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.

January 12, 1979

The Hockey News January 12, 1979

LOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY. LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg. Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY. 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/f0032-01374/4339701-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="306" height="372"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Where AHL Teams Play

<div class="byline">BY PATRICK LYON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04170/4339887-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="545" height="708"><figcaption class="caption-body">HANK NOWAK&hellip;Leading Scorer</figcaption></div>ERIE&mdash;Under head coach and general manager Nick Polano, the Erie Blades are playing a brand of hockey unlike any team in the North Eastern Hockey League.It&rsquo;s called simply, team hockey.The Blades have no real stars, no scorers in the top 10, but they do possess offensive and defensive balance that has them in second place, hot on the heels of the first place Cherry Hill Aces. As the NEHL&rsquo;s hottest team, the Blades have won six straight games, seven of their last eight and own a 10-2-1 record in the past 13 games which comes out to a winning margin of 21 of a possible 26 points.Since their slow start at the beginning of the season that saw them split their first 10 games, Polano has acquired a few new players that have solidified the club. The team got the services of Dave Fortier and Paul Pacific to help the defense and brought in Dennis Abgrall, Paul Mancini and Ron Hansis to bolster and Blades once questionable offense.&ldquo;There is much better talent here now than there was at the beginning of the year,&rdquo; related Polano. &ldquo;This group has played together as a team for some time, so consequently everyone is playing his position extremely well. We&rsquo;re checking well and taking the opposing players off the puck.&rdquo;Polano has been most impressed with the fine play of defenseman Daniel Poulin and center Brad Rhiness, who have played major roles in turning about the Blades&rsquo; fortunes. &ldquo;Poulin is the best defenseman in the league,&rdquo; raves Polano, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s no doubt about it. He&rsquo;s a threat to score every time he has the puck. He was always a good offensive player, but we had to work with him on his defense. Now he&rsquo;s improved greatly on defense and he&rsquo;s a more complete player.About Rhiness Polano said, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s skating very well and knows how to handle the puck.&rdquo; The Blades&rsquo; leading scorer was having shoulder and neck problems that kept him out of the lineup for two weeks, but when he returned the Blades looked even more impressive posting 22 goals in two games in a 12-2 win over the Mohawks and a 10-5 triumph over the Freedoms. The two wins stretched the Blades&rsquo; home ice victory string to seven.Rhiness, who has 14 goals and 17 assists for 31 points, picked up two goals and three assists against Utica and a goal and three assists vs. Cape Cod to give him nine points in the weekend series.Poulin, tied with Rhiness for the goal scoring lead also had a hot stick as he chalked up a hat trick in a four point night against Utica and came back the following night with three more points in the Blades win over the Freedoms.All in all, seven of the Blades have better than 20 points which shows their scoring versatility. Joining Rhiness and Poulin are Stan Gulutzan with 13 goals and 25 points, defenseman Dave Dornseif with 23 points, Pacific with 22 points, and Mancini and Abgrall with 20 points each. Mancini, the former number one draft choice of the Los Angeles Kings, had seven points in the two games, Pacific netting. six and Abgrall five.Erie has also gotten fine goaltending during the current streak, David Johns improving his record to 13-6-1 while lowering his goals-against average to 4.31.The Blades completed a successful &lsquo;Toys For Tots&rsquo; promotion in which fans donated new toys to needy children in exchange for a ticket discount. The club was also in the process of wrapping up its Queen of Hearts and Blades contest which will benefit the American Heart Association.UTICA: After losing starting goaltender Michel Belhumeur to injuries, the Mohawks surrendered 20 goals in two games, dropping an 8-1 decision to the Aces and a 12-2 road loss to the Erie Blades. Utica came back and snapped its losing streak by winning a pair of one goal games on the road. Chuck Catto&rsquo;s crew topped Johnstown 5-4 at the War Memorial-and then bested the Jersey Aces 3-2 in Cherry Hill on an overtime goal by Ed Smith.Hank Nowak&rsquo;s 50 points on 19 goals and 31 assists continue to surpass everyone in the league, while Nowak&rsquo;s, playmaking teammate Terry West has nine goals and 35 assists for 44 points. Paul Mitchell had some big skates to fill while Belhumeur was on the sidelines unable to play. In 22 games, Belhumeur had two shutouts and a 3.96 goals-against average. Mitchell surrendered 12 goals to the Blades as the Erie brigade put him to the test with 50 shots on goal, but he came back strong and held the high scoring Aces to a pair of scores.CHERRY HILL: The Aces continued their hold on first place as they won one of two games during the week&rsquo;s play. The win came at the hands of the Johnstown Wings, whom the Aces have defeated five times in six tries while Utica edged the Aces 3-2. The loss&lsquo;to the Mohawks marked the first time this season the Aces have dropped an overtime contest. In their first 23 games, the opposition has been penalized more than the Aces just six times.A league meeting in Johnstown brought some bad news for the Aces when they were informed the board of governors upheld commissioner Jack Timmins&rsquo; decision to forfeit a 10-3 Aces victory over the Blades as a win for Erie. Timmins made the ruling when it was revealed McPherson dressed one player over the limit for the game on the first day of the season.CAPE COD: Owner Sandy Reiss revealed that the governors also had unanimously approved the move of the Freedoms from Manchester to Cape Cod, Mass. &ldquo;The players are much happier now that this thing is over,&rdquo; noted Reiss. &ldquo;Everyone on the Cape is r very excited with the move, the response has been tremendous.&rdquo;Reiss has planned a special opening night game in the Cape Cod Coliseum at the end of December with the Erie Blades supplying the opposition for the Cape Cod Freedoms. Reiss has billed the game as a homecoming for Erie coach Nick Polano, who had previously coached the Cape Cod Cubs and is a very popular figure in the Cape. Reiss holds no bad feelings against the city of Manchester and said if a new modern facility were ever to be built there, he would be the first to vote in favor of an expansion team in the New Hampshire city.Meanwhile, the name change didn&rsquo; seem to help things too much as theCap Codders gave up 10 goals in a 10-5 setback in Erie and lost a 4-3 overtime in Johnstown.JOHNSTOWN: Dick Roberge&rsquo;s team was involved in three consecutive one goal games, two of which it lost. The Wings came out losers in 4-3 and 5-4 decisions to the Aces and Utica in front of the home fans before winding up the home stand with an exciting 4-3 overtime victory over the Freedoms. Dave Lundeen got the game winning overtime goal that helped the Wings end a losing streak that had reached five games. &#9632;

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Erie Turns It Around Playing ‘Team Hockey’

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011038/4337990-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEN DRYDEN&hellip; Says Canadiens Not In Stride Yet</figcaption></div>MONTREAL &mdash;With apologies to the New York Islanders, the game which wrapped up the 1978 portion of the 1978-79 National Hockey League schedule between the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins on Dec. 30 in Montreal was being hailed as a showdown between the two best teams in the NHL.Although the Islanders had lost the least number of games in the league through the first three months of the season (four), the Canadiens held the overall points lead and had recorded the most victories, 25, heading into the Boston match-up. The Bruins were just two points behind the Canadiens and held a game in hand.For two periods it was an excellent match, at least from a fans&rsquo; viewpoint. The only thing which separated the two teams was a 20-second span in the opening period in which Doug Risebrough won a faceoff in the Boston zone and got the puck back to Brian Engblom whose drive from the point slipped between the pads of Gerry Cheevers and trickled into the net. Seconds later Risebrough broke around Bruin defenseman Rick Smith and lifted a sharp backhander past a helpless Cheevers for a 2-0 Montreal lead at 14:45. After that each team had several good scoring chances during the remainder of the first and a scoreless second period, but Cheevers and Boston nemesis Ken Dryden were unbeatable.Canadiens staggered the Bruins with a patented third-period outburst which saw their two-goal advantage grow to six in the space of three minutes and 20 seconds.It began with a Canadiens&rsquo; power play at 5:41 with Yvon Lambert relaying to Guy Lafleur who had an open side after just eight seconds with the man advantage. Lafleur&rsquo;s 25th goal of the season pretty well doused any Boston comeback hopes and the onslaught was under way.Rick Chartraw scored on a long screened shot and then 18 seconds later Doug Jarvis passed out from the corner to an onrushing Bob Gainey who banked one off the post and into the net for a 5-0 lead. Pierre Mondou closed out the Canadiens scoring with his 15th goal when he cut in sharply along the goal line and stuffed it past Cheevers. John Wensink deprived Dryden of a shutout when he scored for Boston with less than five minutes to play.Following the game, Lambert agreed about the game&rsquo;s importance.&ldquo;We were really up for the game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We know what to expect from the Bruins. They play basically the same type of game all the time, so you have to look for lots of hitting. It was just a matter of us taking advantage of our opportunities and them not being able to do the same.&rdquo;Not only did the victory give Canadiens a four-point edge over Boston, but it put an end to Cheevers&rsquo; 16-game unbeaten streak in goal and extended the Canadiens&rsquo; undefeated stretch to 15 games tying the longest streak in the NHL this year set by the Islanders who went 15 games without a loss before dropping a 4-3 decision in Montreal.The Canadiens last loss was at home Nov. 25 to the Chicago Black Hawks.Dryden, who was named the first star of the Boston game despite the lopsided final score, which serves to illustrate the severity of some of the 26 shots which he was forced to handle, talked about the game and the current state of the Canadiens:&ldquo;I thought we played a rather poor first period, did pretty well in the second and then came on for a good third period,&rdquo; Dryden assessed. &ldquo;We made it appear easy because of our opportunistic play, but it wasn&rsquo;t. I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;ve reached full stride yet.&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t really played a good game against Boston.&rdquo; said Dryden. &ldquo;The first game (a 1-1 tie in Boston) was perhaps the worst game that I&rsquo;ve seen these two teams play against each other. It was a rather poorly played game and I thought tonight&rsquo;s game was going along the same way until the third period.&rdquo;Then the power play tally got the Canadiens rolling and they poured it on against a disgusted Cheevers.Asked about losing the shutout so late in the game, Dryden, who showed a rare bit of pique by slamming his stick on the ice when Wensink scored, commented: &ldquo;Sure I was disappointed not to get the shutout. I feel that I deserved one. But the satisfaction of the victory and the two points in the standings will last far longer than the temporary disappointment of losing the shutout.&rdquo;Boston coach Don Cherry was to mention that he didn&rsquo;t think his team had been that badly outplayed. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s only a battle, not the war,&rdquo; he said.It sounded like something Custer might have said if he could have talked after Little Big Horn. &#9632;

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Canadiens Close 78 With Showdown Victory

<div class="byline">BY JIM SCHNEIDER</div>KALAMAZOO&mdash;Ohio State and Western Michigan traded lopsided victories in the only Central Collegiate Hockey Association league action during the first week of the Christmas break.The host Broncos of Western Michigan knocked off the second place Ohio State club 8-3 in the opener and the Buckeyes bounced back with a 10-6 win in the second game.CCHA player-of-the-week, Bernie Saunders paced the Broncos in the opener, collecting three goals.Captain Saunder put WMU on the scoreboard in Lawson Arena at the 3:34 mark of the first period and Terry Olson scored at 5:48 to make the score 2-0.OSU junior Tom Scanlon converted on a power play chance at 10:52 and Ohio State trailed 2-1.The Broncos scored twice in 30 seconds with Saunders scoring at 15:28 and Dave Berthelsen scoring at 15:58 and WMU owned a 4-1 lead after one period of play.Ohio State bounced back at the start of the second period and gained the momentum on goals by Mark Freeman at 1:37 and Paul Tilley at 6:58 to pull within one goal at 4-3, but then WMU&rsquo;s &ldquo;fast break&rdquo; offense went to work.The Broncos netted three goals in 25 seconds to blow the game open as Saunders completed his hat trick at 9:04, Matt Dietz scored at 9:20 and Kelly Mitchell fired an unassisted goal into the net at 9:29.OSU goalie Mike Blake retired for the evening after Mitchell&rsquo;s goal and the final goal of the night scored by rookie Jeff Bond, beat Steve Jones at 12:39 of the second period.The Broncos held a 48-28 shooting edge in the contest with WMU&rsquo;s Frank Serratore making 25 saves. Jones made 17 of his 26 saves in the third period and the Buckeye goalies combined for 40 saves.The second night proved to be a reversal as Ohio State outshot WMU 175 in the first period and grabbed a 5-1 lead.Mike Conrad opened the scoring at 4:11 and Scanlon made it 2-0. Mike Brown scored for Western Michigan at 10:30, but Jim Penningroth scored at 12:17 and Rick Barker scored at 13:19 and 17:04 for the first period margin.Olson collected his second goal of the series at 3:13 of the second period, but Freeman and Conrad scored goals five seconds apart at 3:38 and 3:43 to settle the issue.Saunders scored his fourth goal of the series and his sixth in three games to finish out second period scoring.OSU and WMU exchanged three goals in the third period with Penningroth, Freeman and Steve Amoruso scoring for the visitors, while Dan Stothers, Ross Fitzpatrick and Dietz tallied for the Broncos.In the only other CCHA action, St. Louis swept a pair of non-league games from Brown University 7-4 and 5-2 in the Checkerdome.The morning of the opener, Billiken coach, Bill Solman, suspended freshmen Chris Valentine (leading scorer), Marty Schoning and Brad Thoresen for one game and the team reacted with its third straight seven-goal performance.Brown held a 12-7 shooting edge in the first period of the opener, but SLU&rsquo;s Mark Dobson had the lone goal at 18:49.In the second period the lead moved to 3-1 as Mike Norton and Rob Zamejc scored for the Bills and Jim Lawson scored his first of two for Brown.The Bills iced the game with four goals in the third period scored by Bill Murray, Chuck Durocher, Norton and Rick Gazzola. Gazzola&rsquo;s goal was a shorthanded one at 18:56.Paul Billing made 32 saves while recording the win as Brown outshot SLU 36-26 in the game.Brown and St. Louis traded goals in the first two periods of the second game with the visiting Bruins of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference taking the lead each time.Lawson scored at 10:49 of the first period, his third goal of the series, and SLU&rsquo;s Terry Kitching tied the game at 18:43.Jim Bennett made it 2-1 at 1:28 of the second and Zamejc scored on the power play for St. Louis from Durocher and Valentine. The assist extended Valentine&rsquo;s scoring streak to 15 games.Brown outshot St. Louis 17-10 in the third period, but the hosts scored three times for the 5-2 win.Valentine scored the winner at 7:21 from Durocher and goalie Jerry Burt and added his second of the period at 14:03 assisted by linemates Durocher and Zamejc.Defenseman Bruce Wallace finished out the scoring at 18:31.Burt finished the game with 26 saves while All American Mike Laycock had 16 for Brown.The visiting Bruins received a pair of five-minute major penalties in the contest as John Slonim was given a spearing major and a game disqualification in the second period and Lawson and SLU&rsquo;s George Kryzer were each given fighting penalties in the third period.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01361/4339670-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="207" height="232"><figcaption class="caption-body">TOM SCANLON&hellip;Sparked Buckeyes</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02271/4339663-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="207" height="186"><figcaption class="caption-body">CHRIS VALENTINE&hellip;Top Scorer Set Down</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Ohio State, WMU Broncos Divide; Surprising Billikens Sweep Brown

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01709/4340170-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div>&mdash;Page 10 &#9632;

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LAFLEUR-TROTTIER DUEL HOT AFFAIR

VANCOUVER&mdash;The Vancouver Canucks went on a trading spree over the holiday weekend swapping two players while getting three back in separate deals with the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings.Key man in the two NHL swaps was right winger Dennis Ververgaert, a Vancouver first draft choice in 1973 who has never quite lived up to full expectations of the Canucks in five and a half seasons. The Canucks peddled Ververgaert to the Flyers in exchange for defenseman Kevin McCarthy and winger-center Drew Callander. McCarthy had been a regular on the Philly defense for the past two seasons but they felt they needed a right winger with scoring potential more than anything else and decided to deal off the two young players to get Ververgaert.In the other swap, the Canucks traded defenseman Randy Holt to the Los Angeles Kings for right winger Don Kozak in an even-up deal. Kozak has been toiling in the minors with Springfield and will probably get a chance to break into the Vancouver lineup along with McCarthy and Callander in an effort to give the Canucks some needed new life. Holt will probably fit the Kings need for a policeman type player since the club was stripped of most of its muscle with the departure of Gary Sargent and Dave Hutchison to other NHL clubs in the off-season as free agents.<h2>Orr Group Eyeing Ownership Of Bruins</h2>BOSTON&mdash;There is a report circulating that Bobby Orr and a group of businessmen are working together to purchase controlling interest in the Boston Bruins.Orr, who was just recently named assistant general manager of the Chicago Black Hawks after giving up an assistant coaching role with the club, has retired as a player to concentrate on the management end of hockey and a Boston report said he would return with a new group if the Bruins were to change hands.The only hitch to the deal is that Bruins&rsquo; president Paul Mooney said the club is presently not for sale.<h2>Owner Of Racers Being Sued By Fans</h2>INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Season ticket holders of the now defunct Indianapolis Racers are not going to let owner Nelson Skalbania off the hook.They want their money back. To be exact, they are seeking more than $20 million in a lawsuit filed against Skalbania in Indianapolis county Supreme Court.Robert Zaccola, the lawyer who filed the suit on behalf of the 3,000 season ticket holders, said it would be impractical to try to bring them all to court, so he plans to certify the affair as a class action. Unless the court rules in the fans&rsquo; favor, they stand to lose $275 to $300 for each seat they purchased for the remaining 26 Racer home games. The WHA team went belly up Dec. 15 because of financial losses. &#9632;

Canucks Swap Two, Get Three In Return

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011076/4337580-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Stadium officials admit they prefer to leave the brawling to the players on the ice. The officials can control it. But when it spreads to the stands, they have a problem.</figcaption></div>CHICAGO&mdash;Arthur Wirtz, Black Hawks&rsquo; chairman and Chicago Stadium mahatma, says that crowd violence at hockey games is &ldquo;unfortunate but isolated&rdquo; and that he&rsquo;s confident the building&rsquo;s ushers &ldquo;can continue to work as well as they have for the last 50 years.&rdquo;Wirtz&rsquo; remarks came in the wake of another free-for-all in the stands during the Dec. 10th Chicago-Detroit contest, one of several brouhahas involving customers in recent seasons.&ldquo;The Stadium was built in 1928 and since then we&rsquo;ve used Andy Frain ushers and they have a very good record,&rdquo; Wirtz said. &ldquo;Was there a fight Sunday night? Yes, there was a hell of a fight on the ice. I was there.&ldquo;The incident in the stands? Well, I didn&rsquo;t see it, but if there was one, of course I&rsquo;m concerned. I also know that we&rsquo;ve had about two in the last 50 years and once in a while those things are bound to happen.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll bet a lot of those people who were involved went to the Bears&rsquo; football game in the afternoon. It was cold there and they probably did a little bit of nipping. But you can&rsquo;t blame our ushers for that.&rdquo;National Hockey League headquarters begs to differ. According to an official there, the Stadium is the only building in the NHL which relies solely on ushers to handle law and order. All other teams have uniformed police on duty, or a paid security force or &ldquo;rent-a-cops.&rdquo;The Stadium hires only two policemen, both in civilian clothes. The only nearby uniformed officers&mdash;about 30&mdash;operate outside the building to handle traffic. In an emergency situation, they can be called in.&ldquo;But if trouble starts, what good does it do to call a cop in from the parking lot? It&rsquo;s too late,&rdquo; said Dr. Tom Pietrusinski, a Calumet City dentist who was too-close-for-comfort during Sunday night&rsquo;s outburst near the east side organ loft.&ldquo;Part of the problem is with fans throwing garbage. I was near ice level Sunday night, and a small liquor bottle came down from upstairs and hit the glass in front of us. Then the fights.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re left with two alternatives. Sit way upstairs in the balcony so you can see the idiots who throw the garbage, or sit downstairs and see the game but be a target for all the garbage. There&rsquo;s a third alternative, too, of course. Stop going to the games.&ldquo;This has happened before. A month ago, there was a brawl. I tried to talk to their public relations man, Don Murphy, but just got a lot of lip. Sunday night, (Black Hawk president) Bill Wirtz was there, and I talked to him. He seemed concerned.&rdquo;When the late Mayor Daley, a close friend of Arthur Wirtz, was in office, uniformed police were common around the Stadium. But not lately.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure whether we can get uniformed police in the building any more,&rdquo; said Wirtz. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have to check it out. The uniform might mean something, but I&rsquo;m not sure we can get them. It&rsquo;s a private building&hellip;police are city employees.&rdquo;However, an official of the Chicago Police Dept., indicated that only one phone call is necessary.&ldquo;For all rock concerts, uniformed officers are in the building,&rdquo; said the spokesman. &ldquo;And last Tuesday night, when a sellout crowd was expected for the (Bulls) basketball game, the request was made for uniformed officers and uniformed officers were present and visible.&rdquo;Arthur Wirtz admitted that Frain ushers years ago tended to be older, more experienced, perhaps a bit more sinewy. Now, rather than college or post-college men, the Frain staff is largely composed of younger, high-school age chaps.The problem thus can be twofold. Frain ushers, who aren&rsquo;t trained to referee fights in the first place, are overmatched or unable to pinpoint offenders, whether guilty parties are throwing debris or left hooks.And, even if the Frain staff is able to apprehend, there aren&rsquo;t any policemen around to arrest.Recently, the NHL met with the Hawks about Stadium security&mdash;considered a league problem. But the Wirtzes apparently maintained their previous stand: that the Frain ushers were not only doing their best, but doing quite well.Dec. 10, though, was not their night and the melee grew so heated that organist Ron Bogda tried to instill peace by playing the National Anthem.&ldquo;Did I hear it?&rdquo; said Arthur Wirtz. &ldquo;Yeah, I heard the National Anthem. When I walked in for the start of the game. Look, I don&rsquo;t want anybody to get hurt. But am I concerned about our security? No. Am I happy with our hockey team? No. If the fights are as good as you say they are, we should bring them down to the main floor for everybody to see?&rsquo; &#9632;

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Wirtz Claims Stadium Security OK But NHL Maintains It’s A Problem

KARLSTAD&mdash;Canada&rsquo;s New Westminster Bruins&mdash;a hand picked junior team that was expected to avenge its country&rsquo;s defeat in the 1978 World junior hockey championship&mdash;has failed again to bring back the elusive world crown.The Bruins walloped the United States 6-3 in their windup game in the World Junior Hockey Tournament and the win was only good enough for fifth place in the overall eight-team standing.Canada&rsquo;s ambassadors, from the Western Hockey League and coached by Punch MacLean, lost their big chance for a medal when they were blanked 1-0 by Sweden giving them a 1-2 record in the preliminary round-robin tournament. Finland started the Canadiens&rsquo; downfall by beating them 3-1 in an early round game.The Soviet Union, unbeaten in four games, won the title by defeating Finland 4-2 while the Swedes were being held to a 1-1 tie by Czechoslovakia. All four teams ended ahead of the New West Bruins.Canada&rsquo;s only victory in the early round-robin came when the Bruins defeated West Germany 6-2 on a two-goal performance by Randy Irving.The four-game title sweep by the Soviets extended the Russians&rsquo; domination of the junior event to four years in succession. They have now lost only one game in winning four world titles. &#9632;

