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.

October 13, 1978

The Hockey News October 13, 1978

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02251/4226977-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg"></div>LOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg. OntarioSold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg. OntarioSold in U.S. and Canada &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Quebec Major Hockey League Schedule

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011129/4225570-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="408" height="461"></div><h2>A Complex Case</h2>WHEN THOSE AROUND the Kings scoffed at the court case brought by Dale McCourt, they were warned you never know what will happen in a court of law, or how a judge will rule. Still, they seemed shocked when a U.S. District Judge in Detroit, Robert DeMascio, ruled the player did not have to leave Detroit.The judge&rsquo;s general ruling was not that McCourt was not fair compensation to the Kings for Rogie Vachon having signed with the Red Wings as assistned by arbiter Ed Houston, but that the NHL&rsquo;s compensation clause in itself was too restrictive of the rights of free agents such as Vachon to make a good deal Tor themselves.The judge granted only a temporary injunction and the Kings will carry on the court case and may yet win, but the ruling was in keeping with all recent rulings granting rights to the individual not granted by the leagues. It didn&rsquo;t matter that the compensation clause was worked out by the NHL with the Players&rsquo; Association.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021018/4225563-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="814" height="1039"><figcaption class="caption-body">The ruling by judge Robert DeMascio on Dale McCourt&rsquo;s case may bring about a situation where any player awarded to another team in any league can refuse to report. Soon players may refuse trades if the present trend continues.</figcaption></div>A judge ruled Cullen Bryant did not have to go to Detroit as compensation the National Football League awarded when the Rams signed Ron Jessie. Presumably, now, any player awarded to another team in any league can refuse to report. Players may even refuse trades. A worker transferred to another town is free to quit and seek another job within his field. Why not an athlete?Since the Bryant business, the NFL has awarded only draft choices in compensation cases. The Kings may have to settle for draft choices in exchange for Vachon. They may not get even that.The cause of compensation is controversial at best. Presumably, when a worker is not under a fair contract he is free to go to work for someone else, whether for more money, better living conditions, or whatever. Presumably, this applies to athletes as well as salesmen, corporation presidents, even journalists.A BROADCASTER WHO BERATED Rick Barry for shifting from San Francisco of the NBA to Oakland of the ABA some years back wound up moving to Washington for a better job. Athletes do not owe anyone anything. Their teams trade, sell, or release them freely. Their fans are as fast to boo them as cheer them and would trade, sell, or release many of them if they could.Among many books I have written, one was with Barry, another with Spencer Haywood. Barry lost some court cases, but blazed the trail Haywood and others followed from team to team and league to league. Haywood did not lose any cases because he had an attorney, Al Ross, who recognized that sports contracts were so restrictive they could be broken in court.Ross took several players to Sam Schulman, who was willing to defy his fellow NBA owners in order to build up his Seattle team. Most rules in sports leagues survive only as long as the members follow them as a family. It takes only one maverick to overturn them.Even the draft systems in sports leagues have doubtful legal standing. When Seattle signed Haywood out of the ABA, Buffalo contended it had prior rights to him because it had drafted him. A judge ruled Seattle had signed him, so they had the rights to him. Thus it appears any maverick owner in any league who wishes to sign any amateur can get the draft system overturned in the courts.No matter how well paid, an athlete cannot be treated as a slave.FORCED TO FREE its slaves by court rulings, Major League Baseball now has no compensation clause in its new free-agent rule. Accordingly, it was not surprising that wealthy teams from the two largest cities wound up in the World Series last season.Baseball does restrict free-agent rights to six-year veterans, but don&rsquo;t bet this wouldn&rsquo;t be banned in the courts.Jack Kent Cooke always has operated within the framework of his leagues&rsquo; rules. When the Kings signed Marcel Dionne as a free agent from Detroit, Dan Maloney and Terry Harper were sent to the Wings as fair compensation. When the Wings signed Rogie Vachon, the Kings owner had every right to expect fair compensation from Wing owner Bruce Norris.As of now, he is not getting it. The Wings accepted arbitration, but protested the results. But McCourt was no more valuable to the Wings than Maloney to the Kings. Wings&rsquo; manager Ted Lindsay, denies it, but those around the Kings are convinced he put McCourt up to going to court. Certainly he didn&rsquo;t seem sorry, even though the youngster also sued the Wings. Can the Kings now reclaim Rogie?It is easy to say Cooke should have paid whatever it took to keep Vachon. But those who say it either do not have to pay for their tickets or complain about what they have to pay. Cooke contends he has yet to turn a profit on a single season in the NHL and it is bad business to pay players to the point ticket prices will rise beyond the reach of fans.As it is, Cooke might have offered his free agents more had he though he might not be compensated for them. He has been penalized for operating within the rules of his league. The league may now have to seek new rules which can hold up in court or risk having the Canadiens and Rangers in the Stanley Cup finals every year. &#9632;

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Hockey AdLib

Special To The Hockey NewsDETROIT&mdash;Detroit Red Wings shocked the National Hockey League last year with a 37-point improvement which moved them from 18th to eighth in the overall standings and gave them a giant step forward in their rebuilding program.But while coach Bobby Kromm doesn&rsquo;t expect another 37-point improvement for a club which finished with 78 points in 80 games during the 1977-78 season after placing last the year before with only 41 points, he does feel that his team is capable of adding another 15-18points to itstotal.The latter figure would move Detroit into the upper echelon of the NHL with 96 points, a figure surpassed last year by only five clubs, Montreal, Boston, the Islanders, Philadelphia and Buffalo. Toronto (92) and Atlanta (89) were the other teams to finish ahead of the Red Wings a year ago.According to Kromm: &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s not unrealistic to predict that we&rsquo;ll have four or five new faces in our line-up this year. This will give us more depth than last year and we should have more speed on this club, and that should pay off.&rdquo;The club&rsquo;s most celebrated additions are goaltender Rogie Vachon, the free agent goaltender from Los Angeles who signed late in the summer, and former Winnipeg Jet free agent Dan Labraaten, who figures to play right wing on the squadjs number one line.Said Kromm, &ldquo;Vachon is a superb netminder and in those close 3-2, and 2-2 games where a big save is needed, you&rsquo;ll see a big improvement in our club.&rdquo;He added, &ldquo;Labraaten is also a major acquisition. There isn&rsquo;t anything he can&rsquo;t do&mdash;skating, shooting, checking&mdash;and he already has more moves than 90 percent of the players in the league.&rdquo;Joining the team from t he ranks of junior hockey are six foot-five, 228-pound Willie Huber who played for the Hamilton Fincups, who produced? Detroit rookie sensation Dale McCourt, as well as center Brent Peterson of the Portland Winter Hawks, who is vying for one of the starting berths.McCourt, the highest scoring rookie in Red Wing history, will most likely center for Labraaten and speedy left winger Paul Woods, giving Kromm a unit which can score and check equally well.Veteran center Dennis Hextail should line up with Nick Libett and Vaclav Nedomansky, who is beginning his first full season in the NHL, and according to Kromm, may be ready to break through as one of the top 15 or 20 players in the league.Wings&rsquo; 30-goal scorer Andre St. Laurent will center another line, probably flanked by Errol Thompson and Dennis Polonich, while free agent forwards Dave Hanson and Sean Shanahan were also impressive in the club&rsquo;s training camp. Hanson recently was signed to a contract.&ldquo;You look at this team and there are 20 good players,&rdquo; said Woods, the first man purchased in last year&rsquo;s waiver draft and an excellent buy for the Red Wings at $50,000. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what you need to challenge Montreal. Everyone here has improved a little, and because of it, we&rsquo;ll be all right.&rdquo;During exhibition play the Wings were off to a bit of a slow start with just one win and a tie in their first five games, although they had allowed only 14 goals while scoring 13.Pittsburgh Penguins downed them 5-3 in their opener, before the Red Wings played to a 2-2 with St. Louis. In back-to-back games in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., the Red Wings blasted Minnesota North Stars 6-2, but were upset in the rematch, 2-0 when Gary Edwards and Gilles Meloche combined for a shutout. In the Wings&rsquo; fifth pre-season game, they were nipped 3-2 by the Colorado Rockies.Still, Kromm remains optimistic about Detroit&rsquo;s prospects for the coming season. &ldquo;This team is capable of improving 15 to 18 points&hellip;I&rsquo;m not saying that we will, only that, if everything is equal, we should.&rdquo;Under Kromm&rsquo;s tutelage, last year&rsquo;s Red Wings qualified for the playoffs, upset heavily favored Atlanta in two straight preliminary-round games and were even at one victory and leading by a goal after two periods of the third game in the quarterfinals against the eventual Stanley Cup champions, Montreal Canadiens. Canadiens rebounded in the third period to win Game Three and then swept the series in the next two games, but Detroit had at least established themselves as a threat and gave the 1978-79 club a goal to try and surpass.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02927/4225811-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="552" height="693"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROGIE VACHON&hellip; Wins Close Ones</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Red Wings Should Improve Because Of Depth, Speed

<div class="byline">By Bill Hilts</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01295/4227039-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="352" height="417"></div>As we enter a brand new season of ice hockey, once again I invite all Junior A (other than major) leagues in Canada and all Junior A and B leagues in the U.S. to send me timely and interesting information regarding teams, as well as league activities. Junior Jottings will be appearing every other week this year, so I&rsquo;m looking for pertinent information&mdash;especially concerning players.To avoid delay, please direct all correspondence relative to Junior Jottings, directly to my home at 5115 Bear Road, Sanborn, New York, 14132.<h2>AHAUS Update</h2>The Amateur Hockey Association of the U.S. has announced plans for junior hockey competition this season.The dates for the National Junior Championships have been changed for 1979, giving the older skaters a little more leeway in setting the final showdowns. Junior B will still be the first full weekend in April. But for Junior A, the tourney must be held between April 15 and 30.Carl Schwarz, chairman of the AHAUS National Championships Committee, has revealed that the Junior A Tourney will be hosted by Fitchburg, Massachusetts; and Junior B&mdash;Totowa, New Jersey.Several rule changes have been implemented for the 1978-79 season, but not all affect the junior class. All AHAUS players, junior and below (except Paid Gate Junior A and B), must wear a full face mask this year. This, of course, will eliminate the half-mask, which was popular at one time.The charging rule has been changed to where &ldquo;bodychecking, or pushing from behind shall be penalized as charging.&rdquo; Also, &ldquo;A minor penalty shall be assessed any player who uses his forearm, or hand to check an opponent above the opponent&rsquo;s shoulders.&rdquo;On high sticking infractions, a minor, or major penalty may be called against any player violating the rule.<h2>N.Y.-Penn League</h2>The Buffalo Jr. Sabres, coached by Larry Mickey, a popular former Sabre, opened their exhibition season with a come-from-behind 5-4 win over the Cleveland Jr. Barons of the Great Lakes Jr. A League. The Barons scored three times in the opening period, but the Buffalo juniors managed to make it 3-2 by the end of the middle period. Then in the final stanza, the Jr. Sabres flashed the red light three more times, while Cleveland mustered a single tally.Jack Meyers tied it up for Buffalo at 5:11 of the third, while Paul Smith of Cleveland came back with a marker just 59 seconds later.Kevin Konstabel tied it again for Buffalo at 6:45 with his second goal of the night and Fred Korhummel knocked in what proved to be the winner with a power play tally at 7:06.Jamie Janiga, Don Wisbey and Ron Cappelluzzo each worked one period in the Buffalo goal.<h2>Atlantic League</h2>The Mid-Atlantic Hockey League has been reorganized and will play under the banner of the Atlantic Hockey League this season. The Junior Division will be broken into two groups&mdash;Northern and Southern. The Northern Division will be composed of the New Jersey Junior Rockets, Bergen-Rockland Junior Colonials, the Golden Blades and Ironbound.The Southern Division is made up of Hershey, Philadelphia Firebirds, Bristol (Penn.)Americans and the Jersey Aces.They will play a 30 game schedule which will be completed by March 1.Premiere team in the Atlantic Jr. League will be the New Jersey Rockets&mdash;defending AHAUS National Junior B Champions. The fast-skating team has competed effectively against the stiffest competition available in the Mid-Atlantic and Metropolitan New York area, as well as against teams in New England and Canada.This year&rsquo;s edition of the Jr. Rockets will be coached by Pete Herms, former standout player at St. Lawrence University, during the period when they won the NCAA Championship. Herms is considered to be one of the most successful and skilled coaches in the Mid-Atlantic area. Tony Lockhart is team manager.<h2>AHAUS Coaching</h2>Good friend Lou Vairo, former coach of the Austin Mavericks of the Midwest Junior A League has taken over the reins of AHAUS Coaching Program Director. Now based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the innovative Vairo has already set up a nationwide certification program, programmed much like the Province of Ontario&rsquo;s successful effort.AHAUS intends to:&bull; Offer coaches the opportunity to expand their knowledge of the game.&bull; Make coaches aware of the individual players&rsquo; needs and interests. &#9632;

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JUNIOR JOTTINGS

WHA Holds Edge In Play With NHLSPRINGFIELD&mdash;The World Hockey Association is proving one thing to the rival National Hockey League: they shouldn&rsquo;t take these pre-season exhibition games so lightly.The WHA was sporting a 6-3-1 edge over their NHL counterparts after the first 10 games of their proposed 27-game inter-league exhibition schedule.New England Whalers led the WHA onslaught with three straight wins&mdash;one over Colorado and two against Washington. Quebec Nordiques had a 2-1 record beating Minnesota and Colorado and losing to Washington. In the 10 games, the WHA outscored (he NHL 39-30.Nyrop Surprises Habs By QuittingMONTREAL&mdash;Defenseman Bill Nyrop tossed a bombshell into the Montreal Canadiens training camp when he announced he was leaving and wouldn&rsquo;t be back with the world champions.Nyrop, a two-year performer in the NHL, has played on the Canadiens last three Stanley Cup winners, and decided that he didn&rsquo;t have anything more to accomplish in the NHL and left for his Edina. Minn., home. Nyrop was married during the past off-season and he said he was anxious to return home.NHL Players Want American FundsTORONTO&mdash;The falling Canadian dollar is driving the NHL Players&rsquo; Association to seek remuneration for their services in U.S. currency rather than in Canadian funds.The players are reportedly eager Io meet with NHL team owners in hopes of having all league business conducted in U.S. dollars. Unlike major league baseball, where all teams deal in American currency, including Toronto and Montreal, the NHL&rsquo;s Canadian teams are reimbursed in Canadian dollars. The players point out that a $200,000 contract with the Canadiens, Leafs or Canucks, would be actually be worth only $170,000 because of the collapsing Canadian dollar. &#9632;

HOCKEY BRIEFS…

THE NHL&hellip;Atlanta&hellip;&hellip; 17Boston&hellip;&hellip; 23Buffalo&hellip;&hellip; 6Chicago&hellip;&hellip; 15Colorado&hellip;&hellip; 4Detroit&hellip;&hellip; 12Los Angeles&hellip;&hellip; 7Minnesota&hellip;&hellip; 17Montreal&hellip;&hellip; 5N.Y. Islanders&hellip;&hellip; 19N.Y. Rangers&hellip;&hellip; 2Philadelphia&hellip;&hellip; 9Pittsburgh&hellip;&hellip; 18St. Louis&hellip;&hellip; 16Toronto&hellip;&hellip; 20Vancouver&hellip;&hellip; 11Washington&hellip;&hellip; 8THE WHA&hellip;Birmingham&hellip;&hellip; 27Cincinnati&hellip;&hellip; 26Edmonton&hellip;&hellip; 25Indianapolis&hellip;&hellip; 26New England&hellip;&hellip; 24Quebec&hellip;&hellip; 24Winnipeg&hellip;&hellip; 25OTHER LEAGUES&hellip;American&hellip;&hellip; 30Central&hellip;&hellip; 31International&hellip;&hellip; 32Ontario Major&hellip;&hellip; 34WHL&hellip;&hellip; 36Quebec Major&hellip;&hellip; 38COLUMNISTS&hellip;Ken McKenzie&hellip;&hellip; 4Bob Verdi:&hellip;&hellip; 6Bill Libby&hellip;&hellip; 8Bill Fleischman&hellip;&hellip; 12OTHER FEATURES&hellip;Player Movements&hellip;&hellip; 5Fan Forum&hellip;&hellip; 10Hockey Crossword&hellip;&hellip; 10Hockey People&hellip;&hellip; 14Hockey News Poll&hellip;&hellip; 22SCHEDULES&hellip;International League&hellip;&hellip; 33Ontario Major League&hellip;&hellip; 35Quebec Major League&hellip;&hellip; 38 &#9632;

WHERE YOU’LL FIND IT ALL INSIDE

<div class="byline">BY TOM MURRAY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011049/4225156-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">FRANK BEATON&hellip;Draws Early Suspension</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I went to a fight the other night and a hockev game broke out.&rdquo;NEW YORK&mdash;The source of that quote is anonymous, but whoever it is, his words were undoubtedly inspired by something like the incident (an NHL euphemism for &ldquo;bloody brawl&rdquo;) that took place in Madison Square Garden on the night of Sept. 26.The Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers were the opponents, and while their confrontation was only an exhibition game, emotions, as the cliche goes, were running high. And for good reason. The Rangers had-been drubbed, 8-2, by the Flyers at the Spectrum only a week before and were looking to even the score and earn a victory for coach Fred Shero over his old team. This, coupled with the fact that Flyers&rsquo; coach Bob McCammon benched practically all his veterans&mdash;except Bobby Clarke and a handful of others&mdash;and played a lot of young, hungry rookies who were anxious to impress their coach, made the atmosphere that much more pressured and tense.Add to this the fact that these two teams just don&rsquo;t like each other and that they have played very fewgames in the last few years without some disagreements ensuing&hellip;and all the ingredients that are needed for an altercation or &ldquo;incident&rdquo; were there.Still, no one was prepared for what ultimately happened: a 25-minute, bench-clearing brawl that resulted in $5,200 in fines to both teams.The incident started &ldquo;innocently&rdquo; enough&mdash;if it&rsquo;s possible for a hockey fight to start innocently. With 4:45 remaining in the first period, the Rangers&rsquo; Anders Hedberg had just finished making a series of incredible moves, going around three Flyers, faking goalie Rick St. Croix out of position, and shooting the puck just over the crossbar. As the standing fans returned to their seats, shaking their heads in disbelief at Hedberg&mdash;whom they were seeing for the first time&mdash;a roar suddenly went up. All eyes turned to center ice, where the Rangers&rsquo; Nick Fotiu and the Flyers&rsquo; Jim Cunningham were squaring off. The two had clashed earlier in the game, and obviously hadn&rsquo;t had enough of each other. As they pummeled each, other, the rest of the players on the ice at the time thronged around, restraining each other and watching as the linesmen finally separated the two combatents and escorted them to their respective penalty boxes.Then, as attention was being focused by the linesmen on another skirmish that was developing between the Flyers&rsquo; Dave Hoyda and the Rangers&rsquo; Ron Duguay, the Rangers&rsquo; bench suddenly started pouring onto the ice, led by Frank Beaton, a player who is more renowned for his punching ability then his scoring prowess. The Flyers immediately followed suit; gloves and sticks hit the ice, and players from each team reached for the most convenient opposing jersey. Fotiu and Cunningham left their places in the penalty boxes&mdash;one reporter claimed that he saw Shero wave to Fotiu to join the fray&mdash;found each other, and started Round Three of their disagreement. Beaton and Mel Bridgman grabbed each other&rsquo;s jerseys and engaged in some spirited helmet butting for about 20 minutes. Goalies Wayne Thomas and Rick St. Croix couldn&rsquo;t restrain themselves any longer, and they left their respective creases to join the fun. Hoyda and Duguay continued holding each other off until the Duguay made the fatal&mdash;and dumb&mdash;mistake of turning his head to the left for a split second. That was all the time Hoyda needed to promptly nail Duguay with a short right, knocking him to the ice.An implacable Fred Shero watched everything from behind the Rangers&rsquo; empty bench, surrounded and protected by two of his players who hadn&rsquo;t dressed for the game and who rushed to his side when they saw the action getting ugly around him.Referee Bob Myers finally got the situation under control, ordering the players to leave the ice and ruling that the remaining 4:45 would be played at the beginning of the second period. He also levied game misconducts against five Rangers&mdash;Beaton, Fotiu, Duguay, Dave Maloney, and Lucien DeBlois&mdash;and seven Flyers&mdash;Cunningham, Bridgman, Hoyda, Ken Linseman, Moose Dupont, Paul Holmgren, and Glen Cochrane.With all of these players sent to the showers, the rest of the game proceeded &ldquo;without incident&rdquo; (another NHL euphemism for &ldquo;without bloody brawl.&rdquo;) Afterwards, Beaton told reporters that he had left the bench because the Rangers were outnumbered on the ice and he wanted to even things up. But Brian O&rsquo;Neill, the executive vice president of the NHL, was at the game, and he called Beaton&rsquo;s explanation a &ldquo;lame excuse.&rdquo;&ldquo;The way the thing started is wha bothered me the most,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neil said. &ldquo;The fight between Fotiu and Cunningham had been broken up completely and was under control Then Beaton comes off the bench. I was a blatant attempt on his part to create more mayhem. We had people at that game who knew how many people were on the ice for each team before the benches emptied&mdash;and they were even. If Beaton thought the Rangers were a men down, then he can&rsquo;t count&mdash;among other things.&rdquo;On Sept. 29, three days after the incident, O&rsquo;Neill announced that automatic fines totalling $5,200 had been assessed against both teams. The breakdown of the fines was as follows:&bull; $1,000 to the Rangers because it was one of their players, Beaton, who first left the bench.&bull; $100 to each player from either team who received a game misconduct penalty.&bull; $100 to both goalies, Thomas and St. Croix, for leaving their creases during the fight.&bull; $50 each to two players who received misconduct penalties&mdash;Fotiu and Cunningham.&bull; $100 to each man who left his bench ($1400 for 14 Flyers, $1300&rsquo; for 13 Rangers.&bull; $100 fine plus a suspension for the first game he is scheduled to play to Frank Beaton for leaving the bench first.&ldquo;The National Hockey League,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neill said, &ldquo;will not tolerate incidents of this type. We trust this incident was an isolated case. However, if there is any indication that there will be a repetitiqn of such an incident, the league will take additional steps to prevent any reoccurence.&rdquo;That about covers it.Oh, yeah, one more little thing: The Flyers won the game, 4-3. &#9632;

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Rangers, Flyers Fined $5,200 For Ice Brawl

