The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.

March 16, 1979

The Hockey News March 16, 1979

LOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S and Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02242/4258684-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="523" height="550"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Where AHL Teams Play

MONTREAL&mdash;It&rsquo;s that time of year ago, hockey fansFor our many hockey readers who have been waiting anxiously for the chance to get in on the All Star team voting, the time has arrived.This week THE HOCKEY NEWS is publishing the first of two All Star ballots to allow the fans to select their 1979 teams from both the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association.Last season we afforded our readers the opportunity to pick teams from both the NHL and the WHA on the same ballot and the response was overwhelming.So here goes, fans, another chance to pick the best of the major leagues.Beginning our 32nd consecutive year of selection All Star teams, the editors of THE HOCKEY NEWS are again giving their readers a chance to put themselves in the role of hockey experts. It poses a real challenge for the staunch hockey fans and readers are advised they have just two weeks to fulfill their dreams. Remember, there will be All Star ballots in two issues only before we close the 1979 selections. So hurry and get started right away.Selections will follow the same procedure as last season when readers picked two goalers, four defensemen, two centers, two right wings and two left wings from both the NHL and WHA.Picking the All Star teams is only half the challenge.In addition to the first and second All Star teams, the editors are also requesting that readers select a most valuable player and the outstanding rookie of the year from both the NHL and WHA.Picking All Star teams is something most avid hockey fans relish but get very few opportunities to do. THE HOCKEY NEWS gives its readers this chance to exercise their right to select a first and second All Star team. Don&rsquo;t miss out on this test of your hockey knowledge.It&rsquo;s really fun and might require a little more concentration on your part to come up with the best teams. With nearly 350 eligible players from the NHL and 120 from the WHA to choose from, you can expect to have your work cut out for you.Merely clip the ballot shown on this page and then fill in your selections. It&rsquo;s both simple and exciting.As we mentioned previously, All Star ballots will appear in two issues of THE HOCKEY NEWS and final results of the NHL&rsquo;s selections will be published in the issue of April 13. The final WHA selections will appear one week later in the April 20 issue.Remember if one of your favorites should fail to gain a berth on the fans&rsquo; All Star teams by the margin of just a few points, it could be because you didn&rsquo;t take the time to send in your ballot. So right now, while it&rsquo;s still fresh in your mind, fill out the ballot and mail it right away to All Star Editor, THE HOCKEY NEWS, 1434 St. Catherine St. West, Montreal Canada, H3G 1R7.If you need any player help in making your selections, kindly consult the leading player lists of both the NHL and WHA shown in column one and two of this page.So, hurry hockey fans. You only get two chances to pick your favorite All Star teams. &#9632;

Fans Get First Chance To Pick All Stars

<div class="byline">BY JIM LEAHY</div>HERSHEY&mdash;Coach Chuck Hamilton has been replaced by veteran Fred Stanfield and the Bears have come to life with four straight wins under the ex-National Hockey League performer. During the week, the club won three games to move within one point of second place Binghamton. They beat Maine 6-3 and New Haven by the same score at the Hershey Park Arena. Up in Rochester, the Bears exploded for a 6-1 victory over the slumping Amerks.Stanfield may decide to make better use of right wing Archie Handerson, who at six-foot-six is the tallest player in the American Hockey League.A crowd of 5,482 in Hershey saw the Bears roar out of the starting gate in the third period to break open a 3-3 contest with a trio of goals in the last twenty minutes. Rick Bragnalo&rsquo;s 13th goal of the season at 7:57 of the period proved to be all the Bears needed to cool down the red-hot New Haven Nighthawks and skate to the 6-3 win.NEW BRUNSWICK: Defenseman Kevin Kemp has been suspended for a total of nine games, including all remaining games, both regular season and playoffs, against the Maine Mariners. Kemp also received a $100 fine for his stick swinging incident in the Maine-New Brunswick game played at Moncton recently.The Hawks are in a mild slump, winning only one of their last four games, and dropping further behind the frontrunning Maine Mariners. Three games played up in the Maritimes last week resulted in two losses for the Hawks. A 4-2 win over the Binghamton Dusters was followed by a 5-0 loss on home ice to Nova Scotia and a 4-2 defeat in Halifax at the hands of the Vees.Besides the loss of Kemp, the Hawks saw veteran winger Mike Walton go up to the parent Chicago Black Hawks. The club signed rookie defenseman Dennis Henderson to a tryout contract in an effort to bolster their depleted forces.PHILADELPHIA: Keeping up with the roster changes on the struggling Philadelphia Firebirds may soon require a high speed ticker. In a flurry of activity, the &lsquo;Birds lost goaltender Rick St. Croix (callup), defenseman Barry wilkins and goaltender Doug Faval (injured) and winger Peter Jack (sent down). Goalie Glen Tendler was signed to a tryout contract and winger/defenseman Kevin Morrison was inked as a free agent after his release from the WHA. In addition, rookie Dale Yakiwchuck has been out off the Firebird roster for more than two weeks with a severe case of the flu. Winger Jim Troy has been playing with a neck injury and the club has been forced to play with three men under the roster limit, which makes it difficult for coach Bep Guidolin, who gets little or no help from the Colorado Rockies.Philadelphia dropped four of their last five games and is deeper into the southern Division cellar. The &lsquo;Birds were badly beaten (7-0) in a game played in New Haven, which mercifully, was the only contest on the schedule for the undermanned Firebirds.NOVA SCOTIA: Don&rsquo;t look now, but the Nova Scotia Voyageurs are silently creeping up closer to second place New Brunswick in the Northern Division race. The Vees won two games last week, both over arch-rival New Brunswick, and now just five points in back of the Hawks.Dave Lumley, Jerry Byers and Rick Meagher pace the Voyageur scoring attack and they Vees would be a lot tougher if they hadn&rsquo;t lost star forward Norm Dupont to an injury last month.NEW HAVEN: Hershey ended New Haven&rsquo;s six game win streak, but the Nighthawks are running away with the Southern Division race, posting a 15-2-2 record in the last 19 games. The Nighthawks established a club record with their 7-0 win over Philadelphia at the Coliseum. It extended their unbeaten streak to 13 games on home ice. For rookie goaltender Steve Baker, it was his first professional shutout and his outstanding performance had the 6,074 fans chanting &ldquo;Baker-Baker-Baker&rdquo; as the buzzer sounded ending the contest.Nighthaws attendance is nearly 24,000 ahead of last year&rsquo;s pace and increasing substantially as the club mows down every team record on the books.ROCHESTER: Winless in their last six games, troubles continue to mount for the Amerks. For the first time in years, there is a real possibility that the team will not make the playoffs. In action only once during the week, the Amerks were bombed on home ice 6-1 by the rapidly improving Hershey Bears.Winger Bill Bennett is the only player who continues to have an excellent season even though the club is losing. At this writing, he leads all Rochester scorers with 24 goals and 30 assists in 54 games.BINGHAMTON: After dropping five of their last six, the Dusters now hold a slim one point lead over Hershey in the battle for second place in the Southern Division. They lost both games on this week&rsquo;s schedule dropping a 4-2 contest in New Brunswick and were outskated 5-3 by the Maine Mariners in a game played at the Broome County Arena where the usual noisy crowd makes it difficult for the visiting team to win.SPRINGFIELD: &ldquo;Our players are beginning to believe in themselves. They now sense that they can make the playoffs,&rdquo; said Indians&rsquo; coach Pete Stemkowski. The Indians have been on the move since Stemkowski took over the coaching reins just before Christmas. The Tribe has a record of 16-10-4 and is 8-4-2 on the road.In an effort to strengthen the team down the stretch run, the Indians have brought in two left wingers on 10-game tryouts. Brian Drumm and Paul Tantardini have been added to the roster in an attempt to give the club some additional aggressiveness.Captain Andre Peloffy, who is the leading all-time scorer among active AHL players, needs only three more goals before he reaches the magic 200 goal plateau in his AHL career.MAINE: Glen Cochrane and Gary Morrison each received a one-game suspension as a result of their activities in a recent game with the New Brunswick Hawks. Fines totalling more than $2,300 were assessed by the AHL as the league continues to punish those who resort to senseless violence on the ice.The Mariners stretched their lead to eight points over second, place New Brunswick by winning two of three during the week. In a game scheduled at Portland between the Mariners and Hershey, the Mariners skated to a 5-3 win at Binghamton and then defeated the Indians 8-5 in Springfield.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01357/4258653-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="514" height="695"><figcaption class="caption-body">FRED STANFIELD&hellip;Doing The Job</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Bears Come Alive For Stanfield; Roster Changes Keep Birds In Bind

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01323/4258715-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="554" height="1682"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM MAYER&hellip;In Select Company</figcaption></div>DALLAS&mdash;Fantastic, Unbelievable. They were just two of the adjectives bandied about to describe the record individual scoring performance of Jim Mayer of the Dallas Black Hawks.Mayer, who scored six goals in one game to set a new Central Hockey League single game record, joined a very select few in pro hockey who have scored six times in a game.In the National Hockey League, Darryl Sittier and Red Berenson were the only two in modern times to achieve the milestone while in the American Hockey League the trick hasn&rsquo;t been turned in 23 years. Camille Henry did it last in the AHL with Providence in 1955-56 and before that Bob Heron scored six in 1941-42 with Pittsburgh and Harry Pidhirny with Syracuse in 1953-54, which puts Mayer in pretty choice company.The 24-year-old Mayer from Capreol, Ont., who belongs to the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association, didn&rsquo;t start his harvest until 18:23 of the first period, after Tulsa had taken a 2-1 lead. He contributed two more in the second, and capped the record night with three in the third, two of them on power plays as Dallas beat Tulsa 8-6.Six players had shared the old CHL mark of five goals in a game. Alain Caron set the record for St. Louis in 1963-64, and it had been equaled by Tom McCarthy for Tulsa in 1964-65, John McKenzie for St. Louis the same season, Steve Vickers for Omaha in 1971-72, Ralph Stewart for Fort Worth in 1972-73, and Moe L&rsquo;Abbe for Dallas in that same year.The week started poorly for John Muckier&rsquo;s Hawks. They dropped a 6-4 decision in Oklahoma City. But the following night they invaded Fort Worth and came home with a 4-2 victory. It was followed by a 7-2 home romp over league-leading Salt Lake after Mayer&rsquo;s big night.With those three wins, the Hawks took over second place by four points over Kansas City, but still trailed the front-running Eagles by 17.Gerry Minor and Tom Roulston provided a 2-1 lead in the first period at Oklahoma City, but it didn&rsquo;t last two minutes. Steve Clippingdale tied the score in the second period, and Drew Callender narrowed the deficit to 5-4 with 5:25 left, but the Stars got an empty-net goal after Hawk netminder Curt Ridley was lifted.Curt Ridley made it three straight wins for him blanking Salt Lake for 34 minutes, while the Hawks were scoring four times. When Mayer began his barrage, the fans were wondering if he&rsquo;d go for seven. But Jim settled for a pair, matched by Roulston, with Steve Hazlett, Doug Berry and Minor also scoring.OKLAHOMA CITY: A break-even week dropped the Stars to fifth place, two back of Fort Worth in the fight for the final playoff position.Angie Moretto&rsquo;s two goals paced Ted Hampson&rsquo;s men to a 6-4 home triumph over Dallas, but a trip to Kansas City resulted in a 5-1 setback.The Stars had to play five minutes shorthanded at the start of the game in KC, when Bryan Maxwell drew a major penalty for high-sticking with injury. It wasn&rsquo;t until a Don Jackson tripping penalty left OC two short that the Wings got their first score.However, that one goal proved almost enough, as the Stars couldn&rsquo;t score on KC goalie Ron Low until 18:03 of the third period, when Chicoine got a power goal. By that time the Wings had mounted a four-goal advantage. It was the Stars fourth straight road loss.With Jim Warden in California for his sister&rsquo;s funeral, Pete LoPresti was the only OC goalie. Mike Eaves returned to duty after a shoulder injury layoff that had cost him the league scoring leadership. Injured Jamie Gallimore and Jim McKenny had resumed skating, but weren&rsquo;t ready for action yet.Veteran center Tom Cassidy, who scored 35 goals and 85 points for the OC Blazers in 1975-76, was acquired on loan from the Pittsburgh Penguins.TULSA: Two losses and a tie did nothing for the Oilers&rsquo; playoff hopes. Coach Johnny Choyce was irate over the officiating in an 8-6 setback in Dallas and a 2-2 tie in F.ort Worth.&ldquo;In Fort Worth, the tying goal (by Yvon Vautour with 58 seconds left in regulation play) never did go into the net,&rdquo; Choyce fumed. And in Dallas they allowed a goal that Rick Blight slapped in with his glove.&rdquo;There wasn&rsquo;t much Choyce could say about the week&rsquo;s first game, as Salt Lake goalie Doug Grant administered a 4-0 whitewash on Tulsa ice.SALT LAKE: Five games in six nights, the last four on the road, finally took their toll on Jack Evans&rsquo; leagueleading Golden Eagles. The stingiest defense in the CHL was upset in Fort Worth, 6-4, then bombed in Dallas, 7-2.Even so, it was a winning week for the Big Birds. They wound up a homestand by whipping Kansas City, 7-4. In Tulsa Grant posted a 4-0 shutout, and the Eagles won a rematch in KC, 5-2. Even after the two losses, they were in front of runnerup Dallas by 17 points, with only two and one-half weeks left in the regular schedule.Injuries thinned the Eagle ranks. Center Doug Palazzari was out with an ankle injury, and Brian Ogilvie suffered a cut eye in the home victory. Ogilvie received 15 stitches in and around the eye after the accident, but the injury was found to be not as serious as first believed.Rick Shinske became the league&rsquo;s No. 2 scorer with 62 points, only two behind Dallas&rsquo; departed Rob Tudor. Floyd Thomson, leading the loop with 32 goals, was fourth in scoring with 60 points.Terry Richardson posted his seventh straight victory and his 12th game without defeat, both franchise records, in the game at KC.KANSAS CITY: After a pair of losses to first-place Salt Lake (7-4 in the Salt Palace, 5-2 in Kemper Arena), the Red Wings regained the winning touch by routing Oklahoma City, 5-1, in Kemper. But they dropped to third place, four points behind Dallas and only two ahead of Fort Worth.Low shut out the Stars for 58:03 before Chicoine beat him on a power play. Rick Vasko had two goals, with the others contributed by Sylvain Locas, Roland Cloutier and Jim Maladrewicz.Mai Davis and J.P. LeBlanc (returning after three weeks in Detroit) shared ninth place in the league scoring on 48 points.FORT WORTH: Three home games made a break-even week for Billy MacMillan&rsquo;s Texans. They rallied for a 2-2 tie against Tulsa, and beat Salt Lake, 64, after falling to Dallas, 6-4.Left wing Alex McKendry was summoned by the New York Islanders. Charlie Skjodt and Mike Hordy were tied for ninth in CHL scoring, on 49 points. McKendry&rsquo;s 153 penalty-minutes had him No. 2 in the league at the time of his departure. &#9632;

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Mayer Turns In Fantastic Six-Goal Game

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01693/4259070-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div>&mdash;Page 9 &#9632;

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CONFUSING LEAFS FIRE, REHIRE COACH

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011057/4256616-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">CLARK GILLIES&hellip; Immoveable In The Slot (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;The man they call Jethroe showed the Montreal Canadiens how to work the slot. While Les Habitants might have been concentrating a bit too much on wonder scorer Mike Bossy, the New York Islanders&rsquo; Godzilla (Clark Gillies) took four shots and found the range on three of them. The result&mdash;a 7-3 hosing of the Stanley Cup champions&mdash;and renewed hope that New York could edge Montreal in the battle for first place overall.&ldquo;We couldn&rsquo;t let them think they could best us any time they wanted to,&rdquo; said the massive six-foot-three, 24-year-old captain of the Islanders.The big win gave the Isles a 2-1 advantage over Montreal in head-to-head meetings, with one game remaining.Gillies&rsquo; three goals gave him 30 for the season, the fourth year in a row the former Regina Pat junior has reached the 30 goal plateau.For a young man, Gillies has seen both sides of the coin. Two years back he scored four consecutive game-winning Stanley Cup goals against Chicago and Buffalo. Last year, Lanny McDonald of the Toronto Maple Leafs beat Jethroe on his way to the overtime sudden death goal which eliminated the Islanders in the playoffs.In a sense, he epitomizes the Islanders&mdash;gentle off the ice and mean on it. Since he beat on Dave Schultz in the 1974-75 playoffs, Clark has been the Islanders main man&mdash;their intimidator. But he doesn&rsquo;t relish the role, even though he uses his massive body to protect smaller teammates.As the Islanders protector many overlook Gillies&rsquo; skill as a player. His skating has improved tremendously since he made his debut in 1974-75. And he understands that the more often he shoots the more likely he is to score.&ldquo;I have become more aggressive about shooting,&rdquo; admits Gillies. &ldquo;Early in the season I was tentative, hesitating, looking to pass, now I just let it go at the net when I get a chance.&rdquo;Since Gillies is like the 800-pound gorilla, in that he can set up shop anywhere he wants to, the Islanders 200-pound Godzilla usually can be found digging the puck out of the corners or planting himself in the slot.Against Montreal, Gillies had only four shots&mdash;all from relatively close rang?. On his first goal, he and Bossy reversed their usual roles. Mike stole the puck from Larry Robinson along the right boards and passed in front to Gillies, who steered it behind the Canadiens Ken Dryden.On goal number two, Bossy passed ahead to Bryan Trottier in the corner to the left of the Montreal goal. Trots found Gillies in the slot&mdash;and Clark pulled the trigger. Jethroe completed the hat trick by scoring from the right faceoff circle on passes from Bossy and Gerry Hart.Many Islander fans want Gillies to be mean all the time on the ice. Basically, he is a very mild, gentle person. When roused he can be a raging tiger, but he primarily is very level-headed. Early in the year, he was mildly booed at the Nassau Coliseum and tried to shrug it off as meaning nothing.After that the biggest of the Islanders doffed his helmet, and started grinding. General manager Bill Torrey informed Gillies that rival coaches counseled their players, &ldquo;leave Gillies alone if he&rsquo;s sleeping.&rdquo;In the Montreal game coach Al Arbour thought the Islanders might not be as awake as possible at the end of the first period when the score was tied 1-1.&ldquo;Al lectured us,&rdquo; revealed Gillies. &ldquo;And pointed out what had to be done. After that, we played a solid game, opening it up a bit in the third period. Montreal is going to be in the finals and we had to show we could beat em.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Gillies’ Scoring Provides lmpetus As Islanders Roar

<h2>THE NHL&hellip;</h2>Atlanta&hellip;&hellip;10Boston&hellip;&hellip;5Buffalo&hellip;&hellip;15Chicago&hellip;&hellip;17Colorado&hellip;&hellip;20Detroit&hellip;&hellip;15Los Angeles&hellip;&hellip;17Minnesota&hellip;&hellip;18Montreal&hellip;&hellip;8N.Y. Islanders&hellip;&hellip;2N.Y. Rangers&hellip;&hellip;19Philadelphia&hellip;&hellip;6Pittsburgh&hellip;&hellip;12St. Louis&hellip;&hellip;20Toronto&hellip;&hellip;9Vancouver&hellip;&hellip;4Washington&hellip;&hellip;3<h2>THE WHA&hellip;</h2>Birmingham&hellip;&hellip;28Cincinnati&hellip;&hellip;25Edmonton&hellip;&hellip;28New England&hellip;&hellip;28Quebec&hellip;&hellip;28Winnipeg&hellip;&hellip;24<h2>OTHER LEAGUES&hellip;</h2>Colleges&hellip;&hellip;29American&hellip;&hellip;32Central&hellip;&hellip;33International&hellip;&hellip;34Ontario Major&hellip;&hellip;36North Eastern&hellip;&hellip;27WHL&hellip;&hellip;37Quebec Major&hellip;&hellip;38<h2>COLUMNISTS&hellip;</h2>Ken McKenzie&hellip;&hellip;4Bob Verdi&hellip;&hellip;6Bill Libby&hellip;&hellip;8Bill Fleischman&hellip;&hellip;12<h2>FEATURES&hellip;</h2>Player Movements&hellip;&hellip;5Fan Forum&hellip;&hellip;10Hockey People&hellip;&hellip;14NHL Scoreboard&hellip;&hellip;22Minor Scoreboard&hellip;&hellip;35Amateur Scoreboard&hellip;&hellip;39Junior Jottings&hellip;&hellip;39 &#9632;

Where To Find It…

<div class="byline">BY NORM MacLEAN</div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;In the wake of Denis Potvin&rsquo;s hard bodycheck which fractured New York Ranger center Ulf Nilsson&rsquo;s right ankle in the Islanders 3-2 loss to the Rangers Feb. 25, an increase in the bitter feeling between the teams seems almost certain.Nilsson will be in a cast for six weeks and unable to play for two months. The Rangers would have to advance to the semi-finals in the Stanley Cup playoffs if Ulf is to play anymore this year.&ldquo;He tried to pivot away from me as I went into him and he didn&rsquo;t make it,&rdquo; said Potvin, referring to the bodycheck he delivered at Nilsson. It was a clean hit.&rdquo;Referee Bruce Hood agreed with Potvin and didn&rsquo;t call a penalty.After the game, Ranger coach Fred Shero mildly said, &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t penalize Potvin for a hard hit. That goes on all the time with our Nick Fotiu. He gets penalized because he is big and hits hard.&rdquo;Nonetheless, the capacity Madison Square Garden crowd cursed and insulted Potvin in unison. Hedberg complained bitterly to Hood and the general tone of the Ranger dressing room was one of subdued anger.The Ranger win evened the season series between the two teams at three games apiece. Look for real fireworks when the teams meet again, March 17 at the Nassau Coliseum, and April 8 at the Garden. &#9632;

