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.

November 24, 1978

The Hockey News November 24, 1978

LOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03423/3906086-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="601" height="799"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

NHL Leaders

<div class="byline">BY DICK FLOYD</div>LOUISVILLEHOCKEYSTICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTDArnold Street, Wallaceburg. OntarioSold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEYSTICKSMade in Canada byHILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTDArnold Street, Wallaceburg. OntarioSold in U.S. and CanadaTRAIL&mdash;When the Trail Smoke Eaters captured the world championship 20 years ago, it earned them instant national renown. Even now, hockey fans in Eastern Canada associate the best of the Western International Hockey League with the Kootenay club.Since their last league title in 1960 however, the Trail squad has steadily slipped further away from a contending status, finishing a dismal fourth in 1977&rsquo;78.Before the start of the current season, the only significant change in the Smoke Eater team was a coaching change which saw a member of that World Champion Trail roster, Harold Jones, returning to the Silver City to take up bench pacing duties. The lack of significant renovation in player personnel during the off season led one opposition WIHL coach to comment that &ldquo;They have nothing. It&rsquo;s the same team as last year.&rdquo;But that comment proved premature, as the Trail club under Jones&rsquo; shrewd hand has a firm hold on second spot in league standings, and show no indications of weakening. Last season at this same time, the Smokies had managed to accumulate just six points in 13 games. This year, the same basic lineup has garnered 13 points in 11 regular schedule outings, and according to coach Jones, his team won&rsquo;t peak until early in the new year.The big change this season has been players&rsquo; attitude, both on and off the ice, and it appears that the new enthusiasm has caught on with the fans. The Smokies are enjoying their best crowds in some time, and helping the fans along with their cheering is the team&rsquo;s newly adopted mascot &lsquo;Smokie Fever.&rsquo; The large orange furry Muppet like creature has added an extra dimension to home games, and has been as readily accepted as the hockey team&rsquo;s winning style.But for all their improvements and 100 percent efforts, the/Trail club has been unable to catch the high flying Kimberley Dynamiters. The Dynamiters have lost just one game in their first 10 starts, accumulating 17 points on eight wins and a tie. On a head to head basis however, the Smoke Eaters hold the edge, handing the Dynamiters their only defeat of the young season, and tying Kimberley in the regular schedule opener early in October.In Kimberley on November 2, the Dynamiters finally found the measure of the Smokies topping them 7-1. After a closely contested first period, the Dynamiters came out at a gallop in the middle frame to count four unanswered goals and wrap up the victory.Home ice wins when the Nelson Maple Leafs are in town have become almost a foregone conclusion over the past two seasons, and even the fledgling Calgary Stampeders took full advantage of the Nelson club&rsquo;s impotency on the road, potting 20 goals in back to back contests in the Alberta city.The wins moved Calgary a full four points ahead of the Maple Leafs and the Cranbrook Royals who share the bottom of the standings with three victories apiece. Stampeders&rsquo; coach Mike Berridge has attributed his club&rsquo;s slow start to his players&rsquo; lack of contact hockey experience during the past few seasons, but he feels the team is coming around on schedule, and will be in the thick of things come playoff time.Calgary sports fans have turned out in respectable numbers for the Stampeders&rsquo; home games, and team officials are confident that once the football season has ended, many more fans will become regulars at the Corral.On a solid financial footing for the first time in several years, the Nelson Maple Leafs are still struggling on the ice, but according to team manager Shorty Malacko, the current roster has the potenial to improve on last season&rsquo;s record. Nelson fans seem to have the same opinion, as the green and white have enjoyed their best crowds in several years.However, it&rsquo;s not the home games that are plaguing the Leafs, it is an almost predictable losing road effort. The Maple Leafs earned just a single pair of points on the road last season, and to date in the 1978-&rsquo;79 schedule have failed to win a game. Coach Corky Agar is pleased with the development of his young team this year, and he feels that with the addition of a couple of goal scoring wingers, the Nelson squad can turn things around. According to Malacko, there is help on the way in that department, and new faces are expected in the lineup in time for a home and home series against the Cranbrook Royals.The biggest surprise of this WIHL season has been the inability of those same Royals to even match their disappointing third place effort of last year. The Cranbrook team, with the likes of Robbie Neale, Frank Spring and Bernie Lukowich, all players with NHL experience, have been unable to find the range with any consistency. The Cranbrook club is currently at the bottom of the league scoring statistics, averaging 3.7 goals per game.A bright spot in the Royals&rsquo; picture this season, as in recent years, has been the performance of the club&rsquo;s goaltenders. Perennial WIHL All Star Leo Karchie was joined in the Cranbrook crease brigade last year by rambling Ray Martyniuk, and together the pair have compiled a string of outstanding performances that have kept their team in contention.Cranbrook coach Danny Spring has attributed his squad&rsquo;s slow start to wholesale roster changes instituted by the team this season. Spring commented this week that the addition of a number young first year senior players would require a breaking-in period in order to adjust to the WIHL style of play. Spring is confident his charges can bounce back into contention as the season progresses. &#9632;

Hot Smoke Eaters WIHL Threat Again

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-01944/3905400-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Reggie Leach shot, the red goal lamp behind Don Edwards began spinning and the Spectrum crowd rose in roaring tribute.As Leach turned, he was confronted with his Philadelphia teammates streaming off the bench. Congratulations were in order, from Flyers and fans, because for the second consecutive game Reggie Leach resembled the player who terrified National Hockey League goaltenders by scoring 80 goals one season.Leach&rsquo;s goal in Philadelphia&rsquo;s 3-3 tie with Buffalo was only his second of the young season. What encouraged the Flyers, however, was Leach&rsquo;s skating and shots-on-goal totals; nine vs. Buffalo, seven the night before in Atlanta.A week before Reggie&rsquo;s revival, he was confined to press-box observation duty. When trades were mentioned, Leach&rsquo;s name was usually included. Observers suspected that Keith Allen frequently said to other NHL general managers, "Would you be interested in Leach? Please?&rdquo;Leach&rsquo;s attitude didn&rsquo;t help his employment status in Philadelphia either. One week into the season he admitted to reporter Mary Flannery that he regretted scoring 61 regular-season goals plus 19 in the 1976 playoffs.&ldquo;I did it one year and they expect it every year,&rdquo; the 28-year-old right winger said. &ldquo;I figure I&rsquo;m a 30 or 40-goal scorer. I just had an exceptional year.&rdquo;Leach also complained that Rick MacLeish, a one-time 50-goal scorer, doesn&rsquo;t receive similar criticism when he doesn&rsquo;t approach his previous goal figures.Perhaps most damaging to Leach&rsquo;s Philadelphia future was his admission that &ldquo;Some days I don&rsquo;t feel like skating, so 1Idon&rsquo;t. Other days I work hard. It varies. They figure everybody should be a Bobby Clarke&mdash;work, work, work. But there are different ways to play this game, different ways to get ready. Even the year I scored 80 I didn&rsquo;t work that hard.&rdquo;Coach Bob McCammon, a man entrusted with trying to revive an entire team, was dismayed by Leach&rsquo;s remarks. Throughout the exhibition schedule, McCammon kept waiting for Leach to show he was serious about remaining with the Flyers. Leach, a traditionally slow starter, insisted he was trying, but it wasn&rsquo;t apparent to McCammon.&ldquo;Reggie has the ability to play,&rdquo; McCammon said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a matter of how badly he wants to play.&rdquo;His teammates&rsquo; reactions following his goal against Buffalo were sincere for some while for others it was a facade. Several Flyers had said privately that Leach and the team would be better off if he were sent elsewhere.From comments by several team leaders, you&rsquo;d never guess anyone wearing the orange-and-black was displeased with Leach.&ldquo;Of course we want to see him make it back,&rdquo; said Jim Watson. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a helluva guy, he&rsquo;s taken a lot of flack and hung in there.&rdquo;&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t have to win us (teammates) back,&rdquo; said Bill Barber. &ldquo;He helped us win a Cup, he got us to the finals another time, why would he have to win the players back? When he goes like he did the last two nights, there&rsquo;s no stopping him.&rdquo;During those two unforgettable seasons when Leach scored a remarkable 133 goals in 193 regular season and playoff games, there was no stopping him. During those two seasons his linemates were Clarke and Barber.Against Atlanta and Buffalo and in Boston, where Leach scored twice in the Flyers&rsquo; astonishing 7-3 upset of the Bruins, Leach&rsquo;s linemates were also Clarke and Barber. Maybe McCammon was figuring if Leach can&rsquo;t reload the rifle with those two All Stars, the rifle will forever remain jammed.Predictably, Leach wasn&rsquo;t proclaiming the patient 100 percent healed. All he would say was:&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been just going up and down my wing. I&rsquo;ve just got to keep shooting, and hope they go in.&rdquo;FLYERS FACTS: Ken Linseman, hampered by nagging injuries, was also off to a slow start&hellip;McCammon&rsquo;s personnel decisions involving Kevin McCarthy and Drew Callander were puzzling. Both McCarthy, one of the league&rsquo;s most promising young defensemen, and Callander, a right wing with solid potential, were scratched in consecutive games.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02778/3905393-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="1207" height="1748"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Philadelphia Flyers are getting some long-awaited goal production from veteran Reg Leach, above, who had been rumored on the trade block for his scoring apathy. While Leach has turned it around, promising young defenseman Kevin McCarthy hasn&rsquo;t been able to get into enough games to show new coach Bob McCammon what he can do, which has puzzled followers of the Flyers. (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Flyers Ready To Welcome Leach’s Old Scoring Form

LOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02206/3907079-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="605" height="873"></div> &#9632;

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Where AHL Teams Play

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01657/3907568-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">THE SWEET SWEDEAnders Hedberg isn&rsquo;t all that concerned if he doesn&rsquo;t score 50 goals. In fact the former Swedish ice star says he is more intent on helping the Rangers to become No. 1 in the NHL. For details see page 3. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>&mdash; Page 17 &#9632;

Cover-01

AMAZING FLAMES CLING TO TOP

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE HALPIN &#x2014; HOCKEY NEWS EDITOR</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-01968/3904962-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Orr made a passionate farewell to the media.</figcaption></div>Everyone hated to see Bobby Orr leave the game of hockey. Let&rsquo;s face it. We may not see another player of his quality perform for some time. They say the great ones only show up every 20 years.Realistically, Orr did the only sane thing when he informed the Chicago Black Hawks in a dramatic and passionate farewell, that he wasn&rsquo;t in shape to play. The old legs couldn&rsquo;t do the things they used to any longer and he wanted out. Six knee operations had drained Orr&rsquo;s mobility on the ice and he was the first to admit that he felt he was taking money under false pretenses.In a voice quivering at times. Orr fought back the tears as he announced his retirement from the Black Hawks. It was a difficult decision to have to tell the world you were washed up at the relatively young age of 30 but Orr knew within himself that he wasn&rsquo;t going to make it this year or any other year after what he&rsquo;s been through with surgery.&ldquo;I had to try the knee once more. I owed it to myself,&rdquo; Orr commented. &ldquo;And if I had to do it all again I would do it the same way,&rdquo; said the eight-time Norris Trophy winner as the NHL&rsquo;s best defenseman.Orr decided at training camp this season, he would push the knee I as hard as possible to see how it would react under pressure. This&rsquo; I was to be the time to decide once and for all if he could go on or hang up the skates. Even now as he walks away from the game to which he contributed so much in 10 short years, he will have to consider further surgery in order to prevent a permanent arthritic condition.Hockey is a demanding sport. It is indeed difficult to play the game without being 100 percent. Damaged knees, which cut short Orr&rsquo;s career, left him scarred and not even a 20-month respite from the game changed anything. It was all over this year when he I reported to the Hawks&rsquo; camp and suffered a groin injury. He remained optimistic but two weeks ago he went to coach Bob Pulford and told him he thought it was time to call it a career. He said he was prevented from practicing properly and lie was always favoring his knee. He was blunt with Pulford&mdash;he said he felt he was standing in the way of others who could contribute more.Orr leaves the game of hockey as a player but his impact on the sport won&rsquo;t be forgotten. He has always been compared to the real I greats, Eddie Shore, Doug Harvey, just to name two. He scored an amazing 264 goals and assisted on 624 others in a sensational 10-year career with the Boston Bruins. He won the Norris eight times, the Hart three times as MVP and won the Ross Trophy as NHL I scoring champion twice&mdash;a feat unparalleled in the history of I hockey because defensemen don&rsquo;t normally win scoring titles.The game of hockey will be a lot worse off without him. &#9632;

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Orr Did The Right Thing Hanging Up His Skates

<h2>THE NHL&hellip;</h2>Atlanta&hellip;&hellip;15Boston&hellip;&hellip;12Buffalo&hellip;&hellip;17Chicago&hellip;&hellip;9Colorado&hellip;&hellip;11Detroit&hellip;&hellip;20Los Angeles&hellip;&hellip;13Minnesota&hellip;&hellip;4Montreal&hellip;&hellip;5N.Y. Islanders&hellip;&hellip;21N.Y. Rangers&hellip;&hellip;3Philadelphia&hellip;&hellip;7Pittsburgh&hellip;&hellip;8St. Louis&hellip;&hellip;15Toronto&hellip;&hellip;11Vancouver&hellip;&hellip;20Washington&hellip;&hellip;18<h2>THE WHA&hellip;</h2>Birmingham&hellip;&hellip;24Cincinnati&hellip;&hellip;25Edmonton&hellip;&hellip;27Indianapolis&hellip;&hellip;25New England&hellip;&hellip;24Quebec&hellip;&hellip;24Winnipeg&hellip;&hellip;27<h2>OTHER LEAGUES&hellip;</h2>Colleges&hellip;&hellip;29American&hellip;&hellip;32Central&hellip;&hellip;33International&hellip;&hellip;34Northeastern&hellip;&hellip;35Pacific&hellip;&hellip;37Ontario Major&hellip;&hellip;36WHL&hellip;&hellip;38Quebec Major&hellip;&hellip;39<h2>COLUMNISTS&hellip;</h2>Ken McKenzie&hellip;&hellip;4Bob Verdi&hellip;&hellip;6Bill Libby&hellip;&hellip;8Bill Fleishman&hellip;&hellip;12<h2>FEATURES&hellip;</h2>Player Movements&hellip;&hellip;5Fan Forum&hellip;&hellip;10Hockey People&hellip;&hellip;14NHL Scoreboard&hellip;&hellip;22WHA Scoreboard&hellip;&hellip;26Minor Scoreboard&hellip;&hellip;35Amateur Scoreboard&hellip;&hellip;39 &#9632;

Where To Find It…

<div class="byline">BY FRED PIETILA</div>DENVER&mdash;The Colorado Rockies&rsquo; early schedule and the rash of injuries (plus Wilf Paiement&rsquo;s suspension) had coach Pat Kelly fit to be tied.The Rockies arrived in Denver on Nov. 1 for the third time since Oct. 6 to prepare for home games against the New York Rangers on Nov. 2 and Toronto on Nov. 4. Then it was right back on the road for a game in Philadelphia on Nov. 5. That Denver-to-Philadelphia connection had Kelly fuming.&ldquo;I hope they have a snowstorm in Denver on Saturday (Nov. 4) so we can&rsquo;t get out of the airport on Sunday,&rdquo; Kelly had said. &ldquo;Let 17,000 fans in Philly sit in an empty building and wonder where the Colorado Rockies are.&rdquo;The main thing that was bugging Kelly was the fact that the Rockies couldn&rsquo;t get into Philadelphia until 4:40 p.m. Sunday for a 7 p.m. game.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s so many teams in the. Philadelphia area that could have made those travel arrangements easier,&rdquo; Kelly said. &ldquo;I hope we have a snowstorm in Denver Saturday night and Sunday. Then maybe the NHL would think a little bit about some of the lower clubs in the league.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had so much travel,&rdquo; Kelly muttered. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s possible the guys are mentally tired from all the travel and maybe that&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;ve had so many injuries.&rdquo; &#9632;

Infuriated Kelly Hoped For Denver Snowstorm

DETROIT&mdash;John Ziegler says the NHL is not entertaining any thoughts of taking in the four best WHA teams in new merger talks. In fact, the NHL president says there is no substance to reports that his league is even talking to the other league.Ziegler says he hasn&rsquo;t changed his theory for one strong league but at the present time there has been no dicsussions at any level with the WHA or within the NHL itself about a merger.Ziegler commented that no animosity exists between the two leagues. In fact,, he added, that both groups are in communication on various matters and Ziegler admitted that he and WHA president Howard Baldwin frequently meet to talk hockey.But Ziegler said there has been no talk about any merger particularly since the Dale McCourt case came along to upset the NHL&rsquo;s compensation rule for free agents. Ziegler said nothing will be done until the McCourt issue is settled.<h2>WHA Not Likely To Lose Series</h2>TORONTO&mdash;The WHA overlords huddled in this city last week to try to iron out their underage junior signing problems and the matter of oyer $300,000 in remuneration fees that must be paid to Canadian Major Junior Hockey League teams.The issue is hot because the WHA stands to lose its mid-season super series with European teams if they don&rsquo;t come across with the money the junior teams are demanding.It isn&rsquo;t likely the WHA will allow the series to slip out of their hands over the junior issue but they must act swiftly to get the approval of the CAHA, who have threatened to veto the series through the International Ice Hockey Federation.<h2>Rockies&rsquo; Paiement Given 15 Games</h2>DENVER&mdash;Wilf Paiement incurred the biggest suspension-handed an NHL player since the famed Wayne Maki-Ted Green sticking duel of 1969, when he was set down for 1.5 games and fined. $500 for clubbing Dennis Polonich of Detroit into submission Oct. 25.Paiement&rsquo;s 15-game ban ranked behind Eddie Shore&rsquo;s 16-game suspension in 1933 for pole-axing Ace Bailey and was higher than Maki&rsquo;s 13-game sentence for cracking Green over the head in Ottawa during a 1969 exhibition game.<h2>Underage Junior Returns To OHA</h2>PETERBOROUGH&mdash;Keith Crowder, one of the seven underage juniors who was lured to the WHA by John Bassett&rsquo;s Birmingham Bulls, is back in the Ontario Major Hockey League with the Peterborough Petes.Crowder, who had not been playing at top form, said he was homesick and missed playing hockey in his hometown in Canada. He asked the Bulls to allow him to return to the Petes, with whom he played last season, and they consented. &#9632;

Ziegler Says NHL Cool To Merger

<div class="byline">BY TOM MURRAY</div>NEW YORK&mdash;After winning eight of their first 13 games by virtue of some outstanding goaltending by John Davidson and Wayne Thomas, the Rangers dropped two of their next three contests. And in each instance, the primary reason for the loss was because the opposing goalie was giving the Rangers a taste of their own medicine.First, the Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; Gilles Meloche ended the Rangers&rsquo; seven-game winning streak when he &ldquo;stood on his head&rdquo; and turned aside practically everything the Rangers threw at him, leading the Stars to an upset victory.&ldquo;We played well enough to win that game,&rdquo; said Ranger assistant coach Mike Nykoluk after it was over, &ldquo;but we ran into a hot goalie. What can you say it happens.&rdquo;A few nights later, it &ldquo;happened&rdquo; to the Pittsburgh Penguins, when Doug Soetart, making his first start of the season, put on a magnificent performance, stopping 47 Penguin shots and leading the Rangers to a 2I victory. The game was Soetart&rsquo;s first start of the season and the only time he had appeared all year&mdash;except for a 12-minute stint against the Islanders in a game in late October.Several nights after Soetart&rsquo;s acrobatics, it was the Islanders&rsquo; Billy Smith&rsquo;s turn to play the spoiler, as he thoroughly frustrated the Rangers and led his teammates to a 5-3 victory at the Garden.&ldquo;Yeah, it&rsquo;s frustrating,&rdquo; said Mike McEwen after the Islander loss, &ldquo;only because everything went the way it was supposed to in the first 11 games of the season. A hot goalie can change the whole outlook of a game. Our goalies did it for us in the early part of the season, and now we&rsquo;re getting a taste of what it feels like.&rdquo;&ldquo;We got off to a good start,&rdquo; said Ranger captain Dave Maloney, "but the season is still young. We&rsquo;ve got more than 60 games to play, and they aren&rsquo;t all going to be roses like the first 11 were.&rdquo;The fact that Soetart played so well against the Penguins presents a dilemma&mdash;albeit a pleasant one&mdash;for Fred Shero in his role as general manager of the team: Although he has three goaltenders whom he knows are capable of playing and whom he can use with confidence, he is not a strong advocate of the three-goalie system. As long as all three goalies keep playing well, Shero is going to be in terrific bargaining position if he decides to unload one of them in a trade. He&rsquo;s not exactly outspoken when pressed on this topic, but he does concede that he&rsquo;s gotten some &ldquo;feelers&rdquo; from other clubs about Soetart&rsquo;s availability. But if Soetart keeps getting a chance to play and keeps rising to the occasion, the speculation is that if Shero decides to deal a goalie, he will hold onto Soetart because he&rsquo;s the youngest of the three (23), and deal Davidson (25) or Thomas (31). &ldquo;I always thought Soetart was as good as the other two guys,&rdquo; Shero said, &ldquo;and now I know for sure after the game he played against Pittsburgh.&rdquo;Getting back to the end of the Rangers&rsquo; winning streak, the team&rsquo;s longest in four seasons, most of the players took it philosophically, realizing full well that hot goaltending had made the streak possible and that hot goaltending had ended it.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting there,&rdquo; Mike McEwen said, &ldquo;but it takes time for a young team like ours to get used to the idea of winning. When you&rsquo;re a good team, you&rsquo;re a confident team, and you just go out there and win games. You just do it. But we haven&rsquo;t reached that stage yet. We are getting good, but when you&rsquo;re only getting good, you tend to test yourself when you&rsquo;re out on the ice. We just have to stop testing ourselves and do what we&rsquo;re capable of doing. Once we do that, we&rsquo;ll be fine.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03564/3905103-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="526" height="1434"></div> &#9632;

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Rangers Taste Their Own Medicine

