stars drafted the five-foot-11, 180-pound right winger on the third round of the 1976 amateur draft&mdash;the 51st player taken in that draft.</p><p>Zanussi failed in his bid to make the North Stars right away and was sent two steps below the major league level to Fort Wayne of the International League.</p><p>It did not take Zanussi (no relation to Joe Zanussi) long to remain an unknown quantity. The off-season resident of West Hill, Ont., scored 53 goals and 33 assists with 138 penalty minutes his first season as a pro in 1976-77.</p><p>So Zanussi was given good odds at making the North Stars for the recently concluded season. It didn&rsquo;t start out that way, however. Zanussi opened the season at Fort Worth in the Central League, but he was the first player recalled (along with Tom Younghans) after the Stars lost their first six games.</p><p>Three Minnesota coaches and two general managers later, Zanussi has completed his rookie NHL season with mixed feelings.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a sour year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t play much early in the year and it was hard to get going. I was hoping to get 20 to 25 goals. Don&rsquo;t get me wrong&mdash;I&rsquo;m happy to be here and I&rsquo;ve worked hard. I just wish I would have scored more and that the team did better.&rdquo;</p><p>Zanussi&rsquo;s rookie totals were not as bad as he might have you believe. The ash blond wound up with 15 goals and 17 assists and 89 penalty minutes in 68 games.</p><p>He found himself at home late in the season with Tim Young (23 goals, 35 assists) at center and Per-Olov Brasar (20-37) at left wing to give the Stars one of its better offensive fronts in a dismal 1853-9 season.</p><p>And he established himself as a competitor.</p><p>&ldquo;No one played the right side any better on our club this year,&rdquo; said general manager Lou Nanne. &ldquo;Zoo is tough and aggressive. He loves to play and doesn&rsquo;t back away from anybody. He has the ability to be a better than average right winger in the league, and I think he has a heckuva career ahead of him.&rdquo;</p><p>Zanussi is probably happy to hear those words. The Stars plan a major turnover of players and many from the current roster will not be with the team for 197879. But he remains realistic about his chances.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02720/4146894-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="532" height="587"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JOE ZANUSSI&hellip;Wants Consistency</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;I have a two-way contract,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and I could be gone tomorrow. If you float for one game, that might be the one that sticks out in Louie&rsquo;s mind. I worked every game to be consistent. I think I would rather be known as an 80-gamer than one of the flashy stars.&rdquo;</p><p>Case in point. In one late season game, Zanussi and rookie defenseman Brad Maxwell arrived in front of the opponents&rsquo; net simultaneously. Each took a slap at the puck, and it went into the goal. Maxwell got credit for the goal, although Zanussi easily could have been the recipient. There were no complaints.</p><p>As for playing aggressively, Zanussi says: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s my kind of hockey&mdash;the only way I know how. I&rsquo;m not that big and my talent is about average. I just try to skate like the wind, shoot hard and keep my head up.&rdquo;</p><p><b>STAR DUST:</b> Roland Eriksson finished as the team&rsquo;s scoring leader with 21 goals and 39 assists, two points in front of Young&hellip;The contract of the Swedish center is up and he was undecided if he would sign a new one&hellip;Nanne planned to negotiate with Eriksson&rsquo;s agent during the world championships in Prague, as well as renegotiate the contract of the plucky Brasar&hellip;The Stars closed the season by beating the Flyers 3-1 in Philadelphia and becoming the only team in the NHL to win twice at the Spectrum this season&hellip;The Stars also split their series with Montreal&hellip;But on their way to the worst record in the NHL and the worst season in Minnesota history, the Stars were 5-15-4 (14 out of a possible 48 points) against teams in their own Smythe Division&hellip;The final coaching records the past season included: Nanne 7-18-4, Andre Beaulieu 6-22-3 and Ted Harris 5-13-2&hellip;Nanne plans to name a head coach and new chief scout soon&hellip;The Stars were 5-11 in one-goal games, 6-17 in two-goal decisions.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-02

Aggressive Winger Zanussi Impressed North Stars’ GM

<p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01745/4146925-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="549" height="611"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DENNIS KEARNS&hellip;Answers SOS</b></figcaption></div><p>PRAGUE&mdash;</p><p>With three victories and a tie in four exhibition tests, Team Canada coach Harry Howell looked optimistically but cautiously ahead to the start of the 1978 World Tournament.</p><p>Howell, who felt the Canadians were lucky to pull out a 3-3 tie with Czechoslovakia&rsquo;s &lsquo;B&rsquo; team because they didn&rsquo;t play well enough to win, nevertheless, had to be enthused by the performance of his National Hockey League team.</p><p>They had shown considerable maturity in taking two games from Sweden and defeating the Czechs&rsquo; crack &lsquo;A&rsquo; squad, who are the defending world cup champions.</p><p>With an unblemished 3-0-1 record heading into the eight-country world hockey confrontation, the Canadians appeared to be in a better position to restore their lost hockey prestige suffered in 1977 at Vienna by an over zealous and tactless team that heaped scorn and contempt on the name of Canada.</p><p>Howell, the general manager of the Cleveland Barons, who was chosen to coach the 1978 Team Canada team with the help of Marshall Johnston of Denver University, is confident his youthful skaters, if they can maintain their cool, can give a good account of themselves. He isn&rsquo;t predicting any miracles and has asked Team Canada cynics to be tolerant in view of the amount of preparedness his team has had and the age and experience of the competitiors.</p><p>But it is the boundless youth and enthusiasm of his Team Canada squad that has Howell ecstatic about the 1978 tournament.</p><p>&ldquo;Everyone came here without hesitation. We didn&rsquo;t have to coax people to play. They were all anxious to represent Canada and I think this is something that will show up in the final result of the tournament,&rdquo; said Howell.</p><p>Canada has always experienced trouble with Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union in international competition and the situation isn&rsquo;t likely to change this time around. The Russians are reportedly powerful again this year and the Czechs seem to come up with their biggest games when the title is on the line.</p><p>In their four pre-tournament outings, Team Canada defeated Sweden 5-1 and 40 in their first two starts and then came on to ship the Czechs&rsquo; &lsquo;A&rsquo; skaters 3-2 before being held to a 3-3 by the Czechoslovakian B&rsquo; team.</p><p>In game one, Garry Unger. Dave Shand, Guy Charron, Marcel Dionne and Wilf Paiement scored the Team Canada goals. Goran Hogosta, who tended some goal for the New York Islanders this season, was in the net for Sweden but couldn&rsquo;t halt the Canadian offensive onslaught.</p><p>Goalers Denis Herron and Dan Bouchard combined to blank the Swedes in game two as Pat Hickey. Tim Young, Rick Hampton and Dennis Maruk scored goals. Jean Pronovost and Unger turned did a superb penalty killing job to stymie the Swedes. Hardy Aastrom returned from New Haven of the American Hockey League, to tend goal for Sweden in this game.</p><p>The Canadians were not without their headaches. Defenseman Dave Maloney was unable to join Team Canada for the tournament when an injured knee forced him to undergo post-season therapy. He was replaced by Dennis Kearns of the Vancouver Canucks, who flew over to join the team just before the start of the tournament.</p><p>Team Canada encountered Finland, East Germany and the United States in their first three games. They were to face the Soviet Union in their windup match.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-01

Canada Enters World Play With ‘Perfect’ Record

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><p>DETROIT&mdash;</p><p>&ldquo;It was a while coming, but we knew it was going to come,&rdquo; said goalie Jimmy Rutherford. &ldquo;This team deserves it. A lot of hard work went into this season.&rdquo;</p><p>The Red Wings added another chapter to their storybook season when they ousted the Atlanta Flames in two games in their preliminary round Stanley Cup playoff. The scores were 5-3 in Atlanta and 3-2 in Detroit on a pair of third period goals by Bill Lochead, the second coming with 1:34 left.</p><p>&ldquo;That was a great game and so exciting,&rdquo; Rutherford said. &ldquo;This is great for the city and great for the team.&rdquo;</p><p>Nobody was arguing.</p><p>Captain Dennis Hextall called Lochead&rsquo;s winning goal, &ldquo;an individual effort you may never see again. What an effort&hellip;what an effort.&rdquo;</p><p>Lochead said, &ldquo;I was just darn glad that it was us that got the goal because it would have been much harder to win in Atlanta. Not only that, but we get the three days off and we&rsquo;ve been pretty busy the last three weeks.&rdquo;</p><p>Lochead scored his winning goal on a picture effort against Atlanta goalie Dan Bouchard.</p><p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t realize Bouchard had come so far out of the net until I saw those pictures in The Detroit News,&rdquo; Lochead said. &ldquo;I thought he was maybe just out over the crease, when I went back over it in my mind. When I saw the pictures, I thought, &lsquo;Where the hell was Bouchard?&rsquo; I couldn&rsquo;t believe it. He wasn&rsquo;t even in the pictures.</p><p>&ldquo;I was right on the boards and (Dick) Redmond got a piece of me, that was by the blueline. Right from there I started cutting towards the net and saw in the picture that it was (Pat) Ribble who was trying to cut me off. I think maybe that&rsquo;s where Bouchard thought I was going to cut in front of the net. Instead I just hung onto it and just kind of carried it right by him.</p><p>&ldquo;The move happened spontaneously there but it&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;ve tried in practice. It&rsquo;s not something you have enough confidence in to try in a game.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the kind of play where if I had been another foot behind the net I wouldn&rsquo;t have been able to reach around. You have to make the whole move and if you get too far behind the net, tough luck. I played in Oshawa with Rick Middleton (Boston) and he did it quite often. That&rsquo;s where I saw it.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02632/4146956-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="550" height="676"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BILL LOCHEAD&hellip;First Round Hero</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;It was just great to see it go in. Then Woodsie (Paul Woods) and I collided. I&rsquo;m surprised one of us didn&rsquo;t get hurt. We went down pretty hard. With just a minute and a half to go. I was just hoping we could hold on. Nobody wanted overtime.</p><p>&ldquo;I thought back to that game in Buffalo this season when we had the face-off in our end with 10 seconds left and Nick Libett tied it up. Now the puck was in our end and four seconds is a lot of time. Hexie (Dennis Hextall) did a great job on the face-off.&rdquo;</p><p>Hextall controlled the draw long enough to avoid a final dangerous shot on the Detroit goal and the Red Wings had the victory.</p><p>&ldquo;It just sends a shiver through you,&rdquo; Dennis Polonich said. &ldquo;You play your heart out for something like this.&rdquo;</p><p>General manager Ted Lindsay, the man who put this team together, and owner Bruce A. Norris saw the decisive game.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m satisfied, exuberant, pleased, whatever you want to say,&rdquo; Lindsay beamed.</p><p>&ldquo;Playoff hockey,&rdquo; sighed Detroit veteran Nick Libett. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll give you ulcers. I was nervous out there. You&rsquo;re so close, you can reach out and touch it, and you don&rsquo;t want to blow a game like this. You need a little luck and we&rsquo;ve had it all year.</p><p>&ldquo;It was like a fairy tale&hellip;unbelievable.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-02

Red Wings Trying To Make Fairy Tale Become Real Thing

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03496/4146994-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg"></div><h2><b>PLAYOFF PAIRINGS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04379/4146987-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="1111" height="364"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0017-03

1978 WORLD HOCKEY TOURNAMENT DATES

<h2><b>NHL&rsquo;S&hellip;<i>Player of the Week</i></b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03454/4147025-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="498" height="792"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>TERRY O&rsquo;REILLY&hellip;Boston Bruins</b></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>erry O&rsquo;Reilly led the Boston Bruins during the regular season and he&rsquo;s doing the same in the playoffs, scoring 10 points in helping the Bruins to a four-game quarterfinal sweep of the Chicago Black Hawks.</p><p>O&rsquo;Reilly had a goal in each of the four games and also added six assists to tie for the lead in playoff scoring with Danny Gare whose Buffalo Sabres have played three more games.</p><p>After scoring four points in Boston&rsquo;s series-opening 6-1 victory, O&rsquo;Reilly notched an overtime goal to give the Bruins their second triumph. He had a goal and an assist the following game and closed out the first series with his fourth goal and two more assists. O&rsquo;Reilly also had an overtime goal in last year&rsquo;s playoffs.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-03

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01762/4147063-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>YVAN COURNOYER&hellip;Veteran Produced Fast Start</b></figcaption></div><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span> team works 80 games to establish itself as the best in the National Hockey League and thereby earn the extra home game in each playoff series, and then suddenly, as quick as Errol Thompson can fly down the ice, a team 51 points better than its quarter-final round opponent over the course of the regular season schedule, finds itself facing a best-of-five series with three of the games to be played in the other team&rsquo;s rink.</p><p>That&rsquo;s the situation which faced the Montreal Canadiens following game two of their series with the upstart Detroit Red Wings when Thompson sliced a backhander under the arm of Ken Dryden just 22 seconds into the third period breaking a 2-2 tie to propell the Wings to a 4-2 triumph. For Montreal, it was their first quarter-final defeat since 1975 when they also dropped the second game of the series at home against the Vancouver Canucks.</p><p>It was an introduction to the pitfalls of playoff hockey for Canadiens&rsquo; rookies such as Gilles Lupien and Pierre Mondou and the latter admitted he felt the pressures of having to play catch up hockey.</p><p>There were no outbursts in the Canadiens&rsquo; dressing room following the 4-2 loss to the Red Wings. Each player dressed quietly and talked about not being able to match the determination of the Red Wings on that night, or about not getting the bounces, etc.</p><p>Mondou, one of the main reasons the Canadiens handled the Wings rather easily two nights earlier in a 6-2 Montreal victory, proved that he is learning quickly in his first year in the big time.</p><p>&ldquo;I guess they were paying more attention to our line tonight,&rdquo; he said in reference to opening night when he had a goal and two assists, Yvan Cournoyer two goals and an assist and Rejean Houle a goal and three assists, &ldquo;but we still had our chances. Our line hit four posts (Mondou three, Cournoyer one, while Cournoyer scored a goal) but we just couldn&rsquo;t put it in.</p><p>&ldquo;It just shows that anything can happen in the playoffs,&rdquo; Mondou said, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re not used to playing when we&rsquo;re behind and maybe we just were a bit overanxious. We&rsquo;ll just have to play better in Detroit.&rdquo;</p><p>34-year-old Cournoyer, the captain who missed last year&rsquo;s post-season action following surgery to repair a disc in his back, was used somewhat sparingly by coach Scotty Bowman as the season wound down, so he began jogging after practices and staying out for extra shooting practice. His dedication quickly paid off with three goals in the Canadiens&rsquo; first two playoff games as he displayed all of the skating skills and speed of five years ago when he captured the Conn Smythe Trophy as the best playoff performer.</p><p>He buttoned his shirt in the rear of the dressing room, perhaps inwardly seething that his team hadn&rsquo;t been able to come up with a better effort.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s right, we weren&rsquo;t able to get momentum going against them,&rdquo; Cournoyer agreed, &ldquo;we just didn&rsquo;t put it together; we didn&rsquo;t play as a team.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;They just outworked us. They deserved it (the win),&rdquo; Doug Risebrough intoned.</p><p>On the other side of the ice surface, Red Wing coach Bobby Kromm also had a few reasons for the triumph in Montreal.</p><p>&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t feel we were out of it when they went ahead 2-0,&rdquo; explained Kromm, &ldquo;we knew a goal would get us right back in it, and then we got those two scores late in the second period and it was anybody&rsquo;s game.</p><p>&ldquo;We were moving the puck tonight. In the first game we didn&rsquo;t and let the Canadiens come to us. I think being able to hold the Canadiens in the first period, not letting them get a big jump on us was the key to winning,&rdquo; said Kromm. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re very happy to be able to beat them once in Montreal.&rdquo;</p><p>What Kromm didn&rsquo;t have to say is that it&rsquo;s almost as difficult to beat Montreal in your own rink, even in a place such as the Olympia where a screaming capacity crowd would be backing the Wings every step of the way.</p><p>The Canadiens lost four games at home during the regular season to Minnesota, Los Angeles, Buffalo and the Rangers. On the road they were nearly as good losing only in Buffalo (twice), Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and the last game of the season in Detroit&rsquo;s Olympia. In the playoffs last year, the Canadiens lost two games, both to the Islanders, one at home and one in Long Island.</p><p>Former Canadiens&rsquo; coach Toe Blake made his usual rounds through the locker room as he does most every game, speaking encouragement to the defending champions.</p><p>&ldquo;A championship team has to be a winner on the road, not just at home,&rdquo; said Blake.</p><p>Everyone knew it was true and the Canadiens who face the pressure of nearly warranting a provincial investigation every time they lose a hockey game, got ready for the challenge.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02613/4147056-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="546" height="586"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PIERRE MONDOU&hellip;Learning Fast</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0018-01