Shero Says Potvin Check On Nilsson A ‘Clean Hit’

TORONTO&mdash;One of the top items on the summer hockey meetings June 3-10 in the Bahamas will be a request by the NHL Players&rsquo; Association to the club owners for a shorter schedule starting next season.Alan Eagleson, the executive director of the NHLPA, said he expects the players to make a proposal for a reduction from an 80 to 72-game schedule along with a 10 per cent reduction on an average NHL salary contract.Eagleson said the players know they will have to accept less money in order to attain a shorter playing schedule. He says the NHL players are growing tired of the long 80-game schedule and constant travelling. Eagleson commented they are worried about fatigue and subpar performances if they continue playing at their present pace.NHL president John Ziegler said a shorter schedule is negotiable but he added that team owners would want to be compensated in the matter of lost revenue &mdash; concessions, parking, advertising &mdash; with fewer games before they would agree to the players&rsquo; demands.<h2>Canada May Pass On World Cup</h2>TORONTO&mdash;There is a possibility Canada may bypass the World Cup of hockey if the event is not staged in Canada next year.The International Ice Hockey Federation issued a warning to Hockey Canada that unless peace is restored between the warring CAHA and Hockey Canada groups, the World Cup may be moved to Europe.The World Cup &mdash; formerly known as the Canada Cup &mdash; was staged in 1976 with Team Canada the winner against the Soviet Union, Czechs, Finland, Sweden and the U.S.A. The next event was slated for Canada in September but was recently called off as the result of a control dispute between Hockey Canada and the CAHA. Both Stockholm and Vienna want the event if Canada doesn&rsquo;t get it.<h2>Atlanta Hot Team Down The Stretch</h2>NEW YORK&mdash;The NHL&rsquo;s hottest team going down the stretch is the Atlanta Flames.The Flames, who have gained 14 of a possible 18 points since the All Star break, are locked in a showdown for second place with the Rangers in the Patrick Division. The two teams meet each other three times before the end of the schedule Apr. 8.Atlanta has lost only once in nine starts since the teams resumed play after the Challenge Cup series.<h2>Injury Knocks Out &lsquo;Iron Man&rsquo; Libett</h2>DETROIT&mdash;The NHL has one less &lsquo;iron man&rsquo; today. Nick Libett of the Detroit Red Wings was forced out of the lineup by a knee injury last weekend for the first time since the 1974 season.The durable Red Wing left winger has performed in 389 consecutive games and while he was well off the pace set by the NHL&rsquo;s &lsquo;iron man&rsquo; leader Garry Unger, who has performed in 849 straight games, Libett&rsquo;s play with Detroit has been highly consistent.In 1974 when he suffered torn knee ligaments, Libett has not missed a game until last week. In 12 seasons in the NHL, he has been out of the lineup for only 17 games. &#9632;

Players Seeking Shorter Schedule

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011064/4256740-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">RYAN WALTER&hellip;Six Weeks Of &lsquo;Plus&rsquo; Games (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>WASHINGTON&mdash;Writing about Ryan Walter the day before he made his National Hockey League debut, Washington Post reporter Bob Fachet observed &ldquo;It is difficult not to be infected by his enthusiasm.&rdquo;Impossible may be a better word.Walter is a rare one, a youngster with talent who also seems to radiate positive energy in all directions. Mild-mannered and polite off the ice, Walter shifts gears when he straps on skates. The articulate scholar with a year of college credits becomes a savvy centerman who seems to thrive on pressure. Faceoffs are won, bodychecks thrown with abandon, and the ice hums with activity.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the top prospects of the year,&rdquo; says team scoring ace Guy Charron. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got all the tools it takes to become a super star, and he&rsquo;s got that leadership thing, too.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s heady praise indeed, but the performance of this 20-year-old native of British Columbia back it up.Walter has already popped in 24 goals, within two of the Capitals&rsquo; club rookie record of 26. His 19 assists gave him 43 points on the year which ranks him third among NHL rookies, trailing only Bobby Smith of Minnesota and Wayne Babych of St. Louis and just ahead of Vancouver&rsquo;s Thomas Gradin.Because of his strong leadership qualities, Walter must rank as a top threat for the Calder Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year, along with Smith, Babych, Gradin, Philadelphia defenseman Behn Wilson, and Pittsburgh surprise Rod Schutt, who has also reached the 20-goal mark.All this despite the fact that Walter had played only 50 of his team&rsquo;s first 61 games, missing all of training camp and the first two weeks of the season with cartilege damage to his left knee, and a bunch of games later on to a torn ribcage muscle suffered in a collision with Boston&rsquo;s Mike Milbury.To top it off, Walter has not been playing his normal position. AnMVP at center in junior hockey, he has been seeing duty at left wing through the last three months.Still the 20-year-old from Burnaby, British Columbia continues to shine. This winter, despite his late start out of the gate, he became the first Capital to break the 20-goal barrier, knocking it in on Jan. 27, in the team&rsquo;s 4-1 triumph over Chicago.He later went on to score in five straight games (something no Capital had ever accomplished before) and led the club to the best month (9-5-1) in the team&rsquo;s five-year history.But most importantly he established himself as a two-way player who could stand up to the stress and strain of the NHL.&ldquo;The thing that stands out is his attitude,&rdquo; said Capitals&rsquo; general manager Max McNab after watching Walter play his first 40 games. &ldquo;He plays a physical, unselfish game, and he has national league anticipation. It&rsquo;s the intangibles that make him so valuable.&rdquo;Those intangibles were much in evidence through the early part of the season. One evening the Capitals engaged the Atlanta Flames in a wild shootout. It was 8-7 Capitals&rsquo; favor with minutes to go, but the Flames had pulled their goalie and were pressing.&ldquo;It was Ryan who cleared the puck in the last seconds,&rdquo; remembered McNab. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just like Bobby Clarke&mdash;he&rsquo;s always there when you need him.&rdquo;&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s dandy,&rdquo; adds Bruin coach Don Cherry, and Wayne Babych of St. Louis, one of Walters&rsquo; competitors for the Calder Cup concurs.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re playing with him, he&rsquo;s always there when you need him,&rdquo; noted Babych in Gordon Chaplin&rsquo;s article in the Washington Magazine. &ldquo;And if you&rsquo;re against him, he&rsquo;s always there when you don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;&ldquo;When I came to Washington, not only me, but some of the other guys, found a negative attitude,&rdquo; Walter says. &ldquo;We decided to try and change that. We tried to think positive and its starting to work.&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll just aim for the sky and shoot for the treetops,&rdquo; he concluded.While the Captials are no shoo-in for the playoffs, they have made important strides. The team has passed their 1977-78 win total (of 17) and is aiming for the club mark of 24, set in 1976-77.Such team records are the ones that get Walter truly excited. Earlier this winter he went an incredible six weeks without being a minus in any one game. The streak spanned Dec. 17 to Jan. 27 and covered 27 games.It was a remarkable performance in that displayed consistency laudable by anyone&rsquo;s standards, much less a rookie playing on a team in the lower half of the league.Yet Walter saved his enthusiasm for his team&rsquo;s success.&ldquo;I had the opportunity of going with a World Hockey Association team,&rdquo; said Walter in an article by Dave Kindred in the Washington POST. &ldquo;But I could see the opportunity growing with the Capitals. They started at the bottom and we have had hard times. But I see ourselves as the next New York Islanders.&rdquo;Before you chuckle, remember that many of the Capitals best players (Dennis Maruk, Bob Sirois, Robert Picard, Rick Green and Tom Rowe) are all 25 or under.Meanwhile, on the way up, Walter continues to draw raves. &ldquo;He plays every game as if his life depends on it,&rdquo; wrote Bruce Penton in THE HOCKEY NEWS, way back before the 1978 amateur draft. That observation proves more accurate with each passing game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03621/4256733-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="484" height="521"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04370/4256726-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="477" height="511"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Bruce Bonnett)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-05209/4256719-1-eng-US/f0003-052.jpg" title="f0003-05" width="482" height="512"><figcaption class="caption-body">Amont other first-year standouts are Thomas Gradin, left, who has amazed Vancouver fans despite injuries, Wayne Babych, center of St. Louis, a natural scorer who keys the club&rsquo;s big line, and Bobby Smith, the NHL&rsquo;s No. 1 draft choice who overcame a slow start in Minnesota to currently lead all rookies in scoring. (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0003-01

Caps’ Walter Radiates Leadership Qualities

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011115/4256799-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="373" height="465"></div>&bull; THE MONTREAL Canadiens were involved in an unusual hockey hat trick in that on three occasions this year the coaches of teams that had just lost to the Canadiens were fired. First Marcel Pronovost of Buffalo was axed in December after the Sabres lost a home-and-home series, then on Jan. 30, Philadephia fired coach Bob McCammon after a loss to the Canadiens and Roger Neilson became the third to lose his job, although he was quickly hired again&hellip;Among the rising young stars from American college ranks, one to particularly watch is Ralph Cox, a Braintree, Mass, native who recently set the New England career record for goals. Cox, a senior at the University of New Hampshire, was drafted by the Boston Bruins, but is still undecided whether to turn to professional hockey or play for the U.S. Olympic team&hellip;Wes George, a first-year player with the Edmonton Oilers may be through for the season because of a problem with his heart. An irregular beat turned up during training camp but the Oilers were told it wasn&rsquo;t serious. George was playing for Flint in the International League for the Oilers under coach Marc Boileau who said that it may be a more serious valve problem which has put the former Saskatoon Blade player out of the lineup&hellip;New York Rangers&rsquo; trainer Nick Garen is into his 30th years as an NHL trainer. He&rsquo;s been with the Rangers for the past five seasons, served two with the Islanders and 23 with the Chicago Black Hawks.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021070/4256792-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="288" height="476"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wes George</figcaption></div>&bull; AMONG THOSE who viewed the NHL&rsquo;s defeat in the Challenge Cup as the &ldquo;Embarrassment of the Century,&rdquo; are the Warwick brothers who led the Penticton Vees to the world amateur championship by deteating the Soviets 5-0 in the 1955 title game. Grant Warwick, who I played nine seasons in the NHL said he didn&rsquo;t think there I were any players on Team NHL that could have made their 1955 squad&hellip;Brother Bill said that the Soviets&rsquo; style was almost identical to that of the Vees. &ldquo;It looks like they filmed our club and made some improvements. They are skating, passing and shooting the way teams in Canada used to&hellip;Third brother Dick added, &ldquo;They should stop the kids from using curved sticks and slapshots and from dumping the puck into the other team&rsquo;s end so they could learn some of the basics.&rdquo;&hellip;Former Montreal Canadien star Doug Harvey blasted the NHL&rsquo;s &ldquo;shoot it in and chase it&rdquo; pattern. Harvey says that hockey is being taken too seriously and that all of the fun has gone out of the game and that&rsquo;s why so many youngsters are dropping out of the game at earlier ages than before&hellip;New England Whalers&rsquo; coach Bill Dineen has no lack of interest in hockey around his home, though. He has five sons playing the game, ranging from eldest son, Shawn, a sophomore at the University of Denver to pee wee-aged Jerry, who plays for the Junior Whalers&hellip;Reggie Leach has nicknamed Philadelphia coach Pat Quinn, &ldquo;the Marathon Man&rdquo; for his lengthy practices.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03965/4256785-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="286" height="425"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Dineen</figcaption></div>&bull; PLAYERS HAVE come to the defense of their coaches who were fired recently. In Winnipeg, Jets&rsquo; player Terry Ruskowski called Larry Hillman&rsquo;s firing &ldquo;unjust.&rdquo; Said Ruskowski, &ldquo;I used to think I would like to be a coach but not anymore. Not after this. I thought he was a good coach.&rdquo;&hellip;Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; captain Darryl Sittler said in Montreal, &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t blame our troubles on Roger Neilson. Nobody works harder on this club than he does.&rdquo;&hellip;Those running the hockey clubs apparently felt differently than the players&hellip;The new rink under construction at Harvard University is going to be five feet longer than usual. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have the capacity to go wider or I&rsquo;d do that, too,&rdquo; says Harvard coach Bill Cleary. &ldquo;The game should be going to bigger rinks. The players are getting bigger and the rinks get smaller. There&rsquo;s still room in hockey for the little man and the bigger rinks give them a better chance to play the game.&rdquo;&hellip;The emergence of Ron Sedlbauer, who has always maintained a commendable plus-minus rating on a weak team, as a gifted scorer, has to be one of the most heartening aspects of the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; season&hellip;Public demand has moved the Winnipeg Jets to offer an expanded line of souvenirs and products carrying the Jets&rsquo; logo. Bob Bell has been placed in charge of marketing. Bell previously held the position of director of sales and has been with the club since its inception.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04863/4256778-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="289" height="427"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Sedlbauer</figcaption></div>MINNESOTA GOALIE Gilles Meloche had this to say about Philadelphia forward Paul Holmgren&rsquo;s frequent contacts with the goalies: &ldquo;He fell on me two or three times (in a recent game). When it happens that much, it not an accident. He&rsquo;ll be like (Gary) Dornhoefer&mdash;sidelined alot. He&rsquo;ll have a few broken ankles before he&rsquo;s done.&rdquo;&hellip;February has been a cruel month for the New York Rangers in the last half dozen years. This year the team lost Ron Greschner, John Davidson and Ulf Nilsson in February and going back to 1973 when Bruce McGregor was sidelined with a fractured ankle, at least one starter has gone down for an extended period. In 1974 Walt Tkaczuk fractured his jaw; in 1975 Brad Park strained a knee; in &lsquo;76, Gilles Marotte and Tkaczuk were injured; in &lsquo;77 it was Dave Maloney and Don Murdoch and last year Maloney missed nine February games with a strained knee&hellip;One of the fastest selling hockey merchandise items currently is the practice target used on Hockey Night in Canada&rsquo;s Showdown intermission feature. Sets of four non-breakable targets with pop-out centers are being produced by PIC a promotion inc. of Thornhill, Ont&hellip;George Karman, chairman of HOCKEY (Help Our Children Keep Enjoying Youth) in the Metropolitan New York area has contacted the Islanders and the Rangers in the hopes of arranging an exhibition game to benefit youth hockey. It sounds like a good idea.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05724/4256771-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="287" height="422"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gilles Meloche</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;While the Vancouver Canucks were tying up all the loose ends of their ongoing sagas, the Chicago Black Hawks were taking a stranglehold&mdash;yes, eight points&mdash;on the Smythe Division lead.Eight points in any other division would normally not scare anyone, nor does it scare the Vancouver Canucks. They have a lot of home games remaining and they say they&rsquo;re still hopeful of a first place finish. They have two games left with the Hawks&mdash;a team they have beaten like a drum so far&mdash;and three more home games with Colorado, so it&rsquo;s not impossible. But to seasoned observers of the &ldquo;slug division,&rdquo; trying to blow an eight point lead is like trying to spend the Rockefeller fortune. It may be possible for the Hawks to suspend operations for the year and still remain in first place. It can take months for Smythe Division teams to gather in that much ground.But rather than meanmouth a division that needs all the understanding it can garner, it might be best to describe the various oddities that may be discussed upon entering the Canucks&rsquo; office these days.The case of Kevin McCarthy is coming to a head, as it is now known that the 21-year-old right side defenseman will need an operation to cure his hip cartilege problem and will be lost to the club for the rest of the year. The main argument in favor of the Canucks being awarded some compensation from president John Ziegler stems from the fact that the Flyers knew about his problems before they dealt him west with Drew Callander for Dennis Ververgaert.Flyers&rsquo; general manager Keith Allen claims he had no knowledge of McCarthy&rsquo;s ailments, but the youngster flew to New York this week to explain the timing and status of his ailment.&ldquo;I just told Mr. Ziegler that I had the problem before I came to Vancouver and that it had to be taped for games,&rdquo; said McCarthy. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what will happen, I&rsquo;m just so frustrated at not being able to play. When you come to a new team, you want to show everyone that you&rsquo;re a hard worker and that the trade is going to work out, but I feel as though I&rsquo;m on the outside now. It&rsquo;s the toughest thing in my career so far.&rdquo;Canucks are asking for a second round draft choice from the Flyers and likely expecting at least to have his salary for the remainder of the season paid. What is likely to happen is very little, though it might be said the Canucks could use an extra choice in the second round.Meanwhile, the man who issued the play me or trade me dictum, Rick Blight, is being played&mdash;in Dallas. The hard-shooting right winger cleared waivers with no takers and was promptly shipped down to the Central League where the team is hoping he&rsquo;ll play himself back into top form. Canucks feel as though his attitude has improved since he made the statements, and that he must be given a second chance. One of the reasons there were no takers at his waiver price was that he has just signed a contract for three years plus an option calling for an estimated $125,000 per annum, though the figure sounds high.Further, there should be some medical research into the area of Vancouver. It seems that nobody heals in this town, at least not hockey players.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-06431/4256830-1-eng-US/f0004-062.jpg" title="f0004-06" width="553" height="684"><figcaption class="caption-body">PIT MARTIN&hellip;Still Sidelined</figcaption></div>Don Lever had a partially separated shoulder, and though he&rsquo;s back between Ron Sedlbauer and Don Kozak, he&rsquo;s not 100 percent yet. Defenseman Jack Mcllhargey was supposed to be back immediately after the All Star break, but now his whiplash injury has not responded to treatment and he may not be back until the middle of March. Glen Hanlon, the goaltender who had a nice shot at the rookie of the year award until he stretched the ligaments in his knee, is going to be in his cast longer than expected. Hanlon himself says he&rsquo;s likely to have an ulcer by the time he gets back, as he so much hates to miss games. Then there is the case of Pit Martin.When he injured his ankle against Montreal, it was expected he&rsquo;d be out about three weeks. Suddenly there was a tear in the ankle ligaments and he&rsquo;s been on the shelf for over a month, as he is not expected back until mid-March. Bill Derlago, the team&rsquo;s top draft choice last year, seems to be the only cripple mending on time, as he was hurt back before Christmas, his knee coming around after the operation. &#9632;

f0004-06

Divisional Hopes Starting To Fade From Canuck View

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01966/4256909-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRAD PARK&hellip;His Most Frustrating Year</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;The first thing Don Cherry did one morning before a game in Vancouver was to look up Brad Park.&ldquo;If you say your knee is swollen,&rdquo; the Boston Bruins&rsquo;s coach told his star defenseman, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to choke you to death.&rdquo;Fortunately for his windpipe, Park was able to say that his knee felt pretty good and he did play that night against the Canucks, although not as much as usual.Cherry probably would not have carried out his threat but it indicates the importance that the Bruins place on the ability of a healthy Park to play regularly as the long season winds down to the playoffs.Boston has been in the Stanley Cup finals for the past two seasons and, if any one skater can be said to have put them there, it is Park.Without him, it is not likely that the Bruins can compete on an equal basis with the likes of Montreal and the Islanders in a seven-game series.&ldquo;This is probably my most frustrating year,&rdquo; said Park. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m kind of disappointed because I&rsquo;ve usually been able to bounce right back after surgery.&rdquo;Park&rsquo;s right knee, which was first operated on in 1966 when he was with the junior Toronto Marlboros, gave out on him when he fell during an exhibition game in Nova Scotia last October.He underwent surgery Oct. 14 for removal of cartilege. He missed 17 games, returned for seven, missed three more, returned for nine.Doctors cut into the knee again in early January, inserted an arthroscope, looked around and flushed out a few floating particles.&ldquo;The doctors kind of feel that this is it,&rdquo; said Park. &ldquo;They got all the particles out and told me to take it easy for about a week and a half or so.&rdquo;The week and a half or so grew into six weeks, including the All Star break.Park returned Feb. 14 against the Rangers. &ldquo;I feel a little weak,&rdquo; he reported. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll take me until the end of this road trip (five more games) before I&rsquo;m in half decent shape.&rdquo;Next night in Philadelphia, with Park firing hard and low and on net from the right point, the Bruins scored three power play goals, their best such production of the year.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m coming back at the right time,&rdquo; said Park. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have about 20 games to get ready for the playoffs. If I&rsquo;d waited it wouldn&rsquo;t be enough. I&rsquo;d be going in cold.&rdquo;Then he woke up one morning in Denver, Colo., with his knee stiff and sore.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got fluid on his knee again,&rdquo; said Cherry. &ldquo;Very disheartening because we were saying just yesterday morning how good he looked. But I guess we&rsquo;re going to have to live with it for the rest of the season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s particularly disheartening to me because I want these guys going in the middle of March. I want everybody healthy to take momentum into the playoffs.&ldquo;Park is the big problem. I&rsquo;d love to use him fulltime. But I&rsquo;ve got to be realistic, even if it costs us some games. The knee is coming slowly and we can&rsquo;t rush it. I can&rsquo;t let him go a full shift yet.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to look down the road to the playoffs. An extra week of rest for Park might mean a healthy guy when we need him the most.&rdquo;Park first damaged his right knee when he was a 17-year-old Toronto Marlbobo and took a hard check from Sheldon Kannegeisser of Kitchener. That cost him the medial (inside) cartilege in the knee. The lateral (outside) cartilege went last October.In March, 1976, shortly after he was traded from the New York Rangers to the Bruins, the cartilege was removed from his left knee after he tore it in a game against the Islanders.That year, he was operated on March 14 and returned to the lineup April 13, the second game of the playoffs. The Bruins were eliminated by the Philadelphia Flyers in the semi-final round. &#9632;

f0005-01

Bruins Employing Park Cautiously, Saving Ace Defender For Playoffs

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02752/4256940-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="600" height="787"></div> &#9632;

f0005-02

NHL Leaders

Following are the latest player movements in hockey:NATIONAL LEAGUEATLANTA&mdash;Gene Carr, C, assigned to Tulsa of CHL, Gerry O&rsquo;Flaherty, LW, recalled from Tulsa. Tom Lysiak, C, and Bill Clement, RW, returned to lineup from injury list.BOSTON&mdash;Al Secord, LW, and Dwight Foster, RW, assigned to Rochester of AHL and later recalled.CHICAGO&mdash;Bob Hoffmeyer, D, recalled from New Brunswick of AHL. Doug Wilson, D, placed on disabled list after undergoing shoulder surgery.COLORADO&mdash;Mike Dwyer, LW, returned to Philadelphia of AHL. Clayton Pachal, RW, recalled from Philadelphia and reassigned to Springfield of AHL.DETROIT&mdash;Nick Libbett, LW, placed on disabled list with leg injury.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Murray Wilson, LW, returned to lineup from injury list.MONTREAL&mdash;Dan Newman, LW, returned to Nova Scotia of AHL. Larry Robinson, D, returned to disabled list with water on the knee.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Don Saleski, RW, traded to Colorado for future considerations. Ken Linseman, C, recalled from Maine of AHL. Robbie Moore, G, called up from Maine as backup goaler for weekend game but later returned.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Tom Cassidy, C, reassigned to Oklahoma City of CHL.RANGERS&mdash;Dean Turner, D, and Frank Beaton, LW, returned to New Haven of AHL. Carol Vadnais, D, placed on disabled list bruised hip. Dan Clark, D, recalled from New Haven as replacement.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Neil Labatte, D, recalled from Salt Lake of CHL.TORONTO&mdash;Pierre Hamel, G, recalled from New Brunswick of AHL. Paul Harrison, G, placed on disabled list with hamstring injury.WASHINGTON&mdash;Bernie Wolfe, G, and Blair Steward, RW, placed on waivers. Mark Lofthouse, RW, assigned to Hershey of AHL. Gary Rissling, RW, recalled from Hershey. Greg Polis, LW, placed on disabled list.<h2>WORLD HOCKEY ASSN.</h2>CINCINNATI&mdash;Bryan Watson, D, signed as free agent after release by Washington of NHL.EDMONTON&mdash;Bill Goldsworthy, LW, returned to lineup from injury list. Larry Hendrick, C, removed from suspended list and assigned to Binghamton of AHL.NEW ENGLAND&mdash;Jeff Brubaker, LW, recalled from Rochester of AHL.QUEBEC&mdash;Norm Dube, LW, assigned to Binghamton of AHL. &#9632;

