Hockey Ad Lib

The Gutty Goaler… FEW YOUNG GUYS want to be goaltenders. Winning and losing games rests too much on them. The pressure pounds at them. Some of the greatest have gone into tailspins and cracked up over the years. Junior goalers seldom look good. Play is wide open and their statistics suffer. Seldom is one selected in the first round of the draft. The scorers attract attention in the race for Rookie of the Year honors. Statistics don’t measure goaltenders too well because if they break in on a bad team their records have to suffer. Ken Dryden was the last goaler to capture the Calder trophy and he was helped by playing for mighty Montreal. And that was eight years ago. Since then, few goalers have established themselves as stars. You can get…

Johnston’s Loyalty Impresses Hawks

CHICAGO— If Eddie Johnston indeed is destined to be coach of the Black Hawks next season, he’s had plenty of training. Several years ago, he received last rites of the Catholic Church. “We’re warming up before a game in Detroit when I was with the Bruins,’ Johnston chuckled. “Moses (Bobby Orr) takes a practice shot and hits me in the side of the head…right by the temple. “Well, they rush me to the hospital, I drop 40 pounds within 48 hours, and get blood clots in my head and they figure it’s all over for me. Priest is up there with me for two weeks, they tell me, and for five weeks I don’t know what’s going on. “My family comes to visit me and I don’t recognize them. I don’t recognize anybody, don’t remember…

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

Tulsa Trips Prove Cure For Stars; Surging Hawks Firm Up Position

OKLAHOMA CITY— Ted Hampson and the Stars had been waiting a long time—a month, to be exact—for their next bus trip into Tulsa. Doctors may not prescribe a 90-mile bus trip as a cure for many ailments, but it usually proves the best tonic for the Oklahoma City hockey club. Since a Feb. 9 trip into Tulsa’s Assembly Center, where the Stars won in overtime, 4-3, to clinch the turnpike series, Hampson’s crew had lost six straight road contests. But on Mar. 10 the Stars came back to the Center and picked up another 4-3 decision. The game wasn’t as close as the score would indicate, as the Oilers scored their last two goals the final minute of play. The previous night the Stars had extended their unhappy road string with a 7-2…