Canadiens Suffer Rare Home Defeat, But Still Command Respect On Road

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01730/4147101-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DARRYL SITTLER&hellip;First Leaf To Top 100 Points</b> <span class="photo-credit">(Photos by Robert Shaver)</span></figcaption></div><p>TORONTO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>lthough the Toronto Maple Leafs finished the 1977-78 National Hockey League schedule on a down-beat, losing 10 of their concluding 12 games, the debut season of Roger Neilson as Leaf coach was a sizeable success.</p><p>Neilson engineered an 11-point improvement in the Leaf performance over their work in 1976-77 and his defensively oriented approach saw Leafs reduce their goals-against total by 48 goals, from 285 in &lsquo;76-77 to 237 this season.</p><p>At the start of his freshman term with the Leafs. Neilson made no large boasts about his plans for the team. He did state a rather modest goal&mdash;the reduction of the teams goals-against total to below 240, an average of 3.00 per game. The Leafs made it&mdash;but barely.</p><p>As they headed into a Stanley Cup preliminary round against the Los Angeles Kings, the Leafs, and Neilson, were confident that their season-ending skid wasn&rsquo;t the forerunner of a playoff disaster.</p><p>&ldquo;The losing streak at the end of the season did cost us the chance to reach a few objectives but, all in all, I was pretty pleased with the first season,&rdquo; Neilson said.</p><p>&ldquo;We had hoped to get 100 points, the first time a Leaf club had achieved that figure. At one point we appeared to have a really good shot at it but then we hit the slump.&rdquo;</p><p>The Leafs did move solidly into the front ranks of the NHL, a part of the so called &ldquo;Big Six&rdquo;. They appear to be a team only two or three players away from solid contender status.</p><p>Here are a few highlights of the Leafs&rsquo; 1977-78 season:</p><p>&#9679; The continued residence among the NHL&rsquo;s top star ranks of Leafs&rsquo; three big guns&mdash;center Darryl Sittler, who accumulated a club record 117 points; right winger Lanny McDonald, who scored a career high 47 goals, and defenseman Borje Salming, once again one of the NHL&rsquo;s premier stars.</p><p>&#9679; The strong comeback of veteran winger Ron Ellis, following a two-year retirement from hockey. Ellis scored 26 goals, checked strongly and perhaps the best way to evaluate his work is to consider the hole in which the Leafs would have been without him.</p><p>&#9679; The maturing of young Mike Palmateer into a highly competent NHL goalie. He played in 63 games, built a good 2.74 goals-against average and had five shutouts. He became a much better technical goalie than in his rookie season, &lsquo;76-77, to go with his quick reflexes.</p><p>&#9679; The strong, steady season of defenseman Brian Glennie, who, as usual, was considered expendable at training camp. Playing in partnership with Salming, of course, helped but Glennie reduced the number of bodychecks he attempted, cut down on injuries and played well consistently.</p><p>&#9679; The good rookie season from defenseman Trevor Johansen, a first round draft pick from Toronto Marlboros. He had some rough stretches, something which happens to all frosh backliners, but overall his work was solid.</p><p>&#9679; The development of Jimmy Jones into a first rate penalty killing specialist and useful utility forward. Jones&rsquo; making the team was a big surprise (he had spent the two previous seasons in the minors at Rochester) but he took the heat off some of the team&rsquo;s big guns by doing most of the shorthanded work.</p><p>Disappointments? Leafs had a few of those&mdash;the failure of young players who figured highly in the team&rsquo;s plans to become competentbig leaguers with forwards Don Ashby, Jack Valiquette and first draft pick John Anderson in that category; George Ferguson&rsquo;s scoring problems (seven goals) which cost the club a strong, productive center behind Sittler.</p><p><b>LEAFS NOTES:</b> Ron Wilson, who excelled as a forward with the Leafs&rsquo; Central League farm team, Dallas Black Hawks, and played a few games on defense for Leafs, sustained a seasonending knee injury in Leafs&rsquo; final weekend game against Boston Bruins. No surgery was needed to repair the damage but Wilson will wear a heavy cast for six weeks&hellip; Center Bruce Boudreau sustained a cracked bone in his shoulder in the last week of the season and won&rsquo;t play again until next year&hellip;Lanny McDonald&rsquo;s bid to tie Frank Mahovlich&rsquo;s club record of 48 goals, set in 1960-61 fell one score short.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02591/4147094-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="1163" height="1032"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>LANNY McDONALD&hellip;Came Within One Of Goal Record</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0019-01

Neilson’s Debut Brought Leafs Much Success

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02405/4147163-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>IVAN BOLDIREV&hellip;Feels Hawks Aren&rsquo;t Recognized</b> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Steve Babineau)</span></figcaption></div><p>CHICAGO&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>hen the game is on, Ivan Boldirev is oblivious to the outside world, unconcerned whether he is playing before good fans, bad fans, electric fans, or any fans at all.</p><p>But that doesn&rsquo;t mean that, after a whistle, or during intermissions, he can&rsquo;t glance up into the Chicago Stadium stands and wonder where everybody went and whether the Black Hawks are a hockey team or a guest on &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve Got A Secret.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a good season, but we don&rsquo;t seem to get the recognition, certainly not as much as we deserve,&rdquo; the team&rsquo;s leading scorer said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re the only first place team in Chicago, and we&rsquo;re a lot more entertaining than last year.</p><p>&ldquo;Yet, our crowds still only average about 11,000. I don&rsquo;t understand it. You look at Detroit with a smaller population and a team that didn&rsquo;t have as good a record as ours, and they get 16.000 Even Colorado drew 16,000 a couple nights.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a special feeling when you go into Philadelphia or Toronto or Montreal or Boston or even Vancouver, because they fill their buildings. I don&rsquo;t understand why we can&rsquo;t fill ours here. They said it used to be full, but that&rsquo;s before I came.</p><p>&ldquo;I was in Oakland, where they didn&rsquo;t pay much attention to the hockey team at all. When I was traded here, I was glad because it&rsquo;s a much better hockey town, much better atmosphere, and organization. But sometimes, I still feel a little bit like I&rsquo;m in Oakland.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no TV of our games, and when the 10 o&rsquo;clock news comes on at night, they might give our score, but usually that&rsquo;s it. The newspapers have been better, but still it&rsquo;s more baseball, football and basketball. I&rsquo;m disappointed. We should be getting more recognition.&rdquo;</p><p>Boldirev&rsquo;s restlessness does not stem from personal pique, because he rightfully has been noticed more than ever in this, his finest NHL season.</p><p>He finished with a team-high, career-high 35 goals, seven more than he&rsquo;s ever scored. And he completed the regular schedule with 47 points in his last 34 games.</p><p>&ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t surprise me,&rdquo; piped up Eddie Johnston. &ldquo;I was with the Bruins when Ivan first came up to the NHL (in 1970). You could see that he had talent then. When Boston let him go, Phil Esposito was really upset. We were a little crowded at center with Phil. Freddie Stanfield and Derek Sanderson, but you could see that Ivan was going to be a good one.&rdquo;</p><p>So could Bob Pulford when he assumed control of the Black Hawks last summer, and Boldirev took that change in command as an immediate plus, because he felt that last year, he could have been used with greater displays of confidence.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not afraid to make mistakes anymore,&rdquo; said Boldirev. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;ve been used on the power play a lot. One thing Pully told me to do is shoot more.</p><p>&ldquo;Most goals come from scrambles in front of the net, anyway, and one of my problems used to be that I&rsquo;d try to pass off and make the great play rather than shoot when I had the chance.</p><p>&ldquo;You only make that perfect play once in every three games, maybe, but if you shoot the puck when the opportunity is there, something is bound to happen. But shooting the puck comes from the same thing&mdash;confidence.&rdquo;</p><p>The figures bear out Boldirev&rsquo;s contention. Last year, he scored 24 times on 164 shots. This year, he bagged 35 on 249 shots.</p><p>&ldquo;And I had a lot more shots in the second half than in the first half,&rdquo; Boldirev reminded. &ldquo;It took a while to get used to it. I still don&rsquo;t view myself as a goal scorer as much as I do a playmaker.</p><p>Well he&rsquo;s a little bit of both. At season&rsquo;s end, he had passed the 400-point mark in his career, a career which surely will get better. The man&rsquo;s got talent. Lots.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-02

Boldirev Raps Fans, Media For Spoiling Year

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div><p>PITTSBURGH&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he failure of the Pittsburgh Penguins to make the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in four seasons, coupled with their worst point total in those four years, should be the handwriting on the wall that many of the Penguins will be employed elsewhere next season.</p><p>Newly elected president and chairman of the board Vince Bartimo and vice president and general counsel Paul Martha, along with incumbent general manager Baz Bastien and coach Johnny Wilson will try to mold a team which will be more competitive and attract more fans to the Civic Arena.</p><p>Bartimo and Martha represent Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr., Youngstown, Ohio millionaire, who has assumed control of the team from co-owners Al Savill and Nick Frenzel. DeBartolo, who owns or operates several race tracks and the National Football League&rsquo;s San Francisco 49ers, purchased one-third of the Penguins stock late last season.</p><p>Wilson, who finished the first year of a three year contract, was &ldquo;very disappointed&rdquo; in the Penguins 1977-78 performance.</p><p>&ldquo;When you look at disappointments, &ldquo;Wilson said, &ldquo;you start in goal. Dune Wilson kind of let us down because he was injured all year.</p><p>&ldquo;I did call upon him a few times to give Denis Herron some rest, but he (Dune) wasn&rsquo;t ready. As a result, we suffered.&rdquo;</p><p>Left wing Dave Schultz, obtained in an early season trade with Los Angeles, led the National Hockey League in penalty minutes for the fourth time in his six-year NHL career with 405.</p><p>&ldquo;Looking at Davey&rsquo;s performance the last weekend of the season when, he had a different outlook, because we had been eliminated from the playoff picture,&rdquo; Wilson said, &ldquo;he showed he could play his wing effectively.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I think with our personnel I can allow him to accumulate a couple of hundred penalty minutes next season and not tone down his aggressiveness. The day he gets over 200 minutes, he&rsquo;ll be up in the press box watching the games.&rdquo;</p><p>Schultz, who set a single season penalty minute record in 1974-75 with 472 while playing for Philadelphia, has never spent dewer than 232 minutes in the penalty box since breaking into the NHL.</p><p>The Penguins defense also was a sore point with Wilson, particularly Ron Stackhouse.</p><p>&ldquo;I think Stackhouse was a real disappointment,&rdquo; Wilson offered. I was expecting so much from him in reference to leadership when he came back from his shoulder separation.</p><p>&ldquo;It just seemed when he did return, he hurt us.&rdquo;</p><p>Wilson became so frustrated with Stackhouse&rsquo;s performance, he did what he threatens to do to Schultz, he sat the big defenseman in the press box for one game late in the season. The reason was the opposite with Stackhouse however, he didn&rsquo;t dress because of his lack of aggressiveness.</p><p>&ldquo;When Peter Mahovlich got hurt down the stretch, it really hurt us up front,&rdquo; Wilson went on. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have a productive centerman. Of all the other forwards, right wing Blair Chapman was the only one who got hot.&rdquo;</p><p>The Penguins obtained both Schultz and Mahovlich in trades along with Gene Carr, Peter Lee, and Tom Edur, and are ready to do some more wheeling and dealing.</p><p>&ldquo;Common sense tells you,&rdquo; Wilson said, &ldquo;that if we didn&rsquo;t make the playoffs, we didn&rsquo;t have the horses. We&rsquo;ll have to trade. We probably have seven, eight, maybe nine players that other clubs would be interested in.&rdquo;</p><p>The Penguins, who finished with a record of 25-37-18 for 68 points, will pick seventh in the upcoming amateur draft. Wilson is counting on that player making the team.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll look at our depth charts and determine which position is the one where we need the most help,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;However, there&rsquo;s no doubt whoever we pick, he has to play on this team.&rdquo;.</p><p>Pittsburgh will also take a close look at University of Wisconsin star center Mark Johnson, whom they drafted last year. The Penguins also hold the NHL rights to World Hockey Association players Morris Lukowich, Paul Baxter and Kim Clackson.</p><p><b>PENGUIN NOTES:</b> Although the Penguins boosted their home attendance nearly 1,000 per game, director of marketing Jim McDonald is not expected to be retained by the new management. The club&rsquo;s average attendance increase was second in the league only to Detroit. Club president Bartimo disagrees with McDonald&rsquo;s promotional giveaways as well as the team&rsquo;s radio and television contracts. McDonald will be replaced by an advertising firm from Little Rock, Ark., which also handles the promotion at Louisiana Downs, one of the racetracks DeBartolo owns.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01564/4147132-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="523" height="1020"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DUNC WILSON&hellip;He Wasn&rsquo;t Ready</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0020-01

Shake-Up Expected In Pittsburgh

<div class="byline">BY LARRY BORTSTEIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01413/4147194-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DAVE HUDSON&hellip;Says Fans Responded</b></figcaption></div><p>DENVER&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span> representative showing in their first playoff appearance, despite dropping two straight to the Philadelphia Flyers. Sellouts in their last three home games of the year, including the last two games of the regular season. Reaching the playoffs with a strong run in the closing weeks. Doing it without Paul Gardner and Gary Croteau and Michel Plasse. Doing it with a cast of young players who should be better in the future.</p><p>Rosy notes for the Colorado Rockies upon which to close out the 1977-78 skirmishing, right?</p><p>Sure. But underneath the surface still existed the problems that Rockies&rsquo; owner Jack Vickers was encountering with the city of Denver regarding the club&rsquo;s lease at McNichols Arena.</p><p>Even while the Rockies were playing their two playoff games against Philadelphia, Vickers was announcing he had canceled his lease, and was looking for new surroundings for next season. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had 11 inquiries about this club in the last 60 days,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>So even while the Rockies were drawing large crowds, and playing very competitive hockey against the Flyers despite losing both playoff games, the possibility still existed that the club was headed elsewhere for next season&mdash;although many people hereabouts were of the idea that Vickers was exercising a power play to gain leverage with the city fathers re upcoming lease renegotiation talks. Vickers, however, wasn&rsquo;t admitting to this, so the future of the Rockies in Denver still remains to be seen.</p><p>The recent past of this team was pretty successful, although it must be said that the Rockies&rsquo; 19 victories were one fewer than they recorded in last year&rsquo;s 20-46-14 last place season. They reached the playoffs with 59 points on a 19-40-21 slate, because of all those ties, and because Vancouver collapsed badly at the end, winning only one of its last 11 games, leading to the firing of Orland Kurtenbach as coach.</p><p>It was believed that Pat Kelly&rsquo;s job as coach was on the line until the Rockies made the playoffs, especially since Kelly had been saying all along that his club was better than the Canucks. But Barry Elson, the club&rsquo;s chief operating officer, said, &ldquo;Pat was the big difference to this team all season, replacing Johnny Wilson.&rdquo;</p><p>Despite being outshot 88 to 35, by the Flyers in their two Stanley Cup appearances, the Rockies played the Flyers very tough in both contests, especially the 3-2 game at Philadelphia which Mel Bridgman won for the Flyers at 0:23 of overtime.</p><p>&ldquo;We thought we&rsquo;d blow them out,&rdquo; Bridgman said at the conclusion of the two-game series, a 3-1 win by the Flyers in Denver. &ldquo;But they really skated and played hard. They gave us all we wanted.&rdquo;</p><p>Doug Favell was the hero of the series for Colorado, turning back 82 Flyer shots in the two games, many of them with acrobatic moves.</p><p>Dave Hudson, who saw his first sustained action in many weeks, was another playoff standout for Colorado. He felt that by making the playoffs, the Rockies &ldquo;proved we&rsquo;re a coming franchise. The fans responded in the last few weeks because they saw what we were building here.&rdquo;</p><p>Kelly admitted he was disappointed that the Rockies had lost two straight, especially since Colorado had beaten Philadelphia twice during the regular season, both times in Denver. But, pointing toward the players&rsquo; dressing room after the 3-1 loss here, he said, &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no shame in that room tonight. Those guys, all 19 of them, gave it everything they had for 60 minutes both nights, and there&rsquo;s no way you can ask for more than that. I&rsquo;m proud of them all. We were hoping to make the playoffs, and we did, and we gave a good account of ourselves. Now, we move on from here.&rdquo;</p><p>Stay tuned, though, for more developments in the Great Lease Caper.</p><p><b>ICE PEBBLES</b>: As expected, Barry Beck, who completed an outstanding rookie season with 22 goals, most ever by a freshman defenseman, and 60 points overall, captured a harvest of post-season Rockies&rsquo; awards&mdash;as the club&rsquo;s player of the year, top rookie, tops in three-star citations, most valuable player voted by teammates and most popular player, (voted by fans). Wilf Paiement was the only other Rocky to win an award, that as the club&rsquo;s top scorer for the year. Though Wilf didn&rsquo;t come close to last season&rsquo;s 41 goals, he had his best points season with 31 goals and 56 assists&hellip;The Rockies had a very creditable home-ice record for the regular season of 17-14-9, or 43 points in the 40 games at McNichols Arena. Their road record of 2-26-12, however, was the poorest in the league&hellip;Oddity: the Rockies&rsquo; record for their first 16 games of the 1977-78 season, the first fifth of the schedule, was 6-7-3. Their record down the stretch over the last 16 games of the schedule, was&hellip;again 6-7-3. Their last 10 games produced the club&rsquo;s best 10-game record for the 80-game season, 5-4-1&hellip;The Rockies blackest day of the week during the past season was Thursday. They played nine times on Thursdays and never won, posting an 0-8-1 mark overall, including losses in all six road games played on Thursday&hellip;The Rockies were happy to have more Saturday night home games on the schedule this year, as opposed to the 1976-77 season&mdash;and it worked out fine for the Colorado club. In 10 Saturday home appearances, they were 73-0&hellip;In intra-divisional play this year, the Rockies were 8-6-10 in games against Smythe Division foes, including 7-3-2 at home. They were 5-11-4 against Patrick Division teams, 4-12-4 against the Norris Division clubs, and 2-11-3 with Adams Division teams.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0021-01