<div class="byline">BY TOM MURRAY</div>NEW YORK&mdash;When he was playing for the Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association last season, Anders Hedberg, scored 63 goals and 59 assists, for 122 points in 77 games. For those of you out there who have your calculators handy, it&rsquo;s easy to figure that Hedberg was good for close to one goal a game for the Jets last season.This year, after playing a dozen games for the New York Rangers, all Hedberg had to show for his efforts were three goals and eight assists&mdash;a far cry from the kind of statistics which earned him the nickname of &ldquo;The Swedish Express&rdquo; when he was in the WHA.Why, then, is this man smiling? Hedberg stood in front of his locker recently, surrounded by newsmen&mdash;sorry, ladies, newspeople&mdash;and sipping a beer as he patiently explained why it&rsquo;s not going to kill him if he doesn&rsquo;t score 50 goals this season.&ldquo;Look at how well this team is going,&rdquo; Hedberg said, referring to the best start the Rangers have had in four seasons. &ldquo;Individual statistics don&rsquo;t mean anything to me, as long as the team is playing well.&rdquo;The Rangers are indeed playing well, but to any cynics out there. Hedberg&rsquo;s statement may sound slightly disingenuous, coming as it does from someone who just loves to score goals&mdash;and was so good at it that he managed 236 in just four years in the WHA.Is Anders trying to pull the wool over our eyes? You might well ask. Listen to Rangers&rsquo; captain Dave Moloney&rsquo;s answer to that question: &ldquo;When Anders came to camp in September.&rdquo; Maloney says, &ldquo;I think a lot of us expected to see a guy running around saying, &lsquo;me, me, me&rsquo; all the time. But he didn&rsquo;t, and neither did Ulf Nilsson. All they&rsquo;ve done since they got here was talk about what was best for the team and what they could do to help the team the most. They&rsquo;re two of the most unselfish players I&rsquo;ve ever seen.&rdquo;They are also two of the most exciting players that spectators at Ranger hockey games have ever seen. While Nilsson often goes unnoticed and unappreciated by novice hockey watchers&mdash;mainly because his style is the less spectacular of the two&mdash;Hedberg draws roars of anticipation from the crowd practically every time he gets even near the puck, if any one players can be held responsible for changing the boos of last year to the &ldquo;ooooo&rsquo;s&rdquo; and &ldquo;aaaa&rsquo;s&rdquo; of this year, it would have to be Anders Hedberg.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-01974/3905072-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="528" height="2306"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02839/3905065-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1722" height="1175"><figcaption class="caption-body">Anders Hedberg says he isn&rsquo;t worrying half as much as other people are about scoring 50 goals in his first NHL season. He says he is a team player and as long as the Rangers are going wetland they are-then he feels he and his Swedish teammate, Ulf Nilsson, below, are doing their jobs. Most of their Ranger teammates are amazed at their unselfishness since they came to the team from the WHA. (Photos by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>Part of the fan reaction is due, of course, to the goal-scoring reputation which preceded Hedberg to New York. People know that if he has the puck in his possession and is anywhere near the opposing goal&hellip;something is going to happen.But Hedberg has something else, too, an intangible kind of on-ice charisma that is very hard to define but very easy to recognize. There are a lot of dangerous goal scorers in the National Hockey League, but very few of them can create nearhavoc in a crowd by merely touching the puck and starting to skate with it. Bobby Hull could; Bobby Orr could; Guy Lafleur does. So does Hedberg. No matter where it is on the ice, as soon as he puts his stick on the puck, an excited roar goes up front the crowd. As he darts up-ice, skating in strong, crisp strides, the pitch of the roar increases, and people lurch out of their seats, craming their necks for a better view. Lately, the only thing they&rsquo;ve been able to see is Hedberg being thwarted, by a hot goalie, a sprawling defenseman, or a broken play. A collective groan inevitably follows, and people return to their seats, shaking their heads in frustration&mdash;for themselves as much as Hedberg&mdash;and wondering when the &ldquo;Express&rdquo; is going to get on the track.&ldquo;Sure,&rdquo; Hedberg says, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to score more goals, and I know that the fans want to see me score goals. They&rsquo;ve been great to me, and I&rsquo;d like to pay them back in some way. But it&rsquo;s taken me a little bit longer than I expected to get used to the NHL. It&rsquo;s not that it&rsquo;s any tougher &hellip; it&rsquo;s just different; and checking is a little closer. Any time you go from one system in one league to a different system in another league, it takes a little time to adjust.&ldquo;I know a lot of people have been saying that I&rsquo;ve been trying to make the perfect play too often,&rdquo; Hedberg continued, &ldquo;and that I&rsquo;m overpassing too much and not shooting enough when I get the opportunities. Maybe that is part of it. Whatever it is. I&rsquo;m not worried about it and am sure that it will straighten itself out very soon.&rdquo;And when it does, can New Yorkers expect The Swedish Express to pull in at the end of the season with 50 goals?&ldquo;I&rsquo;d love it,&rdquo; Hedberg says with a laugh, &ldquo;but that&rsquo;s just not important to me. I didn&rsquo;t come to New York to score 50 goals. I came here to make a contribution, work hard, and be part of an improved team. As long as the team is winning, and I&rsquo;m contributing&hellip;that&rsquo;s all that really matters to me.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0003-01

Team Player First, Scorer Second Hedberg’s Philosophy As A Ranger

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011025/3905162-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="507" height="510"></div>&bull; ST. LOUIS Blues intend to take action against former player Chuck Lefley for breach of his contract with the NHL club. According to Blues&rsquo; general manager Emile Francis, the club&rsquo;s lawyers have been instructed to proceed with action against Lefley when he returns to Canada following the conclusion of the West German hockey season&hellip;Lefley quit the Blues just prior to the 1977-78 season, saying he was tired of hockey but ended up in Finland playing three months later. This year he signed to play with Dusseldorf in West Germany&rsquo;s First Division&hellip;Toronto Marlboros were reportedly offered $20,000 in developmental fees for Mark Napier who broke into professional hockey at the age of 18 with the Toronto Toros, Marlies, however, are seeking $72,000 for Napier in court&hellip;Each of the 10 referees in the National Hockey League will work a 68-game schedule this year with no preference in playing dates being given to the refs with the most experience&hellip;The league hopes that such a policy will curb complaints from NHL general managers about certain referees always appearing In the same arenas&hellip;The New York-Penn Major Hockey League, home of some of the finest junior hockey played in the United States, is starting its sixth year of operation with six teams playing a 50-game regular season schedule&hellip;Nice to see North Stars&rsquo; Harry Howell back behind the team&rsquo;s bench again.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-02981/3905155-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="289" height="527"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chuck Lefley</figcaption></div>&bull; IT WAS NOT a pleasant weekend for Harold Ballard in Montreal. The Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; owner arrived at the Forum to see his Leafs fall short in a comeback attempt, losing 3-2 after trailing 30 after one period. Earlier in the day, Ballard was at the Olympic Stadium where his Canadian Football League franchise, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats were also on the short end of the score, losing 35-20 to the Montreal Alouettes in the Eastern Conference semi-final&hellip;The province of Quebec will play host to the 1979 Memorial Cup, for the championship of Canadian Junior Hockey, although individual game sites for the first two games haven&rsquo;t been decided. Games Three and Four will be played in Sherbrooke, Games Five and Six in Verdun and the final will be held at the Montreal Forum&hellip;Norm Ferguson, who played professional hockey with Oakland in the National Hockey League and with New York Raiders and San Diego Mariners of the World Hockey Association has been named coach of the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League. He succeeds Wayne Tennant as coach of the junior club&hellip;Les Trois Denis, three players named Denis with the Montreal Juniors are the hottest line in junior hockey. Denis Cyr, Denis Savard, and Denis Trembley, were born in Verdun, Quebec on the same day, Feb. 4, 1961 and have played together as a line since they were nine years old&hellip; The Patrick Division in the NHL, usually a two-team battle between the Islanders and the Flyers has turned into the most heated rivalry in the league thanks to the fast starts by the Flames and the Rangers and the gradual warming up of the Islanders and the Flyers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03877/3905148-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="277" height="457"><figcaption class="caption-body">Harold Ballard</figcaption></div>&bull; THREE STAR SELECTIONS, one of the oldest traditions in hockey, which result in awarding of the Molson Cup in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver of the National Hockey League, have now been introduced to the 12 teams of the Ontario Major Junior League&hellip;There are five segments to the season and the winner of each segment receives a $100 gift certificate, while the overall winner from each team takes home the Molson Major A Cup&hellip;Detroit Red Wings drew 104,269 fans to their first seven home games this year, an increase of 18,043 over the same period last season&hellip;Philadelphia Flyers are in the familiar position of leading the NHL in shorthanded goals again. Both Bill Barber and Rick MacLeish with three goals for the Flyers while killing penalties, have as many shorthanded goals as any other team&hellip;The Moncton Hawks may be new to the American Hockey League, but the team isn&rsquo;t playing like rookies. After moving to the AHL from the Central League they shot out of the gate with only one loss in their first eight games&hellip;Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; general manager Larry Gordon feels Edmonton fans will be excited with watching budding super star Wayne Gretzky. &ldquo;He really is a spectacular talent,&rdquo; said Gordon about the 17-year-old purchased from Indianapolis&hellip;Many people wondering what&rsquo;s the matter with Detroit&rsquo;s Roger Vachon. Though he&rsquo;s faced less shots with the Wings than he did when toiling for the Los Angeles Kings, Vachon has been shaky on a number of occasions this year and let in quite a few soft goals.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04775/3905141-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="300" height="527"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Gordon</figcaption></div>&bull; DANNY GEOFFRION, beginning to gain confidence with the Quebec Nordiques of late, is still miffed when he thinks about the treatment accorded him after being selected, in the first round of the amateur draft by the Montreal Canadiens. Geoffrion said that he and his father, Bernie, a vice president with the Atlanta Flames, were insulted by not being offered a contract by Montreal for more than four weeks after the draft&hellip;Red Berenson, now an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues, was presented with a gold watch on Nov. 7 marking the 10th anniversary of his six-goal night against the Philadelphia Flyers. Toronto&rsquo;s Darryl Sittler, the last NHL player to score six goals in a game, made the presentation&hellip;Add the name of Peter Marsh to the growing list of Cincinnati Stinger sharpshooters. Marsh, not yet 22, is off to his best start ever in his third year with the Stingers&hellip;Reg Leach and Rene Robert are a pair of right wingers who have found things difficult the last few years after tearing up the NHL in scoring a few years back. Leach is showing some signs of his old self for Philadelphia, but Robert didn&rsquo;t have a point in Buffalo&rsquo;s first 11 games and didn&rsquo;t even dress for five of them&hellip;More and more teams seem to be carrying three goaltenders this year, though few are using all three in a regular rotation&hellip;NHL teams are also sticking with several extra forwards and defensemen longer this year, postponing final assignments well into the season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05636/3905134-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="290" height="526"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Marsh</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;The North Stars&rsquo; enthusiasm of regaining their offensive touch was somewhat dampened two days after Minnesota defeated the St. Louis Blues, 9-1.Team president John Karr and general manager Lou Nanne called the Minnesota North Stars into a closed meeting to inform them that coach Harry Howell was taking a medical leave of absence for additional heart tests.Glen Sonmor, the chief scout who coached the old Minnesota Fighting Saints and the Birmingham Bulls in the World Hockey Association and the University of Minnesota before that, stepped in to coach the team for an indefinite period.An abnormality was discovered during a routine physical examination which all North Star front office players take annually.&ldquo;During the routine course of an executive physical of coach Harry Howell, a stress electrocardiogram showed a result that was not completely normal,&rdquo; Nanne announced. &ldquo;As a consequence, Harry Howell will be admitted to a hospital for further tests and evaluation.&rdquo;Team doctors said Howell, 45, had no history of heart trouble and had not noted any symptons of an irregularity. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to find out what the abnormality is,&rdquo; said a team doctor. &ldquo;If things turn our normal&hellip;beautiful. If not, we&rsquo;ll treat it accordingly.&rdquo;Fortunately for all concerned, everything did check out as normal at the hospital and after missing just three games, Howell was able to resume his duties behind the North Stars&rsquo; bench.The North Stars were 2-4-2 before Howell was hospitalized and appeared to have solved some early season inconsistency with the 9-1 humiliation of the St. Louis Blues. Every player suiting up, except for Jim McKenny who was used sparingly, figured in the season-high offensive production.Howell, a Veteran of 21 NHL seasons, became coach of the North Stars after the merger of the Cleveland-Minnesota franchises. When Nanne was named GM by new owners George and Gordon Gund, Howell agreed to serve as coach after some deliberation.Sonmor, a colorful figure in Minnesota hockey circles the last decade, became chief scout of the North Stars before the merger and retained that title.When Howell was called into the hospital for further tests Sonmor said: &ldquo;Our No. 1 concern is that everything checks out well with Harry. I enjoy being behind the bench, but I do not enjoy the circumstances under which I return. Coaching is no burden to me. I&rsquo;m going to lean heavily on assistant coach Murray Oliver who has been with the team every day. One of the strengths of our organization is that people work well together. There are going to be a lot of discussions with Louie, Murray, Jack Gordon and John Mariucci.&rdquo;Told he could return to work for Minnesota&rsquo;s Nov. 10 contest in Vancouver, Howell said, &ldquo;The results lift an enormous weight from my mind. I&rsquo;m very impatient to get back to work.&rdquo;STAR DUST: Mike Polich and Jean Potvin triggered the 9-1 explosion over the Blues in their first games as North Stars after their recall from Oklahoma City. Polich assisted on the game&rsquo;s opening goal by Tom Younghans with a spectacular rush up the ice and back-to-back rebound shots before Younghans finished off. Potvin scored two goals in the game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-06388/3905193-1-eng-US/f0004-062.jpg" title="f0004-06" width="582" height="791"><figcaption class="caption-body">GLENSONMOR&hellip;Aided North Stars</figcaption></div>The Hockey NewsOFFICIAL NATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY FOUNDED 1947VOLUME 32, NUMBER 8, NOVEMBER 24,1978Kenneth W. McKenziePresident and Publisher.Charlie HalpinEditorial DirectorTom MurrayAssistant PublisherPeter EmersonVice-President SalesSuita 600, 55 University Ave., Toronto, Ont M5J 2H7, Telephone: (416) 361-0116Advertising Representatives:MontrealMary McCutcheon 1434 St. Catherine Street West, Suite 217 Montreal, Can. &bull; H3G 1R7 (514) 866-4841New York:Tom Murray 850 Third Ave. New York, N.Y. 10022 &bull; (212)593-2100Chicago:Hooper, Jones & Associates 3322 W. Peterson Avenue Chicago, III.60659 &bull; (312)478-5544Published weekly except monthly June through September by W. C.C. Publishing Ltd., 1434 St. Catherine Street West. Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7 &bull; (514) 866-4841 U.S. C/O W.C.C. Publishing Corp., 850 Third Ave. New-York, N.Y. 10022, (212) 593-2100.YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $11.95 in Canada, $12.95 in the U.S.A, and $17.25 In Foreign Countries. Second class postage paid at New York, N.Y. 10001 and at additional mailing offices. SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO 1434 ST. CATHERINE STREET WEST, SUITE 217, MONTREAL, CANADA H3G 1R7. Second Class mail Registration No. 1327. All inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should be addressed to Subscription Dept., The Hockey News, 1434 St. Catherine St. W., Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7, Printed in Canada. &#9632;

f0004-06

North Stars Give Sigh Of Relief — Howell Gets O.K.

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>BOSTON&mdash;Gerry Cheevers, G, returned to lineup from injury list. Jim Pettie, G, assigned to Rochester of AHL. Ab DeMarco, D, handed outright release.CHICAGO&mdash;Tim Higgins, RW, assigned to New Brunswick of AHL.COLORADO&mdash;Doug Favell, G. assigned to Philadelphia of AHL. Michel Plasse, G, recalled as replacement. Joe Watson, D, placed on disabled list for rest of season after suffering compound fracture of the leg. Don Awrey, D, purchased from Rangers in straight cash deal to replace Watson on roster. Merlin Malinowski, C, Paul Messier, C, and John McCahill, D, recalled from Philadelphia. Joe Contini, LW, and John Van Boxmeer, D. placed on injury list.DETROIT&mdash;Greg Joly, D, placed on disabled list with broken finger. Willie Huber, D, placed on disabled list with strained back. John Hilworth, D, recalled from Kansas City of CHL. Alan Stoneman, D, and Tom Ross, C, recalled from Kansas City and reassigned to Kalamazoo of IHL. Bjorn Skaare, LW, reassigned to Kansas City.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Bill Reber, RW, recalled from Tulsa of CHL for reassignment.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Rod Seiling, D, sold outright to Atlanta for cash. Ed Staniowski, G, Jack Brownschidle, D, Tony Currie, RW, and John Smrke, LW, recalled from Salt Lake of CHL. Doug Grant, G, Dick Lamby, D, Jamie Masters, D, Neil Komadoski, D, Bill Fairbairn, RW, all assigned to Salt Lake. Kevin Willison, D, recalled from Salt Lake and reassigned to Port Huron of IHL. Bruce Affleck, D, recalled from Salt Lake.TORONTO&mdash;Bruce Boudreau, C, recalled from New Brunswick of AHL.VANCOUVER&mdash;Curt Ridley, G, assigned to Dallas of CHL. Dave Morrow, RW, assigned to Fort Wayne of IHL.WASHINGTON&mdash;Bill Riley, RW, recalled from Hershey of AHL. Craig Patrick, LW, assigned to Tulsa of CHL on loan. Yvon Labre, D, placed on disabled list for four weeks with dislocated shoulder.<h2>WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.</h2>BIRMINGHAM&mdash;Wayne Wood, G, assigned to San Diego of PHL. Ernie Wakely, G, signed as free agent. Paul O&rsquo;Neil, RW, sent to Binghamton of AHL. Keith Crowder, RW, released to return to Peterborough of Ontario Major Junior Hockey League after completing pro tryout with Bulls. Crowder&rsquo;s return made by mutual agreement.CINCINNATI&mdash;Gordie Clark, C, assigned to Springfield of AHL. Darryl Maggs, RW, rejoined team after sitting out training camp. Sean Shanahan, RW, released outright.EDMONTON&mdash;Wes George, LW, traded to Indianapolis for future considerations. Dave Hunter, RW, assigned to Dallas of CHL. Jim Mayer, RW, recalled from Dallas.INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Larry Sacharuk, D, and Jerry Rollins, D, signed as free agents. Mike Messier, RW, signed to 10-game pro tryout. Kevin Morrison, D, sent to San Diego of PHL. &#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/f0005-01894/3905248-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE SHUTT&hellip;Not Worried About Goals (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;&ldquo;On my first shift on the ice, I shot the puck up over the crossbar. It hit the glass and came back and bounced off (Rogie) Vachon&rsquo;s back and dropped into the crease. I don&rsquo;t know how it didn&rsquo;t go into the net, but it was just there, right in the crease until somebody shot it out of there,&rdquo; explained Steve Shutt. &ldquo;And I said to myself. &lsquo;Oh, no! Here we go again.&rsquo;&rdquo;Shutt, author of 109 goals during the past two seasons as Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; left winger on the club&rsquo;s number one line laughed as he described the play. He had to laugh, otherwise he&rsquo;d be crying over the slow start he and his linemates Guy Lafleur and Jacques Lemaire have experienced. Especially Shutt.A 49-goal scorer last year, Shutt had but three goals in the Canadiens&rsquo; first 15 games of the current campaign, and none since Oct. 22, the sixth game of the season, when he had notched a pair.&ldquo;After having a so-so first half last year (19 goals) did you start to worry when you had only three goals after the first 10 games this year?&rdquo; Shutt was asked.&ldquo;I still have just three goals,&rdquo; Shutt laughingly protested, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s gonna come. We&rsquo;re starting to play better. We&rsquo;re looking like the line we were last year.&ldquo;I think maybe we were trying for too many home run plays,&rdquo; Shutt analyzed, &ldquo;trying to get the puck up to Guy on the long pass up the middle. If it worked, fine, but when it didn&rsquo;t, we had one guy caught way up the ice and the two others heading up ice while the other team was going in the opposite direction.Shutt was talking just inside the Canadiens&rsquo; mini-gym area of their dressing room and was repeatedly interrupted for congratulations for his two-assist effort in Montreal&rsquo;s 8-3 romp over Vachon and the Detroit Red Wings.Though credited with only one shot on goal, Shutt had several excellent scoring opportunities throughout the evening. Besides his high shot on the first shift, Shutt just missed to the far side on a partial breakaway attempt in the third period and in the middle frame had several swipes on two occasions on bouncing pucks near the crease with Vachon caught out of the net.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard enough to score when the puck is lying on the ice,&rdquo; said Shutt, &ldquo;never mind when it&rsquo;s bouncing around.&rdquo;Shutt had company in his frustrations with Lemaire, who missed the Detroit game with the flu, but hadn&rsquo;t scored in his last five games and Lafleur, who was the first to get untracked after opening the season with only two goals in seven games. The blond streak Lafleur, popped in a backhander after a relay from Shutt for his fourth goal in his last half dozen outings, and had climbed into the Top 10 among league scorers.&ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t controlling the puck enough,&rdquo; Shutt said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not big guys who are going to go into the corners and take the puck away from the other team so we have to hang onto it and make our plays from there. We didn&rsquo;t do that earlier in the year, but now we&rsquo;re playing better and playing together instead of as individuals.&ldquo;Last year I spent a lot of time worrying about this and that,&rdquo; Shutt related. &ldquo;But it just makes you press more on the ice and then you can&rsquo;t seem to do anything right. All it&rsquo;s gonna do is give you an ulcer and you&rsquo;re still not gonna score any goals.&ldquo;Just keeping plugging away&hellip;it&rsquo;ll come,&rdquo; he said.The eight-goal explosion by the Canadiens came on the heels of a 6-0 blitzing of the Washington Capitals and coach Scotty Bowman, employing four lines and five defensemen, was pleased with the scoring balance as well as quantity.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve spread it around quite well,&rdquo; stated Bowman.Indeed, through 15 games the Canadiens had received 14 goals from the Lemaire-Lafleur-Shutt line, 14 goals from the Doug Risebrough-Yvon Lambert-Mario Tremblay ensemble, and 13 goals from the Pierre Mondou-Rejean Houle-Yvan Cournoyer trio. What&rsquo;s more, Habs&rsquo; defensemen, led by Guy Lapointe with six markers, had contributed another 11 goals to the offense.In the space of nine days in November the Canadiens had improved their record from 4-4-1 to 9-4-2 and revived their offense to the point where they ranked third in average in the NHL in goals for.Watch out when Shutt and Lemaire begin finding the range. &#9632;

f0005-01

Shaky Start Not Bothering Shutt As Canadiens Get Scoring Balance

Bobby Hull&rsquo;s retirement affected everyone associated with hockey. The Golden Jet was a person who made an impression on people. HOCKEY NEWS columnist Bob Verdi tells how he feels about one of the Great Ones of hockey.<h2>He Lifted Crowds</h2>IT WAS A HOT AFTERNOON in May of 1972. Great summer day, yet not so great at all. Not if you had spent any time watching the Black Hawks, or any time watching Bobby Hull.&ldquo;What&rsquo;s goind on?&rdquo; a mild mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper said in an early morning telephone call.&ldquo;Funny that you ask,&rdquo; chuckled The Golden Jet. &ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you come over for breakfast. I have something for you to chew on.&rdquo;An hour or so later, over toast and coffee and the whir of kids running in and out of the kitchen, the big guy laid the cards on the table. His new home, come winter time, would be Winnipeg Jets, World Hockey Association.No more of those patented takeoffs from the red line, puck in tow, speedometer racing. No more of those big windups. No more of those shots heard round the world, whether they went in or not. No more of those ovations which started the minute he hit the ice and emanated from every seat, because in those days, because of him, every seat had a seat in it.&ldquo;There was nothing like him,&rdquo; said Stan Mikita, a onetime teammate, gazing out into nowhere last week when the news hit. Bobby Hull was retiring from the game that he&rsquo;d put on Chicago&rsquo;s map. All of a sudden, people started talking about him as though he were dead. It&rsquo;s that way with the great ones.&ldquo;He could lift a crowd up like nobody else. You&rsquo;d be losing a 1-0 hockey game like we were here last week, and somehow, sometime, Bobby would do something to get you going. He just had that quality. Same in the locker room. He would just light it up. Funny man. Great, quick wit if you got to know him.&ldquo;But he did a hell of a lot more than just that. Every player on every team should bow down to him. On their knees. He did more for us than any player in history. When he went to the other league, I know my salary almost doubled. Nobody else could have done that, or did it.&rdquo;<h2>Owes Game Nothing</h2>THE CAUSES FOR HULL&rsquo;S departure from Chicago&mdash;the contract hassles, the acrimony, the midnight accusations&mdash;have been well chronicled. And the reasons for his apparent retirement are his business. He owes us, the hockey fans, nothing.He scored goals that were never scored before, he scored them with his jaw wired and his weight down and with three guys draped over him. He filled buildings that were never filled before and never have been filled again, including Chicago Stadium. And, bigger than life though he was, he always remembered the little people.&ldquo;He was a superstar,&rdquo; said Hawks&rsquo; trainer Lou Varga, &ldquo;but you wouldn&rsquo;t have known it. Never any complaining, never any aggravation. The greatest.&rdquo;Dan Moulton, a Chicago Tribune reporter who covered Hull during those halcyon-days, could have cited this goal or that goal as a memory of the big guy. But no.&ldquo;What I remember most about him was when we were sitting in the Toronto airport one time on a layover between flights,&rdquo; recalled Moulton. &ldquo;People began recognizing Bobby Hull. Everywhere you went in the airport you kept hearing the name, &lsquo;Bobby Hull, Bobby Hull.&rsquo; Within a few minutes, they had to set up a special desk for Hull to sit at. And the people lined up, hundreds of them, children and adults, to say hello to Bobby Hull or get his autograph.&rdquo;<h2>Loved The People</h2>THAT WAS MODUS OPERANDI for Hull. Before every game in the hotel lobbies, after every game in stadium lobbies, he was like fly paper, like the Pied Piper.&ldquo;Can I have your autograph, Mr. Hull?&rdquo; the little girl said.&ldquo;What&rsquo;s your name?&rdquo; he&rsquo;d say.&ldquo;Catherine,&rdquo; she&rsquo;d say, blushing.&ldquo;And now do you spell that?&rdquo; he&rsquo;d smile &ldquo;With a CoraK?&rdquo;Best salesman the game ever had, maybe the best the game will ever have. Chicago&rsquo;s loss was Winnipeg&rsquo;s gain and now, if the retirement sticks, if he doesn&rsquo;t get one more impulse at age 39, Winnipeg&rsquo;s loss is everybody&rsquo;s loss.Six years ago, over toast and coffee and the whir of kids running in and out of the kitchen, he left the Black Hawks, The Black Hawks never have been the same. But there&rsquo;s not much to say about Bobby Hull now or to Bobby Hull. Except one thing.Thanks. &#9632;