Hockey Players On The Move

<div class="byline">&#x2014; BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011146/4256971-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="309" height="459"></div><h2>Pittsburgh Turnabout</h2>THE GOOD CITIZENS of Pittsburgh, ladies and gentlemen and patrons of Penguinly persuasion, were angry.They wanted to change the name of their town from The Steel City to The Steal City.They wanted to expose Baz Bastien to the better business bureau.They wondered why, when most teams in the National Hockey League were building with the draft, the Penguins were draft dodging.And they questioned why, when a player seemed to become good and popular in Pittsburgh, that player was gone from Pittsburgh, Syl Apps. Pierre Larouche. Dave Burrows. Jean Pronovost.With a front office like that, who needs enemies?&ldquo;Yeah&hellip;they were ready to lynch me more than once,&rdquo; chuckles Bastien, above the noise.There&rsquo;s noise because on this particular night, the Pittsburgh Penguins are playing before more than 15,000 people in the Igloo and because the Pittsburgh Penguins are skating circles around the other team and because as soon as this rout is over, the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to move into second place in their division behind Les Montreal Canadiens.Consider the Penguins&rsquo; miserable start this winter. Consider all 5 the forecasts that they might not finish the winter, that it might be their last season on earth. Consider all the fuss raised about their deals, big and small. Consider these things and then feel free to con; sider the Pittsburgh story one of the most refreshing on ice in some time.<h2>Slapsnot The Penguin</h2>THIS TEAM HAS come a long way from the days when the most exciting happening at The Civic Arena was the between periods appearance of Slapshot, a real live penguin who waddled not unlike a few of the club&rsquo;s players.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re solid now,&rdquo; said Bastien, for so long a general manager in question. &ldquo;The team is going well, and will get better, I think. And the fan reaction has been outstanding.&rdquo;Bastien was accused widely of borrowing from the future to fortify the present when he did some of the things he did. Like trade a No. 1 draft choice this year to Philadelphia for Orest Kindrachuk, Tom Bladon and Ross Lonsberry. Like Trade a No. 1 draft choice in 1981 to Montreal for Rod Schutt. Like trade a No. 1 draft choice to Chicago in 1980 for Dale Tallon.What we all must realize is that Bastien had no choice. He had to put a representative club in Pittsburgh today, not tomorrow. The club missed the playoffs last season, and no matter how much money the Penguins&rsquo; owners have, there is a point at which discretion must become the better part of valor. 3&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what would have happened this season if we had continued to draw 8,000 a game instead of what we&rsquo;re now drawing&mdash;12,000 and 13,000 and 14,000 and a few crowds of complete capacity, 16,033,&rdquo; said Bastien. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know whether the owners would have wanted to continue here or not. That&rsquo;s not my area or my decision.<h2>Trading For Definites</h2>&ldquo;And nobody gave me orders to do this or do that. I just felt we had to put together a good team right away. Rob Peter to pay Paul? I don&rsquo;t think we did that. Look, say I&rsquo;m going into the amateur draft and 1 see a Rod Schutt. I&rsquo;m going to pick him. Montreal did, on their first round in 1976. So instead of going into an amateur draft trying to find a Schutt, I can get him right now rather than wait for him to develop. I trade a maybe for a definite.&ldquo;Arid trading a No. 1 to Philadelphia for three players. Well, sure a Behn Wilson is a hell of a hockey player. But instead of having a chance at him, I get a leader in Kindrachuk, a defenseman in Bladon who&rsquo;s still young, and a veteran like Lonsberry who is a young 32. Not only are they all established but they&rsquo;re all winners, they all come from a team that has won. That rubs off.&ldquo;Jean Pronovost came with the franchise, and you hate to lose a fella like that. But he wanted to be traded, and for him, we get a Gregg Sheppard. You hear that he&rsquo;s going to sign with Edmonton? Well, I feel confident he&rsquo;ll sign with us. With him and our other centers, we&rsquo;re strong up the middle.&rdquo;Make that strong just about everywhere. On the ice, in the stands, in the standings. Lots of people came to bury the Penguins this season. Now, we come to praise them. &#9632;

f0006-01

HOCKEY TALK

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Wayne Stephenson should write a book.Not an accounting guide, which he&rsquo;s qualified to write, but a book on his career with the Philadelphia Flyers. (Uh, Wayne, if you&rsquo;re serious, I know a writer with experience chronicling the lives of goaltenders.)The Flyers have requested rescue missions from Stephenson so many times that the club should award him a gold-plated life-saving ring to wear around his neck.Since Stephenson, now 34, was presented as a gift to the Flyers from St. Louis (all the Flyers surrendered was a second-round draft choice and the rights to Randy Andreachuk), Philadelphia management has been tempted to drape something other than a life-saving ring about the goaltender&rsquo;s neck.GM Keith Allen has been tempted to measure Stephenson for an anchor. The relationship between &ldquo;Fort Wayne&rdquo; and management has been comparable to a film studio and its tempermental star: they tolerate each other as long as the star continues to produce. But don&rsquo;t expect either side to show up at a testimonial for the other.Allen and Flyers&rsquo; board chairman Ed Snider respect Stephenson&rsquo;s professional attitude, but the warmth that flows between the front office and Bernie Parent has never existed with Stephenson.Those responsible for the awkward situation are Stephenson, who is more confident than temperamental; Flyers&rsquo; management; and the goalie&rsquo;s agent. Ever since Stephenson left training camp a few years ago in a contract dispute while Parent was recuperating from a broken foot, feelings between both sides have been as chilly as the Spectrum ice.The mutual disaffection is illustrated in a recent comment by Stephenson, whose contract has one year remaining:&ldquo;I am not going to retire at the end of this season. That&rsquo;s what they expect me to do. That&rsquo;s why they&rsquo;ve had me sitting on the bench all year. But I&rsquo;m not going to quit. I intend to play a couple more years and, if they don&rsquo;t want me here, then I&rsquo;ll be playing somewhere else.&rdquo;Yet, when an emergency arises, Stephenson is always ready and produces respectably. Emergency &lsquo;79 is the eye injury Parent suffered, which is likely to Sideline him the rest of the season. Until the patch is removed from Parent&rsquo;s right eye, which was inadvertently struck by Jimmy Watson&rsquo;s stick during a game against the New York Rangers, doctors won&rsquo;t know if Parent&rsquo;s hockey career is in jeopardy.Following Parent&rsquo;s latest physical setback, the Flyers began by winning three and tying one with Stephenson in the nets. There&rsquo;s little doubt Philadelphia can maintain its upper-middle class NHL standing with Stephenson at the last line of defense. The man has proven he is a capable NHL goaltender.The dilemma facing Keith Allen is: do we just skate in place the rest of the season, or, do we test our young goalies, or, do we try dealing for an experienced masked man?Despite Stephenson&rsquo;s credentials, it&rsquo;s unlikely the Flyers will ever win a Stanley Cup with him. Although there were extenuating circumstances, he had an opportunity in the 1976 and &lsquo;77 Stanley Cup playoffs, but the Flyers finished several strides short of the tape.There are only a handful of NHL goalies who can lead a team to a Stanley Cup&mdash;Ken Dryden, Glenn Resch, Billy Smith, Don Edwards, Mike Palmateer, Dan Bouchard, Rogie Vachon, Gerry Cheevers and Tony Esposito head the list. Stephenson and Parent are now found in the &ldquo;maybe&rdquo; file.Someone like Jim Rutherford, only 30 and exiled to No. 2 status behind Vachon in Detroit, may be available. But the Flyers are expected to spend the rest of the season closely observing prospects such as Rick St. Croix, Pete Peeters and Robbie Moore.St. Croix played seven games last season for the Flyers and left a favorable, if not spectacular, impression. Ironically, the week before Parent&rsquo;s injury, St. Croix was loaned to the AHL Philadelphia Firebirds. One day he appeared to be tossed overboard by the Flyers, then, after Parent was hospitalized, St. Croix was recalled and accompanied the Flyers on their West Coast trip.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02879/4257002-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="505" height="809"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK ST. CROIX&hellip;Favorable Impression</figcaption></div>Earlier this season, Peeters started well in a brief trial with the Flyers, but after five games was returned to the AHL Maine Mariners where he, Moore and St. Croix have given the defending Calder Cup champions firstrclass goaltending. Peeters, an eighth-round draft choice out of Saskatoon a year ago, has climbed from &ldquo;longshot&rdquo; to strong contender for a Flyers&rsquo; job. &#9632;

f0006-02

Flyers Must Decide Among Several Future Possibles

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011023/4257033-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0007-01

COMBAT GLASSES

<div class="byline">-BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011137/4257071-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="323" height="443"></div><h2>The Family Man&hellip;</h2>IT HAS BEEN a season of struggle for Brad Park, Boston&rsquo;s brilliant defenseman. He is one of those several players who suffers from a strange rash, perhaps caused by his sweating against the color-dyed uniforms. It itches so bad, he sometimes can&rsquo;t sleep at night.More critically, he has struggled with a knee injury which has caused him to miss most of the schedule. He is playing games in an attempt to regain conditioning prior to the playoffs, but the knee is swelling up with fluid and posing serious problems.Park can handle his problems, however. As much as his hockey means to him, he has had to deal with a greater problem in his personal life. One of his children has cerebral palsy.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021026/4257064-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="784" height="726"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bruins&rsquo; star Brad Park has injury problems to worry about such as a persistent rash and a balky knee, but they seem rather insignificant beside the strength needed by Brad and his wife Gerry in raising four children including five-year-old Robbie Park, who has cerebral palsy.</figcaption></div>Brad is out of Toronto. His wife, the former Gerry George, is from Winnipeg. She is his first cousin. They have a home in the Boston suburb of Lynnfield. They have been married eight years and have four children&mdash;Jamie, 6; Robbie, 5; Alexa, 2, and Kelly, who will be 1 in April. Robbie is the one suffering from CP.There are about 200,000 victims of this disease in this country. The disease is due to brain damage, but rarely is there any mental deficiency. The problem is that the victim sometimes is treated as if he was mentally deficient. The nerves controlling the muscles have been damaged causing the person to make strange grimaces and gestures which make it look as if he was mentally deficient.SADLY, THE DISEASE strikes most often at infants and children, disabling them for life. Often, the damage has been done before birth. It is not clear what the case was with Robbie Park. Brad says, &ldquo;Robbie was born six weeks premature. He was about the size of a pound of butter. Inside, he was not fully formed. He had to fight to survive.&ldquo;When he was sent home from the hospital, he became sick and had to be sent back. He developed viral pneumonia and encephalitis. Eventually, it developed that he had cerebral palsy. It was something Gerry and I had to handle as best we could so we could help him as much as we could. It hasn&rsquo;t been easy, but it has been much harder for him.&ldquo;I think handicapped kids develop courage far beyond what most of us have as if to compensate for their problems. He knows by now that he is not the same as other kids. He knows he never will be. He asks questions that could break your heart. But he never complains. He just carries on.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a terrific kid, the sharpest kid for his age you&rsquo;d ever want to know. He communicates very well. His problems are all in motor control. With operations and medication they can do a lot for these kids, but he&rsquo;s never going to be even close to perfect. He&rsquo;s in a pre-school program now. Next year he&rsquo;ll enter a school at the first-grade level, but it will have to be a special school because he isn&rsquo;t self sufficient. He&rsquo;s doing better, but it will be a few years before he&rsquo;s the best he can be.&rdquo;Brad doesn&rsquo;t talk about it a lot, but he will if asked. He says, &ldquo;Robbie is a very special kid in our family. He and his older brother, Jamie, have a very special relationship. Jamie is smarter than we are by far. He is six, yet he sees that he has to treat his brother as normally as possible. He can&rsquo;t be treated as a cripple. He has to be made to do as much for himself as possible. He handles it real well.&ldquo;There was never any doubt in our minds that we should go ahead and have other children. Fortunately, they are fine. We are fortunate we did not lose Robbie. We have a fine family and we are proud of all of our kids. There is a lot of laughter in our home. Sadly, I do have to admit that at times there have been tears, too.&rdquo;NONE OF THE PARK kids have seen their father play hockey. The oldest boy does not totally understand why it is important to his friends to get his father&rsquo;s autograph. Brad is dad at home, not a hockey star. But he is one of the great stars the game has had. A five-time first All Star, 1 believe he should have been Most Valuable Player in the league last season when he had his greatest season guiding the Bruins to a great season.The season wound up with the Bruins losing to the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup finals. Park tied a record for goals by a defenseman in the playoffs with nine, including four in the finals, and few knew he played under the pressure of his son being in the hospital for surgery on his legs to enable him to get around a bit better. It was the second straight season Brad&rsquo;s Bruins have lost a playoff final to Montreal. Ironically, when he was with the Rangers, New York lost a playoff final to Boston.He says, &ldquo;The rash comes and goes. Treatment helps a little, but no one has yet figured out what causes it.&ldquo;The right knee is a bigger problem. I&rsquo;ve had both cartilages taken out of my left knee and now have only one left in the right knee. There were a lot of tears in the cartilage and it came apart in a pre-season game.&ldquo;Instead of cutting, they used the new orthoscope method to deal with it. A hollow tube about the size of a pencil is inserted in the affected area. With a mirror and magnification, they can examine it, and they can flush it out.&ldquo;The recovery time is less than with surgery and that&rsquo;s important to me because this is the first time I had a serious injury early in the season when I didn&rsquo;t want to wait for the off-season to heal. I took a hard hit on the knee when I returned in December and that set me back, but I want to play,&rdquo; he says. &#9632;

f0008-01

Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div>MONTREAL&mdash;The difference between a good team and a great team, a hockey sage once said, is that a good team will lose games because of mistakes, while a great team will win games in spite of them.While working on their third consecutive defense of the Stanley Cup and once again leading the National Hockey League in total points, the Montreal Canadians&mdash;it can be safely assumed&mdash;fall into the category of great teams. But just because they&rsquo;re winning doesn&rsquo;t mean that the Canadiens have to be happy about the way things were going.After seeing their 14-game unbeaten streak end with a 3-1 loss in Pittsburgh, the Canadiens erupted for their incredible 12-0 pasting of the Penguins in a return match the following evening. Unaccountably, they then lapsed into a couple of shootouts with sub-.500 teams, St. Louis and Washington, and came away with less than inspiring wins by counts of 6-4 and 8-5, surviving the &ldquo;trauma&rdquo; of finding themselves knotted at 4-4 heading into the final period on both occasions.As forward-defenseman and now forward, again, Bob Gainey explained, &ldquo;They were games where both teams went up and down the ice with chances to score, wide open games, and then they would score one and we&rsquo;d go up and down again and they&rsquo;d get another and we&rsquo;d have to change our style, open up a little more.&rdquo;Gainey was used by coach Scotty Bowman as a defenseman for several games filling in while Guy Lapointe and Larry Robinson were sidelined and also because Bowman was not entirely satisfied with the work of Brian Engblom and Gilles Lupien on the blueline.But Bowman also needed Gainey&rsquo;s presence on the forward lines for his forechecking abilities and it was as a forward that Gainey was employed in Montreal&rsquo;s 7-3 loss in Long Island which allowed the New Yorkers a ray of hope of catching the Habs in the overall standings.Of major concern to the Canadiens, though, was the fact that they had allowed 16 goals in just three games with Ken Dryden in goal for 11 opposition scores by St. Louis and the Islanders while Michel Larocque played in the Washington &ldquo;scoring derby.&rdquo;It was Dryden who was the choice of Bowman to face the Toronto Maple Leafs who were fighting a four-game losing streak and the unsettling rumors that their coach Roger Neilson was on his way to being fired. In a playoff-style contest of close checking and exceptional goaltending by the Leafs&rsquo; Paul Harrison, 32 saves on 34 shots, and Dryden, 25 saves out of 26 drives, the Canadiens scored twice in the final seven minutes for a 2-1 victory.&ldquo;Both teams were conscious of having given up a lot of goals,&rdquo; Bowman explained, &ldquo;it was a tough game to play because there weren&rsquo;t too many openings out there and they did a good job pushing our men to the outside.&rdquo;About his selection of Dryden after the seven-goal barrage by the Islanders, Bowman commented, &ldquo;Actually he hasn&rsquo;t missed a game against the Leafs in two or three years; I don&rsquo;t think Michel (Larocque) has played against them at all except for pre-season. And then Ken has a history of coming back well after a bad game.&rdquo;For his part, Dryden remarked that &ldquo;all of us were not sharp for the Islanders&rsquo; game and we really haven&rsquo;t been playing our best for a while.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03870/4257102-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="531" height="833"><figcaption class="caption-body">KEN DRYDEN&hellip;Came Back Well</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to rebuild our game, rebuild it by increments,&rdquo; Dryden said. &ldquo;We played a very cautious style in the first two periods and if we had continued to play that way, I don&rsquo;t think we would have won. But we came on in the third period, and without sacrificing our defense.&ldquo;That we were able to build on the first and second periods&mdash;that&rsquo;s the really positive part,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Hopefully, we can keep it going from here.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-03