Rockies’ Future In Denver Tied To New Lease Deal

<p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><p>TORONTO&mdash;</p><p>Toronto Maple Leafs climbed back into their quarter-final series with the New York Islanders by winning a pair of games at home, 2-0 on Friday and 3-1 on Sunday, giving each side two victories but the Leafs lost star defenseman Borje Salming, possibly for the rest of the playoffs.</p><p>Salming. who put the Leafs on top 1-0 early in the second period, was clipped by an errant stick carried by Bob Bourne of the Islanders and suffered a deep gash about one inch long on the right eyelid. He was expected to remain in hospital for three days after being examined by an eye specialist, which ruled him out of at least the fifth game of the series and probably more. His eye was swollen shut according to Maple Leafs&rsquo; general manager Jim Gregory.</p><p>Sixteen seconds after Salming&rsquo;s goal, Toronto&rsquo;s Stan Weir scored the eventual gamewinner after a pass from Jack Valiquette. Bob Nystrom brought the frustrated Islanders to within one before the period closed, but in the third period, Weir passed to Pat Boutette on a 2-on-l break for an insurance marker.</p><p>Toronto coach Roger Neilson promised more hitting from the Leafs on their home turf and the Leafs responded with some tight checking for their 2-0 win in Game Three. Veteran Ron Ellis broke the scoreless deadlock in the second period and Ian Turnbull added the other score.</p><p>Game Four in Maple Leaf Gardens was the most physical match of the playoffs with 111 minutes in penalties dished out, including 58 minutes to the Leafs.</p><p>The scoreless first period featured a bench-clearing brawl at the close of the period which saw Leafs&rsquo; Brian Glennie and Tiger Williams and Garry Howatt of the Islanders assessed misconducts.</p><p>The loss of Salming will put a heavy load on Turnbull, who has been the Leafs&rsquo; leading point-getter in post-season action with a pair of goals and five assists. The Toronto forwards have tried to bump the Islanders and keep them penned in their own zone, while Salming and Sittler have lugged the puck into the New York zone.</p><p>With the possibility of two of the remaining games being played in the Nassau Coliseum where the Islanders seem to play a more confident and physical game, Salming&rsquo;s absence may be too much for the Leafs to overcome.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Leafs Hang Tough—But Pay Price As Ace Salming Suffers Eye Injury

f0022-01

STANLEY CUP 1978

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-11" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-1196/4147431-1-eng-US/f0022-112.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>STEVE SHUTT&hellip;Four Goals In Four Games</b></figcaption></div><p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><p>BOSTON&mdash;</p><p>Boston Bruins were the first team to reach the National Hockey League semifinals of the National Hockey League playoffs with an impressive four-game sweep of the Chicago Black Hawks, while the Montreal Canadiens and the Philadelphia Flyers returned to their home arenas with commanding 3-1 leads in their series, indicating both teams would likely advance without any trouble. But the other quarter-final series between the New York Islanders and the Toronto Maple Leafs was deadlocked at two victories apiece after four games and could conceivably go the limit.</p><p>The Bruins closed out the Black Hawks&rsquo; season with a 5-2 triumph at Chicago Stadium in Game Four after scoring a pair of 4-3 overtime decisions in games two and three. After Game Three in Chicago which Peter McNab won for the Bruins with a goal at the 10:17 mark of the overtime period, Bruins&rsquo; defenseman Brad Park said that the way for the Bruins to beat Chicago was to get the jump on them and come out aggressively.</p><p>Just as they had in Game One where the Bruins scored after just 24 seconds in the first period and in the first minute of the second period and waltzed to a 6-1 decision, Boston started quickly in the wrap-up game, as Peter McNab scored two first-period goals and was joined by Terry O&rsquo;Reilly and Brad Park on the scoresheet for a 4-0 bulge. After the Hawks broke the shutout and appeared to be gathering momentum, Park scored again, his third goal of the series and the Hawks were never close again.</p><p>O&rsquo;Reilly who provided the Bruins with a 2-0 series lead by climaxing a come-from-behind effort with an overtime goal, was the leading scorer, notching 10 points in the four-game set. McNab was close behind with eight points, including five goals, two each in the first and fourth games, while Park picked up seven points.</p><p>For Chicago, Bob Murray was the leading scorer with a goal and four assists, while veteran Stan Mikita provided three goals. The Hawks&rsquo; leading scorer throughout the regular season, Ivan Boldirev, was limited to two assists.</p><p>Montreal Canadiens finally unleashed their potent offense, bombing the Detroit Red Wings 8-0 in the fourth game of the series to return to Montreal just one victory away from the semi-finals.</p><p>After losing Game Two in Montreal, the Canadiens faced an aroused Red Wings&rsquo; team and a record-setting Olympia crowd of 16,672 which delayed procedings throughout the game with the traditional Detroit shower of Octopi, thrown onto the ice surface.</p><p>The Red Wings scored first, were tied, and then held off the Canadiens during several power-play opportunities. When Nick Libett scored his second goal of the game and the Wings led 2-1 going into the third period, the Olympia fans thought they smelled an upset. But all they got was a whiff of the octopi.</p><p>Jacques Lemaire brought the Canadiens even 30 seconds into the final period, and then Pierre Larouche, making his first playoff start for the Canadiens scored on a backhander off a rebound for Montreal&rsquo;s first lead. Captain Yvan Cournoyer iced the verdict with his fourth playoff goal making the final count 4-2.</p><p>Sunday, April 23 may be forever known in Detroit as the Great Blowout. The Wings were levelled 8-0 and the Canadiens swarmed continuously leaving Detroit players strewn in their paths.</p><p>Doug Risebrough and Bob Gainey started the onslaught with shorthanded goals on the same penalty to Montreal&rsquo;s Steve Shutt. Then &ldquo;The Flower,&rdquo; Guy Lafleur, blossomed and poured in two goals and three assists, the first score providing Canadien? with a 3-0 first period lead. From there, it was all downhill for the Wings.</p><p>Lemaire, Pierre Mondou, Shutt and Lafleur each counted in the second period and Shutt closed out the scoring in the third. Ken Dryden came up with the shutout, the ninth in his playoff career.</p><p>It looked to be a home-ice series between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Buffalo Sabres when the Flyers took the first two games in the Spectrum and the Sabres scored a 4-1 win at home in Game Three. But the Flyers surprised a number of people with a 4-2 triumph in Buffalo&rsquo;s Auditorium and returned to Philadelphia for Game Five and a chance to clinch the series.</p><p>Rick MacLeish has recaptured his playoff magic and was instrumental in giving the Flyers their edge. After scoring three goals in the games in Philadelphia, including the game-winner in the second content, a 3-2 Flyers&rsquo; win, MacLeish had the lone Philadelphia goal in the 4-1 Sabres&rsquo; third-game victory and capped a three-goal outburst in the first period of Sunday&rsquo;s fourth game of the series.</p><p>Bob Kelly opened the Flyers&rsquo; scoring at the 5:58 mark and Ross Lonsberry made it 2-0 at 8:02. MacLeish, who twice has led the playoffs in scoring, then scored at 14:13, his sixth of the playoffs, and the eventual game-winner.</p><p>The Sabres tried to come back on a goal by Craig Ramsay, but Philadelphia regained their three-goal lead on a Bill Barber score, before Ramsay completed the scoring with a goal late in the final period.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0022-11

Bruins Impressive In Sweeping Black Hawks; Canadiens, Flyers Near Semi-Final Berths

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01439/4147486-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Perfects designer Peter Zuuring shows off his new skate blade with the help of Canadiens&rsquo; captain Yvan Cournoyer.</b></figcaption></div><p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p>The all new Perfecta is a skate blade unit that combines a blade support moulded of &ldquo;Dupont Zytel,&rdquo; a super tough nylon and a stainless steel runner.</p><p>Weighing in at three-quarters of a pound, less than a conventional metal tube unit, the Perfecta&mdash;the lightest, toughest, and most advanced combination blade ever&mdash;is making inroads into the hockey skate blade industry.</p><p>Perfecta&rsquo;s designer, 34-year-old Peter Zuuring, states: &ldquo;Prior to finalizing the design, we analyzed every skate on the market with regards to structure, materials, and aesthetics. We are convinced that we have come up with a winning combination&mdash;a premium blade at a realistic price.&rdquo;</p><p>Adds Zuuring, president of P.F.Z. Enterprises Inc., of Montreal, a Canadian company formed to market Perfecta throughout North America and Europe: &ldquo;Our objective is to improve the overall quality of skating through serious research, innovative design, and the introduction of quality products.&rdquo;</p><p>Zuuring, born in Holland and a graduate of the University of Toronto in chemical engineering, is more than equipped for the role. As a 10-year veteran of the plastics industry he has a wealth of experience in every facet of product development from concept to launching,</p><p>For almost seven years he worked with Shell in product design and development throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe. He subsequently joined Monsanto as development manager for Canada specializing in new product applications for synthetic resins.</p><p>Zuuring explains: &ldquo;Upon leaving Monsanto, I formed my own consulting company working primarily in the sporting goods field. It was during this period that I realized there was tremendous potential for innovation in hockey equipment, particularly in blades.&rdquo;</p><p>As the result of Zuuring&rsquo;s perseverance, Perfecta, comprising a blade support molded of Dupont &ldquo;Zytel&rdquo;, a super tough nylon, and a rust-free stainless steel blade making for sharper turns, quicker stops, and fewer trips to the skate sharpener, became a reality.</p><p>Designed for the &ldquo;serious&rdquo; hockey player, Perfecta has already won widespread acceptance from several NHL players, university leagues and Junior A teams throughout Canada They are discovering that, unlike other plastic blade units on the market, Perfecta will not break or chip no matter how tough the going gets.</p><p>&ldquo;The reason for this is twofold.&rdquo; states Zuuring. &ldquo;Zytel is the toughest, most durable engineering resin ever put on the market. Its low temperature impact strength is superior to that of any other thermoplastic.&rdquo; The original design of the Perfecta blade, a patented rib and web construction, allows for optimum balance between stiffness and flexibility.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-01

New Perfects Skate Blade In North American Debut

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02347/4147517-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>GUY LAFLEUR&hellip;Fourth Consecutive Molson Cup</b></figcaption></div><p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p>Familiar faces were on hand in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver to accept replicas of the Molson Cup and checks for $1,000 as the final award money for the Three Star contests in the three Canadian cities was distributed.</p><p>Last year&rsquo;s winners in Montreal and Vancouver. Guy Lafleur and Cesare Maniago were repeaters again, while Darryl Sittler collected the silverware in Toronto for the third time in four years. Last year Borje Salming finished first in the overall competition.</p><p>Lafleur won Montreal&rsquo;s Molson Cup for the fourth consecutive time with a remarkable 150 points. 70 more than Larry Robinson, Jacques Lemaire and Bob Gainey. Lafleur was named one of the three stars in 30 out of the 80 games, including number one star on 17 occasions. He was named second star eight times and five times was voted third star.</p><p>Robinson clinched the runner-up honors for the season and $500 by virtue of more second star selections than Lemaire. Each player had seven first star ratings, but Robinson was chosen as the second star in nine games as compared to three for Lemaire. Steve Shutt captured the fifth segment of the contest (March-April) to receive $1,000, while Lafleur was second to earn an additional $500</p><p>For the season, Lafleur&rsquo;s Molson Cup winnings totalled $4,500.</p><p>In Vancouver. Maniago won top honors for the second year since the Molson Cup&rsquo;s inception, keeping the Canucks in contention for a playoff spot despite a defense weakened by injuries.</p><p>Maniago actually was tied in points with goaltending colleague Curt Ridley at 55. but claimed top honors with more first star ratings. Maniago had seven first star, one second star and three third star selections, while Ridley, who earned the $500 runnerup share, had three first&rsquo;s, five second&rsquo;s and three third&rsquo;s. Rookie Jere Gillis finished a close third with 50 points.</p><p>Hilliard Graves came on strong to capture the final segment of the Vancouver competition with a pair of first and second star selections in March and April. Maniago and Rick Blight shared the fifth segment&rsquo;s $500 runner-up award.</p><p>Toronto captain Sittler was the Molson Cup winner in 1974-75 and 1975-76. His exceptional play in February saw him named one of the three stars in eight of 11 contests and allowed him to challenge previous leader Lanny McDonald.</p><p>Sittler finished with a total of 115 points, while McDonald was the runner-up with 105. Salming was third with 100 points.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-02

Familiar Faces Again Win Molson Cup Competition

<h2><b>WHA&rsquo;S &hellip; <i>Player of the Week</i></b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>N</span>ew England Whalers were the first team to advance to the semifinals in WHA playoff action and speedy little Mike Antonovich played a key role in getting them there.</p><p>Antonovich, who leads all playoff scorers with 11 points, was brilliant with a five-point game against Edmonton which boosted the Whalers into a cammanding 3-1 series lead. In that game, a 9-1 Whaler victory, Antonovich scored three goals and also set up two Whaler tallies.</p><p>The Whalers clinched their series back home on Sunday, 4-1 and once again Antonovich came through with a big goal, the game winner. He also added an assist later in the game, his fifth of the playoffs, to go along with six goals.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03190/4147667-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="529" height="553"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MIKE ANTONOVICH&hellip;New England Whalers</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>WHA&rsquo;S FINAL 1977-78 SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS</b></h2><h2><b>BIRMINGHAM BULLS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01389/4147660-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="187" height="163"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02310/4147653-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="724" height="688"></div><h2><b>INDIANAPOLIS RACERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03267/4147646-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="205" height="154"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04212/4147639-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="745" height="751"></div><h2><b>CINCINNATI STINGERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05175/4147632-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="184" height="169"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-06142/4147625-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="742" height="736"></div><h2><b>NEW ENGLAND WHALERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-07130/4147618-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="229" height="229"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-08118/4147611-1-eng-US/f0026-082.jpg" title="f0026-08" width="742" height="637"></div><h2><b>EDMONTON OILERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-09112/4147604-1-eng-US/f0026-092.jpg" title="f0026-09" width="199" height="190"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-10107/4147597-1-eng-US/f0026-102.jpg" title="f0026-10" width="724" height="757"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-11103/4147590-1-eng-US/f0026-112.jpg" title="f0026-11" width="205" height="200"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1295/4147583-1-eng-US/f0026-122.jpg" title="f0026-12" width="739" height="676"></div><h2><b>HOUSTON AEROS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1393/4147576-1-eng-US/f0026-132.jpg" title="f0026-13" width="280" height="160"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1485/4147569-1-eng-US/f0026-142.jpg" title="f0026-14" width="716" height="662"></div><h2><b>WINNIPEG JETS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1577/4147562-1-eng-US/f0026-152.jpg" title="f0026-15" width="202" height="204"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1669/4147555-1-eng-US/f0026-162.jpg" title="f0026-16" width="714" height="706"></div><h2><b>Looking At WHA Goalers</b></h2><h2><b>FINAL GOALKEEPING RECORDS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-1765/4147548-1-eng-US/f0026-172.jpg" title="f0026-17" width="1117" height="944"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0025-03

WORLD HOCKEY ASSOCIATION

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE WARRINER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01376/4147705-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>LOUIS LEVASSEUR&hellip;Starting Call Against Oilers</b></figcaption></div><p>HARTFORD&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he New England Whalers finished up the regular season with a 4-1 win against Indianapolis&mdash;the fifth win in their last seven games. They had regained their momentum, and were ready for the opening round of the playoffs against Edmonton.</p><p>In the Indy game coach Harry Neale&rsquo;s experiment putting Steve Carlson on the right wing with Gordie and Mark Howe really paid off. Although ordinarily a center-left wing, Carlson blended nicely with the Howes scoring two goals as well as assisting on a Mark Howe goal. In two games he had picked up five points. The young star of the movie &ldquo;Slap Shot&rdquo; had notched only four goals and four assists in the other 36 games he had played with the Whalers this year.</p><p>In gearing up for the Edmonton series coach Neale commented on the possibility that the Oilers might try to muscle the Whalers. &ldquo;I hope they do try to get physcial because any time any team has started to monkey with us it brings out the best in us,&rdquo; said Neale. &ldquo;If a team comes in and plays soft music and starts snoring they are apt to beat us,&rdquo; he continued.</p><p>As it. turned out the Oilers didn&rsquo;t try the soft music routine. From the outset Ron Ego began calling minor penalties. Actually the first was against the Whalers&mdash;near the one-minute mark. But penalty killer extraordinaire, Dave Keon, broke up a pass and went in alone on McLeod for a shorthanded tally. However, before the power play ended, the Oilers tied it up.</p><p>The second period was all New England as they outshot the Oilers, 15-4. A power play goal by Mike Antonovich got things going. Then at the midway point of the period, the Whalers were shorthanded, again. This time, Gordie Howe took a neat pass from Dave Keon, burst past defenseman Paul Shmyr, and went in alone on McLeod. That put the Whalers up 3-1. Larry Pleau upped the margin on a nice feed from Danny Bolduc.</p><p>As they have been prone to do this year, the Whalers became complacent with the lead, and before the break in the third period the Oilers had climbed back into contention with goals by Ron Chipperfield and Mike Zuke. Marty Howe spread the margin again with a slap from the point which was aided by an Antonovich screen. But Randy Rota brought the Oilers within one again before Antonovich clinched it at 18:09. Final score, 6-4.</p><p>Both coaches chose to use the same goaltenders in the second game. Louie Levasseur had drawn the nod over Al Smith because he had been the hotter of the two down the stretch&mdash;and also because Louie has had considerable success over the Oilers in the past.</p><p>Glen Sather&rsquo;s selection of McLeod for the opener was a little puzzling since Dave Dryden had played in eight of 11 games between the two clubs and was sporting a 2.91 GAA for those games. On the other hand McLeod had played in three games and had a 3.91 GAA versus the Whalers. Smokey couldn&rsquo;t be faulted in the first game loss, so he was back in there for Game Two.</p><p>Neale&rsquo;s choice of Levasseur turned out well as Louie ended up the evening being chosen No. 1 Star of the game. Again the Whalers outshot the Oilers, 35 to 26, but Louie was severely tested on several occasions.</p><p>The Whalers got off the mark early with a power play goal by alert Mike Rogers. Edmonton was doing an admirable job of killing a penalty, using goalie McLeod very effectively as they frequently tossed the puck back to him. But near the end of the penalty Rogers anticipated beautifully, he flagged down a clearing pass to go in alone against McLeod.</p><p>The Oilers continued their physical style of play and John McKenzie scored what proved to be the winner on a power play at 5:35 of the first. After a Blair MacDonald goal made things tight in the second stanza, Mark Howe and Steve Carlson each scored shorthanded goals on the same penalty. That iced the game, 41, and sent the two teams back to Edmonton for games three and four.</p><p><b>QUEBEC</b>: After a week&rsquo;s layoff following the end of the regular season, the Nordiques began their first round playoff series in The Summit at Houston. The teams had not completed one-minute of the first period before the Aeros Bernie Lukowich became entangled with Marc Tardif. Both received minors and a major penalty&mdash;and the Aeros had succeeded in getting the WHA&rsquo;s leading scorer off the ice for seven minutes.</p><p>At the same time other altercations broke out. Real Cloutier and Houston&rsquo;s Ron Hansis picked up minors while Wally Weir and John Schella drew majors, and a misconduct each</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02274/4147698-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="565" height="738"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PAUL BAXTER&hellip;Had Six Shots</b></figcaption></div><p>Defenseman Jean Bernier put the Nordiques into the lead when he intercepted a clearing pass and scored an unassisted power play goal. But Houston answered with a power play goal by Andre Lacroix. Just a few seconds later, with Houston on another power play, Andre Boudrias got the puck to Paul Baxter, who put it away for a shorthanded tally and a 2-1 lead for the Nords. Quebec tested goaltender Lynn Zimmerman, outshooting Houston during the period, 19 to nine.</p><p>The second period was scoreless but Houston dominated the third, outshooting the Nordiques 18 to eight, and outscoring them, 2-1. The Aeros wasted little time as Al McLeod lit the lamp for the tying goal at 15 seconds. But Buddy Cloutier was set up by Chris Bordeleau and Garry Lariviere just 27 seconds later, and the Nordiques regained the lead.</p><p>Don Larway&rsquo;s goal with just over four minutes remaining in regulation tied the score and forced the sudden death overtime session. Then at 7:19 of overtime, veteran Ted Taylor got one by goalie Richard Brodeur and Game No. 1 went to Houston.</p><p>The WHA&rsquo;s leader in shots on goal, Marc Tardif, was held to just two shots. Linemates Cloutier (five) and Chris Bordeleau (three) had their share, but defenseman Paul Baxter led the Nordiques with six shots on goal (of the team&rsquo;s total of 35).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0025-01