Canada Fails To Win World Junior Title

<h2>THE NHL&hellip;</h2>Atlanta&hellip;&hellip;12Boston&hellip;&hellip;3Buffalo&hellip;&hellip;18Chicago&hellip;&hellip;2Colorado&hellip;&hellip;21Detroit&hellip;&hellip;6Los Angeles&hellip;&hellip;20Minnesota&hellip;&hellip;20Montreal&hellip;&hellip;7N.Y. Islanders&hellip;&hellip;13N.Y. Rangers&hellip;&hellip;11Philadelphia&hellip;&hellip;8Pittsburgh&hellip;&hellip;19St. Louis&hellip;&hellip;4Toronto&hellip;&hellip;5Vancouver&hellip;&hellip;17Washington&hellip;&hellip;9<h2>THE WHA&hellip;</h2>Birmingham&hellip;&hellip;25Cincinnati&hellip;&hellip;24Edmonton&hellip;&hellip;27New England&hellip;&hellip;25Quebec&hellip;&hellip;25Winnipeg&hellip;&hellip;28<h2>OTHER LEAGUES&hellip;</h2>Colleges&hellip;&hellip;29American&hellip;&hellip;32Central&hellip;&hellip;33International&hellip;&hellip;34North Eastern&hellip;&hellip;35Ontario Major&hellip;&hellip;36WHL&hellip;&hellip;37Quebec Major&hellip;&hellip;39<h2>COLUMNISTS&hellip;</h2>Ken McKenzie&hellip;&hellip;4Bob Verdi&hellip;&hellip;2Bill Libby&hellip;&hellip;8Frank Orr&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="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011084/4337666-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GERRY CHEEVERS&rsquo;&hellip; Getting Sharper With Age</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;Goaltenders are a strange breed.When it comes time for the National Hockey League to hold one of its intra-league drafts, each team is allowed to protect x-number of skaters and two goaltenders, which is the league&rsquo;s way of raying that the men paid to prevent pucks from entering the 4 &times; 6 area usually located immediately behind them, are a different entity all together.And when it comes time to be different, you have to look no further than Boston Bruins&rsquo; Gerry Cheevers, a moon-faced, slightly overweight race horse owner who has earned the distinction of being a player who performs best when the odds are the toughest, when the game and the money are on the line.Oh you mean Gerry Cheevers, the guy who introduced his own unique goalers&rsquo; mask art when he started marking the number of stitches he would have received on the spot on the mask where he had been struck.Cheevers, the guy who opted to go to the World Hockey Association for a Kings&rsquo; ransom, led the loop for three consecutive years in shutouts and promptly returned after a three and one-half year absence to the Bruins, the team he back stopped to Stanley Cup victories in 1970 and 1972.Yes, Cheevers. The guy who played so well in last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs, particularly in the finals against Montreal, and at the age of 37.That&rsquo;s another thing about goaltenders. They&rsquo;re supposed to take a couple of more years to reach their peak as compared to the, ahem, skaters.But is it possible that Cheevers, who turned 38 on Dec. 7 is still getting better? The statistics and the man whose word is golden, not only in Boston, but in many other cities around the NHL, Don Cherry, seem to point that way.Cheevers approached the end of 1978 having gone unbeaten in his first 16 decisions of the 1978-79 campaign, posting a record of 12 wins and four ties. That left him considerably behind his own league record of 33 (24 wins, nine ties) during the 1971-72 season with the Bruins but Cheevers miraculously is coming off three sessions of knee surgery, all within the last year.He was operated on twice last season and again just before the current season began when his knee gave way climbing stairs at home. He didn&rsquo;t get his first start this season until Nov. 9, but he&rsquo;s made up for lost time with his 16-game streak, including a Boston Garden record of 10 wins and a tie.Says Bruins&rsquo; coach Cherry: &ldquo;He holds you in there until you get back into the game and then you forget about all the saves he&rsquo;s made.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say he&rsquo;s the best goaltender ever,&rdquo; suggested Cherry. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no one in the world better than Gerry Cheevers. I played with him when he was 25 and he&rsquo;s better now; better than when he was 25.&rdquo;Explained Bruins&rsquo; captain Wayne Cashman after a recent come-from-behind victory, &ldquo;He was the only reason we won the game, but it&rsquo;s only what you expect. We&rsquo;ve been watching him do it for years. You just know it&rsquo;s going to happen.&rdquo;Cheevers, for his part, is quick to spread the praise around to his teammates and equally willing to accept the brunt.of the responsibility when he feels he has let the team down.&ldquo;The way these guys play in front of you, it&rsquo;s not a bad job at all,&rdquo; Cheevers remarked upon his return to the lineup following his latest knee injury.In last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs, Cheevers delivered what many people considered the most outstanding goaltending performance in recent years in the second game of the finals in Montreal.After a scoreless first period, Boston grabbed a 1-0 lead before the Canadiens tied it and then forged ahead midway through the final period. Boston once again evened the score and the teams went into overtime in a hot and steamy Forum filled to capacity.Then came the overtime and Cheevers, who made several brilliant saves throughout the first three periods, was immense, unbelievable. Montreal was outshooting the Bruins 14-4-in the overtime when Guy Lafleur sailed across the blueline down the right side. He fired on the short side before Cheevers could react and after 73 minutes and nine seconds of hockey the game was over. It put the Bruins down two games to none in the series and though they rallied to even the series, their big chance for a win on the road has slipped past and they lost the finals four games to two.Cheevers was fuming as he left the ice and inconsolable in the dressing room despite the heap of accolades bestowed his way for his fantastic efforts. Cheevers blamed himself.&ldquo;I should have come out and challenged Lafleur,&rdquo; he stated his head turning slowly from side-to-side, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s no way he can score if I cut down the angle, but he hesitated or did something which threw me off. My body was telling me to move out, but that extra second he held onto the puck distracted me. I should have had it. We deserved to win.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s Gerry Cheevers for you. First to accept the blame; first to pass out the compliments to his mates. And for nearly the first of the 1978-79 schedule, Cheevers never put himself in a position where he was inconsolable again.A strange breed, indeed.<h2>Top 10 Goaltenders</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02925/4337659-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1061" height="470"></div> &#9632;

f0003-01

Bruins’ Chee vers Amazing Playing Better Than Ever A fter Series Of Injuries

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03628/4337697-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="572" height="1178"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHN WENSINK&hellip;Shortened Stick</figcaption></div>Twenty eight years ago, as fans of the Boston Red Sox fondly remember, an obscure outfielder named Clyde Vollmer went on a mid-summer home run-hitting tear that made his name, at least temporarily, a household word around Boston.And now fans of the Boston Bruins have John Wensink.Wensink, once the Bruins&rsquo; ruffian in residence, scored his first pro hat trick Dec. 12 against Vancouver, got two more goals against Washington Dec. 14 for five in two games, and notched his 20th of the season Dec. 16 against Rangers. He had never had more than 16 before in a whole season.Coach Don Cherry, who is credited with rescuing Wensink from hockey scrap heap two seasons ago, was almost beside himself with glee.&ldquo;What can I say about Wensink?&rdquo; he chortled after the hat trick. &ldquo;It must be the coaching. I can&rsquo;t think of anything else.&ldquo;I suppose you&rsquo;re going to ask me about Wensink,&rdquo; he shouted in mock anger after the Washington game. &ldquo;I go through this nine million times. I&rsquo;m sick and tired about Wensink.&ldquo;Up until this time,&rdquo; he said, leaning forward confidentially after Wensink&rsquo;s 20th goal, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to admit, even with his three goals and his five goals, I&rsquo;ve been saying, &lsquo;Yeah, it&rsquo;s because he&rsquo;s been shooting the puck,&rsquo; but after that one tonight, I gotta admit that he&rsquo;s a pretty good goal-scorer. I myself was unconvinced until tonight.&rdquo;Peter McNab, the articulate linemate who is the antithesis of Wensink with 41 goals and four penalty minutes last year, was Convinced lone before Cherry.&ldquo;Two years ago people scoffed at him,&rdquo; said McNab, who is one of Wensink&rsquo;s biggest boosters on the club. &ldquo;They called him a minor league thug. But do you know right now he has more goals than Darryl Sittler?&ldquo;Before the season started I got a lot of giggles when I predicted he would score between 27 and 30 goals. I&rsquo;d like to change that. He could get between 35 and 40.&ldquo;I can still remember when everyone would come up to me and ask how I could play on the same line with a guy who couldn&rsquo;t skate or pass the puck. But John is such an honest hockey player. He takes a check and he works all the time.&rdquo;Wensink himself spent the week in what is best described as a state of siege, surrounded by microphones and ballpoint pens aimed like mortars and field pieces at his every word. The old John Wensink story was repeated over and over.How Cherry was his first pro coach at Rochester. How he missed the 1975-76 season with back surgery. How Boston signed him when St. Louis decided he&rsquo;d never amount to anything. How he was brought up to the Bruins for a purpose other than scoring goals after people started taking runs at Brad Park and Jean Ratelle.Only a few new items were added to the Wensink file.Yes, he did have a hat trick before, when he was in juniors with Cornwall in a game against Sherbrooke. He remembered that they all came in the third period but, no, he didn&rsquo;t remember the name of the goalie.There&rsquo;s nothing different about his play this season, he said, except maybe that three inches he cut from his hockey stick has helped his skating and given him better control of the puck.&ldquo;I heard about that a lot of times, that a shorter stick helps you to skate better and control the puck better,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I gave it a try in training camp. I noticed an improvement immediately. I did have better control and, because I was crouching, I was skating better. Then my reactions seemed to get better and so did my all around game.He was disappointed about not getting 20 goals last year when 11 of his Bruins&rsquo; teammates did and set a National Hockey League record.&ldquo;Maybe I just feel like I got cheated last year so I wanted to be the first to get 20 this year,&rdquo; he said. He was the first of the Bruins to get 20 by a matter of 10 minutes and 41 seconds over McNab, who got No. 20 himself in the same Ranger game.Wensink had a chance for back-to-back hat tricks, a feat never before accomplished by a Boston Bruin, but he fired the puck into Caps&rsquo; goalie Jim Bedard&rsquo;s middle on a late game opportunity.&ldquo;I was concerned about getting it on net,&rdquo; he analyzed. &ldquo;Maybe I should have slid it along the ice or put it up high. Or maybe I rushed the shot.&rdquo;&ldquo;I hope he doesn&rsquo;t forget what he&rsquo;s here for,&rdquo; said Don Cherry. &#9632;

f0003-03

Wensink Capturing Boston’s Fancy

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011135/4337756-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="490" height="487"></div>&bull; BOBBY ORR will prove to be a first-rate front office employee with the Chicago Black Hawks now that he has been appointed assistant general manager of the club. Bobby did not take to the coaching end of the game but would like to remain in hockey at the executive level. He will work closely with Bob Pulford, general manager-coach of the Hawks and Jack Davison, director of player personnel&hellip;Mordecai Richler, the noted Canadian novelist and keen hockey fan, has his own theory on why there are so many Jewish goalkeepers in pro hockey, such as Bernie Wolfe, Mike Veisor, Ross Brooks and Dave Reece. &ldquo;The goalmouth is where you can collect all the pucks,&rdquo; said the author of Duddy Kravitz&hellip;Since his firing by the Buffalo Sabres, Marcel Pronovost has caught on as coach of the Hull Olympics in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. In a specially worked out arrangement, Buffalo will continue to pay Pronovost because he is under contract to them until August 31. His salary will be paid by Buffalo but Hull will pay his living expenses and a car rental&hellip; Games between WHA clubs and the Soviets and the Czech teams have been drawing capacity crowds to the World Hockey, Association arenas Steve Shutt&rsquo;s consecutive games streak was halted at 347 for the Canadiens&rsquo; winger by a fractured wrist.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021088/4337749-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="300" height="435"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Veisor</figcaption></div>&bull; SAN DIEGO HAWKS of the Pacific Hockey League have a roster that is composed almost entirely of former WHA players. There are many who formerly played with the San Diego Mariner of the WHA and they added three newcomers when the Indianapolis Racers franchise folded&hellip;There are also a few players from the old Houston team of the World Hockey Association&hellip;Ron Oakes, who has been Mr. Hockey in the San Diego area for a good many years, does the play-byplay broadcasts of the Hawks&rsquo; games plus doubling in brass as public relations director of the team&hellip;San Diego has been averaging just over 5,000 tans a game and they expect to increase this substantially once the football season ends&hellip;Slick Jean Ratelle scored the 100th NHL goal of his second career as a member of the Boston Bruins. He did this in a recent 4-2 win over Colorado. Ratelle scored 336 goals for the New York Rangers before he got a new lease on life in the deal that brought him to the Bruins in November, 1975&hellip;Winnipeg Jets did an unusual publicity trick recently. The Jets first draft pick of 1979 went to the first baby boy born in the province of Manitoba in the New Year. To be eligible, all parents were asked to send in the newspaper clipping explicitly announcing the date and time of birth of their little super star. There will be a brief ceremony at center ice in which the newest addition of the Winnipeg Jets will be presented with his official uniform and diploma recongnizing his selection&hellip;It is the opinion of Darryl Sittler, captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, that every team in the NHL has improved this season&hellip;Brian Wayne, son of comedian Johnny Wayne, works with Bob Gordon on the Hockey Night in Canada telecasts out of Toronto.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03982/4337742-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="290" height="431"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darryl Sittler</figcaption></div>&bull; LOOK FOR an imminent shakeup in the player personnel of the Atlanta Flames. General manager Cliff Fletcher, regarded as an extremely patient man, is said to be disgusted with the play of some of his veteran skaters&hellip;People who know hockey and public relations are continuing to be impressed with the work of Philadelphia press relations director Joe Kadlec and his staff&hellip;Reports from Moscow indicate that star forward Boris Alexandrov will not be competing on any visiting Soviet hockey teams because of disciplinary action caused by his apparent misuse of alcohol and obnoxious behavior&hellip;The National Hockey League hopes to make close to $300,000 from board advertising sold for the three-game Challenge Series against the Soviet National team in Madison Square Garden&hellip; Board advertising by NHL clubs might be the revenue producer of the future. Several clubs are interested in trying it next season provided the league decides to go along with it. A conflict with television advertising might be a stumbling block to board advertising in certain areas. Board advertising has been a big money maker for teams in Europe for years but up until this season the NHL has frowned upon it&hellip;Minnesota North Stars, the only NHL team to have tried this type of advertising, should make about $30,000 from it this season&hellip;The Labatt Junior Hockey Tournament featuring All Star teams from the Quebec, Ontario and Western Junior Hockey Leagues, as well as one from the Soviet Union and the Canadian Olympic team was one of the most evenly matched competitions played in recent years.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04880/4337735-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="293" height="368"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Kadlec</figcaption></div>&bull; FORMER NHLer Jim Roberts is retired from hockey but the ex-St. Louis Blues&rsquo; and Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; forward is still involved in sports. Roberts is one of the eight finalists in the $124,000 Coors all pro racquetball championship that will reach its climax Jan. 12 at the Sporting House in Las Vegas, Nevada. Roberts is shooting for a pot of $58,000 against such pro notables as footballers Randy Vataha, Jim Bakken and Bob McNamara, baseball figures Al Oliver and Don Kessinger and basketball stars Derreck Dickey and Al Ferrari&hellip;There was a 33-year age gap between two of the members of the World Hockey Association All Star team which played the Moscow Dynamo team in Edmonton at the beginning of this month. The two players, of course, were 50-year-old Gordie Howe and 17-year-old Wayne Gretzky&hellip;Howe will be 51 in March, while Gretzky turns 18 later in January&hellip;Pat Kelly became the 18th coach of the American League&rsquo;s Rochester Americans in the 23year history of the club. Kelly, fired from the Colorado Rockies&rsquo; coaching post this season earned a victory in his opening game, beating Bep Guidolins&rsquo; Philadelphia Firebirds, 7-5&hellip;Guidolin was coach of the Rockies when they were in Kansas City and known as the Scouts&hellip;Dennis Hextall, former captain of the Detroit Red Wings is being paid to stay in his Winnipeg home these days, The Wings have committed themselves to a youth movement and have no room in their lineup, while Hextail&rsquo;s contract is too luxurious to any other NHL clubs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05741/4337728-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="277" height="459"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dennis Hextali</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

OFFICIAL NATIONALHOCKEY WEEKLY FOUNDED 1979VOLUME 32, NUMBER 15 JANUARY 12, 1979Kenneth W. McKenziePresident and Publisher.Charlie HalpinEditorial DirectorTom MurrayAssistant PublisherPeter EmersonVice-President SalesSuite 600, 55 University Ave.,Toronto, Ont M5J 2H7, Telephone: (416) 361-0116Advertising Representatives:MontrealMary McCutcheon1434 St. Catherine Street West, Suite 217 Montreal, Can. &bull; H3G 1R7 (514) 866-4841New York:Tom Murray850 Third Ave.New York, N.Y. 10022 &bull; (212)593-2100Chicago:Hooper, Jones & Associates 3322 W. Peterson AvenueChicago, 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 (514) 8664841 U.S. C/O W.C.C. Publishing Corp., 850 Third Ave. New-York, N.Y. 10022, (212) 5932100.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. IB7 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;

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-06438/4337787-1-eng-US/f0004-062.jpg" title="f0004-06" width="563" height="702"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHNSMRKE&hellip;He Hustles</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;John Smrke and Barclay Plager have been together as player and coach for three seasons in three cities.Since Smrke&rsquo; was chosen by the St. Louis Blues in the second round of the junior draft in 1976, Smrke&rsquo;s development as a player and Plager&rsquo;s development as a coach have been on the same track.Smrke was a rookie pro player, and Plager a rookie coach during the 197677 season in Kansas City. Last season the two spent most of the season together in Salt Lake City, and this season both are in the NHL with the Blues.&ldquo;Bare knows what I do wrong and what I do well,&rdquo; Smrke said. &ldquo;He knows what he can expect of me.&rdquo;During the three seasons a deep understanding and respect has grown between the two men, and their good working relationship is to the advantage of the Blues.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t always agree with what the coach says,&rdquo; Smrke said, &ldquo;but he&rsquo;s right 99 percent of the time. He&rsquo;s a young coach, and I&rsquo;m a young player, and we both have to learn.&rdquo;&ldquo;Bare is an excitable guy and he really gets into the game,&rdquo; Smrke added. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s frustrated, sometimes he can&rsquo;t get out on the ice. He&rsquo;s a real competitor from the old school. He wants to win.&rdquo;Smrke&rsquo;s father, the late Stan Smrke, was a fine minor-league player for many years with Rochester and played a few games with the Montreal Canadiens. He very much wanted to see his son become an NHL player but died during John&rsquo;s first pro season in Kansas City.&ldquo;I hope I&rsquo;ve been able to help John,&rdquo; Plager said. &ldquo;I appreciate the way he works for me. He does what you ask him to do, and it&rsquo;s satisfying to me to see him develop.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;ll be a big part of our team,&rdquo; Plager added. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very hard worker who is going to get better. He&rsquo;s a hustler, and he goes into the corners.&rdquo;Smrke, a left wing, has been skating on a line with Larry Patey at center and Curt Bennett at right wing. Smrke also kills penalties, frequently with Patey.&ldquo;Bare wants me to forecheck and skate hard,&rdquo; Smrke said. &ldquo;I hope that in time everything will fall into place, but there are some things I have to learn.&rdquo;Learning can be uncomfortable on a team such as the Blues, who have a poor record this season. Plager has shuttled players between St. Louis and Salt Lake City, and Smrke is one of the young developing players expected to give immediate help to the parent club.&ldquo;A team that is not doing well sometimes has to throw young guys into the NHL,&rdquo; Smrke said, &ldquo;and people sometimes get on their backs. But I feel good with the Blues and I think I&rsquo;m better off in this league, although there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with being in the minors.&rdquo;Although Smrke has been giving a good personal effort, he is frustrated by the collective failure of the team&ldquo;Some games we&rsquo;ve worked hard and haven&rsquo;t won,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very difficult.&ldquo;Making the team successful may take two or three years, and I&rsquo;m definitely in on the ground floor,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I hope I&rsquo;ll be able to help the team out.&rdquo;The 22-year-old Smrke and the others in the Blues&rsquo; brigade of young players will have to take responsibility for making the team successful. The Blues have gone from being one of the oldest teams in the NHL last season to one of the youngest this season.With the departure of Mike Walton, the oldest player on the Blues is Garry Unger, who had his 31st birthday last month.&ldquo;If I&rsquo;m the oldest player on the team,&rdquo; Unger said, &ldquo;that shows how young the team is.&rdquo;Inge Hammarstrom, Curt Bennett, Barry Gibbs and Phil Myre are 30, Bob Stewart is 28, and Harvey Bennett, Larry Giroux and Steve Durbano are 27. Then Brian Ogilvie is 26, Larry Patey 25, Bruce Affleck and Bob Murdoch 24, Jack Brownschidle, Bob Hess, Rich Shinske and Ed Staniowski 23, Smrke, Bernie Federko and Brian Sutter 22, and rookie Wayne Babych 20. &#9632;

f0004-06

Plager Familiar With Ice Talents Of Blues’ Smrke

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>ATLANTA&mdash;Yves Belanger, G, recalled from Philadelphia of AHL. Rejean Lemelin, G, assigned to Philadelphia as replacement. Gene Carr, C, recalled from Tulsa of CHL.BOSTON&mdash;Dennis O&rsquo;Brien, D, Bill Bennett, LW, and Tom Songin, RW, assigned to Rochester of AHL.BUFFALO&mdash;Larry Playfair, D, returned to Hershey of AHL.CHICAGO&mdash;Doug Lecuyer, LW, and Tim Higgins, RW, returned to New Brunswick of AHL.COLORADO&mdash;Nelson Pyatt, C, recalled from Philadelphia of AHL. Clayton Pachal, LW, assigned to Philadelphia to play himself into condition after coming off injury list.DETROIT&mdash;Fern LeBlanc, C, returned to Kansas City of CHL. Rob Plumb, LW, recalled from Kansas City.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Don Kozak, RW, recalled from Springfield and traded to Vancouver in exchange for Randy Holt, D. Doug Halward, D, recalled from Springfield. Brian Glennie, D, and Tom Williams, LW, returned to lineup from injury list.MINNESOTA&mdash;Jim McKenny, D, Bryan Maxwell, D, Mike Fidler, RW and Bill Hogaboam C, assigned to Oklahoma City of CHL. Don Jackson, D, and Kris Manery, C, recalled from Oklahoma City.MONTREAL&mdash;Steve Shutt, LW, placed on disabled list with cracked bone in his wrist.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Kevin McCarthy, D, and Drew Callander, RW, traded to Vancouver in exchange for Dennis Ververgaert, RW. Frank Bathe, D, recalled from Maine of AHL.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Randy Carlyle, D, and Gregg Sheppard, D, returned to lineup from injury list.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Harvey Bennett, C, recalled from Salt Lake of CHL. Doug Palazzari, C, returned to Salt Lake.TORONTO&mdash;Rocky Saganiuk, C, returned to New Brunswick of AHL. Darryl Si(tler, C, placed on disabled list for six weeks with knee injury.VANCOUVER&mdash;Bob Manno. D, recalled from Dallas of CHL. Gary Bromley, G, assigned to Dallas.WASHINGTON&mdash;Blair Stewart, LW, recalled from Hershey of AHL. Paul Mulvey, LW, assigned to Hershey as replacement.<h2>WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.</h2>CINCINNATI&mdash;Mark Messier, RW, signed as free agent from defunct Indianapolis Racers. &#9632;