Canadiens Forced To Rebuild Game From Defense Out

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011096/4257133-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROGER NEILSON&hellip;Remained Calm Throughout Turmoil</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;Although the Maple Leaf Gardens calendar of events didn&rsquo;t have it listed, it was pretty obvious that &ldquo;a circus&rdquo; was the feature attraction at the venerable Carlton street structure in recent days.In a startling series of moves, Maple Leafs&rsquo; owner Harold Ballard issued a &ldquo;must-win&rdquo; decree, fired coach Roger Neilson and then less than 36 hours later re-instated Neilson as coach of the team.Neilson, who remained calm and refused to second-guess his employers at any time during the tumultuous period said he had been warned that changes would be made if the team didn&rsquo;t improve. &ldquo;It was up to me to motivate the club and I didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Neilson explained in a post-game interview after being returned to his coaching duties. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy to be back, no matter what the circumstances.&rdquo;Neilson was given wide support by his players immediately before and after his firing, and it was pressure from the players, led by team captain Darryl Sittler who asked for a meeting with Ballard in front of all of the players, which evidently convinced the 75-year-old owner to re-hire Neilson. On the morning before Neilson&rsquo;s return to Ballard&rsquo;s good graces, in fact, there were rumors to the effect that the Leafs wouldn&rsquo;t take to the ice if Neilson wasn&rsquo;t behind the bench.Problems in Toronto surfaced on Thursday, March 1 as the Leafs ran into a four-game losing streak and travelled to Montreal to face the Canadiens. Before the game Ballard was quoted as saying, &ldquo;If we have a bad game, it&rsquo;s good bye (Neilson).&rdquo;The Leafs didn&rsquo;t have a bad game&mdash;in fact they played very well and deserved a much better fate than a 2-1 loss as Montreal scored twice in the final seven minutes&mdash;but Ballard was said to have told two Toronto reporters &ldquo;He&rsquo;s gone,&rdquo; in the walkway outside the Leafs&rsquo; dressing room.For his part, Neilson said that as far as he knew he was still coach of the team and that he would be running practice at the Gardens the next morning. He also said that he hadn&rsquo;t heard any &ldquo;must-win&rdquo; statements and that one game shouldn&rsquo;t decide whether someone was going to get fired.The next morning Leaf general manager Jim Gregory asked Neilson for his resignation, but the latter refused and had to be fired by the club.&ldquo;It was a very difficult decision for me to reach,&rdquo; said Ballard, who in turn, offered Neilson a job in the organization) Neilson said he still felt a part of the Organization and that he would consider the offer.Neilson made it a point to ask the players individually where he had gone wrong, what mistakes he had made and made it very clear to them that he wanted to continue in coaching.The players held a meeting on Friday and another Saturday morning and it was! at the second meeting, which Ballard attended, that they took upon themselves the blame for their lacklustre play which had seen them dip below the .500 level and move within danger of missing a spot in the playoffs with the onrushing Minnesota North Stars threatening to move them into the Adams Division cellar.Ballard called Neilson on Saturday morning and told him &lsquo;not to go anywhere; to stick close&rsquo; and it was then that Neilson suspected that he might have a chance of getting his job back. That afternoon, Ballard officially restored Neilson to the coaching position.The sell-out Maple Leafs Gardens crowd responded with a standing ovation as Neilson strode behind the bench just prior to the start of the game against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Leafs players responded by snapping their five-game slide with a 4-3 victory over the Flyers.And the next night they went into Madison Square Garden and defeated the New York Rangers to make it two victories in a row under the &ldquo;new&rdquo; Neilson regime.The only question was how long would it continue? The reappointment of Neilson was clouded with the possibility that it would only last until the Leafs hit another slump or perhaps until the end of the season.John McLellan was supposed to become interim coach after Neilson was fired but he didn&rsquo;t want the job which gave him ulcers several years ago. The Leafs were interested in calling up Eddie Johnston from the Moncton farm club which they operate with the Chicago Black Hawks, but they apparently couldn&rsquo;t get the Hawks to agree to release Johnston from his contract. Gerry McNamara was then supposed to fill in at least for the Philadelphia game, but Ballard reversed his stand and Neilson was back in the hot seat.Ballard later called the incident a &ldquo;furlough&rdquo; for Neilson and a ploy to shake up the team. Neilson and Gregory were convinced that it was a much more serious affair. How long they can exist under circumstances such as the recent ones, remains to be seen. &#9632;

f0009-01

Neilson Fired, Reinstated As Leaf Players Protest

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011124/4257164-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div>DO YOU HAVE AN OPINION ON HOCKEY?Write to:FAN FORUM,The Hockey News,1434 St. Catherine St., W., Montreal, Canada H3G 1R7<h2>Wake Up Canada, Form National Team</h2>I lived in Canada from 1960 to 1972, then moved to Salzburg, Austria. During the 12 years in Canada I was an avid hockey fan, watching every game on television, as did my father and brother. We were always certain that Canadian hockey was easily the best in the world.We had moved to Europe by the time the first series U.S.S.R.&mdash;Canada rolled around. We all looked forward to it with much excitement, assuring all our friends that the Soviets had as much chance as a snowball in Death Valley. Well Canada managed to win by a narrow margin, nevertheless they won. I was very surprised that the USSR was so strong. Apparently no one in Canada was.I was much dismayed to learn that Canada intended to send only players from teams who didn&rsquo;t make the Stanley Cup to the world championships. It was therefore no great surprise that this team was thoroughly beaten in the last two championships.The team of All Stars managed to win the Canada Cup and I was a little placated. But unfortunately I still saw no signs of a real national team, a team that has a chance to play together at fairly frequent intervals. I would think that the Montreal Canadiens, along with five or six players from other clubs would be a good solution. Instead I read in the paper that the newest All Star team was to be selected by the fans, with ballots distributed by the teams.Wake up Canada, either get a real national team together or just don&rsquo;t play against the Soviets or Czechs at all anymore. But please stop making fools of yourselves by sending second-rate or so called All Star teams who have never played together.FRED SCHMIDT,Obereching, Austria<h2>Vees&rsquo; Problems May Reach Canadiens</h2>After reading of the problems facing the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; top farm team, I couldn&rsquo;t help but wonder how well the Vees could be doing had the Canadiens signed their top five draft picks last summer. Among others, Dan Geoffrion and Dave Hunter opted to sign with the WHA instead of spending a few years in the Maritimes.As I&rsquo;m sure Sam Pollock would agree, it&rsquo;s useless to trade for draft choices when your top picks don&rsquo;t sign with you anyway. At the moment Voyageur fans are the big losers, but in a rew years Canadiens fans may suffer too.DANNY FRAJMAN,Montreal, Que.<h2>Chance Blown To Acquire Fans</h2>Since our Houston Aeros folded last year, South Texas hockey fans have been virtually cut off from the sport. The closest team is Dallas in the CHL, 250 miles away. We&rsquo;re lucky if we can even get hockey scores on TV, much less games. We were so glad to see that part of the NHL-Soviet game would be shown on the CBS Sports Spectacular. This is the only game we have seen on TV all year.We were greatly angered, therefore, when the camera kept sweeping up and down empty ice. We could see the feet of the players who had the puck but that was all. The announcer finally said there was some problem because of the advertising along the boards.I don&rsquo;t know who is to blame for the problem, but I want them to know how terribly disappointing it was to finally be able to see just a part of just one game, and then be able to see practically nothing.I hope the NHL got plenty of money from the advertising, because they blew a chance to introduce new fans to the game, and to entertain their old ones.VICKIE VOGEL,La Grange, Tx.<h2>Lysiak, Bouchard Flames&rsquo; Dynamic Duo</h2>I&rsquo;m a great fan of the Atlanta Flames and I follow them everywhere they play. When they visit Detroit I always have a seat in the Olympia.I think the two most important players on the team is their leader, Tom Lysiak and Daniel Bouchard, their outstanding goaltender. I am disappointed to see that these two players are not as recognized as Guy Lafleur and Ken Dryden. Lysiak sparks the team with his leadership and his ability to make the plays that turn the game around in the Flames favor. In Atlanta the fans appreciate him with many cheers as he leads the team on the ice. I think the fans in North America should recognize him as do the fans in Atlanta.Dan Bouchard is the most underrated goaltender in the league. 1 think the Flames are an offensive team not a defensive one, and if he had the players Montreal has on defense, such as Lapointe and Savard he would also post a 2.40 goals against average as does Ken Dryden or better. Seeing him playing in Detroit and against the Canadiens on Hockey Night in Canda told me and the rest of the hockey world that he is the best.With Lysiak&rsquo;s leadership and Bouchard&rsquo;s great netminding don&rsquo;t count on Atlanta losing in the playoffs, count on them winning it.GARY GRASER,Windsor, Ont.<h2>Underrated Goaiers How About Meloche</h2>I totally agree with David Daly&rsquo;s letter in the Feb. 16 issue. A new system should be worked out for the Vezina Trophy. Actually the trophy goes to the best team with the lowest goals against average, but the goaltender is the one with all the glory.Mr. Daly goes on to say that goaltenders like Chico Resch, Palmateer, Cheevers and Don Edwards face many more shots than Ken Dryden and are not given the credit they deserve. I&rsquo;ll take it one step further. What about Gilles Meloche of the North Stars? I believe Meloche is one of the best goalies in hockey today, if not the best.At this writing Meloche has a 3.03 goals against average which is better than Palmateer&rsquo;s 3.14, Dan Bouchard 3.11, John Davidson 3.17, Tony Esposito 3.41 and is not far from Cheevers&rsquo; 2.94 or Edwards&rsquo; 2.88. Meloche faces just as many shots if not more than these goalies but doesn&rsquo;t receive as much credit as they do, never mind Dryden.The goaltender is only as good as the team in front of him. Put Meloche with the Canadiens and Dryden with the North Stars. Then we&rsquo;ll see how much better Dryden is supposed to be.LORI ABRAMINS,Hillside, N.J.<h2>Rangers&rsquo; Duguay Player On The Rise</h2>Ron Duguay of the New York Rangers has not received much recognition yet from the media but opposition coaches already fear him. They now have players shadowing this fleet skater to prevent his breaking in for a shot and/or goal against their goalers.As a rookie last season, he was a tireless worker and hard work still accents his play this year. He never stops skating and fighting for the puck and had 25 goals as of Feb. 19. Evidently coach Shero appreciates his hard work and talent as he now kills penalties and works on the power plays. With his skills, attitude and dedication, he should mature into a player of the same stature as Guy Lafleur within another year or so.JANET FOISSET,Tonawanda, N.Y. &#9632;

f0010-01

FAN FORUM

<h2>Loss of Face In Challenge Cup</h2>I am certain that I am not the only hockey enthusiast who experienced utter disappointment when the NHL All Stars lost the Challenge Cup Series to the Russian National Team. Having seen the Russian team play in Tokyo I do admire their fine physical conditioning and their precision style of play. But I still think that NHL players, at least the majority, are able to give a better performance than they did at Madison Square Garden in New York.I do not know why it was decided that an aggregation of NHL stars was chosen to face the Russians instead of a well-knit NHL team, such as the Montreal Canadiens or the New York Islanders. The Russians had been preparing themselves for some time to face the NHL stars who got together for the first time three or four days before the series began. This lack of unity was quite apparent during the last game of the series when the score was too lopsided to be true.In this respect, the job of Scotty Bowman was very difficult and upon listening to the game on short-wave radio I was wondering whether he knew who to send out on the ice as he kept juggling his lines frequently.I still believe that we can teach the Russians how to play more aggressive hockey but their emphasis on physical training should be copied by the NHL teams; I think that this could have been a contributing factor in the loss of the North American pros to the victors. More discipline in training and club rules by the NHL might help to restore the league&rsquo;s image in America and in Europe.CONRAD FORTIN,Tokyo, Japan &#9632;

LETTER OF THE WEEK

<div class="byline">BY AL SMITH</div>ATLANTA&mdash;When Atlanta Flames&rsquo; coach Fred Creighton was first asked about the trade that brought Los Angeles defenseman Bob Murdoch to the Flames, he was apprehensive.&ldquo;I like what I&rsquo;ve seen of him,&rdquo; Creighton said. &ldquo;But I wish I was getting a healthy player who could step right in.&rdquo;Creighton alluded to the fact Murdoch had been out of the Kings&rsquo; lineup for 13 games with a shoulder separation. And he still wasn&rsquo;t 100 percent when he reported to Atlanta.But it didn&rsquo;t take the 32-year-old, seven-year National Hockey League veteran long to have Creighton singing a different tune. Murdoch stepped right in and didn&rsquo;t show any after effects of the injury.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s helped us a hell of a lot,&rdquo; Creighton said. &ldquo;I feel comfortable with him on the ice, especially when we&rsquo;re short handed.&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t make many mistakes and he moves the puck out of our end very well.&rdquo;In other words, Murdoch was just what the doctor ordered for the Flames.&ldquo;If they were looking for an Orr, a Potvin or a Park, I&rsquo;m not the answer,&rdquo; Murdoch said. &ldquo;But I think I can help cut down on the mistakes I hear were being made in the past. I think I can add some consistency and I think that&rsquo;s just what they were looking for.&rdquo;The Kirkland Lake, Ont., native came to the Flames in a straight two-player deal for 24-year-old defenseman Rick Mulhern. With Atlanta being one of the youngest teams in the league, general manager Cliff Fletcher felt he could sacrifice the difference in age for, as he put it, &ldquo;defensive help right now.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02900/4257219-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="504" height="662"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB MURDOCH&hellip;What Doctor Ordered</figcaption></div>And so far, that&rsquo;s just what the Flames have received.&ldquo;I feel real comfortable here and Fred has shown a lot of confidence in me,&rdquo;-Murdoch said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been helping kill penalties and I enjoy this more than anything. I enjoy the challenge, it&rsquo;s probably my favorite role.&rdquo;But Murdoch didn&rsquo;t feel comfortable in the beginning.&ldquo;When you come to a new team, you want to impress the new people you&rsquo;ll be playing for,&rdquo; Murdoch said. &ldquo;But I hadn&rsquo;t fully recovered from the injury and didn&rsquo;t know how well I would be able to play after being out for such a long time.&ldquo;I had a talk with Fred and Cliff and they set me at ease. And so did the guys on the team. I&rsquo;ve had no trouble adjusting to the playing ends of it, but being traded in the middle of the season does create problems.&rdquo;The problems were eased somewhat by the All Star break. It not only gave Murdoch a chance to rest his injured shoulder a while longer, but it made the move across country a little easier for him and his family.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t expecting the trade,&rdquo; Murdoch said. &ldquo;And we had become pretty set in our ways in Los Angeles. I would much rather be traded in the summer when you have time to make the adjustment, but the All Star break helped. It was perfect timing.&rdquo;Murdoch didn&rsquo;t mind leaving L.A. for Atlanta, knowing he was going to a good city and a good hockey team.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve (Flames) always been a tough team for us (Kings) to play against,&rdquo; Murdoch said. &#9632;

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Murdoch Steadies Atlanta Defense

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Leading Players To Help You Select Your All Stars

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div>Do you wonder, as I do, if the NHL is full of slow learners? On the NHL network&rsquo;s first Monday night telecast following the Soviets&rsquo; rise to No. 1 in New York, Toronto and Detroit &ldquo;entertained&rdquo; viewers with a bloody marathon. People who oppose the violence on TV crime shows would have found more crusade material in the senseless incidents in this game.One week is too short a period to change habits developed over decades, but NHL players and executives must realize that the major contribution the Soviets made in their Challenge Cup victory was reminding people that hockey is skating, passing, shooting and clean bodychecking.Incredibly, two nights later the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues staged another brawl game. This version of street-gang warfare began with Steve Durbano swinging his stick at Nick Fotiu. What, it must be asked, is a player with Durbano&rsquo;s reputation doing back in the NHL?The stupidity of such action when the NHL is desperately seeking national recognition in the United States as a major league was summarized with suitable outrage by Larry Brooks in the New York Post under a headline &ldquo;The Goons are Killing Hockey.&rdquo;Brooks&rsquo; condemnation included the NHL&rsquo;s officers, team executives, Fred Shero (for recalling two enforcers to face Toronto(, Don Cherry (for ridiculing people who oppose hockey violence), and players like Bobby Clarke.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult to believe,&rdquo; wrote Brooks, &ldquo;a Players Assn, with Bobby Clarke as its president can be taken seriously in regard to stopping violence. When the president is the man who has perfected the spear, maybe it&rsquo;s time for the association to look elsewhere for such leadership.&rdquo;Clarke has never been a Lady Byng Trophy candidate, but I thought Brooks&rsquo; scythe slashed too deeply into the Philadelphia captain.Several years ago, Clarke was one of the league&rsquo;s few stars who cared enough about his fellow players to work for the NHL&rsquo;s Players Association. The three-time Hart Trophy winner is concerned about his game and where it&rsquo;s headed. The way Clarke plays is the way he was taught, which is more the fault of the sport rather than a player who wanted to succeed.In nearly every game following the Challenge Cup break, NHL teams were trading punches faster than they were trading goals. Whether this was simply a reflex action by people trying desperately to maintain their jobs after having their collective pride stung by the Soviets or a true picture of the state of the North American game, isn&rsquo;t what should concern the people who direct the sport.Of utmost importance is the need for a return to the basics of hockey&mdash;and the realization that excitement which brings in the much-needed revenue which allows the game to continue&mdash;can stem from the skills of the game, rather than the fury of the fists. Hockey certainly doesn&rsquo;t need the goons, but it does need the Bobby Clarkes. &#9632;

Goons Killing Hockey But Fingering Clarke Totally Unjustified

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;This hasn&rsquo;t been the best of National Hockey League seasons for Pittsburgh Penguin defenseman Tom Bladon.Bladon was traded to Pittsburgh last summer from the Philadelphia Flyers, along with center and Penguin captain Orest Kindrachuk and left wing Ross Lonsberry. In exchange, Philadelphia received Pittsburgh&rsquo;s number one draft selection in last summer&rsquo;s amateur draft.The six-foot-one, 195-pounder from Edmonton, Alta., played in the Penguins&rsquo; first 55 games of the season. He didn&rsquo;t dress for the 56th game, however, as his plus-minus figure hovered around minus 30.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had good spots and bad spots this season,&rdquo; said Bladon. &ldquo;Things haven&rsquo;t been bouncing right. There&rsquo;s been a few games where I played bad, where the team as a whole has played bad, and I&rsquo;ve been on the ice for goals against.&ldquo;A good example is in Toronto. I think I was a minus six or or a minus seven. It doesn&rsquo;t take many games like that, and you&rsquo;re way up there. That&rsquo;s the way it&rsquo;s been this season. It&rsquo;s tough. You just can&rsquo;t climb out of the hole.&rdquo;Bladon, 26, was the Flyers&rsquo; second round draft choice in the 1972 amateur draft from the Edmonton Oil Kings. He made the jump straight to the NHL from junior hockey. In six seasons with Philadelphia, he averaged 11 goals and almost 40 points a year.In a game last season, Bladon set an NHL record for defensemen when he scored four goals and four assists in one game against Cleveland. The eight points were the most ever scored in a single game in the league by a defenseman.But, despite Bladon&rsquo;s offensive statistics, he was often the target of Spectrum boo-birds while he played for the Flyers.&ldquo;It was no big deal,&rdquo; said Bladon about the booing in Philadelphia. &ldquo;They paid their money. I don&rsquo;t know what the fans anywhere you play expect. It doesn&rsquo;t really concern me that much. What concerns me is playing hockey and winning hockey games.&rdquo;Through his first 55 games in a Pittsburgh uniform, Bladon scored three goals and added 16 assists. He said he likes playing for the Penguins.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s good playing here,&rdquo; said Bladon. &ldquo;If only we had a more defined system. It was tough adapting here at first. In Philadelphia it was good because everyone knew where the other guys were supposed to play. Here we have more of a free-wheeling system, and it&rsquo;s a little bit tougher to find guys.&rdquo;Bladon made his remarks after sitting out one of the few games in his NHL career not because of injury. After a rather tough start in his first season in Pittsburgh, things can only get better.PENGUIN TRACKS: The Penguins had their second sellout crowd of the season at the Civic Arena. The game marked the first appearance of popular Dave Schultz since being traded to Buffalo. Schultz tangled with ex-Penguin and Flyer teammate Orest Kindrachuk in a corner midway through the first period. The incident led to a bench-clearing brawl&hellip;Defenseman Ron Stackhouse returned from an eye injury wearing a mask&hellip;Left wing Wayne Bianchin experienced back problems again, and missed some games while undergoing hospital tests.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011097/4257329-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="554" height="998"><figcaption class="caption-body">TOM BLADON&hellip;Trouble Adapting (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Change In Systems Bugs Pens’ Blueliner Bladon

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Learn Hockey from Professional Coaches

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011078/4257412-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"></div><h2>Hockey&rsquo;s Answer To Star Wars</h2>At a first glance, one may think it is a remake of &lsquo;Star Wars&rsquo; &mdash; on ice. But actually it is Cincinnati Stingers&rsquo; right winger Dave Forbes wearing a racing driver&rsquo;s helmet, above, and fitted with a camera during filming of a documentary on Forbes by the Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission. The 15-minute film feature, which will be syndicated throughout the United States next January, deals with Forbes&rsquo; spiritual beliefs and shows him on and off the ice. Shown helping Forbes with special camera attached to his helmet are John Stevens, left, president of Television Production, and cinematographer Dedo Weigert. Forbes is pictured at right as well with another camera hooked up to his leg to pick up the sound effects of the hockey action.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02889/4257405-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="1152" height="1863"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03658/4257398-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="1143" height="1233"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div><h2>Feeding His Fans</h2>Nick Fotiu of the Rangers is a big favorite with the Madison Square Garden fans and it is easy to see why. The hard-nosed Fotiu, a native New Yorker, makes a habit of picking up pucks and throwing them to the fans in the seats. He says it stems from his youth when he used to sit in the Garden seats and plead with the players on the ice to throw him a puck.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04462/4257391-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="1723" height="1204"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div><h2>The Luck Of The Draw</h2>The first winners of THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; Sweepstakes contest had the time of their lives when they visited New York for their first ever NHL hockey game. Here are Mrs. & Mrs. Robert J. Doyle of Claresholm, Alberta, shown with Ken McKenzie, president of THE HOCKEY NEWS, in center, between periods at the Challenge Cup series with the Soviet Union. The Doyles won the &lsquo;Early Bird&rsquo; segment of the Sweepstakes contest and received an all expense paid trip for two to see the second and third games of the Challenge Cup series from THE HOCKEY NEWS. &#9632;