Whalers Show Penalty-Killing P Aeros Muzzle Nordiques’ Big Shots

<div class="byline">BY JOHN McCLAIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01368/4147736-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>NORM FERGUSON&hellip;His Injury Curtailed Offense</b></figcaption></div><p>EDMONTON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>hen the Edmonton Oilers look back over the 1977-78 campaign, they see a promising season almost wiped out because of injuries. Although the Oilers are disappointed in their fifth-place finish they can&rsquo;t help but be proud of their accomplishments under the most trying adversity.</p><p>&ldquo;Yeah, the injuries were the most disappointing thing for us,&rdquo; says coach Glen Sather, who did a remarkable job for a team that finished 38-39-3. &ldquo;Of course, I can&rsquo;t control injuries. We weren&rsquo;t prepared because we didn&rsquo;t have a minor-league system, but we&rsquo;re working to eliminate that.&rdquo;</p><p>When Sather decides to get out of coaching, he might turn to medicine. After all, he knows all about broken bones, casts and stitches. In his first full season as a head coach, the 34-year-old Sather kept a team torn apart by injuries together under the worst of circumstances.</p><p>&ldquo;We were fortunate I know a lot of people so we were able to fill some holes,&rdquo; Sather says. &ldquo;There always are morale problems when you get guys hurt, especially the ones that are the mainstays of the team.</p><p>&ldquo;All you can do is to try to get the other guys to come through and get some young guys to fill the holes and provide some enthusiasm that maybe will carry over to the older guys.&rdquo;</p><p>Injured Oilers and the number of regular-season games they missed included: Al Hamilton (21), Bill Flett (six), Mike Zuke (nine), Joe Micheletti (24), Norm Ferguson (nine), Juha Widing (nine), Dave Langevin (18), Dennis Sobchuk (44). Bryan Campbell (27), Ron Busniuk (21) and jerry Holland (58).</p><p>The injury with the most devastating effect belonged to Hamilton. While enjoying the best season of his career, Hamilton was the top-scoring defenseman in the WHA with 54 points when he was hit in the face by a slap shot from Houston Aeros&rsquo; John Gray. Hamilton was a team leader. When he left for the season, the Oilers were not the same.</p><p>&ldquo;In the same week, we lost Hamilton, Micheletti and Langevin,&rdquo; Sather recalls with a painful expression. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t lost three defensemen within a week and not be hurt.</p><p>&ldquo;There was no way we could afford to lose a guy like Hamilton, either.&rdquo;</p><p>Sather didn&rsquo;t make excuses. Instead, he tried just about every available player&mdash;young ones, old ones, some good, some bad. He found players in the NHL, the minors, colleges, junior leagues and Italy.</p><p>The Oilers ended the regular season with seven rookies on the roster&mdash;Zuke, Micheletti, Holland, left wing Dave Semenko, right wing Kevin Primeau and defensemen Owen Lloyd and Cal Sand-back.</p><p>Sather now has enough players to furnish an entire minor-league team. He will not, however, relax in the off-season. With the Oilers on the verge of becoming a bona fide threat in the WHA, Sather will be after more players.</p><p>There have been reports that NHL teams are interested in Sather. They recognize the excellent job he has done with the Oilers this season.</p><p>&ldquo;The thing I&rsquo;ve got with the Oilers is that I pick the players,&rdquo; Sather says. &ldquo;I pay them what I think they&rsquo;re worth. I coach them and we get along as a team.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had guys in the NHL talk to me. The one thing in the NHL I don&rsquo;t agree with is that the general manager picks the team for you, and you coach the team he picks. I don&rsquo;t believe someone can pick a team for me and tell me these are the guys I want. I&rsquo;ve been involved in hockey all my life and I probably know what a hockey player looks like just as well as a general manager. In fact, I probably have a better idea than a lot of guys.&rdquo;</p><p>Sather has a good relationship with Oiler general manager Brian Conacher.</p><p>&ldquo;Brian takes care of the office and I take care of the team,&rdquo; Sather says. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t interfere with trades and deals I want to make. I tell him what the contracts are and who the guys are that are coming and he takes care of it. I don&rsquo;t like doing the detail work and sitting in the office. I don&rsquo;t think Brian particularly enjoys doing what I&rsquo;m doing, and that&rsquo;s dealing one-on-one with the players. So I don&rsquo;t see any reason why I won&rsquo;t be in Edmonton again next season.&rdquo;</p><p>With Peter Pocklington providing the money, Conacher handling the office and Sather the coaching, the Oilers have the most solid organization in the WHA.</p><p><b>OILER NOTES</b>: Flett missed the last seven games of the regular season with a cracked rib, then discovered he had fluid in his lung. He ended the season with 41 goals, including 10 game-winners, third in the league.</p><p>WINNIPEG: About the only problem the Jets had this season was winning overtime games. They finished 1-6-2 in overtime&hellip;The Jets had the best road record in the league, 22-17-0. Houston was the only team to have a series advantage over the Jets. The Aeros won the last regular-season game to end the series ahead 6-5 &hellip; Winnipeg had the best penalty killers in the league and the most shorthanded goals with 16, including a league-leading six by Anders Hedberg&hellip;For the record, here are the totals for Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson, who spent four seasons with the Jets. Hedberg played in 286 games with 236 goals, 221 assists, 457 points, 203 penalty minutes, 68 power play goals, 12 shorthanded goals and 37 game-winning goals. Nilsson had 140 goals in 299 games, 344 assists, 484 points, 341 penalty minutes, 29 power play goals, nine shorthanded goals and 23 game winners. In 186 games the Jets won with Hedberg and Nilsson, the Swedes combined for 60 game-winning goals.</p><p><b>HOUSTON</b>: Morris Lukowich&rsquo;s 40 regular-season goals set a team record for goals by a left wing, breaking the old record of 39 held by Andre Hinse &hellip; Andre Lacroix set two team records with his 113 points, including 14 in the last four games of the regular season. Lacroix broke Larry Lund&rsquo;s records for points and assists in a season&hellip;One plus mark for the Aeros this season was the turnaround of right wing Don Larway, who went from 22 points in 1976-77 to 59 this season, including a career-high 35 assists. Larway also improved as a defensive player&hellip;One of the Aeros&rsquo; biggest problems was the power play. After leading the league in 1976-77, Houston finished seventh this season, ahead of Indianapolis.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0027-01

THE WHA

Oilers’ Promising Season Deflated By Injuries

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01355/4147872-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="568" height="1129"></div><h2><b>AVCOTROPHY SCOREBOARD</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02259/4147865-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="118" height="342"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>Preliminary Round</b></h2><h2><b>SERIES&lsquo;A&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03198/4147858-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="604" height="94"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(Winnipeg wins best-of-seven series 4-1)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Fri. April 14</b></p><p>Birmingham 3 at Winnipeg 9</p><p><b>Sun. April 16</b></p><p>Birmingham 3 at Winnipeg 8</p><p><b>Wed. April 19</b></p><p>Winnipeg 2 at Birmingham 3</p><p><b>Fri. April 21</b></p><p>Winnipeg 5 at Birmingham 1</p><p><b>Sun. April 23</b></p><p>Birmingham 2 at Winnipeg 5</p><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;B&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04156/4147851-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="592" height="84"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(New England wins best-of-seven series 4-1)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Fri. April 14</b></p><p>Edmonton 4 at New England 6</p><p><b>Sun. April 16</b></p><p>Edmonton 1 at New England 4</p><p><b>Wed. April 19</b></p><p>New England 0 at Edmonton 2</p><p><b>Fri. April 21</b></p><p>Now England 9 at Edmonton 1</p><p><b>Sun. April 23</b></p><p>Edmonton 1 at New England 4</p><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;C&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05136/4147844-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="580" height="90"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(Quebec leads best-of-seven series 3-2)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Sun. April 16</b></p><p>Quebec 3 at Houston 4</p><p><b>Tue. April 18</b></p><p>Quebec 5 at Houston 4</p><p><b>Thu. April 20</b></p><p>Houston 1 at Quebec 5</p><p><b>Fri. April 21</b></p><p>Houston 0 at Quebec 3</p><p><b>Sun. April 23</b></p><p>Quebec 2 at Houston 5</p><h2><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h2><p><b>Wed. April 26</b></p><p>Houston at Quebec</p><p><b>Fri. April 28</b></p><p>Quebec at Houston</p><h2><b>PLAYOFF SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-06118/4147837-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="584" height="460"></div><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;A&rsquo;</b></h2><h2><b>Wed, April 19 WINNIPEG 2, BIRMINGHAM 3</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Birmingham, 1&mdash;Linseman (Hanson) 1:21, 2&mdash;Iurkiewicz (Linseman) 5:35.</p><p>Penalties: Linseman, Hanson (major, misconduct), Hoganson (major), Lesuk, Amodeo (major, misconduct) 1:53, Mofatt (major) 1:53, Beaton a 8:28 19:31.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Winnipeg, 3&mdash;HedOurg (Sjoberg, U. Nilsson) 4 48. 4&mdash;Hull (U. Nilsson) 5:24, Birmingham, 5&mdash;stewart (Gorman, Durbano) 16:51.</p><p>Penalties: Linseman. Lesuk 10:15, Long 15:21, j</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>No scoring.</p><p>Penalties: None.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-07108/4147830-1-eng-US/f0028-072.jpg" title="f0028-07" width="584" height="104"></div><p>Attendance 8.585</p><p>(Winnipeg leads best-of-seven senes 2-1)</p><h2><b>Fri. April 21 WINNIPEG 5, BIRMINGHAM 1</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Winnipeg, 1&mdash;Hedberg (Sjoberg, Dunn) 0:37, 2&mdash;Kryskow (Guindon, Lindstrom) 14:18.</p><p>Penalties: Hanson (major), Clackson (minor, major) 0:57, Beaudoin 4:25, Baird, Langway (majors) 7:38, Clackson Hanson (majors). Sullivan, Linseman 9.12. Long 19:38.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Birmingham, 3&mdash;Alley (Stewart, Turkiewicz) 10:45, Winnipeg. 4&mdash;Moffat (Baird) 13:53, 5&mdash;Hedberg (U. Nilsson, Sjoberg) 14:36.</p><p>Penalties: Hanson 5:54, Long 9:24, Napier 15:29.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Winnipeg, 6&mdash;Hull (Long, Sjoberg) 15:06.</p><p>Penalties Durbano 6:10, 13:39, Beaudoin 14:13, Durbano (misconduct) 15:06, Beaudoin (minor, misconduct). Bromley 18:56.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0899/4147823-1-eng-US/f0028-082.jpg" title="f0028-08" width="590" height="110"></div><p>Attendance: 12,250.</p><p>(Winnipeg leads best-of-seven series 3-1)</p><h2><b>Sun. April 23 BIRMINGHAM 2, WINNIPEG 5</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Birmingham, 1&mdash;Beaudoin 7:05, Winnipeg. 2&mdash;Lesuk (Guindon, Long) 13:27, 3&mdash;Ford (HulL-Amodeo) 17.48.</p><p>Penalties: Marrin 1:13, Roberto 16:21, Linseman, U. Nilsson 17:25, Lesuk 18:15.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Winnipeg, 4&mdash;Hedberg (K. Nilsson, Long) 8:25.</p><p>Penalties: Beaton. Beaudoin, U. Nilsson 8:00, Napier (misconduct) 8:25, Sjoberg 11:19, Clackson (minor and major). Alley (major), Sullivan 18:10.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Winnipeg, 5&mdash;Dunn (Hull, U. Nilsson) 0:42, Birmingham. 6&mdash;Roberto (Marrin) 9:52, Winnipeg. 7&mdash;Guindon 18:51.</p><p>Penalties: U. Nilsson 18:30.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-0993/4147816-1-eng-US/f0028-092.jpg" title="f0028-09" width="589" height="108"></div><p>Attendance: 9.491.</p><p>(Winnipeg wins best-of-seven series 4-1)</p><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;B&rsquo;</b></h2><h2><b>Wed, April 19 NEW ENGLAND 0, EDMONTON 2</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Edmonton, 1&mdash;Guite (Zuke, Shmyr) 18:48.</p><p>Penalties: Langevin 1:34, Roberts, Rota 4:58, Guile 11:51, Marty Howe 14:38.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>No scoring.</p><p>Penalties, Busntuk 5:20, Keon 10:25, McKenzie, bobchuk 19:11.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Edmonton, 2&mdash;Zuke (Shmyr, McKay) 1:56.</p><p>Penalties: selwood 0:51, Sobchuk 1:27, Shmyr 9:31</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1090/4147809-1-eng-US/f0028-102.jpg" title="f0028-10" width="581" height="114"></div><p>Attendance, 11.924.</p><p>(New England leads best-of-seven series 2-1)</p><h2><b>Fri. April 21 NEW ENGLAND 9, EDMONTON 1</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>New England, 1&mdash;McKenzie (Keon, Antonovich) 0:34, 2&mdash;G. Howe (Mark Howe, S. Carlson) 2:04, 3&mdash;Keon (Mark Howe. Antonovich) 2:49, Edmonton. 4&mdash;Sobchuk (Zuke, Micheletti) 6:55, New England. 5&mdash;Antonovich (Roberts, Keon) 13:23.</p><p>Penalties: Hangsleben, Busniuk 2:04, Shmyr 2.21. Lyle 5.40. Plumb 9:09, Busniuk 12:45, Hogers, Jarry 14:55, Marty Howe. Callighen (minors, majors) 18:12, Hangsleben 19:20.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>New England. 8&mdash;S. Carlson (Ley, G. Howe) 2:03, 7&mdash;Antonovich (Keon) 8:23, 8&mdash;Antonovich (Hangsleben, Rogers) 15:04.9&mdash;Pleau 18:14.</p><p>Penalties: Semenk 16:50, Keon 20:00.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>New England. 10&mdash;Bolduc (S. Carlson) 14:49.</p><p>Penalties, Lyle, Semenko (double minors), Koaers, McKay 10:16, Mark Howe. McKay 13:06.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1182/4147802-1-eng-US/f0028-112.jpg" title="f0028-11" width="586" height="109"></div><p>Attendance: 14.888.</p><p>(New England leads best-of-seven series 3-1)</p><h2><b>Sun. April 23 EDMONTON 1, NEW ENGLAND 4</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>No scoring.</p><p>Penalties: Micheletti 2:52, Callighen. McKenzie 9 51. Guite 12:45, Mark Howe 14:34.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>New England. 1&mdash;Gordie Howe (Ley, Mark Howe) 18:58.</p><p>Penalties: Roberts 1:12, Busniuk 6:25, G. Howe (major) 7:24, Primeau. Roberts 17:46.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>New England. 2&mdash;Antonovich (McKenzie, Keon) 5:28, Edmonton. 3&mdash;Snmyr (Rota, Callighen) 7:33, New England. 4&mdash;McKenzie (Keon) 19:10, 5&mdash;Keon (Antonovich, McKenzie) 19:35.</p><p>Penalty: Ley 6:59.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1278/4147795-1-eng-US/f0028-122.jpg" title="f0028-12" width="576" height="107"></div><p>Attendance: 6.212.</p><p>(New England wins best-of-seven series 4-1)</p><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;C&rsquo;</b></h2><h2><b>Tue, April 18 QUEBEC 5, HOUSTON 4</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Quebec, 1&mdash;lardif (C. Bordeleau, J. Bernier) 8:45, Houston. 2&mdash;Tonelli (Lacroix, Larway) 9:51.</p><p>Penalties: Sutherland (major). Gray 4:04, uampoell 6.41. Schella 7:32, Brackenbury 11:53, 17:28, S. Bernier. LukoiNich 18:55.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>No scoring.</p><p>Penalties: Ionelli (double minor) 0:30, Tardif 0:59, Sutherland (misconduct, game misconduct) 5:54, Brackenbury. Zimmerman (served by Hansis) 6:18, C. Bordeleau. Schella (double minors) 8:12, Cloutier. Popiei (minors, majors). Baxter. Kuskowski (majors) 11:07, Brackenbury 15:26.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Houston, 3&mdash;Lqcroix (Gray, Larway) 8:15, 4&mdash;Hansis (Campbell. Tonelli) 11:50, Quebec. 5&mdash;Fitchner (Baxter, Dorey) 15:42, 8&mdash;Baxter Cloutier 18.42. 7&mdash;Cloutier 18:50, Houston. 8&mdash;Liikowicn (Lacroix, laylor) 19:19.</p><p>Penalties; Weir (misconduct) 18:00, Baxter. Campbell 18:55.</p><h3><b>OVERTIME PERIOD</b></h3><p>Quebec, 9&mdash;Iardif (Cloutier, Baxter) 2:59.</p><p>Penalties: P. Bordeleau. Schella 0:38.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1372/4147788-1-eng-US/f0028-132.jpg" title="f0028-13" width="592" height="106"></div><p>Attendance 6,608.</p><p>(Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)</p><h2><b>Thu. April 20 HOUSTON 1, QUEBEC 5</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Quebec, 1&mdash;Sutherland (Fitchner, Brackenbury) 18:10.</p><p>Penalties, Hughes. Sutherland (double minor) 10.16.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Quebec, 2&mdash;lardif (Brodeur) 13:18, 3&mdash;Dube (P. Bordeleau, S. Bernier) 14:47.</p><p>Penalties: Tonelli 4:58, Brackenbury 9:30, Tonelli 11:26, Lukowich 11:57, Dorey 18:52, Lund, Weir (minor, misconduct) 19:59.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Quebec, 4&mdash;Lacombe (S. Bernier) 3:38, 5&mdash;Cloutier (S. Bernier) 8:59, Houston. 6&mdash;Hughes (Lukowicn) 13:29.</p><p>Penalties: Sutherland. Zimmerman (served by Larway) (double minor) 6:39, Dube. Lukowich 7:59, Dube 11:51, Baxter 15:53.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1464/4147781-1-eng-US/f0028-142.jpg" title="f0028-14" width="590" height="102"></div><p>Attendance 11,593.</p><p>(Best-oF-seven series tied 1-1)</p><h2><b>Fri. April 21 HOUSTON 0, QUEBEC 3</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Quebec, 1&mdash;S. Bernier (P. Bordeleau, J. Berruer) 6:45.</p><p>Penalties: Hughes 3:02, Gray 6:27, Weir 7:54, S. Bernier. Lukowich 13:02, Baxter 14:01, Baxter 17:33, Larway. S. dernier 19:38.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Quebec, 2&mdash;Iardil (Fitchner, Miller) 7:36.</p><p>Penalties: Larway 5:48, Lariviere 11:36, Taylor 18:41.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Quebec, 3&mdash;P. Bordeleau (Cote, Baxter) 14:42.</p><p>Penalties: Popeil 1:09, Weir 3:01, Gray. Baxter 10:55, Popeil 13:48, Dorey 16:22, Weir 17:46.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1563/4147774-1-eng-US/f0028-152.jpg" title="f0028-15" width="586" height="106"></div><p>Attendance 10.851.</p><p>(Quebec leads best-of-seven series 3-1)</p><h2><b>Sun. April 23 QUEBEC 2, HOUSTON 5</b></h2><h3><b>FIRST PERIOD</b></h3><p>Houston, 1&mdash;lerbenche (Huskowski) 14:39, 2&mdash;Connor (Popiei) 15:36.</p><p>Penalties: Connor 0:33, Cloutier 2:05, Lukowich 3:01, Sutherland. Hughes 18:32.</p><h3><b>SECOND PERIOD</b></h3><p>Houston, 3&mdash;Campbell (Lukowich, lerbenche) 8:25, Quebec. 4&mdash;P. Bordeleau (Fitchner, Baxter) 11:06, 5&mdash;P. Bordeleau (Dube, Lacombe) 13:26.</p><p>Penalties: Schella 2:14, 10:10, Dorey 19:22.</p><h3><b>THIRD PERIOD</b></h3><p>Houston, 6&mdash;laylor (Lund, Hansis) 10:33, 7&mdash;Taylor (Lund) 19:50.</p><p>Penalties: Baxter, Schella 14:46, Boudrias, Schella 18:28, Baxter 19:50.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1652/4147767-1-eng-US/f0028-162.jpg" title="f0028-16" width="580" height="110"></div><p>Attendance, 5.881.</p><p>(Quebec leads best-of-seven series 3-2)<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0028-01