Hockey Players On The Move

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01986/4337866-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">DARRYL SITTLER &hellip;Absence Leaves Leafs In Bind</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;The Toronto Maple Leafs are in the same boat as many National Hockey League teams: They pivot on a few key players, top-ranked stars backed up by a pack of workers who struggle to break even.That&rsquo;s why the knee injury sustained by the Leafs&rsquo; &ldquo;big man&rsquo;&rdquo; center-captain Darryl Sittler, was a big blow to the team&rsquo;s hope of turning around their ordinary 1978-79 season as it heads into the second half.Sittler hurt the ligaments in his left knee in a Boxing Day game against New York Islanders when he was checked by Islander defenseman Gerry Hart. No surgery was needed to repair the damage but the Leafs&rsquo; big shooter could be missing from the line-up for a month.Sittler and winger Lanny McDonald carry the big part of the Leaf attack. This season, the Leafs defensive play has slipped and their goals-against total has soared, which makes Sittler&rsquo;s absence even more critical. The club was only one game above .500 through the first 39 matches of the schedule.In addition, winger Jerry Butler was absent with a cracked bone in his leg, the result of a slashing exchange with goalie Gilles Meloche of Minnesota North Stars and the club&rsquo;s No. 2 center Walt McKechnie was bothered by tendinitis in his ankle.Sittler&rsquo;s furlough left the team with McKechnie, Jimmy Jones, Bruce Boudreau and Garry Monahan as centers, hardly a group which strikes fear in the hearts of opponents.The Leafs had plenty of pivots last season. However, George Ferguson went to Pittsburgh Penguins in a trade, Stan Weir jumped to Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association, young Jack Valiquette was dealt to Colorado Rockies (where he&rsquo;s the leading scorer) and Don Ashby, depressed at being sent to the minors, retired from the game.The Leafs have only two centers in the minors&mdash;rookie pro Mark Kirton and Ron Wilson, a coverted defenseman who&rsquo;s learning the pivot role with New Brunswick Hawks of the American League.In fact, the Leafs had only seven healthy bodies with the Hawks and the best one, defenseman Bob Neely, plays a position at which the Leafs have some depth.&ldquo;Of course, losing Sittler hurts us badly because you just can&rsquo;t replace the best center in the game,&rdquo; said Leaf coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;To compensate, our club simply has to check strongly, much better than it has this season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve simply been giving up too many goals (124 in 39 games) and we can&rsquo;t hope to win too many games unless we cut down on that figure. We have to get back to the disciplined defensive hockey for 60 minutes of every game. We&rsquo;ve done it in spots but we&rsquo;ve had too many stretches when we haven&rsquo;t checked with enough thoroughness.&rdquo;LEAF NOTES: The Leafs were giving a heavy workload to defenseman Joel Quenneville, the top pick in last spring&rsquo;s draft from Windsor juniors. Quenneville has alternated between the Leafs and New Brunswick this season but his strong play in late December indicates some permanence to his stay with the Leafs&hellip;Last season&rsquo;s strong rookie defenseman Trevor Johansen and Dave Hutchison, who joined the Leafs from Los Angeles Kings in an off-season deal, were limited to spot duty&hellip; Both Johansen and Hutchison have been fighting the puck,&rdquo; Neilson said&hellip;The Leafs went with two defense pairs&mdash;Quenneville with Borje Salming, Ian Turnbull and Dave Burrows &hellip;One of the most reliable consistent Leafs this season has been left winger Pat Boutette. He&rsquo;s checked with his usual efficiency and scored 10 goals in the first half&hellip; Goalie Mike Palmateer continued to play strongly although his goals-against average was above the 3.00 mark&hellip; &ldquo;In what I figure were my three best games thus season. I&rsquo;ve given up five goals,&rdquo; Palmateer siad&hellip; The Leags opened the New Year with seven consecutive home games, the longest Maple Leaf Gardens stand in the club&rsquo;s history&hellip; The McKechnie-Ron Ellis-Dan Maloney line, a solid trio when all hands are sound, continued to have injury problems.McKechnie&rsquo;s ankle problems followed a, knee injury to Ellis and Maloney&rsquo;s broken cheek bone. &#9632;

f0005-01

Sittlers Injury Cripples Attack So Leafs Plan To Tighten Defense

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02761/4337897-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Top Rookie Scorers

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011166/4337928-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="350" height="482"></div><h2>New Year&rsquo;s Resolutions</h2>THE NEW YEAR ALWAYS brings new promises to be bent, &ldquo;I folded or mutilated. Once upon a time, resolutions of this sort meant nothing. Well, it&rsquo;s still once upon a time, but what the heck&hellip;Don Cherry: I will continue to be the most colorful figure in the sport by saying what I think, even if I don&rsquo;t always think what I say.Harry Sinden: I will sign Don Cherry to a new contract with the Bruins, because I would hate to finish 1979 with my neck in a II guillotine along the Charles River.Harold Ballard: I will no longer refer to John Ziegler as a &ldquo;little Il squirt,&rdquo; because, he is after all, the president of the NHL.John Ziegler: I will suspend Harold Ballard if he ever calls me any II more names, because that&rsquo;s exactly what Bowie Kuhn or Pete Rozelle or Lawrence O&rsquo;Brien would do.Clarence Campbell: I will continue to refuse offers from publishers who want me to write a book containing everything I know about the NHL. I know too much.<h2>Laughing Losses Away</h2>Aldo Guidolin: I will remain in good humor while piloting the II Colorado Pet Rocks. That is, when somebody asks me how I&rsquo;m I going to protect a three-goal lead entering the final period, I&rsquo;ll continue to say things like, &ldquo;Find the building&rsquo;s light switch.&rdquo;Chicago Black Hawks: We will no longer take a 2-0 lead into the last period of a game and play for a tie.Vancouver Canucks: We will give thanks that we can go on the road, lose six straight games, and not lose any ground in our division.Punch Imlach: I will start answering my phone. Not only that, I will reapply for my Professional Hockey Writers Assn., card and do Il a column on what I&rsquo;m thinking about those bleeping Buffalo Sabres.Brian O&rsquo;Neill: I will deal with stick-swingers and other senseless acts of aggression in a firm manner, because the sport doesn&rsquo;t need any more black marks.John Wensink: I will continue my quest to become the first man in NHL history to score 50 goals and accumulate 400 minutes in penalties.Wayne Gretzky: I will start to shave.Bill Flett: So will I.Bobby Hull: I will resurface to assume art active role in hockey somewhere, either by returning as a player or as a good-will ambassador.Robbie Ftorek: I will continue to play hard, no matter what league, what the score is or what the crowd is, because that&rsquo;s how I got here in the first place.Emile Francis: I will start watching Blues&rsquo; games from a lower perch in the Checkerdome, so the temptation to jump will decrease.King Clancy: I won&rsquo;t change a bit, because I&rsquo;m having a hell of a I good time as it is.<h2>To Play Hockey Only</h2>NHL All Stars: We will play hockey and only hockey in the Challenge Cup series during February, because the whole world will be watching.Bobby Clarke: I will have a beer with Freddie Shero and bury the hatchet.Fred Shero: I&rsquo;ll have a beer whether Clarke shows up or not.Lou Nanne: I&rsquo;ll continue to enjoy what I&rsquo;m doing and not treat II every game as World War III because life is too short and the season too long.Charles O. Finley: I&rsquo;ll buy the World Hockey Association and give it to the NHL as a present for some of the debts they picked up.Ted Lindsay: I&rsquo;ll take Alan Eagleson to dinner.Alan Eagleson: I won&rsquo;t go.Pierre Bouchard: I&rsquo;ll unretire.Bill Nyrop: I&rsquo;ll do whatever Pierre Bouchard does.Tiger Williams: I&rsquo;ll keep doing some nutty things here and there because there aren&rsquo;t enough nuts in hockey, and too many dolts.Bobby Orr: I will return to the Black Hawks as an assistant coach, but only if the players don&rsquo;t shoot pucks at me. &#9632;

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HOCKEY TALK

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02893/4337959-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">REED LARSON&hellip;Likes Increased Ice Time (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>DETROIT&mdash;Reed Larson on right wing? The experiment was discarded in the early stages of training camp but coach Bobby Kromm went back to the idea and the multi-talented young star, as expected, did the job in a big way.Larson is still a defenseman at heart but he&rsquo;s enjoying his tour of duty on right wing. Kromm? He loves it. It gives his team a tremendous scoring threat on right wing, something he doesn&rsquo;t have; more muscle in the corners, another deficient area; and Larson&rsquo;s style complements center Dale McCourt and Errol Thompson to give the Wings an explosive No. 1 unit.1Kromm hasn&rsquo;t discontinued Larson&rsquo;s work on defense, though, which is just fine with Reed.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the beauty of it,&rdquo; Kromm said. &ldquo;I can always put him back on defense in a crucial situation.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s doing all right up there. Look, if he gets five shots a game from right wing, with his shot he&rsquo;s sure to score a goal or two. All he&rsquo;s got to do is get it on net.&rdquo;The McCourt-Thompson-Larson line accounted for six goals (three each for McCourt and Thompson) in their first four games together. Larson had five assists.In addition to taking a regular shift on right wing and defense as a penalty-killer, Larson works the right point on the Red Wings&rsquo; power play. He also plays back on the blueline late in a period when defense has priority or when the Wings get a late lead and must protect it. That&rsquo;s quite a workload.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind that at all,&rdquo; Larson said. &ldquo;In fact, that&rsquo;s fine with me. I like that ice time.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve had any trouble adjusting, really. It doesn&rsquo;t bother me to play right wing one shift and then move back.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m willing to play right wing&mdash;as long as I can play defense, too. I&rsquo;ve always been a defenseman, and I really like it. But if they want me to play forward, too, that&rsquo;s okay.&rdquo;The experiment with Larson is nothing new. However, it was quickly discarded in training camp because the team had no one to take his place on defense.But with the rapid progress of Willie Huber, John Hilworth and John Taft to play the right side on defense, Kromm has more flexibility in his lineup. Larson scored 19 goals as a rookie defenseman last season, with most of them coming on his booming slapshot from the point. Because he has more room-to-roam and freedom in the offensive end as a forward, his goalscoring potential is increased considerably. This time, the experiment is going to get a real test. &#9632;

f0006-02

Wings Enjoying Benefits Of Larson’s Versatility

<div class="byline">-BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011157/4338028-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="411" height="458"></div><h2>Fascinating Fellow&hellip;</h2>IAN TURNBULL IS A FASCINATING FELLOW. A six-foot, 200-pound muscleman, he is Hollywood handsome with a mop of dark, curly hair atop his head and dresses superbly. He has a beautiful wife, Inge, a daughter, Theo, and another child due in May. He reads Steinbeck and Hemmingway, Dickens and Dostoevesky. He speaks Dutch and sometimes sings it. He loves all kinds of music and plays guitar. He reads the business journals and almost two years ago he and partners opened a winery near Maple Leaf Gargdens.The winery is called &ldquo;Grapes,&rdquo; and he takes his turn behind the bar, hosting teammates, who frequent his spot. Turnbull is best known for it. He says, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a job and not as glamorous as it seems. There&rsquo;s a lot of things that go on behind the scenes, a lot of politics among management, agents, and the players&rsquo; association I prefer to avoid.&ldquo;People pay a lot to see us play, but we&rsquo;re paid a lot more than we should be. The travel and waiting around are rough, but the thing I really don&rsquo;t like is I living a fishbowl existence. I like playing games and I can see why people want to see us play, but I&rsquo;d prefer it if we were left alone away from the arena. I don&rsquo;t dislike fans, I just don&rsquo;t think we iii should be idolized the way we are. I like the game, I but I don&rsquo;t like the publicity that goes with it.&rdquo;Turnbull is supposed to be a bad interview because he really doesn&rsquo;t like to attract attention, but the couple of times I have talked to him at any length I have found him an unusually interesting individual who makes a lot of sense with what he I says. Possibly it helps that I always am interested I in the person as much as the player, and Ian considers himself a person whose life extends far beyond the ice.From Montreal, he played junior there and in Ottawa with Denis Potvin and broke in as a rookie in Toronto with Borje Salming and has been overshadowed by both, but he is outstanding in his own right. Primarily an offensive defenseman, he scored 25 goals his last season as an amateur and his defensive play benefitted from the coaching of Leo Boivin in Ottawa. Ian was the 15th pick of the draft in the summer of 1973.He scored eight goals each of his first two seasons as a pro, missing most of his second season with a knee injury, then surpassed Babe Pratt&rsquo;s team record with 20 his third season and surpassed that with 22 his fourth season. Former defense star King Clancy, the long-time Leaf aide, once said, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got one of the best low shots in the game. On his day, he can be sensational.&rdquo;HIS DAY CAME IN FEBRUARY OF 1977 when he set a new NHL record for a defenseman by scoring five goals&mdash;on only five shots&mdash;in one game against Detroit at the Gardens. He sneaked out a side door to avoid interviewers after that spectacular performance, but later reluctantly agreed to talk to the reporters. To his regret, he has been spotlighted ever since, a target of autograph-seekers and well-wishers.When Roger Neilson took over as coach he took a dim view of his defenseman&rsquo;s offensive tendencies. &ldquo;He can score, but he gives up too many scores,&rdquo; commented the coach. &ldquo;He has to think a bit before rushing up and getting trapped out of position. He has to learn to lay back a little more.&rdquo;Turnbull, who has great skating and stickhandling ability to go with his size and strength, says, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been aggressive. It&rsquo;s in my nature to take it to my opponents. But I can see the coach&rsquo;s point of view and I&rsquo;m trying to think defense. It doesn&rsquo;t come natural and I have to concentrate on it.&rdquo;His goals fell to 14 last season, but as his offensive stats declined, his defense stats improved. He had a super plus, but laughs it off, saying, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s Salming. Playing with him, you&rsquo;re not going to give up many goals. However, I am improving.&rdquo;At 25, he is just approaching the peak of his profession. He has been especially effective in playoffs and last season led all Leafs in post-season scoring with 16 points. &ldquo;I enjoy performing under pressure,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;A big game can really lift you. But there is more to life than playing games.&rdquo;HIS BIG GAME BROUGHT HIM a lot of business opportunities, but he says, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d prefer making it in business without making it on the basis of my name. I&rsquo;d like to make it in music with records and concerts, but as a musician, not a hockey player. I&rsquo;d like to make it as a writer, but not because it&rsquo;s unusual for a jock to write.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to make it by getting good ideas, getting some money together, and making my ideas work because I&rsquo;m a good businessman. I&rsquo;d like to make a life for myself away from the arena, where real life really is lived. There&rsquo;s a lot to life I want to experience.&rdquo;He has travelled extensively abroad and one summer brought back from England a 1936 Rolls Royce worth more than $50,000. It is his pride and joy and he even drives it once in a while. &ldquo;It was a good deal,&rdquo; he shrugs. &ldquo;I can sell it for more than I paid for it.&rdquo;He is a guy looking for a good deal in life.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03876/4338021-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="804" height="1017"><figcaption class="caption-body">Leafs&rsquo; defense star Ian Turnbull feels that professional athletes are Idolized by the public much more than they should be. To him hockey is just a game that is a lot of fun, but there are many other pursuits which equally draw his attention. (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021041/4338059-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB DAILEY&hellip;Communicates Well With McCammon</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;During one of his post-game visits to the Flyers&rsquo; dressing room, board chairman Ed Snider stopped a sports writer of long acquaintance and said, &ldquo;Did you see Dailey tonight? He was awesome.&rdquo;If you think Snider is enthusiastic about Bob Dailey, you should hear the demanding Flyers&rsquo; fans. The &ldquo;Count&rdquo; appears to have finally won over the Spectrum&rsquo;s 17,077 regulars.When Dailey was obtained by GM Keith (The Theif) Allen from Vancouver in January 1977 for Jack McIlhargey and Larry Goodenough, people slapped their foreheads in dismay. &ldquo;What a steal&rdquo; they exclaimed while keeping one hand on their wallets whenever Allen was near.Dailey, a six-foot-five, 220-pound defenseman who had failed to satisfy Vancouver&rsquo;s success-starved fans, was called a &ldquo;future All Star.&rdquo; The late Barry Ashbee said Dailey had the potential to be &ldquo;another Larry Robinson.&rdquo;Dailey&rsquo;s scoring figures have been fine: 5-14-19 in 32 games after arriving in Philadelphia, then a club-record 2136-57 last season. Where Dailey hasn&rsquo;t fulfilled expectations of fans and, to some extent, Philadelphia management, is in the physical department. &ldquo;A guy that big,&rdquo; the fans mutter, &ldquo;should hit people more.&rdquo;Well, over the past month Dailey has been hitting more. A few examples: Dailey escorted the Rangers&rsquo; Ulf Nilsson into the boards with such force that people worried for a few seconds about Nilsson&rsquo;s health. In the last minutes of a 2-1 victory over Pittsburgh, Dave Schultz skated into the Philadelphia zone where he was crunched by Dailey and separated from the puck. The crowd&rsquo;s appreciative roar is still echoing through the Spectrum&rsquo;s hallowed halls.Wherever he has played&mdash;Philadelphia, Vancouver, the Toronto Marlies&mdash;Dailey has left his mark as a sharp young man. Dailey&rsquo;s life doesn&rsquo;t begin and end with hockey. He is interested in rock music, wines, good food, clothes, golf and tennis.During a surprise party for Joe Watson last year, Dailey held a lengthy conversation with a Philadelphia cardiologist. Later, the physician remarked how impressed he was with Dailey&rsquo;s intelligence. What puzzles observers close to the Flyers is Dailey&rsquo;s remarks about hockey often lack me insight and color you&rsquo;d expect from someone whose vocabulary extends far beyond &ldquo;the puck was bouncing my way&rdquo; or &ldquo;we&rsquo;re working hard.&rdquo;Example: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m always trying to do my best, but sometimes it doesn&rsquo;t look it. Sometimes the things you try just don&rsquo;t work. When the team is playing better, it&rsquo;s easier to look better, too.&rdquo;One suspicion is, Dailey speaks cautiously because he hasn&rsquo;t felt completely comfortable since arriving in Philadelphia. He was the big guy counted on to revive the Flyers&rsquo; Stanley Cup dreams, but it didn&rsquo;t happen immediately. Consequently, some people have wondered how much Dailey really cares about playing on a Stanley Cup champion.Changing Philadelphia coaches may be the detonator Dailey has needed to explode into an All Star. Bob McCammon&rsquo;s emphasis on a four-man defense (Dailey, Jim Watson, Andre Dupont and rookie Behn Wilson) is evidently helping Dailey&rsquo;s effectiveness. McCajpmon also appears to have better communication with Dailey and other Flyers than Fred Shero did.&ldquo;I think he (Dailey) realizes he has to start providing some leadership on this team,&rdquo; McCammon said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s big and strong, and has a-lot of talent. The leadership should come naturally by the things he does on the ice.&rdquo;Dailey is only 25, but the maturity he has off the ice is also surfacing on the ice. As someone said earlier this season, &ldquo;the &lsquo;Count&rsquo; can be as good as he wants to be.&rdquo;FLYERS FACTS: Yves Preston, the former free agent who was leading the AHL in goals, scored his first NHL goal in a 7-2 loss in Atlanta. Preston was recalled from Maine to replace suspended Paul Holmgren. &#9632;

f0008-02

Dailey’s Hitting Pleasing Flyers, Quieting Critics

<div class="byline">BY RUSS WHITE</div>WASHINGTON&mdash;Indianapolis&rsquo; loss was the Washington Capitals&rsquo; gain when goaltender Gary Inness changed teams when the Racers went down recently.Inness, who had played for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers in previous National Hockey League experience, was signed by Caps&rsquo; general manager Max McNab and put immediately in nets.The Caps have been hurting in goal this year with the unexpected inefficiency of young Jim Bedard, who came on so well as a rookie last year.Bedard was sent to the Caps&rsquo; Hershey farm team for a couple of weeks and played upon his return, sharing the goal duties with Bernie Wolfe.At present the Caps are carrying three goalies&mdash;Bedard, Wolfe and Inness but Inness has taken over as No. 1.In his first three starts, Inness was pelted with 117 shots but managed to make 106 saves and give the Caps a 4-4 home tie against the Philadelphia Flyers and a 2-2 tie at Detroit. Inness suffered a 5-2 loss to the Flyers at Philadelphia.&ldquo;He looks sharp, looks like he can help Washington,&rdquo; said Marcel Pelletier, Flyers&rsquo; director of personnel. &ldquo;A club has to be strong in goal before it can go anywhere and Inness has a good track record. He&rsquo;ll help the Caps.&rdquo;Inness was 7-0-1 against the Caps and obviously the Washington organization remembered.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m fit, ready to play,&rdquo; said Inness, 28, the night he signed with Washington. That night he watched from the stands as the Caps surprised the Toronto Maple Leafs, 7-6, at Capital Centre.Two nights later Inness got the4-4 tie against the Flyers.The Caps broke up their Western Line of Mark Lofthouse, Ryan Walter and Paul Mulvey when they shipped rookie left wing Mulvey to Hershey for more experience.At six-foot-four, 220, Mulvey gave the Caps some physical power on the forward line but McNab was not pleased at Mulvey&rsquo;s offensive output. With only three goals and three assists in 34 games, Mulvey had come up short too often to please McNab. &ldquo;That kid is better than a 10-14 goal scorer,&rdquo; McNab said. &ldquo;He needs a quicker release on his shot. A while at Hershey may help. He&rsquo;ll be back.&rdquo;Up from Hershey to join the Caps was left wing Blair Stewart, who has now played at least a game or two for the Caps in each of their five seasons in the NHL.Stewart, once one of the most popular Caps with the home fans, wore No. 14 and impressed coach Danny Belisle with his effort in the 2-2 tie at Detroit.Defenseman Robert Picard, enjoying his finest week of the season, had both goals at Detroit and had three goals and five assists in four games.&ldquo;I pampered him, encouraged him and kicked him,&rdquo; Belisle said about Picard. &ldquo;They told me how well he could play and I couldn&rsquo;t believe them. Now, he&rsquo;s playing with authority, moving the puck, and taking the body. I just wonder why he hasn&rsquo;t played like that all season.&rdquo;Caps have also had steady performances all year from Bob Sirois, who was left wing for center Dennis Maruk and right winger Tom Rowe on the club&rsquo;s best line until Belisle switched Sirois to a line with Walter and right wing Bill Riley. Sirois led the team with 17 goals.Belisle&rsquo;s constant line changes don&rsquo;t sit well with the Caps but McNab said the other day, &ldquo;They&rsquo;re no big factor&rdquo; in club&rsquo;s failure to win. Belisle, in turn, threatened to send anyone packing who didn&rsquo;t live up to major league standards. &ldquo;These guys don&rsquo;t know how lucky they are,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They ought to try being a bricklayer or a plumber for awhile and maybe they&rsquo;d appreciate being a hockey player.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011114/4338090-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="572" height="793"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY INNESS&hellip;Should Help Caps</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0009-01