Hull Left His Mark On Hockey Wherever He Played The Game

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011057/3905331-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="362" height="488"></div><h2>Highlights Of A Great Career</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02815/3905324-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="1153" height="610"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby as a brillant junior before going on to the NHL with the Black Hawks and his first serious injury, a broken jaw.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03570/3905317-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="1157" height="813"><figcaption class="caption-body">In 1966 he won both the Ross and Hart Trophies after earlier sparking Chicago&rsquo;s last Stanley Cup championship season in 1961.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04381/3905310-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="1159" height="1042"><figcaption class="caption-body">Winning the Patrick Trophy in 1969 for his contributions to hockey in the United States made his dad a happy man.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05309/3905303-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="1157" height="814"><figcaption class="caption-body">When Bobby and his family moved to the WHA in 1972 It took a million dollar oversized check to lure him a way from the N.H.L.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0006-01

HOCKEY TALK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06216/3905362-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0006-06

Bobby Hull’s Lifetime Statistics

<div class="byline">-BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011047/3905438-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="424" height="478"></div><h2>Tuscarora Toughie&hellip;</h2>HOWARD JONATHAN is the 92-year-old chief of the Tuscarora Indians at the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario. Grandson Stanley is the little sparkplug of the Bruins of Boston in the National Hockey League. It is not specifically correct to call Stan small. He is only five-foot-eight, but weighs 180 pounds. He is built like a beer keg with little legs that keep churning up and down the ice and arms that keep punching people.Stanley bit such a big piece out of Andre &ldquo;The Moose&rdquo; Dupont last season in the playoffs with the Flyers that coach Don Cherry, who detests violence, of course, sometimes plays a tape of the fight for fun. Jonathan also tangled triumphantly with Keith &ldquo;Bow Legs&rdquo; Magnuson, David &ldquo;The Hammer&rdquo; Schultz, and Larry &ldquo;The Giant&rdquo; Robinson.He checked consistently, threw in 27 goals, and, all in all, was so well regarded in New England that he was voted The Seventh Player Award as the least recognized star of the team, and shared The Gallery Gods&rsquo; Eddie Shore Trophy for excellence in home games. He was a terror on the road, too.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-02941/3905431-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="835" height="818"><figcaption class="caption-body">Although Boston&rsquo;s Stan Jonathan is a whirlwind on the ice, he likes to relax during the summers with boating and fishing and takes his family to the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario where he was born. (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;You wouldn&rsquo;t think he would be, but he&rsquo;s just one hell of a hockey player, the kind who makes good teams out of ordinary teams,&rdquo; says Cherrv, who delights in telling people how ordinary his players are and how good they play. Well, even among the ordinary likes of Brad Park, Jean Ratelle, and the rest, Stan Jonathan is an extraordinary young man.He was born in Brantford, Ontario, in September of 1955. He was reared on the reservation where six tribes reside. His father, Stanley, Sr., and mother, Mazie, both are full-blooded Tuscaroras, and so, then, are their 14 children. Stanley was the 11th of nine sisters and five brothers.He says, &ldquo;We had a house. Nothing fancy, but all right. Everyone has houses. The reservation is 12 miles by 12 miles. In 144 square miles, there&rsquo;s lots of room for the 6,000 people who live there. It&rsquo;s wooded country. The Grand Rivers runs through it.&ldquo;IT&rsquo;S BEAUTIFUL AND PEACEFUL and I like to go back there every summer. My wife, Cathy, and children, Carl and Brandi, and 1. We go boating and fish. We relax. We really like the life. And we enjoy being with our people.&ldquo;I lived on the reservation through the eighth grade. I had to go off it and go into town to go to high school. I ran into a little prejudice. Not a lot, but a little. There are people who are prejudiced against other people&mdash;Blacks, Latins, Indians. They say things. You hear things. You learn not to bother with people like that. You can&rsquo;t fight everyone.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m proud to be a full-blooded Indian. I&rsquo;ve had no major problems. If I did, I&rsquo;d just try to overcome them. I think maybe an Indian has to do a little better than the next person to make his way in the world. He has to work a little harder to prove himself. It&rsquo;s not fair, but there it is. We are poor, but proud people. Not exactly poor. We had enough to get by. And it&rsquo;s getting better.&rdquo;Many of the working men from the reservation go into the town to work construction gangs, doing the high-iron work. The Mohawks are known for it and the Tuscaroras are associated with them. Indians are regarded as brave and sure-footed. Just as all blacks are supposed to have rhythm, I suppose.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why that is,&rdquo; Stan admits, laughing. &ldquo;We got the reputation and we get the work, so we do it. It&rsquo;s dangerous work, but well-paying. You can make 12 to 15 dollars an hour. It&rsquo;s been hard for an Indian to get a good education and get good work, in Canada as in the U.S., so we&rsquo;re happy to get it.&ldquo;MY FATHER WORKS the high-steel. I did for four years, starting when I was 16. It&rsquo;s scary when you first go up, but you get used to it. You don&rsquo;t want to get too used to it. You want to keep careful and not take chances. You are walking on narrow beams up close to the sky, but there really aren&rsquo;t many accidents.&ldquo;Like plane crashes, what accidents there are aren&rsquo;t good,&rdquo; he grins.He says he&rsquo;s happier in hockey. &ldquo;Some of us get into it,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I played junior in Peterborough. I have a brother, Keith, who is playing for New Hampshire in the Eastern League. I&rsquo;m not a natural. I went to Dayton in the International League and no one thought I&rsquo;d make it to the National League. But I worked hard and Boston bought me up and this is my third year here,&rdquo; says the surprising star who was only the 86th choice in the 1975 draft.&ldquo;I like life in Boston. My family and I are treated well. We rent a place and live quietly. There&rsquo;s not a lot of time, but it&rsquo;s a historic town and we&rsquo;ve toured it a little. But we both look forward to the summers at home. We&rsquo;ve bought a house right in the village and it suits us as a summer house. Each resident is entitled to some of the land and I own about 70 acres on the reservation I can build on or develop in time. It&rsquo;s so pleasant there I don&rsquo;t feel like we&rsquo;re closed off from the world. Anyway, one of the advantages of being an Indian is you&rsquo;re free to travel in North America. I don&rsquo;t need passports and immigration papers to travel between the U.S. and Canada. I don&rsquo;t even need licenses to hunt or fish.&rdquo;He&rsquo;s very lucky. &#9632;

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03794/3905469-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DENIS HERRON&hellip; Object Of Pittsburgh Boo-Birds (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Although Pittsburgh Penguins coach Johnny Wilson calls the 1978-79 Pittsburgh Penguins &ldquo;the best team I have ever coached in the National Hockey League,&rdquo; their record through the first 11 games of the season of 1-8-2 was the worst in the NHL.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never coached a team who played so well and not come up with any points,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;It seems like we&rsquo;re snakebit.&rdquo;Wilson, who is in the second year of a three-year contract with Pittsburgh, previously coached in the NHL with Detroit, Los Angeles and Colorado.A typical example of the Penguins frustrating start to the season came in their seventh game at home against the St. Louis Blues. With the Penguins leading 5-4 with less than two minutes remaining in the game, the Blues pulled their goaltender in favor of a sixth attacker. George Ferguson promptly stole the puck and scored into the empty net to give Pittsburgh a seemingly insurmountable 6-4 lead with 1:01 left in the game.St. Louis took the ensuing faceoff and worked the puck into the Penguin zone. Brian Sutter beat Pittsburgh goaltender Denis Herron with less than 30 seconds left in the game, and that goal brought the Blues to within a goal, 6-5. The Blues pulled their goaltender again, and when Bernie Federko shoveled the puck past Herron into the net with 11 seconds left, the Penguins had blown a two goal lead in less than 30 seconds. They left the ice with a frustrating 6-6 tie instead of an almost sure win, and were roundly booed by the Civic Arena crowd.Herron had been in goal for the first nine games of the season for Pittsburgh, and played badly only in the St. Louis tie, despite the team&rsquo;s record.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not satisfied with the way I&rsquo;ve played this season,&rdquo; said Herron. &ldquo;But, I&rsquo;m optimistic. I&rsquo;ve been working hard in practice. I&rsquo;ve got to learn to stay up more, and not go down so quickly on shots.&rdquo;Herron, whose goals-against-average was an even 4.00 through the first nine games, watched the tenth game against the Washington Capitals from the bench.Rookie goaltender Greg Millen made his NHL debut as the Penguins lost 6-4. Millen appeared nervous in the first period of his first professional game, and allowed three goals on shots which were not the hardest ones he will ever face. He settled down after the first period, and gave up only two more goals, with the final Capital goal being scored into an empty net.Herron was back in the nets for the next game, however, as the Penguin losing streak reached four games in a 20 whitewash at Atlanta.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not having much trouble with the first shot this season,&rdquo; said Herron. &ldquo;But, the second and third shots are giving me trouble. That&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;ve got to concentrate on staying up more. A lot of the goals I have given up this season have been on rebounds, the second or third shot. I have been going down too much on the first shot, and have been out of position to stop the rebounds.&rdquo;Herron played extremely well last season and was selected to Team Canada, which played in the World Hockey Tournament in Prague. This season, however, he is the scapegoat of some of the Civic Arena fans, and has been the target of some booing.&ldquo;Each year at the beginning of the season, I get booed,&rdquo; said Herron. &ldquo;I try to not let it affect me. Some people, no matter how well I play, are going to boo me anyway when I go into the nets to start a game or a period.&ldquo;Last year it was the same thing. People say &lsquo;Denny played well,&rsquo; but I still hear the boos.Herron, who is used to a constant bombardment of pucks, is having some trouble adjusting to the Penguins&rsquo; new style of play.&ldquo;I am trying harder to concentrate this season,&rdquo; Herron said. &ldquo;This year with all of the new players we have, I am not seeing the number of shots I used to see. I have to adapt to that. In other seasons it was easy to constantly be in the game, because I always faced a lot of shots. This year I have to concentrate more, because we are controlling the puck much more, and I don&rsquo;t face as many shots.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-03

Wilson Wondering Why Pens So Bad With Such Talent

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011012/3905500-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="573" height="699"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL WIRTZ&hellip;Seeks Esposito</figcaption></div>CHICAGO&mdash;Forget the possibility of Bobby Hull returning to the Black Hawks, Ever.But, by all means, do not dismiss the possibility of Phil Esposito returning.And that, folks, is the view from the top.&ldquo;Bobby Hull isn&rsquo;t going anyplace&hellip;he&rsquo;s going to stay in Winnipeg and probably play hockey again,&rdquo; said Black Hawk team president Bill Wirtz. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s done the same thing before. Retire for personal reasons. Straighten it out. Then go back on ice.&ldquo;It will happen again, I&rsquo;m sure. Bobby said a couple days ago he&rsquo;s quitting, but I know him too well for that. And even if he doesn&rsquo;t there&rsquo;s no way Chicago or any other National Hockey League team can touch him. He&rsquo;s under contract to the Jets for four more years.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s making $250,000 a year there and for him to leave, if he wanted to, he&rsquo;d have to be waived out of the league. Don&rsquo;t forget, every team in the WHA chipped in to the million bucks he got up front. So he&rsquo;s not going to leave. He&rsquo;ll be playing again for Winnipeg. Watch.On the other hand, Wirtz allows, a change of address from the New York Rangers for Esposito might be possible.&ldquo;Phil is the most underrated hockey player in the NHL,&rdquo; said Wirtz. &ldquo;Why, I don&rsquo;t know. But in that 1972 tournament against the Soviet Union, he could be the best hockey player in the world.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s 36 now, but he can still play. And if he wants a change, then we&rsquo;d be very interested in talking about him, sure. He might be a fine addition to the Black Hawks, and we&rsquo;d have to dig in our jeans to pay him. But 3ve did that for a lot of players, even though you wouldn&rsquo;t know it by what the newspapers say.&rdquo;Thus, did Wirtz re-enter the subject of Hull and the annual puffs of smoke that he&rsquo;s returning to Chicago, whence he left in 1972.&ldquo;You&rsquo;d think we&rsquo;d be seeing stories about the respectable team Bob Pulford and Bobby Orr are putting together, but instead you read about Bobby Hull coming back,&rdquo; Wirtz said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been seven years since he left, and it&rsquo;s getting a little tiring because we keep coming out the bad guy.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t push Bobby Hull to leave. We offered him the finest contract in the National Hockey League at the time, and if he had stayed, he&rsquo;d be making twice what he&rsquo;s now making ih the other league. But he got advice, bad advice, and he left.&ldquo;He also got a million bucks as a signing bonus from all the teams in the league, and that&rsquo;s a million bucks we couldn&rsquo;t match. It was illegal. Bobby didn&rsquo;t want to leave Chicago. Everybody said we made a mistake. Weil, maybe Bobby made one, too.&rdquo;Wirtz disclaimed a wire service quotation attributed to him after Hull&rsquo;s announcement. In it, the Hawks president promised that &ldquo;Bobby Hull would never play a National HockeyLeague game in Chicago Stadium if he&rsquo;s not in a Black Hawk uniform.&rdquo;&ldquo;I never said that,&rdquo; Wirtz crowed. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just another case of somebody making up a quote. But it&rsquo;s not that important, anyway, because it&rsquo;s not going to come to a question of the Black Hawks or any other National Hockey League team negotiating with Bobby.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s either retired from playing or playing, but whatever it is, he&rsquo;s in Winnipeg. I don&rsquo;t understand why he goes around knocking hockey or saying that it isn&rsquo;t what it used to be. The National Hockey League is losing $20 million a year. We don&rsquo;t need talk like that.&ldquo;When Bobby Hull was here, he was the greatest spokesman, the greatest salesman, the sport ever had. But he&rsquo;s gone, and I&rsquo;ll never knock him, and if anybody in our organization knocks him, he&rsquo;s fired. But he&rsquo;s in Winnipeg and we can&rsquo;t touch him Period. &#9632;

f0009-01

Hull’s Return To Hawks Ruled Out, But Wirtz Admits Interest In Espo

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011034/3905531-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div>DO YOU HAVE AN OPINION ON HOCKEY?Write to:FAN FORUM,The Hockey News,1434 St. Catherine St., W.,Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7<h2>Hockey Fans Are World&rsquo;s Greatest</h2>I recently read in Fan Forum where 6,000 fans in Houston, Texas, will surely miss having professional ice hockey in their town. It seems every printing of THE HOCKEY NEWS features a fan expressing a grievance towards the loss of hockey in their town. This backs up a feeling I have had for years&mdash;that ice hockey fans are the greatest fans in the world.I have read several letters from Charlotte pleading for the return of the sport. So I figured I would join in the barrage, since I am a long-time fan of the old Charlotte Checkers. Take a head count hockey world. Just 6,000 people account for only a portion of Charlotte&rsquo;s hockey loyalists.DAVE WILLIAMS,Matthews, N.C.<h2>What About The Black Hawks?</h2>What&rsquo;s the matter with the sportswriters not saying anything about the Chicago Black Hawks after they ended the Boston Bruins undefeated streak at five, thus leaving only the Hawks and the Atlanta Flames the only two undefeated teams in the league. After the Hawks beat Boston 6-5, I thought the papers would have headlines reading &ldquo;Chicago and Atlanta Only Undefeated Teams In NHL,&rdquo; but instead I read: &ldquo;Flames Burning Up NHL With Undefeated Streak.&rdquo; After reading part of the article, I found a sentence saying the Hawks remained unbeaten as well.The Hawks deserve more credit than they&rsquo;re getting in our papers. All you see in the papers is about Atlanta and nothing about the Hawks, Chicago may not have scored as many goals as Atlanta and they may not have won against the big teams (Canadiens, Flyers) but they still managed to remain unbeaten.Last year the Flames and the Hawks had their streak and got the recognition they deserved, but not this year, for the Hawks anyway. Last year the Hawks surprised everyone as a team to beat and weren&rsquo;t an easy win as in other years.The Hawks&rsquo; first game of the year was a 4-4 tie with Atlanta and was one of the best games I have heard broadcasted on the radio. Let&rsquo;s hear it for the Hawks.TIM BRANT,Deseronto, Ont.<h2>Who&rsquo;s Responsible For Kings&rsquo; Poor Drafts?</h2>I have been a fan of the Los Angeles Kings since their inception and feel it is time to speak out on the Kings&rsquo; policy of giving away Number I draft choices.If you look at the success of teams such as the Islanders, Flyers and Sabres these clubs were built on draft choices. The key players on the Atlanta Flames, the most recent power in the NHL, are also high draft picks.I suppose after all is said and done, I should be happy the Kings drafted such low picks as Butch Foring and Dave Taylor.Do I place the blame on the likes of Larry Regan, Jake Milford, and recent GM (George) Maguire, or were they just pawns for Jack Kent Cooke?MIKE EINSTEIN,Baldwin Park, Ca.<h2>Santa Claus On HOCKEY NEWS Cover</h2>I was intrigued by the cover photo on the November 10 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS. Could that really be Santa Claus lurking behind Bryan Trottier?THE HOCKEY NEWS is top priority reading for me. Thanks for your many fine articles and action photos. Keep it coming.LEE SCH APPELL,Reading, Pa.<h2>Post-Game Showdown Not Fair Solution</h2>In reference to a letter written by Ron Rumbolt (Nov. 10, 1978), I say he is wrong.How can he say a showdown would be fair to the two teams that were locked in a defensive struggle all night and then have it blown apart in a wide open contest. This would eliminate many of the skills that make hockey such a great sport, including checking, team work, passing, etc.Hockey is a team sport. It is not fair to decide a game by showdown. Teams like Montreal and Buffalo would have a big advantage over defensive teams like Boston and Chicago because of all the gunners they possess.I&rsquo;ll admit showdown is exciting but I believe it sould be reserved for between period entertainment on Hockey Night in Canada.MICHAEL DeWITT,Montreal, Que.<h2>Hockey Players Know Their Responsibilities</h2>With respect to the letter from Richard L. Saphir, M.D. of New York City in the October 6 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, I must take the side of team physicians and the owners of professional hockey teams.Although the days of skating before the first exhibition games are usually short, professional hockey players know full well the responsibilities that fall on their shoulders when training camp begins. Most of them have spent many hours of jogging and calisthenics before reporting to camp, and the great majority of professional hockey players (in the American Hockey League and certainly in the National Hockey League) have already spent at least two weeks on the ice strengthening and stretching the muscles and ligaments that have been dormant during the summer.The most impressive item in our own training camp this year was the excellent physical condition that the players reported in. Even the players that are now making their home in Binghamton, N.Y. have found time to skate for several weeks prior to training camp and our former trainer, Peter Millar, now a trainer with the Edmonton Oilers, has a program of exercises and jogging that the players usually begin sometime in the summer.Hockey players are certainly professional athletes and know full well the rigors involved in this very physical sport. They certainly do not want to be disabled before the season begins and therefore, are usually very compliant, eager to take part in pre-training camp exercises and skating programs.JOEL J. SCHNURE, M.D.Team PhysicianBinghamton Dusters<h2>Requests Highlights From Other Games</h2>I would like to discuss the intermission features shown to Montreal hockey fans. With the progression that has evolved in telecommunications, how can hockey not cater to the spectator?Other professional sports telecasts are able to show you the highlights of all the games being played. At halftime, the NFL is capable of showing all the outstanding plays and scores that have occurred in other games. When division races are close to being determined in the American and National baseball leagues, we get fantastic coverage of all important games.I do appreciate the fact that the hockey format calls for highlights of the game being shown, but instead of having analysts spending five to 10 minutes often harping on a play, we could be seeing what is going on in other games.If you want to sell a product, you must market it. The best way to market the goods would be by satisfying the people who are interested in your product. On Saturday evenings we always get a five or 10 minute coverage from Toronto, but this isn&rsquo;t the type of total coverage I&rsquo;m talking about.This idea might be costly, but if satisfaction for the customer is restored, the overall outlook might be good. I hope one day the NHL will follow other sports patterns and push the product more than is presently being demonstrated.JIM BLOTSKY,Montreal, Que.<h2>New York Franchise Could Make WHA Successful.</h2>What is the answer to the question of success for the World Hockey Association? A New York franchise. With both of New York facilities occupied, the only solution is to place a franchise in the proposed New Jersey Meadowlands Arena scheduled to hold the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association.It&rsquo;s sad but true that without New York media exposure, a team, league or player is limited in the publicity that it receives. The Meadowlands Sports Complex is one of the finest such recreation centers in North America. I hope that the WHA Board of Trustees considers this location for one of its franchises.DEAN LADOUCEUR,Southfield, MI.<h2>Unfair Procedure For Vezina Trophy Award</h2>I read newspapers and hockey books often and I don&rsquo;t like the way the Vezina Trophy is given to the goalie with the best average every year.My reason is that goalies like Dryden, Parent, Resch, get a very low number of shots each game (20-30), while goalies like Herron and Bouchard get a lot of shots on goal each game (30-40) and come up with respectable averages, but can&rsquo;t win the Vezina.I think if they judged the Vezina by the amount of shots on net and the number of goals allowed, you could tell who really is the best goalie.JAKE ROSEBURGH,Parry Sound, Ont.<h2>Hockey Viewers Should Start Protest</h2>In the Oct.13 issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, NHL president John Ziegler stated that the NHL-Soviet All Star Series would be telecast in the United States on a &ldquo;highlight basis&rdquo; only. This is an outrage that the American hockey fan should be treated this way.I urge every American reader of THE HOCKEY NEWS to write to their local television station which normally carries hockey telecasts in any capacity and demand to know why the NHL-Soviet Series is not important enough to broadcast.I, for one, am sick and tired of being told that there cannot be more NHL and WHA telecasts because some &ldquo;scientific&rdquo; rating system says so. It is time for every hockey fan to become vocal and swamp the television stations with letters and phone calls and let the stations know that there are a lot more hockey viewers out there than any poll ever showed.I also resent president Ziegler&rsquo;s acceptance of this situation and think he should work harder to get a contract with a U.S. network.STEPHEN M. McCluskey,Hopewell Junction, N.Y. &#9632;

f0010-01

FAN FORUM

MONTREAL&mdash;Hockey Mate&rsquo;s super puck passing and shooting machine will again be featured on Hockey Night in Canada&rsquo;s Showdown television series this season.Rene Pelletier, president of Hockey Mate International, disclosed recently that the puck shooting machine being used on the HN1C TV series is just one of 38 in operation throughout Canada, the United States and Europe.Pelletier also revealed that his firm has sold Hockey Mate machines to the Czech National team, two to Swiss teams and one to Japan.Pelletier also wanted to clear up any misconception about the Hockey Mate machine. &ldquo;Many people are under the impression the machine is only for goaltenders. On the contrary,&rdquo; says Pelletier. &ldquo;Hockey Mate can be used by goalers, forwards, defense and for team practices. It is also ideal for staging goalkeeper tournaments,&rdquo; he added.Hockey Mate has an excellent 174-page instructional book on the market, which retails for $7.95 plus 60 cents, for postage and handling, and anyone interested in the benefits of the puck shooting machine can buy a book by writing Hockey Mate International, Inc., P.O. Box 1423, Place Bonaventure, Montreal, Que., H5A 1R4.Pelletier&rsquo;s Hockey Mate machines have already, won world wide acclaim. The Soviets were anxious to try one out when they came here for the 1972 Super Series, and again in 1975 and 1976.Pelletier figures his machine can create more than 80 drills for a hockey team and says it is invaluable for a coach. who finds himself strapped for time on the ice. &#9632;

Hockey Mate Featured On TV Showdown Series

<h2>Wings&rsquo; Lindsay A Man With Class</h2>I would like to tell hockey fans everywhere about a man with a lot of class; a general manager of a successful team that packs them in for every game since he turned the franchise around, and still is a big enough person to help a handful of average fans, destitute since their NHL bubble burs! when the Barons left Cleveland after an inglorious two years, obtain tickets Io the Red Wings opener and welcome the new season with their adopted team.This man, no stranger to the hockey world, a fiery player on the old Production Line in the Wing&rsquo;s Stanley Cup days of the &lsquo;50&rsquo;s with Abel, Delvecchio and Gordie Howe, and now an executive who delivered the goods with aggressive hockey, is of course, Ted Lindsay. Red Wings fans have known they had a quality guy guiding their organization, but I would just like to say there are a few Clevelanders who are now aware of that fact and I hope our number grows in the future.Our group plans to get to at least 15 games this season; perhaps in the future enough Clevelanders may get interested to bus a load of fans to Wings games, but the whole spirit was made possible by a man who was big enough to care about a few orphans in another state, despite the fact he had no shortage of paying fans for his team.Thanks, Ted, and there&rsquo;ll be more and more Clevelanders behind the Red Wings in the years ahead. NHL hockey will never die in our hearts, and we wish your (and our) Wings the best and future Cups.WILLIAM T. McCRODEN,GARY A. SPERLING,CHARLES A. BARBER,Cleveland, OH. &#9632;