AVCO TROPHY SUMMARIES

<p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-1739/4147903-1-eng-US/f0028-172.jpg" title="f0028-17" width="509" height="980"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>ANDERS HEDBERG&hellip;Six-Goal Series</b></figcaption></div><p>WINNIPEG&mdash;</p><p>The visions of mayhem never materialized and the Winnipeg Jets as expected, have advanced to the World Hockey Association finals by defeating the rugged Birmingham Bulls, four games to one.</p><p>A 5-2 home-ice triumph in the fifth game of the surprisingly quiet series, earned the Jets a bye into the. finals against the winner of the semi-finals between New England and either Quebec or Houston. The Jets were awarded their bye for finishing first during the regular season.</p><p>They also drew the sixth-place Bulls for their opening assignment, and the Bulls, who made the playoffs with the use of muscle, were expected to try to slow down the Jets with hitting, but after surrendering four power play goals in the first game the Bulls quieted down.</p><p>But they couldn&rsquo;t catch Winnipeg in the first two games here, losing 8-3 and 9-3. They made it a series, briefly, winning Game Three in Birmingham 3-2, but the Jets roared back in Game Four, winning 5-1, setting up the series clincher in Winnipeg.</p><p>Bobby Hull and Anders Hedberg tied for scoring honors on the Jets with six goals and three assists in the five games. Lars-Erik Sjoberg and Ulf Nilsson were also impressive with eight assists each, while Robert Guindon notched four goals and the same number of assists. Ken Linseman paced the Bulls with two goals and two assists for the series.</p><p>New England Whalers followed virtually the same path as the Jets concluding their series with the Edmonton Oilers in five games, losing only the third game 2-0 in Edmonton.</p><p>The decisive game in the series was a 9-1 thrashing administered to the Oilers in Edmonton in Game Four. Mike Antonovich led the way for New England with three goals and two assists, while linemate Dave Keon showed he hasn&rsquo;t lost his touch with three goals and seven assists for the series.</p><p>Antonovich netted the series-winner in Game Five boosting the Whalers into a 2-0 lead, with a third-period goal. Keon and the third member of the line, Johnny McKenzie, also scored in the stanza to put New England in the semi-finals.</p><p>The final first-round series between third-place Houston and fourth-place Quebec will produce the other semi-final combatant. The Nordiques appeared to have a lock on the position when they ran off three straight victories, starting with a 5-4 overtime decision in Houston. In Quebec City they won handily 5-1 and 3-0, but back in Houston the Aeros staved off elimination with a 5-2 win.</p><p>Perhaps the biggest surprise in the series has been the emergence of Paul Baxter as the Nordiques&rsquo; leading scorer with two goals and four assists. Real Cloutier is second with three goals and two assists, while Marc Tardif, Quebec&rsquo;s record-breaking scorer, has been &ldquo;held&rdquo; to four goals, although one was an overtime winner.</p><p>For the Aeros&rsquo; veteran Ted Taylor has been the top scorer with three goals and one assist, including an overtime goal which gave the Aeros a 4-3 victory in the series opener.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0028-17

Jets, Whalers Advance In Playoffs

<div class="byline">RY JIMMY ARYAN</div><p>BIRMINGHAM&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>hen the Birmingham Bulls went into Winnipeg and threw all their muscle at the Jets and came out with a pair of onesided losses, three fines and a suspension, it should have been the handwriting on the wall for the end to the Bulls&rsquo; season.</p><p>Three Birmingham players were fined and two suspended as a result of their activities in Game One. Phil Roberto was fined $500 and suspended for being the first off the bench in an altercation, Gilles Bilodeau was fined $200 for attempt to injure by kneeing, and received a one game suspension while Dave Hanson was hit with a $100 setback for delaying the game while refusing to go to the penalty box.</p><p>On the ice, things were even worse for the Bulls. In the two Winnipeg contests. 8-3 and 9-3 losses, the Bulls had nine power play goals scored against them and even a penalty shot, which Anders Hedberg converted. Stripped of their number one weapon&mdash;intimidation&mdash;the Jets were expected to roll over and die.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01311/4147941-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="559" height="732"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>PHIL ROBERTO&hellip;$500 Lighter</b></figcaption></div><p>They didn&rsquo;t.</p><p>To their credit, something which the Bulls receive little of, they cut down on penalties in Game Three in Birmingham and at least proved to their fans that they are capable of playing good hockey, defeating the Jets 3-2.</p><p>Rookie sensation Ken Linseman, who is either number one or two in the rookie of the year contest, with Winnipeg&rsquo;s Kent Nilsson, delighted Birmingham followers by giving the Bulls a 1-0 lead after just 1:21 of the game.</p><p>A brief (for the Bulls) interlude of fighting erupted 32 seconds later when Dave Hanson of the Bulls drew a major and a misconduct while Lyle Moffat of Winnipeg and Dale Hoganson of the Bulls received majors and Bill Lesuk of the Jets was hit with a misconduct.</p><p>Then Jim Turkiewicz of the Bulls made it 2-0 and the Bulls were rolling.</p><p>In the second period, Winnipeg tied it up with a pair of goals just 36 seconds apart by Anders Hedberg and Bobby Hull, but before the period ended J.C. Stewart with assists from Dave Gorman and Steve Durbano, put the Bulls into the lead for the last time this season.</p><p>What followed had to bolster the egos of the Bulls&rsquo; players, management and fans alike. The Bulls outshot Winnipeg 10-6 in the third period and played a scoreless, PENALTY-LESS period. That&rsquo;s right, hockey had arrived in Birmingham.</p><p>Unfortunately for the Bulls, the Jets proved to have too much talent. They closed out the Bulls with a 5-1 victory in Birmingham and a 5-2 decision back in Winnipeg.</p><p>But despite the fighting, the fines, the suspension and all of the bad things which have been said about the Bulls, they realized their number one goal of reaching the playoffs, they improved over last year&rsquo;s record by five victories and owner John Bassett is very optimistic about hockey&rsquo;s future in Birmingham.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02245/4147934-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="1805" height="1284"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BEST OF THE STINGERS: Robbie Ftorek, left, receives the annual Chrysler-Plymouth most valuable player award as the best performer on the Cincinnati Stingers for the 1977-78 season. Making presentation to Ftorek is Tony O&rsquo;Boyle, who is holding check for $500 which goes to Ftorek, and Roy Bolton, who clutches the trophy. Both represent the Chrysler-Plymouth Corporation. Looking on at right, is Stinger vice-president Lefty McFadden. Ftorek swept the boards in the annual Stinger awards. He won the MVP, and was chosen most popular Stinger and best offensive Stinger.</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0029-01

Bulls’ Exit Rowdy As WHA Pours On Suspensions, Fines

<p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><p>HALIFAX&mdash;</p><p>Throughout much of the 1977-78 season 4he Nova Scotia Voyageurs were a third-place team without a home. As they awaited the completion of the Halifax Metro Center, the Voyageurs scheduled most of their games on the road and even ended up playing &ldquo;home&rdquo; games in various locations other than Halifax.</p><p>Everyone said wait until the Vees get home and then you&rsquo;ll see a winning club and sure enough the club closed the regular season with a roar, passing Springfield and finishing a strong second in the Northern Division behind Maine.</p><p>Now it&rsquo;s playoff time and in addition to playing well in their new Halifax home, the Voyaguers are winning on the road as well. Maybe it was their previous road experience.</p><p>In the best-of-five quarter-finals with Springfield, the Voyageurs scored three consecutive one-goal victories to eliminate the Indians. The second and third victories came in Springfield by scores of 5-4 and 2-1.</p><p>Maine Mariners hosted the Voyageurs for the best-of-seven division finals and temporarily put a stop to the Voyageurs&rsquo; road success as they held on for a 7-5 victory in Portland.</p><p>The Mariners rebounded from a deficit on goals by Bernie Johnston, Frank Bathe, Paul Evans, Terry Murray and Rudy Tajcnar, to offset the Vees who led on a pair of goals by Rick Meagher, and singles from Gord McTavish, Greg Fox and Pat Hughes. Blake Dunlop though, notched a key goal at 15:53 of the third period for a 6-4 Mariners&rsquo; lead and Larry Romanchych scored into an empty net.</p><p>Game Two in Maine also ended 7-5, but this time it was the Voyageurs on top, sending the series back to Halifax tied at 1-1.</p><p><b>NEW HAVEN</b>: Goaltender Doug Soetaert has been hot for the Nighthawks, leading them past Philadelphia in the quarter-finals and into the Southern Division finals against Rochester Americans.</p><p>Soetaert stopped 43 of 45 shots in the deciding game of the Philadelphia series helping the Nighthawks to a 5-2 triumph in the Firebirds&rsquo; arena.</p><p>The Nighthawks came up against a well-rested Americans team in the division final, dropping the first game 6-1 in Rochester. But they turned right around and stunned the Amerks in Game Two as Soetaert was brilliant 2-1.</p><p>Trailing 2-0, the Americans finally broke through on Soetaert at 15:23 of the third period on a breakaway goal by Barry Smith, They kept coming at Soetaert throughout the closing minutes testing him with five shots, but he was unbeatable.</p><p><b>ROCHESTER</b>: Americans felt turnabout was fair play and took a 2-1 lead in the division finals by achieving a 7-4 victory on the road. The game before the Americans had treated New Haven to the same sort of hospitality, losing 2-1.</p><p>If the series goes seven games the final contest will be played in Rochester on April 30.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01348/4147972-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="553" height="604"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>BLAKE DUNLOP &hellip; Lifted Mariners</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0030-01

OTHER LEAGUE

Voyageurs Show Strong Playoff Form In Road Games

<div class="byline">BY JIM LEAHY</div><p>NEW HAVEN&mdash;</p><p>Many New Haven Nighthawk fans had seen just about everything when the city had an Eastern Hockey League franchise. The old New Haven Blades played the game just like a scene from the popular movie &ldquo;Slap Shot.&rdquo; However, the season-closing Springfield-New Haven contest featured a wild scene that even the old Eastern Hockey League would have a tough time topping.</p><p>An enthusiastic crowd of 7,012 was on hand in New Haven&rsquo;s Veterans Memorial Coliseum viewing a contest in which their Nighthawks were ahead of Springfield 1-0 midway through the second period. Suddenly Paul McIntosh of Springfield and Bud Stefanski squared off preparing to have a go at it. Before a punch was thrown, rookie Nighthawk winger Ben Gosselin jumped in between the two potential combatants and fired several punches at McIntosh. Gosselin was ejected from the game as third man on by referee Ron Hogarth and retired to the New Haven dressing room.</p><p>Everybody in the Coliseum thought that the issue was settled, especially since New Haven was forced to skate a man short for five minutes. Steve Short of the Indians had other things on his mind as he watched from the Springfield bench.</p><p>Several minutes later the period ended and both clubs would normally return to their dressing rooms. With an unbelievable burst of speed, Short bolted across the ice and headed for the Nighthawk dressing room. He was followed by many Springfield players, the entire Nighthawk team and the New Haven police.</p><p>While people stood and watched in disbelief, Short burst into the Nighthawk clubhouse where a naked Gosselin was being stitched. During the ensuing struggle, Gosselin was burned on the knee from hot water that Short either threw at him or spilled when he fell on top of Gosselin. The police. Ken Hodge and the rest of the Nighthawks finally managed to restrain the crazed Springfield defenseman and he was subsequently thrown out of the contest by referee Hogarth. All of this was witnessed by American Hockey League president Jack Butterfield. However, the Nighthawks did not Dress charges against Short.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02275/4148003-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="809" height="820"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>STEVE SHORT&hellip;Lost HIs Cool</b></figcaption></div><p>As the large crowd, both on and off the ice, got worked up into a frenzy, one unfortunate woman suffered a convulsion. She was rescued by Gary Geldart of New Haven who prevented her from swallowing her tongue.</p><p>After a long delay and much confusion the Nighthawks returned to the ice and received a tremendous ovation. They responded with a brilliant 4-0 win behind Hardy Aastrom&rsquo;s record-setting fifth shutout. As he skated off the ice after being named the outstanding player of the game, Aastrom raised his hands to salute the fans who were chanting &ldquo;Hardy-Hardy-Hardy&rdquo;.</p><p>It was a great ending to a bewildering contest that had the fans cheering from the opening faceoff. Still Gosselin must have been the most surprised man in the Coliseum when he saw Short come charging into the Hawks&rsquo; dressing room while he (Gosselin) had only his birthday suit on. If they ever make &ldquo;Slap Shot II,&rdquo; the Nighthawks and Indians have just provided the writers with plenty of material.</p><p>The New Haven Booster Club gave Dale Lewis their &lsquo;Unsung Hero&rsquo; and MVP awards. John Bednarski was named the best defenseman and Tom Colley the outstanding sportsman &hellip; The Nighthawk Board of Directors also presented Ken Hodge with a special award for his contributions both on and off the ice.</p><p><b>NOVA SCOTIA</b>: The Voyageurs finished the regular season with eight straight wins, all on home ice, as they raced past Springfield to claim second place in the Northern Division. Their goaltending duo of Bob Holland and Maurice Barrette ended up with the best combined GAA in the league and won the Sollenberger Trophy. In addition, Pat Hughes led the AHL in game winning goals with 10.</p><p><b>SPRINGFIELD</b>: This year&rsquo;s edition of the Springfield Indians posted the fourth best record in the 35-year history of the franchise. They had 87 points, based on their 39-33-9 record. Despite the good year, the Tribe finished third in the Northern Division after leading the pack for a good portion of the season.</p><p>For the Indians, it was their first playoff appearance since the 1974-75 season when the Tribe captured the title.</p><p><b>MAINE</b>: In their first season in the AHL the Maine Mariners won the Northern Division crown. Their record of 43-28-9 gave them 95 points, more than any other team in the AHL. Also, the Philadelphia Flyer-owned club led the league in major penalties with 89. They are conceded an excellent chance of winning the Calder Cup if they can get past Nova Scotia.</p><p><b>PHILADELPHIA</b>: The first-year Firebirds gave a good account of themselves after coming over from the NAHL. They managed to play .500 hockey despite many roster changes. Right winger Gord Brooks proved that he could play in the AHL when he tied for the scoring lead with Rick Adduono of Rochester.</p><p>The &lsquo;Birds had a record of 7-10-1 during the last month of the season and as a result finished in third place in the Southern Division, six points in back of second place New Haven. But the Nighthawks had little trouble erasing them in four games in their best-of-five Southern Division semifinal playoff series.</p><p><b>BINGHAMTON</b>: Rich Grenier picked up his third hat trick of the year in the AHL windup but his club slumped badly during the last month of the season, winning only four of their last 14 and finished in the Northern Division cellar. Recalls did little to enhance the Dusters&rsquo; plight in their first AHL season.</p><p><b>HERSHEY</b>: The Bears missed the AHL playoffs for the first time in 18 years this season. Only Nelson Burton led the league in one department. He was the most penalized player in the AHL with 321 minutes. Other than Burton&rsquo;s dubious mark, the Bears were clawless, winning only 27 of 81 games. The Bears will obviously face a major face-lifting during the off-season.</p><p><b>ROCHESTER</b>: The Amerks won the Southern Division title after a late-season drive propelled them past New Haven. They took 10 of their last 15 to nail down the division championship.</p><p>The Amerks were tough at the War Memorial, posting a record of 28-7-5 on home ice, the best record in the AHL.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0030-02

Short Stuns New Haven Team Charging Into Hawks’ Room

<h2><b>Final CHL Scoring</b></h2><h2><b>DALLAS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01323/4148062-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="586" height="576"></div><h2><b>KANSAS CITY</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02245/4148055-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="590" height="554"></div><h2><b>TULSA</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03191/4148048-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="575" height="579"></div><h2><b>FORT WORTH</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04150/4148041-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="589" height="629"></div><h2><b>SALT LAKE</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05132/4148034-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="595" height="572"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0031-01

CENTRAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div><p>TULSA&mdash;</p><p>If you think the Cinderella story is too fantastic, you won&rsquo;t believe this one at all!</p><p>There were the Fort Worth Texans, you see, who finished first in the Central League&rsquo;s regular season. They occupied that lofty position most of the campaign, lost it briefly in March, but made sure of finishing on top by going undefeated in their last 12 games (9-0-3).</p><p>Then there were the Tulsa Oilers, who barely made it into the playoffs with a fourth-place finish. They hadn&rsquo;t won in their last six starts, and had a miserable 3-12-2 record for the last 17 games of the schedule.</p><p>Those two teams were matched in the playoff semi-finals, opening with two games in Fort Worth&rsquo;s Will Rogers Coliseum, where the Texans had beaten the Oilers nine straight times during the season. The mastery continued with 4-1 and 4-0 decisions in the post-season action, and the Tulsans were written off as dead.</p><p>But, what&rsquo;s this? The Oilers broke that 14-game unbeaten string of Fort Worth by winning two one-sided games in the Tulsa Assembly Center, 5-2 and 4-1, then went into Fort Worth and posted a 6-4 triumph, moving within one game of eliminating the Texans and gaining a spot in the Adams Cup finals for the seventh time in 14 seasons of CHL membership.</p><p>As it turned out, the Texans exploded the &lsquo;Cinderella&rsquo; myth as they came back with a vengeance and won two straight to clinch the series 4-3. The victory moved Fort Worth into the cup finals against Dallas.</p><p>The Texans won game six and seven to oust the Oilers and set up the cup final with Dallas and Fort Worth.</p><p>Captain Ralph Stewart was the sparkplug in the rejuvenated Oilers, even if it didn&rsquo;t last. He had the hat trick in the first victory at home, one goal in the next, and two more as the Tulsans ended their jinx in Will Rogers Coliseum. With nine points (six goals, three assists in five games), the veteran center was tied for the playoff scoring lead with Dallas&rsquo; Don Ashby and John Anderson, who each had played six games.</p><p>&ldquo;Stewie is really flying,&rdquo; coach Johnny Choyce conceded. &ldquo;His line, with Rob Flockhart at left wing, and Gary McFadyen on the right, is our strongest line. But everyone is playing well&mdash;the defense is great, the goaltending is super, and the forwards are checking like crazy.</p><p>&ldquo;I think the big reason for the turnaround is that we finally became a team&mdash;close-knit, with everyone pulling together. It took a while, it didn&rsquo;t happen overnight. And some of the guys were so down on themselves, it was pitiful.</p><p>&ldquo;For a long time, we had so many players coming and going, you never knew who you&rsquo;d find in the dressing room on a given day. But we&rsquo;ve had the same team for nearly a month now, and the guys finally got to feeling like a team. That first victory in the series gave them a big lift, and now they&rsquo;ve got confidence&mdash;they know they can win.</p><p>&ldquo;I think if we win this series, we can win the Adams Cup.&rdquo; Choyce promised the press another Adams Cup triumph at his first press conference as Oiler coach last September, but no one really believed him, especially after the March nosedive.</p><p>Stewart got his first goal of the playoffs late in the first period of Game Three in Tulsa. He tallied again early in the second. Darcy Regier scored for Salt Lake, but Flockhart made it 3-1 before the middle period ended.</p><p>After a brawl at the start of the third, Texan Richie Hansen recorded his fourth goal of the series, narrowing the gap to 32. But Brian Hill came back with an Oiler goal, and Stewart clinched his hat trick on a power play at 13:22.</p><p>The Texans had been intimidating the Oilers with their physical hockey, and they carried it to excess as Game Four started. As a result of penalties, they played shorthanded for almost 10 minutes, and fell behind on Red Laurence&rsquo;s power play goal.</p><p>Goalie Glen Hanlon and defenseman Larry Goodenough, who had been in Vancouver on emergency callups, rejoined the Oilers for Game Three, and Hanlon was in the nets for that victory. Glen was scheduled to start Game Four, but, while warming up, he was struck in the forehead by a Goodenough slapshot.</p><p>Veteran Mike Belhumeur returned to the Oiler nets and played brilliantly. He had a shutout for nearly 43 minutes of Game Four, before Doug Rombough got the Texans&rsquo; lone goal. By that time the Oilers were firmly in command, as Hill and Stewart had joined Laurence in the lamplighting parade. Scott Garland scored early in the third.</p><p>Left wing Alex McKendry, who had joined the Texans only that day, lasted less than five minutes. He drew a roughing penalty in the first brawl, at 1:01, then was ejected after leaving the bench to join in the second brawl at 4:09. Defenseman Bob Lorimer also drew a game misconduct as the third-man-in. Near the end of the game, collegiate defenseman Jim Boo also got a game misconduct for leaving the bench to fight, and McKendry and Boo both missed Game Five in Fort Worth with automatic one-game suspensions.</p><p>Fort Worth player-coach Bill &ldquo;MacMillan had alternated goalies Don Cutts and Gary Smith in the two home victories (Smith getting a shutout), and again in the two losses at Tulsa. But he broke the rotation to start Smith in Game Five, counting on the veteran&rsquo;s experience.</p><p>Smith was shelled out of his cage by four Oiler tallies in the first 14 minutes. Stewart scored when the game was just 10 seconds old, Garland on a power play at 5:35, Stewart again at 7:57, and Flockhart on another power play at 13:52.</p><p>Cutts went into the nets, as the Texans started to rally. Rombough had a power play goal at 16:13 of the first, and rookie Kelly Greenbank got a similar goal just 54 seconds into the middle period.</p><p>Brawls in that period brought ejections for Oiler forwards Glen Richardson and Rob Tudor, along with Texan Ed Pizunski.</p><p>Laurence made it 5-2 early in the third. Regier countered with a Fort Worth tally. With 1:21 left, MacMillan removed Cutts in favor of an extra attacker, but 17 seconds later McFadyen intercepted a pass and scored into the empty net.</p><p><b>DALLAS</b>: The Black Hawks and Salt Lake City Golden Eagles made CHL history when they played three straight overtime games in the Salt Palace. The Eagles took two of those, but the Hawks grabbed one. then came home to wrap up the series with a 2-1 decision. Dallas had previously taken the first two games of the series at home.</p><p>As a result the Hawks had gained the finals for the eighth time in their 11 seasons in the league</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06105/4148093-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="561" height="904"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RALPH STEWART&hellip;Hot In Playoffs</b></figcaption></div><p>Don Ashby and John Anderson paced the Hawks&rsquo; scoring in the playoffs with nine points apiece, tying Tulsa&rsquo;s Ralph Stewart for the league lead in post-season play. Ashby had six goals, Anderson three.</p><p>Dallas&rsquo; Dave Elenbaas and Salt Lake&rsquo;s Ed Staniowski were the goaltenders in all six series&rsquo; games. All were essentially one-goal games, with the Hawks getting an empty-net goal in the last minute to win the first two, both by 6-4 margins.</p><p>The overtime grind recalled the Adams Cup finals of 1974, when the same teams had three overtime games in the Palace. But they were the first two games and the last of the seven-game series.</p><p>This time, Game Three went nearly 24 minutes of overtime, with Eagle Rick Bourbonnais scoring at 3:47 of the second extra period for the 4-3 triumph.</p><p>Bourbonnais and John Smrke had scored 21 seconds apart in the first period. But Reggie Kerr and Dan Hinton scored for Dallas in the second, around a goal by Eagle Ken Kuzyk, and Greg Hubick tied the game with 4:13 left in regulation time. Elenbaas had to make 55 saves to keep the Hawks in the game.</p><p>Game Four almost went into double overtime. Bob Warner scored for Dallas after 19:27 of extra play for the 2-1 Hawk triumph. Two periods were scoreless before Mike Korney scored on a Salt Lake power play at 1:13 of the third. Anderson tied it for Dallas at 8:02.</p><p>Their backs to the wall, the Eagles salvaged Game Five by a 6-5 margin, on Floyd Thomson&rsquo;s second goal of the game, only 40 seconds into overtime.</p><p>Dallas moved in front on two early goals by Greg Vaydik and Duane Wylie. Len Frig and Doug Palazzari tied it for Salt Lake, but Ashby had a Hawk power goal late in the first period.</p><p>Smrke tied the game for the Birds as the second period began, Anderson regained the Dallas lead, but then Thomson scored for Salt Lake, and Ken Richardson put the Eagles in front by scoring shorthanded with 24 seconds left in the middle session. Jim McKenny of Dallas tied it for the last time at 6:35 of the third.</p><p>In the series windup at Dallas, Ashby put the Hawks in front on a first-period power play. Smrke tied the game at 8:44 of the third, but Vaydik made the winning goal on a freakish play at 9:31. Dallas dumped the puck into the Eagle zone, it bounced off the boards, Staniowski ventured out to get the loose puck&mdash;and missed it! Vaydik had an open net for his 20-foot shot.</p><p>The CHL finished up its individual awards. Veteran Larry Giroux, Kansas City captain, was named Outstanding Defenseman. The Bob Gassoff Trophy for the most improved defenseman in the course of one season, was awarded to Fort Worth&rsquo;s rookie Mike Hordy, a New York Islanders draftee who moved up to the CHL from the International League&rsquo;s Muskegon Mohawks.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0031-06

Texans End Tulsa’s ‘Cinderella’ Bid As Fort Worth, Dallas Clash For Cup

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div><p>MUSKEGON&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>F</span>lint&rsquo;s Jim Johnston and Muskegon&rsquo;s rallying Mohawks grabbed the spotlight in the final weekend of the International Hockey League season.</p><p>Johnston put on a whirlwind finish to nail down the league scoring championship and Muskegon stormed from three goals down to tie the Saginaw Gears, earning a point which eventually won them the wildcard spot in the postseason playoffs.</p><p>Muskegon got an assist from Huber Trophy champion Fort Wayne, too. The Komets nipped the Grand Rapids Owls on the final Sunday of the season, 3-2, to eliminate the Owls from the post-season party. Muskegon finished one point ahead of Grand Rapids.</p><p>Muskegon launched its playoff bid against Fort Wayne. Other first-round pairings sent Toledo against Milwaukee; Saginaw against Port Huron; and Kalamazoo against Flint. All series are best-of-seven assignments.</p><p>Jeff McDill scored Muskegon&rsquo;s biggest goal of the season with just seven seconds remaining in the game with Saginaw. The score climaxed an uphill fight which saw the Mohawks trailing at one time, 4-1, and still two goals back with less than seven minutes of playing time remaining. McDill&rsquo;s goal produced a 5-5 tie.</p><p>Coach Gerry Moore had pulled Muskegon goalie Andre Lepage in the final seconds in favor of an extra attacker on the ice. McDill scored unguarded on the right edge of the goal crease, steering in a centering pass from Dave Miglia.</p><p>Marcel Comeau&rsquo;s two goals had helped spark Saginaw to a 4-1 lead after the first 20 minutes. Bruce Andres got the lone Muskegon goal.</p><p>Andres&rsquo; second goal cut the Saginaw lead to 4-2 after two periods. Joey Girardin made it 4-3 at 10:28 of the final period but Saginaw went two up again as Comeau scored his third goal at 13:41.</p><p>Bill Hamilton put the Mohawks back in with a goal at 16:57, setting the stage for McDill&rsquo;s tying effort.</p><p>Johnston, who fought a close battle with Fort Wayne rookie Danny Bonar over the last month of the season for the individual scoring championship, beat back the youngster&rsquo;s challenge with a 10-point effort on the final weekend.</p><p>The surge gave Johnston 118 points, a new Flint team record. Johnston popped in 41 goals and was credited with 77 assists&mdash;the latter figure also a league high</p><p>Bonar, struck with a slump over the final two weeks, finished in the runnerup spot with 108 points on 47 goals and 61 assists. Larry Gould of Port Huron was third with 105. Muskegon&rsquo;s Charlie Skojdt (another rookie) fourth with 103 and veteran Dennis Desrosiers of Saginaw fifth with 98. Desrosiers also won the goal-scoring championship with 51.</p><p>Pierre Chagnon and Loren Molleken of Saginaw posted the best goals-against average with 3.34 and 3.41, respectively. Saginaw had the least goals-against, 278.</p><p>Top &ldquo;sinner&rdquo; in the league was Alvin White of Kalamazoo who spent a total of 510 minutes in the penalty box.</p><p>The Port Huron Flags spent more time&mdash;or lost more time&mdash;in the penalty box during the season. Defenseman Mark Toffolo put Port Huron in the record book with a penalty at 12:05 of the opening period in a game with Flint. Toffolo&rsquo;s penalty gave the Flags 2,246 minutes for the season, breaking the professional record of 2,244 set last season by the Kalamazoo K-Wings. By the game&rsquo;s end. Port Huron had increased the total to 2,278 and the team added 14 more minutes in the season finale.</p><p>Port Huron coach Ron Ullyot looked at the record as &ldquo;a dubious thing to have. I&rsquo;ll take the win (the victory over Flint in the penalty-breaking game snapped a nine-game winless streak for the Flags), because I was getting tired of losing and tying.</p><p>&ldquo;This team is reminding me more and more of the movie &lsquo;Slap Shot&rsquo;,&rdquo; Ullyot said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re a rowdy group of guys. Maybe, it&rsquo;s best that they keep loose. If only they&rsquo;d keep the stupid penalties down.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01328/4148124-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="549" height="544"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JIMMY JOHNSTON&hellip;Came On Strong</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0032-01

Whirlwind Finish Put Muskegon In Playoffs

<p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><p>FORT WAYNE&mdash;</p><p>Dan Bonar of the Fort Wayne Komets has been named rookie of the year in the International Hockey League for the 1977-78 season and winner of the Gary F. Longman Memorial Trophy.</p><p>The 21-year-old center, a native of Deloraine, Manitoba, was the leading point-getter for the Komets over the regular season firing 47 goals and assisting on 61 for 108 points seeing action in 79 games. He finished 10 points behind Jim Johnston of the Flint Generals, who captured the IHL scoring championship.</p><p>Bonar is a graduate of the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Canada Hockey League and scored 125 and 103 points, respectively in the 1976-77 and 1975-76 campaigns</p><p>Equally adept as a goal scorer and playmaker, the five-foot-nine, 175-pound forward was voted first by seven general managers and third by one for an almost unanimous selection. Charlie Skjodt of the Muskegon Mohawks was runnerup.</p><p>Ron Zanussi of Fort Wayne and Garth MacGuigan of Muskegon shared the freshman award last season. Sid Veysey (1975-76) and Dave Richardson (1961-62) are other former Komets to capture the honors.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02250/4148155-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="511" height="859"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DAN BONAR&hellip;Best Freshman</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0032-02