Indy’s Inness In The Right Spot For Caps’No. 1 Goaltending Job

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011144/4338121-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div>DO YOU HAVE I AN OPINIONON HOCKEY?Write to:FAN FORUM,The Hockey News,1434 St. Catherine St., W., Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7<h2>Everybody Picks On Montreal</h2>Why does everyone always pick on Montreal? THE HOCKEY NEWS often prints letters saying that the Canadiens have an easy time during the course of the season.People who think this way should think twice before writing. Debbie Modien wrote in the Dec. 15 issue that Philadelphia had a harder time than Montreal because they had to play in a division with tougher teams than Canadiens.I will admit they do have an easier division, but for playing so many weak teams they do better than any team in the Flyers&rsquo; division (three Stanley Cups in a row proof enough).Wouldn&rsquo;t you think that if a team has a consistently tough schedule and has a winning record after that, that they could catch Montreal after their easier schedule?Teams like the Islanders and the Flyers should worry about catching Boston before they even begin to look at Montreal.MARTY DANIELS,Findlay, Ohio.<h2>Aghast At Holmgren&rsquo;s Penalty</h2>I am aghast at the penalty given to Paul Holmgren of the Flyers for obtaining his second match penalty of the past month. Terry O&rsquo;Reilly was the recipient of his skates during an altercation. Now Carol Vadnais was on the receiving end of a vicious two-handed stick blow to the head. Fortunately for Vadnais, he wears a helmet.For attempted murder Holmgren is suspended for six games and fined $200. And this was his second major offense within one month! Wilf Paiement was sat down for 15 games for doing the same thing, and that was his first ever such transgression.If one looks at Holmgren&rsquo;s past record, one will find a pattern of violent acts. Is the NHL waiting for Paul Holmgren or others like him to kill someone before adequate actions are taken?Surprisingly, even some Philadelphia sportscasters openly remarked that this punishment was too light. It&rsquo;s action (or lack of it) like this which causes district attornies to get involved.GORDON L. WILSON,Turnersville, N.J.<h2>Fans Shouldn&rsquo;t Choose All Stars</h2>The absurdity of allowing the fans to vote for the first team All Stars in the upcoming NHL vs. Soviet series is evident in the early returns. That Nilsson, Hickey, and Greschner (ugh) are leading in the balloting at their respective positions proves that this is no more than a popularity contest, with true ability taking a back seat.As a believer in the supremacy of North American hockey, I will be forced to root for the Soviets if these second rate players are allowed to masquerade as &ldquo;first team All Stars&rdquo;.Let&rsquo;s put the best against the SovietsPETER ALLATIN,Litchfield, Conn.<h2>Pittsburgh Penguins Most Improved</h2>I am writing on behalf of what I feel is the most improved team in the NHL&mdash;the Pittsburgh Penguins.The Penguins, with the addition of bright young stars such as Randy Carlyle, Peter Lee and Rod Schutt, and proven vets such as Orest Kindrachuk, Ross Lonsberry and Gregg Sheppard, have developed into one of the better teams in the league.With the possible addition of another top defenseman, the Penguins will be challenging Montreal and Boston for the top slots in the NHL.KEVIN IOLE,Cheswick, Pa.<h2>Don&rsquo;t Understand O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s Inconsistency</h2>I am writing this letter for the people who don&rsquo;t understand the reasoning behind a six-game suspension for (Paul) Holmgren and a 15-game suspension for (Wilf) Paiement.(Brian) O&rsquo;Neill says that if players swing their sticks in an attempt to injure, then they will lose their privilege of playing. To me, this means that he will crack down on such incidents and give harsher suspensions. He started doing this by giving Wilf Paiement a 15-game suspension for swinging at Dennis Polonich and breaking his nose. I don&rsquo;t think that the suspension was too hard, but O&rsquo;Neill should at least keep the same trend. He later suspended Holmgren six games and gave him a $200 fine for two-handing Carol Vadnais over the top of the helmet. Do you really think this is fair? There is a difference of nine games just because Holmgren&rsquo;s incident didn&rsquo;t cause a major injury.Then there is the incident where Billy Smith hit Rejean Houle in the face with his stick and cut him for 20 stitches.Some people have to wonder if Brian O&rsquo;Neill is capable of doing the job of the NHL executive vice-president.CAL USHER,Dodsland, Sask.<h2>North Stars Not That Impressive</h2>When the now-defunct Cleveland Barons and Minnesota North Stars merged this past summer, hockey people thought Lou Nanne, general manager of the Stars, would put together a winning contender for a wild card berth in the playoffs. But instead, they are a losing team.Sending Denis Maruk to Washington was not a good deal. They could really use his scoring punch around the nets. Though he is small, he is very effective. When Harry Howell quit the coaching job in mid-November, the Stars took an awful blow. He had a great deal of hockey knowledge. They could really use him to coach the young players on the team that do not have much experience.Also, hockey people are wondering about the fate of Bobby Smith. They thought this high scoring center from Ottawa would tear the league apart in scoring. What is wrong with them?ROB LANE,Seaforth, Ont.<h2>Feels Eight Is Just Right</h2>The NHL has too many teams that can make the playoffs. The NFL has 10 playoff teams out of 28 teams. Professional baseball has 26 teams and only four teams make it to the playoffs. But the NHL plays all year only to decide which five teams don&rsquo;t make the playoffs. When the NHL had one less team only eight teams made the playoffs, and that&rsquo;s the way it should be now.If the NHL had eight playoff positions, the top two teams in each division would go at it. Then, the team that had the most amount of points would go against the team with the least amount of points.PAT BROWNE,Winnipeg, Man. &#9632;

f0010-01

FAN FORUM

<h2>Future Plan For Hockey Compensations</h2>The NHL is about to enter into some type of plan with the WHA. I suggest that before this takes place, the NHL take care of its problems with previous agreements. I am referring to the L.A.-Detroit-Vachon-McCourt-NHL-Players Association joke. Let&rsquo;s take this problem out of the area of personal player preference and put it into a form of real compensation.My plan is: A commission or panel be formed by the league, consisting of one person from each team and one member appointed by (John) Ziegler as moderator. (The moderator would vote only to break ties).Before each season starts, each team would present its player roster to this commission. The commission would than rate each player based on previous play into the following groups.a) Super Star.b) Star.c) Other.When the year ends and a player is signed by another team, the team signing the player would give to the team losing the player draft choices based on the following: Player rated Super Star&mdash;three choices. Player rated Star&mdash;two choices. Player rated Other-one choice.The draft choices would be the highest available, as soon as possible. No debate, no arbitration, no fight, no court case.This plan would even become stronger after the NHL and the WHA merge.D.R. MERKER,Fountain Valley, Calif. &#9632;

LETTER OF THE WEEK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02915/4338152-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="514" height="646"><figcaption class="caption-body">GUY LAFLEUR</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;A battle of consistency versus explosiveness has developed between Montreal Canadien right winger Guy Lafleur and center Bryan Trottier of New York Islanders in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s individual scoring race.Trottier gained six points in two games last week to move into a points tie with Lafleur, who collected four points in three games. Trottier, however, gets top ranking because he has 27 goals among his 60 points, compared with Lafleur&rsquo;s 25 goals.After games of Nov. 18, Lafleur had 28 points in 19 games while Trottier, who missed four games because of injury from Nov. 12 through Nov. 18, had 16 points in 13 games. Since then, both players have failed to gain at least one point in only one game each.Lafleur, who holds the record of 28 straight games with at least one point (19 goals, 61 points in 197677), has had at least one point in each of his last 17 games, during which time he scored 14 goals and added 18 assists for 32 points. But Trottier is right behind him with a 16-game consecutive points streak. In that stretch, which was stalled Sunday when a snowstorm forced postponement of the game at Chicago between Islanders and Black Hawks. Trottier picked up 18 goals, 21 assists and 39 points.The consistency of Lafleur&rsquo;s point accumulation is reflected in the fact that he has failed to get at least one point in only five games all season and three of those were in his first four games. Lafleur has had five three-point games this season plus one. four-point game, giving him 19 points in those six games.By contrast, Trottier has exploded for one eight-point game&mdash;the most points by a player in a game this season and only the fifth such performance in NHL history&mdash;three five-point games and three three-point games, giving him 32 points in those seven games. The eight and five-point games were all after he returned from the injury.On the other hand, Trottier has had the benefit of two potent wingers on his line, including sophomore right winger Mike Bossy, the league&rsquo;s leading goal scorer with 30. Bossy, who has had 30 points and 17 goals during Trottier&rsquo;s 16-game streak, has moved into sixth place in the scoring list with 52 points. He had 15 points, including seven goals, in his last five games. Clark Gillies, the left winger on the Islander line, is tied for eighth place with 47 points. Lafleur has had to maintain his pace with different linemates because of injuries to center Jacques Lemaire and left winger Steve Shutt.Both Trottier and Lafleur have had to maintain their torrid paces to stay ahead of two Atlanta players&mdash;Bob MacMillan, who is third with 58 points, and his linemate. Guy Chouinard, who is fourth with 55. MacMillan leads in assists with 40. &#9632;

f0010-02

Lafleur, Trottier Waging Hot Battle For Scoring Title

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011090/4338207-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="518" height="809"><figcaption class="caption-body">PETER LEE&hellip;Five Game Winners</figcaption></div><h2>GOALS</h2>Bossy, Isl&hellip;&hellip;25Trottier, Isl&hellip;&hellip;25Lafleur, Mtl&hellip;&hellip;23Dionne, L.A&hellip;&hellip;23Sedlbauer, Van&hellip;&hellip;23Chouinard, Atl&hellip;&hellip;22Goring, L.A&hellip;&hellip;21Wensink, Bos&hellip;&hellip;21McNab, Bos&hellip;&hellip;20Sutter, St.L&hellip;&hellip;20<h2>ASSISTS</h2>MacMillan, Atl&hellip;&hellip;36Federko, St. L&hellip;&hellip;34Lafleur, Mtl&hellip;&hellip;33Potvin, Isl&hellip;&hellip;30Gillies, Isl&hellip;&hellip;30Trottier, Isl&hellip;&hellip;29Middleton, Bos&hellip;&hellip;29Clarke, Phi&hellip;&hellip;28Chouinard, Atl&hellip;&hellip;28O&rsquo;Reilly, Bos&hellip;&hellip;26Dionne, L.A&hellip;&hellip;26<h2>POWER PLAY</h2>Bossy, Isl&hellip;&hellip;10Gardner, Col&hellip;&hellip;9Sedlbauer, Van.&hellip;&hellip;8Trottier, Isl&hellip;&hellip;7McCourt, Det&hellip;&hellip;7Babych, St.L.&hellip;&hellip;7Sutter, St.L..&hellip;&hellip;7Nedomansky, Det&hellip;&hellip;7Croteau, Col&hellip;&hellip;7Boldirev, Chi&hellip;&hellip;7McDonald, Tor&hellip;&hellip;7<h2>SHORTHANDED</h2>Barber, Phi&hellip;&hellip;5MacLeish, Phi&hellip;&hellip;5Marcotte, Bos&hellip;&hellip;4Goring, L.A&hellip;&hellip;2Andersson, Min&hellip;&hellip;2Ferguson, Pit&hellip;&hellip;2Savard, Buf&hellip;&hellip;2<h2>GAME WINNERS</h2>Lee, Pit&hellip;&hellip;5Lafleur, Mtl&hellip;&hellip;5Trottier, Isl&hellip;&hellip;5Lambert, Mtl&hellip;&hellip;5Pronovost, Atl&hellip;&hellip;5MacMillan, Atl&hellip;&hellip;4Marcotte, Bos&hellip;&hellip;4Williams, Tor&hellip;&hellip;4MacLeish, Phi&hellip;&hellip;4Harris, Isl&hellip;&hellip;4<h2>GAME TYING</h2>Ramsay, Buf&hellip;&hellip;3Dionne, L.A&hellip;&hellip;3Chouinard, Atl&hellip;&hellip;2Miller, Bos&hellip;&hellip;2Doak, Bos&hellip;&hellip;2Gare, Buf&hellip;&hellip;2Luce, Buf&hellip;&hellip;2Kerr, Chi&hellip;&hellip;2Larson, Det&hellip;&hellip;2Hextali, Det&hellip;&hellip;2Goring, L.A&hellip;&hellip;2Mondou, Mtl&hellip;&hellip;2Dean, Phi&hellip;&hellip;2Mahovlich, Pit&hellip;&hellip;2Federko, St.L&hellip;&hellip;2 &#9632;

f0011-01

Islanders’ Bossy Top PP Scorer

<div class="byline">BY TOM MURRAY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-03666/4338238-1-eng-US/f0011-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">WAYNE THOMAS&hellip; A Man On His Own</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;Consistency. The word pops up so often in conversations with the Rangers these days that it has almost become a cliche. In order for a team to be successful, any one of the Rangers will tell you, it has to be consistent. It can&rsquo;t win a game on one night by doing everything right and be skating hard and then forget everything two nights later, look plumb awful, and lose by a landslide.But as much as all of the Rangers are aware of the fact that good teams don&rsquo;t lose two games in a row, that good teams don&rsquo;t allow two goals on one night and nine goals less than 24 hours later and that good teams have to put out the same effort against the Washington Capitals as they do against the Montreal Canadiens&mdash;they are having a bit of trouble becoming a good team where it counts most&mdash;on the ice.Witness the most recent in a long series of strange Ranger events:&bull; The Rangers play the Detroit Red Wings on a Friday evening in late December, hit and check tenaciously and emerge with a hard-earned and well-deserved 4-2 victory.&bull; The following night, the eve of Christmas Eve, they travel down the road a piece to meet the New York Islanders for the season&rsquo;s second encounter of two teams embroiled in what everyone has lately been calling hockey&rsquo;s bitterest rivalry. For the first 20 minutes it is indeed a helluva hockey game. The Rangers are looking very good against hockey&rsquo;s hottest team, taking the man, and testing Islanders&rsquo; goalie Billy Smith with some challenging, well-placed shots. After one period, the score is 1-1, thanks largely to Smith&rsquo;s acrobatics, which prevent the Rangers from getting two or three more goals. At this point the game had all the signs of being a classic, tautly played, defensive battle. It wasn&rsquo;t. The remaining 40 minutes were a catastrophe as the Rangers allowed four goals in the first five minutes of the second period and Islanders&rsquo; center Bryan Trottier went absolutely bananas scoring five goals, three assists, and causing the bewildered Rangers he went around all night to think that maybe he should be given a saliva test.After the game, someone asked coach Fred Shero if he thought his Rangers lacked motivation. &ldquo;Gee,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I dunno. I don&rsquo;t think that was the problem tonight. We just left Wayne Thomas (the starting goalie) all alone out there tonight. And nobody should be left alone on Christmas.&rdquo;End of interview.&bull; Three nights later; it is the night after Christmas and the Rangers are in&mdash;gasp&mdash;Atlanta coming off that horrendous performance. After the Islanders, the Rangers&rsquo; prospects against the Flames this night looked bleak, especially since Atlanta is eager to prove that the Rangers win at the Omni in late November was a fluke. The Rangers draw first blood, but the Flames rally for three quick unanswered goals and a second consecutive rout of the Rangers&rsquo; seems to be in the works. What happens? The suddenly inspired Rangers roar back with four straight goals (including Nick Fotiu&rsquo;s first of the season), win the game 5-3 and leave the perplexed Flames wondering if the Rangers are starting a jinx on them.&bull; Two nights later. The opponent is Philadelphia, whom the Rangers already defeated this season at the Spectrum. Ranger fans are optimistic: Can our boys win two in a row against Patrick Division rivals, they wonder? It looks like they might, after Pat Hickey puts the New Yorkers on the score board first. But Philly, just as Atlanta had done two nights earlier, scores three quick goals and the slumbering Rangers are down, 3-1, at the end of one. But they wake up in the second, tie it up, 33, and then exchange goals with the Flyers in a sloppily played game until the score is tied, 5-5. It looks like it might end that way, but a mental lapse (there were a lot of those this week), enables Paul Holmgren, of all people, to slam the winning goal by Doug Soetaert with less than three and a half minutes to play.So there you have it: a win, a loss, a win, a loss. That sure ain&rsquo;t being consistent, the Rangers are still in a dog fight for second place in the NHL&rsquo;s toughest division. They hold the fourth-best winning percentage in hockey (.600), and the fifth-best defensive record (114 goals-against in 35 games).You figure it out. The Rangers sure can&rsquo;t. &#9632;

f0011-03

Rangers Realize They Must Become More Consistent On Ice To Make It

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02887/4338269-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="563" height="619"></div> &#9632;

f0011-02

Team Penalties

<h2>Forget NHL Parity</h2>THE DICTIONARY defines parity as &ldquo;being on a par; equivalence; close similarity&rdquo; and for as long as the National Hockey League has existed, parity has been discussed as the ultimate goal. The NHL brass seemed to believe that some day the final standing would consist of a 17-team tie for first place, each club with a 40-40 won-lost record.Each season takes on a predictable pattern where parity is concerned. Early in the schedule, some team from the bottom of the league will defeat Montreal Canadiens. Immediately, someone at league headquarters will say: &ldquo;The quality has improved this season and we&rsquo;re right on the old path to parity.&rdquo;There was much talk early this season that the NHL&rsquo;s perennial losers had improved. But lately, few such views have been voiced.In fact, if anything, the NHL this season has moved farther away from a balanced league. The rich are wealthier; the poor are more deprived.Some teams (Minnesota North Stars, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins) are stronger than they were last season. But others&mdash;Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres and Colorado Rockies&mdash;have slid backward.The North Stars have made some modest gains lately but it would be a very sad commentary on the state of the league if the team wasn&rsquo;t improved. After all, the Stars&rsquo; roster was produced by joining two teams&mdash;Minnesota and Cleveland Barons&mdash;and if a combination of two teams&rsquo; players can&rsquo;t reach at least a .500 mark, theft some teams should be humanely destroyed.<h2>Good At The Top</h2>THE NHL DOES HAVE three fine teams at the front end&mdash;Canadiens, Boston Bruins and New York Islanders. Any notion though that Les Habitants domination has suffered from erosion caused by the departure of general manager Sam Pollock has vanished. The Canadiens got the kids off the street with convincing wins over both the Bruins and Islanders when those clubs were hot.Now another mile has been added to the gap between the strong and the weak. Not only is there a huge chasm between the top four or five teams and the bottom six or seven in the players who toil regularly, the clubs at the top have another big advantage in the form of some depth to their rosters.The Canadiens&rsquo; top center, Jacques Lemaire, was sidelined by injuries but the club didn&rsquo;t suffer because of any lack of depth. Canadiens had Doug Jarvis, Doug Risebrough, Pierre Larouche, Pierre Mondou and Pat Hughes to fill in.On the other hand, when Darryl Sittler, the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; best center, was injured, the team didn&rsquo;t have the depth to survive the loss.The clubs at the top of the over-all standing&mdash;Canadiens, Bruins, Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers&mdash;have some depth and that increases the edge they have on the remainder of the NHL.<h2>Economics Cut Rosters</h2>FOR MOST TEAMS, the economics of the game in the 1970s has ruled out the possession of a storehouse full of talent for most teams. The gigantic escalation in salaries reduced the number of players teams could afford to have under contract. But the clubs at the top, the ones which produce sufficient revenue, have retained some good reserves. The teams with financial problems, which have trouble meeting the expenses for a 20-man NHL roster, have reduced their lists to a bare minimum.When Ted Lindsay took over as GM of Detroit Red Wings, he said that his first aim was to have as many players as possible in the team&rsquo;s farm system.&ldquo;Look at the clubs which have won the past five Stanley Cups&mdash;Montreal and Philadelphia,&rdquo; Lindsay said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re the clubs which have spent the most money on player development. It&rsquo;s paid off for them so the example is there for the rest of us.&rdquo; &#9632;

HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="byline">BY AL SMITH</div>ATLANTA&mdash;Over the years, Eric Vail has had sortie pleasant experiences in his short, but productive National Hockey League career.There&rsquo;s the Calder Cup, as rookie-of-the-year for the 1974-75 season, being named to the All Star team for the 1976-77 campaign, to say nothing to being selected to Team Canada in &lsquo;77.But there are some things Vail would like to forget.Injuries have plagued the big Atlanta Flame left winger to some extent, but the biggest nightmare in Vail&rsquo;s NHL career was the start he got off to for the &lsquo;77-78 season.Vail had 32 goals the year before and was a member of the Downtown Connector line along with &lsquo;76-77 Calder Cup winner Willi Plett and &lsquo;73-74 Calder runnerup Tom Lysiak. The trio ended the &lsquo;76-77 season as one of the hottest things on ice.Things were looking up for the trio when they reported to training camp. They weren&rsquo;t aware of what was to happen in the first three months of last season&mdash;and none can explain why they happened.&ldquo;It was a terrible experience,&rdquo; Vail said. &ldquo;There were times I didn&rsquo;t even want to go on the ice. Not only weren&rsquo;t we scoring, but we were having a lot of goals scored against us.&rdquo;And that&rsquo;s putting it mildly. The Downtowners were playing so badly, coach Fred Creighton split up the line and the mere mention of the Connectors made him cringe.Vail managed to end the season on a high note when he was put on a line with Guy Chouinard and Bob MacMillan. He finished with 22 goals&mdash;10 less than the year before&mdash;but a far cry from the seven he had mid-way through the season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not one to take the game home with me,&rdquo; Vail said. &ldquo;I can usually leave it at the rink. But not during this period. I was grumpy, even at home.&rdquo;This season it&rsquo;s been a different story for the Schumacher, Ont., native. Reunited with Chouinard and MacMillan, the trio has combined to become the highest scoring line in the league. Vail was on a 30-goal plus start with 15 goals in the Flames&rsquo; first 35 games.The six-foot-two, 209-pounder says he hasn&rsquo;t altered his style any with the GEM (Guy-Eric-Mac) line, but does admit he altered it somewhat when things were going badly last season.&ldquo;You find yourself doing a lot of things differently,&rdquo; Vail said. &ldquo;But the only thing to do is keep playing your position and working hard. Now, that&rsquo;s paying off again.&rdquo;Another thing Vail admits is that the Flames&rsquo; early winning streak (10-0-2) may have been too much, too soon for the young team to handle.&ldquo;We were scoring a lot but we were having a lot of goals scoring against us too,&rdquo; Vail said. &ldquo;When our scoring slacked off, the goals-against stayed the same.&rdquo;The result saw the Flames go from the top of the Patrick Division to the cellar in a two-week period.&ldquo;Maybe the losing streak will do us some good,&rdquo; Vail said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve found we just can&rsquo;t put our stuff on and win. Last year we may have caught some teams sleeping, but not now. After the way we started, everybody is ready to play us this year.&rdquo;FLAMES NOTES: Even after a 9-14-1 stretch, Flames were still ahead of last season&rsquo;s pace. They didn&rsquo;t record 41 points until game number 41 last year. This season, they recorded their 41st point in their 35th game&hellip;Some move will be made soon when winger Harold Phillipoff comes back after knee injury. Flames will be three players over the limit&hellip;Goalie Dan Bouchard played his 300th NHL game Dec. 26&mdash;a losing cause, 5-3, to the Rangers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011117/4338324-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="396" height="538"><figcaption class="caption-body">ERIC VAIL&hellip;Didn&rsquo;t Want To Go On Ice</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0012-01