<div class="byline">BY TOM MURRAY</div>NEW YORK&mdash;John Ziegler, the president of the National Hockey League, is fully prepared to go all the way to the Supreme Court, if that&rsquo;s what it takes to ultimately resolve the current litigation between Dale McCourt and the proponents of the NHL&rsquo;s collective bargaining agreement.&ldquo;That is by far the biggest problem I&rsquo;ve got ahead of me this season,&rdquo; Ziegler told a small group of reporters at a recent luncheon in New York. &ldquo;All the others pale in significance.&rdquo;In a nutshell, the details of Ziegler&rsquo;s biggest problem are as follows:MeCourt played for the Detroit Red Wings last season, his first in the NHL, led the team in scoring, and established himself as one of the rising stars of the league&mdash;a player that Wings&rsquo; general manager Ted Lindsay definitely did not want to lose. But when Lindsay signed free agent goaltender Rogie Vachon from the Los Angeles Kings and offered goalie Jim Rutherford and Bill Lockhead as compensation, the Kings balked. They wanted McCourt. When the two teams couldn&rsquo;t come to terms, Toronto county court judge Ed Houston entered the picture as an arbitrator&mdash;and ruled that the Kings should get McCourt.Instead of reporting to the Kings, however, McCourt launched a lawsuit against the NHL and sought a temporary restraining order which would allow him to report to&rsquo;the Red Wings&rsquo; training camp and play until the suit is heard. U.S. District Judge Robert DeMascio ruled in McCourt&rsquo;s favor, granting the order and ruling that the NHL&rsquo;s compensation requirements are an illegal restraint of trade and, in his words, &ldquo;more anti-competitive than the National Football League&rsquo;s Rozelle Rule.&rdquo;The NHL appealed this preliminary injunction and will go to court in midOctober. But in the meantime, McCourt is still a Red Wing, the Los Angeles Kings are still un-compensated, the future of the entire structure of the NHL&rsquo;s collective bargaining agreement is in jeopardy, and Ziegler is one very worried man.&ldquo;At issue,&rdquo; Ziegler said, &ldquo;is the effectiveness of the collective bargaining agreement set in 1975 and amended a year ago. The equalization system was agreed to by the NHL Players Association. What we have here is a player attacking the very position his association agreed to. If he can violate his collective bargaining agreement and it stands up in court&hellip;we&rsquo;ve got problems.&rdquo;Ziegler also expressed some dismay over the reaction of Alan Eagleson, the executive director of the NHL Players Association, who said that if McCourt wins his case it would &ldquo;help the players.&rdquo;&ldquo;I was disappointed with him and with the position the Players Association took,&rdquo; Ziegler said. &ldquo;I expected him and the players to take a stand and say that they were in support of the collective bargaining agreement.As important as the McCourt case is to him, Ziegler had time during the two-hour luncheon to comment on many other &ldquo;hot&rdquo; topics currently facing the NHL and himself. To wit:&bull; The Don Murdoch Situation: Ziegler suspended the New York Rangers&rsquo; Murdoch for half of the 1978-79 season after the young right wing was apprehended with cocaine in his possession before last season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gotten quite a bit of mail on this,&rdquo; Ziegler said. &ldquo;The letters from New York said things like: &ldquo;What right did I have to interfere with this fine young man&rsquo;s life.&rdquo;&ldquo;The letters from Canada said: &lsquo;We have a judicial system that operates against coke. Who are you to interfere with it?&rsquo;&ldquo;All I can say to that,&rdquo; Ziegler said, &ldquo;is that the NHL is a private business, and we have a right to set standards for our employees&mdash;just like any company.&ldquo;The bulk of the mail,&rdquo; Ziegler continued, &ldquo;was from parents who thanked me and were pleased to see the league take a stand. Those were very gratifying.&rdquo;&bull; On A Possible NHl.-WHA Merger: &ldquo;The intervention of the McCourt case has made any consultations with the WHA secondary right now. I can&rsquo;t even comtemplate doing something with the WHA without collective bargaining being involved. And with that being challenged, it&rsquo;ll preclude any talks with the WHA. It&rsquo;s very sad.&rdquo;&bull; On the &ldquo;Goon&rdquo; Image Of Some NHL Teams: &ldquo;If a player is retained by a team solely for fighting, I think it&rsquo;s unwise. And I don&rsquo;t think it helps our game at all. I hope that with the continued influx of good players into the NHL, the opportunity for teams to do that will be reduced.&rdquo;&bull; On Telecasts Of NHL Soviet All Star Series: &ldquo;We&rsquo;re very close to working out a fine arrangement for the distribution of the Canadian rights to the series. There hasn&rsquo;t been the major interest I&rsquo;d hoped for with the U.S. rights. The games will be on in the U.S., however, on a highlight basis. And if this series turns out to be as good as we all hope&mdash;next year the television people will be calling me instead of me calling them.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02950/4225101-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="560" height="687"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHN ZIEGLER&hellip;Defends His Decisions</figcaption></div>&bull; The Telecasts Of NHL Games This Season: &ldquo;We will once again have an NHL network which will show the games on Monday nights and Saturday afternoons.&rdquo;&bull; On Possibility Of Network TV Contract: &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to be on the networks in the near future. I think that instead of running into the wall&mdash;which we&rsquo;ve been doing for the past 12 years&mdash;we&rsquo;ve got to plot our television positions and think in terms of five-to-ten-year planning, with cable and pay TV as sources of revenue.&ldquo;All the network people say the same things to me: The big problem with hockey is that we just don&rsquo;t get the ratings. Networks are extremely competitive in the search for ratings, and anything less than a one-third share is considered a failure. The TV people tell me that sports&mdash;football and baseball included&mdash;do not deliver consistently high ratings. Baseball makes up for its low ratings with the World Series each year. The basketball playoff ratings were very unfortunate for CBS last year.&ldquo;What you have is a constant battle between the networks&rsquo; sports and entertainment departments&hellip;and entertainment delivers the ratings.&ldquo;The second problem with hockey as far as the networks are concerned is that our history is bad. We always started out well and then went bad. The TV guys always tell us that we have a great sport, that the demographics of our audience are perfect, and that there would be no problem selling advertising. But we can&rsquo;t deliver the ratings because people in Albuquerque, New Mexico just don&rsquo;t care about a Stanley Cup playoff game being played on Long Island between the Islanders and the Flyers.&ldquo;Networks are very sensitive to their affiliates. Lose one, and you start losing rating points. NBC had a very serious affiliate problem with our games when they were broadcasting them.&ldquo;No one is going to take us on just because they love hockey. That&rsquo;s just not the way TV works. And if I were in their position&hellip;I&rsquo;d probably make the same decision.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0002-02

John Ziegler Says NHL Will Go All The Way To Supreme Court To Resolve McCourt Issue

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE HALPIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011056/4225232-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;It seems incredulous that they even have to play the 1978-79 National Hockey League schedule.In the opinion of the hockey selectors, the four division races are already decided. In fact, they could start the Stanley Cup playoffs tomorrow.Here&rsquo;s how they see it. The Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Black Hawks are unanimous picks to win their divisional races; the Boston Bruins are near unanimous to do likewise in the Adams Division and the New York Islanders are heads above the other three Norris Division contenders.In a special pre-season poll conducted by THE HOCKEY NEWS among 19 hockey writers who pursue the fate and fortunes of NHL teams, the Habs, Bruins, Hawks and Islanders, have it all wrapped up and will finish the new schedule in first place with quite a bit to spare.Let&rsquo;s take a division-by-division look at the races and see what the selectors have come up with.In the Norris, all 19 polled chose the powerful three-time Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens to do it one more time this season. No one else even got a look for first place. Detroit picked up 17 out of 19 second place votes but after that the other teams were well spread out.Chicago Black Hawks emulated the Canadiens in the poll by winning the maximum number of votes, 19, to finish first in the have-not Smythe Division. Beyond the Hawks, the selectors figured Colorado and Vancouver are evenly matched and they had a difficult time chosing between the two for second and third. The Rockies won the nod by the scantest margin.<h2>How Races Will Finish</h2>Complete NHL Selections Can Be Found On Page 22<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02910/4225225-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1110" height="1596"><figcaption class="caption-body">Islanders are choice in the Patrick Division with the likes of Garry Howatt, left, and Bryan Trottier. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>The selection panel gave the Boston Bruins 18 of 19 votes to finish on top of the Adams division. In a surprise outcome they relegated Buffalo Sabres to third place behind the Toronto Leafs. Many feel the Leafs have progressed while the Sabres have retrogressed since last season. They point out the Leafs strengthened themselves along the blueline where they were vulnerable last year with several trades. Meanwhile, the Sabres did no trading and stood still with the same lineup that missed first place and was hastily pushed out of the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring.Just as it was last season, the closest race will again be centered in the Adams Division where the Islanders have won the respect of the pollsters getting 15 of 19 votes to finish in first place.But Al Arbour&rsquo;s well-balanced squad will receive plenty of competition before they&rsquo;re through from the Philadelphia Flyers, who should end second, and the rejuvenated New York Rangers, who were picked to finish third despite the presence of Fred Shero and the two super Swedes, Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg. The Atlanta Flames, like the Buffalo Sabres, have not improved enough and the selectors chose them on six ballots to end third and 12 to close the year in last place.In a tribute to THE HOCKEY NEWS panel of hockey writers, a look back at the conclusion of the 1977-78 schedule revealed that the men who did the picking in last year&rsquo;s poll were right on. They chose Canadiens, Chicago, Boston and the Islanders to end in first place and all four teams captured division honors. Ironically, they chose the same four teams this season.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03617/4225218-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="1105" height="1513"><figcaption class="caption-body">Guy Lafleur is the man who makes the Canadiens go and the Habs are unanimous pick to do it again this year. (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04368/4225211-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="1122" height="859"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Hawks were unanimous picks to sweep the Smythe Division again with top goaler Tony Esposito back for another year. (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0003-01

Selectors High On Habs, Hawks, Bruins

MONTREAL&mdash;If the Minnesota North Stars and the Washington Capitals have improved their respective hockey clubs this season they failed to convince the men on the hockey beat.In the special pre-season poll conducted by THE HOCKEY NEWS, 19 of the NHL&rsquo;s &lsquo;beat men&rsquo; found little sympathy in their hearts for either NHL team. They selected the North Stars to finish last in the Adams Division race on 17 of 19 ballots. The same fate befell the Washington Caps in the Norris Division.Both the Stars and Caps finished out of the NHL playoffs last season and the selectors have given them little chance to improve on their plight. &#9632;

Capitals, North Stars Delegated Also Rans

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011107/4225315-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="458" height="473"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken McKenzie&rsquo;s</figcaption></div>&bull; FRED SHERO and Bobby Clarke have developed a real feud. The Philadelphia captain is still sore at the way his former coach left the Flyers to go to New York. Clarke and Reggie Leach have fired broadsides at Shero ever since he left the club. Clarke criticized the way he left the team and Leach complained that &ldquo;no matter what I did, it seemed like I was wrong&rdquo;&hellip;Even Keith Allen, the smooth, even-fempered general manager of the Flyers got into the feud. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m tired of Freddie knocking me for interference. He made a lot of mistakes the last two years and since I was responsible for running the organization, I had to ask questions&rdquo;&hellip;The Flyers and Bruins are also feuding off the ice. Boston president Paul Mooney called Flyers&rsquo; board chairman Ed Snider and said the Bruins objected to the Flyers earning a profit from an exhibition game to help repay the NHL Players Association for loaning $600,000 to the now-defunct Cleveland Barons. According to Snider, any extra money from the game was to go to the AHL Maine Mariners. &ldquo;I personally feel that this is an attempt by Mooney to embarrass the Flyers and myself personally,&rdquo; said Snider. The Bruins have beaten the Flyers in their last two Stanley Cup semi-final meetings&hellip;Only three original members of the New England Whalers are still with the team after seven years. They are Al Smith, Ricky Ley and Brad Seiwood. It was a sad note to see the talented Tom Webster retire from the Whalers due to recurring back injuries.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021062/4225308-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="299" height="469"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Webster</figcaption></div>&bull; REMEMBER the hard words that were exchanged by the Boston Bruins and the Minnesota North Stars last season? &ldquo;Thugs?,&rdquo; Chicken Swedes?,&rdquo; etc. etc&hellip;Well, the Bruins&rsquo; Don Cherry, John Wensink and Rick Smith are helping the North Stars this year by making promotion spots for Minnesota on TV. &ldquo;I hear the North Stars are tougher this year,&rdquo;says one. &ldquo;Do you believe that?&rdquo; says another. &ldquo;No,&rdquo; sneers the third. That should fill a few houses in Minnesota&hellip;The kidney problem that has plagued Tim Cherry, 14-year-old son of the Boston coach, may result in a transplant for the youngster who now undergoes dialysis three times a week. Don Cherry, his wife Rose, and their daughter Cindy, have all been tested as possible donors&hellip;The NHL Challenge Cup series with the World&rsquo;s Cup champion Soviets, which will replace the traditional All Star Game between the Prince of Wales and Clarence Campbell Conferences, will force the NHL to &ldquo;close down&rdquo; its regular schedule from February 5 to February 12&hellip;The Soviet All Stars, composed of the best players in the Soviet Union, are expected to arrive in New York on February 4. The NHL All Stars will report on February 5. This series should be a true test of world hockey supremacy&hellip;Paul Harrison, a goalie the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired from Minnesota in an off-season trade, has impressed everyone during the Leafs&rsquo; training camp and should rate as No. 2 netminder behind Mike Palmateer&hellip;Ron Ellis, Leafs&rsquo; elder statesman at 33, has looked like a frisky rookie during Toronto&rsquo;s exhibition games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03957/4225301-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="295" height="479"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Ellis</figcaption></div>&bull; EXPANSION will begin on the outside of the Winnipeg Arena in January and they will move inside to complete the expansion during the summer months so that there will be a 15,000 seat arena ready for the Winnipeg Jets at the start of the 1979-80 season&hellip;Doug Wenschlag, marketing director of the Edmonton Oilers, sent out a 230,000 piece mailing on season ticket information in the Edmonton area. The Oilers have already sold close to 6,000 season tickets for this season and expect to surpass that figure before the new season opens&hellip;Assistant public relations director Elaine Ell of the Edmonton Oilers advises that Wes George, the rookie who last season played with Saskatoon of the WCHL, has been most impressive during the. Oilers&rsquo; pre-season exhibition games. The Oilers finished their exhibition tour in Sweden and Finland with a 3-1-2 record, losing only to the Swedish National team. Second string goalie Gord McRae of last year&rsquo;s Toronto Leafs has played out his contract and is returning to college in Michigan&hellip;NHL teams play WHA teams 27 times during the pre-season exhibition schedule&hellip;Winnipeg Jets have been trying to peddle some of the Houston players they acquired when that club folded. The Jets appear to have an overabundance of talent at the present time&hellip;Edmonton Oilers expect to average 12,000 fans per game this season. The Oilers figure on putting it all together this season, both on the ice and at the box office&hellip;Boston Bruins will carry only two goalies this seaspn. Gerry Cheevers, naturally, will be No. 1 with either Gilles Gilbert or Ron Grahame being the backup man.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04855/4225294-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="299" height="454"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wes George</figcaption></div>&bull; MURRAY OLIVER, director of youth programs for the Northland hockey stick people, has taken a leave of absence from the company to join the Minnesota North Stars as assistant coach&hellip;Ned Harkness, former GM and coach of Detroit Red Wings, is presently operating a hockey arena at Glens Falls, N.Y&hellip;Don&rsquo;t be surprised to see Vladimir Dzurilla with the Los Angeles Kings. The veteran goalie of the Czech National Team has received permission to play two years in North America&hellip;Buffalo Sabres may drop Josh Guevremont from a defense position&hellip;Tom Bladon, outstanding defenseman now with Pittsburgh Penguins,-spoke for most plavers who are traded from the Philadelphia Flyers when he said: &ldquo;It would be easier to go if I could say I was half-glad to get out of here. But I can&rsquo;t say that, as they&rsquo;ve always treated me well in Philly&rdquo;&hellip;The Bellingham Blazers of the British Columbia Junior A League will represent the United States and Canada on a tour this month through Czechoslovakia&hellip;New York Rangers are reported to be trying to make a deal with the Chicago Black Hawks whereby the Rangers would send Phil Esposito to the Hawks in return for the NHL rights to Bobby Hull. Fred Shero, the Rangers&rsquo; general manager-coach, would like to reunite Hull with Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05716/4225287-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="299" height="511"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Bladon</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">BY FRED PIETILA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-06424/4225360-1-eng-US/f0004-062.jpg" title="f0004-06" width="546" height="611"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOE WATSON&hellip;Next Captain?</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-07276/4225353-1-eng-US/f0004-072.jpg" title="f0004-07" width="548" height="621"><figcaption class="caption-body">WILF PAIEMENT&hellip; Quit Role</figcaption></div>DENVER&mdash;The oldest member of the Colorado Rockies is confident he can help the young National Hockey League team.Therein lies the story of 35-year-old Joe Watson, a veteran of 13 NHL seasons, who could conceivably emerge as the new captain of the Rockies following the resignation of Wilf Paiement as team leader.Watson was purchased by the Rockies from the Philadelphia Flyers in a straight cash transaction on Aug. 31. There was little doubt why Colorado wanted him.The Rockies needed someone older and experienced to stabilize a young and often excitable defense. Watson feels he can fill that void.&ldquo;Well, I certainly hope so. That&rsquo;s one of the reasons the Rockies wanted me,&rdquo; Watson said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been through a lot and I think I can really help the Rockies&hellip;stabilize the team. I certainly hope I can help. I know I can. I feel 1Istill have two or three years left.&rdquo;With a number of younger defensemen in Philadelphia, Watson was expendable to the Flyers. He played 65 regular-season games, but saw action in only one of the Flyers&rsquo; 12 Stanley Cup contests.Watson knew his days in Philadelphia were numbered and asked general manager Keith Allen if a deal could be worked out. Colorado was one of the places he preferred, if possible.Watson thus was happy with the move to Denver and the Rockies. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a conglomeration of things,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The Rockies are an up-and-coming team&hellip;I like the atmosphere (fan support) there&hellip;it seems like a good organization&hellip;and also the fact that I&rsquo;m from British Columbia (Smithers) and have always lived around the mountains.&rdquo;&ldquo;I know they&rsquo;re very vocal,&rdquo; Watson said of the Rockies&rsquo; fans. &ldquo;And I think they&rsquo;re a lot like the Flyers&rsquo; fans. I want to tell you I think the fans in Philly are the best in the world. But I haven&rsquo;t played in too many cities&hellip;I&rsquo;m really looking forward to playing here (Denver).&rdquo;Mike Gillis, on the other hand, is an up and coming young prospect, the Rockies&rsquo; No. I draft choice from Kingston. His junior career was marred by injuries and looks less than spectacular on paper.But his hard-nosed, aggressive play and his good size, six-foot-one and 195-pounds, impressed the Rockies and other NHL teams who scouted him. Ironically, Gillis injured a knee in a preseason collision with teammate Mike Eruzione and will miss up to three months of the season.Gillis is regarded as a tough man in the corners and a guy who goes up and down the wings. He&rsquo;s not known as a goal-scorer.Before he was injured Gillis analyzed his style: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m more the style like somebody going up and down the Wings like the Bob Gainey style,&rdquo; Gillis explained. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not ready a goal-korer. I&rsquo;m more of a combined up-and-cowner tnan apcorer or a shooter.&rdquo;Gillis was the fifth player chosen in last summer&rsquo;s draft and he is well aware that when he gets into the lineup he&rsquo;ll feel the pressure of being a No. 1 pick.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure there will be pressure and Barry Beck had such a good season last year. I&rsquo;m sure I&rsquo;m going to be expected to have a good season.&rdquo; Gillis said.The reference to Beck makes sense. The big defenseman came into the NHL last season with a tough-guy reputation.He made good on that, but also broke the NHL rookie defenseman goalscoring record with 22 goals.Fans might expect the same. from Gillis, another player who will enter the NHL with a reputation of a defensive player.DENVER NUGGETS: Wilf Paiement asked to be relieved of his duties as team captain because he said &ldquo;it took away from my concentration on the ice.&rdquo; Paiement explained that he was spending too much time thinking about what he had to do in his captain&rsquo;s role, rather than putting all his energies into goal-scoring, one of the Rockies greatest needs. Paiements goal production was down 10 over the previous year, although he had more total points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02604/4225346-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="550" height="733"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB NYSTROM</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-06

Rockies May Put Watson On Spot As Team Leader

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:NATIONAL LEAGUECOLORADO&mdash;Gary Me-Monagle, C, Gordie Brooks, RW, Ron Hansis, RW, and Len Hicks, LW, released outright.CHICAGO&mdash;Brian Young, D, drafted 63rd, signed to NHL contract. Lindsay Thomson, RW, and Barry Smith, C, released outright. Mark Locken, G, John Peterson, G, Mike O&rsquo;Connell, D, Dave Mancuso, D, Kirk Bowman, C, Greg Vaydik, C, Dan Hinton, LW, and Tom Ulseth, RW, assigned to Moncton of AHL.DETROIT&mdash;Dave Hanson, RW, signed as free agent from Birmingham of WHA.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Doug Halward, D, purchased from Boston.MINNESOTA&mdash;Tom Reid, D, placed on voluntary retired list.MONTREAL&mdash;Bill Nyrop, D, left training camp and placed on suspended list. Jerry Engele, D, awarded as compensation by the NHL for Mike Polich, C, signed as free agent by Minnesota. Maurice Barrette, Robert Holland, Carey Walker, Richard Sevigny and Bruce Horsch, all goalers, Mike Boyd, Jean Lemieux, Moe Robinson and Tim Burke, all defensemen, Keith Acton, Bruce Baker, Jerry Byers, Normand Dupont, Dave Lumley, Rick Meagher, Daniel Metivier, Kevin Reeves, Doug Robb, Gaetan Rochelle and Ron Wilson, all forwards, assigned to Nova Scotia of AHL.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Doug Melvin, G, Larry Angus, D, Tom Machowski, D, Dave Hynek, LW, Dave Leonardo, RW, assigned to Jersey of Northeastern League.RANGERS&mdash;Hardy Aastrom, G, quit training camp and returned to Sweden.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Mike Zuke, RW, placed on disabled list for a month with dislocated shoulder. Jim Bales, G. assigned to Jersey of NEHL. Bob Froese, G, assigned to Saginaw of IHL. Brian Crombeen, D, sent to Fort Wayne of IHL. Denis Houle, RW, Steve Stockman, C, Steve Harrison, D, and Bruce Hamilton, LW, assigned to Port Huron.TORONTO&mdash;Greg Hotham, D, Kevin Kemp, D, Rocky Saganiuk, RW, Alain Belanger, RW, Mark Kirton, C, assigned to Moncton of AHL.WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.CINCINNATI&mdash;Al McLeod, D, traded to Indianapolis in exchange for Dale Dornseif, D, and John French, RW. Chuck Pappas, RW, Bob Ferriter, C, and Gerry Galloway, LW, all released outright.QUEBEC&mdash;Ken Broderick, G. released outright.WINNIPEG&mdash;Lars-Erik Sjoberg,D, placed on disabled list for three months with ruptured Achilles tendon in his heel.AMERICAN LEAGUENEW HAVEN&mdash;Ray Clearwater, D, Dale Lewis, RW, signed as free agents.SPRINGFIELD&mdash;Ray McKay, D, Tim Jacobs, D, Derek Haas, C, and Pat Russell, RW, signed as free agents. &#9632;

Hockey Players On The Move

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01958/4225415-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">LARRY ROBINSON&hellip; Looking Forward To New Season (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Ever wonder how the Montreal Canadiens can maintain that razorsharp edge which always has them primed when the starting gate is opened? Why you just know that their players, management, ice attendants, etc. must be spending sleepless nights and restless days thinking about winning a fourth consecutive Stanley Cup, eh?Here they are midway through the National Hockey League&rsquo;s exhibition season and you would figure that the players are worrying about making the team, getting more ice time, scoring 50 goals, or maybe talking about their second home exhibition game against arch-rival Philadelphia Flyers.So what are the Canadiens up to? Well, guys like Larry Robinson and Pierre Bouchard are rehashing a movie they and a few teammates stopped by to see, &ldquo;Revenge of the Pink Panther,&rdquo; and Bouchard is well into his Inspector Clouseau accent.&ldquo;Tough to get back into the hockey season, Larry?&rdquo; asks a member of the media,&ldquo;Not with five games in six nights,&rdquo; the lanky defenseman responds. &ldquo;All of the travelling, the aches and pains, but we enjoy the games more than practices. I don&rsquo;t think anybody really likes to practice. In pre-season you can get more out of the games. You can try things and experiment and make mistakes, but the games don&rsquo;t count.&rdquo;Robinson is coming off another summer that has passed by too quickly, a summer filled with requests that not only go with being a mainstay on a team which has captured three Stanley Cup championships in a row, but with being an extremely well-liked, affable and well-spoken person as well.&ldquo;You know me,&rdquo; says Robinson, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s very hard for me to say no, so I have no one to blame but myself for taking on too many committments this summer. But it was a beautiful summer, although I wish I could have spent more time with my family.&ldquo;What I&rsquo;m thinking about now is being prepared for the season, getting the exhibition games over with. You have to expect that the other teams in the league are going to be stronger, with their new draft picks and guys coming up from the minors, so we have to make sure that our team is better, too.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s important that we get a good start,&rdquo; last year&rsquo;s Conn Smythe Trophy winner adds.And what does Robinson have to do to improve as a hockey player to help Canadiens get off to a fast start?&ldquo;There are a lot of things I have to work on,&rdquo; explains Robinson, who can probably skate faster backwards than most NHL players&rsquo;can skate forward, &ldquo;last year, towards the end of the first half of the season, I was on the ice for a lot of goals against, and I feel that as a defenseman I can&rsquo;t afford to take too many chances. After all, our job is to stop the opposition from scoring.&rdquo;Robinson is among a number of veterans who are impressed by the newcomers trying to land spots in the Canadiens&rsquo; lineup, namely Mark Napier, Rod Langway and Cam Connor from the World Hockey Association and Pat Hughes, Rod Schutt and Normand Dupont from the Habs&rsquo; farm system.&ldquo;Of course, we&rsquo;ve seen Hughes before, he played a bit up here last year and Schutt and Dupont have been at the training camp before and all have played well in the exhibitions. Napier has been outstanding in all our games and we really don&rsquo;t know what Connor can do since he&rsquo;s been injured (pulled groin) so we have to wait until he&rsquo;s healthy.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you one thing, I&rsquo;m glad it&rsquo;s not me who has to decide who&rsquo;s going to stay,&rdquo; said Robinson.Robinson also put an end to the notion that it was difficult for a new player to get along with the Canadiens.&ldquo;Contrary to what many people believe,&rdquo; he sais, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s a very friendly atmosphere here for new players. We&rsquo;re like a bunch of mother hens because we always make sure that the new guys aren&rsquo;t left to go off on their own.&ldquo;The rookies are a lot cockier than when 1 came up,&rdquo; Robinson said referring to the 1972-73 season. &ldquo;I was pretty scared and we had an older team than we do now.&rdquo;At the ripe old age of 27, Larry Robinson is a leader of the Canadiens who the players look up to and not just because he&rsquo;s a six-foot-three and one-half.&ldquo;Oh maybe I&rsquo;m one of the guys who gets things organized off the ice, along with Yvan (Cournoyer) and Guy (Lapointe) and others, but I feel we have 21 leaders on this team, leaders who can rise to the occasion.&ldquo;Everyone plays their own little part and it&rsquo;s probably a good thing that we don&rsquo;t rely on one guy to be the leader on this team.&rdquo;Anyone who has seen Robinson play for the Canadiens the past three years, and who witnessed his sterling play in last spring&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs, must realize that his part in the Canadiens&rsquo; success is a sizeable portion that goes hand in hand with the stature of the man. &#9632;