Fort Wayne’s Bonar Wins Rookie Award

<h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE (Final Standings)</b></h2><h2><b>NORTHERN DIVISION</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01295/4148333-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="592" height="140"></div><h2><b>SOUTHERN DIVISION</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02220/4148326-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="588" height="162"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(*&mdash;Disbanded operations)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03166/4148319-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="590" height="588"></div><h2><b>PLAYOFF GAMES SERIES&lsquo;A&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04132/4148312-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="600" height="103"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(Nova Scotia wins best-of-five series 3-1)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Wed. April 12</b></p><p>Springfield 2 at Nova Scotia 0</p><p><b>Fri. April 14</b></p><p>Springfield 2 at Nova Scotia 3</p><p><b>Sat. April 15</b></p><p>Nova Scotia 5 at Springfield 4</p><p><b>Mon. April 17</b></p><p>Nova Scotia 2 at Springfield 1</p><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;B&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05106/4148305-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="591" height="94"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(New Haven wins best-of-five series 3-1)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. April 11</b></p><p>Philadelphia 3 at New Haven 6</p><p><b>Thu. April 13</b></p><p>Philadelphia 1 at Now Haven 7</p><p><b>Fri. April 14</b></p><p>How Haven 1 at Philadelphia 4</p><p><b>Sun. April 16</b></p><p>New Haven 5 at Philadelphia 2</p><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;C&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0685/4148298-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="589" height="79"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Thu. April 20</b></p><p>Nova Scotia 5 at Maine 7</p><p><b>Sun. April 23</b></p><p>Nova Scotia 7 at Maine 5</p><h2><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h2><p><b>Wed. April 26</b></p><p>Maine at Nova Scotia</p><p><b>Fri. April 28</b></p><p>Maine at Nova Scotia</p><p><b>Sun. April 30</b></p><p>Nova Scotia at Maine</p><p><b>Mon. May 1</b></p><p>Maine at Nova Scotia</p><p><b>Wed. May 3</b></p><p>Nova Scotia at Maine</p><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;D&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0775/4148291-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="595" height="88"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(Rochester loads best-of-seven series 2-1)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Wed. April 19</b></p><p>New Haven 1 at Rochester 6</p><p><b>Thu. April 20</b></p><p>Rochester 1 at New Haven 2</p><p><b>Sun. April 23</b></p><p>Now Haven 4 at Rochester 7</p><h2><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h2><p><b>Tue. April 25</b></p><p>Rochester at Now Haven</p><p><b>Wed. April 26</b></p><p>Now Haven at Rochester</p><p><b>Frl. April 28</b></p><p>Rochester at Now Haven</p><p><b>Sun. April 30</b></p><p>Now Haven at Rochester</p><h2><b>CENTRAL LEAGUE (Final Standings)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0863/4148284-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="588" height="192"></div><h2><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0954/4148277-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="595" height="310"></div><h2><b>PLAYOFF GAMES Semi-Finals</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1049/4148270-1-eng-US/f0033-102.jpg" title="f0033-10" width="610" height="88"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(Dellas wins best-of-seven series 4-2)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Frl. April 7</b></p><p>Salt Lake 4 at Dallas 6</p><p><b>Sat. April 8</b></p><p>Salt Lake 4 at Dallas 6</p><p><b>Wed. April 12</b></p><p>Dallas 3 at Salt Lake 4</p><p><b>Fri. April 14</b></p><p>Dallas 2 at Salt Lake 1</p><p><b>Sat. April 15</b></p><p>Dallas 5 at Salt Lake 6</p><p><b>Sun. April 16</b></p><p>Salt Lake 1 at Dallas 2</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1147/4148263-1-eng-US/f0033-112.jpg" title="f0033-11" width="595" height="100"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(Fort Worth wins best-of-seven series 4-3)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Fri. April 7</b></p><p>Tulsa 1 at Fort Worth 4</p><p><b>Sat. April 8</b></p><p>Tulsa 0 at Fort Worth 4</p><p><b>Tue. April 11</b></p><p>Fort Worth 2 at Tulsa 5</p><p><b>Wed. April 12</b></p><p>Fort Worth 1 at Tulsa 4</p><p><b>Sat. April 15</b></p><p>Tulsa 6 at Fort Worth 3</p><p><b>Tue. April 17</b></p><p>Fort Worth 3 at Tulsa 2</p><p><b>Wed. April 18</b></p><p>Tulsa 2 at Fort Worth 3</p><h2><b>Finals</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1246/4148256-1-eng-US/f0033-122.jpg" title="f0033-12" width="604" height="82"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(Forth Worth loads best-of-seven series 2-0)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Fri. April 21</b></p><p>Dallas 2 at Forth Worth 3</p><p><b>Sat. April 22</b></p><p>Dallas 1 at Forth Worth 8</p><h2><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h2><p><b>Fri. April 28</b></p><p>Fort Worth at Dallas</p><p><b>Sat. April 29</b></p><p>Fort Worth at Dallas</p><p><b>Tue. May 2</b></p><p>Dallas at Fort Worth</p><p><b>Wed. May 3</b></p><p>Fort Worth at Dallas</p><p><b>Fri. May 5</b></p><p>Dallas at Fort Worth</p><h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE (Final Standings)</b></h2><h2><b>NORTH DIVISION</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1335/4148249-1-eng-US/f0033-132.jpg" title="f0033-13" width="601" height="165"></div><h2><b>SOUTH DIVISION</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1432/4148242-1-eng-US/f0033-142.jpg" title="f0033-14" width="590" height="142"></div><h2><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1527/4148235-1-eng-US/f0033-152.jpg" title="f0033-15" width="548" height="436"></div><h2><b>PLAYOFF GAMES SERIES &lsquo;A&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1622/4148228-1-eng-US/f0033-162.jpg" title="f0033-16" width="580" height="90"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(Fort Wayne loads best-of-seven series 3-2)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Wed. April 12</b></p><p>Muskegon 4 at Fort Wayne 1</p><p><b>Sat. April 15</b></p><p>Muskegon 2 at Fort Wayne 3</p><p><b>Wed. April 19</b></p><p>Fort Wayne 6 at Muskegon 9</p><p><b>Fri. April 21</b></p><p>Fort Wayne 5 at Muskegon 2</p><p><b>Sat. April 22</b></p><p>Muskegon 4 at Fort Wayne 5</p><h2><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h2><p><b>Tue. April 25</b></p><p>Fort Wayne at Muskegon</p><p><b>Wed. April 26</b></p><p>Muskegon at Fort Wayne</p><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;B&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1722/4148221-1-eng-US/f0033-172.jpg" title="f0033-17" width="592" height="87"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(Port Huron wina best-of-sevon series 4-1)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Fri. April 14</b></p><p>Port Huron 9 at Saginaw 3</p><p><b>Sat. April 15</b></p><p>Saginaw 2 at Port Huron 4</p><p><b>Sun. April 16</b></p><p>Port Huron 3 at Saginaw 6</p><p><b>Frl. April 21</b></p><p>Saginaw 2 at Port Huron 7</p><p><b>Sat. April 22</b></p><p>Port Huron 8 at Saginaw 6</p><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;C&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1819/4148214-1-eng-US/f0033-182.jpg" title="f0033-18" width="592" height="94"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(Toledo wins best-of-seven series 4-1)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Wed. April 12</b></p><p>Milwaukee 4 at Toledo 6</p><p><b>Fri. April 14</b></p><p>Milwaukee 0 at Toledo 5</p><p><b>Sat. April 15</b></p><p>Toledo 4 at Milwaukee 1</p><p><b>Mon. April 17</b></p><p>Toledo 2 at Milwaukkoo 3</p><p><b>Wed. April 19</b></p><p>Milwaukee 2 at Toledo 6</p><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;D&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1917/4148207-1-eng-US/f0033-192.jpg" title="f0033-19" width="592" height="91"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(Kalamazoo wins best-of-seven series 4-1)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Thu. April 13</b></p><p>Flint 1 at Kalamazoo 3</p><p><b>Fri. April 14</b></p><p>Kalamazoo 3 at Flint 5</p><p><b>Sat. April 15</b></p><p>Flint 3 at Kalamazoo 4</p><p><b>Fri. April 21</b></p><p>Kalamazoo 5 at Flint 2</p><p><b>Sat. April 22</b></p><p>Flint 2 at Kalamazoo 3</p><h2><b>PACIFIC HOCKEY LEAGUE (Final Standings)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-2014/4148200-1-eng-US/f0033-202.jpg" title="f0033-20" width="598" height="145"></div><h2><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-2113/4148193-1-eng-US/f0033-212.jpg" title="f0033-21" width="592" height="442"></div><h2><b>PLAYOFF GAMES Finals</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-2211/4148186-1-eng-US/f0033-222.jpg" title="f0033-22" width="598" height="85"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>(San Francleco wins best-of-five series 3-0)</b></figcaption></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>San Francleco 6, Phoenix 1</p><p>San Francleco 5, Phoenix 2</p><p>San Francleco 4, Phoenix 2</p><h2><b>Who They&rsquo;re Affiliated With&hellip;</b></h2><h3><b>NHL TEAMS</b></h3><p>1&mdash;Montreal</p><p>2&mdash;Chicago</p><p>3&mdash;Boston</p><p>4&mdash;Rangers</p><p>5&mdash;Detroit</p><p>6&mdash;Toronto</p><p>7&mdash;Philadelphia</p><p>8&mdash;Los Angeles</p><p>9&mdash;St Louis</p><p>10&mdash;Minnesota</p><p>11&mdash;Pittsburgh</p><p>12&mdash;islanders</p><p>13&mdash;Vancouver</p><p>14&mdash;Buffalo</p><p>15&mdash;Atlanta</p><p>16&mdash;Cleveland</p><p>17&mdash;Colorado</p><p>18&mdash;Washington</p><h3><b>WHA TEAMS</b></h3><p>10&mdash;New England</p><p>20&mdash;Ouebec</p><p>21&mdash;Winnipeg</p><p>22&mdash;fHouston</p><p>23&mdash;Indianapolis</p><p>24&mdash;Edmonton</p><p>25&mdash;Cincinnati</p><p>20&mdash;Birmingham</p><h3><b>INTER-LEAGUE</b></h3><p>27&mdash;Boston (NHL) & St Louis (NHL)</p><p>20&mdash;Montreal (NHL) & Atlanta (NHL)</p><p>20&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) & 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) & Minnesota (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>

f0033-01

Looking At The Minor League Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD PROCTOR</div><p>OTTAWA&mdash;</p><p class="dropcap"><span>P</span>eterborough Petes, who failed to win one game from Ottawa 67s during the regular season, suddenly won three straight to take a commanding 6-2 lead in their eight-point series for the Leyden Division championship.</p><p>In the Emms Division, London Knights and Hamilton Fincups each won in the other&rsquo;s arena last week so their eightpoint series is deadlocked at five points apiece. Knights must win or tie in Mount Hamilton arena, in what has now been reduced to a best-of-three affair.</p><p>Brian Kilrea, 67s coach has his tongue partially planted in his cheek when he says: &ldquo;My guys are writing exams and I guess they don&rsquo;t want to hurt their writing hands by going into the corner to get the puck.&rdquo;</p><p>Kilrea is concerned that some of his veterans &mdash; whom he doesn&rsquo;t name&mdash;haven&rsquo;t been playing up to par.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the rookies&mdash;defenseman Doug Crossman, Sean Simpson and Jimmy Fox that have been carrying the load so far. Where are my veterans?&rdquo; Kilrea is also happy with the play of another rookie&mdash;goalie Paul Minaker&mdash;although Jay O&rsquo;Connor has been solid and done most of the netminding.</p><p>According to Kilrea, the general play of the 67s is a carry-over from the lethargy they exhibited for most of their eight-game series against Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had only two good games and one period in 11 playoff games.&rdquo; Kilrea adds his team had &ldquo;no life&rdquo; in the dressing room prior to the 4-2 loss in game three. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just wondering what&rsquo;s going on, and when it&rsquo;s going to break.&rdquo;</p><p>Kilrea also believes part of his team&rsquo;s problem is at the blueline where the defense has been lax moving the puck</p><p>The Ottawa team is reasonably healthy although right winger Tim Higgins is hampered by a recurring groin injury. That affects 67s big line of Higgins, Bob Smith and Steve Payne.</p><p>But Petes&rsquo; coach Gary Green feels a tactical defensive strategy on the Smith line has paid off handsomely.</p><p>&ldquo;All season long our wingers would try to hang back and cover their big line and it didn&rsquo;t work. For this playoff, we decided to forecheck the daylights out of them and that worked.&rdquo;</p><p>The evidence is contained in the scoring summaries as the line has not been dominant after winning the first game 86. Smith and Payne each scored twice in that one, with Higgins, Dave MacQueen, Fox and Simpson adding singles.</p><p>Mark Kirton and Bob Attwell both scored twice with Steve Larmer and Jeff Brubaker scoring single goals for the Petes. In addition to his goal, Brubaker applied a fearsome beating to 67s rookie Rory Cava. Following the game, Cava&rsquo;s eye was swollen shut and he was hospitalized, missing the second game.</p><p>In game two, Petes broke a 4-4 deadlock to triumph 6-4 on home ice. Then, they returned to the nation&rsquo;s capital and defeated Ottawa 4-2. In that one, Kirton again scored two including an empty net goal while Keith Acton and Tim Trimper had one goal each.</p><p>Utility man Ed Hospodar played defense in the first two periods before moving up to a wing and scoring both Ottawa goals in the third period.</p><p>Petes took a stranglehold on the series with a 6-5 win in Peterborough. Ottawa led 2-1 after one period, while the Petes drew even 4-4 after 40 minutes. Acton and Mike Meeker each contributed two goals and two assists. Tim Trimper and Bob Attwell had the other Peterborough goals.</p><p>Bill Kitchen, Yvan Joly, Dave MacQueen, Higgins and Hospodar had the 67 goals.</p><p>Kilrea says Petes played especially well in game three but is confident his team will bounce back.</p><p>Green also says the series is a long way from being over. &ldquo;Ottawa is too good a team to just lie down and die&mdash;they&rsquo;ll be back.&rdquo;</p><p>However, Green feels it&rsquo;s a distinct advantage to have four evenly balanced lines to offset the two basic lines that Kilrea often sends out. &ldquo;Overall, we seem to have that little extra bounce which is so important.&rdquo;</p><p>Green compares 67s to London Knights. &ldquo;Both teams rely on a few key guys&mdash;but they don&rsquo;t have all that much depth. Teams like Hamilton and us are pretty solid along the bench.&rdquo;</p><p><b>HAMILTON</b>: Fincups drew even against London despite losing their top player in the playoffs. Right winger Tim Coulis was assessed a six-game suspension for crosschecking referee Tom Brown three times during game four at Mount Hamilton arena.</p><p>Down 3-1 in points, Knights drew even with a 5-3 home ice win. Dino Ciccarelli led the way with two goals while Jim MacRae, Wayne Thompson and Bill Carroll added singles.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01323/4148371-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="568" height="740"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>KEITH ACTON&hellip;Propelling Petes</b></figcaption></div><p>In Hamilton, Knights took the lead in the series for the first time with a 3-2 win on defenseman Jim Eckhardt&rsquo;s goal midway through the final period. Rookie Joe Paterson and defenseman Rob Ramage had staked London to a 2-0 first period lead. Al Secord scored twice for Hamilton within five minutes of Eckhardt&rsquo;s winner.</p><p>London goalie Pat Riggin was injured late in the first period of that game. After sitting out 4:11, Riggin returned and played strongly as Fincups outshot Knights 45-31.</p><p>With Coulis, who had scored six playoff goals in six games, out, Fincups coach and general manager Dave Draper decided to rest goalie Al Jensen and go with Rick Wamsley.</p><p>&ldquo;I guess Draper just wanted to prove he was a genius,&rdquo; said Knights&rsquo; coach Bill Long after Hamilton evened the series with a 5-3 victory in London.</p><p>Dennis Houle got Fincups started with a short-handed goal and they added three more during a wide-open second period. Danny Polizianni, Paul Marshall and Mike Szabo scored for Fincups and Secord scored the lone goal of the third period.</p><p>Carroll with two and MacRae had the London goals.</p><p>Meanwhile, Ciccarelli tripped and fell during a London practice as the team prepared for game six. Coach Long&rsquo;s worst fears were confirmed later. Ciccarelli suffered a broken leg and is out for the season.</p><p>Ciccarelli led all goal scorers in the Ontario Major Junior League this season with 72 in 68 games.</p><p>Long says Carroll has been his most effective forward in the series. Frank Nigro, a good rookie who finished the season as Knights&rsquo; third leading scorer, has yet to get a goal against the Fincups.</p><p>Smith, Ottawa 67s captain has been named the winner of the Red Tilson trophy as the most outstanding player in the league this season. Smith outpolled rookie Wayne Gretzky of Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds by a wide margin.</p><p>It was reported here several weeks ago that Minnesota North Stars, who have first pick in the National Hockey League draft in June, planned to select center Ryan Walter of Seattle Breakers.</p><p>Now, North Stars general manager Lou Nanne has had a chance to watch Smith in action and he states Minnesota will definitely take the Ottawa center ahead of Walter.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02258/4148364-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="581" height="704"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JAY O&rsquo;CONNOR&hellip;Steady For 67s</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-01

67s Continued Lethargy Puzzling To Kilrea

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE PENTON</div><p>FLIN FLON&mdash;</p><p>The 1977-78 Western Canada Hockey League season will undoubtedly go down as The Year of the Upsets.</p><p>Never before have so many favorites bitten the dust so soon in the WCHL playoffs. And now, it&rsquo;s a wide-open derby as to which club will represent the league at the Sudbury-Sault Ste. Marie Memorial Cup championship in May.</p><p>If Jimmy the Greek was taking odds, he&rsquo;d probably check the form chart and install Billings Bighorns as the pick of the survivors. The reason? They&rsquo;re the current underdog.</p><p>In Flin Flon, there&rsquo;s joy because the Bombers were on the verge of claiming the Eastern Division final over Regina Pats after a controversial finish to the preliminary round-robin series which eliminated pennant-winning Brandon Wheat Kings. The Wheaties led all 12 teams during the regular season with 106 points, the only team to crack the century mark.</p><p>The Wheat Kings stumbled in the playoffs to a 4-4 round-robin record, tying them with the Bombers and Pats. Brandon lost out due to a poorer goals-for-and-against record. Amidst allegations from Wheat King Personnel that the Bombers allowed Regina to win the final game by at least six goals (the final score was 10-4), the Pats qualified for the best-of-seven final because they edged out Brandon by one goal.</p><p>&ldquo;I know they&rsquo;re going to let us win,&rdquo; said Regina&rsquo;s Gerry Minor of the Bombers, looking two days ahead to the final game.</p><p>One WCHL observer put the situation in proper perspective by saying: &ldquo;If by winning you got a date with Phyllis Diller but if you lost you&rsquo;d get to go out with Raquel Welch, you&rsquo;d probably lose.&rdquo;</p><p>That&rsquo;s possibly what the Bombers were thinking, because their six-goal loss eliminated the Kings in quick fashion.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;d never do anything like that,&rdquo; said Bombers coach Mickey Keating, who watched as his team won three of the first four games from the Pats in the divisional final.</p><p>Glenn Hicks and Ray Markham fired two goals each in the opening game, a 7-3 Bomber triumph, and defenseman Gregg Tebbutt had three goals and three assists the next night as Bombers outlasted the Pats 11-9.</p><p>Moving to Regina, the Bombers got three goals from Jordy Douglas and an overtime marker from Markham to prevail 4-3. But the Pats delayed the Bombers&rsquo; victory party by overcoming a 5-2 defeat in the fourth game to win 9-6, as Dirk Graham, the WCHL&rsquo;s leading playoff scorer (averaging three points a game) potted three goals.</p><h2><b>Central Division</b></h2><p>There was surprise in Medicine Hat, joy in Billings, and sorrow in Lethbridge as the Bighorns advanced to the three-team round-robin that will eliminate one club and set the stage for the grand finale.</p><p>The Medicine Hat Tiger fans were surprised, because they didn&rsquo;t expect to be around as long as they were. Joy in Billings, because the Bighorns were crowned divisional titlists after beating the Tigers in four straight games. Sorrow in Lethbridge, because the people connected with the Broncos certainly weren&rsquo;t counting on being the first team eliminated from Central playoffs.</p><p>A pair of Medicine Hat wins in Billings during the round-robin helped set up the demise of Lethbridge. The Bighorns finished the round-robin with a 6-2 record, with the other two teams tied with 3-5 marks. Broncos got the boot because of a poorer goals-scored-against ratio, and coach Howie Yanosik will forever look back to his team&rsquo;s 10-4 loss in Medicine Hat, the worst Bronco defeat of the season to their provincial rivals.</p><p>&ldquo;I still can&rsquo;t believe we&rsquo;re out of the playoffs,&rdquo; said Dennis Kjeldgaard, general manager of the Broncos. &ldquo;It feels like a balloon with all the air let out.&rdquo;</p><p>With the Broncos, first-place finishers during the regular season, out of the way, Bighorns coasted to the division championship.</p><p>Defenseman Gary Plamondon and forward Doug Robb tallied twice each to lift Billings to a 6-2 win in the opener, before Don Nachbaur and Pat Conacher, a pair of rookie forwards, led the Bighorns to an 8-6 triumph in the second game, scoring two goals apiece. The third game was wild, with Billings finally prevailing 10-9, on the strength of Conacher&rsquo;s four-goal performance. Playing at home before 5,251 people, who gave the Bighorns a long standing ovation at the start, Billings clinched the title with a 4-2 win, as Robb scored what proved to be the winner with less than three minutes to play.</p><p>No matter what happens now, Billings coach Dave King and general manager Bob Strumm, both first-year people in the WCHL, need not hang their heads. It has been an outstanding season in the Montana city, and new owner Sheldon Ferguson has said the team will remain there.</p><p>The division title was especially gratifying to Strumm, who spent most of the season trying to answer knocks that he made a couple of one-sided trades early in the season which seemed to benefit others.</p><p>Strumm and King, though, had the last laugh, and they&rsquo;ll really be chuckling if they survive the final two rounds and wind up in Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury in early May.</p><h2><b>Western Division</b></h2><p>While New Westminster Bruins were closing in on their fourth consecutive Western Division title (and what appeared to be an excellent shot at their fourth WCHL crown in as many years), general manager Brian Shaw of Portland Winter Hawks was trying to analyze his team&rsquo;s demise.</p><p>He wasn&rsquo;t alone. Pennant-winners in the East (Brandon) and Central (Lethbridge) were doing the same thing.</p><p>&ldquo;This was damn difficult to take and even more difficult to understand,&rdquo; he told Ron Olson of the Portland Oregonian. &ldquo;Emotions aside, there were two things predominant in us not winning.&rdquo;</p><p>He went on to explain that injuries to key people like forwards Doug Lecuyer, Brent Peterson, Perry Turnbull and Max Kostovich and defenseman Larry Playfair and Eric Christiansen didn&rsquo;t help.</p><p>&ldquo;The second reason was the mental block the players sustained through intimidation by officials,&rdquo; Shaw said. &ldquo;There is no question in my mind that officials clamped down on Portland more so than any other club.</p><p>&ldquo;They took the aggressiveness away from our club and we need that to win.&rdquo;</p><p>In his dissertation, Shaw gave coach Ken Hodge a vote of confidence. Shaw said he denied Hodge&rsquo;s earlier-season request to be fired. &ldquo;How can we let him go after he brought us in 15 points ahead of the other teams in the division?&rdquo; he said.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to give 19 players that as an excuse for us losing in the playoffs.&rdquo;</p><p>Next year, Shaw said, the Winter Hawks will have &ldquo;more soldiers and a few less generals,&rdquo; referring to the individual stars the Hawks had this season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01284/4148402-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="553" height="871"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>DIRK GRAHAM&hellip;Leading Scorer</b></figcaption></div><p>Victoria Cougars, second-place finishers to New Westminster in the round-robin, got the extra home game in the final due to more regular-season victories. (Cougars had 34 wins, Bruins 33 as they finished with 77 points during the regular schedule).</p><p>And to open the best-of-seven final, the Cougars won on their home ice, 4-3, as Dennis Fenske scored at 19:09 of the third period, giving Victoria its only lead of the game. Geordie Robertson had two of the Cougar goals, while Gary Lupul scored once and set up two others.</p><p>New West evened the series at home, getting a pair of goals from John-Paul Kelly en route to a 7-4 triumph, and took control of the issue win, a win in Victoria, 8-4. Dave Orleski scored twice in a five-goal third-period for the Bruins in that one.</p><p>Back on the mainland, coach Ernie McLean booked the series into the now empty Vancouver Coliseum and the playoff-starved fans came out 10,888 strong to watch the Bruins increase their lead to 3-1, downing the Cougars 8-3. Bruins scored four goals in the third period of that game, as Scott MacLeod continued to sparkle, scoring once and setting up four others. Stan Smyl and Doug Derkson led the way with two goals each.</p><p>The next playoff round is a single round-robin, involving the three divisional champs. The top two teams will play a best-of-seven final to determine the WCHL&rsquo;s rep at the Memorial Cup.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0036-01