Vail Wipes Out Nightmare Of Last Year’s Slow Start

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011071/4338383-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photos by Ian McAlpine)</figcaption></div><h2>Time For Fun</h2>Members of the Montreal Canadiens managed to find time from their busy hockey schedule to stage their annual Christmas party for the players and their families. Here&rsquo;s Guy Lafleur with his son, Martin, 3 &frac12;, posing for the photographers. At far right, goaler Ken Dryden takes son Michael, 8 months, and daughter, Sarah, 3 &frac12;, for a skate on the Forum Ice. Next right is Steve Shutt with his son, Jason, who is just getting the feel of his new skates at age one and a half.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02854/4338376-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="571" height="1641"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03715/4338369-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="913" height="1636"></div><h2>A Hockey Memento</h2>Defenseman Barry Beck of the Colorado Rockies presents Lynn-Holly Johnson, star of the soon to be released motion picture, &lsquo;Ice Castles&rsquo;, with a Colorado jersey as a souvenir of her visit to recent Rockies&rsquo; game. Beck made presentation to Miss Johnson at the Flat Irons Ice Arena in Boulder, Colo, where movie was shot on location.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-04629/4338362-1-eng-US/f0013-042.jpg" title="f0013-04" width="1157" height="1507"></div><h2>Attending A Preview</h2>The Montreal media recently attended a press reception at which a new book, written on the life of Guy Lafleur, was previewed for the press. The Canadiens&rsquo; super star is shown above at right, with the author Claude Larochelle, left, and Andrd Veilleux, in center, the publisher, who is the president of the Binghamton Dusters of the AHL. It was Veilleux&rsquo; printing and publishing company that put the book out. Larochelle and Lafleur are old friends. The book is called &ldquo;Guy Lafleur Hockey&rsquo;s No. 1.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-05514/4338355-1-eng-US/f0013-052.jpg" title="f0013-05" width="1770" height="1516"></div> &#9632;

f0013-01

HOCKEY PEOPLE

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011098/4338428-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">CHICO RESCH&hellip;Balanced Suburban Life Style</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03666/4338421-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="1167" height="1605"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE BOSSY&hellip;Using His Natural Talents</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02904/4338414-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="557" height="628"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRYAN TROTTIER&hellip;Set Isles&rsquo; Record</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;&ldquo;Last place Rangers. Last place Rangers,&rdquo; roared the sold out Nassau Coliseum crowd as the New York Islanders buried the Rangers 9-4, pouring seven goals into the Blueshirts net in the second period.It was a night to remember as Islander center Bryan Trottier scored five goals and three assists, the second highest ever point performance in the history of the NHL. Three years ago, Darryl Sittler of Toronto ripped the Boston Bruins with six goals and four assists.Trottier was originally credited with four goals, but a check of the instant replay machine showed that he had tipped a shot previously credited to defenseman Stefan Persson.Modest to a fault, Bryan tried to refuse the fifth goal, saying, &ldquo;I really think it was Persson&rsquo;s goal.&rdquo;Trottier, who now is second to Montreal&rsquo;s Guy Lafleur in the NHL scoring race and second to linemate Mike Bossy in goals, quietly observed, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy for the guys, happy for myself and happy for the team. I work darn hard and I&rsquo;m just one of the players on a very good team. No, I didn&rsquo;t get any special feeling out of beating the Rangers for the third straight time. There is no great feeling between the Ranger players and ourselves.&rdquo;There are those who feel that if Trottier, defenseman Denis Potvin and goalie Chico Resch played in Madison Square Garden for the Rangers, they would double their media exposure and perhaps increase their salaries by one hundred percent. Ditto goal scoring Mike Bossy.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it,&rdquo; says Potvin, quietly, with only a slight trace of resentment, &ldquo;it will never be the same for us when we win the Stanley Cup as it would be for the Rangers. If we win it, what happens? Do they stage a parade down Old Country Road in Nassau County?&rdquo;Bossy, who scored two goals and added three assists in the Isles big night, for a season total of 25 goals, marvelled, &ldquo;I tied the old team record for points in a game, but Bryan was out of this world. He could have gotten nine or 10 points.&rdquo;The second year right wing should reach 50 goals once more, and admitted, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m halfway there and the way Bryan and Clark (Gillies) and I are working together it seems reasonable.&rdquo;Most credit Bossy&rsquo;s thick wrists and instant release with his goal scoring, but shooting accuracy is also a main forte in his ability.&ldquo;I know I&rsquo;ve been given a talent,&rdquo; said Mike. &ldquo;I know other people, like lawyers and writers who have talent, but some people aren&rsquo;t able to come through and make the most of their talent. I feel that I have.&rdquo;Still, despite three wins this year over the Rangers, first place in the Patrick Division, a 15 game unbeaten streak and the fewest losses in the NHL, the last place Rangers have received far more media attention in Gotham. We know about Freddie the Fog, the two Swedish disappointments and Sonny Werblin making the Ranger scene a cosmopolitan operation. But winning is still the name of the game or is supposed to be.Resch, always outspoken, but honest and a stand up guy, even needled this reporter who switched his coverage this season from the Rangers to the Islanders.&ldquo;You finally saw the light,&rdquo; said Chico. &ldquo;Or was it that you couldn&rsquo;t get the Rangers so you took the Islanders?&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll find our lifestyle in suburbia is less hostile, well balanced,&rdquo; continued Chico the Man. &ldquo;I think too much publicity isn&rsquo;t good for you. It can blow your head out of proportion.&rdquo;Potvin is more outspoken on the subject than his teammates, saying, &ldquo;Two in a row for the Rangers mean headlines. It&rsquo;s because the ad people and the media are in Manhattan. We can&rsquo;t change it.&rdquo;The Islanders are still the new kids on the block, playing only their seventh season compared to 52 for the Rangers, but Islander fans resent the ballot box stuffing that Rangers adherents have been guilty of in the voting for positions on the NHL All Star team.&ldquo;Imagine Anders Hedberg having more votes than Mike Bossy, and Ron Greschner leading the vote for defensemen,&rdquo; marvelled Marvin Resnick, an Islander season subscriber, who used to be a Ranger balcony fan. &ldquo;Just like the football Jets the Islanders will have to win the Stanley Cup to show who&rsquo;s really number one in New York.&rdquo;Trottier, whose assist against Toronto in a 5-1 win, set a new team record for scoring points in 14 straight contests, observed, &ldquo;the five goal game will be something I will always cherish, but our goal is really the Stanley Cup.&rdquo;Coach Al Arbour, marvelling at Trottier&rsquo;s big night, said, &ldquo;we will win the Stanley Cup, but we will still be the forgotten people from the suburbs. Actually, New York fans should be proud of both the Rangers, who are a darn fine team with an explosive offense, and the Islanders. They are lucky to have both.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Islanders Winning Battles On Ice, But Rue No. 2 Ranking In Exposure

NEW YORK&mdash;Larry Robinson of the Montreal Canadiens has taken over the lead among defensemen in the ever-changing National Hockey League fan balloting for the forthcoming Challenge Cup series with the Soviet Union.Robinson has amassed 27,930 votes to slip past Denis Potvin of the New York Islanders in the vote-getting. Potvin&rsquo;s 26,969 kept him just slightly behind Robinson and somewhat ahead of the oncoming Borje Salming of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who has landed in third spot with 25,112 votes pushing the original voting leader, Ron Greschner of the Rangers, down to fourth place.In three weeks of voting, Robinson, Potvin and Greschner have all led the defense voting.All other leaders in the NHL Wilkinson Sword balloting remain unchanged. If anything, players like left winger Pat Hickey of the Rangers, right wing Guy Lafleur of Montreal, center Ulf Nilsson of the Rangers and goaler Tony Esposito of Chicago have increased their margins.Hickey continues to lead all votegetters for the third straight week with a total of 34,326 ballots. Lafleur is second with 31,538 and Robinson third with 27,930 votes.In a position-by-position breakdown, Hickey has a new challenger for the left wing spot in Steve Shutt of Montreal, who moved into second place ahead of Islanders&rsquo; Clark Gillies. Shutt has 16,805 votes compared to Hickey&rsquo;s 34,326.Nilsson, like Hickey, is being challenged at center by a new face. Ivan Boldirev of Chicago jumped from fourth position to second behind Nilsson ahead of Philadelphia&rsquo;s Bobby Clarke and Islanders&rsquo; Bryan Trottier. Nilsson has 18,942 votes and Boldirev 13,029.Lafleur has made the biggest gain in the vote-getting raising his second week total by another 14,000 votes. However, he is still being pressed by Rangers&rsquo; Anders Hedberg for the right wing berth. Lafleur&rsquo;s has 31,538 votes and Hedberg 25,895.In the voting among the goaltenders Esposito keeps pushing ahead although a new contender, Ken Dryden of Montreal, has loomed on the scene to grab second place after starting out in fifth spot. Espo&rsquo;s 23,106 was over 8,000 votes ahead of Dryden, who has polled 15,628 ballots.Here is the results of the first three weeks of balloting:LEFT WING: 1. Pat Hickey (N.Y. Rangers) 34,326; 2. Steve Shutt (Montreal) 16,805; 3. Clark Gillies (N.Y. Islanders) 14,962; 4. Bill Barber (Philadelphia) 13,134; 5. Richard Martin (Buffalo) 9,994.CENTERS: 1. Ulf Nilsson (N.Y. Rangers) 18,942; 2. Ivan Boldirev (Chicago) 13,029; 3. Bobby Clarke (Philadelphia) 12,920; 4. Bryan Trottier (N.Y. Islanders) 10,746; 5. Darryl Sittier (Toronto) 10,537.RIGHT WING: 1. Guy Lafleur (Montreal 31,538; 2. Anders Hedberg (N.Y. Rangers) 25,895; 3. Mike Bossy (N.Y. Islanders)l2,683; 4. Lanny McDonald (Toronto) 12,242; 5. Terry O&rsquo;Reilly (Boston) 7,774.DEFENSE: 1. Larry Robinson (Montreal) 27,930; 2. Denis Potvin (N.Y. Islanders) 26,969; 3. Borje Salming (Toronto) 25,112; 4. Ron Greschner (N.Y. Rangers) 24,931; 5. Phil Russell (Chicago) 21,972; 6. Brad Park (Boston) 19,689; 7. Robert Picard (Washington) 14,285; 8. Guy Lapointe (Montreal) 12,993; 9. Barry Beck (Colorado) 10,254; 10. Ian Turnbull (Toronto) 9,758.GOALIES: 1. Tony Esposito (Chicago) 23,106; 2. Ken Dryden (Montreal) 15,628; 3. Dan Bouchard (Atlanta) 13,931; 4. Glenn Resch (N.Y. Islanders) 13,100; 5. Mike Palmateer (Toronto) 13,025.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011051/4338459-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="565" height="934"><figcaption class="caption-body">LARRY ROBINSON&hellip;No. 1 On Defense</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Robinson Leading NHL’s Defensemen In All Star Voting

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03633/4338497-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="389" height="375"></div>NEW YORK&mdash;When the Soviet Union takes the ice at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 8 against the NHL All Stars in the first game of the three game NHL Challenge Cup series, it will present a national team with an almost equal blend of youth and experience.Coach Viktor Tikhonov, flushed with success al Prague and in the Izvestia competition, isn&rsquo;t planning any radical changes from the team which won the world&rsquo;s championship last spring in Czechoslovakia. However, he has roster room with the squads being set at 25 players.The Soviets depend on a hard core of eight players to get the job done.&ldquo;Our most indispensable player is goalie Vladislav Tretiak,&rdquo; admits Tikhonov. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t developed another goaltender whom we rate as highly.&rdquo;Most European experts downgrade Tretiak&mdash;saying that he has a weakness, on high shots, but he is without doubt the Soviets&rsquo; best.&ldquo;On defense we depend upon Valeri Vasiliev and 20-year-old Vyacheslav Fetisov to get the puck out,&rdquo; said Tikhonov. &ldquo;Putting Fetisov on the nationals was the move that won the world championship.&rdquo;Fetisov made All World at Prague and proved to be dynamite on the power play, while operating from the point.After the Izvestia Tournament of 1977 when the Czechs won the competition in Moscow, an almost unheard of feat, Tikhonov cleaned house. The biggest deletion was defenseman Aleksandr Gusev, a noted clubhouse lawyer.&ldquo;Gusev liked to show the younger guys how tough he was with his fists if things didn&rsquo;t go his way in the dressing room,&rdquo; revealed a Soviet aide.The Soviets view the series with the NHL as being a true test of hockey might, but it isn&rsquo;t the world championship and they will tell anyone who listens their feeling about the world competition.&ldquo;It is not our fault if your league playoffs interfere with the accredited world championship play,&rdquo; said Moscow Dynamo coach Vladimor Kiseliov. &ldquo;You have a representative at the International Ice Hockey Federation meetings to determine when the competition is set.&rdquo;For this reason, the Soviets might not play their four top lines in every game at the Garden.&ldquo;Valeri Kharlamov&rsquo;s place as the number one forward has been taken by Helmut Balderis, with Sergei Kapustin a close second,&rdquo; opines a noted Soviet watcher, Karol Gut, the coach of the Czech Nationals.&ldquo;They still use Vladimir Petrov, Boris Mikhailov and Kharlamov on a set line, but they don&rsquo;t get power play ice or anything the way they used to. There is a blend between youth and veteran players on the Soviet team.&rdquo;An educated guess says that the Soviet Nationals will have 10 veterans and 15 players under 23 years of age. In the NHL Challenge Cup when they will be allowed to dress 18 skaters and two goaltenders, the Nationals will dress eight vets and 10 younger players.The veteran Dynamo player Aleksandr Maltsev is used in a swing role by Tikhonov, something like that of the New York Rangers&rsquo; Phil Esposito. Sometimes he plays instead of Petrov with Mikhailov and Kharlamov, more often with younger wingers. He seems to work best with Balderis and Kapustin. Maltsev was the top Soviet scorer in Prague last spring with 5-8-13. Mikhailov was 9-3-12, Balderis 9-2-11 and Kapustin 6-5-11.Not to be overlooked are forwards Viktor Zhluktov and Vladimir Vikulov.Other forwards being considered include world tournament veteran Aleksandr Golikov, Juri Lebedev, Vladimir Kovin, Alexei Frolikov, Mikhail Shostak, Alexsandr Volchkov, Aleksandr Lobanov, Vladimir Repnyev, Konstantin Klimov, Sergei Kotov, and Vladimir Rasko. It is also possible the Soviets might try to give youthful Sergei Marakov, who played so well in last January&rsquo;s World Junior tournament in Canada, some game experience against the NHL.The defense centers around Fetisov and Vasiliev. Other possibles are Zinetul Biljaletdinov, Sergei Gimaev, Alexei Volchenkov, Vladimir Lutchenko, Aleksandr Kulikov, Sergei Klukhov, Yuri Turin, Viktor Kuznetsev and Vladimir Krikunov. Sergei Babinov, one of the Soviet&rsquo;s more aggressive defensemen, seems to have dropped from the ratings, but that could change.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02817/4338490-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="809" height="1387"><figcaption class="caption-body">GOALER VLADISLAV TRETIAK&hellip;Still No. 1 With Soviets</figcaption></div>Just as the makeup of the NHL All Stars is almost guaranteed to have some surprise, the Soviet lineup could change overnight. A good performance by one of the better rated Soviet Wings (presently touring the NHL) or Moscow Dynamo (playing against the WHA) might open roster room for a particular player.In goal, Tretiak&rsquo;s backup has been the familiar Aleksandr Sidelnikov, although the Soviets might switch to Aleksandr Pashkov. They almost surely will bring a third goalie&mdash;with Victor Zinger and Mikhail Vasilyonok being considered.The turning point for the Soviet Nationals came when the destiny of the national team was turned over to Tikhonov, who didn&rsquo;t fit into the normal Russian pattern.&ldquo;There were questions about Tikhonov,&rdquo; admits Tretiak. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t originate from either the Central Red Army or Spartak where most of our National team players and coaches came from. He was from Dynamo of Riga&mdash;an outsider. And he pushed Balderis, who also played for Dynamo of Riga as a member of the Nationals from the start.&rdquo;&ldquo;Balderis had skated since he was four-years-old, but he was a figure skater for awhile and didn&rsquo;t look much like most of our hockey players. He wore glasses, has fine features and is quiet, but he is pure art on his blades and has worked in very well with the rest of our team,&rdquo; continued Tretiak. &ldquo;Tikhonov was right about him, and the other moves he made in changing the Nationals around.&rdquo;The Soviet team no longer includes the retired former Spartak great, Aleksandr Yakushev, nor his linemates Viktor Shalinov dr Aleksandr Shadrin. Those who look closely, however, can see more than a little resemblance to the Soviet&rsquo;s youthful 1976 Canada Cup squad, plus the veteran line of Petrov, Mikhailov and Kharlamov.This is the first of a series dealing with the Soviet Nationals and the NHL Stars for their three game showdown in the super Challenge Cup series Feb. 8, 10 and 11 in New York&rsquo;s Madison Square Garden. &#9632;

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Soviet Nationals Will Blend Youth With Age For NHL

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02746/4338542-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01901/4338535-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="728" height="3627"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03596/4338528-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="2164" height="3035"></div> &#9632;

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NHL POINT SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01793/4338573-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GLEN HANLON&hellip;Gets Keyed Up&rsquo; For Games</figcaption></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;The former coach of the Buffalo Sabres, Marcel Pronovost, probably said it best when, outraged at the suggestion that he should use a goalie other than Don Edwards, said: &ldquo;Whoever said you have to have two goaltenders in the first place? That is just a recent line of thought.&rdquo;Pronovost was right, though apparently it didn&rsquo;t save his job. It wasn&rsquo;t long ago goaltenders like Glenn Hall, Terry Sawchuk and all the rest that played the full schedule were the rule rather than the exception. And maybe he has point. If you&rsquo;ve got a number one goalie, why not use him as often as possible in order to maximize the points on the board.Whether Vancouver Canucks coach Harry Neale has gone into such theories in great length is a mute point. But one thing he is absolutely sure about, he cannot afford to take Glen Hanlon out of goal the way the 21-year-old youngster from the Brandon Wheat Kings has been playing.Sure he has Gary Bromley, a capable goalkeeper. And Canucks even went out and got Dune Wilson from the Pittsburgh organization when Hanlon, Bromley and Curt Ridley were all unable to play. But the way Hanlon has been performing lately, he simply cannot be removed from the net easily, though Neale did manage to get Bromley a game after Washington stunned Vancouver 7-5 at the Pacific Coliseum to hurt Hanlon&rsquo;s goals-against average.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been not only the number of saves, but the timing of them that has helped us,&rdquo; says Neale of his young goalie. &ldquo;Against Chicago with the score 2-1 for them, he made several saves to keep us close. If they get that goal to go two up, maybe we wouldn&rsquo;t have scored four goals in the third period.&rdquo;Hanlon, who still qualifies for rookie-of-the-year honors, having played only four games at the end of last season, never has that much to say after one of his sterling performances. In fact, he gives credit to the forwards for coming back and the defensemen for clearing the front of the net so he only has to worry about the first shot. That has not always been the case, as many of his best saves have been recoveries on rebounds where it appears that he will be beaten. But his tremendous conditioning and agility gets him where he shouldn&rsquo;t be.And the work? He likes it, much more than alternating. &ldquo;I feel I can play just about every game and I&rsquo;d prefer to be playing than sitting,&rdquo; said Hanlon. &ldquo;I guess every goaltender is like that. Some might think I&rsquo;m too young or too inexperienced to play all the games, but every young goalie isn&rsquo;t the same. We&rsquo;ll see whether I can handle it or not.&rdquo;The young right-handed catcher gets very keyed up before a game, psyching himself up to a nervous pitch beforehand. He dislikes talking to reporters on the day of a game, leaving that stretch of time for concentration on the opposing players and just getting himself ready. By the time the game starts, he&rsquo;s as nervous as a cat, and on at least one occasion behaved in such fashion.Hanlon won the November segment of the Molson Cup competition, and for reason known best to the purveyors of publicity, he was to be presented with his cheque for $1,000 immediately before the Washington game.Just before the puck was dropped, he was beckoned to center ice for the presentation. The photographer who was to capture the incident for the annals of history, tried to get Hanlon&rsquo;s attention, presumably to get him to remove his mask. When he grabbed the goalie&rsquo;s shoulder, the youngster threw his hand away violently. He didn&rsquo;t even want to be at center, much less posing to have his picture taken. Whether that had anything to do with the fact that the Capitals went on to score six goals on him or not was never really learned, but he is best when he talks to nobody before a game.Roger Crozier, the scout for the Caps who has seen him play said he has a chance to be one of the three best goalies in the league.&ldquo;I like the way he&rsquo;s nervous and keyed up before a game. The only way to get ready is to get prepared. You can&rsquo;t play well when you&rsquo;re relaxed,&rdquo; said Crozier. &ldquo;The thing I like about him is that he seems to have a spring in him. When he&rsquo;s down, he springs right back up. He covers his angles well and he&rsquo;ll be tougher when he learns all the shooters.&rdquo;Hanlon is inclined to learn about the shooters in the league and also about the mistakes he makes. You can usually find him in the video tape room after a game, rerunning a goal over and over again, reminding himself of what he did wrong on a particular play. He appears to be the player most willing to learn on the Canucks, and combined with his raw talent, it certainly augurs well for his future.General manager Jake Milford was recently asked for how long Hanlon is urtder contract.&ldquo;This year and an option,&rdquo; replied Milford. &ldquo;But I wish it were three.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Canucks Confident Hanlon Can Do The Job

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02666/4338604-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Where NHL Teams Play

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/f0018-01811/4338635-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="579" height="1958"></div> &#9632;

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Looking At NHL Goalers

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;Who&rsquo;s in charge?Maybe nobody; but the Buffalo Sabres weren&rsquo;t doing badly after the Monday Morning Massacre anyway.General manager Punch Imlach and coach Marcel Pronovost were fired by Seymour H. Knox III, president of the Sabres and chairman of the board, in a clean sweep on a Monday morning early in December.No one, officially, was named to succeed them. Billy Inglis was appointed &ldquo;interim coach&rdquo; and John Andersen, director of scouting, was upped to director of player personnel.And that&rsquo;s how things continued until Inglis was named coach officially on Dec. 18.There was no general manager. Andersen, presumably, was running the front office, in conjunction with Seymour Knox and Seymour&rsquo;s brother, Northrup, vice chairman of the board.Imlach had been general manager and vice president. He ran the hockey operation and was in complete charge.The command left but the Sabres started playing good hockey.They tied their first two games, against Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, then won five straight, over Toronto, and then twice over Chicago on successive nights, then over Minnesota and Vancouver.When they beat the Black Hawks the second time, they had to come from behind to do so, 3-2, and it marked the first time in 136 games that Buffalo had come from behind in the third period to win:The usual sellout crowds of 16,433, who had been booing the Sabres, and jeering Imlach and Pronovost, were cheering again and the Sabres once again were heroes, instead of bums.Andersen is rather an unusual man to be running a National Hockey League club.He was not born in Canada, or even in the United States, and never played hockey. He never was inside an indoor hockey rink until he was in his 20s.He got into hockey by writing a four-line letter to Maple Leaf Gardens.Andersen, 44, was born in Denmark, in the city of Alborg, where there was no indoor rink. There were, in fact, no indoor rinks in the entire country when he grew up there.When he was 20, Andersen emigrated to Canada. &ldquo;I wanted to see something new,&rdquo; he explains. He began watching hockey on television and decided it might be a good idea to get a job connected with the game.So he wrote a short letter to Maple Leaf Gardens, asking for a job. Now, that center of hockey must have had hundreds of job applications on file when Andersen wrote but it just so happened that a man had resigned the day John&rsquo;s letter came the Andersen got the man&rsquo;s job, in the publicity department for the arena.After a while he began to work in the hockey department, first with the junior team and then with the Maple Leafs. Eventually he was Punch Imlach&rsquo;s righth and man.After Punch was fired by the Maple Leafs, Andersen went to the California Golden Seals (then known as the Oakland Seals). When Imlach took over the Sabres in 1970, he hired Andersen.When Imlach was fired by the Sabres, Andersen&mdash;who had worked with him for 20 years&mdash;was thinking of quitting the club, but Punch convinced him he should stay.Two days later, Andersen got the surprise news he was promoted and, in essence, acting as general manager.ICE CHIPS: When Andersen and Inglis took over, they had a team riddled with injuries. Five regulars were sidelined by injuries in the first game the club played but defenseman Jim Schoenfeld came back to action after being out for 21 games.Goalie Don Edwards, scoring stars Rick Martin and Rene Robert, defensemen Jos Guevremont and Bill Hajt all missed games at the start of the new regime, while defenseman Jerry Korab and forwards Ric Seiling and Andre Savard were knocked out for single games a little later.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04332/4338673-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="591" height="627"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM SCHOENFELD</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02646/4338666-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="562" height="678"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHN ANDERSEN&hellip;Nearly Quit</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Andersen Handling Sabres’ GM Job

After 30 games this season, New York Islanders&rsquo; right winger Mike Bossy had already alleviated any doubts about the sophomore jinx by matching his 21 goals of his rookie season. Then he caught fire.Bossy scored a total of nine goals in just five games and closed out last week with five goals in his last two contests. He scored his second hat trick of December in a 10-4 rout of the divisional rival Atlanta Flames and produced two more markers in the teams&rsquo; rematch two nights later as the Islanders triumphed 4-2.The five goals raised Bossy&rsquo;s total to a league-leading 30 and with the Islanders still five games away from the mid-point of the season, the high-scoring winger seemed a sure bet for another 50-goal plus campaign.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03476/4338704-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="476" height="647"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE BOSSY&hellip;New York Islanders</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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NHL’S… Player of the Week