LETTER OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-01990/3905610-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="581" height="1181"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAUL HARRISON&hellip;Notches First Win</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;The Toronto Maple Leafs are slowly learning that a team which plays with muscle and aggressiveness in the National Hockey League must have a couple of other qualities.Poise and good penalty-killing are necessities if a team is going to take a bellicose approach.Belligerence leads to penalties, often more than the offending team figures it should draw&mdash;and the Leafs are discovering that if they want to play tough, physical hockey and lead the NHL in penalty minutes as they are doing this season, then they must be prepared to pay the price.On the Leafs&rsquo; recent six-game road trip they encountered problems with penalties and holding their poise, and tongues, in the face of the calls.Against the Kings in Los Angeles, the Leafs drew all four penalties in the third period but were able to take a 4-2 decision. At Vancouver, they had the majority of the sentences but killed them well for a 3-1 win.But in a game against the Colorado Rockies at Denver, the Leafs paid the wages of sin. The Toronto team held a 4-1 lead early in the second period, then drew five consecutive minor penalties plus a game misconduct to Dave Hutchison for an over-strong protest complete with a few gestures. The Rockies produced three power play goals for a 4-4 tie.Veteran Rockie defenseman Joe Watson, who joined the team from Philadelphia Flyers this season, had a small word of advice for the Leafs.&ldquo;We had a tough, physical team in Philadelphia and some nights, we&rsquo;d take seven penalties in a row,&rdquo; Watson said. &ldquo;When that happens a team just has to bite the bullet, keep the old mouths shut and work harder to kill them off. The Leafs have a good physical team now and that style of hockey makes it tough to avoid penalties. But you have to keep your poise when it happens and not get upset about it.&rdquo;Leaf coach Roger Neilson had two meetings with his players after the Denver game and the subject of staying cool was the main topic of the discussions.&ldquo;We did lose our poise a little against the Rockies and worry more about the referee than killing their power-play,&rdquo; Neilson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not so much the penalties the refs have called against us as the ones they haven&rsquo;t been calling against the other teams.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no way the penalties should have been 5-0 in the second period. The Rockies should have had a couple.&ldquo;I just talked to the players about staying cool in that situation and getting the job done.&rdquo;LEAF NOTES: The win over the Canucks was the first of the season for Leafs&rsquo; back-up goalie Paul Harrison and his mates mobbed him at the final bell. He&rsquo;d been a loser in his four previous matches but the club hadn&rsquo;t offered him great support&hellip;&rdquo;We really wanted that win for Paul because he&rsquo;d played so well in his other games,&rdquo; said Leaf winger Lanny McDonald. &ldquo;He&rsquo;d held us in three of them much longer than we deserved to be but we didn&rsquo;t get him the goals.&rdquo;&hellip;Already missing winger Ron Ellis and defenseman Dave Burrows until December with knee injuries, the Leafs lost center Gary Monahan for two weeks with a cracked bone in his foot. Bruce Boudreau was summoned from the New Brunswick Hawks of the American league as his replacement. &#9632;

f0011-01

Aggressive Play Rebounds On Leafs

<div class="byline">BY FRED PIETILA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02841/3905641-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="587" height="672"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL OLESCHUK&hellip;Wants To Stick</figcaption></div>DENVER&mdash;Sure, Bill Oleschuk was happy with his first National Hockey League shutout, a 1-0 victory over the Minnesota North Stars in Bloomington.But the six-foot-three, 195-pound Colorado Rockies goalie looked at the shutout as more of a stepping stone to better things&mdash;like a steady position on the team.Called the Rockies&rsquo; &ldquo;goalie of the future&rdquo; the past two seasons, Oleschuk finally stuck with the club when training camp broke as the No. 2 goalie behind Doug Favell.In training camp, the 23-year-old fourth-year pro wasn&rsquo;t certain what the Rockies&rsquo; plans for him were. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; the personable and quiet young man said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had two good training camps the last two years and it hasn&rsquo;t gotten me too far. I just wanted to have a good camp this year and wait for the breaks.&rdquo;One thing Oleschuk didn&rsquo;t want to be reminded about was his nightmarish season last year when he played for five teams in four different leagues. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough enough to play. But you can&rsquo;t play your game when you move around that much. Besides hurting my game, it was very depressing moving around like that. It was a long winter.&rdquo;Oleschuk has pretty much split playing time with Favell in the early going, but still he has doubts about his future.&ldquo;Well, I think it helps a lot as far as my position with the team goes,&rdquo; Oleschuk said of his shutout. &ldquo;I just hope I can go from here. It&rsquo;s something I needed. I want to stick with the team.&rdquo;Where Oleschuk went from the 1-0 shutout was to Long Island where he suffered an eight-goal blitzing by the Islanders. But it wasn&rsquo;t all his fault.The Rockies&rsquo; injury problems suddenly shifted from the forwards to the defense. Second-year defenseman Barry &ldquo;Bubba&rdquo; Beck was on the bench with a hyperextended elbow and when John Van Boxmeer suffered a badly bruised sternum when he crashed into the boards after being hit from behind by Bryan Trottier, it left the Rockies with three regular defensemen and forward Clayton Pachal, who had played defense the previous game in Minnesota.The Islanders, trailing 2-1 at the time of Van Boxmeer&rsquo;s injury, came back with six third-period goals against the outmanned Rockies and Oleschuk.Oleschuk&rsquo;s shutout, incidentally, was the second in the Rockies&rsquo; three-year history and came in his eighth NHL game. Favell had the other shutout last year.Maybe even more amazing was the fact that the shutout came on the road and represented the Rockies&rsquo; second road win of the season&mdash;matching their entire total last year when they were 226-12 away from home.Oleschuk was in the nets for both those road wins. In three seasons with the Rockies&rsquo; organization, he had yet to play a league game in Denver. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not known for my home games,&rdquo; Oleschuk said with a laugh. &#9632;

f0011-02

Oleschuk Vying For Goaling Job With Colorado

<div class="byline">Bill Fleischman&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011008/3905672-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="292" height="463"></div><h2>Flames Rising Again</h2>&ldquo;SAVE YOUR CONFEDERATE MONEY (to buy Flames&rsquo; souvenir pennants),&rdquo; Bernie (Boom Boom) Geoffrion once ordered, &ldquo;the Flames will rise again.&rdquo;The Boomer was the Flames&rsquo; coach when they originally rose, reaching the Stanley Cup quarter-finals in only their second NHL season. Atlanta&rsquo;s record in that second season was a respectable 30-34-14. Ever since then the Flames have had .500 or better records, but were proclaimed as the league&rsquo;s biggest playoff disappointments.For three consecutive years the NHL&rsquo;s southern representatives couldn&rsquo;t survive the best-of-three opening round. One more playoff flop, the cynics said, and the whole franchise should flee into hiding somewhere further south&mdash;like, Costa Rica.The 1979 Stanley Cup playoffs are still a few snowstorms away, but the way the Flames have started, they are a solid bet not to collapse again. To the relief of GM Cliff Fletcher, coach Fred Creighton and the several thousand fans who learned the game and i remained loyal, the Flames have risen and are finally playing like the talented young team they are.The Flames bolted out of the chute as if they&rsquo;d been gargling white lightning which, sources tell me, is still available in the Georgia hills. Unbeaten (10-0-2) in its first 12 games, Atlanta had included among its victims Montreal, the New York Islanders and Philadelphia twice. The 4-2 loss in Montreal that ended the impressive opening sprint didn&rsquo;t change anyone&rsquo;s opinion&mdash;suddenly, the Flames are the team to beat in the ideally competitive Patrick 5 Division.<h2>Wise Draft Choices</h2>ONE MAJOR REASON Atlanta is the team to beat is the substantial number of draft choices who have developed as Fletcher hoped. Its respectable early records prevented Atlanta from drafting as high as the Islanders, who joined the NHL at the same time. However, wise choices were made in taking Eric Vail and Willi Plett, who turned out to be rookies of the year.Where Fletcher and his scouting staff have excelled is in drafting defensemen. Lack of experience on defense is Atlanta&rsquo;s major weakness, but Fletcher insists his club did the smart thing in acquiring David Shand, Richard Mulhern, Pat Ribble, Greg Fox and Brad Marsh.&ldquo;There just aren&rsquo;t that many good defensemen around,&rdquo; Fletcher said. &ldquo;And no one is willing to trade them.&ldquo;Our problem here, since hockey was new to the area, was we definitely had to be at least decent right away. New York was hockey country already, the fans would be there. So Bill Torrey (Islanders&rsquo; GM) let a lot of fringe guys go to the WHA and just waited for the drafts.&rdquo;The Flames haven&rsquo;t depended entirely on the draft. Two of Fletcher&rsquo;s best deals brought Bob MacMillan and Jean Pronovost to Dixie.<h2>Sought More Scorers</h2>MACMILLAN BLOSSOMED into a 38-goal scorer last season. Pronovost, obtained prior to this season, was still recovering from a training-camp injury during the Flames&rsquo; opening streak, but Fletcher is convinced Pittsburgh&rsquo;s all-time goal-scoring leader will continue producing in the 35-to-40 goal range.Pronovost also brings to the Flames a desire to win that many suspect was the club&rsquo;s primary missing ingredient in recent years. Frustrated by the aimless direction of the Pittsburgh franchise, Pronovost wanted to play for a team with a chance to win the Stanley Cup.Blending Pronovost and MacMillan into a team that already included Vail, Plett, Tom Lysiak, Bill Clement, Guy Chouinard and Ken Houston on its forward line appears to be just what the Flames have needed. It&rsquo;s no coincidence that the Flames concentrated on drafting robust linebacker-sized forwards.&ldquo;I watched Philadelphia on the rise and made it our philosophy to go for the big, aggressive players in the draft,&rdquo; said Fletcher. &ldquo;We aren&rsquo;t the type of team to go out and start the fights, but we&rsquo;re certainly capable of handling the rough stuff when it comes along.&rdquo;Having Daniel Bouchard backing up such a capable young team is the final touch. Once considered temperamental and beatable if he yielded early goals, Bouchard has matured. But he still wants to win. During Atlanta&rsquo;s streak he was providing the type of classy i goaltending that reminded observers of a gentleman named Bernie Parent in 1974 and &rsquo;75. &#9632;

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HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div>BOSTON&mdash;Brad Park has knee surgery. Dick Redmond hurts his back. Mike Milbury sprains his knee. All are lost for several games. Yet the Boston Bruins win seven and tie two of their first 10 games with what Al Sims calls &ldquo;the No Name Defense.&rdquo;How come, you may well ask? What&rsquo;s the secret?&ldquo;No secret,&rdquo; said Milbury, who watched the No Names perform from a vantage point in sick bay for six games. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just the simplicity of the system. There are no complicated patterns to learn; no intricate manoeuvers to perfect; everybody knows his job.&rdquo;&ldquo;You can have somebody like this guy here,&rdquo; he said, nodding at rookie winger Al Secord walking by. &ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t been with the club more than a couple of months and he can go out and do the same job as just about anybody else on the club and do it effectively.&ldquo;Same thing for the defensemen. They know what to do with the puck. Move it up as quickly as possible. If you can&rsquo;t get it up to somebody directly, you just fire it around the boards. And take the body. Everybody takes the body.&ldquo;Very simple. Three or four basic principles to learn and follow. That&rsquo;s the secret, if there is any.&rdquo;The No Name Defense, those interchangable parts that kept the Bruins&rsquo; machine operating through the rough early season going, was made up of these slightly shopworn hockey players:&bull; Gary Doak, 32, who came to Boston from Detroit in March, 1973, in a ho-hum trade for Garnet (Ace) Bailey and Murray Wing. In the course of a less than sensational 12-year career in the NHL, Doak had been tried and found wanting by the Bruins once before, by Vancouver, by the Rangers and by the Red Wings twice.&bull; Rick Smith, 30, who was plying his trade on the farm at Kansas City in December, 1976, when the Bruins got him from St. Louis in exchange for Joe Zanussi. Smith had played for three teams in the NHL, including a previous stint with Boston, and one team in the WHA.&bull; Dennis O&rsquo;Brien, 29, who was obtained by the Bruins last March for little more than the price of a telephone call after he had been waived by the hapless Cleveland Barons. A couple of months later, the NHL waived the whole Cleveland franchise.&bull; Al Sims, 25, who was a Boston third round draft choice in 1973, played regularly with Bobby Orr as a partner for his first two years and then went into an inexplicable decline that led down to the Rochester farm. He was brought up from the Americans to fill in.&ldquo;Don Cherry does amazing things with the guys who come to this club,&rdquo; said Milbury. &ldquo;Take Dennis O&rsquo;Brien, for example. Last year he played with three clubs. Then he come to this club and he&rsquo;s playing as good hockey as you could expect from a defenseman.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s doing just everything, killing penalties, working the puck out of the zone, taking the body, playing tough in front of the net. You can&rsquo;t ask anything more from a guy. It&rsquo;s kind of an amazing story.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Brien, who played for Minnesota, Colorado and Cleveland last season, joined the Bruins from the waiver wire on March 10 when Doak was sidelined with three broken bones in his face. Cherry taught him the rudiments of the system over a beer in a Philadelphia pub.&ldquo;He outlined the system to me on a cocktail napkin,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Brien. &ldquo;He drew lines on the napkin for about 10 minutes and he talked to me for a while. That was it. It only took me a few games to adjust to it.&rdquo;The main difference, said O&rsquo;Brien, is that the other teams he played for in 1977-78 permitted their defensemen to fool around with the puck too much in their own end.&ldquo;You carry the puck,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and you try to beat a guy and the next thing you know you get checked and you lose the puck and it&rsquo;s in the goal. Maybe that&rsquo;s why those other teams didn&rsquo;t win. Maybe if they shot it around the boards once or twice they&rsquo;d get out of trouble.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s straight ahead hockey,&rdquo; said Mike Milbury. &ldquo;Nothing complicated. Just straight ahead hockey all the time. It makes things a lot easier for all concerned.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02852/3905703-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="574" height="714"><figcaption class="caption-body">DENNIS O&rsquo;BRIEN&hellip;Learned In Pub</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0012-02

Bruins’ No-Name Defense Achieves Success Simply

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;The Kings look like they may break their record for goals scored this season, but could also break their record for goals given up. The team&rsquo;s defensive performance started poorly, then improved around the end of October.New goaler Ron Grahame was reached for 15 goals in two games though he played well. Rookie Mario Lessard got a chance, played well, and got a little more help from improved play by Darryl Edestrand, Randy Manery, and Rick Hampton.Manager George Maguire says the Kings miss Gary Sargent more than the other players they lost because he could move the puck so well, which is what the defense needs so much. It also has to be more aggressive at moving foes from the crease.Hampton, one of the newcomers, isn&rsquo;t the physical kind who will rough foes at the goal-mouth, but he is a good skater and the sort of player who should be able to carry the puck out of his end.The third player chose in the 1975 draft, Hampton came up to the Seals touted as another Bobby Orr. He couldn&rsquo;t live up to that billing and he became a player without a position. He wasn&rsquo;t a hitter and handled the puck inconsistently. When the Oakland Seals became the Cleveland Barons he became a forward and last season he played all three positions up front.When they became the Minnesota North Stars, Hampton became a Los Angeles King this season as partial compensation for Sargent. He asked only that he be put in one position and left to play there and was told he would play left defense. He has been caught out of position a few times and his skating has not been as good as expected, but he is improving.&ldquo;I always was an offensive defenseman, but I&rsquo;m concentrating on playing defense right now. I have to readjust to the position, I am being so careful about getting into poisition I have at times neglected to cover up the other side when my partner was out of position and the threat was there. Also, I played the right side before and drift to the right sometimes now,&rdquo; the lefthander says.&ldquo;As a forward I skated forward. I am a good skater, but I haven&rsquo;t skated backwards for a while. A defenseman skates backward more than he skates forward and I have to relearn the technique and become easy with it again. Last year I played on all kinds of different lines with all kinds of players so I have to get used to a new partner now.&ldquo;As I get comfortable back on defense, I think I will feel freer to move the puck and even make a rush now and then when the opening presents itself. I think I have improved my puckhandling over the years and I&rsquo;ve always been a good scorer. The coach has been using me both killing penalties and playing a point on the power play so I should be able to help the team on both offense and defense.&rdquo;The six-foot, 185-pounder has scored 14, 16, and 18 goals the last three seasons, so the Kings are looking for a 20-goaI defenseman, though they&rsquo;ll be happy if he becomes a consistent and dependable defender and puck-clearer.He is one of the ones who came up early. He is only 22-years-old, yet has four years of big league experience behind him. He may have been written off too fast by his former owners and has the type of talent to become a star in Southern California.Born in Toronto and reared in nearby King City, he came from a skating family.His father, a contractor, still plays old-timers&rsquo; hockey, while his mother, who chauffered him to his practices and games, was an excellent skater. A sister, Carla, is a professional figure-skater and instructor, while younger brothers Greg and Paul are promising players.He was lonely in Oakland until he met Deena Soljack and married her in August of 1976. They felt insecure in Cleveland, and are happy to be back in California. &ldquo;We have dogs, but no kids yet,&rdquo; grins the good-looking Hampton, who wears a mustache.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good place to live and I think it&rsquo;s going to be a good place to play. It&rsquo;s a little easier to play forward because mistakes don&rsquo;t hurt as much, but I&rsquo;ll be happy on defense as long as they don&rsquo;t start yanking me up and down the ice like a yo-yo.&rdquo;KINGS THINGS: Brian Glennie was slowed by a groin injury, Darryl Edestrand by a knee injury&hellip;With Roy Englebrecht out for gall-bladder removal, promotions director Tim Wilhelm has become PR man for the Lakers&hellip;Out of hockey right now, Juha Widing visited the Forum. Mike Corrigan also is out of the game at this time&hellip;Debbie Gottas is an enormously helpful lady in the Kings&rsquo; PR office.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-01969/3905734-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="581" height="685"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK HAMPTON&hellip;Readjusting Game</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0013-01

Kings’ Defense Must Move Puck Out

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-01989/3905793-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"></div><h2>He&rsquo;s The Dean</h2>Frank Christie of the Buffalo Sabres has been around hockey longer than any trainer in the NHL. The 57-year-old native of New York City is a legend around Buffalo hockey teams. He started out with Buffalo&rsquo;s AHL entry in 1947-48 and when the city was granted an expansion franchise in 1970-71, he went with the Sabres. Christie rarely ever misses a game behind the Buffalo bench and he&rsquo;s considered one of the game&rsquo;s most efficient trainers.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02826/3905786-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="1838" height="1694"><figcaption class="caption-body">Coach Of The YearBob Pulford&rsquo;s feat of lifting the Chicago Black Hawks to the top of the Smythe Division last season with a better record won him recognition as coach of the year in the NHL. Ken McKenzie, publisher of THE HOCKEY NEWS, left, is shown presenting the publication&rsquo;s plaque to Pulford during a recent Canadiens-Hawks&rsquo; game at the Chicago Stadium. To prove his selection by THE HOCKEY NEWS was no fluke, Pulford has Chicago in first place again this season.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03625/3905779-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="881" height="1241"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div><h2>Man In The Shield</h2>Defenseman Borje Salming of the Leafs is wearing a special face shield to protect his injured eye this season in the NHL. Salming, who was struck in the eye late last year, admits the shield bothers him at times but doctors have told him he can&rsquo;t play without it.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04437/3905772-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="1261" height="1243"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div><h2>Rogie Sets Precedent</h2>Goaler Rogie Vachon decided a change of sweater number would enhance his new image with his new team, the Detroit Red Wings, this season. Vachon came out wearing No. 40, the highest number ever worn by an NHL netminder. Tony Esposito wears No. 35 for Chicago which was the previous high. Vachon wore No. 31 with the Los Angeles Kings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-05307/3905765-1-eng-US/f0014-052.jpg" title="f0014-05" width="881" height="1244"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div><h2>Look Who&rsquo;s Back!</h2>After sitting out the entire training camp period and the first six weeks of the NHL action with the Bruins, goaler Gerry Cheevers has returned to action with the Bruins. The Boston vet has been recovering from knee surgery. Bruins are counting heavily on him this season. &#9632;

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HOCKEY PEOPLE

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;The St. Louis Blues&mdash;not the Minnesota North Stars&mdash;really are the merged team in the National Hockey League.The North Stars were formed in a dramatic, unprecedented merger of two teams, with the Cleveland Barons being the disappearing partner.But the Blues have undergone an equally dramatic transformation. The current Blues&rsquo; roster includes players who started last season with 11 clubs!Only six St. Louis players were with the team at the beginning of last season. Garry Unger, now in his eighth year with the Blues, is the dean of the team. Bob Hess has been with the team since he was the Blues&rsquo; top draft choice in 1974. Bruce Affleck, traded for Frank Spring, and Larry Patey, obtained in the Wayne Merrick trade, joined the Blues in 1975. Bernie Federko and Brian Sutter, drafted 1-2 in 1976, established themselves with the Blues during their rookie pro season.Except for those six, the Blues&rsquo; roster is filled with many new faces, and the problem for coach Barclay Plager is blending a gang of newcomers into an efficient hockey team that can compete with more stable teams.Plager, who has been with the Blues since 1967, is new as coach. After nine seasons as a Blues&rsquo; defenseman and coaching Blues&rsquo; farm teams at Kansas City and Salt Lake City, he became coach of the Blues last February with 26 games remaining in the season succeeding Leo Boivin. And Plager is forming the Blues this season with a number of the players on whom he relied with the farm clubs.Right wing Ken Richardson, who has been with the Blues&rsquo; organization since 1974, had played in only 33 games for the parent club until this season. But he was a valuable farmhand under Plager the past two seasons and now is being given a solid chance in the NHL.Goalie Doug Grant has been in the organization since 1976 and spent most of his time with farm clubs. Last season he played 35 games for Salt Lake City and nine for the Blues. Grant beat Ed Staniowski in training camp for the backup job behind Phil Myre.Center Doug Palazzari played 21 games with the Blues four years ago but spent most of the past three seasons with St. Louis farm clubs. Last season he became the first player in the 15-year history of the Central Hockey League te lead the league in all three scoring departments, 45 goals, 56 assists and 101 points. Plager relied heavily on Palazzari in Salt Lake City last season and wanted a spot for him on the Blues this season.Defenseman Larry Giroux is the fourth Plager farmhand to gain a spot on the Blues this year. Giroux played two years ago for Plager at Kansas City and started last season with Kansas City, which switched to the farm system of the Detroit Red Wings.Right wing Bill Fairbairn, obtained on waivers from Minnesota, and Inge Hammarstrom, obtained from Toronto for Jerry Butler, have been with the Blues slightly more than a year. The other nine players on the current roster have joined the team within the last 12 months.Myre, defenseman Barrt Gibbs and left wing Curt Bennett were obtained last December in the big trade that sent goalie Yves Belanger, defenseman Dick Redmond and left wing Bob MacMillan to the Atlanta Flames. Defenseman Neil Komadoski was obtained from Los Angeles in January.Since the end of last season the Blues have added six players, including Giroux, who now are on the roster. The other five are top draft choice Wayne Babych from the Portland Winter Hawks, defenseman Bob Stewart, who was with Cleveland last season, Mike Walton, obtained from the Vancouver Canucks, left wing Harvey Bennett, obtained from Minnesota, and Rick Bowness, who started last season with the Red Wings and signed with the Blues as a free agent the day before this season started.So, the Blues have been pulled together from many sources and are united for the purpose of getting the team back into the playoffs. The job of welding the players into a team lies squarely on the shoulders of Plager, and the success or failure of the season in large part will reflect his ability as a coach.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-01953/3905824-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="573" height="868"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEN RICHARDSON&hellip;Getting NHL Chance</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-01