f0005-01

Canadiens Must Improve On Ice To Remain Champs Says Robinson

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011138/4225446-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="325" height="461"></div>Failure To CommunicateWHAT WE HAD HERE was a failure to communicate.Scotty Bowman, coach in good standing of the Montreal Canadiens, knew that Sam Pollock, the father of future considerations, would not generally manage the team forever. It&rsquo;s just that&hellip;Well, it&rsquo;s just that Scotty Bowman thought he might have been informed more than an hour before the change took place and it&rsquo;s just that Scotty Bowman thought maybe he&rsquo;d be asked if he wanted to be part of the change, and it&rsquo;s just that.&ldquo;Upset, sure I was upset,&rdquo; said Bowman, who was upset enough to ponder resignation forthwith. &ldquo;I would at least like to have been told whether I was a candidate for the general manager&rsquo;s position, or at least that it was going to open up.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve written in Montreal that I knew Sammy was leaving. Eventually, yes. But I didn&rsquo;t know Sammy was leaving so soon and I don&rsquo;t think Sammy knew he was leaving so soon, either. Not until the change of ownership, not until two weeks before the exhibition season was supposed to open.&ldquo;You mean to tell me that was so cut and dried that I should have known about it? That&rsquo;s what bothered me. If you&rsquo;re assistant sports editor at a paper you like and the paper across the street offers you sport editor, you might take it, eh? But if you know that the sports editor at your paper, the paper you like, is leaving and you&rsquo;re in line, you&rsquo;d probably stay where you are, eh?&rdquo;Getting A LabelSCOTTY STAYED WHERE HE IS, and probably will for a long time, despite his early restlessness, despite qualms about dying on the bench, despite the annoying feeling that hockey&rsquo;s most successful coach is not earning hockey&rsquo;s best coaching dollar.A discussion with Jacques Courtois, the president, clarified many issues and answers.&ldquo;You know, one thing I always think about is how you get a label in this game, and you never lose it,&rdquo; Bowman rued. &ldquo;If you are a scout, and a good one, then people think you are a scout forever.&ldquo;Same with a coach. I mean, I&rsquo;ve coached a while, I have three Cups, I&rsquo;m near 500 wins, which not too many others have done. But I feel I&rsquo;m ready for a new challenge. I felt that way at the end of last year, I feel that way now.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mean that I&rsquo;m not up for another year of coaching. If you&rsquo;re going to coach anywhere, Montreal is the place. You not only have good players to work with, but good people otherwise.&rdquo;Which is pretty much what Courtois stressed to Bowman. In a corporate structure, to have only two men doing the two top jobs&mdash;general manager and coach of a hockey team&mdash;is dangerous. What happens if something happens to one of them?Ergo, the new Canadiens front office. Irving Grundman flanked by Bowman, Al MacNeil, Claude Ruel, Ron Caron. Maybe one man will emerge from the pack; maybe the pack will emerge from one man.Whatever, Bowman is coach, and apparently now happier about it. He might even extend his two-year contract to four, as a clause in his contract allows&mdash;within 60 days after Pollock was deemed no longer in charge of the Canadiens, Bowman could exercise an option to add two years to his security blanket.For Now He&rsquo;s HappyNOW, WEEKS AFTER appearing on the brink of leaving, Bowman seems more firmly ensconced than ever.&ldquo;What happened was maybe good for us,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;For instance we have the draft coming up just before the start of the season. We stand to lose one, two three good players unless we make a deal.&ldquo;Years before this, we&rsquo;d just say, &lsquo;well, Sam is so smart, he&rsquo;ll figure something out.&rsquo; But this year, we have to figure it out. It will be interesting. We all think pretty much alike, which is a help, eh?&rdquo;There are parts of the job which do not thrill Bowman. He figures a coach for Les Canadiens works 240 straight days, and maybe only on Christmas will he stay away from the rink. The hours are terrible, the pressures taut, the problems repetitive.&ldquo;A general manager, if he doesn&rsquo;t want to make a road trip, he doesn&rsquo;t make a road trip,&rdquo; Bowman reasoned. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had chances to go elsewhere, (New York Rangers, Vancouver, Colorado) and after a couple more years of this, I might want to go to a big college (Notre Dame?) which has good hockey and settle there. But for now I&rsquo;m here and I&rsquo;m happy.&rdquo; &#9632;

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HOCKEY TALK

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02872/4225477-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB SAUVE&hellip;PIaced On Sidelines Again (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;Bob Sauve has to be wondering just what kind of a hex has been hovering over him since he signed his first pro hockey contract with the Buffalo Sabres.Sauve was the first draft pick of the Sabres in 1975 and shortly after being chosen, he signed a lucrative contract. According to figures reported for National Hockey League players last spring, Bob was making $108,800 a year.But in his first three years in the Buffalo organization, he played in only 15 NHL games. Don Edwards, who was the Sabres&rsquo; sixth choice the same year Sauve was the first pick, got a chance to play and played so well that he became the NHL second-team All Star goaltender.Last season Sauve sat on the bench most of the season while Edwards played more minutes and won more games than any other netminder in the league.Nevertheless, when Sauve signed a new contract last June, general manager Punch Imlach said the 23-year-old from Ste. Genevieve, Que., would get an equal chance in training camp to earn the regular job. He and Edwards would divide time in the club&rsquo;s exhibition games, Imlach said.So what happens?Three days before the first exhibition game, Sauve suffered a broken little finger on his right hand. Fortunately, the broken finger is on his stick hand.But, still, Sauve was expected to miss all the exhibition games. When he does go into action, he will go in cold, as he has done just about every time in the past.&ldquo;I was looking forward to those exhibition games, believe me,&rdquo; said a downhearted Sauve, after his right hand was encased in a cast. &ldquo;I was feeling great and everything was going good.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s not that Sauve hasn&rsquo;t shown promise in his three pro seasons. It&rsquo;s just that other goaltenders were ahead of him when he was a rookie, and then, when Gerry Desjardins suffered an eye injury in February, 1977, Edwards was called up from the minors and did such a great job he played nearly every game since.The ironic twist is that Sauve&rsquo;s injury never should have happened.Coach Marcel Pronovost was about to whistle a scrimmage to a close when the puck was intercepted and moved toward the other end. The coach figured he would let things go for one more shot.The man who took the shot was Rick Martin, who probably has the hardest shot in the league. Rick let go a screamer from just inside the blueline. It was headed for Sauve&rsquo;s face and Bob put up his catching glove with his stick glove just under it.Somehow the puck hit his stick hand in a spot that ordinarily would not be exposed.ICE CHIPS: Both defenseman Bob Playfair and left winger Tony McKegney, the Sabres&rsquo; first two picks in the 1978 draft, have been impressive in camp.The two played in the opening exhibition game, against the Montreal Canadiens. McKegney was on a line with Gil Perreault and Danny Gare, the Sabres&rsquo; two top scorers of last season.&ldquo;When I met Perreault,&rdquo; said young Tony, &ldquo;I kind of froze. I didn&rsquo;t know what so say. I&rsquo;d been watching these two guys play on television and here I was, on their line. It was quite an adjustment.&rdquo; It didn&rsquo;t take long, however, for the 20-year-old youngster from the Kingston Canadians to look as though he fitted in.Buster Harvey, who played in the NHL for Minnesota, Atlanta and Detroit, tried out for the Sabres as a free agent but left camp when the club moved from St. Catharines to Buffalo&rsquo;s Memorial Auditorium.Two veterans of the NHL wars, and the Sabres&rsquo; 1975 Stanley Cup finalists, were missing when the club started training camp. Fred Stanfield went directly to the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League and Jim Lorentz, whose contract was up, said he was considering retiring from hockey.With Sauve out, Mario Vien, who played for Toronto and Quebec in the World Hockey, Association, was Edwards&rsquo; backup in the first exhibition game.Rene Robert, a right wing for the six seasons he has been with Buffalo and a second-team All Star at that position in 1975, was working at center the first week of camp. &#9632;

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Hex Continues For Sauve With Injury In Camp Drill

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Like many King fans, my daughters go to games wearing team jerseys with the names and numbers of their favorite players on the back. Theirs also are autographed. Allyson, 12, now does not know what to do with her Vachon, number 30 jersey. It fit her like a tent and she never had time to grow into it.Laurie, 10, was relieved when Butch Goring signed a long-term pact recently. Her Goring, number 19 jersey still is in style and she apparently still will have time to grow into it. Allyson now may switch to a Dionne, number 16 jersey since Marcel still has a few years left on his contract, but getting a new jersey would be costly.This problem of players coming and going on and off teams has been with us as long as sports have been, but freedom recently granted the slaves has accelerated it. It is tough on the fans when one of their favorites is traded, but somehow tougher when he leaves on his own.No hockey team has been hit as hard as the Kings, who lost goaler Vachon and defensemen Gary Sargent and Dave Hutchison before the fourth of their outstanding free agents, Goring, gave in.Vachon and Goring have been the only Kings who never were booed. As aggressive young players, Sargent and Hutchison also were popular with the fans.Advance ticket sales have declined and had Goring gone, too, interest in the team might have hit an all-time low. However, Butchie admits he acted less out of loyalty than self-interest:&ldquo;All other things being equal, I wanted to stay here, but I was going to go where the most money was. Chicago and Detroit made me good offers, but Edmonton of the WHA made me the best bid and I was on my way until the Kings topped it at the last minute,&rdquo; he says.Butch has said he was making less than $100,000 a year, but, now, at 29, he is starting on a new five-year contract calling for an estimated $250,000 a year. Had he gone to the World Hockey Association, the Kings would not have been compensated. Nor may they be for Vachon.The Kings worked out a player trade for Hutchison and got players in return for Sargent, but the court-ordered injunction obtained by Dale McCourt suggests they may have to settle for a number one draft choice as compensation for Vachon, if, indeed, they get anything.They do have a number one draft choice of their own for next year and may have to use this and others to obtain a goaler who can even remotely replace Vachon. They seem to be a strengthened team, otherwise, but without good goaltending you do not win.The Kings will carry on the court fight with McCourt and appeal to the league for help but he is a young man who decided he&rsquo;d rather play and live in Detroit than Los Angeles, so reason may not prevail. At the moment the sales on McCourt Kings&rsquo; jersey number zero are non-existent.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011016/4225508-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="546" height="1009"><figcaption class="caption-body">BUTCH GORING&hellip; A Whopping Raise</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Kings Laid Out The Crown Jewels To Keep Goring From Going To WHA

LOS ANGELES&mdash;KINGS&rsquo; THINGS: Rookie coach Bob Berry still has good depth in veteran talent at center. Some hard decisions will have to be made during the exhibition season with six centers, seven left-wingers and seven right-wingers all with NHL experience, as well as nine experienced defensemen. The latest addition to the defense was Doug Halward, purchased from Boston, where he was the No. I draft pick in 1975. The six-foot-one, 185-pound lefthander from Toronto has spent a fair amount of time with the Bruins, but most of his first three professional seasons in the American League.Mike Murphy is the only veteran King left entering an option year on his contract&hellip;The Kings signed play-by-play ace Bob (Vazquez) Miller to a multi-year contract and signed Pete Weber from Buffalo to replace colorman Rich Marotta, now full-time with KNX radio&hellip;Some 15 road games will be telecast including all four from Montreal&hellip;Former L.A. Blades trainer Jack Currana veteran of the NBA and NHL, who was with the Cleveland Barons last season, returns to L.A. with the basketball Lakers this season.Kings&rsquo; aide Steve Sharon and wife Brooke have their first child, Kelly Ann, born in Huntington Beach, Sept. 15&hellip;Veteran center Vic Venasky&rsquo;s overdue wife Connie delivered their second daughter, Kristy Lynn, in Inglewood, Sept. 20&hellip;Bob and Lyn Berry hosted the writers at a Mexican-styled pool-side party at their Palos Verdes home prior to the opening of camp and drew a sellout crowd&hellip;Camp opened at the Culver City ice rink near the home Forum on Sept. 16, but switched to the Forum on Sept. 27 and was to switch to El Cajon, near San Diego, on Oct. 1, winding up Oct. 10.Of the Kings&rsquo; seven pre-season games, three were to be in the Forum: Sept. 23-Vancouver at Victoria, 24-Vancouver at Vancouver, 27-Vancouver at San Diego, 28-VANCOUVER, 30-COLORADO, Oct. 3-ST. LOUIS, 6-Colorado at Denver&hellip;The regular season opens with home games with Washington, St. Louis, and Boston Oct. 11, 14 and 18. Nine of the first 12 games and 13 of the first 18 are at home&hellip;As usual most are on Wednesday and Saturday nights, 12 and 15, respectively, but five are on Monday nights and six on Thursday nights this season. &#9632;

Kings Pick Up Halward From Bruins For Cash

<div class="byline">BY RUSS WHITE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03863/4225601-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE MARSON&hellip;Reported In Top Condition (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>WASHINGTON&mdash;Washington general manager Max McNab has indicated that there may be some sweeping changes on the Capitals&rsquo; roster before the team opens the 1978-79 season.A 5-2 loss to the New England Whalers in the Caps&rsquo; pre-season opener left a bad taste at Hersheypark Arena, where the Washington team trains. Coach Tom McVie went with his vets in the game.&ldquo;The total objective of this camp,&rdquo; McNab said, &ldquo;is to let some guys play themselves off the team, and for some youngsters to play themselves on.&rdquo;As many as six rookies could stick as the Caps undergo a roster shakeup similar to the one the Washington Redskins football team made prior to opening its season this year.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t intend to just make one change,&rdquo; McNab said, &ldquo;if we decide to go with youngsters, we&rsquo;re going to try five or six. We&rsquo;re going to go big on youthful enthusiasm.&rdquo;McNab added, &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have to cut anyone&hellip;these guys will cut themselves.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s going to take awhile for the Caps to get their No. I kid on the ice, center Ryan Walter. He is in camp but is recovering from knee surgery and wpn&rsquo;t play until November. Walter is already driving a car and is anxious to skate.Second and third draft choices Paul Mulvey and Tim Coulis are certainly in the left wing picture. Second year pro Mark Lofthouse has been making a determined effort to land one of the rightwing jobs and Denis Pomerleau, a 75-goal scorer in the Quebec League last year, is looking good at right wing.In addition, the Caps will be starting the year with Swedish imports Leif Svensson and Rolf Edberg now in the lineup. Defenseman Svensson has been solid in camp. Edberg just starting to impress.No player in camp better exemplifies the Caps&rsquo; five-year struggle to survive than left wing Mike Marson, who is one of four players to attend all five training camps.Five years ago when Marson reported to the Caps, he had three quick strikes against him. Marson was underage (19), overweight (222) and only the second plack hockey player in the NHL&rsquo;s history.As camp five began, Marson had reduced his strike zone considerably. At 23 he is no longer underage and at 194-pounds, he was no longer overweight. He overcame the black dilemma five years ago and it hardly matters anymore.Marson came in and ran a 5:41 mile for coach McVie and began to play a good hard game in the scrimmages and demanded the Caps look him over before making a decision.Blair Stewart, cut down by injuries last year, was also a fast starter in the Caps&rsquo; camp. Stewart was skating well and if he can show enough skills, he&rsquo;s. going to stick around for the regular season.McVie was bragging one day that his team was physically fit to open the NHL season. That was two days before the Whalers came in to trip his club with 50-year-old Gordie Howe scoring one goal, 40-year-old &ldquo;Pie&rdquo; McKenzie another with an assist from 38-year-old Dave Keon.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t remember the Caps looking worse,&rdquo; McVie said after the game. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t remember ever getting beat like this when I was almost certain we would win. We did not contain the Whalers and we did not move the puck from our own end. I have films of games against the Stanley Cup champion Canadiens, that prove we can do these things.&ldquo;The opener,&rdquo; McVie said, &ldquo;was bad news but the good news was there was no game the next night. This way, these guys have to wait awhile. If they win the next night, they might not understand just how bad they are. I think they were thinking they were really set.&rdquo;&ldquo;There are a lot of holes to fill,&rdquo; said. McNab, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;ll have them filled.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Opening Exhibition Reveals Many Gaps For Caps To Plug

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011089/4225632-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK MacLEISH&hellip; Ranks Second In Flyer Scoring (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Rick MacLeish has a new address.No, MacLeish hasn&rsquo;t moved his family to a new South Jersey home. And Keith Allen general manager of the Flyers certainly hasn&rsquo;t moved MacLeish to another NHL team.MacLeish now answers his mail at No. 19 Left Wing Lane. The 28-year-old MacLeish, who with 225 goals ranks second on Flyers&rsquo; alltime list, won&rsquo;t even need a Welcome Wagon representative as his new neighbors are already known to him. Bob Clarke and Paul Holmgren are the two gentlemen MacLeish will probably be most associated with this season.Shifting MacLeish to left wing from his customary center slot was the biggest change made by new coach Bob McCammon in training camp. From opening day, MacLeish was skating on a line with Clarke at center and Holmgren on the right side.Immediate benefits from the new line were two goals by Clarke, one by MacLeish and two assists from Holmgren in the emotional 8-2 exhibition victory over the New York Rangers that marked Fred Shero&rsquo;s first appearance in Philadelphia since he resigned as Flyers&rsquo; coach.Long-range benefits are aimed at developing the line into one of the league&rsquo;s most effective striking forces.&ldquo;Clarke and MacLeish complement each other,&rdquo; McCammon said. &ldquo;Rick has a lot of talent and Holmgren can stabilize the line with his muscle.&rdquo;Some top-caliber NHL players would resist changing positions after six distinguished seasons, but MacLeish isn&rsquo;t squawking to the Players&rsquo; Association. Throughout his Flyers&rsquo; career, the former Peterborough star has always been an agreeable sort.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m starting to think like a wing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was hard at first because, at center, I could move. I didn&rsquo;t have to stay on one side.&rdquo;Patrolling his wing will be MacLeish&rsquo;s biggest worry, but having the omnipresent Clarke as a linemate will usually cover up any roaming habits MacLeish inadvertently develops.McCammon&rsquo;s reasons for moving MacLeish include the retirement of Gary Dornhoefer and the trading of Ross Lonsberry to Pittsburgh. MacLeish would have needed a new pair of wingers anyway.The presence of Ken Linseman is also a factor. The Flyers didn&rsquo;t spend an estimated $600,000 to pry Linseman loose from the WHA Birmingham Bulls just to have him kill penalties. Playing MacLeish at left wing allows McCammon to use Clarke, Linseman and Mel Bridgman as the Flyers&rsquo; top three centers while keeping one of the league&rsquo;s top scoring threats in the lineup.MacLeish isn&rsquo;t entirely new to left wing. Shero assigned to the wing on power plays and for short stretches of games when the former Flyers&rsquo; coach was trying to shake him out of a slump.Although MacLeish has never complained about lack of All Star recognition, he also may find more support for his skills as a winger. With the Flyers, MacLeish was always hidden in Clarke&rsquo;s shadow when balloting was conducted.At left wing, MacLeish will still have teammate Bill Barber to contend with, plus guys named Gillies and Shutt, but anyone who can average 34 goals over his last five full NHL seasons deserves All Star consideration.However, before anyone thinks McCammon made the move just to brighten MacLeish&rsquo;s trophy case, he says, &ldquo;We did this for the team, not for the individual.&rdquo;FLYER FACTS: Retired Gary Dornhoefer has scored an off-ice hat trick: he has joined a Trenton, N.J., auto leasing firm, is handling commentary for cable telecasts of Flyers&rsquo; games, and says he&rsquo;ll work as an analyst on Hockey Night in Canada telecasts&hellip; Flyers&rsquo; goaltenders are hair-raising adventurers: Bernie Parent has a new &ldquo;perm&rdquo; and Wayne Stephenson has a beard. &#9632;

f0009-01

MacLeishPatrolling Wing After Career As Center

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011116/4225663-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div>Write to:FAN FORUM, The Hockey News, 1434 St. Catherine St., W., Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7Hockey MaturityNot Determined By AgeI&rsquo;m sorry, but I can&rsquo;t agree with Mr. Ken Toenjes and I don&rsquo;t think he is looking at the situation logically. He states that the signing of underage players is ruining hockey. Well I&rsquo;m afraid I&rsquo;m of the opinion that the rule of not allowing &ldquo;underage&rdquo; players is bad for hockey.The rule is designed to stop pro teams from signing junior-aged players before they are ready to play pro hockey. This is fine, the average junior-aged player isn&rsquo;t ready to play pro hockey. But one thing must be rememberd, Wayne Gretsky, Ken Linseman and Mark Napier are not average juniors. They are players that have matured faster than other minor players. They have the ability to play pro hockey and I feel there shouldn&rsquo;t be a law stopping them from doing so.Pro hockey teams are not going to sign players that aren&rsquo;t mature enough to play pro hockey. They have a team to ice&mdash;a product to sell. They only want mature players and I think there has not been one &ldquo;underage&rdquo; player signed that hasn&rsquo;t fit that bill.Now if what I have stated above is true, here is what it can do for hockey. First, the extra competition of more pro hockey players can do nothing but bring up the standard of hockey. Second, it would give the &ldquo;average&rdquo; junior age player more ice time with the absence of the stars and give them more of a chance to mature and become better hockey players than if they sat around letting the players who need it the least get the most ice-time. But the most important thing is, it would put more pressure on the minor leagues to keep up the standard of hockey, and the harder they work&mdash;the higher hockey standards will rise.Not all juniors are ready to play pro hockey when they are &ldquo;underaged,&rdquo; but there are a few that are, and I think the real crime in hockey is taking away their privilege of doing so. I believe hockey maturity can not be determined by age.ALLAN SILK, Edmonton, Alta.Loyal SupportersMiss Hockey In HoustonAs the start of the season approaches, I feel very sentimental. I have a personal opinion, but I speak for a large majority of dedicated hockey fans in Houston, who for the first time in six years, will not have hockey this winter.Ken Schnitzer folded the Aeros in July after months of negotiating and a big season ticket campaign. The Summit will now be dark&mdash;not lit up with the sounds and sights of the most exciting sport around and some of the best talent in the game today. Whatever the reason&mdash;politics, an owners&rsquo; &ldquo;tax writeoff&rdquo;&mdash;over 6,000 fans showed support by buying season tickets. But it wasn&rsquo;t enough. Now it&rsquo;s just memories that we have.Most of the Aeros are now in Winnipeg. We can only hope that they are appreciated there as much as they were here. We miss them and will never forget them.Perhaps someday the owners and power that be will work together for the betterment of the game and for the fans. And maybe someday the Aeros will be reborn and we can resume our support for the game.LISA GRAZIANO, Houston,TX.Hockey ShootoutAnswer To OvertimeAs an avid hockey fan, seeing a good game end in a tie leaves me feeling cold. However, I can see why the players and coaches might worry about the added danger of injuries in overtime.Though overtime would be exciting, I think a better idea would be to have a shootout, like in soccer. Each team would rotate five penalty shots with five different players taking the shots. That would equalize things for the teams that don&rsquo;t have the Lafleurs, Perreaults and Sittiers.There are many &ldquo;average&rdquo; players on average teams who can be devastating in a one on one situation.If each team scores the same number of goals, the shootout could continue until one team doesn&rsquo;t score. What could be more exciting for the fans than to see their favorite shooters and goalies shine. I think this could be a determining factor in getting and keeping a national TV contract.JEFFREY VAUGHN, Seattle, WA.Another SuggestionFor NHL RealignmentThis is a letter to the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Board of Governors with my suggestion for realignment. It includes 17 NHL teams and four from the World Hockey Association.National Conference, Canadian Division: Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Quebec. East Division: Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Atlanta, Pittsburgh.American Conference, Atlantic Division: Rangers, Islanders, New England, Philadelphia, Washington. West Division: Chicago, St. Louis, Minnesota, Colorado, Los Angeles.Playoffs would have Canadian Division champions against East Division champions for National Conference championship. Atlantic Division champs would face West Division champions for American Conference title. Respective conference champs would meet in Stanley Cup finals.Note the natural geographical rivalries in the divisional and conference set-ups.MIKE CHENIER, Edmonton, Alta.Sports ComplexOverdue For CalgaryWe being faithful sports fans living presently in the city of Calgary, would like to see something done about building a new sports complex that would include a regulation sized hockey arena, for seeking entry into the National Hockey League, as well as a 50,000 seat football stadium. We feel we can support both of these two sports better with these larger facilities, so the budget can work itself out.Playing out of the old Calgary Corral never really helped the WHA Calgary Cowboys very much anyhow, but we now know that if Joe Crozier had a big building to work with the ticket prices would have decreased and the fans would have turned out in larger numbers.Calgarians DO know what hockey is about, and they know good hockey when they see it. We are a sports minded city, and we would like to be able to prove it.DON FENNELL, KEVIN HENDERSON, Calgary, Alta.Give ParentCredit He DeservesI would like to comment on how well Bernie Parent played in the 1977-78 season.After two years of misfortune, this 33-year-old goaltending wonder came on like a storm last year. He was second only to Ken Dryden in goals against average with 2.22. Parent also had the least number of losses, six, among starting goaltenders. This old pro also led the league in shutouts with seven.Yet Parent wasn&rsquo;t an All Star. Why not? In fact he was fifth in All Star voting. Again, I&rsquo;m stumped. Come on hockey fans, let&rsquo;s give one of the greatest goaltenders in history, the credit he really deserves.DAVE RAMSEY, Warren, MI.Japanese FanCrazy About HockeyI&rsquo;m a crazy hockey fan in Japan and have been a subscriber to THE HOCKEY NEWS since September.In my country, hockey is not so popular but I love it very much. I went to Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg just to see hockey last March, and watched two Leafs&rsquo; games on TV, four Habs&rsquo; games (three at Forum, one on TV) and a Jets&rsquo; game at Winnipeg Arena. Those cities, especially Montreal and Toronto, are paradises for me. We can see games almost every day, people talk about hockey, many hockey souvenirs can be bought.Now, I miss NHL games because we cannot see them so often, just once or twice a year on TV. Most of them are the Stanley Cup Finals but they cannot be seen until next January. So, only a few people know of Lafleur, Sittier, McNab, Potvin, etc. Many people regard USSR or Czech team as the strongest of the world.As I wrote, hockey is not so popular here but getting popular the past two or three years. Many amateur teams are formed, and many little boys are beginning to play hockey. I hope the day will come soon when NHL games can be seen once a week in Japan.MASATOSHI KONDO, Tokyo, Japan. &#9632;

