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March 30, 1979
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.
HOCKEY WORLD
Front Office Refresher THE NHL DESPERATELY needs its Mike Bossys, Barry Becks and Dale McCourts, but the league also needs bright, refreshing people in the front offices like Paul Martha. Martha is the former University of Pittsburgh football All American and Steelers’ defensive back who didn’t rest on his clippings. Martha graduated from law school, affiliated with the DeBartolo family that purchased the Penguins, and wound up as the hockey club’s vice president. Martha brings vitality and a demanding nature to a franchise that has been aimless. Consider these comments by ex-Penguin Pierre Larouche earlier this season: “The thing that I hated was the Penguins’ organization and the people who ran it. I don’t think they were fair to me. They used me to kind of prostitute myself in the three years I played…
LETTER OF THE WEEK
Body Contact Essential To Hockey I for one am sick of reading letters in Fan Forum or articles by so called hockey experts on the violence and goons in the NHL today. Hockey has always been a game played by people who enjoy body contact and, in days gone by, they hit and fought a lot harder than today. Sprague Cleghorn, Billy Coutu, Lionel Hitchman, King Clancy, Bad Joe Hall, Newsie Lalonde, Lou Fontinato, John Ferguson, Ted Lindsay, Eddie Shore, Lionel Conacher, Sylvio Manilla. If these players, and many more I didn’t mention, were playing today, they would all be referred to as goons. Amazing, isn’t it, how many so-called goons there are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. As for people who think hockey is too violent, there’s always the ice capades. KENNETH…
WHA Club Cautious About Merger
EDMONTON— While many clubs in both major professional leagues were concerned about the prospect of National Hockey League expansion, Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association continued to enjoy the best season in their history. General manager Larry Gordon and coach Glen Sather, who also is director of hockey operation, signed two bright young Finnish stars—goaltender Hannu Kamppuri and defenseman Risto Siltanen—to WHA contracts shortly before NHL trustees voted down the proposed expansion at a meeting in Key Largo, Fla. Siltanen stepped into the lineup almost immediately, in a game against Birmingham Bulls, and showed aggressiveness and a hard shot unexpected in one of his stature (five-feet-eight and 175 pounds). Kamppuri, scouted by chief scout Barry Fraser of the Oilers during training camp in Europe last fall, was not dressed in his first…
Westfall Caps Retirement Dream; Islanders Eye First Place Fight
LONG ISLAND— This will be Eddie Westfall’s last chance to increase his Stanley Cup playoff record of eight shorthanded goals. And it will be his last chance at a third Stanley Cup, the first two having come when the 38-year-old utilityman was with the Boston Bruins. The 18-year veteran will step up to a position as vice president in charge of public relations at the end of the current season, it was officially announced just before the start of the Islanders “perfect” win over the Boston Bruins, 7-2. “I always wanted to see a game played like this on the day I announced my retirement,” said the Islanders’ former captain. “It was the way I dreamed it would be.” Westfall is one of four Islanders who played on the original expansion club seven years…