Blues Assembling Brand New Team

<div class="byline">BY AL SMITH</div>ATLANTA&mdash;Sticking your nose in someone else&rsquo;s business can get you into a lot of trouble, but for Atlanta Flames&rsquo; defenseman Pat Ribble the practice got him into the National Hockey League.At six-foot-four, 210-pounds, &ldquo;Rib&rdquo; as he is known to his teammates, is one of the biggest players in the NHL and has always been one of the biggest players in any league he has played in. Thus, he sort of looked after some of the smaller guys who wore the same uniform.&ldquo;No one ever told me to fight, but I think it was expected of me,&rdquo; Ribble said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been of the bigger guys wherever played and I felt this was what I supposed to do.&rdquo;It didn&rsquo;t hurt that Ribble Flames&rsquo; coach Fred Creighton crossed paths early in Ribble&rsquo;s minor league days. Crjeighton, known for his tough guy approach to the game when he played, carried the philosophy over to his coaching. Guys like Ribble fit the mold.Ribble&rsquo;s junior and minor league games were filled with fights and by the time he hit the NHL, he had established quite a reputation with his fists. In fact, he didn&rsquo;t have to use them that much.&ldquo;Maybe it was the reputation I had,&rdquo; Ribble said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s different in the NHL. Guys take a clean check and don&rsquo;t have the stick up all the time. In the minors there&rsquo;s a bunch of stupids and they always have the stick up.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always played the body, hard and guys up here can take it. In the minors it wasn&rsquo;t that way.&rdquo;But even with his slam-bang style of hockey, Ribble didn&rsquo;t meet with instant success with Atlantans.Creighton and general manager Cliff Fletcher knew what they were putting on the ice, but the fans had their doubts.To say Ribble was awkward would be putting it mildly and his skating style, if it that, was choppy someone having a treadmill. Add a blond hair that shearing and the tag &ldquo;Big Bird&rdquo; was a natural.The Leamington, Ont., native improved on a game to game basis and gained respect not only in Atlanta, but around the league. He is known as one of the hardest checkers on the boards and one of the best in the league at keeping the slot clear.&ldquo;Confidence,&rdquo; Ribble said, &ldquo;was the biggest thing. I heard the boos last season and they bothered me. I tried to do too much. By doing this I&rsquo;d get myself out of position and wham, they&rsquo;d get a goal. It was a frustrating time. The harder you try, the worse you do.&rdquo;But things have changed for Ribble and the Flames.There haven&rsquo;t been any boos at The Omni this season and Ribble and the other Atlanta defensemen have been credited with much of the Flames&rsquo; early success. They haven&rsquo;t been giving the puck up in their own end and have been moving it up ice quickly and accurately.Again, Ribble says it&rsquo;s confidence more than anything else.&ldquo;We have confidence in each other,&rdquo; the 24-year-old defenseman said &ldquo;and everyone isn&rsquo;t trying to do everyone else&rsquo;s job. We play our own position and our own game and things have worked out well.&rdquo;Ribble&rsquo;s hockey career didn&rsquo;t start like that of many Canadians. In fact, he didn&rsquo;t play in an organized hockey league until he was 14. Up until that point Ribble did nothing but play baseball in the summer and skate on the marshes around his house in the winter.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t what you would call an exceptional prospect,&rdquo; Ribble said. &ldquo;And I was thinking I might go in the eighth or ninth round.&rdquo;But Atlanta liked Ribble&rsquo;s slambang style of play and took him in the fourth round in 1974.&ldquo;I was glad to be picked by Atlanta,&rdquo; Ribble said. &ldquo;Being expansion team, I thought I&rsquo;d get a better chance to play, sooner.&rdquo;Ribble spent two- and one-half years in the minors and it was only because of sickness to David Shand and Barry Gibbs that he got his chance in Atlanta. He took advantage of it.He&rsquo;s become a mainstay and Tulsa and the Central League are far from his thoughts, now.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02779/3905855-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="526" height="814"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAT RIBBLE&hellip;Confident Now</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-02

Ribble Took Physical Road To NHL

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01795/3905907-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02682/3905900-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="756" height="3788"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03545/3905893-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="1519" height="3186"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04428/3905886-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="780" height="3208"></div> &#9632;

f0016-01

NHL POINT SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01687/3905938-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">RENE ROBERT&hellip; Left Behind On Sabres&rsquo; Trip</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;&ldquo;Play me or trade me.&rdquo; That well-known refrain was voiced by Rene Robert, one of the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; three all-time 200-goal scorers, when he was left behind for the second time this season when the Sabres departed on a road trip.Robert, the right winger on the club&rsquo;s famed French Connection line of other years, the Sabres&rsquo; Most Valuable Player in 1975, has been shifted around from line to line this season and sat out four of Buffalo&rsquo;s first nine games.This did not sit well with the winger who had twice scored 40 goals in a season for the Sabres and who was second team National Hockey League All Star in 1975. That was the year he became the first Sabre ever to accumulate 100 points in a season.&ldquo;I know I can play for other teams in this league,&rdquo; the speedy right winger said, when he was not included on the traveling squad for a two-game trip to Philadelphia and Minnesota.&ldquo;I would like to stay in Buffalo but not if I&rsquo;m not going to play. It&rsquo;s tough sitting on your pride.&rdquo;The seven-year NHL veteran failed to score either a point or an assist in the first five games he played this year.The French Connection &mdash; Gil Perreault, Rick Martin and Robert &mdash; played together only one game in preseason play and not at all during the regular season.The trio did not do well playing together and all three members have said, at one time or another since last season, that they feel the days of that high-scoring line are over. The line scored a total of 131 regular-season goals in 1974-75, when the Sabres won the Adams Division title and went to the finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs.In the last couple of years, however, other teams were concentrating on stopping the fast-skating, smooth-passing combination and the line was broken up several times.At the beginning of training camp, coach Marcel Pronovost shifted Robert to center, where he played before he came to Buffalo from Pittsburgh in a trade for Eddie Shack in 1972.Rene didn&rsquo;t seem to like the change much and when he was switched back to right wing he didn&rsquo;t show much enthusiasm, either. He was teamed with veterans Don Luce and Craig Ramsay, who had played together for most of the last seven years, but didn&rsquo;t produce there.Robert was with those two at the start of a game against the Blues in St. Louis, when the Sabres were having trouble scoring and winning. During his first shift, Rene was replaced by Danny Gare.Gare had been the right winger with Luce and Ransay most of the time since joining the Sabres in 1974. The trio was the club&rsquo;s highest-scoring line in 197778.On this night they celebrated their reunion by scoring three goals and picking up a total of eight points in a 7-7 tie with the Blues. Gare scored on that first shift, when he replaced Robert, who didn&rsquo;t play much thereafter.The following week in practice, Robert was skating on a fourth line with Andre Savard and Jacques Richard. When the traveling squad was announced, Savard, who had been left behind on a western trip that finished in St. Louis, was on in place of Robert.Richard was called in for the second game of the trip, in Minnesota, but Robert languished in Buffalo.The Sabres, who lost the first two games of the western journey, to Vancouver and Los Angeles, ran up a 51 lead on St. Louis but had to settle for a tie when the Blues scored three unanswered goals late in the third period.The Sabres also tied their next time out but this tie was a little more to their liking. They scored twice in the final 12 minutes to forge a deadlock with the Philadelphia Flyers in the Spectrum, where they have won only once and tied three other times over eight previous years.Jerry Korab and Ramsay scored after the Flyers took a 3-1 lead early in the final period. Rick Martin scored the other Buffalo goal. He had found the range with a hat trick in St. Louis the game before. &#9632;

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Robert Becoming Forgotten Man With Sabres

MONTREAL&mdash;Atlanta Flames-continue to sail along with the best winning percentage in the National Hockey League, .813, despite tasting defeat for the second week in a row. The Flames downed Vancouver 4-2 and toppled Chicago 5-3 before bowing to the Islanders, 4-2 in their 16th game of the campaign.The Flames, who lead the Patrick Division with a record of 12-2-2 for 26 points and a five-point advantage over the New York Rangers who hold a game in hand, opened the season with 10 victories and two ties before losing a 4-2 decision in Montreal. It was the best start in the NHL since Montreal went 9-0-4 to open the 1972-73 season.Meanwhile, two players whose names are familiar in NHL points races each splurged for eight points in three games last week to move into the upper echelon of the individual scoring parade.Diminutive forward Marcel Dionne of Los Angeles Kings scored four goals, including three in an 8-1 victory against Minnesota North Stars, and as many assists to vault into a first-place tie with Bob MacMillan of Atlanta Flames. MacMillan, who managed four points in three games last week, has 10 goals among his 24 points while Dionne has 15 assists.Right winger Guy Lafleur of Montreal Canadiens, hoping to become only the third player to win four straight scoring titles, had three goals and five assists during Canadiens&rsquo; three wins and jumped into third place with 23 points, one more than four players tied for fourth &mdash; Lanny McDonald of Toronto, Wayne Babych and Bernie Federko of St. Louis and Guy Chouinard of Atlanta.The production by Dionne and Lafleur is reminiscent of two seasons ago when they waged a tremendous duel throughout most of the season before Lafleur pulled away in the last few games to win his second of three straight titles.Compared with last season, Dionne is six points ahead of his pace after 13 games. He collected 79 points in 1977-78 after his second-place total of 122 points in 1976-77. Lafleur is two points behind his pace of last season when he had 15 goals and 26 points after 16 games and at that time held a one-point lead over second-place Bryan Trottier of New York Islanders. This season, Trottier has 16 points in 13 games.Dionne&rsquo;s teammate, Butch Goring, picked up five points during the week and two of those were goals which moved him into a tie with Brian Sutter of St. Louis for the lead in goal-scoring, each with 12.Two players among the top 20&mdash;Lanny McDonald of Toronto and Dale McCourt of Detroit&mdash;had six-point weeks. &#9632;

Red Hot Flames Maintain No.1 Role

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02593/3905993-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="588" height="610"></div> &#9632;

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Team Penalties

<div class="byline">BY RUSS WHITE</div>WASHINGTON&mdash;On the job as Capitals&rsquo; coach for a full month, Danny Belisle had but a 2-73 record to his credit but was optimistic his players could go at a .500 pace the rest of the reason.Belisle said that he had set a goal for a 70, maybe 72-point season.To reach 70 the Capitals would have to win 18 games (56 points) and tie 14 (14 more points). Last year they managed only 48 points for Tom McVie after winning 24 games and getting a club high of 62 points the previous year.&ldquo;Mentally, it has been very discouraging for the players,&rdquo; Belisle said. &ldquo;There has been some panic and they&rsquo;ve gotten down on themselves just by nature. It is something we have to overcome.&ldquo;As far as I can tell, I&rsquo;ve got a pretty good bunch of guys. There are no problems. We probably have too many players around but we&rsquo;re going to get to 20 or so and go with them. If they play good hockey, they stay. If they don&rsquo;t we&rsquo;ll bring up guys who are playing well at Hershey.&ldquo;It bothers me to be juggling lines so much,&rdquo; Belisle said. &ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t my style. I&rsquo;ve never done it before because I like set lines. I like people knowing who is with them and what to expect. But the situation here has called for change.&rdquo;When the Caps lost capaign Yvon Labre, who suffered a dislocated shoulder at Nassau Coliseum, Belisle appointed center Guy Charron as acting captain.&ldquo;A coach talks to his captain often,&rdquo; Belisle said. &ldquo;I want Guy to come in and tell me what he knows about the team, what we might do to improve. There has to be good liason between the coach and the players. I can&rsquo;t always read them all. Guy is a solid veteran, a leader here, and when I get his opinion about things, I know it will help the club.&rdquo;For the third straight year Charron, despite being checked by the top defensive lines on each club, is the Caps&rsquo; leading point getter. Belisle has had quick Bobby Sirois and Michel Bergerson on Charron&rsquo;s line. Bergeron went seven games without a point but finally checked in with his first Caps&rsquo; goal in a 3-3 tie against the Detroit Red Wings.Belisle was counting on Bergeron, a 32-goal scorer three years ago, to supply more offense in Washington.Alternating Bernie Wolfe and Jim Bedard in goal, Belisle received good performances from both as the Canadiens and Islanders unloaded 88 shots in a pair of games. Bedard was top star in a 4-2 loss at Montreal, Wolfe second star in a 4-1 loss at New York against the Islanders.Rookie center Ryan Walter stood a test against Islanders, battling big Clark Gillies and the next night had fights with Dave Hanson and Reed Larson of the Red Wings. &ldquo;The kid came back fiesty,&rdquo; Belisle said. &ldquo;He seems determined not to back away from anyone.&rdquo;Walter, though scratched a bit, said he hadn&rsquo;t come to Washington to win a beauty contest.The Caps brought in right wing Billy Riley from Hershey and sent down wingers Nelson Burton and Eddy Godin.Veteran defenseman Jack Lynch was also skating at Hershey but was expected to be back with the Caps shortly. Lynch is making a comeback from a serious knee operation last December.Belisle&rsquo;s hopes for a .500 finish were shared by many of his players, who felt in a short while the Caps would hit stride. Sirois said there was no reason why the Caps couldn&rsquo;t come in second to Montreal in the Norris Division.There was much to be done on the ice, of course, as talk alone has never put any team in a pennant chase.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01704/3906024-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="572" height="811"><figcaption class="caption-body">GUY CHARRON&hellip;Acting Captain</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Coach, Caps Beginning To Believe .500 Record Could Be Within Grasp

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02565/3906055-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="605" height="1710"></div> &#9632;

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Looking At NHL Goalers

Los Angeles Kings climbed back into the race for second place in the Norris Division at the same time that Marcel Dionne got hot and moved into a tie for the lead in the individual scoring race.Dionne had eight points in three games and the Kings came away winners in two of them to challenge Detroit for runnerup spot in the division. A goal and two assists by Dionne weren&rsquo;t enough for the Kings in a 5-3 loss to Philadelphia to open the week, but things picked up after that.The Kings&rsquo; leading scorer for the past three yars, Dionne collected his first hat trick of the season, and 13th&rsquo; of his career with a goal in each period in a 81 win over Minnesota. He also added two assists in a 4-1 Kings&rsquo; triumph over the Chicago Black Hawks, and now has 24 points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04307/3906117-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="524" height="757"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARCEL DIONNE&hellip;Los Angeles Kings</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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NHL’S… Player of the Week

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01675/3906148-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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WE HAVE ALL KINDS OF GREAT BOOKS ON HAND FOR GIFT GIVING. SELECT YOUR BOOKS NOW WHILE THEY LAST

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01520/3906179-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Toronto Maple Leafs like 23-year-old Ron Wilson because he learns quickly and isn&rsquo;t afraid of changes. Last season Wilson played in the Central League for Dallas where he produced 31 goals as a right winger, which isn&rsquo;t bad when you consider that he was a defenseman throughout high school and during his college days at Providence College. Given a regular shift for the Leafs, Wilson connected on three goals and had four assists in his first dozen games this season. (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Leafs Tailoring Adaptable Wilson

VANCOUVER&mdash;A pair of Canuck players, Ron Sedlbauer and rookie Thomas Gradin, continued their excellent success with the team this season, but for the most part the Vancouver team suffered through a week which had to erode their confidence.The Canucks struggled through a 1-3 period and slipped a little further behind the Chicago Black Hawks in the quest for supremacy in the Smythe Division. A 4-2 loss in Atlanta opened the week as the Canucks received goals from Ron Sedlbauer, his seventh and Curt Fraser, his sixth, before letting the Flames pull away to their 12th victory in 15 starts.Sedlbauer, who along with Gradin has been the most consistent forward for the Canucks thus far, was to score in the club&rsquo;s first three games of the week. Following the Atlanta loss, the Canucks won a hard-fought 6-4 decision in Detroit and possibly expected a bit of a breather when they returned to Pacific Coliseum to face the Minnesota North Stars. They were wrong.Minnesota grabbed a 1-0 first period lead and led 2-0 near the end of the second period before the Canucks finally got on the board. Jack Mcllhargey, with his first goal of the season, was the unlikely catalyst when he scored to cut the deficit to one. Then Sedlbauer, who had a goal in the Detroit triumph, knotted the contest at 2-2 at 15:38 of the third period, only to see the North Stars pull out a victory on a goal with less than three minutes remaining by Minnesota rookie Bob Smith.Two nights later the Canucks entertained Philadelphia and the pleasure was all for the visitors who came away with a 4-0 dicision.The lone bright spot of the week was the road victory in Detroit. In that one, the Canucks grabbed a 2-0 first period, withstood a three-goal rebuttal by the Red Wings and tied the score at 3-3 before the end of the first period. Then they tightened their defense and went on to the 6-4 decision.Gardin had another two-goal game, improving his goal total to eight on the year, and now has 16 points to rank in the Top 20 in scoring. Dennis Ververgaert also notched a pair of goals, his third and fourth of the season, while Jere Gillis and Sedlbauer had the other Vancouver markers.Canucks sent goaltender Curt Ridley to Dallas in the Central League, while right winger Dave Morrow was signed to Ft. Wayne in the International League. Ridley, Who shared the netminding job with Cesare Maniago a year ago, was injured earlier in the year, and was sent to Dallas to play himself back into shape. Glen Hanlon and Gary Bromley have shared the goaltending load for the Canucks thus far this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02379/3906210-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="554" height="572"><figcaption class="caption-body">RON SEDLBAUER&hellip;Consistent Canuck</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Canucks’ Bright Spots Few As Scoring Problems Arise

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;Roland Cloutier made quite a first impression on the Detroit Red Wings. The second impression wasn&rsquo;t bad either. Or the third.The 21-year-old second-year pro produced five goals in his first three games with Detroit this season. (He played in one National Hockey League game last year with the Wings). He scored once in his first game, twice in the second and two more in the third, all Red Wing victories.Cloutier teamed up with veteran Errol Thompson on left wing and another rookie, Fern LeBlanc, on right wing as a makeshift unit as injuries forced coach Bobby Kromm to make some moves. Cloutier was summoned from Kansas City of the Central Hockey League as a replacement for the injured Andre St. Laurent. But, as you might expect, he quickly earned a regular job.The Cloutier-Thompson-LeBlanc line accounted for nine goals in its first three games together before being blanked by the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; checking line. In the fifth game, Cloutier clicked again. Cloutier beat Bobby Orr in a one-on-one matchup, shoving the puck between Orr&rsquo;s skates, and then went in to beat Tony Esposito.&ldquo;Bobby Orr, he just try to get puck and he forget me,&rdquo; said Cloutier, who only a year ago upon his arrival in the Red Wing training camp didn&rsquo;t speak a word of English. &ldquo;I never thought I was going to shift Bobby Orr and get the puck in the net with Esposito. That&rsquo;s why I was happy when I did that. It makes me less nervous on the ice.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;d be a great hockey player if he was three inches taller and 20 pounds heavier,&rdquo; Kromm said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t say he can&rsquo;t be a great player anyway. He passes, shoots, is clever and has great wheels.&rdquo;Cloutier, mainly because of his five-foot-nine, 160-pound frame, was a very late draft choice despite an impressive junior career with the Three Rivers (Quebec) Draveurs. He made a solid impression in his first pro camp but the Wings wanted him to gain some experience and left him in Kansas City. He didn&rsquo;t have nearly as good a training camp this season and again started the season in Kansas City. He started quickly with four goals in six CHL games and was called up when St. Laurent was hurt.&ldquo;A year ago I couldn&rsquo;t say yes or no in English,&rdquo; Cloutier said. &ldquo;I play with Fernie LeBlanc last year in Kansas City and he help me. No, I don&rsquo;t go to school. I listen to the players talk and just try to understand.&ldquo;My hero? Perreault, Gilbert Perreault.&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;And Bobby Hull. And Stan Mikita, too.&ldquo;Did I copy another guy? No. Just when you look at a guy and know you can make the same feint. Like a Mikita comes at two defensemen and makes a good feint. I try to do the same.&rdquo;MOTOR CITY SHORTS: The Wings had a seven-game unbeaten streak and were in first place in the Norris Division when the Montreal Canadiens came to town. End of unbeaten streak. The Canadiens pounded out a 4-1 victory. &ldquo;This is the best game the team has played this season; anybody who has followed us can tell you that,&rdquo; Larry Robinson said. &ldquo;This is what we&rsquo;ve been waiting for.&rdquo; Said Kromm: &ldquo;When they come to play&hellip;and it&rsquo;s obvious they did tonight&hellip;they&rsquo;re the class of the league.&rdquo;Perry Miller and St. Laurent both returned to action after being sidelined by shoulder injuries. The Wines were carryine seven defensemen.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03305/3906241-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="555" height="1098"><figcaption class="caption-body">PERRY MILLER&hellip;Rejoins Defense</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0020-03

Small Wings’ Rookie Big On Talent

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;In a recent game against Minnesota, coach Al Arbour shocked former Islander defenseman Jean Potvin, now a North Star, when he iced forward lines consisting of BryanTrottier centering for Bob Bourne and Mike Bossy, and Wayne Merrick working with Clark Gillies and Bobby Nystrom.&ldquo;Al has done things like this before,&rdquo; recalled Jean. &ldquo;He usually did it for a short time and when everyone started playing better returned them to their usual lines.&rdquo;Asked if this was the plan, Arbour agreed it was a possibility, but suggested, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s possible the BTG line won&rsquo;t be reassembled. We&rsquo;ll see what happens.&rdquo;Trottier, who set up Bourne with one goal in the Islanders&rsquo; 5-2 win over Minnesota, going around Potvin and whipping the puck at the net, with Bourne directing the rebound home, was not visibly upset.&ldquo;Whatever happens, happens as far as the line goes,&rdquo; said Bryan. &ldquo;We aren&rsquo;t really playing that well, but we have won four of five.&rdquo;Bossy, who rode his own shot making skill and Trottier&rsquo;s playmaking to a 53-goal season last year, agreed with Arbour, saying, &ldquo;A change was in order. I can&rsquo;t pinpoint the reason, but this year has been different. We had a great season last year&mdash;but not so far this year. Really, I don&rsquo;t know why, and there are no excuses.&rdquo;&ldquo;We have to get the team rolling again,&rdquo; said Trottier. &ldquo;Then we can worry about things like lines and selfish things like that.&rdquo;The third member of the BTG Line, captain Clark Gillies was under some fire from the Nassau Coliseum faithful&mdash;and had discarded his helmet.&ldquo;I thought I might play better without the helmet,&rdquo; said Clark.Clark had only three goals in the first 12 Islander games and one in the last 10. All three men had been guilty of somewhat less than sensational defensive efforts, a fact which Arbour had noted.With Merrick moved up, Mike Kaszycki was working with John Tonelli and Billy Harris. Merrick and Trottier double shifted, combining with Gary Howatt and Eddie Westfall on the fourth line.Arbour&rsquo;s unhappiness with the penalty killers showed when he sat out Lome Henning for the North Star contest. In Boston previously, Harris had worked a couple of shifts with Westfall, the leader of the penalty killers.All the furor over the Islanders&rsquo; poor start can&rsquo;t hide the fact that in 12 games, the team has won seven times, or the same number of victories registered by Montreal in 13 games, Boston in a dozen contests, and just one less than the Rangers in 13 games. It has been the way in which these victories have come that has raised doubts, and the large number of goals against. The Isles were last in the tough Patrick Division in allowing goals&mdash;a fact hard to believe.Trottier had 16 points in a dozen games. Bossy 14 and Gillies 10&mdash;but more had been expected.The return to spot duty of defenseman Gerry Hart, paired with Pat Price, helped to a degree against the North Stars. Hart was playing his first competitive hockey since last May, but goalie Chico Resch welcomed him back.&ldquo;It was nice to see Hartie return,&rdquo; said Resch. &ldquo;You ask anybody about what the Islanders have been lacking this year and they&rsquo;ll say intensity, enthusiasm, hitting and second effort. All those things describe Gerry.&rdquo;Hart separated his shoulder in preseason action&mdash;giving Bob Lorimer an opportunity. With Gerry&rsquo;s return, Lorimer sat out.Price scored a goal against the North Stars, his first of the season and played with zest and enthusiasm.&ldquo;I moved the puck and stopped trying to play as a defensive defenseman. Offense is what got me here, and I decided to do it my way and see what happens. I think I&rsquo;ll make five good plays for every mistake in the future,&rdquo; said Pat.Price, 23, was a 1975 first round draft after playing in the WHA&mdash;but has always seemed to make the odd defensive mistake&mdash;and frequently was the least used defenseman. It will be interesting to see how his new approach works&mdash;and how Arbour reacts to it.ISLAND SOUNDS: Isles were 6-0-1 at home and 1-3-1 on the road&hellip;New York had the second worst penalty killing record through 12 games, having allowed 13 power play goals in 46 short handed situations&hellip; Eddie Westfall was rumored to be in line for the Bruins&rsquo; coaching job next year, when it was ascertained that Don Cherry hadn&rsquo;t signed a new contract yet.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01360/3906272-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="573" height="899"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLARK GILLIES&hellip;Discards Helmet</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Arbour Breaks Up Top Production Line