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FAN FORUM

Don&rsquo;t Give CanadiensCup Without FightIt is disheartening. Here it is 1978 and we still believe in gods. I speak of the Montreal Canadiens, the team composed (as both players and experts say) of skaters that are not only the best but celestial. Yes, it would appear everyone agrees: the Canadiens are invincible.Why am I saddened? Because I have thought that hockey is a sport of heart, even more so than most sports. Heart: that intangible drive inside individuals to overcome the insurmountable.Admittedly, the Canadiens are on paper the best club; over the past years they have proved their ability. However, now they must prove themselves once again. Although some probably disagree, in September every club is lied.To repeat, virtually each of its players must drive himself even harder and play even belter this year. Champions have always said it is harder to repeat. To rest on one&rsquo;s laurels in sports means elimination.But maybe I am wrong. Maybe hockey (and sports in general) are too rich today rendering heart an anachronistic virtue. Maybe the most talented win and that is that. Everyone takes their paychecks home and placidly watches the winners on television. Maybe no one plays about their believed potential; maybe no one challenges; maybe giving up is no longer a sin.As a fan, I like to think I have heart. I root for and believe in the N.Y. Islan-ers. Last year&rsquo;s playoff loss was painful, but I am very optimistic about the upcoming season. I can live with the sportswriters proclaiming the Canadiens this year&rsquo;s champs even before the first check is tossed; they must seem wise and learned. However, when the players begin to acquiesce in the Canadiens&rsquo; presence, then I&rsquo;ll watch golf.ROBERT AXFORD, Hillsdale, NJ. &#9632;

LETTER OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY JOHN ARNOLD</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02895/4225718-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg"></div>ACROSS1. Nickname of an NHL team4. One of the Canucks, (init)5. One of the North Stars7. Pictured player10. 6 down is one14. One of the Flyers, (init)15. U.S. state16. Former Black Hawk forward, (nit)18. Short for 1st name of Red Kelly19. A Flyer forward21. First name of 11 down23. Gordie is a teammate of his24. Initials of Nesterenko25. Pictured player is 28. (P)27. Avenue, (abbr)28. One of the RockiesDOWN1. An NHL trophy2. Number worn by Turnbull3. 6 down answers to this6. One of the Rangers8. Former Western Hockey League forward9. Ex-NHL forward Davis. (init)10. Former New York defenseman11. One of the Rockies12. Number worn by former Bruin Bucyk.13. Verb.17. Ex-NHL goaltender20. Comanding officer. (abbr.)22. One of the Leafs answers to this26. Precious jewel27.1st and 9th letters of the alphabet.Crossword SolutionACROSS1. STARS4. M.W.5. YOUNG7. HOULE10. RANGER14. D.S.15. OHIO16. E.B.18. LEN19. LEACH21. FRED23. SON24. E.N.25. AGES27. AVE28. PAIEMENTDOWN1. SMYTHE2. TWO3. RON6.GRESCHNER8. OREE9. L.D.10. ROLFE11. AHERN12. NINE13. GO17. BASSEN20.C.O.22. DAVE26. GEM27. A.I. &#9632;

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HOCKEY CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;With the retirement of Cesare Maniago, Vancouver Canucks knew they would be needing at least one other National Hockey League calibre goaltender for the upcoming season. They did not expect to be so fortunate to land Gary Bromley from the Winnipeg Jets.Bromley, the diminutive 158-pound former Buffalo Sabres goaltender, is pleased to be back in the NHL again, and he feels he has a little something to prove to Sabres general manager Punch Imlach.Imlach, you see, was in power when Bromley feels he proved he could play as a regular in the league with the Sabres. He played in 50 of the Sabres first 62 games and had 26 wins and 11 ties, a record not too shabby with a goals against average just over 3.00.&ldquo;I felt I proved through that stretch that I could play in this league and play a lot of games,&rdquo; says Bromley. &ldquo;That year 1975-76 they went with Gerry (Desjardins) in the playoffs and the next year I hung around Buffalo all year. It seemed Imlach wanted to keep me, but he didn&rsquo;t want to play me. I played only eight games all that season and only one in Buffalo. It was then that Joe Crozier approached me about going to Calgary.&rdquo;Go to Calgary is precisely what Bromley did and when that franchise folded, he ended up with a very strong Winnipeg Jets club, where he helped win the Avco Cup.The ironic part of Bromley&rsquo;s performance in the playoffs with Winnipeg was that he saved his best for the New England Whalers, who were coached by Harry Neale, now the very impressive coach of the Canucks.&ldquo;If he can do for us what he did against us in New England last season, then he&rsquo;ll help,&rdquo; says Neale. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know Gary that well, but I&rsquo;ve certainly learned respect for his ability.&rdquo;Bromley, despite his size, feels he can play any number of games necessary in a given season, but says he also has an ideal body and temperment for playing a few games as well.&ldquo;I never gain much weight whether I play or not,&rdquo; said Bromley. &ldquo;I would like to play a lot of games. Every goalie does. You need the work to stay sharp. But it doesn&rsquo;t really bother me to not play for a week.&rdquo;Neale&rsquo;s goaltending situation is very much up in the air at the very competitive training camp. Fighting for the number one job with Bromley are second year pro Glen Hanlon, the Central Hockey League&rsquo;s rookie of the year in Tulsa last season and veteran Curt Ridley, who shared the duties with Maniago last season.Neale says he has definitely decided to go with only two goalies this season, leaving one man the odd fellow out.The third goalie will be the top goalie in Tulsa, the Canucks new Central League farm team location.It is expected that Hanlon, despite his tender age of 21 for a goaltender, will get the top job. He finished the last four games with Canucks in spectacular fashion and the only question as far as Hanlon is concerned is whether he is able to step in and perform in such a way over a longer period of time.&ldquo;I guess a lot of people are wondering that,&rdquo; says Hanlon. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not worried about it. I&rsquo;m not thinking of being No. I or No. 2 or any number at all. I&rsquo;m just here to play. I don&rsquo;t really care how many goalies are in camp to compete against. I play the same way whether I was the only goalie here or whether there was 15 in camp.&rdquo;Meanwhile, rookies Brad Smith, a fourth round draft pick from Windsor and Stan Smyl, the third round pick from Memorial Cup champion New Westminster Bruins have impressed with their aggressiveness in training camp, and they are making a battle or the right wing position, one of the spots where the veterans were expected to have an easy time.There are splendid battles at each position in the Vancouver training camp, not the least of which is at defense, where they have 12 players vying for six positions. There are five centers capable of playing in the league and five, left wingers with NHL experience, so Canucks figure to be much improved this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011068/4225749-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="550" height="687"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY BROMLEY&hellip;Returns To NHL</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Bromley Enhances Canucks’ Depth

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011090/4225780-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="253" height="426"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Fleischman&rsquo;s</figcaption></div>Shero The SmogIN PHILADELPHIA FRED SHERO was known as the &ldquo;fog.&rdquo; In honor of New York&rsquo;s rarified air, Manhattan hockey fans should call him the &ldquo;Smog.&rdquo;For the first two days at the Rangers&rsquo; Hawthorne, N.Y., training camp, situated amid the splendor (and expensive homes) of Westchester County, the &ldquo;smog&rdquo; kept players and media guessing. During scrimmages he would watch awhile, then disappear from view. If Shero had been with the Rangers for several years, such behavior&mdash;even for him&mdash;wouldn&rsquo;t have been unusual. But the Rangers&rsquo; new GM-coach admitted he didn&rsquo;t recognize many players early in camp.Finally, on the third day of camp, Shero descended from the high, corner observation deck where he and scouts surveyed his new team. Addressing the Rangers for the first time, Shero said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to please everyone, but I&rsquo;ve already heard complaints. Our older guys think there should be more push-ups and running, isn&rsquo;t that right, Esposito?&rdquo;Caught completely by surprise, Esposito stammered &ldquo;No, not me, I never said that&rdquo; as his teammates doubled up laughing.Shero&rsquo;s tension breaker, aimed at seeing how the Rangers would react, set the tone for a lively practice.which Shero and his top aide, Mike Nykoluk, seemed to enjoy as much as the players.Later, after the Rangers had filed into their dressing room, Esposito, Ron Duguay and other players reappeared to watch a match race between Espo and the highly regarded Duguay. When the starter shouted &ldquo;Go!&rdquo; Duguay broke from the gate as if he were challenging Affirmed while. Esposito cruised around the ice as if he were auditioning for Ice Capades. As the two neared the finish line, Duguay appeared even more puzzled than when he began while Esposito and the other Rangers were laughing hard enough to crack a rib.Rangers&rsquo; New Spirit&ldquo;AH, I BET DUGIE $100 that I would rice him,&rdquo; Esposito said later. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t say anything about winning. Did you see him take off like a shot? Did you see the expression on his face when he looked back and saw me taking it easy?&rdquo;Yes, those who watched the entire episode saw all those things. Observers also figured that extra practice attraction was another example of the Rangers&rsquo; new spirit.&ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;ve always been a practical joker,&rdquo; said Esposito. &ldquo;Before camp I told my wife I was gonna be like I was in Boston&mdash;crazy!&rdquo;If Esposito can be crazy and also score like he did in Boston, Shero will be delighted. Although Esposito&rsquo;s playing style never previously drew much admiration from Shero, the Rangers&rsquo; new boss seems willing to give the incumbent team captain and everyone else a fresh start, just as Shero is starting fresh after a successful seven-year reign in Philadelphia.Sadly, for all those who like and respect Shero, his departure from the Flyers&rsquo; organization was handled with all the finesse of an elephane trying to skate a figure-eight. As the Rangers-Flyers exhibition opener approached, resentment toward Shero surfaced again.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he (Shero) was fair with us,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; captain Bob Clarke. &ldquo;He was negotiating during the playoffs and he must have been talking to the Rangers during the season.&ldquo;If he had just told us he&rsquo;d gotten an offer to be a coach-GM, and that&rsquo;s what he wanted to do, it would have been another thing. Fine, let him go. We always believed everything he told us, how much he cares for his players. And after what he did, you have to wonder if all of that wasn&rsquo;t bull.&rdquo;What Do They Want?THROUGHOUT THE EARLY DAYS of training camp, Shero attempted to avoid commenting on criticism aimed at him. Finally, referring to Clarke, a player he admired as much as any in sports, Shero said, &ldquo;What more does he want? I told them (Flyers&rsquo; players) I didn&rsquo;t want to coach any more. I wanted to be a general manager. Shouldn&rsquo;t a man have the right to accept a better offer? How much did they (Flyers) really want me? Did they offer me one penny more to keep me?&rdquo;If the Flyers seriously tried to talk Shero out of &ldquo;resigning,&rdquo; with one year remaining on his contract, it isn&rsquo;t known. Although no Flyers&rsquo; official will confirm it publicly, Shero did them a favor by leaving. Skepticism over his effectiveness after seven years had settled over the club like an early morning seaside mist. Flyers&rsquo; management feels obtaining a first-round draft choice in center Ken Linseman for Shero was a bonus that will pay dividends for years.Meanwhile, Shero is faced with building the Rangers into a contender in the classy Patrick Division. The feeling here is Shero will earn every penny of the $200,000 per year Sonny Werblin is paying him. The Rangers will improve, but may still be a last-place division team for a couple years. &#9632;

f0012-01

HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011070/4225877-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by John Raudsepp)</figcaption></div>Meeting Of The &lsquo;LeadersCanadians&rsquo; Ken Dryden, left, who is the top goaler in the NHL, and premier Rene Levesque, who is the No. 1 man in the Quebec Government, met recently during a meeting of the Canadian Club of Montreal, where Levesque was guest speaker. Was Levesque offering the Vezina Trophy winner some political tips? Dryden, who holds a law degree, says he doesn&rsquo;t intend to stick with hockey too much longer.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02881/4225870-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="1162" height="1147"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>The New LookThe lady usherettes around Toronto&rsquo;s Maple Leaf Gardens will wear something new this season. Here&rsquo;s superintendent Carol modelling the new maple leaf decked uniforms the girls will be attired in at all home games of the NHL club.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03651/4225863-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="1183" height="1161"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04455/4225856-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="1168" height="898"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-05321/4225849-1-eng-US/f0014-052.jpg" title="f0014-05" width="798" height="1611"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-06260/4225842-1-eng-US/f0014-062.jpg" title="f0014-06" width="940" height="1602"></div>Hockey Stars Strike It RichWhen Mike Barnett, operator of The Sports Page restaurant-lounge in Calgary decided to solicit the help of Molson&rsquo;s Brewery to stage his third annual celebrity softball classic this past summer, he never expected he would get the reaction he did. The event, which featured members of the Montreal Canadiens against The Sports Page All Stars (made of NHL and WHA pros), attracted a record 14,000 people, who contributed $10,000 to the Alberta Children&rsquo;s Hospital. Here are some of the celebrities who took part. From the left top, Phil Esposito, Larry Robinson and Danny Gare. At the windup, left, a giant-sized check for the amount was turned over to Barnett, right. At presentation were from the left, sport-scaster Dick Irvin, Rod Proudfoot of Molson&rsquo;s, Robinson, Esposito and Barnett. Incidentally Canadiens won 8-7. &#9632;

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HOCKEY PEOPLE

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011027/4225908-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">STAN MIKITA&hellip;Another 11th Hour Settlement</figcaption></div>CHICAGO&mdash;There was a long, still unexplained delay which left a tart taste in everybody&rsquo;s mouths, but now it is over.Stan Mikita, puckish and venerable center for the Chicago Black Hawks, has signed a new contract with the team he has graced since 1958, when he appeared on the scene with a lot of chutzpah.And a lot of talent. In two decades, he has scored 520 goals through thick and thin, won awards, become an institution of sorts in Chicago.All of which made it rather puzzling that he and the Black Hawks couldn&rsquo;t get together until one day AFTER training camp started. Even though Mikita has a history of 11th hour contract settlements.&ldquo;It was just a couple of complications that had to be ironed out,&rdquo; said Mikita. &ldquo;And I wouldn&rsquo;t even call what happened a holdout. Call it a nonholdout.&rdquo;After the non-holdout ended, Mikita autographed what is believed to be a contract for one year at approximately last year&rsquo;s salary ($200,000). The contract also stipulates that the Black Hawks have the option to erase next year, the option year, by paying Mikita a sum of money.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a one way option,&rdquo; chirped Mikita. &ldquo;One way for the Black Hawks. But that doesn&rsquo;t bother me. Let&rsquo;s see how this season goes. If I play well and want to play next season, then we&rsquo;ll sit down and talk at the end of the year.&rdquo;Mikita admits that one of the &ldquo;complications&rdquo; was that he was waiting for a telephone call from team president Bill Wirtz concerning issues other than the contract proper&mdash;i.e., Hawk plans for him after he&rsquo;s finished playing, etc.The telephone call hasn&rsquo;t come yet, but Mikita apparently was salved by conversations with general manager Bob Pulford. Surely the Black Hawks, who sometimes seem to have a monopoly on public relations misplays, would have alienated many of their subcapacity following by allowing Mikita to sit for more than a day.Pulford, too, realized that he had secured the services of not only a popular player, but a good one.&ldquo;Stan is like wine&hellip;the older he gets, the better he gets,&rdquo; said Pulford, not normally given to such homilies. &ldquo;There were times last season when he was our best player.&rdquo;Mikita more than once has discussed Che idea of voluntary retirement. He has a great family life, a close family life, and every road trip means a little more time away from the kids, and wife Jill.&ldquo;You get injuries and slumps and you lose confidence and you start thinking maybe it&rsquo;s time,&rdquo; said Mikita. &ldquo;But then you go the other way, too. I was seriously thinking of retiring two years ago after that terrible year we had. But I didn&rsquo;t want to end it on that note.&ldquo;I remember asking Glen Skov once how long it took him to get used to being retired. He said two years. I figured if it was going to take me that long, then I&rsquo;d better keep playing until I&rsquo;m sure I want to retire.&rdquo;HAWK TALK: The Black Hawks have dismissed popular Lou Angotti as color commentator on their broadcasts.Bud Kelly, a disk jockey, will analyze plays with new voice Andy Mac-Williams on WCFL Radio, the team&rsquo;s station for all home and road games&hellip;MacWilliams, former voice of the Cincinnati Stingers, will do simulcasts for the Hawks&rsquo; 20 television games on WSNS-TV, Channel 44&hellip;Hawks have signed their No. 4 draft choice, Brian Young, a hefty defenseman from New Westminster. He was one of the early standouts in training camp&hellip;Chicago Stadium was only half full for the exhibition opener, but the Hawks beat the Montreal-Nova Scotia Canadiens 7-5. &#9632;

f0015-01

Mikita Overcomes ‘Complications’ Signing One-Year Hawks’ Contract

Special To The Hockey NewsMONTREAL&mdash;The National Hockey League isn&rsquo;t taking any chances of having a player like Anders Hedberg or Ulf Nilsson or even Mark Napier win the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.All three WHA players are coming into the NHL for the first time, which qualifies them as rookies. But the league has stepped in and ruled the WHA is a professional league and its players are not eligible for the Calder award, which normally is given to the best hockey player coming out of junior, college ranks or the minor leagues.Hedberg and Nilsson had four years with Winnipeg Jets and Napier three with Toronto and Birmingham which means they are seasoned pros as far as the NHL is concerned.Players coming out of the minors, like Pat Hughes and Rod Schutt of Montreal, and European performers like Roland Eriksson, Per-Oiov Brasar and Stefan Persson last season, were eligible for the Calder.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03585/4225977-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="540" height="761"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANDERS HEDBERG&hellip; Classed As&lsquo;Pro&rsquo;</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0016-03

NHL Rules Out Swedes For Loop Rookie Award

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01876/4225946-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="552" height="999"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLAUDE LAROSE&hellip; Always Hustled</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02733/4225939-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="538" height="2106"></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;The St. Louis Blues are leading the league in retirements this season.Claude Larose is the latest to announce he is retiring as a player. He follows Jim Roberts, Red Berenson and Bob Plager, three players who were with the Blues in their first season of existence 11 years ago.Like Berenson and Plager, Larose has a new job with the Blues. He will work out of his home in Ottawa as a scout for the team. Berenson is the Blues&rsquo; assistant coach, and Plager will work out of St. Louis as a scout on special assignments.Larose is the junior of the foursome in service to the Blues. He arrived in St. Louis in December 1974 in his 11th full season in the National Hockey League. He started in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens, spent two years with the Minnesota North Stars and was reacquired by the Canadiens for several years before being shipped to the Blues.One historic footnote involving Larose was a deal between the Blues and Canadiens at the time of the first expansion draft. The Canadiens were worried about being able to keep their storehouse of talented players and wanted to make sure they kept Larose, who was vulnerable in the draft.So, the fledgling Blues agreed to draft Larose if they had the chance, then trade him back to Montreal. In return, the Canadiens agreed to protect a minor-league player chosen by the Blues and sell him to St. Louis for a nominal price.The Blues drew the last choice in the drafting by the six expansion teams and never had a chance to draft Larose, who stayed with Montreal. But because the Blues were willing to help Montreal, they still were offered a player. The minor-leaguer picked was Bill McCreary, who played four good seasons with the Blues and later was the team&rsquo;s coach.But that maneuvering was long before Larose was of service to the Blues. After being appreciated in Montreal and Minnesota, he has been a recent hero in the history of the Blues.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad that I can still be in the Blues&rsquo; organization,&rdquo; the 36-year-old Larose said. &ldquo;Maybe if I had played one more year, I wouldn&rsquo;t have had this opportunity to be a scout.&rdquo;Larose, always the tenacious, hustling right wing, was slowed last season by a back injury, although he played 69 games. He finished with eight goals and 13 assists for his lowest point total in a decade.&ldquo;With my job as a scout, at least I&rsquo;ll still be involved with hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s nice that I&rsquo;m going back home.&rdquo;Larose&rsquo;s best stretch with the Blues was the time he spent on an eye-catching line with Derek Sanderson at center and Chuck Lefley on left wing. Lefley used his breakaway speed to race up and down the ice, Larose dug in the corners and used his muscular body to slam opponents, and Sanderson won the faceoffs, stickhandled in strange but wonderful ways and whipped accurate passes on Lefley&rsquo;s stick. The three of them were marvelous together.Larose&rsquo;s career with the Blues was after he had suffered two broken legs with Montreal. The Canadiens, who had been Larose&rsquo;s boyhood heroes, apparently believed Larose did not make a full recovery from those injuries.&ldquo;I broke my leg in the final game of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1973 and from then on the Canadiens seemed to thinjc I was through,&rdquo; Larose said. &ldquo;I missed the first half of the 1973-74 season recovering from the broken leg, but then I came back and scored 19 goals in the second half df the season.&ldquo;I was really looking forward to the 1974-75 season and thought I had a good training camp, but I wasn&rsquo;t getting along with Scotty Bowman and wasn&rsquo;t getting to play at all. Sam Pollock called me in and said he was going to give me a chance to play in St. Louis.&rdquo;Larose and Emile Francis have had a good relationship in St. Louis. Larose always has professed his respect for Francis&rsquo;s judgment. Francis always has reveled in Larose&rsquo;s successes and said after a two-goal game by Larose, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s fitting that the guy who personifies hustle scores the goals.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-01