Bruins, Bighorns, Bombers Advance; Wheaties Cry ‘Foul Play’ In Ouster

<p><b>Special To The Hockey News</b></p><p>PHOENIX&mdash;</p><p>Before the San Francisco Shamrocks and Phoenix Roadrunners collided in the Pacific Hockey League&rsquo;s first championship series, it would have been the height of irreverence to suggest that either club would blow the other out in three straight.</p><p>Off that, it can be said that the Shamrocks are not a team that practices reverence.</p><p>The Shamrocks, put together by the brothers Murphy (Dennis and John) resign as the first champions of the one-year-old PHL, sweeping the Roadrunners three straight in the best-of-five final.</p><p>Admittedly, it was an unlikely happening&mdash;considering that the two clubs finished in a dead heat in the final league standings and were virtually neck and neck all season long.</p><p>And while the series sweep was fine for the players, who got all the financial fruit, it represented a mild tragedy for the league in-as-much as a fourth and fifth game would have produced in the area of $40,000 for the treasury.</p><p>&ldquo;There was no way we were going to lose,&rdquo; said an elated Wayne Rivers, player-coach of the Shamrocks, who watched his charges humiliate Phoenix 6-1 in the playoff opener in San Francisco then post 5-2 and 4-2 victories in Phoenix. &ldquo;We won it with goaltending and defense. We shut their big guys off.&rdquo;</p><p>Indeed they did</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01247/4148433-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="561" height="620"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>WAYNE RIVERS&hellip;Defense Did It</b></figcaption></div><p>The best league scoring champion Frank Hughes of the Roadrunners could contribute in the series was two assists, a paltry offering considering that he posted 33 goals and 41 assists through 42 league games. Jim Montgomery, second to Hughes in total points, had only two goals while other Phoenix gunners, Mike Will, Jeff Carlson and Rick Newell, were totally blanked.</p><p>To be sure, it was a flame-out of the worst kind. Coach Sandy Hucul is still experiencing nightmares, while Phoenix management ponders the future and prepares to regroup for next season.</p><p>The heroes for San Francisco were many, not the least of them goaltender Thomas O&rsquo;Toole, who limited the Runners to five goals (1.66 average) and managed to involve himself in two fights, the second coming in the third game with rival goaltender Dan Magnarelli when both benches emptied following an altercation triggered by Hughes.</p><p>Beyond him. the Shamrocks got four series goals from Bill Fraser, three from veteran Bill Evo, two each from Lome Rombough and Gord Sinclair and singles from Ric Garcia, Mike Bascom, Mike McKegney and Keith Kokkola.</p><p>The PHL, through the regular season, attracted 287,360 fans&mdash;with Phoenix leading the way with 93,434 and a 21-game average of 4,449. San Francisco reached 90,498 for an average of 4,309. The Shamrocks had the two largest crowds of the season, 7,987 and 7,943.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0037-01

Shamrocks Sweep Phoenix To Capture Championship In PHL’s Inaugural Year

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02180/4148464-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="965" height="824"></div><h2><b>A Good Exercise</b></h2><p>Your legs need constant exercise to strengthen them. Bad legs end more promising careers than any other part of an athlete&rsquo;s body.</p><p>Here&rsquo;s an exercise you and your teammates can take. Have a teammate hold a stick across his body and you grasp it, too. While he digs in to resist you, push with all the strength of your legs.</p><p>Learn breath control at the same time. We all tend to stop breathing when we concentrate on an extra hard push or pull. All we do is shut off the supply of oxygen to our blood stream.</p><p>Learn to breathe evenly all the time instead of holding it at times of maximum effort.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0037-02

Hockey for Minors

<h2><b>Amateur Scoreboard</b></h2><h2><b>ONTARIO MAJOR LEAGUE Playoff Gamas</b></h2><h3><b>SEMI-FINALS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01294/4148670-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="578" height="82"></div><p><b>(Eight-point series tied 7-7)</b></p><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Ottawa 8, Peterborough 8</p><p>Peterborough 4, Ottawa 2</p><p>Patarborough 4, Ottawa 2</p><p>Patarborough 8, Ottawa 5</p><p>Ottawa 7, Patarborough 4</p><p>Ottawa 8, Peterborough 4</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02231/4148663-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="588" height="92"></div><p><b>(Hamilton wins eight-point series 9-5)</b></p><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>London 3, Hamilton 3</p><p>Hamilton 4, London 1</p><p>London 5, Hamilton 3</p><p>London 3, Hamilton 2</p><p>Hamilton 8, London 4</p><p>Hamilton 4, London 3</p><p>Hamilton 2, London 1</p><h2><b>QUARTER-FINALS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03173/4148656-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="578" height="84"></div><p><b>(Ottawa wins eight-point series 9-7)</b></p><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Ottawa 13, Sault Ste. Mario 3</p><p>Sault Ste. Mario 6, Ottawa 5</p><p>Ottawa 8, Sault Ste. Mario 8</p><p>Ottawa 5, Sault Ste. Mario 2</p><p>Sault Ste. Mario 4, Ottawa 3</p><p>Sault Ste. Marla 8, Ottawa 3</p><p>Ottawa 4, Sault Ste. Mario 3</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04123/4148649-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="581" height="90"></div><p><b>(Kitchener wins best-of-five series 3-2)</b></p><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Toronto 5, Kitchener 4</p><p>Toronto 5, Kitchener 4</p><p>Kitchener 8, Toronto 3</p><p>Kitchener 4, Toronto 3</p><p>Kitchener 8, Toronto 4</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0595/4148642-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="574" height="90"></div><p><b>(Sault wins best-of-five series 3-2)</b></p><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Kingston 4, Sault Ste. Marie 3</p><p>Sault Ste. Marie 6, Kingston 4</p><p>Kingston 5, Sault Ste. Marie 2</p><p>Sault Ste. Marie 8, Kingston 2</p><p>Sault Ste. Marie 6, Kingston 5</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0674/4148635-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="586" height="90"></div><p><b>(Hamilton wins eight-point series 9-5)</b></p><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Hamilton 3, Windsor 3</p><p>Hamilton 3, Windsor 2</p><p>Hamilton 7, Windsor 4</p><p>Windsor 2, Hamilton 1</p><p>Hamilton 3, Windsor 2</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0766/4148628-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="578" height="82"></div><p><b>(Peterborough wins eight-point series 9-3)</b></p><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Peterborough 5, Oshawa 5</p><p>Peterborough 3, Oshawa 1</p><p>Peterborough 6, Oshawa 4</p><p>Peterborough 6, Oshawa 2</p><p>Potorbrough 6, Oshawa 2</p><p>Peterborough 2, Oshawa 1</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0851/4148621-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="590" height="92"></div><p><b>(London wins eight-point series 8-0)</b></p><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>London 9, Kitchener 2</p><p>London 4, Kitchener 3</p><p>London 4, Kitchener 3</p><h2><b>WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE ROUND-ROBIN SERIES Final Standings</b></h2><h3><b>EASTERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0944/4148614-1-eng-US/f0038-092.jpg" title="f0038-09" width="590" height="108"></div><h3><b>CENTRAL DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1041/4148607-1-eng-US/f0038-102.jpg" title="f0038-10" width="588" height="84"></div><h3><b>WESTERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1136/4148600-1-eng-US/f0038-112.jpg" title="f0038-11" width="586" height="84"></div><h2><b>Division Finals</b></h2><p><b>Eastern Division</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1231/4148593-1-eng-US/f0038-122.jpg" title="f0038-12" width="582" height="84"></div><p><b>(Flin Flon wine best-of-seven series 4-1)</b></p><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Flin Flon 7, Regina 3</p><p>Flin Flon 11, Regina 9</p><p>Flin Flon 4, Regina 3</p><p>Regina 9, Flin Flon 8</p><h2><b>Central Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1323/4148586-1-eng-US/f0038-132.jpg" title="f0038-13" width="586" height="86"></div><p><b>(Billings winsbest-of-seven series 4-0)</b></p><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Billings 6, Medicine Hat 2</p><p>Billings 8, Medicine Hat 8</p><p>Billings 10, Medicine Hat 9</p><p>Billings 4, Medicine Hat 2</p><h2><b>Western Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1419/4148579-1-eng-US/f0038-142.jpg" title="f0038-14" width="600" height="84"></div><p><b>(New Westminster wins best-of-seven series 4-1)</b></p><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>New Westminster 7, Victoria 4</p><p>Victoria 4, Now Westminster 3</p><p>New Westminster 7, Victoria 4</p><p>New Westminster 8, Victoria 4</p><p>New Westminster 8, Victoria 3</p><h2><b>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE Playoff Gamas</b></h2><h3><b>Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1517/4148572-1-eng-US/f0038-152.jpg" title="f0038-15" width="574" height="86"></div><p><b>(Trois-Rivieres wins best-of-seven series 4-0)</b></p><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Trois-Rivieres 8, Montreal 1</p><p>Trois-Rivieres 2, Montreal 1</p><p>Trois-Rivieres 7, Montreal 4</p><p>Trois-Rivieres 7, Montreal 5</p><h3><b>SEMI-FINALS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1614/4148565-1-eng-US/f0038-162.jpg" title="f0038-16" width="586" height="86"></div><p><b>(Trois-Riviores wins eight-point series 8-2)</b></p><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Trois-Riviores 8, Sherbrooke 2</p><p>Trois-Riviores 8, Sherbrooke 5</p><p>Trois-Riviroes 4, Sherbrooke 3</p><p>Sherbrooke 6, Trois-Riviores 1</p><p>Trois-Riviores 5, Shorbrooke 3</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1711/4148558-1-eng-US/f0038-172.jpg" title="f0038-17" width="588" height="88"></div><p><b>(Montreal wins eight-point series 8-2)</b></p><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Cornwall 2, Montreal 1</p><p>Montreal 5, Cornwall 4</p><p>Montreal 5, Cornwall 3</p><p>Montreal 5, Cornwall 3</p><p>Montreal 8, Cornwall 5</p><h3><b>Quarter-Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1810/4148551-1-eng-US/f0038-182.jpg" title="f0038-18" width="586" height="88"></div><p>(Trois-Rivieres wins eight-point series 8-0)</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-199/4148544-1-eng-US/f0038-192.jpg" title="f0038-19" width="594" height="84"></div><p><b>(Cornwall wins eight-point series 8-0)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-208/4148537-1-eng-US/f0038-202.jpg" title="f0038-20" width="584" height="78"></div><p><b>(Montreal wins eight-points series 8-0)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-217/4148530-1-eng-US/f0038-212.jpg" title="f0038-21" width="592" height="86"></div><p><b>(Sherbrooke wins eight-point series 9-1)</b></p><h2><b>ALLAN CUP</b></h2><h3><b>Eastern Canada Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-227/4148523-1-eng-US/f0038-222.jpg" title="f0038-22" width="576" height="90"></div><p><b>(Brantford leads best-of-five series 2-1)</b></p><h3><b>Eastern Canada Semi-Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-235/4148516-1-eng-US/f0038-232.jpg" title="f0038-23" width="582" height="86"></div><p><b>(Brantford wins best-of-seven series 4-2)</b></p><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p>Brantford 11, St. Johns 3</p><p>Brantford 10, St. Johns 4</p><p>St. Johns 8, Brantford 8</p><h3><b>Western Canada Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-245/4148509-1-eng-US/f0038-242.jpg" title="f0038-24" width="582" height="84"></div><p><b>(Kimberley wins best-of-five series 3-0)</b></p><h2><b>CENTENNIAL CUP</b></h2><h3><b>Eastern Canada Semi-Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-254/4148502-1-eng-US/f0038-252.jpg" title="f0038-25" width="580" height="86"></div><p><b>(Guelph wins beat-of-seven series 4-1)</b></p><h2><b>HARDY CUP</b></h2><p><b>Finals</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-263/4148495-1-eng-US/f0038-262.jpg" title="f0038-26" width="586" height="88"></div><p><b>(Prince George leads best-of-five series 2-1)</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0038-01

QUEBEC MAJOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY DANNY YOUNG</div><p>TROIS RIVIERES&mdash;</p><p>Richard David is the captain and leader of the Trois Rivieres Draveurs. When David is hot, the team is hot, and when he is boiling like he has been in the playoffs, the Draveurs are devastating.</p><p>In 11 playoff games, Trois Rivieres has won 10, and David is the league&rsquo;s leading playoff scorer with 14 goals and 14 assists.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been just great in the playoffs,&rdquo; coach Michel Bergeron said. &ldquo;David is the best player in the Quebec league.&rdquo;</p><p>In the playoffs, few people could argue with that statement, as David has appeared to be in a class of his own. He&rsquo;s scoring goals, he&rsquo;s working in the corners, and he&rsquo;s skating hard. His spectacular play has the pro scouts drooling.</p><p>Wearing number 27, David reminds observers of Frank Mahovlich. At six-foot-two, 200-pounds, David is tough to move off the puck. With a deadly shot, he is capable of picking up more than his share of goals.</p><p>During the regular season, however, it was a different story for David. He was on and off throughout the year, and was plagued with questionable minor injuries. He missed only three games, but withdrew from Team Canada in December due to a leg injury. David finished with 50 goals and 111 points, one more than the previous season, but 40 short of the personal goal he set in September.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-273/4148708-1-eng-US/f0038-272.jpg" title="f0038-27" width="565" height="704"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>NORMAND LEFEBVRE&hellip;51-Goal Scorer</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s played in this league for five years,&rdquo; Bergeron said. &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t have the same competition. He wasn&rsquo;t sure of his future, but maybe now he knows what he can do.&rdquo;</p><p>David is not doing the job for the Draveurs alone. Linemates Carey Haworth and Normand Lefebvre are at the top of their games. Haworth, who has suffered injuries throughout his four year QMJHL career, has always been a great playoff performer. Lefebvre is a valuable right winger, who scored 51 goals this season.</p><p>The Draveurs second line features Denis Pomerleau and Jean Marc Bonamie. Pomerleau led the team in scoring with 75 goals and 73 assists, sixth best in the league. Bonamie was the club&rsquo;s best assist man with 76.</p><p>&ldquo;I have two dangerous scoring lines,&rdquo; says Bergeron. With David and Pomerleau on separate lines, the opposition has to check two lines.&rdquo;</p><p>Despite two late season injuries, the Draveurs defensive crew continues to be effective. Gilles Provost is out with a bad shoulder, but Pierre Lacroix is back on the blueline after missing a month of play. Mario Simard, Normand Rochefort, Michel Leblanc, and goalie Jacques Cloutier round out the QMJHL&rsquo;s best defense.</p><p>Bergeron can talk for hours, but he has the figures to back it up. The Draveurs have the top goals-against both in the playoffs and during the regular season. In the two first games of the finals against Montreal, they allowed just two goals which is more the rule than the exception for the Draveurs. The scores were 5-1 and 2-1.</p><p>Bergeron can take a lot of credit for the success of the team. Bonamie, Pomerleau, Haworth, and Lacroix were all picked up in trades this year. David and Lefebvre were acquired through trades as well. Though he relinquished some fine young prospects in the trades, Bergeron is not worried about the future.</p><p>&ldquo;I direct the team one year at a time. I&rsquo;m not a contracter. You need men to win, not boys. Our players want to go on the ice every day. They want to work, and they want to win.</p><p>&ldquo;We play the same all the time. We wait for the opening we don&rsquo;t force the play. We skate, we forecheck, and we backcheck.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;You have to backcheck,&rdquo; says center Haworth. &ldquo;You can hear him yell from the bench. Cummon! Backcheck! Backcheck! He knows how to pep us. He understands us very well. That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s a great coach.&rdquo;</p><p>That&rsquo;s why the Draveurs are a great team.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-282/4148701-1-eng-US/f0038-282.jpg" title="f0038-28" width="569" height="716"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RICHARD DAVID&hellip;Draveurs&rsquo; Leader</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0038-27

David Makes Draveurs’ Offense Roar

<p>MONTREAL&mdash;</p><p>No team scores Stanley Cup winning goals like the Montreal Canadiens.</p><p>In the history of the cup, the Canadiens have three players who have twice connected for goals that ultimately won the playoff championship. They include Toe Blake in 1944 and 1946, Jean Beliveau 1960 and 1965 and Henri Richard 1966 and 1971.</p><p>The only non-Montreal player to duplicate two-cup winning goals was Bobby Orr in 1970 and 1972 when he was with the Bruins.</p><p>Blake, Richard and Orr each scored overtime cup winning goals, a feat that has happened only 11 times in the 50-year history of the Stanley Cup. Jacques Lemaire of the Canadiens won last year&rsquo;s cup series in overtime against Boston.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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May 5, 1978

The Hockey News

Islanders’ Potvin Becomes Top Scoring Defenseman

DEADLINE STOPPERS

JUNIOR JOTTINGS