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HOCKEY PEOPLE

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;The Buffalo Sabres have all those big shooters and said big shooters are shooting hard and often.But they are not putting the puck into the net this season. In fact, they are not putting the puck on the net as often as they miss it, in many games.After winning four games in a row, around the break for the NHL series against the Soviets, the Sabres lost four in a row. In three of those four games they outshot the opposition. Only theMontreal Canadiens outshot the Sabres and then only by three shots in a 5-2 victory.In those four losses, the Sabres put 41, 35, 36 and 34 shots on goal in losing by 6-3, 5-2, 3-2 and 4-2.The last two defeats were at the hands of the Chicago Black Hawks, who have been the Sabres&rsquo; particular patsies in recent years. On two successive nights, in Chicago and then in Buffalo, the Black Hawks did what they couldn&rsquo;t do the last two seasons: win two games from the Sabres.The second Chicago win came in Buffalo&rsquo;s Memorial Auditorium, where the Hawks had won only once in their last previous 16 visits.In that game the Sabres took a total of 80 points, 34 on and 56 off the net. In the first period, they had 10 on target and 21 off.In both the Chicago games, the Sabres led going into the third period. &ldquo;We start out doing what we do best,&rdquo;&rsquo;said coach Billy Inglis, &ldquo;which is playing the game in the other team&rsquo;s end. We throw the puck in and then go in after it and forecheck. We get ahead and quit doing what got us ahead.&rdquo;Defenseman Bob Murray, who scored two goals for the Black Hawks in the second game, had another explanation for the Sabres&rsquo; el foldo act.&ldquo;Buffalo gets discouraged easily when they come up against a hot goaltender and a team that likes to check,&rdquo; said Murray.The Sabres certainly came up against a couple of hot goal tenders in Tony Esposito and Mike Veisor in the two Chicago games. And in Bunny Larocque (Montreal) and Greg Millen (Pittsburgh) the two games before that.But hot goaltenders for the opposition can&rsquo;t explain why the Sabres are scoring at such a slow rate. Last season they were fifth in the league in scoring, with 288 goals.After 56 games this season, they were 13th, with 182 goals, compared to 237 for league-leading Montreal.Gil Perreault and Don Luce were the Sabres&rsquo; top goal scorers with 18 each The Sabres at the time were the only club in the league without a 20-goa scorer. (Luce finally reached the plateau with a pair of goals in the Sabres game.)The line of Andre Savard with Rick Martin and Rene Robert as his winger: has a potential of 117 goals.That&rsquo;s taking each player at his best NHL total for a season. Martin, who has twice scored 52 goals, had 14 and Robert, who twice has scored 40, hat 12. Savard, whose best year was 52, had 14.Perreault and Danny Gare, who were teamed with Rick Dudley, a recent returnee from the World Hockey Association, have a potential of 94 goal between them, 50 for Gare and 44 fo Perreault. They had 17 and 18, respectively.The Luce-Craig Ramsay-Ric Seiling line, known as a checking line, had the best goal total on the club. Luce had 18 goals, Ramsay 17 and Seiling 14.While the Sabres were having trouble putting the puck on and in the net, they ran into manpower problems at defense. Jim Schoenfeld, generally considered the anchor of the backline, missed nearly the entire month of February with a strained knee.Then Bill Hajt suffered an injury to his lower back when knocked against a goalpost in the first Chicago game. The next night, against Chicago in Buffalo, Jos Guevremont got hit in the shin with a slap shot and he was out for a few games.The Sabres finished that second Chicago game with veteran Jerry Korab playing defense with Lee Fogolin, who has been around a while but is only 24 years old; Bill Stewart, in his first NHL season, and Larry Playfair, a first-year pro up from Hershey just that night.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011033/4257443-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="544" height="998"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK MARTIN&hellip;Well Off Form</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Lack Of Goals Main Sabre Problem

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;Greg Joly and Rogie Vachon returned on Feb. 21, and the Detroit Red Wings were hoping it was permanent.In an unexpected move, Joly, 24, returned to the lineup 10 months to the day after suffering a broken left wrist in a quarter-final playoff game against Montreal last April 21. Ironically, he rejoined the Wings in Washington, the team with which he began his professional career.At one point, Joly was ruled out for the 1978-79 season after undergoing bone graft surgery on his broken left wrist on the eve of the Wings&rsquo; training camp last September. But he made a rapid recovery and doctors gave him the green light.So he was in the lineup on Feb. 21 when the Wings, winless in their previous 23 road games dating back to Oct. 27, skated onto the ice at the Capital Center to meet the playoff-hopeful Capitals.Vachon, the maligned free agent who was in a season-long slump, was in goal for the Wings and he returned to form.Rogie was brilliant as the Caps bombarded him with a club record 45 shots. Vachon kicked out all but three&mdash;two power play goals, one with the Wings&rsquo; two men short, and another on a rebound&mdash;and the Wings finally won on the road, 4-3.The game marked ex-Wing captain Dennis Hextall&rsquo;s first appearance against his former teammates.Coach Bobby Kromm was understandably pleased by the performance of Joly and Vachon. Of Joly, he said:&ldquo;I have a lot of confidence in that young man. He&rsquo;s very poised. When he comes back to full strength, he&rsquo;s going to be great.&ldquo;Greg wasn&rsquo;t trying to do anything fancy out there and I didn&rsquo;t want him to the first time out.&rdquo;With an eye on the future, Kromm paired Joly with the Wings&rsquo; other fine young defenseman, rookie Willie Huber.&ldquo;It was a little bit different than practicing,&rdquo; Joly said. &ldquo;But it felt good because we won. I was a little nervous. Did you see me fighting the puck? I played with Willie, and he covered a lot of ice. That helped me.&rdquo;&ldquo;It was our decision, mine and Greg&rsquo;s,&rdquo; Kromm said, explaining Joly&rsquo;s return. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve missed him, no question about it. He&rsquo;s such an intelligent player, and he can get the puck out of our end.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02811/4257474-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="468" height="615"><figcaption class="caption-body">GREG JOLY&hellip;Wasn&rsquo;t Expected</figcaption></div>Joly played with a specially designed brace protecting his left wrist.&ldquo;That sitting and watching, it&rsquo;s awful,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Some people said I shouldn&rsquo;t hurry back and to wait until next season to play again. But nobody realizes how hard it is to miss an entire season.&rdquo;Vachon took an 8-23-11 record and an inflated 3.84 goals-against average into the game. He wasn&rsquo;t saying that his slump is over but even one victory was a noteworthy accomplishment for the beleaguered Wings.&ldquo;It felt good,&rdquo; Rogie said. &ldquo;Especially after a bad game, it&rsquo;s nice to have a strong game right back. And on the road, where we haven&rsquo;t won for a long time.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a rough year for everybody on the team. I just hope I can have a few more like this. I made the big plays tonight on a couple of breakaways, a couple from in close.&rdquo;Said Kromm: &ldquo;Rogie came through for us tonight.&rdquo;The victory was Detroit&rsquo;s second in three games, following a 6-2 triumph over Pittsburgh, the Wings&rsquo; third straight at home over the Penguins, and a loss to Toronto by the same score.Jimmy Rutherford made the start in the victory over the Penguins as Kromm went into a &ldquo;hunch.&rdquo;&ldquo;I was just very happy to play,&rdquo; said the seldom-used Rutherford.&ldquo;And even happier with the outcome. I&rsquo;m here to play and the more they tell me to play, the happier I&rsquo;m going to be.&rdquo;Dale McCourt scored the three-goal hat trick in the victory over Pittsburgh to go over the 20-goal mark. After 58 games, the second-year pro had the same number of points as he did during his rookie season. In a rarity, Rutherford drew two assists during the Wings&rsquo; five-goal first period outburst. &#9632;

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Return Of Joly, Vachon Recovery Give Wings Lift

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01883/4257519-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="726" height="544"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02739/4257512-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="710" height="3594"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03590/4257505-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="2182" height="3011"></div> &#9632;

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NHL POINT SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Recently, the Boston Bruins overpowered the Kings&rsquo; defense and drove one hard, accurate shot after another at the King&rsquo;s goal, but Mario Lessard made one spectacular save after another and the Kings wound up with a 3-1 win.Two nights previous, the Islanders came at the Kings with similar fury, but Ron Grahame had a bad game and the Kings lost, 8-3. Seldom has the contrast been clearer, but it was another case where similar games were turned around by goaltending.It is not clear whether the big save at the right time lifts a team higher then allowing an easy goal at the wrong time lets it down, but both are critical to the confidence of clubs.The Kings paid a high price to bring Grahame in from Boston to replace Rogie Vachon, but Lessard has beaten him out. Grahame is a good goaltender who had great years with Houston in the WHA and a great year last year with Boston in the NHL, but he has less help here.He is not playing much right now and when he plays he is not playing well very often. His style is changing as he stands up out of his usual crouch and his movements are tentative. Like most goaltenders he is simply suffering from a slump and his confidence is shaken. He is hiding out from the press. But he will be back.Meanwhile, the younger Lessard is hot and the Kings have to play him as they would a hot hand. He has had only a few bad games and he doesn&rsquo;t know what it is to be bad. He is a cocky kid who feels like he can beat any shooter in the world right now and those who know him say he will feel like that the rest of his life.His goals-against are a little above three a game and he has won only a few more games than he has lost, but he has no All Star defensemen in front of him. You have to watch a goaler to judge him and those who have, rate him one of the few great ones to come along in recent years.It is not, as last year was, a vintage year for rookies, and Lessard deserves to be regarded as a candidate for the Calder Cup.Like Rogie Vachon, he is a French-Canadian from Quebec. Ironically, his mother&rsquo;s maiden name was Vachon, although they are not related. He was born and reared in East Broughton, where his 11 brothers and sisters still live. Papa Alphonse supported wife Imelda and their dozen by driving a truck and taxi.Graduating from the Quebec Major League, he was only the 154th choice in the 1974 draft, another of many superb picks by manager George Maguire when he was the Kings&rsquo; super scout. In three seasons at Saginaw in the International League Lessard played ahead of Toronto&rsquo;s current star Mike Palmateer and last season at Springfield in the American League he played with and for his current coach, Bob Berry.He did well, yet he was the only one who was confident he could carry the load in the big leagues. He is small and not stylish, but relies on great reflexes and exceptional quickness. He was sent out after a good pre-season last season, but would have played little behind Vachon. He almost was sent out after a good pre-season this season, but the experienced reserve, Gary Simmons, got hurt.Grahame started the first six games, but Lessard scored a shutout in his first NHL start. For awhile, they split the job, but now Mario plays most of the games and has moved ahead in games started. And Simmons is being paid for not playing.&ldquo;I knew I could play in this league, but they didn&rsquo;t know it,&rdquo; Lessard grins. &ldquo;I had to beg for my chance, but now I feel good about the game. I have confidence in my play. I don&rsquo;t worry about anything.&rdquo;Built big from the bottom down, he is five-foot-ten and 190-pounds, but looks smaller and is listed smaller in the program.Masked and in uniform, the 24-year-old Lessard looks like little Vachon, admits he copied him as an idol, and plays a lot like him. And where &ldquo;Rogie, Rogie, Rogie&rdquo; once filled the Forum, the chant, &ldquo;Mario, Mario, Mario&rdquo; now is heard at this spectacular youngster carries this club at times.KINGS THINGS: After losing a 3-2 game to Boston, Grahame did win two straight in Boston. Lessard&rsquo;s win made it the first time the Kings ever beat the Bruins three in a row&hellip;The Kings still are struggling to rise above .500, but they continue to suffer from as severe a string of injuries as a team could have and are down to four defensemen again. Darryl Edestrand may miss a month with a hand broken in a fight with Darryl Sittler in Toronto&hellip;Marcel Dionne broke Butch Goring&rsquo;s club record with points scored in 11 straight games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01775/4257550-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="551" height="1026"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARIO LESSARD&hellip;Earned His Chance</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Lessard Among Top NHL Rookies

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div>CHICAGO&mdash;Bob &ldquo;Battleship&rdquo; Kelly, hired as a hit man by the Black Hawks a couple of years ago, is docked in new waters.The veteran left wing was sent in mid-February to the New Brunswick Hawks of the American Hockey League and his assignment, in so many words, was the following: get tough or get lost.Replacing him on the parent club&rsquo;s roster was Jean Savard, a young forward who gets paid to score goals but never has lived up to those great expectations. He may be running out of auditions here.So might Kelly. Once upon a time, the big guy was among the National Hockey League&rsquo;s most feared players, but general manager-coach Bob Pulford hinted upon his demotion that Kelly was becoming too polite.&ldquo;He said to me that the only way I can play this game is physical, and that I hadn&rsquo;t been playing it physical enough,&rdquo; said Battleship. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s probably right. I have been getting away from my hitting game a bit, but it&rsquo;s tough to be physical when you take one shift a game.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re ice cold from sitting on the bench, then when you finally do get out there, you&rsquo;re so tight and worried about getting a goal scored against you that you don&rsquo;t play your style. You&rsquo;re worried that if you make one mistake, you&rsquo;ll be back sitting down.&ldquo;I respect the man (Pulford), he&rsquo;s the boss, but I think they need me here. At least I hope they do. I figure a club like this needs all the physical players it can get. He said I should go down there and work and that I&rsquo;ll be back in a couple of weeks.&rdquo;Kelly was waived through the NHL, meaning there is no limit on how long he can stay. Likewise with Doug Hicks, who was shipped to New Brunswick a week earlier.Kelly, one of Don Cherry&rsquo;s favorite ogres when they toiled for Rochester in the AHL, had just two goals and one assist and 59 penalty minutes in parts of 46 games this season. He was signed by the Black Hawks as a free agent in 1977, after spending four years with the Pittsburgh Penguins.Last season here, he had seven goals and 95 penalty minutes&mdash;well off his Pittsburgh average of 18 goals and 116 penalty minutes.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s our hope that Kelly will go down there and start playing the way we know he can,&rdquo; said Pulford, who preaches toughness&mdash;particularly by players who are paid to be tough.Savard, not of the physical ilk, is a forward (preferably a center) who was picked No. 2 by the Hawks in the 1977 amateur draft. He spent most of his rookie season with Chicago&rsquo;s Dallas affiliate of the Central League. In 31 games here, he had seven goals. With New Brunswick this season, he had 21 goals (including eight on the power play and four winners) and 23 assists in 44 games.HAWK TALK: Mike &ldquo;Shakey&rdquo; Walton scored his first goal for the Hawks in a 3-2 victory over Buffalo Feb. 21&hellip;Donna Veisor, wife of Hawk goalie Mike, gave birth to Jonathan, an 8-pound boy&hellip;Stan Mikita&rsquo;s 534th career goal Feb. 18 placed him sixth on the all-time list, only 10 behind Rocket Richard&rsquo;s 544.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02654/4257581-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="451" height="601"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB KELLY&hellip;Docked In Moncton</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0017-02

Farm Assignment Hawks’ Message To Hit Man Kelly

LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRAOSBY, LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S. and CanadaLOUISVILLE HOCKEY 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/f0018-01793/4257612-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="593" height="1918"></div> &#9632;

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Looking At NHL Goalers

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;Tim Young is not scoring as much, nor as often, as he&rsquo;d like.But the Minnesota North Stars think their lithe, stylish center is playing the best all-around hockey of his four-year career.Young, who set a team record of scoring five goals in one game this season, himself admits a change in character from his early play in the NHL, on and off the ice.&ldquo;Sure, I&rsquo;m changed,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m older&mdash;24 now. The feeling of glory of being a National Hockey League player is over. I realize now that I have a job to do. That if I don&rsquo;t do my job, I&rsquo;m headed to the minors.&rdquo;With others, mainly Bobby Smith and Gilles Meloche, getting most of the attention on this year&rsquo;s vastly improved Stars&rsquo; team, contribution of others-tends-to-be overlooked.General manager Lou Nanne and coach Glen Sonmor know how much improvement Young has shown. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very much aware of the outstanding job Timmy has done for us this season,&rdquo; said Nanne. &ldquo;His contribution has been somewhat underrated, mostly because of the attention given to Bobby.&rdquo;Sonmor has been impressed, too. &ldquo;His mental outlook on the game is excellent,&rdquo; the coach said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s worked diligently on his defense and done an excellent job. Even when he had that super scoring year of 95 points, he was a minus 38. He&rsquo;s close to even now and is going to score more points than he did last season. I&rsquo;m very pleased.&rdquo;Young, who just turned 24, has always been known for his offense. Those 95 points from 1976-77 represent a team record.This season, with considerable improvement defensively, Young scored 21 goals and 27 assists for 48 points his first 54 games. He also has five game-winning goals, best on the North Stars.&ldquo;I feel I&rsquo;m having a very good season,&rdquo; Young said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got 21 goals and should finish with over 30 goals. That&rsquo;s way ahead of any other season. I&rsquo;m not as far along on points as I&rsquo;d like to be, but our line is really not playing as much as the other lines.&ldquo;Now I&rsquo;m not complaining. The other lines are doing most of the scoring. If I was the coach, that&rsquo;s the way I&rsquo;d do it. As far as my plus-minus (goals for and against when on the ice) goes, we have a much better all-around team. It&rsquo;s no secret that the more you win, the less goals your team is going to give up.&rdquo;Young, with less ice time than he has had in other seasons, should finish with his second-best point total, even with a number of different wingers.The Scarborough, Ont. native scored 51 points his rookie season of 1975-76, 95 the next and 58 last year for a career log of 70 goals and 134 assists heading into &lsquo;78-79.An exceptional skater and stickhandler, Young scoffs at his size, six-foot-two; 178-pounds as a deterrent.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played at that weight four seasons now and it hasn&rsquo;t seemed to bother me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It would be nice to be 190, but I don&rsquo;t think I could carry that weight. It would hurt my mobility.&rdquo;STAR DUST: Right winger Kris Manery missed a pair of games with a slight concussion after being checked by Toronto&rsquo;s Dan Maloney in Minnesota&rsquo;s 5-1 victory Feb. 21. Young scored the tie-breaking goal in that one and Bobby Smith picked up a pair of points to remain the team&rsquo;s scoring leader and the only NHL rookie to lead his team in scoring&hellip;Gilles Meloche and his wife, Nicole, are parents of a new daughter, Annie Andree&hellip;Meloche has reduced his goals-against average to 2.97&hellip;Goalie Gary Edwards has dropped his average to 3.33&hellip;Mike Fidler suffered a six-stitch cut on his forehead when struck with a puck which had bounced off the forehead of Boston goalie Gerry Cheevers in a double kayo&hellip;The North Stars are averaging 10,000 customers, an increase of about 1,300 a game over last year.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02638/4257643-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="481" height="652"><figcaption class="caption-body">TIM YOUNG&hellip;Shows Maturity</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Young Becoming All-Around Player

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04330/4257674-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="586" height="632"></div> &#9632;

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Team Penalties

It took Vaclav Nedomansky just about one season to make the transition to playing in the National Hockey League after four years in the World Hockey Association and prior to that a spot on the Czechoslovakian national team, but the recently-turned 35-year-old has been the best player on the Detroit Red Wings this season.In a recent stretch Nedomansky turned in back-to-back hat tricks in games against Colorado and St. Louis and then added his seventh goal in three games as the winning goal in a 5-3 Red Wing upset of the Canadiens in Montreal.Nedomansky hit the 30-goal mark with the first goal of his second hat trick and now has a total of 33 on the season to lead his club. He started to come on last year when he tallied eight points in the Wings&rsquo; seven playoff games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03471/4257705-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="478" height="641"><figcaption class="caption-body">VACLAV NEDOMANSKY&hellip;Detroit Red Wings</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-03