Blues ‘Lead’ NHL In Retirements

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01767/4226008-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="548" height="777"><figcaption class="caption-body">JERRY ENGELE&hellip;Awarded To Habs</figcaption></div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;There was not a look of consternation on Harry Howells&rsquo;s face when he greeted 63 hockey players for the opening of the Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; training camp.On the contrary, there was a constant smile on the coach&rsquo;s face as he went about setting up the schedule which would permit him to adequately judge so many players.Minnesota&rsquo;s marketing theme summarized it best in inviting the public to the intense camp competition: Watch 50 players try to fit into 19 uniforms.That was Howell&rsquo;s September problem, picking the correct 19 to open the season in the Adams Division. But he was willing.&ldquo;Having these numbers is a definite advantage to a coach and team,&rdquo; said Howell, who was the general manager of the Cleveland Barons before they merged into the North Stars and then became coach with Lou Nanne as GM.&ldquo;This training camp is similar to many of my 20 years as a player, when there were only six teams and 60 to 80 players came to camp,&rdquo;-Howell continued. &ldquo;Back then, there seemed to be 14 or 15 players who were always good bets to make the team, but there was always a place for four or five new men and 50 players working their hardest for them.&rdquo;First day of training camp, some 500 fans showed up to watch the Stars immediately begin scrimmaging. Competition was so intense, another 1,300 turned out the next day.The North Stars, courtesy of the merger, were enjoying their most interesting and competitive camp in their 11-year history.&ldquo;From the very first skate, I could tell most of our players reported in excellent condition,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s, obvious preparation was made in summer conditioning. I&rsquo;m impressed.&rdquo;Howell was even more impressed after the exhibition opener. Leaving such proven NHL regulars as goalie Gilles Meloche, crafty winger Per-Olov Brasar, winger J.P. Parise, center Walt McKechnie and defenseman Gary Sargent at home, the Stars pinned a 7-4 loss on the Atlanta Flames.Another interesting aspect of the training period was the appearance of a figure skating instructor who stressed the finepoints of power striding.If that wasn&rsquo;t enough, the Stars rennovated part of their dressing room in the off-season into a gym, complete with sophisticated weight machines and punching bags.But all was not good news. Goalie Pete LoPresti, vying with Gary Edwards for the backup job behind Meloche, reported to camp with second degree burns on his stick hand from a barbecue accident. LePresti figures it would be two weeks before he could use a stick, but doctors said he might be out as long as a month.&ldquo;Fortunately, this is my stick hand&mdash;I would really be in trouble if it was my glove hand,&rdquo; said LoPresti, who took part in most every area of practice, except for using his stick.Missing from the opening of t Fie camp were left winger Rick Jodzio, due in later after recovering from a shoulder injury, and right winger Gary Sabourin, whose absence was described due to medical reasons.STAR DUST: Nanne is batting 1.000 on his arbitration cases in the free agent signings of Sargent (from LA) and Mike Polich from the Montreal system&hellip;The Canadiens had asked for a third round draft choice, instead were awarded the contract of Jerry Engele&hellip;Engele, who had one goal and 105 penalty minutes in 52 games with the Stars last season, remained in camp and practiced until the Canadiens picked up his contract and assigned hem to Nova Scotia of the AHL. Assisting Howell in on-ice duty were Ted Hampson, coach of Minnesota&rsquo;s Central League entry at Oklahoma City, and Murray Oliver, assistant coach of the NHL club&hellip;Defenseman Tom Reid, who announced his retirement because of a severe skin rash, appears to be the likely choice to handle commentary on the play&hellip;Eleven players were invited to training camp from a week-long rookie camp, including Sargent&rsquo;s brother, right winger Earl Sargent. &#9632;

f0017-01

North Stars Playing Numbers Game At Camp

<div class="byline">BY AL SMITH</div>ATLANTA&mdash;The Atlanta Flames hadn&rsquo;t even opened their exhibition schedule when they received their first bad news of the 1978-79 season.National hockey League veteran, Jean Pronovost acquired by the Flames for defenseman Dick Redmond, would be lost for at least five weeks. While a split squad was getting ready for an exhibition game in Ottawa against the Minnesota North Stars, Pronovost stayed behind and took place in his first practice of the season at the Flames&rsquo; training facility at Iceland.Standing in the slot, waiting for a shot, Pronovost felt someone brush his leg. And then something popped in his knee.Pronovost had no idea at the time of the severity of the accident, but after a trip to the training room got the bad news from trainer Norm Mackie. There was ligament damage and Pronovost would miss the entire exhibition season and possibly some of the regular season.&rsquo; It was the first such injury for the high-scoring right wing in his 10-year NHL career.So, the added scoring punch the Flames were counting on will have to wait.But, as there is in many cases, there is some good news to go with the bad. Three games into the exhibition schedule, a Flames&rsquo; gamble seemed to be paying off.Center Red Laurence, drafted by the Flames in 1977, was showing signs of 100 percent recovery from a broken leg. Laurence was drafted by the Flames in the second round althouth the talented center had missed much of the 1976-77 season with the Kitchener Rangers.The five-foot-nine, 170-pounder was one of the bright spots in the Flames early going with two goals and an assist in three games.&ldquo;Obviously, he&rsquo;s recovered from his broken leg,&rdquo; general manager Cliff Fletcher said, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing very well and is making a determined effort to make the team.&rdquo;Laurence played part of the 1977-78 season in Tulsa in the Central Hockey League under coach Johnny Choyce. And all along Choyce has said, &ldquo;If his knee heals, he is going to be an NHLer. He&rsquo;s a good prospect if the knee comes back 100 percent.&rdquo;While in Tulsa, Laurence played with a pin in the knee and had fair success. He reinjured the knee in the minors, but had the pin removed this spring and seems to be back in the form that had him scoring 43 goals, 45 assists in just 35 games his final junior year in Kitchener.The resurgence of Laurence added to the pleasant problem Fletcher has this fall. For the first time in the seven-year history of the club, there is going to be some difficulty cutting players at the end of training camp.In the past, the team&rsquo;s NHL roster was pretty well set going into training camp. But this season it is going to be a more difficult task for Fletcher and coach Fred Creighton as they pick from some talented personnel<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02647/4226039-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="554" height="727"><figcaption class="caption-body">RED LAURENCE&hellip; Fully Recovered</figcaption></div>The injury to Pronovost will open a spot on right wing for awhile, but there will be some switching of positions due to the large number of right wings.Bob MacMillan, Willi Plett, Ken Houston, John Gould, Bobby Lalonde are listed on the right side, and even in the early days of training camp, Houston and Gould were working on the left side.They joined Eric Vail, Harold Phillipoff and Bobby Simpson on the left side. At center, the Flames have Bill Clement, Tom Lysiak and Guy Chouinard to go with Laurence and Gene Carr, a free agent picked up during the off season.If the Flames keep six defensemen, it means that Carr, Laurence, Lalonde and Simpson will be fighting for the one open spot on the roster.Defensively the Flames are still working with eight defensemen vying for five or six spots.And when Pronovost returns there will have to be another cut made to make room for him.Cutting players is always a tough job for a general manager, but this year it could be the most difficult task Fletcher has had as the Flames&rsquo; general manager. &#9632;

f0017-02

Flames Boasting Excess Of Talent

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01785/4226070-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE SCHULTZ&hellip;Looking Forward To New Season</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;In what position the Pittsburgh Penguins finish in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Norris Division in 1978-79 will depend a lot on the play of four former Philadelphia Flyers.The Penguins obtained center Orest Kindrachuk, left wing Ross Lonsberry, and defenseman Tom Bladon during the off-season for their first round amateur draft choice in last summer&rsquo;s draft. They join left wing Dave Schulta in Pittsburgh, and all four played on the Flyers&rsquo; Stanley Cup championship teams of 1974 and 1975.Schultz, who came to the Penguins early last season from the Los Angeles Kings, senses a different attitude from the one he encountered previously in Pittsburgh.&ldquo;With some of the players we&rsquo;ve picked up, I think there will be a more positive attitude this season,&rdquo; Schultz said. &ldquo;These are guys who are used to playing with winners. I think that kind of attitude carries over to the other guys.&rdquo;Schultz talked about the differences in attitude between playing for the Flyers, and playing in Pittsburgh.&ldquo;In Philadelphia there was never any question but that you were going to go out there and win. Especially at home. By the end of last season here in Pittsburgh, it just seemed as if everyone was content to survive the game. Winning wasn&rsquo;t as important as surviving.&rdquo;The Penguins finished fourth in the NHL&rsquo;s Norris division last year, and missed the playoffs for the first time in four seasons.&ldquo;The hardest thing to overcome is a defeatist attitude,&rdquo; Schultz went on. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s probably the biggest difference between here and Philadelphia.&rdquo;Penguin coach Johnny Wilson agrees with Schultz about his ex-Flyer teammates.&ldquo;Those guys will make an obvious difference in attitude,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;They have the moves, the finesse and they constantly hustle.&rdquo;Pittsburgh also picked up center Gregg Sheppard from Atlanta and right wing George Ferguson and defenseman Randy Carlyle from Toronto during the off-season.&ldquo;I think we have a team that can go into every building and win hockey games,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;The six players we acquired are all proven National Hockey Leaguers. Their experience and direction will be of tremendous benefit to the Pittsburgh hockey club, especially our younger players.&rdquo;The Penguins were not a good road club last season. Against the stronger NHL teams, it often appeared Pittsburgh players would become intimidated in opposing rinks. With one notable exception, however, Dave Schultz.Still, Wilson would like Schultz to cut down somewhat on his penalty minutes this season.&ldquo;I think with our new personnel we can allow Davey to accumulate a couple of hundred penalty minutes this year and not tone down his aggressiveness,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;He has proven he can play his wing effectively without taking the needless penalties.&rdquo;Schultz led the NHL in penalty minutes last season for the fourth time in his six year career with 405. He also holds the league record for most penalty minutes in one season with 472 in 1975, while helping the Flyers win their second consecutive Stanley Cup.&ldquo;I feel pretty good about this team,&rdquo; said Schultz. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying harder this year in practice than I have in some time. Sure we picked up some experienced players, but we also have some young guys out there who are hungry to make this team. That means a few of the veterans aren&rsquo;t going to make it. I&rsquo;d like to be around to see how this team makes out this season.&rdquo;PENGUIN NOTES: Mike Lange will be the Penguins radio broadcaster for the third straight season on KDKA. Former Penguin broadcaster Jim? Forney will be the new play-by-play man on television, with 24 road games on the schedule. Press relations director Terry Schiffhauer will handle the color commentary. Forney replaced Bob Prince, who came under fire last season for his lack of expertise. Prince was the long time Pittsburgh Pirate broadcaster before being dismissed three years ago. &#9632;

f0018-01

Ex-Flyers Play Key Role In Pens’ Fortunes

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01750/4226101-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="544" height="877"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDThu. Sept. 21Philadelphia 8, N.Y. Rangers 2Minnesota 7, Atlanta 4Fri. Sept. 22Montreal 6, Buffalo 2Boston 2, N.Y. Rangers 2Sat. Sept. 23Atlanta 3, St. Louis 1Boston 5. Toronto 1Chicago 7, Montreal 5Minnesota 3, Colorado 2Vancouver 4, Los Angeles 3N.Y. Islanders 2, Philadelphia 1New England (WHA) 5, Washington 2Sun. Sept. 24Montreal 7, Buffalo 1Pittsburgh 5, Detroit 3N.Y. Islanders 4, Philadelphia 3Winnipeg (WHA) 2, St. Louis 2Minnesota 4, Atlanta 4Mon. Sept. 25Minnesota 5, Colorado 1Philadelphia vs Boston (cancelled)Tue. Sept. 26Islanders 7, Atlanta 3Buffalo 6. Toronto 3Montreal 4, Chicago 2Colorado 5, Winnipeg (WHA) 3Philadelphia 4. Rangers 3St. Louis 4, Pittsburgh 2Wed. Sept. 27Boston 4. Philadelphia 2Quebec (WHA) 3, Colorado 2St. Louis 2, Detroit 2Los Angeles 7, Vancouver 4Montreal 9, Toronto 3New England (WHA) 5. Islanders 2Thu. Sept. 28Birmingham (WHA) 4, Atlanta 2Buffalo 10, Boston 4Toronto 4, Chicago 3Los Angeles 11, Vancouver 2Rangers 5, Winnipeg (WHA) 2Washington 4, Pittsburgh 3Fri. Sept. 29Islanders 2, Atlanta 0Detroit 6, Minnesota 2Pittsburgh 4, St. Louis 3Philadelphia 5, Montreal 3Boston 6, Buffalo 3Rangers 2, Vancouver 2Sat. Sept. 30Atlanta 4, St. Louis 0Islanders 5, Buffalo 0Chicago 3, Toronto 2Los Angeles 6. Colorado 4Minnesota 2, Detroit 0Washington 7, Quebec (WHA) 4Sun. Oct. 1Buffalo 5. Islanders 3Chicago 6, Toronto 1Colorado 3. Detroit 2Quebec (WHA) 5. Minnesota 2Montreal 5, Philadelphia 1Vancouver 4. Rangers 2New England (WHA) 5, Washington 1 &#9632;

f0019-01

Exhibition Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03453/4226132-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GORAN HOGASTA&hellip;Passed Test Against Flyers (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;The Islanders won their first two preseason games, sweeping a weekend series with the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 and 4-3, September 23-24, but coach Al Arbour refused any credit for a psyche job.&ldquo;It is hard to excite anyone before the first pre-season game,&rdquo; claimed Al. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy we won, but the most important thing might have been Goran Hogosta playing a full game in Philadelphia and winning.&rdquo;Hogosta is the Swedish National Team goalie who led the Tre Kroner to second place in the 1977 World Tournament at Vienna&mdash;then signed with the Islanders. He played only part of one period with the Isles in 1977-78, finally going down to the minors&mdash;and suffering a hamstring pull.&ldquo;He has real quick hands,&rdquo; opined Bill Torrey, the Islanders&rsquo; general manager. &ldquo;He just needs game experience and he&rsquo;ll make it in the NHL.&rdquo;If he does it will revive trade, rumors involving the Islanders two &ldquo;number one&rdquo; goalies Billy Smith and Chico Resch.Arbour sat out Denis Potvin and Clark Gillies in the September 23 home opener&mdash;using four lines. They consisted of Bryan Trottier at center with John Tonelli on the left and Mike Bossy on the right; number one draft Steve Tambellini between portsider Bob Bourne and Bob Nystrom; Mike Kaszycki pivoting for Gary Howatt and Bill Harris and Wayne Merrick working with Alex McKendry and Lome Hanning.Bossy and Nystrom scored in the game in Nassau Coliseum as Billy Smith played one period and Chico Resch went the rest of the way.If the Islanders were trying to show Philadelphia they were the boss&mdash;in the Patrick Division&mdash;they did a good job of handling the youthful Flyers. Both games were filled with brawls as players on both sides tried to influence their coaches.The Flyers Kiddie Korps, led by defenseman Behn Wilson and forwards Ken Linseman and Danny Lucas had earlier manhandled the Rangefs 8-2, but they came up short against the Isles. Whether it means anything will be determined by future events.As well as the four lines mentioned above plus Gillies, Arbour is working with his defense. The Isles have Potvin, Stefan Persson, Gerry Hart and Dave Lewis&mdash;a neat blend of offense and defense.They are looking at Bob Lorimer, once more. Randy Johnston and Dwayne Lowdermilk, second and third round drafts behind Tambellini. There is also veteran Bert Marshall, 35 in November, and the enigmatic Pat Price.&ldquo;This training camp is important for Price,&rdquo; says Torrey.Price, an offensive blueliner lost his job to Persson in the first half of 1977-78&mdash;but rebounded to play well in the second half.Lorimer has been the hard luck guy of the organization after once appearing to have his future set with the big team. Two years ago he seriously injured his kidney while playing with the Fort Worth farm&mdash;and then had a spleen removed when he finally reached the Islanders.&ldquo;I want to stay healthy&mdash;because you have to hope you can make it, even though there aren&rsquo;t too many spots open,&rdquo; said Lorimer.Torrey has shown that he believes in fusing new talent every season as witness Bossy and Persson last year. The present plan is to go with four lines in order to give Tambellini a full shot. This means only five defensemen. If one of the kids makes it, one or two of the vets must go.The Islanders expect to move their offices from their Racquet and Rink practice rink to the Nassau Coliseum some time this year. Torrey has been renegotiating their 20-year lease with the Coliseum under which terms 2.200 seats were required to be set aside for public sale every game. It is expected that the new deal will give the Isles the right to sell all the tickets on a season basis&mdash;but sales have lagged to the point where it is expected there will be 1,200 tickets available for each game.Torrey noted, &ldquo;I expect to keep between 500 and 1,000 tickets available for each game, even if the demand for season tickets picks up. We will always keep available a certain number of tickets for each game.&rdquo;ISLAND SOUNDS: The Islanders still have every one of the teams first draft picks since they were formed in 1972-73. Billy Harris, Denis Potvin, Clark Gillies, Pat Price, Alex McKendry, Mike Bossy and Steve Tambellini represent even better selections than Buffalo&rsquo;s first picks which included Gil Perreault and Rick Martin in succeeding years when the Sabres were formed in 1970-71&hellip;Last season the Isles won three-lost four and tied three in pre-season&hellip;Johnston, Merrick. Dave Salvian and Kaszycki scored in the Spectrum. &#9632;

f0019-03

Islanders Going With Four Lines, Surprise Flyers Twice In Camp Play

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01585/4226163-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE BURROWS&hellip; Likes Neilson&rsquo;s Approach</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;Training camp for a National Hockey League season is not exactly a new deal for Dave Burrows and Garry Monahan, a pair or veterans.But the &lsquo;78 camp of the Toronto Maple Leafs was something a little special for defenseman Burrows and forward Monahan. Joining the Leafs is a sort of homecoming for the two players.For openers, they grew up in the Toronto area, which means that becoming Leafs brings them back to a town they know well. In Monahan&rsquo;s case, there&rsquo;s a little more to it than that. He was a Leaf for four seasons from 1970-75 when he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks.Burrows turned pro in the Chicago Black Hawk chain, then went to the Pittsburgh Penguins where he spent seven seasons. Burrows built a reputation as one of the finest defensive defensemen in the NHL.The Leafs secured him in an offseason trade, sending center George Ferguson and defenseman Randy Carlyle to the Penguins.The Leafs purchased Monahan from the Canucks just before the opening of training camp.&ldquo;Because I grew up in the Toronto area, becoming a Leaf really means moving home for me,&rdquo; Burrows said.&ldquo;That&mdash;plus joining a team which is one of the best in the league&mdash;made the trade a happy one for me.&ldquo;Not that I wasn&rsquo;t happy in Pittsburgh. The Penguin management, the fans and that city were extremely good to me for seven years. I owned a home there, too.&ldquo;But when the team missed the playoffs last spring, I knew a shake-up was coming in the roster and figured I could be one player on the move. Toronto was the best possible place for me to go.&rdquo;Burrows said that he&rsquo;d need some time to become accustomed to the approach of Leaf coach Roger Neilson but he enjoyed the first week of camp. Neilson divided his camp into four teams and played a tournament of games during the first week.&ldquo;I enjoyed that although it could be rough if a player wasn&rsquo;t in good condition,&rdquo; Burrows said. &ldquo;However, Neilson gave all the players a summer conditioning program and they all showed up ready to go.&ldquo;In some camps I&rsquo;ve attended, the first few days were devoted to heavy, long skating drills which made you stiff and sore. Then when the scrimmages did start, the players had problems showing what they could do.&rdquo;Neilson is elated with the addition of Burrows, who joins Borje Salming, Ian Turnbull, Trevor Johansen and another new face Dave Hutchison on a good defense.&ldquo;If we do make a move up the ladder this season, Burrows will be the big reason,&rdquo; Neilson said.Burrows figures that joining the Leafs brought him to the perfect spot for a defensive defenseman.&ldquo;The Leafs have two great rushers in Salming and Turnbull,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be great playing with players of that caliber.&rdquo;Monahan is an insurance policy for the Leafs, an asset to a young club because of his versatility. He can play all forward positions and is a good penalty-killer.&ldquo;When we traded George Ferguson, it meant that we needed another penalty-killer,&rdquo; Neilson said. &ldquo;Monahan fills that bill well and he&rsquo;s a good checker who can score a few goals.&rdquo;Monahan&rsquo;s only complaint was that the change didn&rsquo;t come a few weeks earlier. He owns a home in Toronto and has lived here in the off-season. He&rsquo;d rented his house for the winter and lined up a spot in Vancouver.The Leafs plan to try several youngsters to fill two vacant center spots. If the kids can&rsquo;t do the job, Monahan is available. &#9632;

f0020-01

Toronto Training Camp ‘Homecoming’ For Vets

TORONTO&mdash;Hockey Night In Canada have announced a 46-game schedule of National Hockey League games they will televise this season. All games well be played on Saturdays.Here is the complete schedule with area symbols (N&mdash;National network; SO&mdash;Southern Ontario; Q&mdash;Quebec; and BC&mdash;British Columbia.)OCTOBER 14Colorado at Montreal, (N) N.Y. Islanders at Toronto. (SO)OCTOBER 21Philadelphia at Toronto. (N) OCTOBER 28N.Y. Rangers at Montreal.(N). Boston at Toronto. (SO).NOVEMBER 4Atlanta at Montreal. (N).NOVEMBER 11Toronto at Montreal. (N). NOVEMBER 18 Montreal at Vancouver. (N). St. Louis at Toronto. (SO).NOVEMBER 25N.Y. Islanders at Vancouver. (N.). Chicago at Montreal. (Q).Colorado at Toronto. (SO).DECEMBER 2Buffalo at Montreal, (N) N.Y. Islanders at Toronto, (SO)DECEMBER 9N.Y. Islanders at Toronto. (N). Washington at Vancouver. (BC).DECEMBER 16Detroit at Toronto. (N).DECEMBER 23Los Angeles At Vancouver. (N). Colorado at Montreal (Q).DECEMBER 30Boston at Montreal. (N). Washington at Toronto. (SO).JANUARY 6Vancouver at Montreal. (N). Washington at Toronto. (SO)JANUARY 13Buffalo at Montreal. (N). Colorado at Toronto. (SO).JANUARY 20Philadelphia at Montreal. (N).JANUARY 27Boston at Montreal. (N).FEBRUARY 3Montreal at Toronto. (N).FEBRUARY 17N.Y. Islanders at Vancouver. (N). Los Angeles at Toronto. (SO). Washington at Montreal. (Q).FEBRUARY 24N.Y. Rangers at Toronto. (N.). Boston at Vancouver. (BC).St. Louis at Montreal. (Q).MARCH 3Philadelphia at Toronto. (N). Detroit at Montreal. (Q).MARCH 10N.Y. Rangers at Montreal. (N). Colorado at Vancouver. (BC). Los Angeles at Toronto. (SO).MARCH 17Minnesota at Toronto. (N).MARCH 24Chicago at Toronto. (N). Washington at Montreal. (Q).MARCH 31Pittsburgh at Montreal.(N) Minnesota at Toronto. (SO).APRIL 7Buffalo at Toronto. (N). Washington at Montreal. (Q). &#9632;

Hockey Night In Canada Will Televise 46 Games

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01472/4226218-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="558" height="827"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALAN EAGLESON&hellip; Keeps Soviets Happy</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;Furture stars of the National Hockey League, and the accent is on future, will travel to Moscow in December to participate in the Soviet Union&rsquo;s Izvestia Tournament, the first of a three-prong competition between the Soviets and the NHL.According to agreements worked out by the NHL&rsquo;s international committee, each National Hockey League club will provide at least one player on the roster for the Moscow Tournament who sees little action with his NHL team or is a member of an affiliate team in the Central or American Hockey Leagues. In other words, you won&rsquo;t see any Guy Lafleurs or Brad Parks versus the Soviets.NHL executives Al MacNeil (Montreal), Cliff Fletcher (Atlanta) and Harry Sinden (Boston) along with CHL president Bud Poile and AHL prexy Jack Butterfield will be responsible for the formation of the team.The Soviets, in turn, have promised to send their Wings&rsquo; team for a five or six-game exhibition tour of North America with a minimum of two games against NHL clubs. The Detroit Red Wings of the NHL and AHL clubs, Nova Scotia and Moncton, are considered likely opponents.From an NHL standpoint, the most interesting part of the agreement is the All Star series matching the NHL against the Soviet Union in New York Feb. 8, 10 and 11./The Soviet press said this is the first confrontation between the best Soviets and the best in the NHL," said Alan Eagleson, executive director of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association who, along with Sam Pollock was entrusted with finalizing television rights for the series. &ldquo;It could well be that the NHL All Stars will be more powerful than Team Canada (1976) because of the availability of (Borje) Salming, (Anders) Hedberg and (Ulf) Nilsson.&rdquo;To the Soviets, however, the major obstacle in negotiations was the Izvestia Tournament, since it is their national tournament.Said Eagleson, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m satisfied if we have young, fast skaters from several NHL rosters, we&rsquo;ll put up a reasonable showing. I don&rsquo;t expect to win, but I expect to be competitive.&rdquo;Then he added, &ldquo;We have to have a presentable team. If not, we won&rsquo;t augur well in future negotiations.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0022-01

NHL To Play In Izvestia Tourney

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02369/4226256-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="529" height="2641"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03300/4226249-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="2355" height="1080"></div> &#9632;

f0022-02

How Hockey News Selectors Picked NHL Races

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div>BOSTON&mdash;Similarities between Dwight Foster and Bob Miller are few. Each plays center and a smattering of left wing. Each is under contract to the Boston Bruins. That&rsquo;s about it.Foster is the huskier of the two, able to throw his weight around with more authority in the corners and in front of the net. Miller is probably the quickest of all the Bruins in getting on the puck.Foster came up through Canadian junior hockey, playing upwards of 100 games a year, early September through late May. Miller went the American college route, 30-odd games a season, late November to early March.Foster was a first round draft choice whose rookie year was cut disappointingly short by a knee injury. Miller was a fourth round pick who not only stuck with the Bruins in his first pro year but scored 20 goals as well.Together they are viewed by coach Don Cherry as the successors to Gregg Sheppard, the tireless centerman whose departure in the deal for defenseman Dick Redmond left a bigger hole in the Bruins&rsquo; lineup than they would like to think.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01445/4226294-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="566" height="1125"><figcaption class="caption-body">DWIGHT FOSTER&hellip; Almost A Rookie</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t expect them to be as good as Sheppard right off the bat,&rdquo; said Cherry, &ldquo;but eventually they&rsquo;ll do the job.&rdquo;The job that Sheppard did was take a regular shift, man the power play, kill penalties, take most of the critical face offs in the defensive zone, and score an average of 25 goals a year for six seasons.&ldquo;Right now,&rdquo; said Cherry, &ldquo;Miller has looked terrific in camp. He&rsquo;s really come along. He put on about 10 pounds of muscle over the summer. And he&rsquo;s got something extra on his shot this year.&ldquo;For a guy who&rsquo;s been out of hockey for a year I think Foster has been playing pretty good. He only played 14 games for us last season so he&rsquo;s really still a rookie.&rdquo;Foster was injured last Nov. 3 in the 10th game of the season when he suffered damaged cartilege in his left knee going into the boards with Buffalo&rsquo;s Jim Schoenfeld. He had surgery Nov. 10, tried to come back in January and found that he couldn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;I went down to Rochester and played three games to see if the leg was all right and it wasn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I sat out the rest of the year. I had a second operation May 8. They took the rest of the cartilege out the second time.&rdquo;The surgeon who performed the second operation was also the doctor for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. He invited Foster to work out at the Bills&rsquo; training camp, about an hour and a half from his home in Kitchener, Ont.&ldquo;I worked pretty hard,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;six days a week, running, jogging, swimming, weights, knee machines, everything. The Bills&rsquo; trainers helped me out. I worked down there about five weeks and then, in the middle of August, I started skating again.&ldquo;The knee feels pretty good now. Two-a-day in training camp is a good test for it. Sometimes in the afternoon skate it gets a little sore but it hasn&rsquo;t been swelling. That&rsquo;s what they&rsquo;re watching, the swelling. I can live with the pain for a while.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02338/4226287-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="1803" height="1264"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dick Redmond, right, Boston&rsquo;s newest addition to their defense corps, chats with All Star Brad Park, during break in training camp action. Bruins got Redmond in three-way trade.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I still feel like a rookie. Oh, I know most of the guys in camp now and it&rsquo;s a little easier that way but still I&rsquo;m a rookie. I haven&rsquo;t really proven myself yet so this is a big camp for me.&rdquo;Miller, on the other hand, spent a relaxing summer on Cape Cod after playing nearly twice as many games last year as he did in two seasons with the University of New Hampshire.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t do any skating until a couple of weeks before camp startecd,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That was the longest season I ever had. I felt that I had enough of skating during the season. With all the travel, the games and skating every day, I lost five pounds.&ldquo;I put on around 10 pounds during the summer. I ate well and I lifted some weights. I think I&rsquo;ll work out with the weights some during the season, too. I&rsquo;m in pretty good shape right now.&rdquo;Miller, whose 20th goal came in the next to last game last season and enabled the Bruins to set an NHL record with 11 20-goal scorers, has set his sights on 30 goals and 30 assists this season.&ldquo;I think I can do it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t playing all that much on a regular shift last year.Miller is the logical choice to succeed Sheppard as one of the Bruins&rsquo; two chief penalty killers, Don Marcotte being the other. He killed some penalties last season. His biggest difficulty is faceoffsand he knows it.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot different facing off with some of the best centermen in the world,&rdquo; he said. A lot of it is strength and timing and you have to go about it in a different way against the different centers. Once I get to know them a little more I&rsquo;ll win my share of faceoffs.&rdquo;WHAT&rsquo;S BRUIN: All of the Bruins, even goalie Ron Grahame, dislike the NHL&rsquo;s experiment with the new faceoff in which the puck is placed on the dot and the two centermen go after it at the whistle.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s terrible,&rdquo; says Grahame, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s won by the guy who cheats the most. I&rsquo;m much more into the game when I can see the referee drop the puck.&rdquo;&ldquo;It stinks,&rdquo; says Jean Ratelle. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t anticipate. When the referee drops the puck you could always tie it up if you didn&rsquo;t win the face. This way someone always gets it clean.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to start a whole new technique in cheating,&rdquo; says Peter McNab. &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t cheat you&rsquo;ll never win a face off.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0023-01