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01775/4338735-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GREG MALONE&hellip;Concentrating On Shooting</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Many people around National Hockey League circles have compared Pittsburgh Penguin center Greg Malone favorably to Toronto Maple Leaf star Darryl Sittler.&ldquo;I guess what I like my Style of play to be is that of a hard worker,&rdquo; said Malone. &ldquo;Like Sittler, he&rsquo;s a hard worker. He never stops. He&rsquo;s always on the go.&rdquo;Malone 22, was asked if he tried to emulate anybody in the NHL.&ldquo;If I had to set myself after any guys it would probably be Sittler or Bobby Clarke,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;Those guys always hustle.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s my game too. It&rsquo;s just mostly hustle and checking. That&rsquo;s where my whole game is at. If I&rsquo;m not skating, not forechecking or hustling it doesn&rsquo;t create the offensive openings.&rdquo;Malone scored 18 goals last season and led the Penguins in assists with 43. Through the first 28 games this year, he had already scored half as many goals as last season with nine and added eight assists.&ldquo;I think probably the reason why I&rsquo;m playing this well is because of the players I&rsquo;m playing with,&rdquo; said Malone. &ldquo;I was with Ross Lonsberry there for a while, and me and him seemed to work well together. And lately they&rsquo;ve put me with Rod Schutt and Peter Lee. Those guys can really motor.&ldquo;I think my wingers have a lot to do with my success because I like to hang on to the puck and move it around. If they&rsquo;re breaking in the hole, I can find them a lot easier and be far more effective.&rdquo;Off his larger number of assists last season, it would appear the six-foot, 190-pound Malone would prefer to set up goals rather than score them.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always good to score goals, but I always seem to have quite a few assists,&rdquo; said Malone. &ldquo;I think one of my biggest faults is not shooting enough. Throughout junior hockey I had that trouble.&rdquo;Malone was captain of his Oshawa Generals junior team, and chosen in the second round of the 1976 amateur draft by Pittsburgh.&ldquo;My coach in junior was always after me to shoot more,&rdquo; Malone remembers. &ldquo;Even now coach (Johnny) Wilson is after me. I&rsquo;ve been getting into the offensive zone, and I should be shooting the puck and I&rsquo;ve been passing it off.&ldquo;But, I think I&rsquo;m getting over that now. I&rsquo;m getting in there, and as soon as I get around the cage, I&rsquo;m blasting for the net. That&rsquo;s one thing that&rsquo;s probably helped my game this season, especially my goals. It&rsquo;s a good sign. I just hope it continues.&ldquo;I want to play more consistent throughout the year. Last year, I got off to a good start, then I slumped. Around Christmas, for about a month and a half or so, I just went into a slump. I just didn&rsquo;t score any goals. What I want to maybe try to do is play consistent hockey from game one right through. Instead of having the peaks and the valleys, just have a smooth line right across the season.&rdquo;Malone senses a different attitude on the Penguins this year from last.&ldquo;It got so to a point last year where you sort of hated to come to the rink,&rdquo; said Malone. &ldquo;There were so many cliques. So many guys in one corner. Another guy there and there. The guys just weren&rsquo;t in a unit.&ldquo;This year we&rsquo;re much more together as a unit. The guys joke around and make it fun to come down to the rink.&rdquo;PENGUIN TRACKS: Goaltender Denis Herron set a club record against the New York Islanders when he recorded 25 saves in one period. The Islanders fired 28 shots at Herron during that period, also a club record for the most allowed in one period ever by Pittsburgh. Through the Penguins first 28 games, Peter Lee shared the NHL lead with Guy Lafleur of Montreal with five game winning goals. &#9632;

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Penguins’ Malone Credits Hard Work For Ice Success

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Defense has not been a strong suit of the Kings so far this season, but Rob Palmer has helped by adding offense to his defense. In his second season. Palmer has surprised by displaying an ability to produce points he didn&rsquo;t show as a rookie.Rob didn&rsquo;t get a goal and assisted on only three in 48 games last season. He got the first goal of his NHL career in his fifth game this season, a shorthanded effort from the point against Bunny Larocque in Montreal.After one third of this season he had three goals and, more significantly, had assisted on 12, which put him on a 45-point pace, which would be a lot for a defensive defenseman who is primarily a positional player who doesn&rsquo;t carry the puck much and rarely rushes.He is not going to overpower opponents on offense like a Bobby Orr, but it is indicative of the continued development of this 22-year-old who few thought would even make the majors when he was a young player.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a good enough skater or stick handler and I don&rsquo;t have a strong enough shot to be a big scorer,&rdquo; Palmer concedes, &ldquo;but I feel it will make me more important to the team if I can contribute on offense, as well as defense.&ldquo;Our coach, Bob Berry, does not like his defensemen getting caught up ice, and we stress a forward-oriented offense, but he doesn&rsquo;t mind our taking advantage of the opportunities that come along.&ldquo;Basically, I prefer to clear the puck out of our end by giving it to a forward to carry. If possible, I&rsquo;ll head-man the puck to get a fast-break going. But when I&rsquo;ve got an opening now, I&rsquo;ll go.&ldquo;I gained a lot of confidence on defense in my first season in the NHL, I&rsquo;m more comfortable out there, and I&rsquo;m more sure of myself. I&rsquo;m not afraid now to make a move, move up, and join in the attack.&ldquo;I still have to improve my defense. I have a lot to learn yet. I&rsquo;m not a big, strong guy with a lot of natural ability, so I have to play as smart as possible and make as few mistakes as possible,&rdquo; admits the five-foot-11, 190-pounder.His size is all right, but he is not a hitter. He has excellent instincts and tends to turn up in the right place at the right time. He is not as smooth as some major leaguers and does still make mistakes, though no more than more-experienced defensemen on this team.From Sarnia, Ontario, the son of an excellent amateur who lost pro opportunities to World War II, Rob started skating at two on a backyard rink father Ross built for him. His dad turned him from a left-handed shooter to a right-handed shooter.Michigan coach Dan Farrell spotted him at 16 and Palmer played four years there, winding up with a 6-4 loss to Wisconsin in the NCAA championship finals in a jam-packed Detroit Olympia in 1977. Palmer scored five goals and assisted on 27 his senior season.When he started with the Wolves, he seemed mediocre, according to those who were there at that time, but he is smart, worked at his game, and developed. George Maguire, now the King manager, made him another of his &ldquo;steals&rdquo; in the 1976 draft.Maguire took Palmer on the fifth round, the 86th player picked, and Dave Taylor on the 15th round, the 210th player picked, in 1976. While Palmer was developing at Michigan, Taylor was coming on at Clarkson.Both made the team with surprising performances in pre-season camp last season, but Palmer soon was sent to Springfield of the American League for seasoning, returned from the minors after six weeks, and has played more or less regularly ever since.Both are bachelors and share a rented house by the beach with Rob Rickard, an assistant to the team trainers.Palmer says, &ldquo;College was the best training ground for me because we played less games and practiced more than the juniors do and I needed the practice. I was horrible to begin with, but we skated four hours a day and I improved. Also college hockey is mostly offense and I got to handle a lot of breakaways on defense.&rdquo;With the Kings he sees a lot, too.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01609/4338766-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="559" height="874"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROB PALMER&hellip;Gaining Confidence</figcaption></div>KINGS THINGS: Pete Stemkowski, who concluded his 14-year NHL career with the Kings last season, got his wish when he was made coach at Springfield, where he has been playing. But the firing of Ted Harris was done by the independant management there, not by Maguire, who was asked permission to have Pete made the coach in a surprise telephone call&hellip;After one third of the season, Marcel Dionne was on a pace that would produce 60 goals and 120 points and Butch Goring 50 goals and 90 points. &#9632;

f0020-01

Palmer Improving Game With Kings

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;When some wags gave Brad Maxwell the nickname, &ldquo;Slapsy Maxy,&rdquo; last season you could take it either way.He had a terrific slapshot, which helped him score 18 goals for the Minnesota North Stars in his rookie season of 1977-78. Or you could correlate it with his defense, which was slapstick.Things changed for Slapsy early this season. Maxwell wasn&rsquo;t using his big shot and he wasn&rsquo;t playing much defense either, and he was sent to the minors for two games to rediscover himself.&ldquo;Harry Howell was a defensenman&rsquo;s defenseman during his playing days,&rdquo; said Maxwell, &ldquo;and he told me not to be offensive with the puck. He didn&rsquo;t want me to be making rushes up the ice.&rdquo;So Maxwell&rsquo;s offensive contribution was minimal. Meantime, he brooded about making defensive mistakes under Howell, the North Stars&rsquo; chief scout who started out the season as the team&rsquo;s coach.All that is changed now.Maxwell went on a tear by improving his scoring totals to two goals and nine assists in a six-game span after getting only four assists in Minnesota&rsquo;s first 23 games of the season.&ldquo;My two-game stopover in Oklahoma City was good for me&mdash;it was nice to see the other side of things,&rdquo; Maxwell said. &ldquo;I picked up some of the old confidence, but I still don&rsquo;t think Harry had the confidence in me. I started playing better when I started getting along with (coach) Glen Sonmor and (assistant) MurrayOliver.&ldquo;I had three or four fights and became more involved. Glen told me right away that if there was a chance to break in with the puck, go for it but pick the right time. And my defensive play is a heckuva lot better now. I&rsquo;m playing more relaxed. I&rsquo;m still learning and I&rsquo;m going to get better. Lt takes two or three years for most players to get really going, especially if you&rsquo;re a defenseman.&rdquo;Maxwell, who played for the Memorial Cup champion Westminster team as a Canadian junior, was Minnesota&rsquo;s No. 1 draft choice in 1977. He set a club record for power play goals (12), and goals by a defenseman (18), and tied the team record for points by a defenseman (47) his rookie season. He was also a minus 57 player, meaning he was on the ice for that many more goals-against than he was on for Minnesota goals excluding power plays.The turnaround of Maxwell this season is a credit to Sonmor, who likes to pass on the accolades to others as deserving.&ldquo;I did tell him he could play offensively,&rdquo; said Sonmor. &ldquo;Why not? He has as much talent offensively as some of our forwards. He has that great shot, is a terrific passer, and moves the puck out of the zone. But I also told him there was nothing wrong with improving his defense&mdash;just look what kind of two-way players Borje Salming and Larry Robinson have become.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02430/4338797-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="616" height="750"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRAD MAXWELL&hellip;Saw The Light</figcaption></div>&ldquo;As far as changing his mental outlook, and that of some other players, some of our strong quiet individuals deserve some credit. Players like Al MacAdam, Gary Sargent, Gilles Meloche, the Swedes and others, are a very big influence because of their attitude and leadership.&rdquo; Whether it was that Sonmor&rsquo;s touch or just more experience, Maxwell is enjoying his role as &ldquo;Slapsy Maxy&rdquo; again.STAR DUST: Left winger Mike Fidler was sent to Oklahoma City, but he jumped the club after only one period of his first Central League game and returned home to Boston. General manager Lou Nanne said he conferred with Fidler&rsquo;s agent and that the player wanted a couple of days to think the situation over&hellip;Bryan Maxwell (no relation to Brad), appendectomy, and Jim McKenny, stomach muscles, resumed skating&hellip;Only injured player is Fred Barrett, whose return remains indefinite with calcium deposits in his left thigh&hellip;Gilles Meloche started a string of seven straight games in lowering his goals-against average to 2.79. &#9632;

f0020-02

Different Outlook Returns Maxwell’s Lost Confidence

<div class="byline">BY FRED PIETILA</div>DENVER&mdash;Since being sold from the Philadelphia Flyers to the Colorado Rockies in late August, Joe Watson stressed time and time again how much he has received from hockey and how much he wants to put back into it.Watson, of course, suffered a crippling compound fracture of his right leg (broken in 13 places) in St. Louis on Nov. 11, underwent two operations and has been in traction ever since. But at least he&rsquo;s been transferred from St. Lewis Louis Jewish Hospital to his hometown of Philadelphia, at the University of Pennsylvania Sports Medicine Center.His recovery period is lengthy and it&rsquo;s been painful for the personable, talkative 35-year-old defenseman from Smithers, British Columbia.But Watson has fully accepted the fact that he&rsquo;ll never be able to play hockey again. Upon coming to Colorado from Philadelphia, Watson wasn&rsquo;t sure how long he&rsquo;d be able to continue to play the sport he loves. Now he knows.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never have full use of my leg,&rdquo; Watson said. &ldquo;Only 75-80 percent. I&rsquo;ll never have full extension of my knee. That&rsquo;s the way it&rsquo;s gonna be. I&rsquo;ve learned to accept it.&rdquo; The hard way.&ldquo;My spirit is good. I have my good days and my bad days. I&rsquo;ve had more good days than bad days lately,&rdquo; Watson said. Being back in Philadelphia where he is among thousands of friends and fans helps.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t do nothing. I just lie here. Any athlete, as active as athletes are, would have problems just lying here. I don&rsquo;t have any bedsores yet, mind you, but I feel like I&rsquo;m growing roots to this hospital bed,&rdquo; Watson said.Watson is a positive, optimistic person who makes an immediate impact on anyone he meets. A Denver writer suggested to him earlier in the season that he&rsquo;d never heard a bad word spoken about Joe Watson.Watson responded with his infectious smile.&ldquo;Really. I don&rsquo;t know. I try to like everybody. In this world, you&rsquo;re just passing through. If people didn&rsquo;t get along with others, it&rsquo;d be a terrible place to live. I try to get along with people. That&rsquo;s the way I&rsquo;ll always be.&rdquo;As team captain of the Rockies before his career-ending injury, Watson was player who demanded 100 percent of all his teammates.He was furious early in the season after an 8-2 loss to Atlanta (the team&rsquo;: fourth straight) and sounded off about effort, discipline and respect.&ldquo;I think that the captain&rsquo;s role is to let people, know what they&rsquo;re doing wrong and encourage them to do better I do get carried away sometimes and maybe say things I shouldn&rsquo;t right after a game or practice. It&rsquo;s not how we lose; it&rsquo;s the way we lose sometimes. No one&rsquo;s bigger than the team. In Philadelphia, we had some superstars, but they always put the team first.&rdquo;Watson was just that as a hockey player. A team man. Not a big hitter. Not a big scorer. Not flashy. He was a mucker. His hockey philosophy is simple.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you, a lot of players don&rsquo; know their limitations,&rdquo; Watson said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always known my limitations. Play the game the best I can and do the things I can do best. I realize I don&rsquo;t score that many goals, maybe five a year and score 20 points a year. But as long as I&rsquo;m making a contribution to the club, that&rsquo;s the main thing.&ldquo;If I had to do the same thing over, I&rsquo;d do it,&rdquo; Watson said of his 16-year pro career. &ldquo;I had a great 16 years of hockey. Hockey&rsquo;s given me a lot and I&rsquo;d like to give something back to it. I just hope I can stay in hockey in some capacity, maybe as an assistant coach or something,&rdquo; Watson said.Little did Watson realize what he&rsquo;s already contributed to hockey. It was evidenced by mail and phone response following his injury.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just incredible. When I. was in St. Louis, I was getting an average of 250-300 letters a day. About 80 percent of them were from Philly and the rest from Colorado and other places. It certainly is nice. I was getting phone calls and mail from people all over North America, even all the way down in Florida. From people I didn&rsquo;t evenROCKY RAMBLINGS: The Rockies quickly lapsed back into losing form following new coach Aldo Guidolin&rsquo;s NHL debut in that 6-3 win over Toronto&hellip; The team went winless in its next six games, heading into a three-game road swing&hellip;injured utilityman Mike Kitchen was scheduled to resume play in mid-December and top draft choice Mike Gillis was expected to begin scrimmaging before Christmas&hellip;Dave Watson, another injured Rocky, is still in a leg cast and will probably be so until the first of the year. &#9632;

Unflagging Spirit Keeps Rockies’ Watson Up

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06159/4338939-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="564" height="1573"></div> &#9632;

f0022-06

The NHL Scoreboard

ATLANTA: Chouinard 22,23,24,25, Lawrence 3, Clement 9, Plett 11,12, Pronovost 14, MacMillan 17,18, Lysiak 19,20, Vail 16,17.BOSTON: Middleton 16, Wensink 22,23, McNab 21, Cashman 10,11,12, O&rsquo;Reilly 10, Marcotte 13.BUFFALO: Richard 3, R. Martin 11, Seiling 7, Robert 5, Perreault 12, Gare 13,14, Ramsay 12.CHICAGO: Koroll 7, Marks 12,13, Murray 7,8, Builey 8, Wilson 2, Boldlrev 15.COLORADO: Delorme 5, Comeau 3, Paiement 10, Pierce 7, Klassen 4, Gardner 15, Valiquette 12,13, Kitchen 1.DETROIT: Thompson 12,13, Labraaten 7, Nedomansky 16, St Laurent 6, Polonich 5, Lochead 4, McCourt 15, Plumb 1.LOS ANGELES: Goring 22, Williams 3, Jensen 8.9.10, Dionne 24,25,26, Goidup 10.MINNESOTA: Polich 3, Young 7,8,9, Brasar 3, B. Smith 8,9,10,11, MacAdam 9, Sharpley 9, Payne 4, Manery 4, Parise 11.MONTREAL: Robinson 8, Lapointe 9, Shutt 16, Lambert 14, Jarvis 6, Gainey 8,9, Lafleur 24,25, Tremblay 12, Engbiom 1, Risebrough 4, Chartraw 4, Mondou 15.ISLANDERS: Tonelli 9,10, Gillies 11,12,13, Trottier 25,26,27, Howatt 9, Potvin 15, Bossy 26,27,28,29,30, Bourne 12, Merrick 5,8,7.RANGERS: Hickey 17,18,19,20, Hedberg 13,14,15, Fotiu 1, McEwen 10, Plante 3, Nilsson 12,13, Greschner 14,15, Esposito 18,19,20, Vickers 10, Duguay 9,10.PHILADELPHIA: Bridgman 10, Clarke 7.8.9.10, MacLelah 15,16, Leach 16,17, Holmgren 6,7.PITTSBURGH: Lonsberry 11, Mahovlich 8,9, Bianchin 6,7, Lee 18,19, Schutt 10, Cariyle 5,6, Kehoe 8, Malone 13, Sheppard 5.ST. LOUIS: Babych 16,17, Ogilvie 1, Brownschidle 3,4, Sutter 20, Gibbs 1, Unger 15,16, Murdoch 3, Stewart 3, C. Bonnett 8, Patey 5.TORONTO: Sittler 19, Jones 6,7, Ellis 10, Stamler 2, Williams 12, Boutetto 10.WASHINGTON: Picard 7, Walter 9, Lofthouse 10, Girard 5, Maruk 9. Green 4. &#9632;

NHL’s Scorers …This Week

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01498/4338908-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02390/4338901-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="582" height="1734"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03316/4338894-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="1177" height="1974"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04237/4338887-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="581" height="3307"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05196/4338880-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="563" height="1369"><figcaption class="caption-body">Flyers&rsquo; Bobby Clarke enjoyed four-goal week.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01469/4338873-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="587" height="3546"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02353/4338866-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="566" height="701"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03260/4338859-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="582" height="1661"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04200/4338852-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="1175" height="607"></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

C-Captain *- Rookie<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-06150/4338994-1-eng-US/f0023-062.jpg" title="f0023-06" width="207" height="159"></div><h2>ATLANTA</h2>GOALYves BelangerDan BouchardDEFENSEGreg FoxEd Kea*Brad MarshRichard MulhemPat RibbleRod SeilingDave ShandCENTERSGene CarrGuy Chouinard*Red LaurenceTom Lysiak CR. WINGSJohn GouldKen HoustonBobby LalondeBob MacMillanJean PronovostWilli PlettL. WINGSBill ClementEric Vail<h2>BOSTON</h2>GOALGerry Cheevers*Jlm PettieDEFENSEGary DoakMike MilburyBrad ParkDick RedmondAl SimsRick SmithCENTERSPeter McNabBob MillerJean RatelleMike WaltonR. WINGSRick MiddletonTerry O&rsquo;ReillyBobby SchmautzL. WINGSWayne Cashman CDon Marcotte*AI SecordJohn Wensink<h2>BUFFALO</h2>GOALDon Edwards*Bob SauveDEFENSERichard DunnLee FogolinJocelyn GuevremontBill HajtJerry KorabJim Schoenfeld*Bill StewartCENTERSDon LuceGilles PerreaultAndre SavardDerek SmithR. WINGSDanny Gare CJacques RichardRent RobertRic SeilingL. WINGSRichard MartinTerry MartinGary McAdam*Tony McKegneyCraig Ramsay<h2>CHICAGO</h2>GOALTony EspositoMike VeisorDEFENSEDave LoganKeigh Magnuson CBob MurrayPhil RussellDoug WilsonCENTERSIvan BoldirevAlain DaigleJim HarrisonStan MikitaR. WINGSJ.P. BordeleauCliff KorollGrant MulveyL. WINGSTed BulleyBob Kelly.Reg KerrJohn MarksDarcy Rota<h2>COLORADO</h2>GOALBill OleschukMichel PlasseDEFENSEDon AwreyBarry BeckNick BeverleyMike ChristieMike KitchenDennis OwcharJohn VanBoxmeerCENTERSRey ComeauPaul GardnerDoug Hicks*Merlin MalinowskiNelson PyattJack ValiquetteR. WINGSRon DelormeWilf PaiementRandy PierceL. WINGSJoe ContiniGary CroteauRalph Klassen<h2>DEROIT</h2>GOALJim RutherfordRogie VachonDEFENSEThommie BergmanJean HamelJohn Hilworth*Willie HuberReed LarsonPerry Miller*John TaftCENTERS*Dan BolducDale McCourtAndre St LaurentR. WINGSDan LabraatenVacate NedomanskyDennis PolonichL. WINGSNick LibettBill Lochead*Rob PlumbErrol ThompsonPaul Woods C<h2>LOSANGHES</h2>GOALRon Grahame*Mario LessardGarySimmonsDEFENSEDarryl EdestrandBrian GlennieDoug HalwardRick HamptonRandy HoltRandy ManeryBob MurdochRob PalmerCENTERSSyl AppsMarcel DionneButch GoringVic VenaskyR. WINGSMark HeaslipGlenn GoldupMike Murphy CL. WINGSDanny GrantSteve JensenDave TaylorTom WilliamsBert WilsonMurray Wilson<h2>MINNESOTA</h2>GOALGary EdwardsGilles MelocheDEFENSEFred Barrett*Bill Butters*Don JacksonBrad MaxwellJean PotvinGary SargentGreg SmithCENTERS*Kris ManeryGlen Sharpley*Bob SmithTim YoungR. WINGSKent-Erik AnderssonAl MacAdamTom YoughansRon ZanussiL. WINGSPer-Olov BrasarJean-Paul Parise C*Steve Payne*Mike Polich<h2>MONTREAL</h2>GOALKen DrydenMichel LarocqueDEFENSERick ChartrawBrian EngblomGuy LapointeRod LangwayGilles LupienLarry RobinsonSerge SavardCENTERSRdjean HouleDoug JarvisPierre LarouchePierre MondouDoug RisebroughR. WINGSGuy LafleurMark NapierMario TremblayL. WINGSCam ConnorBob Gainey*Pat HughesYvon Lamhart<h2>ISLANDERS</h2>GOALChico ReschBilly SmithDEFENSEGerry HartDave Lewis*Bob LorimerBert MarshallStefan PerssonDenis PotvinPat PriceCENTERSLome HenningMike KaszyckiWayne MerrickBryan TrottierR. WINGSMike BossyBilly HarrisBob NystromEd WestfallL. WINGSBob BourneClarke Gillies CGarry HowattJohn Tonelli<h2>RANGERS</h2>GOALJohn DavidsonDoug SoetaertWayne ThomasDEFENSE*Dan ClarkDave FarrishRon GreschnerMike KomeyDave Maloney CMario MaroisMike McEwenCarol VadnaisCENTERSRon DuguayPhil EspositoUlf NilssonWalter TkaczukR. WINGSLucien DeBloisAnders HedbergEddie JohnstonePierre PlanteDean TalafousL. WINGSNick FotiuPat HickeyGreg PolisSteve Vickers<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2>GOALBernie Parent*Peter PeetersWayne StephensonDEFENSE*Frank BatheBob DaileyAndrt DupontRick LaPointeJim Watson*Behn WilsonCENTERSMel BridgmanBobby Clarke CBlake Dunlop*Paul EvansR. WINGSPaul HolmgrenReggie LeachDon SaleskiDennis VervergaertL. WINGSBill BarberBarry Dean*Dave HoydaBob KellyRick MacLeish*Yves Preston<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2>GOALDenis Herron*Greg MillenDEFENSERuss AndersonTom BladonColin CampbellRandy CarlyleBob ParadiseRon StackhouseDale TallonCENTERSPete MahovlichGreg MaloneGregg SheppardR. WINGSBlair ChapmanJacques CossetteGeorge FergusonRick KehoePeter LeeL. WINGSWayne BianchinOrest Kindrachuk CRoss LonsberryDave Schultz*Rod Schutt<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2>GOALPhil MyreEd StaniowskiDEFENSEBruce AffleckJack BrownschidleBarry Gibbs CLarry GirouxBob HessBob StewartCENTERSHarvey BennettBernie FederkoBrian OgilvieLarry PateyGarry Unger CR. WINGS*Wayne BabychBob MurdochRick ShinskeJohn SmrkeL. WINGSCurt BennettInge HammarstromBrian Suttler<h2>TORONTO</h2>GOALPaul HarrisonMike PalmateerDEFENSEDave BurrowsDave HutchisonTrevor Johansen*Joel QuennevilleBorje SalmingIan TurnbullCENTERSBruce BoudreauJimmy JonesGarry MonahanWalt McKechnieR. WINGS*John AndersonJerry ButlerRon EllisLanny McDonaldL. WINGSPat BoutetteDan MaloneyLome StamlerDave Williams<h2>VANCOUVER</h2>GOALGary Bromley*Glen HanlonDune WilsonDEFENSEJohn GrisdaleDennis Keams*Lars LindgrenKevin McCarthyJack MclllargeyHarold SnepstsCENTERSRoland Eriksson*Thomas GradinPit MartinChris OddlelfsonR. WINGSRick Blight*Drew CallanderHilliard GravesDon Kozak*Stan SmyiL. WINGS*Curt FraserJere GillisDon Lever.CRon Sedlbauer<h2>WASHINGTON</h2>GOAL*Jim BedardGary InnessBernie WolfeDEFENSERick GreenYvon LabreGord LaneRobert PicardPete ScamurraGord Smith*Leif SvenssonBryan WatsonCENTERSGuy Charron CDennis Maruk*Ryan WalterR. WINGSMichel Bergeron*Mark LofthouseDoug PateyBill RileyTom RoweL. WINGS*Greg Carroll* Rolf EdbergBob GirardBob SiroisBlair Stewart<h2>INJURED PLAYERS</h2>ATLANTAHarold PhillipoffBOSTONGilles GilbertStan JonathanCOLORADO*Mike Gillis*Dave WatsonJoe WatsonDETROITGreg Joly*Brent PetersonMONTREALYvan Coumoyer CJacques LemaireSteve ShuttST. LOUISSteve DurbanoTORONTODarryl SlttlerCVANCOUVER*Bill DerlagoWASHINGTON*Tim Coulis &#9632;

f0023-06

NHL Team Rosters

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-05170/4339025-1-eng-US/f0023-052.jpg" title="f0023-05" width="567" height="749"></div> &#9632;

f0023-05

NHL Leaders

LOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKS Made in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY, LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaPart of the reason for the slow start by the Edmonton Oilers this year was the absence from the lineup of several outstanding players who were to play key roles in the club&rsquo;s offense. One of them was Ron Chipperfield.He was injured in training camp and missed 18 games before he was even close to 100 percent, Now he seems to be making up for lost time and is boosting the Oilers&rsquo; fortunes.In a home-and-home series against Winnipeg, Chipperfield knocked in two goals to help the Oilers gain a split and then he fired three scores in leading Edmonton to a 5-1 victory over the Czechoslovakian All Stars, in a game which counted in the WHA standings.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03265/4339094-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="550" height="562"><figcaption class="caption-body">RON CHIPPERFIELD&hellip;Edmonton Oilers</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0024-03