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05163/3906376-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0022-05

Where NHL Teams Play

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06129/3906407-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="637" height="1642"></div> &#9632;

f0022-06

The NHL Scoreboard

<h2>&hellip;This Week</h2>ATLANTA: MacMillan 9,10, Vail 7, Lysiak 10, Lalonde 8,9, Pronovost 2, Gould 5. Plett 6,7, Kibble 2.BOSTON: Schmautz 1,2, Middleton 6,7, Secord 2, Miller 6,7, O&rsquo;Reilly 4, Sims 3, McNab 9, Marcotte 7.BUFFALO: Robert 1,2, Ramsay 4,5, Seiling 4, Perreault 2&lsquo;, Luce 3,4, Korab 2, R. Martin 6.CHICAGO: Murray 2, Marks 7,8, Logan 1, Koroll, 3. Bordeleau 7.COLORADO: Croteau 10,11, Comeau 2, Owchar 2, Gardner 7,8,9, Klassen 1.DETROIT: Libett 2, Thompson 6,7, St. Laurent 1,2J, Nedomansky 7,8, Cloutier 6, Lochead 2, McCourt 6,7, Larson 3,4.LOS ANGELES: Goldup 4,5, Dionne 6,7,8,9, Taylor 7,8, Manery 1, Murphy 3. Goring 11,12, Palmer 2, Jensen 2, Grant 5.MINNESOTA: Manery 2,3, Andersson 4, Sargent 4, Parise 5,6, P. Smith 2,3, Younghans 2,3, Young 3.MONTREAL: Lambert 5,6, Robinson 3, Gainey 2, Riscbrough 2, Lapointe 5,6, Lafleur 6,7,8, Jarvis 1, Trembby 5,6, Mondou 5,6, Shutt 4, Houle 6.ISLANDERS: Merrick 2, Price 1, Howatt 3, Bourne 6,7, Kaszycki 4,5, Persson-14. Tonelli 6, Harris 5, Henning 1, Gillies 4, Bossy 8.RANGERS: Duguay 5,6, Greschner 44, Nilsson 6, Esposito 5, Johnstone 1, McEwen 5.PHILADELPHIA: Leach 5,6, Dunlop 1,2, Barber 9, LaPointe 1, Dean 4.PITTSBURGH: Malone 44. Sheppard 2, Schutt 4, Lee 9,10, Schultz 2, Lonsberry 3, Stackhouse 3, Carlyle 2, Ferguson 2.ST. LOUIS: Federko 6,7, Unger 7, Sutter 12, C. Bennett 5.TORONTO: McDonald 8,9,10, Anderson 2, McKechnie 3,4,5,6.VANCOUVER: Sedlbauer 7,8,9, Fraser 6, Gradin 7 J, Ververgaert 3,4, Gillis 3, Mcllhargey 1.WASHINGTON: Walter 4,5. &#9632;

NHL’s Scorers

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01394/3906345-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="639" height="1983"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02302/3906338-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="1240" height="2336"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03254/3906331-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="622" height="3472"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04200/3906324-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="643" height="1489"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01370/3906317-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="636" height="3748"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02286/3906310-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="623" height="1737"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03217/3906303-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="597" height="766"></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

C- Captain*- Rookie<h2>Atlanta</h2>GOALYves BelangerDan BouchardDEFENSEGreg Fox*Brad MarshRichard MulhernPat RibbleRod SeilingDave ShandCENTERSGene CarrGuy ChouinardTom Lysiak CR. WINGSJohn GouldKen HoustonBobby LalondeBob MacMillanJean PronovostWilli PlettL. WINGSBill ClementHarold PhillipoffEric Vail<h2>BOSTON</h2>GOALGerry CheeversGilles GilbertDEFENSEGary DoakMike MllburyDennis O&rsquo;BrienAl SimsRick SmithCENTERSDwight FosterPeter McNabBob MillerJean RatelleR. WINGSRick MiddletonTerry O&rsquo;ReillyBobby SchmautzL. WINGSWayne Cashman CStan JonathanDon Marcotte*Al SecordJohn Wensink<h2>BUFFALO</h2>GOALDon Edwards*Bob SauveDEFENSEKen BreitenbachRichard DunnLee FogolinJocelyn GuevremontBill HajtJerry Korab*Bill StewartCENTERSDon LuceGilles PerreaultAndr6 SavardDerek SmithR. WINGSDanny Gare CJacques RichardRene RobertRic SeilingL. WINGSRichard MartinTerry MartinGary McAdam*Tony McKegneyCraig Ramsay<h2>CHICAGO</h2>GOALTony EspositoMike VeisorDEFENSEDoug HicksDave LoganKeith Magnuson CBob MurrayBobby OrrPhil RussellDoug WilsonCENTERSIvan BoidirevAlain DaigleJim HarrisonStan MikitaR. WINGSJ.P. BordeleauCliff KorollGrant MulveyL. WINGSTed BulleyBob Kelly*Reg KerrJohn MarksDarcy Rota<h2>COLORADO</h2>GOALBill OleschukMichel PlasseDEFENSEDon AwreyBarry BeckMike Christie*Kevin Krook*Michel Lachance*John McCahillDennis OwcharCENTERSRey ComeauPaul Gardner*Merlin MalinowskiClayton PachaiNelson PyattLarry SkinnerJack ValiquetteR. WINGSRon AndruffRon DelormeWilf PaiementL. WINGSJoe ContiniGary CroteauRalph Klassen*Paul Messier<h2>DETROIT</h2>GOALJim RutherfordRogle VachonDEFENSEThommie BergmanAl CameronJean HamelTerry HarperJohn HilworthReed LarsonPerry MillerCENTERS*Roland CloutierDennis Hextall CDale McCourtR. WINGSDan Labraaten*Fem LeblancVaclac NedomanskyL. WINGS*Dave HansonNick LibettBill LocheadErrol ThompsonPaul Woods<h2>LOS ANGLES</h2>GOALRon Grahame*Mario LessardDEFENSENick BeverleyDarryl EdestrandBrian GlennieRick HamptonRandy ManeryBob MurdochRob PalmerCENTERSSyl AppsMarcel DionneButch GoringVic VenaskyR. WINGSMark HeaslipGlenn GoldupMike Murphy CL. WINGSDanny GrantSteve JensenDave TaylorBert WilsonMurray WilsonTom Williams<h2>MINNESOTA</h2>GOALGary EdwardsPete LoPrestiGilles MelocheDEFENSEFred BarrettBrad MaxwellBryan MaxwellJim McKennyJean PotvinGary SargentGreg SmithCENTERSGlen Sharpley*Bob SmithJim Young CR. WINGSKent-Erik AnderssonKris ManeryAlex PlrusTom YoughansRon ZanussiL. WINGSPer-Olov BrasarMike FidlerJean-Paul Parise C*Mike Polich<h2>MONTREAL</h2>GOALKen DrydenMichel LarocqueDEFENSERick ChartrawBrian EngblomGuy LapointeRod LangwayGilles LupienLarry RobinsonSerge SavardCENTERSDoug JarvisPierre LaroucheJacques LemairePierre MondouDoug RisebroughR. WINGSCam ConnorYvan Coumoyer C*Pat HughesGuy LafleurMario TremblayL. WINGSBob GaineyRejean HouleYvon LambertMark NapierSteve Shutt<h2>ISLANDERS</h2>GOALChico ReschBilly SmithDEFENSEGerry HartDave Lewis*Bob LorimerBert MarshallStefan PerssonDenis PotvinPat PriceCENTERSLorne HenningMike KaszyckiWayne MerrickBryan TrottierR. WINGSMike BossyBilly HarrisBob NystromEd WestfallL. WINGSBob BourneClark Gillies CGarry HowattJohn Tonelli<h2>RANGERS</h2>GOALJohn DavidsonDoug SoetaertWayne ThomasDEFENSEDave FarrishRon GreschnerMike KorneyDave Maloney CMario MaroisMike McEwenCarol VadnaisCENTERSRon DuguayPhil EspositoUlf NilssonWalter TkaczukR. WINGSLucien DeBloisAnders HedbergEddie JohnstonePierre PlanteDean TalafousL. WINGSNick FotiuPat HickeyGreg PolisSteve Vickers<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2>GOALBernie ParentWayne StephensonDEFENSEBob DaileyAndrd DupontRick LaPointeKevin McCarthyTerry MurrayJim Watson*Behn WilsonCENTERSMel BridgmanBobby Clarke C*Paul EvansR. WINGS*Drew CallanderPaul HolmgrenReggie LeachDon SaleskiL. WINGSBill BarberBarry Dean*Dave HoydaBob KellyRick MacLeish<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2>GOALDenis Herron*Greg MillenDune WilsonDEFENSERuss AndersonTom BladonColin CampbellRandy CarlyleBob ParadiseRon StackhouseDale TallonCENTERSOrest Kindrachuk C.Pete MahovlichGreg MaloneGregg SheppardR. WINGSBlair ChapmanJacques CossetteRick KehoePeter LeeL. WINGSWayne BianchinGeorge FergusonRoss LonsberryDave SchultzBrian Spencer<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2>GOALPhil MyreEd StaniowskiDEFENSEBruce AffleckJack BrownschldleSteve DurbanoBarry Gibbs C.Larry GirouxBob HessBob StewartCENTERSBernie FederkoDoug PalazzariLarry PateyGarry UngerMike WaltonR. WINGS*Wayne BabychRick Bowness*Tony CurrieJohn SmrkeL. WINGSCurt BennettHarvey BennettInge HammarstromKen RichardsonBrian Sutter<h2>TORONTO</h2>GOALPaul HarrisonMike PalmateerDEFENSEDave HutchisonTrevor Johansen*Joel QuennevilleBorje SalmingIan TurnbullCENTERSBruce BoudreauJimmy JonesGarry MonahanDarryl SittierWalt McKechnie*Ron WilsonR. WINGS*John AndersonJerry ButlerLanny McDonaldL. WINGSPat BoutetteDan MaloneyLome StamlerDave Williams<h2>VANCOUVER</h2>GOALGary Bromley*Glen HanlonDEFENSEJohn GrisdaeRandy HoltDennis Kearns*Lars LindgrenJack MclllhargeyHarold Snepsts*Lars ZetterstromCENTERSRoland Eriksson*Thomas GradinPit MartinChris OddlelfsonR. WINGSRick BlightHilliard Graves*Stan SmylDennis VervergaertL. WINGS*Curt FraserJere GillisDon LeverRon Sedlbauer<h2>WASHINGTON</h2>GOALJim BedardBernie WolfeDEFENSERick GreenGord LaneRobert PicardPete ScamurraGord Smith*Leif SvenssonBryan WatsonCENTERS*Greg Can-oilGuy Charron*Rolf EdbergDennis MarukGerry Meehan*Ryan WalterR. WINGSMichel BergeronEddy Godin*Mark LofthouseBill RileyTom RoweBob SiroisL. WINGSNelson BurtonBob Girard*Paul Mulvey<h2>INJURED PIAYERS</h2>ATLANTAEd KeaBOSTONBrad ParkDick RedmondBUFFALOJim SchoenfeldCOLORADO*Mike GillisMike KitchenAndy SpruceJohn VanBoxmeer*Dave WatsonJoe Watson CDETROITGreg Joly*Willie Huber*Brent PetersonDennis PolonichMINNESOTAAl MacAdamPHILADELPHIAKen LinsemanTORONTODave BurrowsRon EllisWASHINGTON*Tim CoulisYvon Labre C &#9632;

NHL Team Rosters

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE WARRINER</div>SPRINGFIELD&mdash;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01382/3906486-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="582" height="814"><figcaption class="caption-body">REAL CLOUTIER&hellip;Torrid Start</figcaption></div>Taking advantage of a four-day layoff the New England Whalers ended a three-game losing streak by handing the Gretzky-less Indianapolis Racers a 6-3 loss. Had it not been for Racers&rsquo; goalie, Gary Smith, the Whalers would easily have hit double figures. Smith faced 48 shots from Whaler sharpshooters including 20 in the second period alone.The next night the two teams journeyed to Market Square Arena in Indianapolis and were surprised by a fairly sizeable crowd. After owner Nelson Skalbania sold Wayne Gretzky, Peter Driscoll, and Eddie Mio it was feared the Indy fans would react by staying away in droves. But the unexpectedly good crowd spurred the Racers to a 2-0 lead after one period. After the Whalers&rsquo; Brad Seiwood pumped in a power play goal early in the second, the Racers came right back with three goals in less than two minutes, taking advantage of some temporary shakiness on the part of Whalers&rsquo; goalie Al Smith. By the five-minute mark of the period it was 5-1 for Indy.Then the Mark Howe story began. With the Whalers shorthanded, Mark beat goalie Gary Inness in a race for a loose puck and young Mr. Howe had extended his scoring streak to 10 games. Less than three minutes later&mdash;again on a penalty killing mission&mdash;Mark drove home another, on assists from brother Marty and Andre Lacroix. The Indy crowd marveled at the 23 year old&rsquo;s feat but Mark wasn&rsquo;t finished. A few seconds later, still shorthanded, Mark broke in all alone but Inness came up with a fine stop robbing him of a shorthanded hat trick.Angry at having missed the breakaway goal, Mark took a penalty just seconds later. After serving the penalty he stepped out of the box, picked up a loose puck and again broke in on Inness. This time he made sure, and the Whalers were within a goal of tying. Three goals in less than five minutes&mdash;thanks to Mark Howe.The game ended in a 6-6 tie with both goaltenders coming up with outstanding saves. Al Smith made brilliant saves off St. Saveur, Larose, and Leduc in the last 20 seconds of regulation, but at the other end Inness was also outstanding as he faced 19 Whaler shots in the final stanza.QUEBEC: After starting the 1978-79 campaign with a winless skein of five games the Nordiques completely turned things around, winning six of their next seven.Coach Jacques Demers had been confident that his Nordiques would come around, but he was surely happy to see the Quebec-based crew get things going again. From last place at the end of the second week of the season the Nords had climbed right up through the standings and were closing in on the WHA&rsquo;s top spot after their first dozen games.Quebec players had told Demers after training camp that it had been the best camp they had attended. The exhibition success against NHL teams seemed to reflect that, but when the season started everyone began to wonder. Marc Tardif and J.C. Tremblay had assured the new coach they liked the system, a more disciplined style, that Demers had implemented. But when it didn&rsquo;t click right away rumors began to fly about coach Demers longevity with the Nordiques.Now, however, those rumors are gone and the Quebec Nordiques are back where they belong&mdash;right around the top of the WHA standings.Real Gloutier is off to a torrid start in the scoring race with 15 goals, nine assists to lead the WHA after the first dozen games.After Jim Corsi helped to turn the Nordiques around with some stellar goaltending, Richard Brodeur took over in the nets and chalked up four straight wins. With Louie Levasseur sent to Binghamton to replace Corsi, Brodeur has re-established himself as No. 1 netminder for Demers&rsquo; crew.Rookie Danny Geoffrion&rsquo;s second major league goal was a big one as he counted the winner in a 3-2 decision at Birmingham.Richard David, highly rated junior out of Three Rivers (QJMHL) has been sidelined with a sprained knee and was expected to be out of action until the end of the month.BIRMINGHAM: The Bulls were having considerable difficulty winning at home in the early weeks of the season. Although they had four wins in six games on the road the Baby Bulls were only one for five in Birmingham. Perhaps the youngsters were trying too hard to please the home folks but there was no question they were more confortable on the road.In a game at Cincinnati&rsquo;s Riverfront Coliseum the Bulls jumped to an early 2-0 lead. When the Stingers came back to grab a 3-2 lead in the third period the young Birmingham team showed its composure by coming back with a tying goal by Peter Marrin.That set the scene for a dramatic overtime effort by rookie Rick Vaive. About halfway through the extra session Vaive broke in on goalie Ed Mio. After putting some verteran-like moves on the Cincy goaltender he flipped a quick backhander into the net for the winner.The win put the Bulls within a point of the top of the WHA standings. Then it was back to Birmingham for a weekend doubleheader against the highflying Quebec Nordiques. In the first game the Nordiques jumped in front by two goals, but rookies Gaston Gingras and Rick Adduono tied it for the Bulls early in the third period. Unfortunately, Quebec rookie Geoffrion later broke the tie giving the Nordiques the victory.The next night the Bulls came up short again, losing to Quebec 4-1. &#9632;

f0024-01

Young Howe Dazzling In Shorthanded Role

LOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02300/3906517-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="614" height="936"></div> &#9632;

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WHA Leaders

Once the Quebec Nordiques began clicking to their customary potent offensive capabilities, you knew it was just a matter of time before Marc Tardif became a central figure in the club&rsquo;s attack.Teammate Real Cloutier has been in the spotlight with his league-leading 19 goals, but Tardif, who has assisted on many of Cloutier&rsquo;s markers, had a big week for himself, scoring five goals.Three of them as well as two assists, came in an 8-2 decision over the Indianapolis Racers and Tardif added another goal, his 12th of the season in the Nordiques&rsquo; 6-4 victory over Winnipeg, a key game which kept the Quebec club right in contention for the league lead.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03213/3906548-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="518" height="726"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARC TARDIF.&hellip;Quebec Nordiques</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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WHA’S… Player of the Week

<div class="byline">BY DICK DENNY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01324/3906586-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAT STAPLETON&hellip; Says He Won&rsquo;t Quit As Coach</figcaption></div>INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Although Nelson Skalbania had forewarned Indianapolis Racer fans he was going to trim expenses, the shock of selling rookie phenom Wayne Gretzky, Peter Driscoll and Eddie Mio to Edmonton was stunning and caused an angry reaction among a faithful group that has endured a lot of setbacks in five years.When news of the sale, which reportedly brought the Racers 5850,000, broke in Indianapolis, the Racer office was flooded with phone calls from irate fans.One season ticket holder said he would sue if he didn&rsquo;t get his money back.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to continue this season come hell or high water,&rdquo; said Skalbania, majority owner of the Racers, two days before the announcement of the sale was made. &ldquo;I will trade or sell anyone on this club to make it through the season.&rdquo;Skalbania had come to Indianapolis to discuss ways of reducing the budget after he determined that prospects indicated the club would stand to lose as much as $700,000 unless there was a trimming of expenses.He met with front office personnel and the players and coaches.Soon afterward it was announced that the contract of forward Don Burgess had been bought up and that defenseman Kevin Morrison would be reassigned to the minor leagues.Then came the bomb. Gretzky, Driscoll and Mio were headed for Edmonton. As coach Pat Stapleton made the announcement in Indianapolis, the players were on a private jet headed for Edmonton.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a death in the family,&rdquo; said Stapleton. &ldquo;But when you wake up in the morning, you realize that life goes on. What Skalbania is trying to do is assure that there will be hockey in Indianapolis this season. Three players were sold so that 20 guys could have jobs.&ldquo;We feel we&rsquo;re still a contender and that there isn&rsquo;t that much difference right now between the first-place team and the last-place team. We have 20 players and their responsibility is to be up. This is a competitive league and we have to be competitive.&rdquo;Of his personnel losses. Stapleton added: &ldquo;Wayne Gretzky has an excellent future as a hockey player, but from our position we can&rsquo;t wait for a player to develop. Driscoll&rsquo;s muscle will be missed. But the No. 1 guy in this we&rsquo;ll miss is Mio. I feel he&rsquo;s a major league goaltender. I think Gary Smith and Gary Inness are the men now in goal for us.&rdquo;Before he left, Gretzky said, &ldquo;I was forewarned by Nelson. I don&rsquo;t like it, but I&rsquo;m like a puppet on a string. I want to play and I have to go where they send me.&ldquo;I always will have great memories of Indianapolis, which has the greatest fans in the world. I&rsquo;ll always remember that this is where I broke into hockey.&ldquo;People have been wonderful. I hope that the guys, and there still are a lot of good hockey players here, will get it going and win for the fans. They deserve it.&rdquo;Apparently there weren&rsquo;t enough fans for Skalbania.&ldquo;All of this was a matter of economics,&rdquo; said Bob Johnston, Racer president. &ldquo;If we had sold 6,000 season tickets, we would have been okay. But we sold only about 3,000.&rdquo;The trimming also extended to the front office, where Don LaRose, executive vice president; Charley Beal, director of public relations, and Fran Lawyer, comptroller, were released.Stapleton was asked if he had contemplated quitting when he learned of the transaction and he replied, &ldquo;If I didn&rsquo;t feel I could handle this situation, I wouldn&rsquo;t be sitting here. The easiest thing 1 could have done would be to get up and walk away.&ldquo;All of this doesn&rsquo;t change my opinion of Indianapolis whatsoever. 1 still think it&rsquo;s a major league city and it&rsquo;s an even bigger challenge to prove it.&ldquo;I would have to be fair to Nelson. He asked what difference it would make in our position if we were to sell these players, would it be seventh, first or third. I told him I couldn&rsquo;t guarantee it would be more than it is now (seventh).&ldquo;So what he did was to solidify the situation to the end of the season.&rdquo;After the sale, the Racers lost to New England at Springfield, Mass., 6-3. But they came back the next night to tie the Whalers, 6-6, before a boisterous crowd of 7,067 in Market Square Arena filled with banners proclaiming the fans&rsquo; love of their team.Said Inness afterward, &ldquo;I think only good is going to come out of all of this. We were shocked, yes, when the three players were sold.&ldquo;All three were talented players. But we were struggling with them and they weren&rsquo;t putting that many people in the building (the average Racer attendance for the first six games was 6,929).&ldquo;After the shock wore off, the guys kinda got together and said, &lsquo;We&rsquo;ve still gotta play, so we might as well win &lsquo;em.&rsquo;&ldquo;If you haven&rsquo;t got the most talent, what you do is work that much harder as a group of 19 guys. What has happened is that this move has drawn the team together.&ldquo;We have to make good come of it. We can&rsquo;t sit back and hope good will happen.&ldquo;The guys like it here. You don&rsquo;t buy houses and stay here in the summer, the way a lot of us have, without liking it. So we&rsquo;re going to try that much harder.&rdquo;CINCINNATI: It was a light &mdash; and disappointing&mdash;week for the Stingers, who lost their only game, 4-3 to Birmingham in Riverfront Coliseum.Rookie Ricky Vaive scored the overtime goal that handed the Stingers their fourth one-goal loss. Vaive&rsquo;s winner came after Cincinnati goaltender Michel Dion had stopped Paul Henderson&rsquo;s breakaway.&ldquo;We came back this game,&rdquo; said Stinger coach Floyd Smith. &ldquo;But we always seem to get behind. It is too bad this one had to be decided by the bounce of the puck.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02237/3906579-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="536" height="705"><figcaption class="caption-body">NELSON SKALBANIA&hellip;Matter Of Economics</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Indianapolis Fans Losing Patience After Racer Owner Sells Off Stars

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03163/3906617-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Looking At WHA Goalers

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01333/3906669-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="642" height="2422"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02274/3906662-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="1255" height="1559"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03233/3906655-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="632" height="2417"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04180/3906648-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="615" height="381"></div> &#9632;

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WORLD HOCKEY ASSN. SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05145/3906700-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Where WHA Teams Play

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-06115/3906731-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="607" height="803"></div> &#9632;

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The WHA Scoreboard

<h2>&hellip;This Week</h2>BIRMINGHAM: Alley 2, Sleigher 8,9, Adduono 3,4, Goulet 3, Gorman 4, Henderson 4, Dillon 1.CINCINNATI: Marsh 11, Fornes 1, Hislop 6,7, Dudley 6, Ftorek 4, Maggs 1,2,3, Debol 4, Gartner 4, Shutt 2.EDMONTON: Driscoll 6,7,8, MacDonald 2,3,4, Alexander 5, Flett 3, Gretzky 5,6, Bailpy 2, Sobchuk 4, Callighen 4, Weir 1, Hamilton 2.INDIANAPOLIS: MacGregor 1, Larway 1.NEW ENGLAND: Antonovich 6, Roberts 2,3, Miller 6, Lacroix 6, Rogers 5, G. Howe 6, Mark Howe 12QUEBEC: Baxter 3,4, Cloutier 16,17,18,19, Tardif 8,9,10,11,12, Bernier 10,11,12,13, Geoffrion 3, C. Bordeleau 5, Dube 1, Cote 2, Lariviere 2.WINNIPEG: Lindstrom 6,7,8,9, Amodeo 2, Lesuk 5, Ruskowski 4, Lukowich 6,7,8, Sullivan 10,11, Guindon 2. &#9632;