Bruins Counting On Duo Of Foster, Miller

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE WARRINER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01462/4226332-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GORDIE ROBERTS&hellip;Impressive In Exhibition Opener (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>SPRINGFIELD&mdash;The New England Whalers opened training camp with all their veteran players reporting in excellent condition. Prior to the first drill however veteran Tom Webster became a question mark. Coming off back surgery there had been some question whether Webster would ever play again. Management wanted him to sign a release allowing them to reduce his pay if the back problem recurred.Although admitting the back was somewhat painful, Webbie refused to sign the release and ultimately the high-scoring right winger elected to hang up his skates. He accepted an offer to work with the Whalers&rsquo; organization in another capacity.Perhaps in anticipation of Webster&rsquo;s decision the Whalers completed a deal with Quebec which sent goalie Louie Levasseur to the Nordiques for hard working right winger Warren Miller. Director of hockey operation Jack Kelley later said, &ldquo;Miller won&rsquo;t get as many goals as webbie but his good twoway play may save us a few at the other end, too.&rdquo;Coach Bill Dineen was in the process of firming up his line combinations. Dave Keon continued to center for Mike Antonovich and John McKenzie, while ageless Gordie Howe moved to right wing to allow Andre Lacroix to center for him and son, Mark. Another line found Mike Rogers centering for George Lyle and Miller or Tim Sheehy. Dineen spotted rookie Jordy Douglas between two tough wingers in Jack Carlson and rookie Jeff Brubaker.Especially impressive during the first week of camp were George Lyle and defenseman pordie Roberts. In the first exhibition game against the NHL&rsquo;s Washington Capitals, Mark Howe and Lyle dominated the offense. Gordie Howe pleased the Hershey, Penn, crowd with a goal assisted by sons Marty and Mark.Goalie Al Smith served notice to newly acquired John Garrett that the battle for goaltending honors would be a tough one, with some great work in the initial period. Although playing without the services of Lacroix, Antonovich, Rogers, and Miller, the Whalers won the game convincingly&mdash;5-2.Other exhibition games scheduled by the Whalers, included the Islanders, Black Hawks, Rangers, and Red Wings.QUEBEC: New coach Jacques Demers is trying to implement a more disciplined style of play in Quebec City this season. Demers has reunited the Nordiques&rsquo; top scorers Marc Tardif and Real Cloutier with center Chris Bordeleau but apparently&rsquo; they too will be asked to subscribe to the new style of play. Tardif and Cloutier led the WHA in scoring last season even though forced to skate without their regular centerman for over 50 games.In the early days of training camp Demers had Serge Bernier centering for second year men Alain Cote and junior prize Danny Geoffrion. Another line had Bob Fitchner centering for Gilles Bilodeau (acquired from Birmingham) and hard-working Curt Brackenbury to form a rugged trio. Paulin Bordeleau lined up between junior Richard David and Warren Miller (before he was traded to New England).The acquisition of Louie Levasseur (in exchange for Miller) strengthened Nordiques goaltending considerably. Levasseur had the second best goals against average in the WHA last year and will combine with Richard Brodeur to guard the nets for the Quebec City entry this season.Veteran goaltender Ken Broderick was released in one of the Nordiques&rsquo; first player movements.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02368/4226325-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="556" height="781"><figcaption class="caption-body">LOU LEVASSEUR&hellip; Joins Nordiques</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0024-01

Whalers Get Miller As Insurance; Demers To Alter Nordiques’ Style

LOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street, Wallaceburg, OntarioSold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTDArnold Street, Wallaceburg, OntarioSold in U.S and Canada<h2>WHA&rsquo;S&hellip; Player of the Week</h2>Revenge is often sweetest against the team which thought they&rsquo;d do better without you and Reg Thomas got a chance to reap that revenge when Cincinnati defeated Indianapolis 53 in an exhibition game.Thomas was dealt mid-way through last season to Cincinnati as part of a trade which brought scoring star Richie Leduc to Indy, but turned the tables on his former mates with three goals in leading the Stingers to victory.He nearly kept the pace up in his next outing with a goal and, an assist, but it wasn&rsquo;t quite enough as the Stingers were edged 5-4 by the Birmingham Bulls, evening their record at 11.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03253/4226363-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="522" height="793"><figcaption class="caption-body">REG THOMAS&hellip; Cincinnati Stingers</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0024-03

WORLD HOCKEY ASSOCIATION

EDMONTON&mdash;The Edmonton Oilers came home from their European tour with the most impressive record any pro club ever established but it didn&rsquo;t show as they lost their opening exhibition test against their arch-rivals, the Winnipeg Jets.Oilers&rsquo; coach Glen Sather was optimistic that a forthcoming four-game exhibition test against National Hockey League teams would go a long towards establishing the club&rsquo;s credibility.Sather knows his Oilers can do it as he quickly points to the fact the Edmonton club was 3-1-2 in six starts against European teams. No other pro club that has ventured overseas can boast of such a record and the Oilers&rsquo; bench boss feels his team is ready to break out despite an opening 3-2 defeat by Winnipeg.The Oilers have come up with two sparkling offensive lines composed of rookie Wes George, Ron Chipperfield and Blair MacDonald, on one unit and the other with Pierre Guite, Stan Weir and Bill Goldsworthy, who is playing like his old truculent self. Sather feels the Oilers&rsquo; lines can match any other two in the WHA and hopes to prove his confidence in the weeks ahead.MacDonald was the Oilers&rsquo; best performer on their European tour and George, the kid from Saskatoon whom the Detroit Red Wings drafted 7th, was the surprise. The rookie actually won himself a berth on the Edmonton roster with his play overseas, something totally unexpected by Sather.If the Oilers had any problems facing them, it was defense.But this situation has been rectified with the improved play of Al Hamilton, Paul Shmyr and Claire Alexander. Neither Hamilton nor Alexander could get untracked in Europe until the tour was winding down. But both are in top form now and give the Oilers a pretty mobile defensive tandem that specializes in offense. Alexander has proven in the past two years that he can score in the pros with one of the hardest shots seen by a defenseman.The Oilers have added a third dimension in their goaling battle by purchasing young Larry Hendrick from the Minnesota North Stars. Hendrick has been toiling with Salt Lake of the Central League in recent years and is given a good chance of unseating Ed Walsh for the backup role behind veteran Dave Dryden. The Oilers are ectastic over Dryden&rsquo;s play in training camp. According to Sather, he has had his best camp since he became an Oiler.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02291/4226401-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="568" height="483"><figcaption class="caption-body">BLAIR MacDONALD&hellip; Oilers&rsquo; Best</figcaption></div>WINNIPEG: The Jets played four exhibition games and were paying the price in player injuries. First star defenseman Lars-Erik Sjoberg was knocked out of the lineup for at least three months when he ruptured his Achilles tendon in his heel. His loss will be a bitter blow to the Winnipeg defense. Then Terry Ruskowski, Morris Lukowich and Scott Campbell went down although all are expected to be ready for the Jets&rsquo; league opener.To replace Sjoberg as captain, the Jets named defenseman Barry Long to fill the void until Sjoberg returns to the lineup.The Jets had only one win and a tie in four pre-season warmup games. They had little luck against NHL teams. The Jets lost 5-3 to Colorado Rockies and were trounced 5-2 by the New York Rangers with Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg making their NHL debut before Winnipeg fans as Rangers after four glorious years with the Jets.In the other outings, the Jets tied St. Louis Blues 2-2 and edged Edmonton 32.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03200/4226394-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="1189" height="1459"><figcaption class="caption-body">LARS-ERIK SJOBERG&hellip; Sidelined For Three Months</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0025-02

Sather Hopes Oilers Get Back To European Form

SPRINGFIELD&mdash;National Hockey League teams are finding the New England Whalers more than they bargained for.In their first three exhibition games against NHL opposition, the Whalers came away with a 3-0 record.With Mark Howe providing the offensive punch, the Whalers skated to an opening 5-2 decision over Washington Caps then followed up with a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders and another 5-1 romp against Washington.The three wins proved to the Whalers and their followers that the club ranks on a par with many NHL teams and could prove superior to many more. The Whalers have scheduled seven exhibitions in all against NHL clubs and coach Bill Dineen figures his team will be in a good position to take the initiative when the regular WHA schedule opens after their test with the NHL.The Whalers had two more games scheduled against Detroit and one each with Chicago and the Rangers.<div class="sidebar"><h2>WHA SCOREBOARD</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01398/4226432-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="544" height="397"></div>GAMES COMPLETEDSat. Sept. 23lew England 5, Washington(NHL)2SUN. SEPT. 24Winnipeg 2, St Louis (NHL)2TUE. SEPT. 26Colorado (NHL) 5, Winnipeg 3WED. SEPT. 27New England 5, Islanders (NHL)2Cincinnati 5, Indianapolis 3Quebec 3, Colorado (N HL) 2THU. SEPT. 28New England 5, Maine (AHL) 5Birmingham 5, Atlanta (NHL) 2FRI. SEPT. 29Winnipeg 3, Edmonton 2SAT. SEPT. 30Birmingham 5, Cincinnati 4Washington (NHL) 7, Quebec 4SUN. OCT. 1Mew England 5, Washington (NHL) 1Quebec 5, Minnesota (NHL) 2 &#9632;</div>

f0025-01

Whalers Too Hot For NHL

<div class="byline">BY DICK DENNY</div>INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;After his first week as the new Indianapolis Racer coach, Pat Stapleton had this assessment of the club that finished a distant last in the World Hockey Association in 1977-78: attitude&mdash;excellent; offensive progress&mdash;good; defensive development&mdash;average.Here&rsquo;s what Stapleton had to say:&bull; &ldquo;The competitiveness in the camp has been great, and the same is true of the attitude,&rdquo; said Stapleton.&bull; &ldquo;I think our offense should be all right. I think there are some guys who came in with the idea of making this club.&bull; &ldquo;We had four players signed on the right (wing) side, but a couple of these might be in jeopardy. And it&rsquo;s the same at center. Some of the guys who came in are pushing hard at this position.&bull; &ldquo;I think the defensive part is the most vulnerable right now. It may be from not thinking totally as a unit. It&rsquo;s the little things that beat you on defense.&bull; &ldquo;Our five guys are not thinking together in our own end. When the puck goes back across the red line, we&rsquo;ve got to make a quick switch from offense to defense.&bull; &ldquo;We have moved people around a lot and we haven&rsquo;t had a lot of time to coach, per se, the way we want things to be done.&bull; &ldquo;I think we could use some experience on defense. Everybody could if they could find it, but we&rsquo;re looking, there&rsquo;s no question about that. It&rsquo;s possible we might have to give up one of our better forwards to get done what we want defensively.&rdquo;Stapleton assigned most of the detail work of running the camp in Market Square Arena to his new assistant coach and director of hockey operations, Bill Neal.The 31-year-old former coach at Western Michigan University was drawing praise from the players for his imaginative and varied practice routines.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a new kind of practice, and I like it,&rdquo; said Claude St. Sauveur. &ldquo;The drills keep you from getting the feeling you&rsquo;re doing the same thing all the time and you&rsquo;re more alert. If you work at these drills in practice, they&rsquo;re going to pay off in games.&rdquo;Neal, who is from the same hometown as Stapleton&mdash;Sarnia, Ont., called the new coach soon after the latter was appointed in July and asked fora job.Stapleton liked what he heard and hired Neal, who had a 131-84-9 record at Western Michigan.&ldquo;I think the biggest difference between the pros and colleges is the longer practice time you have on the collegiate level,&rdquo; said Neal. &ldquo;You have fewer games in college,-so there is perhaps two hours of practice almost every day of the week except Friday and Saturday, which are game days.&ldquo;I think one of the biggest gripes of the pro player is the monotony of practice, the sameness of the drills. It was true in college. You have to come up with varied drills and a competitive practice. If you do the same thing every day, the players are going to be bored, and if they&rsquo;re bored, they&rsquo;re not going to be motivated and it will hurt in games.&ldquo;In 1976 I went to Finland and last year I went to Czechoslovakia, Sweden and Finland with Ted Lindsay. They opened up their methods to us. I think the North American and European hockey philosophies are very different, but I think each can learn from the other.&ldquo;I think we should be open-minded in learning from them. I strongly believe in many of their concepts and beliefs, and that&rsquo;s not from reading about their ideas or seeing them on TV. That&rsquo;s from first-hand knowledge.&rdquo;Neal has the Racers doing many of the European drills designed to improve flexibility, agility and puck handling.&ldquo;I believe that a lot of things can be changed in hockey for the better,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t need to be revolutionary, but I think there is too much old school thinking.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one reason I respect Whitey so much. He&rsquo;s openminded. If he feels you&rsquo;ve got an idea, he&rsquo;ll try it.&ldquo;In our practices we want to make it intense and competitive, as much like game-type conditions as possible. We don&rsquo;t want to make anything difficult be easy in our workouts, because if you do, then the players get lackadaisical.&rdquo;Probably the biggest surprise in the first week of practice was rookie left wing Gerry Leroux, who led Windsor of the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League in scoring last season with 57 goals and 66 assists for 123 points.&ldquo;Everybody in the NHL passed him up,&rdquo; said Stapleton of the five-foot-seven, 160-pount Leroux, who was voted &ldquo;the hardest working player&rdquo; in the OMJHL by the coaches last season.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way they&rsquo;re drafting today. A lot of people label players by their size. I feel if you&rsquo;re three-foot-five and can play the game, you should be allowed to.&ldquo;When you think that he was a first-team All Star at left wing and Wayne Gretzky (the Racers&rsquo; 17-year-old rookie from Sault Ste. Marie of the OHA) was only second-team at center, he&rsquo;s gotta have a little bit of talent.&ldquo;Rod Zaine (Stapleton&rsquo;s assistant general manager) knew a friend of Leroux and the friend mentioned to Ron that Gerry hadn&rsquo;t been drafted. Rod went to see him and asked if he was interested in coming to camp.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s capable of playing pro someday. Whether that&rsquo;s today or not I can&rsquo;t tell yet, but he can play the game.&rdquo;Gretzky was impressing his teammates. Defenseman Kevin Morrison said, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got more moves than a snake on a hot bed of coals. They said he&rsquo;s slow, but I don&rsquo;t think he is. He&rsquo;ll have to learn to fit into our offense. But he&rsquo;s got six exhibition games and he&rsquo;ll blend in.&rdquo;CINCINNATI: Stinger coach Floyd Smith got some good news just before camp opened. Thanks to an assist from Congressman Bill Gradison, Jr., of Ohio, approval for visas of Canadian-born players on the team were received in time for the camp to begin without a delay.&ldquo;We want to thank Congressman Gradison&rsquo;s office for interceding and finding out what went wrong and cutting the red tape,&rdquo; said Stinger president Brian Heekin. &ldquo;He resolved a problem in 24 hours that had been outstanding for six weeks.&rdquo;There had been a delay in obtaining temporary working visas for Canadian-born Stinger players. Heekin contacted Gradison&rsquo;s office, which, in turn, got in touch with the Immigration Commissioner&rsquo;s office in Washington, and the problem was solved quickly.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re very happy to get it cleared up and get the people here to perform,&rdquo; said Smith. &ldquo;If we couldn&rsquo;t, I don&rsquo;t think too many people would pay to see me play.&rdquo;Jim McVay, 24, the new sales director the Stingers, is from famous football family. Jim played quarterback at the University of Dayton. His father, John, is coach of the New York Giants in the National Football League. Jim&rsquo;s brother Tim was defensive back at Indiana University last season.McVay joined the Stingers in June of 1977. He worked in sales and promotion, then halfway through the season he was appointed promotion coordinator.Mike Martaus, 22, who was in the sales department of the Washington Capitals last season, is the Stingers&rsquo; new promotion director.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01412/4226463-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="558" height="1131"><figcaption class="caption-body">WAYNE GRETZKY&hellip; Fitting In Well</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

Racers’ Offense Pleases Stapleton; Stingers Resolve Problem Of Visas

BIRMINGHAM&mdash;The Birmingham Bulls welcomed 34 players to their training camp. In the early going rookie coach John Brophy reunited the &ldquo;GAS&rdquo; line (Dave Gorman, Steve Alley, and J.C. Stewart). He also put Paul Henderson, Peter Marrin, and Tony Cassolato back together. With so many newcomers in camp Brophy pitted the youngsters against the veterans in intra-squad scrimmages. At least at the outset, the newcomers surprised the veterans.With seven underagers and two graduating juniors augmenting a strong contingent of young minor leaguers, there was plenty of competition and the vets were forced to work hard to hold their jobs.General manager Gilles Leger was on the road looking for help to strengthen the Bulls up the middle, having visited Indianapolis Racer and Minnesota North Star camps. Among the centers, Paul O&rsquo;Neil impressed onlookers in the early going. O&rsquo;Neil played last year with Hampton in the AHL and San Diego in the Pacific Hockey League.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01390/4226501-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="570" height="571"><figcaption class="caption-body">GREG TEBBUTT</figcaption></div>Brophy&rsquo;s toughest decision appeared to be in choosing his defense corps. With nine blueliners in camp it was decided to move highly-regarded junior Greg Tebbutt up to left wing. Although listed on the roster at 215, the big (six-foot-three) youngster reported to camp at 233 pounds. But the extra poundage seemed solid and he appeared in good shape.Last year while playing as a defenseman for Flin Flon in the Western Canada Junior Hockey League Tebbutt collected 28 goals and 46 assists in 55 games. His shift to the front line will unable the tough&rsquo;20-year old to use his weight in the corners. His 270 minutes in penalties last year attests to the youngster&rsquo;s aggressiveness.In goal the Bulls apparently will rely on 27-year old Wayne Wood who had been back-up for the departed John Garrett. Underage Pat Riggin has exhibited a very fluid style between the pipes and is expected to see considerable service in the upcoming campaign.There was speculation Ernie Wakely would join the Bulls at training camp to shore up the club&rsquo;s backline. The five-foot-eleven, 160-pound goaler has played with Montreal and St. Louis in the NHL and Winnipeg, San Diego, Houston and Cincinnati in the WHA. He will bring the Bulls the necessary experience to make them competitive says coach Brophy.Bulls fans will see yet a different style of play this season, in the First year (1976-77) the Bulls were more or less the patsies of the WHA. Last year they became &ldquo;the bad boys,&rdquo; filling the penalty box night after night. In 1978-79 the Birmingham faithful are expecting to see a better-balanced team with plenty of youth. It could be an interesting year in Alabama.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02294/4226494-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="560" height="696"><figcaption class="caption-body">ERNIE WAKELY&hellip; To Bolster Bulls?</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0027-01

Bulls’ Vets Getting Stiff Battle

FOR CINCINNATI STINGER left winger, Paul Stewart, it all started December 14, 1975. That&rsquo;s the day he completed his degree at-the University of Pennsylvania, picked up a local paper, saw that the Binghamton Dusters were 25 points deep in last place of the North American Hockey League and reached for the phone.He called the Dusters&rsquo; front office, requested a tryout, and the next day Stewart left his new wife, a half-decorated Christmas tree and all his clothes, except the ones he had on, and ventured into the world of minor league hockey.He was impressive enough in his tryout to book on with the Dusters. After one game his was already making news, so much reputation as a &ldquo;tough guy&rdquo; news, in fact, that it made a teammate of his jealous.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01377/4226532-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="488" height="681"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Stewart</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I was sitting in a little bar the day after my first game, and Bill Goldthorpe came up to me and said, &lsquo;Are you Paul Stewart, the tough guy?&rdquo;&rsquo; recalls Stewart. &ldquo;He claimed he wanted to be the muscle man on the team.&rdquo;Goldthorpe, who had just cleared WHA waivers and was also a new member of the Dusters, &ldquo;suckered me right there&rdquo; in Stewart&rsquo;s words.&ldquo;We went outside, and I was upset. I picked Goldthorpe up above my head, threw him to the ground and explained very carefully to him that we were teammates. There were no more problems after that,&rdquo; smiled Stewart.<h2>Realistic Views</h2>THE FOLLOWING YEAR, &ldquo;Stew Cats&rdquo; was invited to the New York Ranger camp, and he specifically asked to room with tough guy Nick Fotiu. He felt that the only way to win a job with the parent club was to fight his way into the line-up. &ldquo;Nick and I fought three times, twice on the ice and once in the hotel room. He was just too tough. The second fight was maybe a draw, but the other two&mdash;well, forget &rsquo;em. I was taken pretty good, but I&rsquo;m sure that he gained some respect for me.&rdquo;Later during that camp, the Rangers and Flyers were playing an exhibition game in Madison Square Garden and as Stewart knocked Bob Kelly to the ice, Steve Short took exception. After what Stewart calls &ldquo;a good fight&mdash;we both got our licks in&rdquo; &ldquo;Stew Cats&rdquo; was thrown out of the game. For the grand finale&mdash;on his way out&mdash;he challenged the entire Flyer bench. No takers.These are just two of countless episodes that have followed Stewart throughout his hockey career. Now he&rsquo;s a Cincinnati Stinger, having signed with them in November of 1977 after filling the Binghamton Arena night after night for the first two months of the season. His hard-nosed colorful style of play drew fans like magnets through the league.He quickly became a favorite in Cincinnati, even without much playing time. After pre-game warmups, Stewart would continually fight off the trainer who collected the pucks so that he could loft five or six to screaming youngsters in all sections of the Coliseum. It quickly became a ritual.<h2>Picked Up Paper</h2>BUT THE FINAL PIECE in the puzzle is that underneath all this show, all this talk with fists that back it up, is an intelligent man with realistic views.Stewart got to the majors the hard way. He did it by granting interviews day in and day out. He also did it by knowing that if he has to be a policeman to survive in pro sports, he&rsquo;ll be one.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it&mdash;it all comes down to this: When the Good Lord put me together, I didn&rsquo;t get as much talent as those around me. But, more importantly, he did give me desire, aggressiveness and a lot of heart. I&rsquo;m just using it to the best of my ability.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to dance with the one who brung you here&rdquo; is the way Stewart puts it.For the next two years, Stewart will be a Stinger. That was decided in early July when he signed a contract through the 1980 season. And during these next two years, he&rsquo;ll run into more Bill Goldthorpes and Nick Fotius because that type of action seems to follow the Boston native.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it&rdquo; concluded Stewart, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m no Robbie Ftorek, but there is a place for me in hockey, and while I&rsquo;m in the sport, I&rsquo;ll give it everything I have.&rdquo;Perhaps the next time you see Stewart it will be in a Lite Beer commercial. He seems to fit that mold &#9632;