WHA’S… Player of the Week

<div class="byline">BY DICK DENNY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0024-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01486/4339063-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK DUDLEY&hellip; Pumping In The Goals</figcaption></div>CINCINNATI&mdash;For Darryl Maggs, life with the Cincinnati Stingers is lovelier the second time around.&ldquo;I like it here now,&rdquo; said the former World Hockey Association first-team All Star defenseman of his second stint with the Stingers that began after he became homesick while playing in Europe following a shocking exit from Cincinnati late last season.&ldquo;It is a whole different situation this season,&rdquo; continued Maggs, who was back at his home in Denver when he got a telephone call from Stinger coach Floyd Smith in late October inviting him to Cincinnati to talk about rejoining the team.&ldquo;Last year was a bad deal. This season I feel more like I&rsquo;m part of the situation.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re in a bit of a slump, but I&rsquo;m sure we&rsquo;ll come out of it. We&rsquo;ve got a lot of good young players and I&rsquo;m sure we&rsquo;ll make the playoffs. That&rsquo;s our goal.&rdquo;After winning 14 of their first 25 games to vault into first place, the Stingers have run into a heavy drought&mdash;one victory in 11 games, that a 6-2 blitz of Quebec in Riverfront Coliseum when Peter Marsh had a hat trick.That triumph was only the third for the Stingers in December. They won two of their first three games in December, then went eight games without a victory before blowing out the Nordiques.But the Cincinnati slump continued the next two games as 19-year-old Birmingham rookie goalie Pat Riggin continued his mastery over the Stingers.Riggin ran his string of games without a loss to Cincinnati to five as the Bulls defeated the Stingers, 4-2, in Birmingham and 6-5 in Riverfront Coliseum.Riggin, whose record in that five-game stretch against the Stingers was 40-1, trailed, 2-1, after one period at Riverfront, but the Bulls scored five goals in the second period and wound up getting six goals on just 18 shots for their 6-5 victory.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02384/4339056-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="520" height="653"><figcaption class="caption-body">DARRYL MAGGS&hellip;A Little Homesick</figcaption></div>Maggs, who was traded to the Stingers by the now-defunct Indianapolis Racers early in 1978, was thinking of getting into a new career when Smith steered him back to Cincinnati.&ldquo;When I came back from Germany, I basically was not going to play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was going to go to Colorado and get into something new and different.&ldquo;But then Smitty called and said it was a whole new team, new coach and new situation. After I thought about it, I got the urge to play again. I would never have had the nerve to call the Stingers after last season.&rdquo;Maggs played only 11 games for Cincinnati before leaving the team. The Stingers barely missed the playoffs.It was a difficult move&mdash;from Indianapolis to Cincinnati&mdash;for the 29-year-old native of Victoria, B.C. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been hard the couple of times I&rsquo;ve been traded,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t adjust as fast as some guys.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never settled in a town I&rsquo;ve played in. You&rsquo;re always living out of a suitcase. But Indy was kind of a different city. The people really made you feel at home.&ldquo;Cincinnati seems like a bigger city. I couldn&rsquo;t get into it at all last season. My attitude wasn&rsquo;t good. I started missing practices and finally it got to the point where I felt it was better for everybody concerned that I leave.&rdquo;Last summer Maggs contacted an agent in Montreal and landed with Mannheim in Germany&rsquo;s first division.&ldquo;I enjoyed playing there,&rdquo; said Maggs, &ldquo;but if I ever went back I&rsquo;d take somebody with me. I went with the idea of seeing a lot of Europe. But I didn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;We played in 11 different cities and it was a pretty good brand of hockey. I was taking German lessons, but there was a communication problem.&ldquo;We played just two games a week, which was fine, but the time in between seemed to drag. I would meet people, but it was difficult to talk to them.&ldquo;I got to thinking, *Hey, you&rsquo;re almost 30 and you&rsquo;re over here and don&rsquo;t have anybody.&rsquo; Basically, I guess I was homesick. One day I said, &lsquo;You gotta go back.&rsquo; I had been there 10 weeks and was averaging about a point a game while playing 50 to 55 minutes a game. They expect that much from their imports.&rdquo;Maggs, who said the pay in Mannnheim was &ldquo;about the same as I was making here, which wasn&rsquo;t that much,&rdquo; feels his European jaunt was worth-while.&ldquo;If nothing else, you learn to appreciate a few of the things over here more,&rdquo; he said.STINGER NOTES: The Stingers added two players who had been with the Racers. They resigned defenseman Bryon Baltimore, whose contract had been taken over by Indianapolis only a few days before that club folded, and they signed 17-year-old forward Mark Messier, who had a five-game trial with the Racers&hellip;Peter Marsh and team captain Rick Dudley continued their exciting scoring production for Cincy. Marsh, who recorded a hat trick against Quebec, counted his 17th, 18th, 19th the Racers. They re-signed defenseman Bryon Baltimore, whose contract had been taken over by Indianapolis only a few days before that club folded, and they signed 17-year-old forward Mark Messier, who had a five-game trial with the Racers&hellip;Peter Marsh and team captain Rick Dudley continued their exciting scoring production for Cincy. Marsh, who recorded a hat trick against Quebec, counted his 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th goals of the year. Dudley, who has been playing outstanding hockey of late for the Stingers, came up with his 12th, 13th and 14th goals, including two in the same Quebec game in which Marsh scored his hat trick&hellip; &#9632;

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Maggs Welcome Return From Europe But Stingers Find Winning Elusive

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE WARRINER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02313/4339132-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Whalers&rsquo; Warren Miller, foreground, popped in the game winner in front half of New England-Quebec showdown series.</figcaption></div>SPRINGFIELD&mdash;With first place at stake in the tight WHA standings, the Whalers and the Nordiques went into battle in a home-and-home weekend series. The first game, played in Springfield, turned into a battle of strategy as each coach tried to outwit his counterpart by matching lines.Quebec&rsquo;s Jacques Demers tried to shackle Whalers&rsquo; high scorer Mark Howe by assigning hard-working Curt Brackenbury as shadow. Meanwhile, New England coach Bill Dineen wanted Mark to cover the Nordiques&rsquo; sharpshooter Real Cloutier. Line combinations were seemingly forgotten as the coaches took turns double-shifting various players, always looking for opportunities to gain advantage.Before the game was two minutes old the Nordiques caught the Whalers in a line shuffle enabling Cloutier to jump on a loose puck and rifle it home. But the Whalers answered back a few minutes later as Gordie Howe tipped in a power play slap shot by Gordie Roberts.From that point on the game turned into a close checking affair with new line combinations practically every shift.Each team seemed leery of making the fatal mistake. With a little over two minutes gone in the third period Tardif let go a boomer from the top of the left faceoff circle. He seemed to have a perfect angle. The puck rocketed past the flashing glove of Al Smith. Practically everyone in the full house at Springfield saw the mesh ruffle on the far side, but the puck spanked loudly off the glass. Was it a goal? How could it miss? Quebec players swarmed the net in an effort to find a hole in the mesh. Referee Ron Ego and his linesman carefully inspected the twine and found no tears. The Nordiques couldn&rsquo;t believe it (and if you looked closely you could see rather sheepish grins among the Whalers). Nevertheless, the &lsquo;goal&rsquo; was waved off and the score remained tied at one&mdash;and the close checking continued.With less than five minutes to go in regulation, Warren Miller shoveled in a rebound on a Jack Carlson shot putting the Whalers up by one. The goal quickly changed the tempo of the game as the Nordiques opened up the attack. The Whalers held on, however, and the two teams boarded separate charters for a rematch in Quebec City the following night.Demers, in discussing his attempts to shackle Mark Howe, said&mdash;&rsquo;&rsquo;You stop Mark Howe and you stop the Whalers. He&rsquo;s the greatest hockey player I&rsquo;ve seen in many years.&rdquo; The next night though, he departed from his tactics, saying. &ldquo;I told Cloutier to pay attention to Mark. But at home we have to stick to our game.&rdquo;It was a snowy night in Quebec City and the game was being televised throughout the province but almost 8,000 hardy souls turned out to see the first place battle. The Whalers jumped to a 2-0 lead before Wally Weir picked off an errant Whaler clearing pass and drove it home&mdash;his first goal of the season.Francois Lacombe tallied on a screened drive to tie the score. Cloutier put the Nordiques in the lead and shortly thereafter a Whaler defenseman fell on the puck in the crease setting up a penalty shot&mdash;only te second in two seasons for the WHA. Goalie Al Smith foiled Bob Fitchner&rsquo;s attempt with a last second lunge to his stick side.The Nordiques weren&rsquo;t finished though. Early in the final stanza they upped their lead to 4-2 when Richie Leduc took advantage of a glaring defensive lapse for an easy goal. At this juncture the Whalers turned on the after burners, outshooting the Nords 15 to 6 in the period and getting goals from Johnnie McKenzie and grampa Howe (his 13th) to force the overtime.New England continued its rampage, dominating the Nordiques in OT (11 to 2 in SOG&rsquo;s) but they were unable to get the winner. So the game ended with the two teams knotted for the lead in the WHA.After the game Demers said, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve only lost six of our last 22 games but we can&rsquo;t run away from the rest of the league. The Whalers are playing well. They&rsquo;re going to be tough down the stretch. They won the weekend battle.&rdquo;BIRMINGHAM BULLS: The Birmingham Bulls were playing very well defensively over a two-week period. In seven games they had given up only 13 goals, while winning four, tying two, and losing only one game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01422/4339125-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="567" height="719"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE HANSON&hellip;Center Of Protest</figcaption></div>Nineteen-year-old goaltender Pat Riggin, was in the nets for all seven contests. In wins over Indianapolis,Cincinnati, and Edmonton he allowed only two goals each. After shutting our Cincy in a rematch, 1-0, the Nordiques got to Riggin for three goals while his mates could only come up with two for the only loss in the lengthy stretch.Two ties followed with Riggin again holding the opposition to two goals each, as the Bulls tied the Soviet All Stars, 2-2 after another 2-2 tie at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincy. Although the Bulls were getting great goaltending and good defense, they weren&rsquo;t generating much offense.The &lsquo;kids&rsquo; had slacked off. The rejuvenated GAS line with Dave Gorman, John C. Stewart, and Steve Alley was showing up in the scoring stats fairly consistently, and Bob Stephenson had a few, but the big story was the slump among the young guys. Early sensation, Louis Sleigher, had not dented the scoring stats in eight games-but he still led the Bulls in the scoring department.After Indy folded GM Gilles Leger signed winger Claude Larose in an effort to bolster the offensive punch of the Bulls. Coach John Brophy said of Larose &mdash; &ldquo;Claude is a pure, pure goal scorer&mdash;he can shoot with the best of them and rest assured he won&rsquo;t be lacking in ice time.&rdquo;The Bulls had earlier brought a familiar face back to Birmingham. Twenty-four year old Dave Hanson was added to bolster the physical aspect of the Bulls. Hanson was reportedly still under contract to the Detroit Red Wings and was in Birmingham on loan. Within the WHA a squabble seemed to be brewing over the rugged winger&rsquo;s rights as another team claimed that Hanson was on its protected list. &#9632;

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Whalers Win Showdown With Nordiques For Top

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01435/4339184-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="613" height="2181"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02339/4339177-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="604" height="2509"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03290/4339170-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="574" height="1249"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04227/4339163-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="582" height="2131"></div> &#9632;

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WORLD HOCKEY ASSN. SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-06156/4339215-1-eng-US/f0026-062.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/f0026-05188/4339246-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="573" height="1256"></div> &#9632;

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The WHA Scoreboard

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-07139/4339277-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="613" height="1037"></div> &#9632;

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WHA Leaders

BIRMINGHAM: Valve 9, 10, Hughes 2, Kirk 1, Stewart 5, Sleigher 18, 19, Goulet 7, 8, Caaaolato 3, Adduono 8, 9.CINCINNATI: Ftorek 15, Baltimore 2, Gilligan 3, Gartner 15, 18, 17, Norwich 4, Thomas 12, Debol 9.EDMONTON: Chipperfield 4, 5, 8, 7, 8, Weir 8, 9, MacDonald 15, Gretzky 17, 18, Sobchuk 14, Flett 9, 10.NEW ENGLAND: McKenzie 11, 12, Lacroix 20, 21, 22, Mark Howe 22, Keon 83. Stoughton 10, Marty Howe 6, Rogers 13, 14, G. Howe 14, Roberts 6, 7, Hangsleben 4.QUEBEC: Bemler 18, 19, Tremblay 3, Leduc 13, Cloutier 34, 35, Tardif 24.WINNIPEG: Lesuk 10, Lindstrom 13, Nilsson 13, 14, Sullivan 21, Amodeo 3, Long 1, Lukowlch 25. &#9632;

WHA’S Scorer …This Week

EDMONTON&mdash;Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets found a way this week to return to the good, old-fashioned days of head-to-head hockey rivalry.Schedule changes caused by the demise of Indianapolis Racers meant the two World Hockey Association teams found themselves in a battle for fourth place and facing one another eight times in Edmonton&rsquo;s next 16 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01416/4339346-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="555" height="664"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL FLETT</figcaption></div>The first two games resulted in Winnipeg victories by scores of 5-3 and 5-4, but the Oilers regained a tie for fourth place by downing the Jets 5-3 at home. The Edmonton victory, sparked by Wayne Gretzky and Blair MacDonald, ended a three-game series in seven days.All three games drew crowds of more than 10,000&mdash;including a sellout in Winnipeg&mdash;and prompted Edmonton coach Glen Sather to welcome the rivalry.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like the old days,&rdquo; said Sather.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t find any guys chatting at center ice in the warmup when you play each other so often.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a little hard feeling being generated now,&rdquo; he added.The first game was a shock to Oiler supporters because the supposedly-gentle Jets won almost every battle for a loose puck, and, in addition, did well in the scrapping. Feisty Morris Lukowich won a clear decision over Edmonton captain Paul Shmyr in one fight while Dave Semenko won a narrow verdict over Winnipeg tough guy Kim Clackson in another.Sather said he expected more rough play a few nights later at Winnipeg, but it didn&rsquo;t develop. Semenko rejected an opportunity to challenge Clackson in the first period with the Jets ahead 1-0 and the speedy Winnipeg crew constructed a 5-1 lead before Edmonton rebounded.That was on Boxing Day, Dec. 26. On the following night, in Edmonton, Sather closed the dressing room to let his minions dwell on the prospects of a possible third loss in a row.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got to be thinking about hockey a little more,&rdquo; said Sather, obviously disappointed that the Jets had outmuscled the Oilers so easily.Again, the Jets jumped into an early lead, but this time Edmonton did not fold. Gretzky and MacDonald, with help from Stan Weir, generated a 3-1 lead that disappeared in the second period, but Dennis Sobchuk blazed a 35-foot drive past Winnipeg netminder Markus Mattson in the third period and Bill (Cowboy) Flett added the clincher a few minutes later.Sather&rsquo;s judgment on Flett proved exact. He predicted before the game that the bearded Cowboy would play well.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to set Flett and (Ace) Bailey down for awhile,&rdquo; he said after juggling his lines because of injuries to left wingers Brett Callighen and Peter Driscoll. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll play, but I can&rsquo;t predict how much.&ldquo;Knowing the Cowboy, he&rsquo;ll score a goal or two and he&rsquo;ll win the game for us.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s the way it worked out, giving the Oilers a brief respite from pressure before starting their heavy run of international games. Edmonton played the touring Moscow Dynamo Dec. 29 and Czechoslovakia Dec. 30, then had a pair of games scheduled&mdash;Jan. 2 in Calgary and at home Jan. 6&mdash;against the Canadian national Olympic team.Sather said he was planning to bring up defenseman Cal Sandbeck and winger Ron Carter from Dallas of the Central Hockey League to fill the roster vacancies left by the appointment of six Oilers to the WHA All Star team scheduled to meet a reinforced Dynamo squad at the Coliseum Jan. 2,4 and 5.A problem developed when the Soviets refused a request for more strengthening of the Dynamo team, which lost its first two games against WHA teams. WHA officials were threatening to withhold payment due the Soviets on the grounds hockey officials of that nation had refused to live up to the spirit and the letter of their agreement to provide top-notch opposition for the WHA standouts.Players named from Edmonton to the All Star team included first-team selections Dave Dryden in goal and John Hughes on defense. The others were defensemen Paul Shmyr and Claire Alexander, right winger MacDonald I and center Gretzky.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02309/4339339-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="814" height="1197"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Soviet All Stars were highly successful in their six-game series with the World Hockey Association as they achieved a record of four wins, one loss and a tie. Vladimir Myshkin, right, was the goalkeeper who led the Soviets, while Vladimir Kovin, left, is a promising young forward. (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03203/4339332-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="815" height="1199"></div> &#9632;

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Revised Schedule Steps Up Rivalry For Oilers, Jets

EDMONTON&mdash;The World Hockey Association and the Soviet Union headed off a financial confrontation just hours before the Moscow Dynamo team was to take the ice against the WHA All Stars in a three-game super series at the Edmonton Coliseum. The Soviets agreed to take less money from the WHA.The WHA had given the Soviets an ultimatum by threatening to withhold money promised the Soviet Ice Hockey Federation for the Moscow club&rsquo;s tour unless the Dynamo brought some of the team&rsquo;s regulars who are touring Europe to Canada for the three-game WHA series.Dynamo coach Vladimir Kiseliov said that it was too late to bring seven missing team members to Canada.After five days of negotiations between top officials of both the WHA and the Sovet hockey federation, it was mutually agreed that the WHA would face the present Moscow Dynamo team but the Soviets would not be paid their full monetary return because of the fact the Soviets violated a contract they signed last spring to bring the Dynamo team plus three top members of their national team to Canada for the series. One of the missing Dynamo stars is Alexander Maltsev, who Kiseliov says has a broken hand and is unable to travel. &#9632;

WHA, Soviets Make Financial Compromise

WINNIPEG&mdash;The 1978-79 Winnipeg Jets have come of age. After an agonizingly slow start in which nothing came easy, the Jets have the World Hockey Association leaders nervously glancing over their shoulders.Backed by the steady goaltending of the young Fin Markus Mattsson, the Jets have started to make their assault on the league leading New England Whalers and Quebec Nordiques.Mattsson, a 22-year-old native of Tampere, Finland, has played in all but eight of the Jets games this season. He currently ranks third among WHA goaltenders and is sporting a 3.29 GAA.Last year Mattsson played 10 games with the Jets but with Joe Daley and Gary Bromley anchoring the goaltending duties, Mattsson was left with little hope of cracking the line-up. When Winnipeg dealt him off to Quebec, the youngster&rsquo;s confidence was obviously shaken. Mattsson appeared in six games with the Nordiques and to the jeers of the Quebec fans, he allowed 30 goals.Toward the end of last season, Mattsson was dealt back to the Jets and right now Winnipeg supporters are considering it a steal.Early in the season Joe Daley came down with a bacterial flu bug and was out of action for two weeks. The Jets, with 10 new additions to their roster, were struggling, and the pressure fell squarely on the shoulders of Mattsson.The young Fin responded with all the cool of a seasoned veteran as time and time again he kept the Jets in games and in fact, stole a few for them.Markus has now won himself the starting position, and as Winnipeg has started to regain their form as Avco Cup champions, he is becoming all that much more difficult to beat.The Edmonton Oilers found that out this past week. In two earlier season encounters, the Oilers beat the Jets twice&mdash;once in overtime and the other in a 6-2 shellacking before the home town fans in Winnipeg.Last week the Jets and Oilers faced each other three times in a space of five days with Winnipeg taking four out of a possible six points. In the first game at Edmonton the Jets took an early 5-4 third period lead and then Markus Mattsson did his thing. Despite the efforts of the pressing Oilers, Markus held Edmonton at bay and the Jets came away with their first win of the year over the Oilers.Four days later in Winnipeg a fellow Scandinavian, Kent Nilsson put on a one man show as Winnipeg coasted to a 5-3 win. Nilsson&rsquo;s first of two goals that night drew a one minute standing ovation from the Winnipeg fans. &ldquo;Kenta&rdquo; (as he is affectionately referred to) took a pass inside the Edmonton zone, circled around one man, and then in an incredible display Of ingenuity he passed the puck back&mdash;not to another player, but into his skates. Quickly, a la Soviet style, he kicked the puck back to his stick and easily side-stepped the last Oiler defender. The second year Swede took two more strides and then took a quick wristshot that sailed high into the far corner of the net, easily beating goalie Ed Mio. Later in the game, Nilsson added another goal on a breakaway that was a marvel in its own right. Acting as if he was going in on his backhand, two feet in front of the net Nilsson suddenly twisted around to his forehand and slid the puck past the mesmerized Mio.The next night back in Edmonton, Winnipeg failed to produce any offense in the third period and they dropped a 5-3 decision. &#9632;

Jets Fly Behind Goaler Mattson

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01401/4339425-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="942" height="773"></div> &#9632;

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WHA’S POINT SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02295/4339463-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="242" height="269"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03226/4339456-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="1755" height="1140"></div> &#9632;