WHA’s Scorers

WINNIPEG&mdash;Nineteen-hundred-and-seventy-four was a very good year for Terry Ruskowski of the Western Canada Hockey League, Swift Current Broncos.Not unlike other skaters of his graduating class in June of that year, the five-foot-nine center was well aware that a 20-year old must impress the talent scouts at that most crucial stage of his career, or the odds on turning pro are markedly reduced. ~Ruskowski enjoyed the kind of super season that could transform any cynic into an optimist. He rounded out his junior playing career by firing 40 goals and setting the table for 93 additional counters.Other present World Hockey Association stalwarts also shared the spotlight in &lsquo;74: two Edmonton Oilers &mdash; Ron Chipperfield and Dennis Sobchuk finished one-two in the WCHL scoring race with logs of 90-72-162 and 68-78146 respectively. The third sniper in the circuit was New England Whaler Mike Rogers, who tallied 67 goals and set us 73 others for 140 points.And it was plain to see that with present NHL talents such as Clark Gillies of the Islanders, Wilf Paiement of the Colorado Rockies, Doug Risebrough and Pierre Larouche of the Canadiens, also in their final junior season in 1974, that the competition was stiff.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01313/3906793-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="581" height="808"><figcaption class="caption-body">TERRY RUSKOWSKI&hellip;Likes Winnipeg Fans</figcaption></div>Terry, who also played on a Bronco Club which featured &ldquo;Tiger&rdquo; Williams of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ron Delorme of the Rockies, was drafted in the fourth round by the Chicago Black Hawks.To say that Ruskowski was a mite disappointed would be an understatement. Billy Reay, former Black Hawk coach, phoned the young aspirant and it appeared as if the junior Bronco was ticketed for Dallas of the Central Hockey League, a Hawk farm club.It was at that juncture that Terry decided he would toss in his lot with a Houston Aero club that was the class of the World Hockey Association. And the Texan club proved it by sweeping Quebec in four straight in the playoffs that year.The manner in which Ruskowski and his teammates came to be Jets is now ancient history. And the speedy center is most impressed with local fandom.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like in Houston, where you couldn&rsquo;t even buy a copy of &ldquo;THE HOCKEY NEWS,&rdquo; he remarked. &ldquo;Sure they have a beautiful arena, one of the best I&rsquo;ve ever seen; screens for instant replays, and gorgeous girls who come to your seats to serve you drinks. But, it was the same hard core of fans who came all the time.&rdquo;&ldquo;Mind you, there are a lot of people from the North moving to the South who know what hockey is all about. They don&rsquo;t have to be educated. Perhaps in three of four years, Houston will be a part of the National Hockey League.&rdquo;&ldquo;We had some difficult times there financially,&rdquo; he revealed. &ldquo;There were three different owners and some missed paydays. I loved the team; we stuck together and refused to disband. The Howes were paid and the rest weren&rsquo;t. We stuck together because we knew if we quit, the older guys wouldn&rsquo;t have a job.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02246/3906786-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="573" height="802"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL GOLDSWORTHY&hellip;Separated Shoulder</figcaption></div>Gordie is still Terry&rsquo;s biggest idol and imparted that old Number 9 treated him like a father in Houston as soon as he (Terry) arrived.It was sheer accident how Ruskowski came to play center. He admits, himself, that he lacked the self confidence which is so important for any athlete. When summoned to Swift Current which held his rights, he assessed the situation and noted that there was an opening on the roster for two centers and only one winger.Logic dictated that he apply where opportunity was most likely to knock.Ruskowski acknowledges that the loss of the Swedish duo means that there won&rsquo;t be as much finesse on the ice as in the past. &ldquo;In practice we tried to impersonate the Swedes,&rdquo; he cited, &ldquo;but we just made ourselves look silly.&rdquo;Based upon the performance of the Texas trio of Ruskowski, Rich Preston and Morris Lukowich in the limited shifts they&rsquo;ve enjoyed together with the Jets, if anyone is going to look silly, it&rsquo;s apt to be the opposition skaters trying to contain them.Edmonton Oilers, fresh from the biggest trading coup in World Hockey Association history, ran into two injuries that further complicated coach Glen Sather&rsquo;s job of running the team back into contention.Right winger Bill Goldsworthy was injured in a game at Quebec City and went to the sidelines for at least two months with a separated shoulder, while defenseman Joe Micheletti aggravated a back injury and was placed out of action for an undetermined period.The injuries failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the ever-positive Sather, who joined other Oiler officials in celebrating a week previously after owner Peter Pocklington acquired future super star Wayne Gretzky, bruising Peter Driscoll and goaltender Eddie Mio from Indianapolis Racers for a reported $850,000.&ldquo;It gets harder and harder to keep going with all our injuries, but we&rsquo;ll be all right,&rdquo; said Sather, named coach of the year in the WHA by THE HOCKEY NEWS last season.&ldquo;We were in good shape when we left training camp, but we tost Stan Weir and Ron Chipperfield in the last exhibition game and they&rsquo;re our top centers.&rdquo;Weir missed 10 games before returning to the lineup in a 6-5 victory over Quebec. Chipperfield played sparingly through five games and had an average of more than a point a game but finally had to get off skates entirely so his ruptured hip muscle would have time to heal.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know when Chipper will be back,&rdquo; sais Sather. &ldquo;I know we want him back as quickly as possible, but it&rsquo;s stupid to keep aggravating an injury.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to be without his services all season long&mdash;and I&rsquo;ve seeen things like that happen when you try to rush guys with muscle injuries.&rdquo;Weir played with a protective splint on the little finger of his left hand, protecting the tip from which almost a half-inch was chopped when Weir was slashed by a Winnipeg defender.The former National Hockey League center, an accomplished forechecker, was in better condition than expected for his debut. He lacked strength in the lower part of his left hand, of course, bur did fairly well on faceoffs and his robust approach helped create scoring opportunities for his teammates.The next night, the Oilers defeated Quebec 6-5 as Blair MacDonald emerged from a month-long slump with three goals. &#9632;

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Speedy Ruskowski Valuable Addition To Jets

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01297/3906838-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02218/3906831-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="738" height="879"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03163/3906824-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="684" height="1266"></div> &#9632;

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WHA’S POINT SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04130/3906869-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DANNY GFOFFRION&hellip;Quebec Nordiques Rookie</figcaption></div>The old sports adage of like father, like son is holding true for the Geoffrion family. The Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; rookie right winger is starting out in professional hockey and if he even comes close to emulating his famous father, Bernard &lsquo;Boom Boom&rsquo; Geoffrion, the Nordiques will have themselves some kind of a hockey player.The younger Geoffrion, who stands 5&rsquo;10&rdquo; and weighs 185, is a chip off the old block. His father was a 5&rsquo;9&rdquo;, 180-pound right winger with a blistering shot that put the fear in the hearts of NHL goalers. The older Boomer scored 393 goals in 16 seasons and it appears young Geoffrion has inherited some of his dad&rsquo;s scoring know how.Last year, Geoffrion scored 68 times in 71 games for Cornwall of the Quebec Major Hockey League and the Nordiques figure he&rsquo;ll enhance their offense once he gets the hang of the pro game.The Nordiques had to bid high to land Geoffrion, who was the No. 1 draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens this season. But the younger &lsquo;Boomer&rsquo; didn&rsquo;t like the deal the Stanley Cup champs were offering and opted for the WHA and the Nordiques. &#9632;

f0028-04

Geoffrion Follows Famous Father

<h2>ECAC Conference</h2>Tue. Nov. 14Providence at ColgateSun. Nov. 19Colgate at DartmouthSt. Lawrence at ProvidenceMon. Nov. 20St. Lawrence at BrownTue. Nov. 21Harvard at DartmouthBoston University at RPISat. Nov. 25Dartmouth at PrincetonHarvard at RPIClarkson at St. LawrenceSun. Nov. 26Providence at Boston UniversityMon. Nov. 27Boston College at BrownTue. Nov. 28Vermont at St. LawrencePrinceton at YaleWed. Nov. 29Harvard at Providence Dartmouth at Boston University<h2>WCHA Conference</h2>Nov. 17-18Michigan State at Notre DameMichigan Tech at Colorado CollegeWisconsin at ColoradoDenver at MichiganNov. 24-25North Dakota at Michigan StateMichigan at Notre DameMichigan Tech at DenverMinnesota-Duluth at WisconsinMinnesota at Colorado College<h2>CCHA Conference</h2>Nov. 17-18Clarkson at Bowling GreenNorthern Michigan at Lake SuperiorSt. Louis at Air ForceWilfred Laurier at Western MichiganMichigan-Dearborn at Ferris StateNov. 21Ohio State at Bowling GreenNov. 24Yale at St. LouisNov. 24-25Bowling Green at Northern MichiganOhio State at VermontSt. Scholastica at Western MichiganNov. 26Yale at St. Louis<h2>Canadian Colleges</h2>QUEBECFri. Nov. 17Bishop&rsquo;s at ChicoutimiLaval at McGillTrois-Rivieres at ConcordiaSat Nov. 18Bishop&rsquo;s at ChicoutimiSun. Nov. 19Laval at Trois-RivieresONTARIOTue. Nov. 14Queen&rsquo;s at OttawaWed. Nov. 15Laurier at WaterlooFri. Nov. 17Ryerson at McMasterWaterloo at WesternYork at Queen&rsquo;sSat Nov. 18Brock at LaurierOttawa at LaurentianYork at Queen&rsquo;sSun. Nov. 19Ryerson at WaterlooOttawa at LaurentianMARITIMESFri. Nov. 17Mount Allison at MonctonNew Brunswick at AcadiaSat Nov. 18Mount Allison at DalhousieNew Brunswick at St. Mary&rsquo;sMoncton at AcadiaUPEI at XavierSun. Nov. 19UPEI at DalhousieMoncton at St. Mary&rsquo;s &#9632;

Where The Colleges Play…

<div class="byline">BY JIM SCHNEIDER</div>MARQUETTE&mdash;Coach Rick Comley&rsquo;s Northern Michigan Wildcats are off to another fast start winning their first four games in Lakeview Arena. In fact, NMU is the lone undefeated team in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.NMU has swept Manitoba and Miami (Ohio) University in the early going, despite the loss of defenseman Don Waddell to an ankle injury suffered in an exhibition game at Michigan Tech. Last season Waddell captained the U.S. National Junior team and was named co-winner of the CCHA Player-of-the-Year Award with "Bowling Green&rsquo;s John Markell.Another injured Wildcat is junior netminder Barrie Oakes. NMU&rsquo;s goaltending has been fine so far with freshman Jon Benson replacing Oakes as the partner to junior Steve Weeks.Junior winger Bill Joyce set a school record with nine points in a series as he scored four goals and added five assists as NMU swept Steve Dacy&rsquo;s Miami Redskins, 13-2 and 7-3.Comley earned his 100th career coaching win (at NMU and Lake Superior) in the 13-2 romp.Junior defenseman Tom Laidlaw has become an offensive threat as he has scored three goals in four games after scoring twice in his first two seasons.Elsewhere in the CCHA:BOWLING GREEN: The defending CCHA Falcons coached by Ron Mason have split their first six games of the season. BG lost a pair of overtime games to Michigan, swept Miami and split with New Hampshire.The hot line for the Falcons in the early going features All-CCHA performer John Markell at right wing with Tom Newton at center and freshman George McPhee on left wing. After six games McPhee led the team with 15 points and Markell had 14 and was leading theCCHA with eight goals.BG&rsquo;s All-American defenseman Ken Morrow is off to his best offensive start ever with nine points in six games.The Falcons split the series with UNH and still have ECAC foes Vermont, Clarkson and St. Lawrence scheduled to visit the BGSU Ice Arena where they were 23-1 in 1977-78.LAKE SUPERIOR: The Soo Lakers had the earliest start in the CCHA, playing and splitting a series at Minnesota-Duluth in early October. Since then Rick Yeo&rsquo;s squad has kept up the pace with a 4-4 mark dropping two games to Michigan Tech, sweeping Ferris State and splitting with St. Scholastica.Sophomore goaltender Murray Skinner has been a key figure for LSSC with a 3-1 mark playing each Friday. His only loss was to Michigan Tech 5-4 and his 40 saves beat the fourth-ranked UND Bulldogs 3-2 in the season opener.Junior captain Jamie McDonald has been the offensive spark as he leads the team in scoring and netted a hat trick against Ferris State.OHIO STATE: Buckeye coach Jerry Welsh used a pair of season-opening losses to Michigan State 4-1 and 5-1 as learning experience and the Bucks learned their lessons bouncing back to rout Waterloo 10-4 and 10-2.OSU sports a fine goaltending pair in junior Steve Jones and sophomore Mike Blake. After four games, each goalie had a 3.50 average.Freshman Dan Mandjch and Larry Marson had the OSU goals at Michigan State and junior defenseman Greg Kostenko is the only Buckeye to score a point in each game.ST. LOUIS UNIVERSITY: Bill Sellman&rsquo;s Billikens feature many new faces and a 1-1 record after a late start at Ferris State.Ferris captured the opener between the schools 8-5 before SLU won the second game 6-4. Veteran netminder Carl Bloomberg had 12 saves in the loss and 16 saves in the win. He also had a pair of assists in the victory.Freshman Mike Norton was the offensive leader for SLU scoring a pair of goals in the opener and insuring the victory with an empty net marker.Tri-captain Chuck Durocher collected three assists in the series.WESTERN MICHIGAN: Coach Glen Weller dropped his opener against McMaster, but the first-year coach is over the .500 mark as the Broncos topped McMaster 5-3 to gain a split in the series and later knocked off Windsor 5-1 in a mid-week contest.Freshman Terry Olson broke in with a bang collecting three points and Ben Pederson scored two goals in WMU&rsquo;s first win.Weller becomes the second Michigan Tech assistant coach to get a head job in theCCHA joining LSSC&rsquo;sRick Yeo.FERRIS STATE: Rick Duffett&rsquo;s Bulldogs are playing a &ldquo;scheduling year&rdquo; in the CCHA. Games that Ferris plays against CCHA teams count in the standings for the opponents, but not the Bulldogs.Ferris State, split its first eight games, but the highlight was dumping St. Louis 8-5 in the first CCHA encounter.Goalie Doug Nowels has been a key for the Bulldogs making 30 saves or more in three of his first five starts including 33 in the win over St. Louis. &#9632;

Wildcats Start Fast With Sweeps

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div>NOTRE DAME&mdash;It&rsquo;s no wonder that the guy who has been generating much of the electricity surrounding the University of Notre Dame hockey team so far in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association is junior center Tom Michalek.Michalek, from Dearborn, Mich., is an electrical engineering major who is one of three Notre Dame hockey players up for Rhodes Scholarship honors. Reserve goalie Greg Rosenthal (premed) and wing Greg Meredith (pre-law) are other Irish skaters who combine brawn with plenty of brains.Michalek has been burning up the scoreboard while burning up the books. He leads the WCHA in scoring after two weeks with four goals and eight assists for 12 points.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s really come into his own this year. His line has really sparked us,&rdquo; said Notre Dame coach Lefty Smith, who has his Irish off to a 3-2-1 start, good for fourth place despite playing four of those six games on the road.Smith contributes Notre Dame&rsquo;s quick start to &ldquo;discipline, quickness and skill,&rdquo; but he admits Notre Dame&rsquo;s start has surprised even him.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01256/3906931-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="577" height="654"><figcaption class="caption-body">NEAL BROTEN&hellip;Beat Irish</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02208/3906924-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="577" height="647"><figcaption class="caption-body">DON MICHELETTI&hellip;Gopher Marksman</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a young team with eight to 10 freshmen playing, we knew we&rsquo;d have to improve from week to week and probably be patient until after the Christmas break. But we&rsquo;re playing better hockey than I had anticipated,&rdquo; he said.Indeed they are. The Irish have picked up five of their seven league points on the road, a tough assignment every year in the WCHA. Notre Dame has won once at Colorado College and Minnesota and also gathered a 9-9 tie at Colorado College.Another bright spot for Notre Dame has been the goaltending of freshman Dave Laurion, a 5-foot-7, 155-pounder from International Falls, Minn.&ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t looked that good in practice, but he&rsquo;s very much of a competitor. He&rsquo;s got great poise and he doesn&rsquo;t lose that in a game,&rdquo; Smith said.Laurion has played in five of Notre Dame&rsquo;s six league games and ranked sixth in the league in goals-against average with a 3.17 mark.While Notre Dame has been among the early season surprises, defending champion Denver University has surprised some by taking over the league lead once again.The Pioneers of Marshall Johnston, who won 27 of 32 league games a year ago in shattering all school records, are off to a fast 5-1 start once again.It&rsquo;s surprising, since the Pioneers lost six key players via graduation, another two to the pros, two more to academic woes and another, leading goal scorer Perry Schnarr, until at least January with back surgery.But freshmen goalies Scott Robinson and Stuart Birenbaum have been tough and balanced scoring has highlighted the offense.Denver swept Duluth twice, salting away both games in the third period. Freshman wing Ken Berry scored twice in the last period the first night in Denver&rsquo;s 8-6 win after Duluth led 5-3 after two as John Rothstein had one goal and two assists.The second night, Denver scored three times in the last period to beat Duluth 8-5 as Perry Stensland&rsquo;s shorthanded goal sparked the Pioneers.North Dakota, under rookie coach Gino Gasparini, features the league&rsquo;s best defensive team and an explosive offense to boot.The Sioux whipped Colorado College twice by 6-1 and 10-0 and have now given up just 14 goals in six games, by far the league&rsquo;s best defensive statistic. Mark Taylor had two goals and Doug Smail one goal and three assists the first night, then Smail and Erwin Martens had two goals spiece in the 10-0 rout. The Sioux exploded for seven goals in the third period to blank the Tigers behind the shutout goaltending of freshman Bob Iwabucci, making his first college start.Minnesota, the pre-season pick of the coaches to win the title, lost its second game at home in three weeks when Notre Dame won 3-2 the first night as Ted Weltzin scored two goals, including the winner at 1:21 of the third period. The next night, Minnesota dropped Notre Dame 4-1 on goals by Don Micheletti, Bart Larson, Neal Broten and Bill Baker.Cellar-dwelling Michigan State hit the victory column, too, surprising Michigan Tech 5-4 after dropping the opener 10-6.Aaron Ruck&rsquo;s second goal of the game sparked Michigan State to victory in the second game after Warren Young had scored twice to lead Tech to the romp in the series opener.Michigan gained a split with Wisconsin in Madison, winning 6-5 and then losing 9-4. The Wolverines had to survive a three-goal rally by Wisconsin in the third period of the opener but it was all Wisconsin in the series windup.Mark Johnson, the all-WCHA center, pumped in four goals and added two assists as the Badgers broke loose for five goals in the second period to salvage a split.WCHA NOTES: Through four WCHA games, CC&rsquo;s Bob Mancini and Duluth&rsquo;s John Rothstein were the leaders in goals scored with five apiece&hellip; North Dakota senior wing Rob Mihulka has scored a goal in each of his last four games&hellip; Minnesota, Denver, Duluth, Wisconsin, Michigan Tech, Notre Dame and North Dakota are all ranked in the top 10 in the national college rankings with Minnesota ranked first. &#9632;

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Irish Show Rare Touch On Road; Rebuilding Denver Leading WCHA

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>BURL1NGTON&mdash;He was scrambling to cover once again, kicking, pushing, digging just as he&rsquo;d done two decades ago as a Boston University forward. But Jimmy Cross was now facing down something more ominous than an opposing skater; instead, he was trying to wiggle free of the psychological shackles of rosy preseason predictions.Cross is the head coach of the University of Vermont&rsquo;s hockey team. For the past three seasons, his teams have come up short of their expected performance, finishing no better than .500 and missing the playoffs. The 197879 year finds the Catamounts picked to improve and challenge for a post-season berth, even though the squad has as many question marks and iffy situations as most of the opposition in the 16-team ECAC Division One.&ldquo;Whoa, whoa,&rdquo; he protested in his pleasant gravel-voiced manner.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve still gotta find some defensemen. I only have three of them right now, and we&rsquo;re still experimenting with freshmen and some forwards back there. I&rsquo;m a long way from being happy with our progress yet.&rdquo;Jim&rsquo;s reluctance was understandable, if one knows the history of Vermont hockey. Stepping up to Division One in 1974-75 after dominating Division Two for several years, UVM made a bigger splash than the Queen Elizabeth II. They went 14-6 in the league for third place and a trip to Boston Garden. They scored goals with abandon and defended, with elan, aided in every conceivable way by Dame Fortune. Overtimes, eleventh hour comebacks, upset wins on the road and at home before adoring throngs at Gutterson Field House&mdash;everything came up Green and Gold that honeymoon year. With a hatful of freshmen stepping in to play important roles, UVM&rsquo;s immediate future looked bright.But like most passionate affairs, UVM&rsquo;s good fortune faded quickly. Records of 15-16-1, 15-15, and 15-16 followed. The first year&rsquo;s wunderkinds found, rather painfully, that Lady Luck repays each smile with three frowns and a sneer. Morale on the team ebbed, and the Gutterson fans&rsquo; ardor cooled like strong black coffee, from tasty, warm and invigorating to tepid, acidic and finally intimidating. UVM was 1-8 divisionally last year in their former snakepit, while posting a respectable 8-6 on the road.So why pick them to improve, especially with junior Lou, Cote the only proven Division One defenseman available? Admittedly, it&rsquo;s a gamble, and enough could go wrong to bury UVM deep within the second division. Still, that mental part of the game is so important, and with the last vestiges of the 1974-75 team departed, Vermont can start afresh and sneak up on a few people. Nobody on the current squad has sipped playoff elixir, and Cross concedes that this will help as he rebuilds. Still, he worries about defense.Serge LeBlanc, last season&rsquo;s big freshman hope, hasn&rsquo;t responded to December 1977 knee surgery. Though he has four years of eligibility remaining, he may never play for UVM. Cross has installed freshmen Bill Kansas and Chris Hodgson in the defense crew with Cote, last year&rsquo;s leading scorer at 10-30-40. Forwards Bob Torney, a junior back after a semester off, and Bill Ford, a sophomore, are being tried out at defense as is frosh Chris Coutu. Depending on luck and the injury situation over the course of the season, defense could either be adequate or qualify as a disaster area. Clearly, the blueliners will make or break UVM.In goal, sophomore Sylvain Turcotte owns the job. Syl posted a 4.23 goals against average last season, playing several games in pain due to nagging minor injuries. Goal is a strong point.The front lines for UVM will be an interesting study. The scoring totals of the returnees aren&rsquo;t high, but with a couple of transfers from Penn aboard, Cross has many capable snipers who should combine for a balanced attack. Tom Cullity (18-21-39), a junior center, and Gary Prior (13-19-32) a junior wing, came north along with soph defenseman Bob McBrien after Penn dropped hockey as a varsity sport. Prior has taken a spot on Vermont&rsquo;s first line centered by fine soph Craig Homola (17-18-35) with frosh Michel Vincent on the other side.Cullity worked with the fourth line and the power play unit during early drills, and Cross expects him to pick up speed as the year progresses. The second line features senior center Gordie MacFarlane (17-18-35) between senior Jim Duffy (14-16-30) and freshman Scott Fairbairn. Junior Jim Murphy (913-22) and soph Chris Zimmerman (610-16) will flank either Ford or freshman Gary Hebert on the third wave.The forwards will be a positive factor if Cullity and Prior fit in right away, and if continued improvement comes from the likes of Homola, Zimmerman and Murphy. The emergence of a freshman phenom or two wouldn&rsquo;t hurt either.&ldquo;I guess it sounds like a copout, but I think it depends on the individuals involved in such a situation,&rdquo; Cross says. &ldquo;I think a player should be able to fit in with any coaching system if he really wants to. I&rsquo;m pleased with our guys, and I think Prior has been one of our best players in practice.&rdquo;Though he is flattered by optimistic predictions from outside sources, Cross prefers to see this as a building year. He is &ldquo;scouring North America&rdquo; for high school seniors who can play defense, citing his next batch of recruits as the most important ever if he&rsquo;s going to bring UVM back into contention each year.Vermont fans, too, have taken a wait-and-see approach. Gutterson was less than half full for an exhibition game with Bishop&rsquo;s University. The local hotel&rsquo;s marquee no longer reads: &ldquo;Jim Cross For King,&rdquo; nor are there any upcoming games plugged as &ldquo;The Greatest Athletic Event in the History of the State.&rdquo; But don&rsquo;t think for a minute that a good start, or even a couple of upset wins, wouldn&rsquo;t turn Burlington into Madison, Wisconsin, once again. It could happen, and 197879 may be the year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01293/3906986-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="584" height="737"><figcaption class="caption-body">SYLVAIN TURCOTTE&hellip;Catamounts&rsquo; Hope</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Vermont Cautious About High Season Rating