f0028-01

Fighting For Survival Gave Stewart Pro Shot

<div class="byline">BY JIM LEAHY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01371/4226570-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEVIN DEVINE&hellip;Attending Dusters&rsquo; Training Camp</figcaption></div>LOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg. OntarioSold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg. OntarioSold in U.S. and CanadaBINGHAMTON&mdash;Duster fans are well on their way to buying up all of the available season tickets for the upcoming American Hockey League campaign. The Dusters, who led the AHL in attendance last year despite a last place club, are approaching the 3,500 mark in season ticket sales. Jacques Caron, vice-president and director of operations for the Dusters, said that sales are about even with last year. Because of the limited seating capacity of the Broome County Arena, a few hundred seats are left for the general public or else the Arena would be sold out for the entire year.The club opened training camp at the Bernieres Arena in Bernieres, Quebec. About 25 prospects were in camp including Ken Holland (goaltender), Kevin Devine (winger), Rich Grenier, and Pierre Laganiere. Caron predicted that the Dusters would &ldquo;have a very aggressive club, the kind that the fans deserve.&rdquo;One report has the Dusters interested in Steve Short and Gilles Bilodeau, either one of which would turn the Dusters into an aggressive club.MAINE: New coach Pat Quinn and his club will open the season on Thursday, October 12 against the Hershey Bears on Civic Center ice. The next night they travel to New Haven in a rematch of last year&rsquo;s Calder Cup finalists.With the AHL&rsquo;s new divisional alignment, the Mariners will host Northern Division foes Nova Scotia and New Brunswick six times and will play their nearest rival. Springfield, eight times in Portland. Each of the Southern Division clubs will visit Maine four times.Following a tradition started last year, the Mariners made their official arrival by sea. Early-arriving veterans and all rookies glided into the scenic Portland harbor aboard the 62-foot sailing craft, &ldquo;The Good News.&rdquo; After the craft docked, the prospects were given a tour of the Civic Center and received dinner at one of the city&rsquo;s fine restaurants.The 46 players originally in camp came from seven different Canadian provinces and seven different states. Only four players were missing from last year&rsquo;s championship club. In addition to the returning players, the organization has a number of excellent rookie prospects in camp.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a good chance that three of our rookies might make the Flyers right away,&rdquo; said Keith Allen. &ldquo;With players such as Mike Simurda (six-foot-two, 185-pound, right wing), Dana Decker (six-foot-three, 220-pound, left wing), Glen Cockrane (six-foot-two, 185-pound, defenseman) and others, we should be able to keep the Mariners on top again this season,&rdquo; commented the Flyers&rsquo; leader.SPRINGFIELD: Four players have been signed as free agents by the Indians and each will play for the Tribe this season. They are; defensemen Rey McKay and Tim Jacobs, center Derek Haas and winger Pat Russell.&ldquo;Jacobs is a very steady defenseman, a player who can be depended upon to give a consistent performance game after game,&rdquo; said Springfield coach Ted Harris. As for the six-foot-four, 205-pound McKay, Harris says: &ldquo;Ray has the size and skating ability our club needs. He will be an aggressive defenseman.&rdquo;One of the hardest working centers in the AHL last season, Derek Haas should be a big help to the Tribe. He scored 58 points last season in Springfield and also served as a penalty killer. In signing Haas, owner George Leary said, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re happy to have him back. He was one of our most consistent performers last year.&rdquo;Fiery Pat Russell joined the Indians after Hampton folded last season and was a key player for the Tribe. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good to have a team player on your squad who is more interested in digging out the puck for a teammate or in keeping the opposition from scoring than in scoring himself,&rdquo; says Harris. &ldquo;And Pat is that kind of player.&rdquo;While most of the players expected to skate for the Tribe this season were in the Kings&rsquo; training camp in Los Angeles, Tribe officials were optimistic. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re expected to have a big, strong and talented club this year,&rdquo; said Leary. &ldquo;The Kings are keen at every position and Ted Harris will get the first choice of all players after Los Angeles selects its roster.&rdquo;NEW HAVEN: A trio of former Highthawks who were free agents have been signed by the AHL club. Defenseman Ray Clearwater, winger Dale Lewis and center Tom Coley have come to terms with the Nighthawks.Clearwater is a former New Haven Blade (EHL) defenseman who will be entering his 13th year as a pro. The 34-year-old veteran of EHL, WHA and AHL action scored 30 points last year for New Haven but was perhaps the club&rsquo;s most dependable defenseman during the latter part of the season. &ldquo;When Ray teamed with rookie Mario Marois they gave us both an offensive and defensive pairing. Mario was a scorer and Ray was the &ldquo;old pro&rdquo; protecting our end when Mario put the rush on,&rdquo; commented coach Parker MacDonald.Lewis is a solid performer who seldom loses the puck and is best remembered for his dramatic goal in the playoffs last season that eliminated Rochester in sudden death overtime. The six-foot, 180-pound winger is 26 years old and will be playing in his fifth AHL campaign.Colley is simply &ldquo;the franchise&rdquo;. Holder of nearly every club scoring record as well as an incredible streak of consecutive games played which now approaches 400, he is one of the best players ever to wear a Nighthawk uniform. Colley led the club in scoring last season despite a knee injury that hobbled him for most of the second half of the season.PHILADELPHIA: The Firebirds enter their second AHL season on Friday, October 13 when they host the Springfield Indians at the Philadelphia Civic Center. Maine&rsquo;s Mariners come to town the following night.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02292/4226563-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="558" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body">RAY CLEARWATER&hellip; Signed By Nighthawks</figcaption></div>General manager and coach, Dan Belisle, is pleased with this year&rsquo;s schedule. &ldquo;The schedule is well balanced in that our travel will not be as punishing as last season; and for the first time in five years (three of them in the NAHL) the Firebirds will have a schedule that is very appealing to our fans.&rdquo; The new Firebird home schedule has 36 weekend dates out of 40 including 18 Fridays and 14Saturdays.ROCHESTER: Coach Duane Rupp had five pre-season games on tap in order to get his Amerks in shape for the upcoming season. &ldquo;Practicing for a month gets the players in physical condition, but it&rsquo;s no substitute for game conditions,&rdquo; said Rupp.The Amerks played Springfield and Philadelphia twice and took on the nearby Binghamton Dusters once prior to the start of the season. In player news, Ron Garwasiuk has been signed, but at this writing Barry Smith, Earl and Brad Anderson were still free agents. &#9632;

f0030-01

Dusters Promise Aggressive Team; Tribe, Nighthawks Ink Free Agents

HALIFAX&mdash;Battle lines are being drawn for the newest rivalry in the American Hockey League, the fight for boasting rights in the Maritimes between the powerful Nova Scotia Voyageurs and the newly-created New Brunswick Hawks.The Montreal Canadiens sent 18 candidates to coach Frank St. Marseille&rsquo;s Halifax camp including goaltenders Robert Holland, Carey Walker, Richard Sevigny and Bruce Horsch, defensemen Mike Boyd, Jean Lemieux, Moe Robinson and Tim Burke, and forwards Keith Acton, Bruce Baker, Jerry Byers, Dave Lumley, Rick Meagher, Daniel Metivier, Kevin Reeves, Doug Robb, Gaetan Rochette, and Ron Wilson.New Brunswick coach Eddie Johnston received several players from the Chicago Black Hawks, who share a working agreement with the Toronto Maple Leafs to supply the AHL Hawks with players.Those sent down included goaltenders Mark Locken and John Peterson, defensemen Mike O&rsquo;Connell and Dave Mancuso and forwards Kirk Bowman, Dan Hinton, Greg Vaydik and Tom Ulseth. &#9632;

New Hawks, Voyageurs Gather Parent Club Cuts

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>LOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg. OntarioSold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg. OntarioSold in U.S. and CanadaDALLAS&mdash;While headquarters for the Central Hockey League have been returned to Dallas after a one-year hiatus in Phoenix, the league will also have a new chairman of the Board of Governors, Atlanta Flames&rsquo; general manager and governor for the Tulsa Oilers, Cliff Fletcher. Fletcher replaces Jim Gregory of the Toronto Maple Leafs who moved out of Dallas along with the Chicago Black Hawks and into the American League with Moncton.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01342/4226632-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="550" height="1127"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLIFF FLETCHER&hellip; Replaces Gregory</figcaption></div>All six teams in the Central League will be sponsored by a single NHL club with the Vancouver Canucks entering into an agreement with Dallas businessmen to operate a team in the Texax city, which will continue to carry the &ldquo;Black Hawks&rdquo; nickname left behind by the Toronto and Chicago clubs. The Oklahoma City Stars, backed by the Minnesota North Stars are the league&rsquo;s sixth franchise, restoring the CHL to that number after Phoenix disbanded last season.These two clubs join Tulsa, Ft. Worth, Salt Lake City and Kansas City in playing a 76-game schedule which got underway Oct. 12 with the defending Adams Cup champion Ft. Worth Texans visiting Kansas City. In the early part of October, though, most of the clubs were still awaiting the late cuts from their NHL parent clubs before settling on their rosters.Meanwhile, the teams were tying up loose ends in other hockey-related matters:&bull; In Tulsa, the Oilers welcomed the return of Billy Harwell, their trainer for two years, 1975-77. Last season, Harwell was assistant trainer with the Vancouver Canucks and had been head trainer for the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer club.&bull; Broadcaster Eric Nadel will be starting in Ft. Worth this season, the third CHL club he has worked for. Nadel, who is employed during the summer by the Texas Rangers, baseball team, worked the past two seasons for Dallas after a year with Oklahoma City.&bull; Al Bryant, now a year-round resident of Oklahoma City, is the trainer for the Blazers, who he served for three years previously. Last season, he was with Tulsa.&bull; The Blazers also announced their new public relations man is Ted Robinson, who just came off the Notre Dame campus. Robinson reported that the Blazers were close to 1,000 in season ticket subscriptions, and ahead of the 1976-77 club, the last pro hockey club in Oklahoma City.&bull; In Kansas City, Kevin Wall, sports director of radio station KFIX, will assume dual responsibilities as public relations director and play-by-play broadcaster of the Blues.&bull; Salt Lake is high on centerman Jim Gustafson, who was unimpressive with the Eagles at the beginning of last season, but who looks like a real comer after scoring 25 goals with Port Huron in the International League.&bull; And in Dallas, the first local ownership syndicate in Dallas&rsquo; 12 years of CHL membership will be headed by Bob Boren, an attorney, who operates a national chain of theatres. Other owners include Bill Crowley, an insurance executive, Ted Brougdon, parking lot chain owner, Jim Williams, builder and engineer, and Warren Gilbert, real estate executive.&bull; The Hawks also announced that Ken Fleger, formerly with Phoenix of the World Hockey Association and Phoenix of the Western League, will be the club&rsquo;s trainer.The Vancouver Canucks, who have taken over the Dallas franchise will have a tough act to follow as Dallas clubs, in 11 seasons, have compiled the best winning percentage in the 15-year history of the CHL.During those 11 years, the Dallas Black Hawks accumulated a.557 winning percentage, which ranks slightly higher than the departed Omaha Knights&rsquo; teams which produced a percentage of.542.In 809 regular season games, Dallas has recorded 397 wins, 305 losses and 107 ties. Among the other active teams, Salt Lake City enters the 1978-79 season with the second highest percentage,.539, based on a four-year record of 153-129-24. However, the overall record for the Golden Eagles is somewhat less imposing as they performed in the Western Hockey League with a 135-153-48 mark before joiningtheCHL.The Tulsa Oilers will begin their 15th consecutive season making them the oldest franchise in total number of years in the CHL. They hold a number of regular season records including most games (1,018), most wins (436) most losses (439) and most ties (143).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02261/4226625-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="564" height="591"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM GUSTAFSON</figcaption></div>As you might expect they also have scored the most goals in regular season play, 3,554, for a 3.49 goals per game average, but Salt Lake City holds the highest per game average, 3.84, after their four seasons.Defensively, the Oklahoma City franchise has allowed only 2.99 goals against in 800 regular season games. Formerly known as the Blazers, Oklahoma City clubs have often been known for their strong defenses, including the 1967-68 championship club which allowed only 174 goals, a league record. &#9632;

f0031-01

Teams Await NHL CutsCHL Names Atlanta’s Fletcher Board Chairman

<div class="byline">by Murray Williamson</div>Thought-Provoking New BookFormer U.S. Olympic Hockey CoachEdited byDwayne NetlandThe calibre of young American hockey players today far surpasses the individual abilities of their counterparts twenty years ago. Indoor rinks abound. Ice time has multiplied a hundredfold, and many more Americans are proving themselves in professional leagues.Yet, overall, the United States continues to lag considerably behind the Canadians, Russians, Czechs and Swedes-indeed a frustrating dilemma for hundreds, in fact thousands, of well-meaning hockey people.Murray Williamson, two-time U.S. Olympic and five-time U.S. National hockey coach, uses more than 30 years of active participation at virtually every level of amateur and professional hockey to describe the bright and the bleak, the plus and the minus, the gains and the losses.Meantime, he enlivens his analysis with his unusual experience as a kid hockey player in the Canadian chattel system, a collegiate All-American at the University of Minnesota, a first-time visitor to the Soviets&rsquo; training camp in Moscow and a Silver Olympic Medal winning coach in Sapporo.There&rsquo;s intrigue with the KGB, an Act of Congress to strengthen an American Olympic team, behind-the-scenes involvement with both the NHL and WHA and a variety of triumphs and tragedies in hockey centers throughout the international hockey world.In addition, he presents touching experiences with such well-known hockey personalities as John Mariucci, Wren Blair, Walter Bush, Sam Pollock, Alan Eagleson, Gordy Howe, Lou Nanne, Herbie Brooks, Thayer Tutt and Weston Adams as well as some of the greatest American hockey players ever to lace up a pair of skates. Then there are his sometimes turbulent confrontations with amateur hockey&rsquo;s hierarchy.Some experts won&rsquo;t agree with Murray&rsquo;s blunt proposals for change. Others, equally knowledgeable, will herald his ideas. On balance his opinions should lead to common sense discussion for future progress.For anyone the least bit interested in hockey, Murray&rsquo;s new book is particularly informative-and interesting-reading. A must!<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03200/4226663-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="713" height="625"></div> &#9632;

f0031-03

The Great American Hockey Dilemma

MILWAUKEE&mdash;International Hockey League teams plunged into their training camps anticipating player cuts from parent National Hockey League clubs and the possible return of some IHL alumnus who were attempting to crack the majors or higher minors.The first of the NHL camp cuts to arrive included goaler Bob Froese, who went to Saginaw; defenseman Brian Crombeen, who joined Fort Wayne; and right winger Denis Houle, center Steve Stockman, defenseman Steve Harrison and left winger Bruce Hamilton, all of whom were assigned to Port Huron.The cuts were made by the St. Louis Blues and five of the players were 1978 draft choices of the Blues. Harrison, whom the Blues chose 39th in the NHL draft, is a promising defenseman who played with Toronto Marlboros.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01350/4226694-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="546" height="727"><figcaption class="caption-body">TERRY EWASIUK</figcaption></div>Two NHL teams were hoping to get some of their former players back once the professional camps are concluded. Milwaukee Admirals were extremely anxious to find out what&rsquo;s in store for them. They sent 11 players into the pro camps seeking berths and were certain to get some of them back.Four of the Admirals, defenseman Pierre Allard and forwards Yves Preston, Gary Morrison and Rene Hamelin, were training with Philadelphia. The four will likely be sent to the Maine Mariners&rsquo; camp before there&rsquo;s any thought of moving them back to Milwaukee.Three other Admirals are in the Buffalo camp. Guy Dupuis, a forward, rearguard Alain Myette and goaler Jim Weaver are trying out with the Sabres, Both Buffalo and Philadelphia are NHL affiliates of the Admirals.One player Milwaukee wouldn&rsquo;t mind seeing back in uniform is Michel Lachance, who was chosen the IHL&rsquo;s best defenseman last year. Lachance is at the Colorado camp and may end up in the high minors.&ldquo;We are happy to see our players having the opportunity of playing in the National Hockey League,&rdquo; said general manager Bill Chimo. &ldquo;If they make it, it&rsquo;s great. We want to see these kids move up. But if they return to the IHL, they must return to Milwaukee and we&rsquo;ll gladly welcome them back.&rdquo;The Fort Wayne Komets were equally as optimistic that they will get some of their former players back from NHL camps. Both general manager Ken Ullyot and coach Moose Lallo are currently attending NHL training camps of the Vancouver Canucks and New York Islanders to assist in screening and selection of the various farm club players.Ullyot and Lallo already have a roster of players to work from.A great deal of work has already been accomplished. Four veterans have signed contracts. Terry McDougall, Robbie Laird, Robbie Irons and Captain Mike Boland: these players are the nucleus that Lallo will have to build around for the coming season. So far a total of 38 players have been invited to training camp, and a large number of them will be new faces to Komet fans. Following their scouting trips to the two NHL camps, this list may be trimmed, and eventually Lallo would like no more than 30 players to report.Defense is of prime importance to coach Lallo this season, and thus far he has nine blueliners reporting to training camp, with possibly one or two more, depending on what he and Ullyot see in their pro-camp stay. Moose is hopeful of having a big, mobile, hard hitting defense corps, anchored by returning Mike Boland. A trakemark of Lallo coached clubs in past years has been a steady, hard nosed defense.All of last year&rsquo;s players have been contacted, and invited to return to try for a place on this years club. The only veteran indicating he won&rsquo;t be back at this time is winger-defenseman Terry Ewasiuk, who has elected to retire and enter business in his home area of northern Alberta.it is certain that Murray Bannerman won&rsquo;t be back. He was involved in a spring trade that sent him to Chicago from Vancouver. It doesn&rsquo;t appear likely, but, if he is assigned to the IHL, he would automatically come back to the K&rsquo;s. He will probably end up with the parent Black Hawks, or in. the American Hockey League. Other Komet players who have been invited to various pro camps are: Laird to St. Louis, Dan Bonar to Los Angeles, Mike Boland to Buffalo, Dave Norris to Birmingham, Mike Penasse to Atlanta, and Al Dumba to Edmonton. Lallo is hopeful that all will be returning to the Komets by Oct. 9.The K&rsquo;s have two home exhibition games, the first on Saturday night, Oct. 14 against Turner Cup Champion Toledo at 8:00 p.m., and the following Tuesday night, Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m. against the Kalamazoo Wings. The regular season opens Friday night, Oct. 20, when the Komets travel to Muskegon&hellip; and the home opener will be the following night, Oct. 21 against the Saginaw Gears at the Memorial Coliseum at 8:00 p.m. &#9632;

f0032-01

IHL Teams Bolstered By NHL Camp Cuts

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02271/4226725-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg"></div>LOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg. OntarioSold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg. OntarioSold in U.S. and Canada &#9632;

f0032-02

IHL Starting Times

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01315/4226770-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="617" height="2801"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02236/4226763-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="628" height="3507"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03175/4226756-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="1854" height="1285"></div> &#9632;

f0033-01

INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE 1978-79 SCHEDULE

<div class="byline">BY JORDANJUBY</div>LOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg. OntarioSold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg. OntarioSold in U.S. and CanadaTORONTO&mdash;A long, hard winter is expected for the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League.Already weakened by the World Hockey Association raids, the OMJHL is now attempting to rebuild and repair some of the damage. Then the league received another shock when Toronto Marlborough&rsquo;s coach and general manager George Armstrong called it quits at the start of his seventh campaign in the league.Armstrong, who will remain at the helm of the Marlies only until the club can replace him left commenting: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been saying I wanted out since they gave me the job, so I decided it was time to put up or shut up. I don&rsquo;t want to stay in hockey,&rdquo; Armstrong said.Club owner Harold Ballard confirmed that Armstrong had been complaining about his ulcer and other things for the past three years and figured that Armstrong &ldquo;had other things in mind a little more substantial than coaching.&rdquo;Meanwhile some of the league&rsquo;s other patch-up work may spill over into the courts.Darwin&rsquo;s theory of evolution said nothing about the caging of eagles but Howard Darwin, co-owner of Ottawa 67&rsquo;s and London Knights, has already composed his own theory for the correction of some of junior hockey&rsquo;s ills.Darwin&rsquo;s London club and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds recently filed civil actions against Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson and his company. Sports Management Ltd., which controls Birmingham Bulls&rsquo; WHA franchise, and players Craig Hartsburg, Pat Riggin and Rob Rammage, in Ontario Supreme Court.Eagleson, his firm and the Alabama company, headed by John F. Bassett, are being sued for &ldquo;inducing breach of contract and wrongfully interfering with contractual relations.&rdquo;Hartsbufg was under a two-year contract signed in 1977 with the Greyhounds, Riggin has a similar contract with London while Rammage had a three-year deal signed in 1976 with the Knights.A clause calling for payment of $40,000 for development fees should a player bolt camp was added to the contract the following year. An uneasy truce between the owner and WHA was broken in 1976 when Ken Linseman of Kingston Canadians jumped to Birmingham.The Canadian Major Junior Hockey League threatened legal action but that was dropped when the WHA finally agreed to pay development costs of $40,000.Darwin charged Eagleson&mdash;player agent, executive director of the National Hockey League Players&rsquo; Association and Hockey Canada&rsquo;s international negotiator&mdash;for undermining junior hockey in a deal which saw six players join Birmingham for this season.&ldquo;These won&rsquo;t be the only actions either,&rdquo; Darwin warned. &ldquo;1 believe the papers are being drawn up now to cover Rick Vaive (Sherbrooke Beavers), Gaston Gingras (Brantford Alexanders) and Keith Crowder (Peterborough Petes). These were the other players Eagleson burglarized from the junior ranks.&rdquo;Neither the league nor the government wanted underage juniors turning pro.&ldquo;What really amazes me is how this country&rsquo;s minister of sport and recreation (Iona Campagnolo) can voice condemnation of such actions by the pros then turn around and laud the merits of the very man who masterminded the rape of junior hockey. It makes no sense. The Eagle is leading the minister, not the other way around.&rdquo;But while the Government has lent a sympathetic ear, Campagnolo says there is nothing it can do.While the loss of these players along with Wayne Gretzky to Indianapolis Racers and Mike Gartner of Niagara Falls Flyers to Cincinnati Stingers have frightened junior operators, so is the ominous presence of the federal government.When the Committee on International Hockey, chaired by Senator Sidney Buckwold, released its report earlier this year, it came down hard on junior hockey recommending that an &ldquo;in-depth study of junior hockey be sponsored by the Minister of State, Fitness and Amateur Sport.&rdquo;The government has started nosing around the world of junior hockey asking some hard and fast questions. There are some rumblings on high that indicate that the government would like to redraft the blueprint for hockey in Canada and make the colleges a springboard for the sport&rsquo;s elite rather than the present junior system.Despite the problems, the league limped into operation late last week, and as expected, the defending champion Peterborough Petes appear to be the team to beat in the Leyden Division. Petes drafted well this year and coach Gary Green is quickly adapting his rookies to playing tough defensive hockey. Petes opened the season in impressive fashion blanking Ottawa 67&rsquo;s and returning to Ottawa to register a 5-4 victory. Veteran Bob Attwell supplied the winning goal on Ottawa ice.Oshawa Generals, Peterborough&rsquo;s closest geographic rival, also appear loaded this season. Led this year by sophomore Tom McCarthy&mdash;voted the league&rsquo;s second best rookie behind Gretzky&mdash;Oshawa outscored Sudbury Wolves 10-8 in their first game.In the Emms division, the Niagara Falls Flyers under new management are off to a fast start. The Flyers, who finished last in their division last season, appear to be budding early under coach Bert Templeton. Led this season by Stan Adams and Jim Jackson the Flyers shaded London Knights 5-4 in Londonand won their home opener 8-3 over Windsor Spitfires.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02277/4226808-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="566" height="767"><figcaption class="caption-body">GEORGE ARMSTRONG&hellip; Leaving Hockey</figcaption></div><h2>OHA Starting Times</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01345/4226801-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="1116" height="531"></div> &#9632;