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WHA’s Revised Schedule

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>BOSTON&mdash;While it&rsquo;s a cliche to say that a good big man will beat a good little man every time in the sport of hockey, it&rsquo;s no less true to say that the little guys in Eastern hockey, members of ECAC Division Two, can often sneak up on the big guys, sans slingshot and divine help, and beat them with basic hockey and furious hustle.Witness: Merrimack five, Northeastern three (with the Warrjors pouring 50 shots on goal to the Huskies&rsquo; 13); Lowell three, Boston College 0(at BC&rsquo;s home rink, the first shutout of the Eagles in five years at McHugh Forum); Merrimack six, Dartmouth six, in overtime (wherein the Green, on their own ice, had to score two late goals to lie the game).&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a damn good little division, there&rsquo;s no doubt about that,&rdquo; emphasized Lowell coach Billy Riley Jr. a few days after the Chiefs lost to Colby. It was a game that pleased the 10-year Lowell mentor so much that he cracked a knuckle smashing a locker room door to punctuate his heated remarks.&ldquo;The hockey here is every bit as competitive, except the pressure and expectations aren&rsquo;t what they are in Division One.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a lot like Division One, in that the way the league has developed any team can beat another on a given night,&rdquo; agreed Sid Watson, coach of perennially powerful Bowdoin.Bruce Parker, in his" first year of coaching at Merrimack College following the sudden death of Thom Lawler after the Warriors copped the &rsquo; first NCAA Division Two crown last season, added his assent.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01353/4339501-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="564" height="874"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL RILEY&hellip;Lauds Division</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve started off pretty well, and we&rsquo;re 1-1-1 against Division One teams,&rdquo; he commented. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re 5-1 against Division Two teams, and the game we lost was to Plattsburgh in overtime after we outshot them during the game.&rdquo;Lowell, Bowdoin, and Merrimack all play in ECAC Division Two&rsquo;s highly competitive Eastern loop, a circuit which also comprises such steadily good teams as Salem State, Colby, and St. Anselm&rsquo;s. Holy Cross just accelerated its program in recent years, as did Babson College, and the University of Maine is a Division Two East contender while it passes through to Division One a year hence. New Haven, New England College, American International College, and Boston State are others who have been prominent in the league in recent years.In ECAC West, the faces are somewhat less familiar. Plattsburgh State is a new program under former UNH star Lou Frigon. The Cardinals posted a 17-3 record last season, losing &rsquo; 5-4 in the playoffs to Division mate Elmira. The Soaring Eagles ran up a 236 mark under coach Barry Smith and qualified for the NCAA Division Two final four, losing to Lake Forest and Mankato State. Both Plattsburgh and Elmira have shown that they are here to stay, getting off to fast starts in 1978.Middlebury, Norwich, Hamilton, and Oswego usually figure in the running, as does Army which stepped down from Division One a few years ago. Union looks to improve to at least the Division Two level shortly as they build back under Charlie Morrison following the debacle of Ned Harkness&rsquo; resignation and the transfer of most of the-squad early last season.A total of 32 teams, 16 in the East and 16 in the West, make up ECAC Division Two With so many entrants, it is to be expected that the difference between the contenders and the also-rans is great. But the gap is closing, according to Lowell&rsquo;s Riley.&ldquo;Just take a look at Babson, for instance,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They were 645-1 last year, and already they&rsquo;ve got a 6-1 record. Everybody on the team is a year older and wiser, and Steve Stirling, (former BU star and Babson coach) brought in some pretty good recruits.&rdquo;Riley went on to explain how Division Two&rsquo;s atmosphere often helps the late bloomers like Babson&rsquo;s upperclassmen and his own second line winger, Dean Jenkins, a sophomore who hadn&rsquo;t started playing hockey until his senior year in high school.&ldquo;A lot of these kids just need a little more time to develop, and I could see that Jenkins, had the dedication and willingness to work even though he was cut from his high school team. He started out killing penalties for us and now he&rsquo;s moved up to second line. He&rsquo;s a tough kid, and a real find.&rdquo;Though the wave you hear most about at Lowell is the unit with Craig MacTavish centering Kevin Charbonneau and Tom Jacobs, the Chiefs skate four lines. They play in nearby Tyngsboro but the school has conducted a serious feasibility study for an on-campus arena.Merrimack will host the 1979 NCAA Division Two championship tournament at its own Volpe Center; the arrangements were made by Lawler before his untimely death. Though 10 skaters graduated off last year&rsquo;s 21-9-2 titlists, Parker found 57 candidates awaiting the first whistle when he arrived at North Andover in August. The Warriors&rsquo; best line thus far has been juniors Ron Doherty, Jim Toomey, and Bob Magnuson.Bowdoin, not eligible for the NCAA Tournament because of the strictures of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) to which it also belongs, has been unbalanced in its scoring output to date. The trio of Dave Boucher, Roger Elliott, and Mike Carman has a disproportionate share of the Polar Bears&rsquo; goals.Other than Maine, no Division Two team is ready to take the financial plunge and head for the big time in the manner of Vermont five years ago. But there is a movement afoot to change the post-season tournament structure.Currently, the ECAC Division Two playoffs are a pair of eight team round robins, played on the Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday following the regular season. There are two playoff survivors, and the NCAA selection committee chooses a pair of participants for the national final four. Last year, Elmira and Merrimack also happened to be the playoff winners, although their choice is not automatic.Before the playoffs ever go to a place like Boston Garden, the philosophical differences with the NESCAC schools will have to be resolved. It&rsquo;s not likely to happen this year, but ECAC Division Two is improving so fast that the little guys might just find themselves in the big city in the near future.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02268/4339494-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="1152" height="1123"><figcaption class="caption-body">Three of Merrimack&rsquo;s stalwarts this season include from the left, Ron Doherty, team captain Brian Bullock and Jim Toomey. Doherty and Toomey are juniors and play on Merrimack&rsquo;s top line.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0029-01

Merrimack, Lowell Show Might To Shatter Division One Myth

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03172/4339532-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="463" height="1875"></div> &#9632;

f0029-03

Where The Colleges Play…

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04117/4339563-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="556" height="418"></div> &#9632;

f0029-04

The Top 10 U.S. Colleges

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02306/4339594-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="476" height="485"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michigan&rsquo;s Murray Eaves ranks high for rookie laurels.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01395/4339601-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="200" height="287"><figcaption class="caption-body">NEAL BROTEN&hellip;Minnesota Hope</figcaption></div>GRAND FORKS&mdash;Who&rsquo;s the best rookie in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association?That decision won&rsquo;t be reached until late March when coaches, sports information directors and writers following the WCHA cast their votes.There are plenty of candidates, chief of which may be North Dakota&rsquo;s Kevin Maxwell, a center, and Bob Iwabuchi, a goalie; Michigan center Murray Eaves; Minnesota center Neal Broten; Michigan Tech center Rick Boehm; Notre Dame&rsquo;s Dave Laurion, a goalie; and Dave Poulin, a wing, and Wisconsin&rsquo;s Roy Schultz, another netminder.North Dakota coach Gino Gasparini feels Maxwell, one of the most highly-recruited players in Western Canada last year, should be the choice.&ldquo;I believe he&rsquo;s the best rookie in the league. Of course, I haven&rsquo;t seen everyone. But Maxwell can do everything. He can hurt an opponent individually and he&rsquo;s intelligent enough to move the puck when they gang up on him. He&rsquo;s quick enough and smart enough,&rdquo; Gasparini said.Perhaps the same thing can be said about Minnesota&rsquo;s Broten, who was the most-recruited player in the state of Minnesota after a starry career at Roseau (Minn.) High School.Broten has proven himself against international competition as well as establishing himself as a top collegian. He played with the U.S. National Juniors in Sweden over Christmas break and was named the outstanding player of the game in a 3-2 loss to Czechoslovakia.The leading freshman scorer in the WCHA is Michigan&rsquo;s Eaves, the younger brother of Mike Eaves, the WCHA co-scoring champion a year ago with Wisconsin.Young Eaves has nine goals and 18 assists for 27 points, two better than Broten and Maxwell.Two other rookies rank in the top 10 in league scoring&mdash;Tech&rsquo;s Boehm and Notre Dame&rsquo;s Poulin. Both have 23 points. Boehm has 18 assists and five goals. His 18 assists match Eaves&rsquo; total for best among first-year players.Poulin has scored 13 goals, most among WCHA freshmen.Boehm has a history of being a tap scorer. He was the No. 2 scorer in the Saskatchewan Junior League last season and captained Prince Albert to the Tier II finals.Poulin played for the Dixie Beehives in the Toronto Jr. A Tier II league after graduation from Erindale secondary school. He had 28 goals and 43 assists tn just 32 games with Dixie. He&rsquo;s also rated a strong defensive forward.Other rookies who have shown well and could move into Joe Omiccioli and Arron Rucks, Colorado College&rsquo;s Bruce Aikens and Bob Mancini, Denver&rsquo;s Ken Berry and Glenn Anderson, Notre Dame&rsquo;s Jeff Logan, Bill Rothstein and John Schmidt, Wisconsin&rsquo;s Ron Vincent and North Dakota&rsquo;s Cary Eades.North Dakota&rsquo;s Iwabuchi has shown the best of four rookie goalies in the top 12 in league statistics. He&rsquo;s had the league&rsquo;s only shutout&mdash;a 10-0 whitewashing of Colorado College.His goals allowed average of 2.12 is best in the league and his save percentage on shots on goal is a startling .922.He nearly blanked the nation&rsquo;s No. 1 college hockey team&mdash;Minnesota, before giving up a goal in the last two minutes in a 4-1 North Dakota win.Laurion has been a big reason why Notre Dame has emerged as a surprising college power. He has a 3.42 goals-against mark and a .888 save percentage while winning five of seven starts.Schultz has won five of his six starts for Wisconsin. His 3.65 goals-against mark ranks just below Laurion while his .913 save percentage is second only to Iwabuchi in the WCHA.May we have the envelope, please.WCHA NOTES: Notre Dame, missing three players&mdash;Greg Meredith (Canadian National Juniors), Jeff Brownschidle (U.S. National Juniors) and Bill Rothstein (injured), found tough sledding on a trip to the East Coast. The Irish were whipped 10-5 by Boston College and 9-5 by Harvard, which should knock the Irish out of third place in the national polls. &#9632;

f0030-02

Race For Top Rookie Seen Wide Open Affair

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03218/4339632-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="480" height="887"></div> &#9632;

f0030-03

College Scoreboard

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02285/4339732-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="376" height="480"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAT KELLY&hellip;New Amerks&rsquo; Coach</figcaption></div>ROCHESTER&mdash;The American Hockey League has two new faces in its coaching ranks and both men got off to a successful start in their new environment.Pat Kelly, who was recently replaced as coach of the Colorado Rockies of the National Hockey League, stepped into the Rochester picture and produced three victories&mdash;including a 6-5 decision over the touring Moscow Traktor team.The other new AHL coach, Peter Stemkowski, had a win and a tie last week in two starts after taking the coaching role with the Springfield Indians. The &lsquo;Stemmer&rsquo; replaced Ted Harris, who was asked by the parent Los Angeles Kings to step down when he failed to get the Tribe untracked.Both new men were behind the bench this past week as their charges rolled merrily along in the tight AHL divisional races. Kelly saw his Americans defeat Binghamton 6-4 and Philadelphia 3-2 with a win over the Soviets thrown in for good measure.Kelly, who was crushed by a horrendous siege of injuries that crippled his young Colorado hockey team, has a remarkable minor league coaching record that dates back to his old Eastern Hockey League days with the champion Charlotte Checkers and which culminated with his stint in the World Hockey Association with the Birmingham Bulls. The Rockies lured Kelly away from the WHA and after a successful first season, in which he took over after the schedule began, the Rockies let down this year and injuries hurt the team immeasurably.The Americans decided to hire Kelly when he became a free agent and he took over from interim coach Gary Darling, the Boston Bruins&rsquo; head scout who had been filling in. The Amerks dismissed Duane Rupp earlier and brought in Darling as a temporary replacement.Kelly is certain his team will become an AHL contender and he expects the young players being furnished by the Bruins to do the trick. Two of them, forwards Tom Songin and Bill Bennett, were returned to Rochester by Boston along with defenseman Dennis O&rsquo;Brien, a seasoned NHLer who hasn&rsquo;t seen much ice time lately in the NHL.Kelly feels Songin and Bennett will help put more scoring punch into his offense for the tough weeks ahead.Stemkowski&rsquo;s coaching debut with Springfield has been sensational. His Indians rose up to defeat Philadelphia 3-1 and followed up with a 5-5 tie against Hershey and a 3-1 win over Binghamton.Both Rochester and Springfield have been struggling of late in the AHL and their productive week will go a long ways towards putting them back into the thick of their divisional races.The Americans are striving to overtake Hershey and Binghamton in the Southern Division while Springfield has its sights set on overhauling Nova Scotia Voyageurs, who lost three and tied one game in four starts last week.New Brunswick Hawks and Maine Mariners continued their fight for the Northern lead. The Hawks won two and tied one in three games last week while the Mariners lost to New Haven before lowering the boom on Philadelphia 11-3. &#9632;

f0032-02

New Coaches Get Off On Right Foot In AHL

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01340/4339763-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="375" height="472"></div> &#9632;

f0033-01

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02250/4339794-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="273" height="411"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL MCKENZIE</figcaption></div>KANSAS CITY&mdash;Larry Wilson tried to let on it was no different from any other game. But his Kansas City Red Wings, knew how important it was when they went into Salt Lake City&rsquo;s Salt Palace and came out with a 4-2 triumph.It was the Wings&rsquo; eighth straight victory on the road, breaking a 14-year-old Central League record, established by the Omaha Knights in the league&rsquo;s first season of operation&mdash;1963-64.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll take &lsquo;em one game at a time,&rdquo; Wilson told anyone who talked about the streak. But he couldn&rsquo;t hide the pride he was feeling for the young team.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re working hard, all of them,&rdquo; he kept repeating. &ldquo;This club really has speed, when they turn on the afterburners. The kids are still learning, but when they make a mistake, they work just that much harder. And Ron Low has been playing extremely well for us in the nets.&rdquo;The Wings were impartial in compiling their road string, which began in Salt Lake City, Nov. 11, the night after the Eagles had whipped the Kansas Citians, 7-3.The streak included two victories each in Salt Lake (5-3 and 4-2), Fort Worth (5-4 and 5-3) and Tulsa (3-1 and 6-3). In that span the Wings had a 5-2-1 record in their own Kemper Arena, the latest victory being a 5-3 decision over Tulsa. The road string was all the more surprising, as it came after Wilson&rsquo;s men had lost their first five games away from home.The win in Salt Lake brought KC to within six points of the front-running Eagles, with a game in hand. They had moved four in front of third-place Oklahoma City.Low wasn&rsquo;t expected to play in the game at Salt Lake, as he had been fighting a bout with the flu. But the veteran goalie insisted he was able, and played brilliantly.Mal Davis, who had just rejoined the club from Detroit, opened the scoring, and Al Cameron and Roland Cloutier made it 3-0 for Kansas City in the first period. Salt Lake came back with two goals in the second, but the third was scoreless until Rob Plumb got an emptynet goal with four seconds left.The previous night at home, two second-period goals by J.P. LeBlanc had put the Wings firmly in command. Fern LeBlanc had the only goal of the first period, but Tulsa had matched that early in the second. J.P.&rsquo;s first goal, on a breakaway, came just 30"seconds after the Oilers scored. Cameron and Plumb tallied a minute apart in the final period.Fern LeBlanc was called up by the parent Detroit Wings after that game, and Davis came down after a week with the big club.Dan Bolduc, who had been in Detroit for two weeks, was still Kansas City&rsquo;s leading scorer on 32 points, third best in the CHL. Davis had 29 to share eighth place.Danny Gruen was still sidelined with an ankle injury, but Larry Wright came back to duty, after a long layoff following a concussion. Goalie Al Jensen, who broke a thumb in training camp, was sent to Kalamazoo in the International League to work himself into shape.FORT WORTH: Texans&rsquo; coach Billy MacMillan was found to be suffering from a mild form of hepatitis. Jimmy Devellano, chief scout for the parent New York Islanders, took over behind the bench as the Texans split a two-game set with archrival Dallas, winning at home, 5-3, but losing in Big D, 9-3.MacMillan was reported progressing rapidly toward recovery, and was hoping to relieve Devellano by the next weekend.Three goals in the last period, including Bruce Andres&rsquo; second of the night, won the game in Will Rogers Coliseum. Andres and Darcy Regier had put the Texans in front in the first period, only to see Dallas tie it up early in the second. Hector Marini scored the winning goal in the third, followed by Andres and Ralph Stewart.Andre LePage, who took over the regular netminding chores when Goran Hogosta went to Russia with the NHL team for the Izvestia tournament, looked sharp in the Friday victory, but a little less than that the next night in Dallas.When the Hawks took a 4-1 lead by scoring three times in a little over two minutes early in the second period, Devellano lifted LePage and sent in Paul Joswiak, the rookie from the University of Minnesota.Joswiak stayed in only eight minutes, as three Dallas goals in two-and-a-half minutes brought LePage back to finish the game.Ed Pizunski had given the Texans a 11 tie in the first period. After the Dallas barrage commenced, the Fort Worth scoring was limited to Charlie Skjodt in the second, and Andres in the third.In frustration after the Hawks&rsquo; eighth goal, LePage used his goalie stick as a fungo bat, and the puck almost reached the press box, high at the south end of the rink. Referee Mike Foy gave the goalie a misconduct, as well as a two-minute penalty for &ldquo;delay of the game.&rdquo;The victory in Will Rogers Coliseum had broken a five-game losing streak for the Texans, but the loss in Dallas was their fifth straight reversal on the road. Fort Worth still had a 5-3 edge in the turnpike rivalry, but fell a point behind Dallas in the battle for fourth place.OKLAHOMA CITY: The undermanned Stars played two games about as close as you can play them, but lost both. After falling behind to Dallas, 5-0, in a home game, the Stars nearly pulled it out, but succumbed, 6-5. Two nights later, again in the Myriad, they saw a 2-0 lead over Salt Lake City erased in the third period, and the Eagles won it after 6:54 of overtime play.Following those two losses at home, the Stars journeyed to Tulsa and were decisively outclassed in a 6-1 loss. However, Ted Hampson&rsquo;s Oklahoma City crew still boasted a 5-3-1 advantage in the turnpike series. Their unhappy road record showed seven straight losses.It was the second half of the second period before the Stars got in gear against Dallas. Chuck Arnason and Kelly Greenbank scored in that period, and John Baby and Dan Chicoine narrowed the deficit to 5-4 early in the third. Ernie Hicke got what proved to be the winning goal for Dallas with 2:33 to play. Alex Pirus got Oklahoma City&rsquo;s last goal with 1:17 left, but the Stars couldn&rsquo;t catch up, even when they pulled goalie Pete LoPresti.Greenbank and Pirus counted in the first period against Salt Lake, only to see the Eagles tie it up in the third, and win on Dick Lamby&rsquo;s slapshot in overtime.The only OC goal Saturday in Tulsa came from Peter Shier at 14:50 of the second period, while the Oilers were two men short on penalties.Injuries to leading scorer Mike Eaves (charley horse) and Jamie Gallimore (leg injury) forced coach Hampson to begin playing regularly. The Stars acquired center Angie Moretto when the WHA Indianapolis Racers folded, and right wing Brent Gogol came down from Minnesota.DALLAS: Embarrassed by a third-period letdown in Fort Worth, the Black Hawks came home to their own State Fair Coliseum the next night and really turned things around.&ldquo;Our guys were really hitting, and they never let up,&rdquo; said Dallas coach John Muckier, after the Hawks trounced the Texans, 9-3, avenging the previous night&rsquo;s 5-3 loss.Most of the Dallas goals came in quick bursts. Rob Flockhart had the hat trick, his last two goals less than three minutes apart, late in the final period.After Rob&rsquo;s first-period goal was answered, the Hawks got tallies from Tom Roulston, Steve Hazlett and Rob Tudor in a span of 2:13 early in the second stanza, then saw Brad Gassoff, Hazlett and Ron Carter score in a span of 2:15 later in that period.The previous night in Fort Worth, Bob Manno and Flockhart had gained a 2-2 tie in the middle period, before the Texans regained command in the third.Earlier in the week the Hawks had built a five-goal lead in Oklahoma City, and had almost blown it. Flockhart, Manno and Lars Zetterstrom had counted in the first seven minutes of action, then Manno and Carter raised the margin early in the second. But it took Ernie Hicke&rsquo;s goal with 2:33 remaining in the game to win a 6-5 decision.The Friday loss snapped a five-game unbeaten string, but the Hawks had won their last three at home, and hadn&rsquo;t lost in five starts in their own rink.Dune Wilson worked the loss in Fort Worth, while Curt Ridley was in the nets for both victories. Wilson returned to the Vancouver Canucks, as the next week began. Larry Hendrick, who hadn&rsquo;t worked for two weeks, was expected to alternate with Ridley.TULSA: It was a long time between Oiler home victories, from Nov. 2 to Dec. 14. But Johnny Choyce&rsquo;s team put it all together to stop first-place Salt Lake, 4-2, on Thursday night, then actually made it two home wins in a row by blitzing Oklahoma City, 6-1, two nights later. That scissored a string of four straight losses and six games without a victory in their own Assembly Center.In between the triumphs, the Oilers went to Kansas City, and showed their old defensive weaknesses in a 5-3 loss.Don Kozak&rsquo;s hat trick, with all three goals coming in the third period, provided the victory over Salt Lake. Craig Patrick had tallied the first, but the Oilers trailed, 2-1, after two periods.Overlapping Eagle penalties gave &rsquo; opportunity. He scored at 1:24 of the third, with a two man advantage, and again at 2:28, with the Eagles still a man short. The final goal was into an empty net, with 37 seconds left.Gerry O&rsquo;Flaherty scored in the second period at Kansas City for a short-lived tie, and Brian Hill and Guy Lash added third-period goals, but the Oilers couldn&rsquo;t score goals as fast as they gave them up.It was a vastly different story at home the next night. Bill McKenzie shut out the Stars for almost 35 minutes, and th&lsquo;ey scored their only goal while the Oilers had two men tn the penalty oox.Jim Wiley had the only goal of the first period. Jim MacRae and Ken Kuzyk tallied in the second, and Kuzyk again in the third, followed by O&rsquo;Flaherty and Hill. It was MacRae&rsquo;s third winning goal out of nine Tulsa victories.O&rsquo;Flaherty&rsquo;s goal ran his pointscoring streak to eight games. He was the Oiler leader with 28 points, tied for 10th in the league.Right wing Kurt Walker was out with a shoulder injury. Hill was nursing a leg bruise, but managed to get in some brief playing time.Choyce had words with referee Mike Foy in Kansas City, and with referee Todd Larson at home the following night, disputing some penalty calls. CHL president Bud Poile handed the Tulsa coach a $200 fine for what he termed &ldquo;a regrettable choice of words.&rdquo;SALT LAKE: Doug Grant&rsquo;s string of shutout goaltending and the Golden Eagles&rsquo; eight-game undefeated streak came to an end the same night in Tulsa, as the Birds bowed, 4-2.Grant had blanked Eagle foes for 157 minutes, 58 seconds, and needed 35 more minutes to break the CHL record set by Roy Edwards at Fort Worth 11 years ago.He got only 21 minutes, 59 seconds before Craig Patrick spoiled the shutout bid. But the Eagles led, 2-1, before penalties brought their downfall at the start of the last period, when Don Kozak of Tulsa scored the hat trick on two power play goals and an empty-netter after Grant was pulled. Floyd Thomson and Gordie McTavish had provided the early Salt Lake leads.Back home in the Salt Palace the Eagles rallied on second-period goals by McTavish and Rick Shinske, but couldn&rsquo;t wipe out Kansas City&rsquo;s early three-goal lead. Grant was again the victim, and his departure resulted in another empty-net goal for a 4-2 loss.Despite the losses, Grant continued to lead the league&rsquo;s goalies on a torrid 1.86 average, and Richardson was runnerup at 2.75. &#9632;

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January 12, 1979

Where AHL Teams Play

Erie Turns It Around Playing ‘Team Hockey’

Canadiens Close 78 With Showdown Victory

Ohio State, WMU Broncos Divide; Surprising Billikens Sweep Brown