NHL’s… Player of the Week

<div class="byline">BY TOM MURRAY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01756/4257736-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">CAROL VADNAIS&hellip;Sidelined By Hip Pointer</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;Just one week ago, the Rangers were enjoying a three-game winning streak and entertaining thoughts of taking sole possession of second place in the Patrick Division. Despite the fact that three key players &mdash; Ulf Nilsson, Ron Greschner, and John Davidson&mdash;were out of the lineup, optimism prevailed, mainly because two of the upcoming four games (on the road against St. Louis and Minnesota) were relatively easy. And the two tough games, against Buffalo and Toronto, would be played at Madison Square Garden.By the time the week had ended, however, the Rangers had lost to St. Louis, tied Minnesota, tied Buffalo, and lost to Toronto. They had earned only two of a possible eight points and had yet to win a game since losing Nilsson in that 3-2 win over the Islanders. And here&rsquo;s some more bad news: The team has added yet another casualty to its rapidly growing injury list&mdash;defenseman Carol Vadnais, who suffered a hip pointer in the Toronto game and will be out of action for at least one week.&ldquo;It was Lanny McDonald,&rdquo; Vadnais said afterwards, grimacing as he struggled to dress. &ldquo;He crosschecked me. We&rsquo;ll meet again sometime.&rdquo;The Rangers received some more distressing news during the week when they learned that John Davidson&rsquo;s pulled hamstring injury had been upgraded to what the team was calling a &ldquo;sciatic nerve condition,&rdquo; a considerably more serious injury which will probably keep the big guy out of action until the playoffs.&ldquo;J.D. told me that he&rsquo;s under orders to not even skate for another month,&rdquo; said one of the Rangers, &ldquo;so it sure doesn&rsquo;t look too good for him.&rdquo;It doesn&rsquo;t look too terrific for the Rangers, either, unless coach Shero can come up with some ideas which will inspire his charges to regroup and rally. One area he might concentrate on is the Rangers&rsquo; power play, which has been quite stale of late. The team has scored 60 goals in 241 attempts, good for just about a 25 percent proficiency rating, and when it was pointed out to Shero that the power play is the only category that is inferior to last year&rsquo;s team statistics, the coach was unconcerned.&ldquo;The power play units are moving the puck around OK,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re just not putting it in the net. But it&rsquo;s not the end of the world. The Montreal Canadiens once went 28 games without scoring on their power play, and they won the Stanley Cup. Bobby Hull went 24 games without scoring a goal. But what do you do, bench him?No, you go into the record books and check to see if, indeed, Montreal and Hull ever suffered through those streaks. Regardless of whether Shero&rsquo;s got his facts straight, the point he was trying to make seemed to be that the time has not yet come to panic, and that sentiment was supported wholeheartedly by his players.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s anything to worry about,&rdquo; Don Murdoch said, &ldquo;but I do think that a lot of us felt that these games after that Islander win were going to be real easy for us. We should have looked at each other after the game was over that night and told ourselves that we&rsquo;d have to play even harder without Ulfie, Gresch, and J.D. in the lineup. Now we know that we can&rsquo;t wait for those guys. We have to do it ourselves.&rdquo;&ldquo;Nothing serious,&rdquo; Dave Maloney said, &ldquo;but at this time of the year it&rsquo;s your power play and penalty killing that wins games for you. We&rsquo;re missing that now, and with the injuries we&rsquo;ve been getting hit with lately, it&rsquo;s not gonna be easy to compensate.&ldquo;But there&rsquo;s no need to panic. We went through a slump in December and pulled out of it, and we&rsquo;ll do the same here. We just have to sit back and figure out what we were doing right when we were winning.&ldquo;We have a tendency,&rdquo; Maloney concluded, &ldquo;to be over-estatic when we win and quickly depressed when we lose. I&rsquo;d like to see a happy medium between those two extremes.&rdquo;BLUE CHIPS:The Don Maloney-Esposito-Murdoch line has acounted for 18 goals, 22 assists, and 40 points in their last 11 games together&hellip;With 812 career assists, Espo is just one shy of Johnny Bucyk&rsquo;s total&mdash;the fourth highest in NHL history. With Nilsson idle, Espo should take over Ranger pointscoring lead sometime this week. &#9632;

f0019-01

Rangers Rudely Awakened From Dreams Of Optimism

<div class="byline">BY FRED PIETILA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01592/4257767-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="955" height="937"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAUL GARDNER&hellip;Available For Right Price (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>DENVER&mdash;Colorado Rockies&rsquo; play-by-play broadcaster Joe Starkey is renowned in this area for his exclamation &ldquo;Oh, what a bonanza,&rdquo; every time the Rockies score a goal during a game.But lately &ldquo;Oh, what a bonanza,&rdquo; has given way to &ldquo;Oh, what a banana,&rdquo; as far as the fumbling, stumbling Rockies are concerned.After a team record ninth straight loss in which high-scoring center Paul Gardner was virtually benched again (he saw action on three Colorado power plays), the Rockies appeared at an all-time low.Even coach Aldo Guidolin, who has been refreshing and funny through most of his reign as Rockies&rsquo; coach after the firing of Pat Kelly, was feeling the agony and pressure of the losing streak.Internal problems were brewing. Guidolin&rsquo;s refusal to use Gardner much was the most puzzling. And Guidolin would only say, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s in my good graces. He&rsquo;s not in my bad books.&rdquo; Whatever that means. But that mumble, jumble almost typified the team&rsquo;s performance in recent weeks.In their 0-9 stretch, they were outscored 45-18. They couldn&rsquo;t stop anybody from scoring, nor score themselves, averaging a 5-2 loss in those nine games.Gardner was reportedly expected to be traded to the Chicago Black Hawks at one point, but as the Rockies headed East on a three-game road trip, he still wore a Colorado uniform.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid to answer my phone,&rdquo; the 22-year-old Gardner said after seeing limited action in a 5-3 loss to Boston.And after a 5-3 loss to Philadelphia, Gardner, a 30-goal scorer the past two seasons with 22 this year, was very emotional when he said, &ldquo;What are you gonna do? Coach doesn&rsquo;t want to play me. What can 1 do?&rdquo;Earlier general manager Ray Miron, who initiated trade talk with a verbal blast at virtually the entire team, said that &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not about to trade our top players, Barry Beck and (Wilf) Paiement.&rdquo; What about Gardner?&ldquo;That&rsquo;s all I&rsquo;m gonna tell you,&rdquo; Miron said. &ldquo;Those (Beck and Paiement) are our two untouchables.&rdquo;But when talk of trade persisted for several days, Miron wanted to keep it hushed&rsquo; and Guidolin said it was a lot of crap or something to that effect.The verbal blast and the trade talk was probably initiated as a motivator, but quickly deteriorated into a source of frustration for many players. It was learned that defensemen Mike Christie, John Van Boxmeer and Dennis Owchar had all been offered as trade bait, it anyone was willing to pay the price the Rockies wanted. Apparently no one was, or no one cared about the players offered.The only bright spot, if it can be called a bright spot, during the stretch came in an off-ice matter when team president Armand Pohan, the stepson of Arthur E. Emperatore, chairman of the board, stated publicly that the Rockies would remain in Denver next season. Pohan made the statement in an effort to dispell those old rumors which are already spreading about the team&rsquo;s demise.But after what Denver has been through in its professional hockey dealings the past four years, a lot of people are taking Pohan&rsquo;s statement with a grain of salt.If the Rockies do stay, as Pohan said they would, a couple of major frontoffice changes are likely, although Pohon is non-committal at the present time. Both general manager Miron and former president and now vice-president Munson Campbell were signed to three-year contracts by previous owner Jack A. Vickers at the Rockies&rsquo; inception two seasons ago. Both contracts expire at the end of this season.ROCKY RAMBLINGS: Bill Hochead, the left winger claimed on waivers from Detroit, was playing about as well as anyone during the losing streak and cited the Rockies&rsquo; problem as being unable to put together a 60minutes effort&hellip;breakdowns here and there cost the Rockies dearly&hellip;No. 1 draft choice Mike Gillis put it in proper perspective when he said, &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not enough hustle. We get down a couple of goals and it&rsquo;s so hard to come back. We weren&rsquo;t taking the man tonight (after the loss to Boston) and we weren&rsquo;t hitting. We can&rsquo;t afford to play a bad period, or a team will walk all over us.&rdquo; Gillis was dead right. &#9632;

f0020-01

Rockies’ Gardner Forgotten Player As Rumors Swirl

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;The St. Louis Blues have Chuck Lefley back in North America but not yet back in a St. Louis uniform.Lefley bolted the Blues at the beginning of last season to retire to a life of farming at home in Grosse Isle, Manitoba. But as St. Louis general manager Emile Francis said, &ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t seen a harvest on that farm.&rdquo;Last season Lefley played hockey in Finland, and this season was trying to join a team in Dusseldorf, West Germany. Francis has blocked him from playing with that team, so that Lefley now is back home in Manitoba. But the talented left wing apparently is not ready to return to the Blues.&ldquo;We want him to play right now,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;He has to sort out some personal problems, then I think there is a good possibility he&rsquo;ll come back to honor his contract. Meanwhile, this is a very costly process.&rdquo;Lefley signed a three-year contract for more than $100,000 a season about one month before he walked away from the Blues&rsquo; training camp in 1977. At the time he was 27 and had been in the NHL five full seasons with Montreal and St. Louis. In the 1975-76 season he had 43 goals for the Blues on a line with Derek Sanderson and Claude Larose.At the time he left the team Lefley said the life of a professional hockey player no longer was enjoyable. He gave no further explanation for leaving.The Blues were startled, puzzled and hurt when Lefley a short time later started playing hockey in Finland. He said he had been persuaded to go to Europe by a players&rsquo; agent in Montreal.Francis wanted Lefley back in St. Louis but said sympathetically at the time, &ldquo;There are certain pressures on a professional athlete. All of this is something Chuck has to do on his own.&rdquo;However, the tune changed this season when Lefley for the second time told the Blues he was finished with hockey, then tried to join the German team, where his brother, Bryan, a free agent formerly with the Colorado Rockies, also was trying to find a spot.&ldquo;We made it clear to him he was leaving himself open for a lawsuit seeking damages,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;We made plans to pursue him legally and anyone else who would encourage him to play anywhere but in St. Louis.&rdquo;Francis said the Dusseldorf team offered $25,000 for the Blues to drop Lefley&rsquo;s contractual obligations in St. Louis. Francis refused the offer.Francis threatened to seek a court injunction preventing Lefley from playing this season in Europe, and lawyers on two continents were working on the details. Faced with this determined effort by the Blues, Lefley abandoned plans to play in Dusseldorf and returned home. He has not played any hockey this season. He visited some former teammates and friends in St. Louis for more than a week, but there was no settlement of his problems with the Blues.St. Louis coach Barclay Plager said: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d love to have him. I could use him.&rdquo;Indeed, the Blues, struggling through a dismal season, could use anyone of Lefley&rsquo;s speed and scoring ability&mdash;particularly on the left side. Brian Sutter, playing on the team&rsquo;s top line, has been the most productive left wing on the Blues this season, and Curt Bennett, switching positions from wing to wing, sometimes has been effective on the left side. But Harvey Bennett and John Smrke have spent part of the season in the minors, and Inge Hammarstrom has spent much of the time on the bench.Lefley is 29 now, and that contract he signed with the Blues still would have another year to run after this season. He left the NHL in his prime and presumably he still has the lightning-quick speed and big-league scoring touch which made him so valuable. The Blues still want him back, but the passing months made the separation longer and the estrangement closer to being final.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02420/4257798-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="542" height="577"><figcaption class="caption-body">CHUCK LEFLEY</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0020-02

Blues Entertain Notion That Lefley Will Return

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01440/4257829-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0021-01

The Hockey News

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06154/4257926-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0022-06

Where NHL Teams Play

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05192/4257957-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="632" height="1801"></div> &#9632;

f0022-05

The NHL Scoreboard

ATLANTA: MacMillan 31,32,33, Chouinard 35,36, Pronovost 21, 22,23, Phillipoff 9, O&rsquo;Flaherty 1, Kea 5.BOSTON: Middieton 29,30,31, Wensink 27,20, Marcotte 16, McNab 30,31,32,33, Schmautz 18, Ratelle 24, Cashman 17,18, Park 4, Doak 6, Sims 9.BUFFALO: Luce 19,20, Seiling 16,17, Ramsay 18,19, Savard 15, R. Martin 16, Richard 6, Schultz 5, Korab 8.CHICAGO: Daigle 7,8,9,10, Kerr 11,12, Bordeleau 12,13, Walton 13, Mikita 15,16, Boldirev 28, Russell 8.COLORADO: Paiement 20, Van Boxmeer 6, Pierce 12,13, Delorme 15, Christie 1, Lochead 7, Croteau 21, Beck 12.DETROIT: Bolduc 13, Nedomansky 30,31,32,33, St. Laurent 13, Labraaten 12,13, Thompson 17,18,19, McCourt 23,24, Larson 13.LOS ANGELES: Dionne 43,44,45,46, Simmer 7,8, Taylor 34,35,36, B. Wilson 7, Apps 5, Jensen 18,19, Goring 28, Goldup 12, Murphy 12.MINNESOTA: Fidler 15,16,17,18, Carlson 2, Manery 10,11, B. Smith 27,28, Sharpley 15,16,17, Zanussi 12.MONTREAL: Robinson 16, Tremblay 24, Gainey 15, Lapointe 11, Lemaire 13, Lambert 23, Shutt 27, Laflenr46.ISLANDERS: Persson 7, Potvin 22,23, Gillies 28,29,30,31, Nystrom 14, Harris 11,12, Merrick 16, Bourne 23, Bossy 51.RANGERS: Murdoch 10,11,12, Johnstone 5, Esposito 33, Hickey 26, Hedberg 27, Talafons 12, Vickers 12.PHILADELPHIA: Wilson 11,12, Dunlop 12,13, Hill 3,4, Barber 22,23, Gorence 11, Bridgman 17,18, Holmgren 9, Kelly 6.PITTSBURGH: Anderson 3, Ferguson 14, Malone 23,24, Sheppard 9,10, Lee 29, Kehoe 18, Schutt 21,22,23, Mahovlich 13, Carlyle 10, Kindrachuk 14,15,16.ST. LOUIS: C. Bennett 12, Currie 4, Federko 26,27, Murdoch 9,10, Zuke 4, Hammarstrom 6,7, Brownschidle 7,8, Sutter 32,33, Kommadoski 1, Gibbs 2, Crombeen 2,3.TORONTO: McDonald 27,28,29,30,31, McKechnie 22, Williams 17,18, Salming 13, Sittier 28, Butler 6, Quenneville 1, Maloney 13, Boutette 13.VANCOUVER: Tudor 1,2, Gradin 17,18, Sedlbauer 35,36, Manno 4, Kozak 1.WASHINGTON: Sirois 26,27, Rowe 24,25, Maruk 24,25, Mulvey 4,5, EdbeRG 7,8, Lynch 1, Picard 17, Charron 23. &#9632;

NHL’s Scorers …This Week

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01480/4257895-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="601" height="1589"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02375/4257888-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="1183" height="2378"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03304/4257881-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="621" height="2055"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01452/4257874-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="634" height="2260"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02343/4257867-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="655" height="3800"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03252/4257860-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="1802" height="1972"></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-04194/4258012-1-eng-US/f0023-042.jpg" title="f0023-04" width="579" height="1046"></div> &#9632;

f0023-04

Overall, Wild Card Playoff Picture

WINNIPEG&mdash;The Winnipeg Jets lost a hockey game 5-2 to Birmingham this past week and in doing so they lost a coach as well.Following their eighth loss in 11 games. Jets&rsquo; general manager John Ferguson, informed coach Larry Hillman that things could not continue as they were and Hillman graciously nodded in agreement.With the post-game scenario completed, the Jets GM announced that former Washington Capitals coach Tom McVie was coming in to take over as head man behind the bench.The night before, Ferguson made it perfectly clear that Hillman&rsquo;s fate was in the players&rsquo; hands.The Jets, who had lost seven of their last 10 games, were coming home where 14 of their remaining 20 games were to be played. &ldquo;That is plenty of time for a team to get things straightened away,&rdquo; Ferguson said the day before the Birmingham game. &ldquo;Our players had a meeting and to a man they blamed themselves for our poor showing in recent weeks.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01469/4258050-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="550" height="696"><figcaption class="caption-body">LARRY HILLMAN&hellip;Didn&rsquo;t Blame Fergy</figcaption></div>The next night it became painfully clear that the players were not responding to Ferguson&rsquo;s cue. &ldquo;I thought that by coming home we could play as a sound unit,&rdquo; he said in his announcement, &ldquo;but what I saw out there tonight, was a disorganized hockey club. It became obvious that something had to be done.&rdquo;Hillman left the Jets as politely as he came. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t blame Fergie,&rdquo; the former Jets&rsquo; defenseman said. &ldquo;A change was needed. I am not bitter but grateful for having the opportunity to have coached the Winnipeg Jets. I&rsquo;ve appreciated the fans, management and media in Winnipeg throughout the years I played and coached here. There&rsquo;s nothing to be bitter about.&rdquo;McVie&rsquo;s hiring ended days of speculation but Ferguson set the record straight. &ldquo;Tommy is an excellent hockey man and even if this coaching change did not take place, he was going to become part of our organization. It so happens that now he will be coaching instead of what we had originally planned,&rdquo; said Ferguson. The &ldquo;original plan&rdquo; Ferguson revealed was to have McVie help set up the Jet&rsquo;s future farm system and scout the top players in various leagues.In any case, McVie is now at the controls and his objectives are clear. &ldquo;I would like this team to get back on track,&rdquo; he said at his informal meeting with the press. &ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t seen the Jets play but I do know their personnel. I&rsquo;ll be depending on Ferg and Billy (Sutherland, the Jets&rsquo; assistant coach) quite a bit but I&rsquo;m sure we&rsquo;ll get the job done.&rdquo; &ldquo;Actually&rdquo;, he continued, &ldquo;when I started in Washington, it was even more difficult than this situation because I met the team on the road. Sure it&rsquo;s going to take a while but I know that with the two guys I&rsquo;m working with, everything will turn out fine.&rdquo;McVie has earned the reputation of being a disciplinarian and a firm believer in conditioning, but he played down that aspect as being overemphasized. &ldquo;Look,&rdquo; he said to the attentive gather, &ldquo;All I ask is that my players work. You are going to lose some games, that&rsquo;s a fact of life in an 80-game schedule. I just don&rsquo;t want my players to give up. That&rsquo;s what was characteristic of our team in Washington and maybe that&rsquo;s where my reputation preceded me. Tom McVie is willing to do anything for his players and a player who is willing to do anything for me, well, we&rsquo;ll get along just fine. That&rsquo;s not demanding because I would never ask one of my players to do anything I wouldn&rsquo;t do myself.&rdquo;So, Tom McVie, the native of Trail, B.C. and a 14-year veteran of the now defunct Western Hockey League, begins what is expected to be at least a three-year stay with the Jets. Obviously, John Ferguson has found his man.JET STREAMS: With the hiring of McVie, all of the Jets heirarchy consists of personnel formerly associated with NHL clubs. John Ferguson came from the Rangers and Marc Cloutier was with the Canadiens&hellip;Morris Lukowich was presented with a gold watch commemorating his 50th goal of the year&hellip;Steve West has been sent down to Rochester&hellip;Bernie Saunders, A CCHA All Star last year, is in the Jets camp on a tryout basis.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02375/4258043-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="516" height="849"><figcaption class="caption-body">TOM McVIE&hellip;Was Coming Anyway</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0024-01

Movie Becomes Jets’ Bench Pilot As Fergy Calls For Organization

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 CanadaPerhaps all that Quebec-Nordiques&rsquo; Real Cloutier needed was a little conrpetition. After leading the World Hockey Association in goalscoring practically from the start of the season, Cloutier was caught at the 50-goal mark by Winnipeg&rsquo;s Morris Lukowich. But not for long.While Lukowich was held scoreless last week, Cloutier bagged five goals, including a hat trick in a Sunday victory, increasing his stature as the WHA&rsquo;s all-time hat trick leader.Cloutier scored twice against Birmingham in leading Quebec to a 3-2 victory and then added three more the next night as the Nordiques again edged the Bulls by one goal, 5-4. He now has 55 goals on the season, just one less than last year and within rang) of his personal best of 66 record ed in 1976-77.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03258/4258081-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="455" height="610"><figcaption class="caption-body">REAL CLOUTIER &hellip;Quebec Nordiques</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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WHA’S… Player of the Week

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01405/4258119-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">REG THOMAS&hellip;Described As &lsquo;Mini Star&rsquo;</figcaption></div>CINCINNATI&mdash;Cincinnati Stingers&rsquo; left winger Reggie Thomas is having his best year as a professional, but he gives much of the credit to the line he plays on.&ldquo;Playing with those guys (Robbie Ftorek at center, Jamie Hislop on right wing) really makes your job a lot easier,&rdquo; said Thomas, now in his first full year with the Stingers.&ldquo;Instead of having one guy doing backchecking, you always know there&rsquo;s a guy coming back. Jamie gets in the corners and backchecks and Robbie is the guy who makes the play.&rdquo;Yet Thomas is also another who makes the play happen, as evidenced by his statistics.Through 58 games, Thomas had scored 21 goals, added 30 assists for 51 points, which placed him 14th in scoring in the league.He is virtually assured of surpassing his career professional high of 55 points, which he scored during the 197677 season when he was an Indianapolis Racer. Nevertheless, he isn&rsquo;t overly concerned with statistics.&ldquo;If you just go out and do your job, the statistics will take care of themselves, if you&rsquo;re doing your job right,&rdquo; explained Thomas.At five-foot-10 and 185 pounds, Thomas is not one of the bigger forwards in the league, but he is one of the most aggressive checkers and is constantly hustling at both ends of the ice.His hustling style of play was evident in the Stingers&rsquo; long homestand in February, when the team took four of six games on Coliseum ice.In those six games, Thomas scored four goals and added two assists, including two goals in the Stingers&rsquo; 6-4 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 17. For his efforts in that game, Thomas was chosen star of the game for the first time this season.Thomas, now in his sixth year in the league, came to the Stingers in Feb. 1978 along with Darryl Maggs in the trade that sent Richie Leduc and Claude Larose to the Indianapolis Racers.When he came to the Stingers, he brought a piece of WHA history with him, for it was Thomas who scored the tying goal in the Indianapolis Racers dramatic, 4-3 win over Cincinnati in the 1976-77 playoffs, the only triple overtime game in league history and, of course, the longest game in league history.It was that memorable game, along with winning the Eastern Division championship, which Thomas described as his greatest thrill in professional hockey.&ldquo;It (the triple overtime) really stands out in my mind,&rdquo; said Thomas. &ldquo;We had a chance to win and finally did after three overtime periods.&ldquo;It was really something. We started at 8 p.m. and finished at something like 1:40, I&rsquo;d have to say it was probably my biggest thrill, especially when we won. When you win, it seems like all your aches don&rsquo;t hurt as much.&rdquo;Thomas is not spectacular nor is he flashy, but he is steady and consistent and a worker, a fact which has not gone unnoticed by hockey writers.He was profiled in an article by Cincinnati Post sports writer Jim Zentmeyer and also featured in the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; program, in an article which referred to Thomas as a &ldquo;ministar.&rdquo;Thomas certainly has been that this season for the Stingers, currently ranking second in scoring to linemate Ftorek and making up one third of the most prolific scoring line in the league, a line which has accounted for 191 points.He is not overly concerned with scoring goals, saying that winning precludes everything else. However, he did have a goal in mind for himself before training camp started.&ldquo;When I left home, I told father I&rsquo;d like to get 25 goals,&rdquo; Thomas explained. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m aiming at. After that, it&rsquo;s all gravy.&rdquo;Thomas is certain to get the 25 goals this season, then begin collecting the gravy as the Stingers ready their drive for the playoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03204/4258112-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="496" height="593"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROBBIE FTOREK &hellip;Superb Plavmaker</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0025-01