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02232/3907017-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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College Scoreboard

<div class="byline">BY RICH JABLONSKI</div>TORONTO&mdash;While it has often been said that early season games in university hockey do not mean all that much, overpowering performances by the University of Toronto Blues in November usually point to one inevitable conclusion.The Blues are up to their old tricks, and woe be to the Ontario Association team that is not well-prepared for encounters with Tom Watt&rsquo;s squad.Such was the case on Nov. 7 when Toronto opened its regular season against a new look York Yeomen team. Toronto versus York matchups have traditionally been low-scoring, tight-checking affairs, decided by one or two goal margins. On this night, however, first year York coach Ron Smith received a rude welcome from the perennial champions, as his team came upon the short end of a 7-1 count.All systems were go for Toronto, as they blew five unanswered goals past the York defense in the second and third periods, breaking open what started out as a close contest.Four of the Blues&rsquo; goals were scored by newcomers: Brian Crichton, Geoff Shaw, Rick Parasuk, and Stelio Zupancich. Veterans Dan D&rsquo;Alvisewith two and Doug Caines with one accounted for the rest of the Toronto scoring.Brian Burtch scored the lone York goal, as the Yeomen demonstrated considerable shortcomings around the net. York managed to aim 30 shots at Toronto goaltender Dave Jenner, but only Burtch could turn on the red light.Elsewhere in Ontario, the Guelph Gryphons are off to a surprising 2-0 start. The Gryphons showed both defensive abilities and their share of firepower in edging Wilfrid Laurier 3-2 and bombing Ryerson 9-2. Guelph supporters received additional good news in the form of the return of former All-Canada defenseman Brad Pirie to the roster. Pirie sat out this past year after taking a shot at professional hockey with the Dallas Black Hawks of the Central League.The Queen&rsquo;s Golden Gaels swept a weekend series from Laurentian, 6-5 and 9-6. In the second game, the Golden Gaels were led by the scoring heroics of Paul Stothart, who netted four goals and added an assist.The Windsor Lancers have settled rather nicely into the OUAA&rsquo;s Central Division. The Lancers took their first two games in their new division 6-5 over Brock and 4-2 over Ryerson. Windsor appears to be a leading candidate to unseat incumbent division champion McMaster.In the first real &ldquo;shocker&rdquo; of the season, the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks routed rebuilding Western 9-0. All Star netminder Al MacSorley picked up the shutout for the Hawks.QUEBEC ASSOCIATION: What has happened to the Chicoutimi Inuks?That was the first question out of the mouths of many a McGill supporter after their highly-touted Redmen had dropped three out of four points on their season-opening weekend-in Chicoutimi.For the past two years, Herb Madill&rsquo;s Redmen have stepped off the bus in Chicoutimi, checked out the scenery, and then skated away with a tie and a win over the cellar-dwelling Inuks.All went according to form in the first game, with McGill salvaging a 4-4 tie late in the game. However, Chicoutimi dealt McGill&rsquo;s early season championship aspirations a severe blow the following afternoon, registering a come from behind 6-5 victory over the Redmen.There weren&rsquo;t too many surprises on the scoresheet for the Inuks. Returnee goalscorers Bernard Chamberland and Caniel Dufresne each popped two goals in the winning effort.The Concordia Stingers awaited their season opener in style, taking their annual pre-season tournament with a 95 win over Sports Experts. The day before, Paul Arsenault&rsquo;s team squeezed out a 3-2 victory over the Loyola Grads.All Star center Kim Elliott scored two goals in the championship game, while Bert DiFazio and Doug Feasby totaled two goals apiece for the tourney.In Quebec City, the Laval Rouge et Or split two games in their pre-season invitational tournament, downing the Moncton Aigles Bleu 8-5 to take the consolation championship. In first round play, Laval was shut out 5-0 by Ottawa.ATLANTIC ASSOCIATION: Regular season play in the Maritimes began Nov. 10, but exhibition play had already caused quite a stir in the East.The Dalhousie Tigers, fifth place finishers last season, have racked up an impressive pre-season log, including a pair of 3-2 victories over the Saint Mary&rsquo;s Huskies. Outside the conference, the Tigers have toyed with their opposition from Quebec, routing Concordia 15-3 and shutting out Trois Rivieres 10-0.The Tigers are for real.GREAT PLAINS ASSOCIATION: There was only one game in the GPAC this past week, but it proved to be a dandy. The improving Manitoba Bisons, powered by an overtime goal by forward Bill Bilton, narrowly defeated the rookie-laden Winnipeg Wesmen 43.Joining Bilton in the scoring column for Manitoba were Glen Rawdon, Bob Genoway and Paul Peters.Word from Vic Pruden in Winnipeg has it that this year&rsquo;s GPAC shapes up as a wide open race. While the Regina Cougars won the league title last year and have most of their team back, both the Manitoba Bisons and the Brandon Bobcats have improved enough to challenge. Brandon, in particular, with an exceptional recruiting year and several transfer acquisitions, figures to be a real sleeper.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01269/3907048-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="575" height="705"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRIAN CRICHTON&hellip;Helped Down York</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Blues Blow New Look York Off Ice; Chicoutimi Early Surprise in East

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01273/3907134-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAT QUINN&hellip; Harder The Second Time Around</figcaption></div>PORTLAND&mdash;They come from all parts of their picturesque region in all types of weather. Sitting in one of the bright yellow seats of Section E is a man who performed surgery just hours before. Four seats away is another who helped his state continue to produce 90 percent of the nation&rsquo;s lobster by pulling up his daily catch from the chilly harbor waters.Across the ice is a retiree who has gotten parental dispensation to bring his eight-year-old grandnephew for a Saturday night event which has become their favorite attraction.What unites the physician and the fisherman, the oldster and the tyke is those 19 men in the white jerseys and black pants who comprise the Maine Mariners.Over 260,000 fans have clicked the turnstile gates at the beautiful Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland since the team played its first game 13 months ago.&ldquo;When you consider our start 13 months back, that figure is even more impressive,&rdquo; commented youthful Mariners&rsquo; president Ed Anderson.That &ldquo;start&rdquo; in October, 1977 was a slow one. The team was 4-8-3 in its first fifteen games. But, Flyers-Mariners&rsquo; GM Keith Allen rolled up his sleeves, dialed a few numbers, and things began to happen.Our fans remained loyal through those first tough weeks,&rdquo; Anderson recalled. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a trait of Maine people.&rdquo;That loyalty was rewarded with a divisional title and the coveted Calder Cup.All of it happened in just one year. In fact, it was one year to the day from the time that Flyers-Mariners&rsquo; board chairman Ed Snider was granted the Main franchise to the afternoon when he rode in a victory parade through the streets of an ecstatic Portland.That was May. This is November.Next question. What do you do for an encore?&ldquo;Win it twice,&rdquo; replied coach Pat Quinn. &rsquo; &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what we want to do.&rdquo;Quinn admits this won&rsquo;t be easy.&ldquo;Every arena we enter away from home we&rsquo;ll find a team that wants to knock us off in front of their fans because we&rsquo;re the champs,&rdquo; Quinn explained. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why it is harder to do it the second year.&rdquo;&ldquo;But,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;When you do it, it&rsquo;s far more satisfying because of that greater test of your mental and physical skills.&rdquo;The same determination that is carried into the team&rsquo;s brightly-pointed orange-white-and-black locker room is evident across the hall in the club offices.&ldquo;We cannot allow ourselves the luxury of leisure,&rdquo; Anderson explained. &ldquo;We are continuing and will continue to be involved with our community in its businesses and its service organizations. This continuing, growing involvement requires extra effort.&rdquo;&ldquo;But,&rdquo; he adds, pointing to the dressing room, &ldquo;just like those men there, we have found great satisfaction in establishing standards and meeting them.&rdquo;So, the Mariners are at it again, continuing both on and off the ice to give their best for the physician, the fisherman, and their fans of the future. &#9632;

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Mariners Capture Community’s Fancy

<div class="byline">BY JIM LEAHY</div>MONCTON&mdash;Radio station CFQM will become the &ldquo;Voice of the Hawks&rdquo; according to manager Lloyd Melanson. &ldquo;CFQM will broadcast at least 40 games this year, including all Maine Mariner and Nova Scotia Voyageur away games, plus a host of home games from the Coliseum,&rdquo; stated the Hawks&rsquo; leader Moncton area fans have plenty to listen to already as the new AHL club has streaked to the top of the Northern Division race.New Brunswick Hawks coach Eddie Johnston predicted that his team would be strong on defense all year.&rdquo; We&rsquo;re strong already with a blend of seasoned young pros and some top rookies,&rdquo; said Johnston.Among the rookies is Joel Quenneville, a six-foot-one, 190-pounder from Windsor, Ontario. He was Toronto&rsquo;s top amateur draft choice after a great season with the Windsor Spitfires in the Ontario Junior Hockey League. Another highly rated rookie is six-foot-two, 195-pound Brian Young from Jasper, Alberta. Young was the fourth draft choice of the Chicago Black Hawks after he had a great junior career in the Western Hockey League with the New Westminster Bruins.The New Brunswick defense will also have Saskatchewan native Bob Hoffmeyer and American Mike O&rsquo;Connell, both members of the Chicago organization who skated in Dallas last season. Also on defense are Kevin Kemp of Ottawa and Greg Hotham of London, Ont. Both are Maple Leaf property, who played for the Saginaw Gears in the IHL last season.Up front, the New Brunswick Hawks have speed and size to go with a solid blend of youth and experience. Chicago&rsquo;s top draft choice, Rick Patterson, and Toronto&rsquo;s second pick, Mark Kirton, give the Hawks great potential at center. Patterson had 58 goals and 80 assists for the Cornwall Royals of the Quebec Major Junior League, while Kirton grabbed 28 goals and 47 assists while with Peterborough of the OHA. Kirton was also named to the Memorial Cup All Star team.Among the left wingers is five-year pro Dan Hinton from the Chicago organization. He scored 40 points for the Dallas Black Hawks last year. Left winger Mark Murphy is with the club, and scored 70 points in the OHA last year. Another left winger is fast-skating Bob Warner, well-known to local fans after he starred with St. Mary&rsquo;s University. He too played with Dallas last season.Right winger Alain &ldquo;Bam-Bam&rdquo; Belanger is expected to be the team&rsquo;s policeman. Belanger scored 35 points for Dallas and racked up 262 penalty minutes in the process. Also at right wing is tough, speedy, Rocky Saganiuk from Mymam, Alberta. At five-feet-eight, he is the smallest man on the roster. He picked up 33 points for Dallas before being sidelined with a neck injury later diagnosed as a broken vertebrae. Saganiuk is the property of the Toronto Maple Leafs who have joined with the Chicago Black Hawks to operate an AHL team in New Brunswick after several years in Dallas.NOVA SCOTIA: The Voyageurs came home from their first extended road trip in what coack Frank St. Marseille described as &ldquo;pretty good shape&rdquo; and prepared to settle in for a three-game home stand at the Metro Center.There was no doubt in the coach&rsquo;s mind that &ldquo;the AHL is generally much stronger than a year ago, particularly the North division which is sure to be a dogfight all the way.&rdquo; Only three points separated Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Springfield after the first two weeks of play, and St. Marseille felt it would remain that way throughout the schedule. &ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t much to choose right now in our division. Everybody looks much stronger,&rdquo; said St. Marseille.Don (Red) Laurence joined the Vees on the road trip in Philadelphia after being sent from the Atlanta Flames. Laurence suffered a badly fractured leg during his final year with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHA, at a time when he was leading the league in scoring. Sidelined late in 1976, he didn&rsquo;t return to action until the latter stages of the 1977-78 season in Tulsa of the CHL where he scored 15 goals in 39 games.SPRINGFIELD: Coach Ted Harris put his Springfield Indians through a vigorous practice session at the Big E Coliseum as the club prepared for a torrid stretch of seven games in nine days against the toughest opposition in the AHL.The first order of business was to revamp two of his three lines, leaving only the Andre Peloffy-Charlie Simmer-Russ Walker unit intact. &ldquo;We need more scoring punch,&rdquo; said Harris, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;ll keep switching guys around until we find the best combinations.&rdquo; One of the new units, Dave Gardner centering Tony White and Gordie Clark, was especially pleasing to the coach. &ldquo;They showed a lot of drive and some very good puck handling and pass work,&rdquo; said the Tribe leader. The third line had Derek Haas, Joe Kowal and Kurt Walker or Harland Monahan. Penalty killing specialists Dan Bonar and Pat Russell along with Jim Warner were used for spot duty.&ldquo;I plan to use three regular lines on a game to game basis. I don&rsquo;t believe in using more than three lines in a game. Players need a lot of work to be effective,&rdquo; Harris added.Defenseman Doug Halward was acquired from the Los Angeles Kings recently, and to make room for him, backliner Floyd Lahache was sent to the Saginaw Gears of the IHL.MAINE: Blake Dunlop, Bernie Johnston and Al Hill were among the early season scoring leaders for the Mariners. Dunlop led the AHL in goals scored with eight, after just nine contests. Right winger John Paddock was in a familiar role, he led the team in penalty minutes with 51.After 10 games, the defending AHL champions had an unimpressive 5-4-1 record, however, they were only one point in back of front-running New Brunswick. Springfield posted a 3-2 win in Portland and the Rochester Americans hung a stinging 7-3 defeat on the Mariners in a contest played in Rocherster. A 5-3 Mariner win in Binghamton was offset by a 2-2 overtime tie in Springfield.ROCHESTER: Coach Duane Rupp says that his men are &ldquo;healthy, hungry and ready to get on the winning track again.&rdquo; The Amerks were in second place, trying to keep up with red-hot New Haven.Bill Bennett rejoined the club following a three game suspension for missing the team bus in New Haven. Bennett was apparently upset with the lack of ice time he was getting but resolved his differences with Rupp, who is expected to fine the six-foot-five, 235-pound winger.Barry Smith, known for his puckhandling and penalty killing abilities, scored four goals and had two assists to lead the Rochester Americans to a pair of recent victories. Smith scored twice, including the game winner, in the Amerks&rsquo; 5-3 win in Philadelphia. Gary Burns added his first professional goal, and Mark Suzor along with Daryl Drader also scored. Dave Parro turned in a sparkling performance by stopping 32 shots, including four breakaways.The Rochester War Memorial was the scene of a hard-fought 7-3 Amerk win over Maine before 4,759 fans.HERSHEY: Gary Rissling, Fred Stanfield and Claude Noel led the Bears in scoring during the early going but the Bears were getting spotty goaltending from Rollie Boutin and Randy Ireland. Each had allowed more than 4.2 goals per game, which will never be good enough to win the Southern Division crown.A 1-2 record for the week left the club in third place in the division. They lost 5-4 in New Brunswick and dropped a 94 contest in Nova Scotia. The finale of the three-game swing through the Maritimes ended in a 5-3 win over the Nova Scotia Voyageurs.BINGHAMTON: Popular winger Paul Stewart has rejoined the Dusters after a stint in the WHA with the Cincinnati Stingers. A big favorite at the Broome County Arena, Stewart has a reputation of being willing to mix it up with anybody even though one AHL scribe said that he &ldquo;has a 1-12-1 record in fights.&rdquo; At any rate, Stewart always gives 100 percent when he is out on the ice.Stewart&rsquo;s arrival seemed to have pumped some life into the Dusters. They won two of three, their first two victories of the season, to move within four points of third place Hershey.PHILADELPHIA: The Firebirds must have headed south for the winter. After 11 games the second year AHL club had a record of 0-9-2. New coach Bep Guidolin had no place to go but up as he took over the wingless &lsquo;Birds.Last week was a total disaster. Two home games ended up in close losses for the Firebirds. Rochester posted a 5-2 win and Binghamton a 4-3 victory over the hapless club. Then it was up to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia for three straight losses before returning to the United States to face the Nighthawks in New Haven.NEW HAVEN: The Nighthawk defense had allowed the least number of goals after three weeks of play in the AHL. &ldquo;All seven of our backliners have performed exceptionally well. Veteran Don Awrey helps add experience to the four kids; Dean &ldquo;Hulk&rdquo; Turner, Tim Bothwell, Dan Clark, and Andre Dore, while Ray Clearwater and John Bednarski continue to play their steady game behind the blueline as well,&rdquo; commented Nighthawk GM-coach Parker MacDonald.New Haven beat Springfield 4-3 and Binghamton 4-2 at home before having their six game unbeaten streak snapped at Binghamton after a 3-2 win by the Dusters. &#9632;

Strong Blend On Defense Lifting Hawks Early

LOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S and Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02189/3907165-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="537" height="549"></div> &#9632;

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Where CHL Teams Play

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>SALT LAKE&mdash;Brian Ogilvie scored four goals, the last one shorthanded, as the Golden Eagles romped to an 11-0 victory over the Tulsa Oilers in the Salt Palace.&ldquo;Ogie&rdquo;, a five-foot-11, 180-pound center from Stettler, Alta., who was an outstanding junior at Red Deer, Vancouver and Edmonton, tallied late in the first period, midway through the second, and twice in the third, notching his fourth goal with 3:32 left in the same, after John Smrke has stolen the puck from Tulsa&rsquo;s only power play of the contest.Eagle goalie Ed Staniowski posted his second shutout in 10 days, and claimed the only whitewash performances in the league. It may have been the easiest one the &ldquo;Polish Prince&rdquo; ever had, as the Oilers were limited to 13 shots on goal, getting a total of five in the first two periods.Rick Shinske had two tallies in the Eagle Barrage. It was Shinske, Smrke and newcomer Mike Zuke making it 3-0 before the game was 11 minutes old. Gary Holt and Ogilvie raised the count to 5-0 in the first period.Shinske and Ogilvie scored again in the second, and Tulsa&rsquo;s veteran goalie Bill McKenzie was removed after 7:14 of the session. Mike Crombeen and Gordon McTavish continued the assault on rookie netminder Tim Bernhardt in the second period, and Ogilvie added his last two markers in the third.The rampage tied a club record, as the Birds had belted the hapless Phoenix Roadrunners by a similar 11-0 count almost a year previously. It was the sixth four-goal performance in Eagle history, the last one being by Smrke two seasons ago.However, the Oilers turned the tables one night later, skating to a 2-1 decision in the Palace. Staniowski was again in the nets, as colleague Terry Richardson came down with a virus. Crombeen&rsquo;s second-period power play goal was all the Eagles could muster off Bernhardt.It was the Eagles&rsquo; first home loss in six starts, and left them three points back of the first-place Oklahoma City Stars.The Eagles lost defenseman Bruce Affleck on a callup to the parent St. Louis Blues, who sent down blueliners Dick Lamby and Jamie Masters. Zuke, a rookie last year with Indianapolis in the WHA, was skating himself into shape after a shoulder dislocation, and made his CHL debut in the 11-0 &ldquo;laugher.&rdquo;Ogilvie&rsquo;s five-point night (he assisted on Smrke&rsquo;s goal) moved him into the club scoring lead with 14 points, sixth among the CHL scorers. Shinske was tied for ninth with 12. Staniowski&rsquo;s 1.94 average yield put him far ahead of the other goalies in the league. Richardson had won his first five starts in the nets, needing one more to tie a club record.FORT WORTH: Billy MacMillan&rsquo;s Texans suffered two more losses to give them a 1-4 record for their road games.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just unable tb put three good periods together,&rdquo; said Billy of his defending CHL champs. &ldquo;We should have won both of tfiose games.&rdquo;In Oklahoma City, Steve Tambellini got the only Fort Worth goal in a 5-1 setback. While in Kansas City, Neil Hawriliw scored for the Texans in the first and second periods, but the Wings eventually prevailed, 4-2.DALLAS: A year ago, left wing Dave Hunter and right wing Brad Smith were linemates on the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey Association&rsquo;s Major Junior League. Drafted and signed by different clubs in different leagues, they were together again on the Dallas Black Hawks, Hunter by courtesy of the WHA Edmonton Oilers and Smith from the NHL Vancouver Canucks.And it was Hunter&rsquo;s rebound of Smith&rsquo;s shot, after just 21 seconds of overtime play, that lifted the Hawks to a 6-5 victory over the Kanses City Red Wings in a wild game in Dallas that saw seven goals scored in the third period.Hunter had two for the night, but the big gunner was Steve Hazlett, who posted a hat trick, including the late third-period marker that forced the game into overtime.Earlier the Hawks had bowed in Tulsa, 5-4, and at home against Oklahoma City, 4-3. In spite of beating fifth-place K.C., Dallas remained in the CHL cellar by one point.Hazlett had a six-point week (five goals, one assist) and was tied for seventh among the league scorers on 13 points. Hawk Rob Tudor was tied for ninth at 12.TULSA: Coach Johnny Choyce wanted to quickly forget the 11-0 horror in Salt Lake and his Oilers helped make that memory less bitter, coming back for a 2-1 victory in the same rink against the same goalie, Ed Staniowski.&ldquo;Nothing we did was right,&rdquo; he said of the &ldquo;holocaust.&rdquo; &ldquo;It was one big mistake after another, and the more frustrated the guys got, the more mistakes they made.&ldquo;But they really turned it around. That shows character, when a team can come back from a whipping like that to win the rematch.&rdquo;Since the Oilers had previously won at home over ballas, 5-4, they netted four points out of a possible six for the week, despite being outscored, 16-7.Rookie Tim Bernhardt, from Cornwall in the Quebec Junior League, was in the nets for both victories, running his string to three straight. Tim also relieved Bill McKenzie for the last 33 minutes of the Friday deluge.In the Dallas game, Jim MacRae deflected Penasse&rsquo;s shot for the winning goal at 9:47 for his first professional goal. His second was also a winner. In the game at Salt Lake, he stole the puck for the decisive goal at 7:54 of the third period.KANSAS CITY: The Red Wings won at home, beating Fort Worth, 4-2, but began a three-week road tour by dropping an overtime decision in Dallas, 6-5. They were to play six road games in 20 days before the next action in Kemper Arena, Nov. 23.Goalie Larry Lozinski, relegated to bench duty since the arrival of Ron Low from Detroit, drew starting duty against Fort Worth, and thus owned the only two victories Kansas City had posted this season. Sylvain Locas, Jim Maladrewicz, Mai Davis and Dwight Schofield scored the goals.Davis and Dan Bolduc each scored twice in Dallas, with John Taft providing a 5-4 lead in the hectic third period, but it didn&rsquo;t stand up. That left the Wings with three straight road losses, and winless in all four away games of the young season.Bolduc climbed to second in the CHL scoring race with 17 points, four off the pace, and Davis was tied for ninth with 12.OKLAHOMA CITY: The &ldquo;shooting Stars&rdquo; continued to roll with two more victories, giving them nine out of 11 starts and a three-point first-place margin over challenging Salt Lake. A 51 triumph over Fort Worth made it five straight victories on home ice, and they posted a 4-3 verdict in Dallas.Jim Warden was doing all the goaltending since the departure of veteran Pete LoPresti for Minnesota. Jim lowered his average to 2.60, second best in the league.Rookie center Mike Eaves held to his CHL scoring leadership with 21 points.Eaves had to leave the Dallas game after 13:10 of the first period, when he suffered a back injury and a mild concussion from a check. But he had assisted on a goal before that, giving him at least one point in all 11 O.C. games.Hogaboam and Shier had power play goals in the opening period of the win over Fort Worth. The margin was only 2-1 after two periods, but Jim Roberts, Eaves and newcomer Steve Payne completed the scoring in the third.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01244/3907196-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="573" height="685"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRIAN OGILVIE&hellip;5-Point Night</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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November 24, 1978

NHL Leaders

Hot Smoke Eaters WIHL Threat Again

Flyers Ready To Welcome Leach’s Old Scoring Form

Where AHL Teams Play