f0034-02

OHA Teams Facing RebuildingYear; Armstrong Quits As Marlies’Coach

<div class="byline">BY PATRICK LYON</div>ERIE&mdash;Interest in hockey was at an all-time high in Erie one year ago. Officials estimated that the Blades would sell close to 1,000 season tickets, the most in their few years of existence, as fans expected another banner season from their favorites in the North American Hockey League.But then the word came from Philadelphia that all the hard work was a wasted effort. The North American Hockey League folded. While other NAHL teams were able to establish themselves with new leagues, Erie&rsquo;s Blades were without a league and those people hoping to fill their winter nights with hockey found other interests and their fascination with the Blades for the most part was gone.It hasn&rsquo;t been an easy job, but Blades&rsquo; owner Dr. John Caruso and coach and general manager Nick Polano agree that interest in the Blades and the new Northeastern Hockey League is very promising though it&rsquo;s been a very slow process of getting fans to accept the new league.Hoping that a face from the past would instill more of that old spirit among the Blades&rsquo; Brigade, Polano signed free agent Paul Sheard to a contract, the first player to be signed by the Blades and a member of the original Erie Blades. The 25-year-old right wing played with Erie during the 1975-76 and 1976-77 seasons and was one of the most popular players with the fans.Under Polano&rsquo;s guidance during the &lsquo;75-76 campaign, the Newbury, England native scored 18 goals and handed out 56 assists for 74 points and came back the following year with 11 goals and 26 assists for 37 points. Shead will be reporting to the Blades training camp in the best shape of his career thanks to his playing in the Intermediate Hockey League in Canada where he competed with the champion Ottawa franchise.Polano feels the signing of Sheard will accomplish two things for the Blades. The 5-foot-ten, 185-pound defensive specialist will give the team an identity for Erie fans to relate to, as well as give Polano a standout player who he knows isn&rsquo;t afraid to go into the corners when there is work to be done.&ldquo;Obviously, I&rsquo;m pleased that we were able to sign Paul,&rdquo; stated Polano. &ldquo;Paul&rsquo;s a hard-nosed guy who goes all out for you game in and game out.&rdquo; Sheard reportedly turned down offers from the International League to return to Erie.Polano made several visits to major league training camps searching out possible talent in St. Catharine&rsquo;s, Ont. at the Buffalo Sabres camp as well as the camps of the Washington Capitals, Cincinnati Stingers and Indianapolis Racers. He plans on taking his closest look at the New York Islanders camp as the pair have a formal working agreement for the coming season.According to the NEHL&rsquo;s by-laws, each team will be allowed to dress 16 players for each game, although teams can carry 17 players for the first month of the season. The Erie coach expects five to six players to come from the Islanders agreement with the balance of the team being made up of free agents, possibly one other formal working agreement and/or a collection of solid hockey players from a few major league organizations.Civic leaders were planning a pep rally for the Blades in conjunction with WLKK radio, who have signed a full season radio contract. Plans call for the broadcasting of all 70 regular season games, three exhibition games and playoff games. The Blades are also planning several promotional nights for the 78-79 season.The Blades also announced that their season home opener on Friday, Oct. 27 against the New Hampshire Freedoms would be televised locally over public television. The Blades will play host to Cherry Hill (Oct. 18) and Utica (Oct. 21) in exhibition games, while playing an exhibition at Utica on Oct. 20.JOHNSTOWN: John Mitchell, president and general manager of the Wings, came away from the Minnesota North Stars camp impressed with many of the players. Mitchell expects coach Dick Roberge to greet between 20-22 players when the Wings open camp on Oct. 20.JERSEY: The Aces made plans for their only home exhibition game of the season against the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League. The contest was to be played for the benefit of Youth Hockey.Coach Muzz MacPherson was a visitor in the training camp of the Philadelphia Flyers at the Class of &lsquo;23 rink in Philadelphia. MacPherson was anxiously awaiting cuts at the camp to begin filling the roster of the Aces.UTICA: The Mohawks announced they will open camp on Oct. 16 at the Clinton Arena, home of 50 years of pro hockey in the Mohawk Valley. 30 to 40 hockey prospects are expected in camp which will run two sessions daily and will be the biggest training camp in the area.Mohawks&rsquo; general manager and coach Chuck Catto announced the signing of Brian Sullivan, a 20-year-old goaltender from Marlboro, Mass. In making the announcement, Catto said, &ldquo;Sullivan is a bright young major league prospect, who has a lot of potential. He will be one of two highly rated young goaltenders who will be in camp.&rdquo;The five-foot-ll, 170-pound net-minder, a native of New England, attended Hudson Catholic High in Marlboro. His playing career began with the junior leagues in New England. In 1973-74, he played with the club that captured the New England championship and went on to the nationals where they placed fourth. During that year, Sullivan received the Most Valuable Player and Sportsmanship Awards.The 20-year-old was the last goaltender cut from the New England Whalers training camp during the 1977-78 season. He will be in camp with them again this year.&ldquo;I am really excited about playing in Utica, especially for Chuck Catto. I really feel he can help me,&rdquo; said Sullivan. Sullivan came under the watchful eyes of Catto when he attended the Whalers&rsquo; yaining camp in late September in Glastonburg, Conn. New England general manager Jack Kelly indicated to Catto that along with Sullivan, &ldquo;he has an additional six players he would like to have us look at,&rdquo; said Catto.NEW HAMPSHIRE: The Freedoms will have a pair of All-Americans in their training camp this fall. Kevin Coughlin from Michigan State and Mike Smith from American International College were cut by the Freedoms affiliate, the Boston Bruins, and will be in camp with the Freedoms. Both players reaped All-American honors in college, Coughlin as a right wing and Smith as a defenseman.New Hampshire also picked up the rights to Paul Barrett and announced that free agent Tim Morrell would report to training camp. Barrett was captain of the NCAA runner-up Boston College team while Morrell, a number two draft choice, was the highest scorer in Boston State history and a first team All-American during the &lsquo;77-78 season.Freedoms&rsquo; owner Sandy Reiss also announced that a rookie tryout camp will be held which he hopes will give more American players a shot at playing professional hockey.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01323/4226846-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="568" height="823"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAUL SHEARD&hellip; Fan Favorit</figcaption></div><h2>Ontario Major Hockey League Schedule</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02259/4226839-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="3140" height="2333"></div> &#9632;

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Blades Aiming For Hockey Revival

<div class="byline">BY BRUCE PENTON</div>REGINA&mdash;Gregg Pilling says he was after a job in the bigs, but he wanted to go where he could be a hockey coach AND a general manager, so today, he&rsquo;s piloting Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League.Pilling, recently turned 35, had a spectacular record in the minor professional ranks as a coach and executive, but &ldquo;what good did it do me?&rdquo; he said in a recent interview.&ldquo;I like to do both jobs, coach and manage,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s as simple as that. I&rsquo;m getting the chance to do both in Regina.&rdquo;And, he said, he plans to stick around a while.In six years in the Southern, North American and International hockey league, Pilling piled up three first-place finishes, two seconds, one fourth, two league championships and a couple of end-of-season honors&mdash;a coach-of-the-year award and an executive-of-the-year title.But the phone call from above&mdash;National Hockey League or World Hockey Association&mdash;never came.&ldquo;What did I have to do?&rdquo; said Pilling, whose hopes for a major-league offer came too late&mdash;about two weeks after he had signed on with the Pats.Earlier reports that the Pats had sweetened the pot for Pilling after the offer came in (from Indianapolis Racers) are not true, the former Edmonton Oil King junior said. &ldquo;They did add in some bonus clauses, though,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and I like things like that. If I produce, I get rewarded.&rdquo;His self-admitted flakiness and a penchant for doing &ldquo;off-beat things&rdquo; may have kept him out of hockey&rsquo;s big leagues, Pilling said.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve never done anything to jeopardize two points,&rdquo; he said.For example, &ldquo;off-beat&rdquo; is the following: When the North American Hockey League decreed a couple of years back that helmets were mandatory for players, coach Pilling staged a mock protest for the first game by wearing a U.S. Army fatigue helmet on the bench.The event was pre-publicized, of course, and Pilling is proud that 10,000 people jammed themselves into the 8,100-seat rink.&ldquo;Of course the players all wore the helmets,&rdquo; said Pilling, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;ll do anything to promote the game.&rdquo;Still, he firmly believes helmets for pro players shouldn&rsquo;t be mandatory. &ldquo;For juniors, they&rsquo;re a must, because the kids are apprenticing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s a pro&rsquo;s job. It should be his decision.&rdquo;Meanwhile, Pilling&rsquo;s junior hockey debut as a coach wasn&rsquo;t exactly thrilling. After an opening-game tie, his Pats, third-place finishers in the Eastern Division last year, were blanked in back-to-back games by Brandon Wheat Kings, 8-0 and 3-0. All three were exhibition games.The Wheat Kings are overpowering favorites to win the Eastern title again this year, but the goal drought must have caused some concern for Pilling nonetheless.BRANDON: The Wheat Kings&rsquo; defense, labelled in pre-season previews as one of the strongest in the WHL, made the experts look good with the consecutive shutouts over Regina. Incumbent goaltender Rick Knickle, who has played half-games in the three Wheat King starts, has yet to allow a goal and his backup, I9-year-old Scott Olson, has allowed but two in the other 90 minutes. Dave Stewart, a 19-goal man, as a rookie last season pumped in four goals in the 8-0 win over Regina.SASKATOON: After a 5-2 exhibition loss to Brandon, the Blades went home and blew a four-goal lead in the final period and tied Regina 7-7. Rookie Dean Rebeck had three goals in the tied game, Murray Stephens, a goalie who played only five games with the Blades last season, was a standout in the loss to Brandon, hot allowing a goal in the final two periods after taking over from veteran Ken McNabb with Blades down 5-0 in the first period.EDMONTON The Oil Kings were making like scavenger hunters in training camp, picking up other teams&rsquo; rejects at the rate of one and two a day. Two with WHL experience include Mike Schneider, 19, from Lethbridge and Ken Oulton, 19, from Medicine Hat. Steve Blue, a 40-goal man with Flin Flon (now the Oil Kings) last year, was skating in camp with a broken jaw wired up. Regina is the latest team to claim they&rsquo;re interested in working out a trade for Edmonton winger Ray Neufeld.CALGARY: Coach Doug Sauter was ejected from an exhibition game when he scuffled with a linesman whom the rookie coach felt was unnecessarily manhandling one of his players. &ldquo;I was just trying to protect my player,&rdquo; said Sauter, whose team lost 6-2 to Lethbridge, despite having a 15-2 advantage in minor penalties. Rookie hopeful Mark Sirant scored twice in Calgary&rsquo;s only pre-season win (in five starts), a 7-5 triumph over Medicine Hat.LETHBRIDGE: Bobby Hull, Jr., appears to have earned a berth with the Patty Ginnell-coached Broncos, who have another &lsquo;hockey son&rsquo;&mdash;Ginnell&rsquo;s son Kevin&mdash;on the roster. Another &lsquo;Jr.,&rsquo; is around, too. Earn Ingarfield, Jr., is a Bronco veteran. He&rsquo;s the son of the former NHLer and Bronco coach. Lethbridge split a two-game series with Billings after a 6-2 win in Calgary, thanks to a five-goal outburst in the final 20 minutes.BILLINGS: Tom Cyr may be one of the smaller players in the WHL, but Bighorns&rsquo; brass likes his heart and he&rsquo;ll probably have a regular shift this season. Cyr had one goal in a 4-1 loss to Lethbridge. But another rookie, Blake Stevens, fired a pair the next night as Billings scored a 6-2 win over the Broncos in Lethbridge. Randy Jaycock, a highly-touted 17-year-old, will probably be Bighorns&rsquo; No. 1 goaltender this season.MEDICINE HAT: Coach Vic Stasiuk says he &ldquo;likes the spirit&rdquo; of his youthful Tigers and chances are Medicine Hat fans will, too. The Tigers are going to surprise a lot of people this year with a young, hustling club and one of the better ones just may be 16-year-old Steve Tsujiura, who set up a pair of goals in Tigers&rsquo; first exhibition game, a 7-5 loss to Calgary. Another potential WHL All Star on the Tigers is 17-year-old defenseman Peter Steblyk.NEW WESTMINSTER: John Ogrodnick knows he can score against Victoria, and he&rsquo;ll probably prove he&rsquo;s equally adept against other WHL goaltenders once the regular season starts. Ogrodnick tallied 15 goals in seven exhibition games against Victoria as the teams wound up at.500&mdash;two wins, two losses and three ties each. In another game, against Seattle, a 6-1 Bruins&rsquo; win, Boris Fistric and Breakers&rsquo; George Wright tried to settle their on-ice differences in the aisle leading to the dressing room. Referee-in-chief Al Paradise, who witnessed the game, lectured the players between periods.SEATTLE: In that Bruin-Breaker game, Seattle coach Les Calder tried to intervene in the off-ice scrap and wound up with battered and cut shoes after Fistric, a strapping 18-year-old, accidentally stepped on them. Calder was happy, however, when he announced that Joe Ward, a high-scoring midget last year, had been acquired from New Westminster. Rookie Brian Graves had the Ione goal for the Breakers, who played without scoring star Errol Rausse.VICTORIA: In pre-season games, anyway, the scoring star for the Cougars has been rookie Bob Clavette. He pumped in three during a 4-4 tie with the Bruins and added a single the next night as Victoria prevailed 5-2 over New West, outshooting the defending Memorial Cup champs 53-18.PORTLAND: Defenseman Blake Wesley, who suffered a leg injury during the summer, was back in form on the Winter Hawks blueline and that can only be regarded as great news for Portland coach Ken Hodge. Wesley, a probable high draft choice next summer, scored twice as Portland doubled Medicine Hat 4-2 in an exhibition game. Veterans Tim Tookey and Alvin Szott, picked up in a summer trade with Billings, scored the others.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01307/4226884-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="564" height="707"><figcaption class="caption-body">GREG PILLING</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02233/4226877-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="557" height="672"><figcaption class="caption-body">BLAKE WESLEY&hellip; Back In Form</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Opportunity Lured Pats’ Pilling; Wheaties Proving Experts Right

LOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg. OntarioSold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTDArnold Street. Wallaceburg. OntarioSold in U.S. and CanadaMONTREAL&mdash;ICM is so confident its skate blade will hold up under normal or abnormal game conditions that it guarantees its blades against defects in material and workmanship for a full year.The impact of a puck can crack or loosen other blades around their screws or rivets until they wobble or break, and because nuts and bolts create stress points, stress points have become the weak points in the new generation of blades.Now, ICM has united blade and holder by injected molding thereby eliminating rivets, nuts, and screws, and dissipated impact through the extended I beam construction.The ICM blade is engineered with &lsquo;Zytel&rsquo;, which is the strongest impact resistant plastic ever developed so it won&rsquo;t crack or split even at low temperatures, resisting corrosion, chemicals, oils and solvents.Easy to mount, ICM fits conventional and molded skates of all makes, and offers stainless steel or carbon steel all the way up the line. Nobody else does. So when you skate, skate with ICM, the blade advanced so that you can advance your skating. &#9632;

ICM’s Blade Guaranteed Against Defects, Cracks

<div class="byline">BY DICK FLOYD</div>KIMBERLEY&mdash;A new entry, interlocking games with university teams, and the revitalization of two of the league&rsquo;s oldest members are just some of the reasons why veteran Western International Hockey league observers point to the upcoming schedule with enthusiastic bewilderment.In a loop which for the past half dozen years has been able to predict final league standings with a reasonable amount of accuracy even before training camps started, the field has been thrown wide open for 1978-79. Heading into the final week of evaluation camps and with the first exhibition contests just three days away, all five clubs have every reason to be optimistic about the coming season.The Kimberley Dynamiters under the proven hand of sophomore coach Jim McCrimmon, will make the fewest lineup changes for this season. According to the Kimberley leader, four players of last year&rsquo;s Allan Cup champions will not be returning. The Dynamiters are expecting 24 in camp, however, five players from last season won&rsquo;t be on hand until later in October. Included in that group are Glen Walton and Ken Ireland, two thirds of the league&rsquo;s hottest line last year,McCrimmon will have the potential Dynamiters going all out during their training sessions, trying to cut down on the long injury list which kept his club struggling until the final stages of last season.While the Kimberley squad is not expecting to make the wholesale changes planned by other league teams, the executive went through recruiting motions during the summer months and came up with a couple of highly touted prospects. Tom Servis, a veteran International League centerman has the talent to be the WIHL&rsquo;s man to beat in the faceoff circle this yean on defense, the Dynamiters have picked up big Leo Wagner out of Calgary. Wagner, a hard hitting six footer was captain of the Junior Canucks in his last season.TRAIL: The Smoke Eaters began last season with a pocket full of hopes and a talented hockey club, but bad breaks, injuries and morale problems left the former world champions wallowing near the bottom of the standings by Christmas. This year the team promises to turn it all around.The Smokies started their pre-season training September 21 in the Cominco Arena with 31 hopefuls on hand.. Thirteen players from last year&rsquo;s team are returning to the Trail lineup, including their goaltending duo of Henry Durkin and Cal Erickson. But from early indications, the men between the pipes could be in for another busy season. Despite having recruited a fine crop of young players from as far away as the Ontario Major Junior League, the Smokies are still short of talent on the blueline.The Trail club is working on a two hour per day practice schedule as they prepare for the exhibition slate, with two-a-day workouts on the weekends. The Smoke Eaters got their first test under fire when they faced their perennial West Kootenay rivals. Nelson Maple Leafs on the September 29 and 30 in a home and home series.CRANBROOK: The Royals had talent to go all the way last season according to long-time WIHL watchers, but internal problems and injuries robbed them of their chance. This year, under second season coach Danny Spring, the Royals have gone all out in their summer player hunt, and the results are encouraging. The biggest name to hit the Cranbrook camp this year is Frank Spring, a nine year pro veteran with experience in both the NHL and WHA ranks. Spring, six-foot-three, 220-pounds will move to defense from his regular right wing position.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01266/4226946-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="554" height="557"><figcaption class="caption-body">JAMIE BATEMAN&hellip; With Calgary</figcaption></div>The wholesale turnover in Cranbrook&rsquo;s lineup is being directed by coach Danny Spring, with an eye to smoothing out his team&rsquo;s hot and cold performance last season. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking for a 60 minute hockey club this year,&rdquo; said Spring at a recent press conference. The Royals began their drive to a league title with a camp roster of 28.The one area where the Royals led the league last year and should continue to do so this season is goaltending. The team of Leo Karchie and Ray Martyniuk give Cranbrook the strongest one-two crease combination in the loop. Karchie is a perennial first team All Star selection, while Martyniuk in his initial WIHL schedule earned most valuable player honors.NELSON: The Maple Leafs appear set to make their strongest bid for the league championship in many seasons. Coach Corky Agar, back for his second season at the helm of the Queen City club, has just four names returning from last year, and a completely new look Leaf squad is expected to lend respectability to Nelson&rsquo;s hockey program.Returning to the Leaf bench after announcing his retirement early last year is Bob Mclvor, a strapping six foot veteran of the WIHL wars. Mclvor backed by an impressive array of eastern defensive imports, has already shown that the Nelson club will be a blueline power in the league this season.CALGARY: With Spokane&rsquo;s king sized boots to fill, the Calgary Stam-peders have started their initial WIHL season on the right foot. The Stamps drew close to 60 hopefuls at their open camp held early in September, selecting some of those players to attend the regular training sessions which began in mid month.An unknown.quantity going into their first WIHL season, the Calgary club is utilizing the large southern Alberta hockey market to select their team. The squad has already signed two former pros in Ed Dyck who played with the Vancouver Canucks, and Jamie Bateman, a one time member of the Quebec Nordique franchise. Dyck is expected to give the Stamps a much needed solid base between the pipes, while Bateman at six-foot-three, 200-pounds should be a tower down the right wing.<h2>Western International League Schedule</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02189/4226939-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="1818" height="1336"></div> &#9632;

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WIHL Expecting Wide Open Race For New Season

<div class="byline">BY DANNY YOUNG</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01317/4227008-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="554" height="843"><figcaption class="caption-body">GERALD CHAMPAGNE&hellip; Instant Success</figcaption></div>LAVAL&mdash;Through excellent drafting and a major trade, the Laval Nationals are icing a hochey team that is stacked with young talent that should make them a powerhouse of the future.However, judging from Laval&rsquo;s first two games, the future may be sooner than the other nine Quebec Major Junior League teams would like to believe.In their season opener, Laval wiped out Hull 10-3. They then returned home and downed Verdun 5-1.A team with 16 new faces is not supposed to win games so easily, but when the new faces include names like Alain Grenier, Louis Filion, and Gerard Champagne, anything is possible.&ldquo;I was ecstatic with our draft this year,&rdquo; said general manager Jean Rougeau. &ldquo;This was the best draft we ever had.&rdquo;To fill the holes in his team not plugged by draft picks, Rougeau traded star left winger Patrick Daley to Montreal for five young prospects. They are goaltender Michel Binette, defenseman Mario Cote, and forwards Gerard Champagne, Louis Haman, and Richard Harbec&ldquo;I&rsquo;m overwhelmed with pleasure in making this trade,&rdquo; says Rougeau &ldquo;but not by getting rid of Pat. I think he is one of the greatest gentlemen hockey players I have ever met. I just feel that by filling in five positions, it will do a lot more for the club than Pat could.&rdquo;The results are already beginning to pay off. Champagne scored two goals in the Hull game, Binette stopped 28 of 31 shots on goal, and Haman had a goal and an assist.Rookie Alain Grenier, a midget superstar who rejected a scholarship from Boston University to play for Laval, scored four points in the Hull game. Rougeau believes that Grenier will definitely be All Star material in the years ahead.Grenier teams up with Haman and Louis Filion. another excellent prospect to form a line that registered five goals in the two games.Laval&rsquo;s principle offensive threat is the line of returnees Gilles Hamel, Constant Priondolo, and center Brupe Montgomery. All three are speedy skaters and proven scorers.&rsquo; Hamel scored 44 goals last season while Priondolo picked up 35. Montgomery was bothered with an ankle injury last season and only scored 16 goals, but he was an offensive terror in Junior B two years ago, and should be able to rack up the points this season.Defensively, Laval is led by captain Mario Tardif, the personal favorite of the home town fans. He is joined by Michel Fortin, who was a sensational rookie last year, and newcomers Alain Picard and first draft choice Gordon Donnelly.Though Laval may have some difficulty in the early going, Rougeau and coach Jacques St. Jean believe that the team will be very competitive after Christmas. As for future years, Rougeau predicts, &ldquo;this will be a Memorial Cup team&rdquo;SHERBROOKE: The Beavers dropped their first encounter of the young season in Quebec by a 4-3 count. After being held to only 12 shots in the first two periods, Louis Begin and Jean Chouinard broke the ice for the Beavers early in the third, giving them a 2-1 advantage. After Quebec bounced back with three goals, Begin scored again, but Sherbrooke failed to pick up the equalizer and dropped the decision.The Beavers were 2-6-1 during the pre-season, but this does not worry general manager and coach Ghislain Delage. &ldquo;During the exhibition season, I&rsquo;m concerned about getting a look at the talent we have available to us, and not winning hockey games,&rdquo; explains Delage. Delage made two strategic moves by switching Jean Chouinard from center to his old left wing spot, and moving Alan Haworth from center to the right side.HULL: The early going has been rough for coach Richard Jamieson and the Olympics. The club did not win a pre-season game, and lost their home opener to Laval, 10-3. Hull goaltender Benoit Bouchard allowed six goals on 10 shots in the first period. Hull captain Yves Dandurand, known more for his fighting in past years, had a goal and an assist. Mario Chartrand, who has the potential of scoring 75 goals this season according to Jamieson, had only an assist. The Olympics obtained Daniel Letourneau and Marc-Andre Marchand in exchange for Clint Campbell.QUEBEC: Things are looking a little better for the Remparts. Defenseman Gaston Therrien will play with the club this year and not the Birmingham Bulls, the team finished the pre-season in good form, and they won their season opener over Sherbrooke 4-3. Veteran defenseman and captain Kevin Lowe assisted on Quebec&rsquo;s second goal and scored the winner. Michel Leblond, who scored the opener, is being used on the wing, by new coach Rene Drolet instead of the center position he played under Ron Racette a year ago.injuries continue to hurt to Remparts though. Mark Semertgakis, Jean-Francois Brisson, and Rene Labbe are out of the lineup, and defenseman Jocelyn Facher was under suspension for leaving the penalty box in an exhibition game against the Kitchener Rangers.MONTREAL: The Juniors began a pace they hope to continue all season long by blanking Shawinigan 7-0. Marco Baron stopped 38 shots to record the shutout. Denis Tremblay scored twice and added an assist and Marcel Tourigny had a goal and two assists to lead the Montreal attack. Though the Juniors have a host of established veterans, rookies will play an important role in the club&rsquo;s 1978-79 campaign. They include Taras Zytynsky, Bernard Gallant, Sylvain Gaudette, Sean McKenna, and Alasin Lemieux.TROIS-RIVIERES: The defending champs have been the toughest team in the early going. They lost only one preseason contest, and shattered Chicoutimi in the season opener 10-3. The superb Draveur defense held their opponents to just 14 shots on goal, three in each of the last two periods. Scoring was not much of a problem either. Rene Marchand had a hat trick and added two assists.Trois-Rivieres played without the services of Daniel St. Laurent who was suspended by the discipline committee of the Quebec Hockey Federation for hitting an official during a pre-season match. St. Laurent was acquired from Verdun during the off season and may not last long in Trois-Rivieres.CHICOUTIMI: The Sagueneens had a very successful training camp under new coach Orval Tessier and should have little difficulty improving on last year&rsquo;s ninth place finish. The Sags won five of their seven pre-season games, the third best performance among Quebec League teams. Chicoutimi, however, lost their season opener to Trois Rivieres, 10-3, before 4,903 home town fans. Center Guy Carbonneau. a player who will be heard a lot from in the months ahead, had a goal and an assist for the Sage.SHAWINIGAN: The Cataractes lost to Montreal 7-0, but this is not an indication that the team has not improved. Shawinigan penetrated the strong Montreal defense for 38 shots. Fortunately, new coach Ron Racette is not faced with a shortage of players that Shawinigan confronted last season. Racette now has 25 players at his disposal.CORNWALL: The Royals have a unique problem for a junior hockey team. Veteran forward Brian Fontaine and defenseman Gerry Ingram want more money or they want out. They are asking for the salary of $80 a week that was paid to Danny Geoffrion and Rick Paterson last year. Royals&rsquo; president Paul Emard explained that Paterson and Geoffrion were exceptions because they played in the Royals&rsquo; organization for six years.Meanwhile, Cornwall lost their opener to Verdun 11-2. It will be a difficult year for Cornwall fans who are accustomed to excellent teams, as Doug Carpenter attempts to rebuild the Royals. Veteran star and captain Bob Crawford has been moved to the center position. Brother Marc Crawford is a rookie forward with Cornwall this season.VERDUN: The Hawks opened the season by crushing Cornwalll 11-2. Young forward Alain Bouchard scored a whopping five goals, four more than his total in the 18 games he played last season. Verdun&rsquo;s spectacular defenseman Raymond Bourque notched four points and appeared more smooth and confident than ever. New coach Pete Bisson has the Hawks playing smart, disciplined hockey. &#9632;

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October 13, 1978

Quebec Major Hockey League Schedule

Hockey AdLib

Red Wings Should Improve Because Of Depth, Speed

JUNIOR JOTTINGS