No Doubts About Thomas’Value To Stingers

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02297/4258150-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="622" height="992"></div> &#9632;

f0025-02

WHA Leaders

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05183/4258240-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0026-05

Where WHA Teams Play

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-06150/4258271-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="610" height="541"></div> &#9632;

f0026-06

The WHA Scoreboard

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01420/4258209-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="569" height="1689"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02329/4258202-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="1186" height="829"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03283/4258195-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="607" height="1290"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04221/4258188-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="572" height="430"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02301/4258181-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="596" height="408"></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

WORLD HOCKEY ASSN. SUMMARIES

BIRMINGHAM: Goulet 20.21. Alley 11,12, Stephenson 12,13,14, Turkiewkz 3, Henderson 21,22, Ramage 8.CINCINNATI: Marsh 28,29,30, St. Sauveur 5,6,7, Gartner 22, Ftorek 32, Luksa 8, Thomas 21.EDMONTON: Carlson 11, Chipperfield 24,25,26,27, MacDonald 27,28, Callighen 13,14,15, Weir 19, Flett 16.NEW ENGLAND: Douglas 3, Rogers 20,21, Warner 3,4,5, Lyle 13.QUEBEC: Cloutier 51,52,53,54,55, Tardif 36, Leduc 22, Bernier 31.WINNIPEG: Sullivan 36, Nilsson 28,29. &#9632;

WHA’S Scorers …This Week

<div class="byline">BY PATRICK LYON</div>UTICA&mdash;Losing two veteran players who combined for over 130 points, dropping seven straight games and winning just three of 17 might tend to make some coaches a little grey, but coach Larry Mickey of the Utica Mohawks has tried to forget his team&rsquo;spast and concentrate on the future.Mickey took over the coach&rsquo;s and general manager&rsquo;s jobs from Chuck Catto, who was fired at mid-season and things haven&rsquo;t been too rosy for the former player turned coach.Though their once secure playoff spot is now in jeopardy with the sudden emergence of the Johnstown Wings, Mickey remains confident his club can make the playoffs with 60 points. &ldquo;You have to remember,&rdquo; stressed Mickey, &ldquo;that I have the youngest team in the league here. We don&rsquo;t have all&rsquo;the former major league players on our roster like some of the other teams do. Because we have no pro experience it just takes a little longer. The team has to get confidence in themselves.&rdquo;The Mohawks took a big step toward restoring that confidence when they bested the Blades 4-3 in front of their home fans to break the long losing skein. &ldquo;It was a really big game for us,&rdquo; said the Mohawk leader. &ldquo;It was just like a playoff game and it helped us immensely.&rdquo;It looked like the same old story as Stan Gulutzan tallied two quick goals to give the Blades a 2-0 advantage, but the hungry Mohawks rallied to tie it a 2-2 on a pair of Bob Ferguson. Erie got the upper hand on a score by Dick Layo, but Ed Smith equaled the count at 3-3 and Ken Yackel claimed the game winner at 10:40 of the final period.Rick Szabo has been consistently improving in goal since he was called upon to take the place of Michel Belhumeur and was at his best against the Blades with his acrobatic blocks.The trade of leading scorer Hank Nowak to Cape Cod (he later ended up in Philadelphia) brought Mickey a trio of players he feels are just beginning to show their potential. Mike Hartman, Glenn Tomalty and Mike Sandford are all expected to play a big part in the Mohawks&rsquo; stretch drive.A situation that both concerns and angers Mickey is the Terry West signing by the Philadelphia Firebirds of the AHL. West was leading the NEHL in assists and was the only veteran wearing a Utica uniform when he was released by Mickey to play two games with the Firebirds. The next thing he knew, the Firebirds had signed West and he was minus one of the best centers in the league. The Firebirds promised compensation, but Utica never saw any. &ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t good policy,&rdquo; said the irritated coach. &ldquo;The Utica Mohawks will pursue this matter by the courts or whatever means we can until we are satisfied.&rdquo;ERIE: It was an unusual week for the Blades as they lost both games they played. Since their shaky start at the beginning of the season, the first place club has never lost three straight games. The rejuvenated Wings topped the Blades at the Erie County Fieldhouse 63, only the sixth time Erie has come out a loser in 28 starts at home. Erie&rsquo;s unbeaten road streak, which saw them go six straight games without a loss, came to an end in Utica with a 4-3 setback.Calling it a &ldquo;key signing&rdquo; for the stretch drive, Erie coach and general manager Nick Polano announced the signing of veteran forward Randy Wyrozub. The 28-year-old center iceman brings even more talent and experience to the first place Blades. Wyrozub played parts of four seasons with the Buffalo Sabres and one year with the Indianapolis Racers where he scored 11 goals and 14 assists in the 1075-76 season. Last year as a member of the San Francisco Shamrocks of the PHL, Wyrozub was the third leading scorer in the league (27 goals, 33 assists) and was voted to the league&rsquo;s first All Star team.Despite their twin setbacks the past week, Erie was still solidly entrenched in first place and was 7-2-1 in their last 10 games, 13-3-1 in the last 17.JOHNSTOWN: The Wings, buoyed by outstanding goaltending from Ron Docken and a scoring attack that has been spread over three lines, have lost but twice in nine games and continue to be in the thick of things as far as the final playoff spot is concerned.After a long and hard struggle, Dick Roberge&rsquo;s club finally caught fourth place Utica in the standings, before the Mohawks win over Erie got them back in front by two points over the charging Wings. Johnstown showed the rest of the league just how much they have improved when they dealt Erie a 6-3 clubbing on the road, but then suffered a heartbreaking defeat to the Aces, tying them after regulation but losing in overtime 4-3. The Wings and Aces rewrote the script just two nights later when both clubs again battled to a 4-4 standoff sending the thriller into the extra period; however, this time things came out different with the Wings claiming a 5-4 game that had Jim O&rsquo;Neill hit the game winner five minutes into the overtime.CAPE COD: Ready to embark on a tiring five games in six nights stint, the Freedoms were riding a four game unbeaten streak. The Codders got some clutch goaltending from Cap Raeder, who lowered his goals against average to 4.25 and captured all three games. Included in the triumphs were a 5-3 road win in Hampton and back-to-back home wins over Utica, 4-3 and 3-1.Paul Barrett helped the streak along with seven points in the span, while John Danby is piling up the assists since joining the club. Winger Paul Wilkins also has helped the offense with four goals in nine goames including two big scores against Hampton.HAMPTON: Despite dropping two of four games, the Aces climbed back to within nine points of the Blades with a 6-4 nod over Utica and a 4-3 overtime win at home against the Wings.Once again the Aces proved how talented a club they are by coming from behind, wiping out a 4-0 Johnstown lead to tie the game with four goals in 11 minutes before losing 5-4. Hampton topped the Wings in their other overtime meeting with Gary McMonagle tying the game and Rene Hamlin winning it in overtime with his first goal of the year in an Aces uniform. &#9632;

Struggle Facing Utica For Playoff

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01384/4258357-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="271" height="253"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02284/4258350-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="2290" height="1501"></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

WHA’S POINT SCORING AND PENALTY STATISTICS

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE WARRINER</div>HARTFORD&mdash;It seemed as if the World Hockey Association schedule makers had declared war on the New England Whalers for the month of February. The first two weeks were fairly normal&mdash;they played six games. Then the fun began with three games in three nights (two at home followed by a game in Winnipeg). The next day was spent traveling to Edmonton. Then came an unbelievable stretch of five games in six nights, and each in a different city. Of the eight games played in those 10 nights, the Whalers managed to win only three.In Edmonton the Oilers were on a roll, having won seven straight. The biggest crowd in their history (15,571) turned out to see if the Oilers could take over first place in the WHA. They weren&rsquo;t disappointed as New England succumbed, 8-2.A loss in Winnipeg the following night sent the Whalers home to lick their wounds and prepare for the invading Quebec Nordiques. Down four to one going into the final period against the Nords, Gordie Roberts, Alan Hangsleben, and Warren Miller found the mark forcing the overtime. Exhausted, the Whalers would gladly have taken the point for the tie. But Hangsleben made the extra session worth while by drilling the winner home after only three minutes.The overtime win was the lone high spot for the Whalers that week. They were drubbed 6-0 the next night in Quebec. Then the Jets edged them the following night back in Springfield. Ahead was a day of travel&mdash;the long and dreaded safari to Edmonton for another important game with the streaking Oilers. That game ended in a 1-1 tie.If there was one thing that pointed out the effect of the scheduling, it was the Whalers&rsquo; power play situations. Heading into the five-games-in-six-nights stretch, New England led the WHA in both power play proficiency and shorthanded efficiency. But in those five games, the Whalers were scoreless in 17 attempts&mdash;a performance that plummeted them from the top of the list to the very bottom in the WHA. On the other hand, the team was shorthanded 13 times and the opposition managed to score nine times, pushing the Wahlers down to fifth in that department.New England also had the dubious distinction of giving up goal No. 50 to two of the WHA&rsquo;s premier sharpshooters&mdash;on successive nights, yet. In Quebec, Real Cloutier bagged numbers 49 and 50 in the 6-0 romp. Back in Springfield 24 hours later, Winnipeg&rsquo;s Morris Lukowich fired the hat trick in getting his 48th, 49th and 50th.The month of March promises a few breathers and the Whalers were hoping to get back on the beam. Gordie Howe (chipped fracture of ankle), Marty Howe (knee), and John McKenzie (stretched ligaments) were expected back&hellip;Larry Pleau has impressed in his comeback bid&hellip;Letting Jack Carlson go to the Minnesota North Stars proved to be a mistake as opposing teams began to bang around some of the Whalers&rsquo; smaller forwards&hellip;Big Jeff Brubaker was finally recalled from Rochester (AHL) to bolster the muscle department.QUEBEC: The Nordiques had fallen upon hard times, losing eight of 11 games. They had lost three of four on the road before stopping in New England for an important game with the Whalers. The game marked the return from injury of Wally Weir and Curt Brackenbury. An acknowledged team leader, Brackenbury was especially missed during the Nordiques&rsquo; skid.Quebec led after two periods, 4-1, and seemingly had the game sewed up. Their close checking was just the right tactic against the tired New Englanders. But when the third period got under way it was apparent that the Nords had decided they had filled the net and that the game was in the bag. &ldquo;In the third period we fell asleep,&rdquo; said coach Jacques Demers after the game.Whatever the reason, the Nordiques were outshot 17 to 3 in the final period and the Whalers tied the game. Having lost their momentum the Quebeckers were reeling, and New England stormed into the overtime to score the winner and thus steal the game.Apparently a lesson was learned, however, and the next night at Le Colisee, the Nordiques blanked the same New England team, 6-0. The game was highlighted by the shutout goaltending of Jim Corsi and two goals each from Alain Cote and Cloutier. Cloutier&rsquo;s tallies were his 49th and 50th of the season&mdash;the fourth year in a row that the 22-year-old right winger has eclipsed the 50-goalmark.BIRMINGHAM: The young Bulls of Birmingham are still aiming at a playoff berth but they continue to look up at a varying spread of points separating them from fifth place Cincinnati. The high point of the week came in a game against Winnipeg at Civic Center Coliseum.A larger crowd had been present a few days earlier when the Bulls lost to Quebec. It was unfortunate that they didn&rsquo;t invite the whole city of Birmingham to witness the Winnipeg game.By the 10-minute mark of the first period, the Bulls had jumped to a 3-0 lead on goals by Bob Stephenson, Dave Gorman, and Rick Vaive. It was number 20 for 19-year-old Vaive.Before the night was over, veteran Paul Handerson had notched a pair and the Bulls collected singletons from Louis Sleigher, Rick Adduono, Dave Hanson, and Craig Hartsburg. It was a virtual field day for all hands as the final score read 9-1.There wasn&rsquo;t much time to savor the big victory. It was off to Edmonton where the Oilers were cruising along on a nine-game winning binge which had moved them into first place in the WHA. Almost 15,000 Edmonton fans became a little concerned, however, when Henderson found the net for his 20th of the season early in the first stanza. The Oilers jumped quickly back into the driver&rsquo;s seat with Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s 31 of the campaign.By the middle of the third period, the Bulls were down, 5-2, but two quick goals made the Edmonton folks move a little closer to the edge of their seats. The goals by John C. Stewart and Hartsburg made the last seven or eight minutes of the game exciting but the Bulls couldn&rsquo;t get the equalizer. &#9632;

Whalers Wilt Under Heavy Schedule

SAN DIEGO&mdash;Out of the problems of the first half of the season, a fine three-team race has developed for the Pacific Hockey League&rsquo;s regular season championship.By either barometer&mdash;the tradional points or the percentage system the PHL will use to determine the final standings on Mar. 31&mdash;Spokane is on top going into the final month.The season-long leading Flyers are, however, now tied with Phoenix on points after the Roadrunners swept a two-game series in Washington, 4-2 and 5-4, last weekend.But Spokane is 27-16-1 after 44 games for its 55 points. Phoenix has a 26-17-3 record after 46 games for 55 points. San Diego has played the fewest games (43) and owns a 15-16-2 record for 52 points. The Hawks lost a chance to draw closer when Jim Montgomery scored four goals to lead Tucson to an upset, 9-6 win over San Diego in Arizona.8pokane&rsquo;s winning percentage is .625. San Diego is playing at a .605 clip while Phoenix is at .598.Phoenix, however, has the edge if you consider the remaining schedule.The Roadrunners are the only club among the leading trio that will play more home games than away dates in the last month of the season. Seven of the Roadrunners&rsquo; remaining 13 games are also against lowly Tucson.Spokane has the toughest road ahead. The Flyers have but two home games remaining, both with San Diego.San Diego will have six home dates, four of which are against Spokane.Phoenix is 15-4-2 at home this year and 11-13-1 on the road. San Diego is 16-6-1 at home and 9-10-1 on the road while Spokane is 20-6 at home and 7-101 on the road.Frank Hughes, who has played most of his hockey career in the Sun Belt states, has edged Tucson teammates Dale Smedsmo and Jim Montgomery to win the PHL&rsquo;s &ldquo;Player of the Week&rdquo; honors.Hughes is the PHL&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer and last week had three goals and four assists.Montgomery scored four goals and added an assist while Smedsmo had two goals and three assists in Tucson&rsquo;s 9-6 win over San Diego.But Hughes is the heart of the Tucson club and the second-leading scorer in the PHL with 28 goals and 36 assists for 64 points (San Diego&rsquo;s Joe Noris leads with 82 points off 21 goals and 61 assists).PHL NOTES: Goaltenders Jim Park and Bruce Bullock led the Phoenix sweep in Spokane. Park, whose goals against mark since joining Pheonix is 2.78, paced a 4-2 win while Bullock stopped 32 shots in a 5-4 Roadrunner win to record his 15th win.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03220/4258412-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="509" height="577"><figcaption class="caption-body">FRANK HUGHES &hellip;Player Of Week</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0028-03

Three-Way Struggle Shaping Up For PHL

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>BURLINGTON&mdash;Play was stopped late in the third period at noisy Gutterson Field House when the announcement began over the public address system.&ldquo;Final score, from Providence Rhode Island&hellip;&rdquo;Dead Silence.&ldquo;Providence 5, Northeastern 4, in overtime.&rdquo;Pandemonium. The University of Vermont Catamounts were leading Boston University&rsquo;s Terriers 5-3 at the time, but the big upset would have been for naught if Providence didn&rsquo;t knock off Northeastern. The sellout throng, whooping it up as they did four years ago, knew the story as did UVM&rsquo;s players. The Catamounts held on to win and earned the right to take on BU again in Boston in the playoffs.The other ECAC Division One quarter-final pairings were No. 7 Yale at No. 2 New Hampshire, No. 6 Providence at No. 3 Cornell, and No. 5 Clarkson at No. 4 Dartmouth.For Vermont, this year&rsquo;s playoff appearance represents their first since 1974-75. Dartmouth was back in the fight after a two year absence and had their first home ice seed ever. Yale was ending a playoff drought of a dozen years.Vermont killed off six BU power plays en route to its win, including one stretch of 5-on-3. Sophomore Craig Homola had a pair of goals as did flashy defenseman Lou Cote, a junior. Sylvain Turcotte, returned from his injury woes, stopped 25 shots to 34 for BU&rsquo;s Jim Craig.UVM had gone 2-5 in league games during February and was having problems with defense and goaltending. They had just enough of a cushion to slip into the final eight with help from Providence. BU lost by the same 5-3 score at Boston College earlier in the week, not scoring a power play goal in five tries. The last six games saw BU, which still retained first place, slump to a 2-2-2 skein. They are, nonetheless favorites to take the ECAC title.Northeastern will never come any closer without making the cut. Their karma always seems to turn against them. Having lost 6-2 at Yale and won 9-5 against Colgate earlier in the week, they needed a tie or a win at PC. Falling behind 4-2 after a fast start, NU rallied behind two third period goals by Paul MacDougall. The Huskies took momentum into the extra period, but Randy Wilson, ending the Wilson era at Schneider Arena, tapped home a goal at 3:25 to lift the Friers into a rematch of last year&rsquo;s quarter-final at Cornell. Northeastern, finishing 11-11, was relegated to the sidelines for the 13th consecutive campaign.Providence had clinched at least a player slot earlier in the week, edging RPI 7-5 at Troy. It was a rough contest broken open by Colin Ahern&rsquo;s two third period goals. Dartmouth had clinched fourth before its final game, but knocked Brown out of the running with a 2-1 road win at Meehan Auditorium. Don O&rsquo;Brien&rsquo;s goal at 2:49 of the third period ended the scoring. The Bruins, having trouble lighting the lamp all year, were missing Jim Bennett and lost top point getter Jim Lawson on the first shift. But their absences only added to a poor second half for the Bruins, who lost eight of their final 11 contests.Yale was fairly certain of making the top eight prior to the final day, and they erased doubts by edging Harvard 6-5 in a home contest. A five goal burst within 11 minutes in the second period paved the way for Yale, led by sophomore Dan Brugman. Dan also scored the hat in the Elis&rsquo; 6-2 win over Northeastern.In less consequential games during the final week, Cornell edged St. Lawrence 8-7 in overtime on John Sternik&rsquo;s goal, then broke open a close game with five third period goals to defeat Princeton 10-5. Senior Brian Driscoll scored a power play goal with 7:52 remaining for Boston College at Princeton the night before, giving the Eagles a 6-1 triumph. Joe Mullen closed out his career with a hat trick. Colgate&rsquo;s freshman center Denis LaPensee had four goals and two assists in his team&rsquo;s finale, an 8-5 job over RPI. New Hampshire warmed up for the playoffs with a 9-3 pasting of defense-minded Brown, led by Bob Francis&rsquo; hat trick. Junior Brian Burns netted the gamewinner on a rebound with 17:08 to play in Boston College&rsquo;s 5-3 triumph over BU. Dartmouth&rsquo;s Dennis Hughes had a pair of scores in the Green&rsquo;s 3-2 win at Harvard.As we prepare for the Division One hoedown, ECAC Divisions Two and Three are already into the playoff polka. Framingham State captured the Division Three title with wins of 5-0 over Wesleyan and 6-5 over Trinity. Trinity had beaten Rochester Tech 9-6 in their semi-final win to earn the championship round. Bob Gordon&rsquo;s goal at 16:06 of the third period won the title for Framingham.In Division Two, eight seeded teams in the East and West Divisions had their quarter-final round on March 3. There were no upsets, as all home ice teams advanced to the March 7 semifinals.Eastern leader Maine, in its second year of varsity hockey and set to go Division One next season, jumped ahead at ATC early and coasted to a 4-1 win. Lowell&rsquo;s Mark Jenkins scored three times to pace the second seeded Chiefs to a 7-3 win over New Haven. Merrimack, defending NCAA champs, wore down Holy Cross and took a 4-0 shutout, paced by Rob Magnuson&rsquo;s two scores. Salem State, fourth seeded, needed Pete DeGiacomo&rsquo;s overtime tally to edge Bowdoin 4-3.In the West, Plattsburgh blasted Williams 11-1 behind Dan Brown&rsquo;s hat trick. Elmira edged Buffalo 4-2 while Middlebury was dumping Oswego 7-2 with senior Mike O&rsquo;Hara the hat trick man. Norwich had an easy time with Westfield State, winning 9-1.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02263/4258443-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="508" height="585"><figcaption class="caption-body">LOU COTE &hellip;Flashy Catamount</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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UVM Can Thank ‘Divine Providence’ For Quarter-Final Playoff Chance

<h2>ECAC CONFERENCE</h2>DIVISION 1Quarter-FinalsTue. Mar. 5Clarkson at DartmouthYale at Now HampshireProvidence at CornellVermont at Boston Univ.Semi-FinalsFri. Mar. 9At the Boston GardenConsolation & FinalSat. Mar. 10At the Boston GardenDIVISION IISemi-FinalsWed. Mar. 7Salem State at MaineMerrimack at LowellNorwich at PlattsburghMiddlebury at ElmiraQuarter-FinalsMaine 4, AIC1Lowell 7, New Haven 3Merrimack 4, Holy Cross 0Salem State 4, Bowdoln 3Plattsburgh 11, Williams 1Norwlth 3, Westfield 1Elmira 4,'Buffalo 7Middlebury 7, Oswego 2DIVISION IIISemi-FinalsFramingham State 9. Wesleyan 0Trinity 9, Rochester Tech 9FinalsFramingham State 9, Trinity 5(Framingham State wins title)<h2>CCHA CONFERENCE</h2>Semi-FinalsBowling Green 12, Lake Superior 2Bowling Green 9, Lake Superior 1(Bowling Green wins two-game total-goalsseries 19-3)Ohio State 5, Northern Michigan 9Ohio State 5. Northern Michigan 4(Ohio State wins two-game total-goals series 10-9)FinalsMar. 9-10Ohio State at Bowling Green(Two-game total-goals series)<h2>WCHA CONFERENCE</h2>Quarter-FinalsMar. 9-7Colorado College at North DakotaMichigan Tech at MinnesotaDenver at Mlnn-DuiuthNotre Dame et Wisconsin.(Two-game total-goals series)Mar. 10-11WCHASemi-FinalsMar. 14-17WCHA FinaleMar. 10-17NCAA Regional PlayoffsMar. 22-24NCAA Finals at Detroit &#9632;

College Playoff Picture

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div>MINNEAPOLIS&mdash;It took 16 weekends, 32 games and a lot of heartaches along the way, but the Western Collegiate Hockey Association finally has a new champion.The University of North Dakota won the championship in a Hollywood finish. The Sioux and Minnesota went to the final weekend to decide the title. North Dakota needed a win or a tie in the two-game series with Minnesota while the Gophers needed a sweep to win the title.Minnesota stayed alive the first night with a 5-2 victory as Bill Baker and Rob McClanahan scored goals in the first minute of play to send the Gophers winging.North Dakota came back to tie it on goals by Dave Christian and Mark Taylor, but the Gophers put it away on goals by Tim Harrer, Phil Verchota and Steve Christoff.Nearly 8,000 fans jammed Williams Arena the next night for the championship game. And it was the North Dakota fans who did the cheering after the Sioux outskated Minnesota 4-2 behind the brilliant goaltending of senior Bill Stankoven, who hadn&rsquo;t played a game since Jan. 13.Stankoven made 36 saves and sophomore center Christian scored two goals, the last into an open net with 39 seconds left, to wrap up North Dakota&rsquo;s first WCHA championship since 1967.The Sioux broke a scoreless game early in the second period on a power play goal by senior defenseman Bill Himmelright. They moved in front 3-0 on goals by freshman Phil Sykes and Christian.Don Micheletti drew the Gophers within 3-1 after two periods on a deflection before Bill Baker made it 3-2 with 6:53 left on a blast from the point.But Stankoven stood strong before Christian hit the open net from 10 feet out after outracing Gopher defenseman Mike Ramsey for a loose puck at center ice.Christian was one of the most dominating players on the ice all weekend, if not the best performer. He sparkled as a penalty killer, especially when the Gophers twice had a two-man advantage and couldn&rsquo;t score. And Christian was on the ice when the Gophers had a man advantage for four straight minutes in the third period and couldn&rsquo;t dent Stankoven and the Sioux defense.&ldquo;Since Christmas, Christian just might be the best forward in the league,&rdquo; praised Sioux coach Gino Gasparini after the game. It was a sweet triumph for Gasparini, who played on the last Sioux team to win a title 12 years ago. Gasparini became the second rookie coach in two years to take a team to the WCHA title. A year ago, Denver&rsquo;s Marshall Johnston accomplished the feat.The championship gave North Dakota the top seeding in the league playoffs which opened March 6-7. The Sioux faced Colorado College in a two-game, total goals series. Other matchups had No. 7 Michigan Tech at No. 2 Minnesota, No. 6 Denver at No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth and No. 5 Notre Dame at No. 4 Wisconsin. That all leads to the second round of playoffs March 9-10 leading to the national tournament in Detroit March 22-24.The loss of the title on the final weekend was a bitter pill for Minnesota coach Herb Brooks to swallow. Before the season started, he said he might have the best Gopher team in history and that his team could win not only the WCHA, but the nationals as well.He may yet take the Gophers to the national championship. But he can&rsquo;t take the WCHA championship away from the Sioux.Elsewhere in the WCHA, Wisconsin swept Notre Dame 2-0 and 7-3, Michigan State beat Michigan 5-3 twice, Duluth stopped Michigan Tech 5-3 and 6-5 and Colorado College split a series with Denver. CC won the opener 4-1 to wrap up a playoff berth then fell 10-4 to Denver the next night.Two teams failed to make the playoffs&mdash;Michigan and Michigan State. It was a bitter way for Michigan State to end the year, since Amo Bessone, the dean of WCHA coaches with 28 years of coaching at State, announced his retirement.Michigan State tied with Colorado College for eighth place after a strong finish the second half of the season, but CC got the spot based on a tie-breaking system.Individual titles were decided, too. Colorado College center Dave Delich took the league scoring championship away from Wisconsin&rsquo;s Mark Johnson by a single point. Delich finished with 70 points, one more than Johnson, the co-scoring champ a year ago with teammate Mike Eaves.North Dakota freshman Bob Iwabuchi finished as the leading goalie in the league. Minnesota&rsquo;s Neal Broten and North Dakota&rsquo;s Kevin Maxwell both compiled 59 points to tie for scoring honors for first-year players.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01378/4258498-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="640" height="754"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE CHRISTIAN &hellip;Sparked Sioux</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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North Dakota Outlasts Minnesota To Capture First Title Since 1967

<div class="byline">BY JIM SCHNEIDER</div>MARQUETTE&mdash;Goaltender Steve Weeks played two strong games as Northern Michigan swept Ferris State 4-2 and 4-1 to gain third place in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association on the last weekend of the regular season.NMU won its last five games to claim third place and the right to play second place finisher Ohio State in the first round of the playoffs.Lake Superior split a series with St. Louis winning 8-4 and losing 6-5. The split eliminated the Billikens from the playoffs in their last season, the only miss ever for the St. Louis club. The Lakers have the opportunity to play league champ Bowling Green in the BGSU Ice Arena where the Falcons were 11-0-1 against CCHA competition this season.Jim Baker and Ed Turner gave the NMU Wildcats a scare in the opener played in Lakeview Arena taking a 2-0 lead in the first period, but Mike Mielke cut the lead in half before the period ended.Dave Ikkala and Greg Tignanelli scored goals in less than a minute midway in the second period for the win and Keith Hanson scored the final goal of the game in the third period.In the second game the score was 1-1 after two periods, but Terry Houck scored the game winning goal at 35 seconds of the third period. Steve Fisher and Jeff Pyle scored other third period goals for the Wildcats, both assisted by Mielke, for the final margin.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02298/4258529-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="535" height="690"><figcaption class="caption-body">STEVE WEEKS &hellip;Came Up Big</figcaption></div>Weeks had 52 saves while allowing just three goals to the Bulldogs.Lake Superior jumped to a 6-1 lead in the series opener against St. Louis with Jamie McDonald scoring three of the goals. Bobby Ciotti finished the game with two goals for LSSC in the 8-4 win.The Lakers took a 3-1 lead in the second game after one period, but St. Louis bounced back with three quick goals by Mark Dobson, Chuck Durocher and George Kryzer in the first 8:05 of the second period to lead 4-3. Steve Sherman tied the game at 4-4 at 14:50 of the same stanza.Kryzer and LSSC defenseman John Thomson were ejected for fighting at 19:42 of the second period ending Kryzer&rsquo;s career a period early and keeping Thomson out of the first playoff game at BGSU.Rob Zamejc put SLU ahead 5-4 at 9:47 of the third period, but McDonald tied the game at 15:53. Zamejc scored the final Billiken goal over at 17:21 assisted by Chris Valentine at 17:21. The assist pushed Valentine&rsquo;s CCHA scoring record to 51 points. The 51 points came in the first season of the expanded 24-game league schedule and thus is also a record for points by a freshman.Paul Billing made 25 saves in the last two periods after replacing Jerry Burt in the first period, giving Billing the last victory in Billiken hockey history.In the other league series Bowling Green set a new CCHA mark for having the best record in league history finishing at 21-2-1 with a sweep of Western Michigan 12-4 and 5-3. In nonleague action Ohio State beat Miami University 7-1 and Chicago Circle 7-4.WMU led the opener 2-1 after one period at Bowling Green, but the Falcons exploded for 11 straight goals. Brian MacLellan scored three times to put his season total at 32, but another freshman, George McPhee, set the new record for goals by a BGSU freshman with his 35th of the season in the third period.Senior John Markell was named CCHA player-of-the-week as he collected five points on the weekend. He had four points in the opener and set up McPhee&rsquo;s 36th goal of the season to win the second game.Markell&rsquo;s assist in the second game gave him the BGSU record for points in a career at 229, breaking Bob Dobek&rsquo;s (1972-75) mark of 228. Markell&rsquo;s linemate Mark Wells is currently tied with Mike Bartley for third place on the all-time list with 222 points (1970-74).BG&rsquo;s junior center Yves Pelland played his usual pesky brand of hockey scoring once in each game and getting the third star in each game.Ross Fitzpatrick and Dan Stothers each scored two goals in the game at BGSU and Fitzpatrick added a third goal in the second game.Ed Lisogar, Mark Freeman and Mike Conrad each scored two goals to pace Ohio State&rsquo;s win over Miami University.Scott Doggett made 32 saves in his only appearance of the season as the Buckeyes won their 24th game of the season, beating Chicago Circle. &#9632;

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Wildcat Spurt Earns Third Place

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD JABLONSKI</div>HAMILTON&mdash;In this week&rsquo;s second installment of the soap opera that is Ontario university playoff hockey, we see the McMaster Marlins merrily tripping their way through OUAA Eastern Division opponents, while the Guelph Gryphons, the regular season champions of the Western Division, have successfully eliminated their quarter and semi-final competition.For a touch of scandal, we hear that several universities in the province are protesting the eligibility of certain well-known players, including Mike Pidgeon, the second semester addition at Guelph.On the ice, as the puck turns, those McMaster Marlins of Bill Mahoney continue to take it to favored Eastern Division teams. Last week&rsquo;s victims were the Toronto Blues. This time around we hear that the &ldquo;weak sister&rdquo; Marlins have wiped out the Laurentian Voyageurs&rsquo; playoff hopes with a 3-2 victory.The win was essentially of the &ldquo;come from behind&rdquo; variety, as Laurentian jumped off to a quick 1-0 lead after only 37 seconds on a Tim Stortini goal.That goal was countered by a pair of Tom Maxzenko goals, seconds apart at the five minute mark. It was left to none other than Jack McMaster to round out the Marlin scoring later in the contest, as the All Star forward propelled his namesake university into the best of three OUAA final series.Turning away from McMaster, we head west for the current capitol of OUAA western hockey, the campus of Guelph University, where the highly-regarded Gryphons advanced to the provincial finals with a 5-2 victory over Western.Goals by Pidgeon, Tim Hurl, and Tom Marquis set the stage for a pair of Mike McParland insurance markers, the latter a shorthanded model in the third period, as the Gryphons coped with their perennial Western Divsiion rivals.Off the ice, it seems that a number of teams in the OUAA have taken exception to Guelph&rsquo;s decision to play former professional forward Mike Pidgeon. Before Christmas, Pidgeon played for a pro team on the west coast, but somehow maintained his amateur status. When the team folded, Pidgeon wound up in the red and gold of Guelph.Join us next week at this time when the following qeustions will be answered: Can the Marlins continue to find love and OUAA success in the league finals, and will the league rille that Pidgeon is not eligible to land in the OUAA?MARITIME PROVINCES: Who was it who said that UPEI is the disaster area of Canadian university hockey?Me.Unfortunately for the peerless prognosticator, Jack Hynes&rsquo; Panthers came out clawing this season, and this past week secured the final playoff spot in the AUAA. Hats off to the Panthers, who overcame a seeming player shortage and an injury to star forward David Cameron in clinching a postseason berth.UPEI wrapped up its regular season schedule with a pair of victories over New Brunswick, 7-3 and 6-4, to narrowly edge the Saint Francis Xavier X-Men for the fourth playoff spot. Both teams wound up with identical 10-9-1 records, the difference being that UPEI had won the two games between the teams.Nonetheless, the X-Men had the opportunity to decide their own fate, as they met the Dalhousie Tigers for the last game of the regular season. A tie, a single point, would have sent the Saint FX squad into the playoffs, while eliminating UPEI.Dalhousie won 8-5 in overtime. The victory came after a potential gamewinning goal for the X-Men at the end of regulation time was disallowed. It was just a fraction too late, or so the referee decided.Up to them, it had been a dreamlike week for Saint FX, which needed five points in three games for a playoff berth. Four of those came in a two game sweep of Acadia, 4-2 and 9-3, in Antigonish. X-Men forward Rick Secco became the conference&rsquo;s leading goalscorer by potting six goals in the two Acadia games, giving him a total of 21 in 20 regular season matches.Ross Yates of Mount Allison captured the overall scoring shampionship with his impressive 18-28-46 statistics. Another Mountie, rookie Kevin Foran, a Dalhousie native finished among the top five with 22-15-37 stats.QUEBEC ASSOCIATION: The Concordia Stingers continued to add to their impressive regular season dominance of QUAA opposition with a two-game semi-final sweep of McGill and a series opening 7-5 final round victory over Chicoutimi.GREAT PLAINS: Manitoba and REgina continue to fight it out atop the GPAC, with 18-4 and 16-4 records respectively.Regina played two games this past week, routing Lakehead 11-0 and 11-3. In the only other games, cellar dweller Winnipeg swept Brandon 6-0 and 5-1 in Winnipeg.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02263/4258560-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="494" height="582"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROSS YATES&hellip;AUAA Scoring Champ</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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OUAA Playoffs Command Soap Opera Setting

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01346/4258591-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="658" height="2944"></div> &#9632;

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College Races

LOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S and CanadaLOUISVILLEHOCKEY STICKSMade in Canada by HILLERICH & BRADSBY. LTD Arnold Street, Wallaceburg, Ontario Sold in U.S and Canada<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03187/4258622-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="558" height="861"></div> &#9632;

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Where AHL TeamsPlay

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/f0034-02285/4258746-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="553" height="801"></div> &#9632;

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Where CHL Teams Play

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01353/4258777-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="511" height="663"><figcaption class="caption-body">GRANT MORIN &hellip;On Scoring Spree</figcaption></div>KALAMAZOO&mdash;Christmas wasn&rsquo;t a very happy time for coach Bill Purcell and his Kalamazoo K-Wings. The International Hockey League season was two months old then and the K-Wings had managed but six victories. A playoff berth&mdash;even if there are eight available for nine teams&mdash;seemed remote. First place? An impossible dream.Well, a lot has happened to Purcell and the fast-skating K-Wings since Santa Claus left town. For one thing, winning has become the K-Wings&rsquo; favorite pastime. And a recent five-game winning streak climaxed a long, uphill fight with a two-point grip on first place in the North Division.Actually, the margin is more than a two-point cushion. Kalamazoo has two games in hand on Port Huron and Saginaw, its two challengers. The K-Wings completed a 4-0 week with 63 points, two more than the Flags and Gears.Included in the five-game streak was a two-game sweep over Saginaw, the defending North Division champions and the front-skaters most of the season. The K-Wings first whipped the Gears, 4-1, at home and followed with a 5-3 triumph in Saginaw. Kalamazoo has now won six of eight from Saginaw.Since Christmas, Kalamazoo has lost just six games. And they&rsquo;ve won 12 on the road which ties a club record. Three of the victories during the week were on the road, starting with a 7-1 romp at Milwaukee. It closed with a 6-4 win at Toledo when the Wings scored two goals in the final two and one-half minutes.The second of Fred Berry&rsquo;s two goals was the winner for the K-Wings. Rookie Grant Morin, who scored three goals in the series with Saginaw, completed the scoring into an empty net.Sparkplug of the K-Wing surge has been goalie Al Jensen, who has been in the nets for all five games in the current streak. He&rsquo;s been getting a lot of help from the Wing defenders, veteran Len Ircandia and Pete Crawford in particular.SAGINAW: Manager-coach Don Perry had a simple answer for the Gears&rsquo; slump. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re just not scoring any goals and haven&rsquo;t been able to get untracked lately.&rdquo;In dropping from the North Division lead, Saginaw has lost five of its last six games. Theyre 0-3-0 for the week, including the two straight losses to Kalamazoo. Over the three-game span, the Gears scored just six goals. They lost at Flint, 5-2, before the 4-1 and 5-3 setbacks to the Wings.PORT HURON: The Flags rebounded from a 5-2 loss at Muskegon by staging an awesome offense show before the home folks to sweep a two-game series from Flint and Fort Wayne.Larry Gould led the assault against Flint with a four-goal performance as the Flags cooled off the hot Generals in a hurry, scoring four goals in each of the first two periods on the way to an 11-4 romp. A 5-3 win over Fort Wayne followed, giving the Flags a 4-2-0 record over the last six games.FLINT: The Generals continued to fan the fires of a late-season rush at first place with a 5-2 decision over Saginaw which extended an unbeaten string to eight&mdash;tying a club record.The game with the Gears was marked by a record-setting 63 penalties between the two clubs. Saginaw&rsquo;s 33 penalties is also a new league standard while Flint&rsquo;s 30 tied the old mark.Six players from each team were given the bounce as the result of a benchclearing brawl. Total penalty minutes was 323.The Generals&rsquo; streak came to a halt in Port Huron as they opened a critical road trip. The Flags scored just about as many goals as there were penalties in the Flint-Saginaw contest, winning 11-4.But the Generals bounced back strong at Toledo as coach Marc Boileau had the Generals wear their home jerseys. He also had a soul-searching talk with his squad. Whether it was the home jerseys or Boileau&rsquo;s pep talk which turned things around, the end result was what counted, a 4-1 victory.MUSKEGON: You can&rsquo;t call it a winning streak, but winning is coming to the Mohawks more often of late. They skated at a 1-3-0 level during the week, marking the third straight week the club has posted a .333 percentage. The victory was an impressive, 5-2 win over high-scoring Port Huron. Rookie Earle Switer had a pair of goals.But the one which got away was most damaging. After leading for 43 minutes against Milwaukee, the Hawks dropped a 3-2 decision on late goals by Morris Titanic and Claude Boileau. The Admirals are the only team the Mohawks appear to have a chance of catching to nail down a playoff berth. The loss left the Hawks 22 points behind the Admirals.GRAND RAPIDS: The Owls&rsquo; relentless march toward the championship had just one delay during the week&mdash;a 4-1 loss at Toledo. But two straight home victories followed which put Moe Bartoli&rsquo;s club just one shy of an IHL record.The 5-2 and 4-1 wins over Fort Wayne and Muskegon, respectively, ran the Owls winning streak at home to 25. The IHL record is 26, set by the old Cincinnati Mohawks during the 1955-56 season. Also, Guido Tenesi scored a short-handed goal in the victory over Muskegon&mdash;the 21st for the Owls. That&rsquo;s just one off the record, too.FORT WAYNE: The Komets still have the second best record in the league but a slump on the road threatens that position. The Komets dropped road games at Grand Rapids, 5-2, and at Port Huron, 5-3, while taking a pair at home from Muskegon, 6-4, and Toledo, 5-3. The Komets have won just once in the last nine games on the road.The loss at Port Huron could be blamed more on a mishap en route rather than any lack of effort on the ice. The Komet bus was forced off the road near Defiance, O., and the players had to sit in the bus for almost two hours before resuming the trip.TOLEDO: Ted Garvin was a better show than his hockey club during the week. In a mock attack on Toledo Blade hockey writer Dave Woolford, Garvin appeared on the ice attired in boxing gloves and robe with &ldquo;Rocky Ted the Recluse&rdquo; on the back. Woolford declined the challenge.After beating Grand Rapids the same night as Gavin&rsquo;s &ldquo;bosing exhbition,&rdquo; and following with a 7-3 decision over Milwaukee, the Diggers suffered a power failure. They dropped a 5-3 verdict at Fort Wayne and successive home games to Flint, 5-1, and Kalamazoo, 41.MILWAUKEE: The injury-plagued Admirals launch a three-game road trip hopeful some of the injured will be available for some action. The trip has the Admirals playing at Muskegon, Fort Wayne and Kalamazoo.Through their 56 games the Admirals have missed 198 man/games due to illness or injury. This doesn&rsquo;t count injuries to goalies, including Jim Weaver&rsquo;s recent eight-game layoff.During the week, the Admirals managed just one victory in three starts&mdash;and that was on the road at Muskegon 3-2. &#9632;

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K-Wings Realize Impossible Dream AsKalamazooStands No. 1in North

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01331/4258815-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02266/4258808-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="595" height="593"></div> &#9632;

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Looking At The Minor League Scoreboard

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03196/4258846-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="517" height="1051"></div> &#9632;

Search for your favorite player or team

March 16, 1979

Where AHL Teams Play

Fans Get First Chance To Pick All Stars

Bears Come Alive For Stanfield; Roster Changes Keep Birds In Bind

Mayer Turns In Fantastic Six-Goal Game