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.

August 1, 1979

The Hockey News August 1, 1979

<div class="byline">By MIKE DENNIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01624/5039814-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="994" height="1506"><figcaption class="caption-body">Guy Lafleur, left, and Ken Dryden have been major reasons Canadians have won so many Stanley Cups In modern times.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02442/5039807-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="948" height="1500"><figcaption class="caption-body">Here&rsquo;s the famous Dryden crouch that has projected the one-time Cornell netminder into the limelight in the last seven years.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03300/5039800-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="954" height="1498"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dryden cradles the Stanley Cup, an honor he helped bring to the Canadiens five times during his sevenyear NHL career.</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;He came upon the world of big league hockey in the spring of 1971 and over the course of 20 playoff games seized the attention of an international audience. When Ken Dryden departed for good&mdash;eight years later with his name on five Stanley Cup championship teams for the Montreal Canadiens, it may or may not have been the signal for the end of Montreal&rsquo;s reign as the supreme National Hockey power, but it certainly was a sad day for those who have been exposed to Dryden&rsquo;s unique contributions to the game.For one who burst into prominence so unexpectedly, Dryden managed to maintain a level of consistency and success which few individuals are able to match, even at their most productive periods. But then again, Dryden is a rare personality&mdash;even for a goaltender if you believe that they are an entirely separate species&mdash;a person who followed a highly unusual path to professional sports stardom.Consider the following:&bull; He was drafted by Boston Bruins in 1964 at the age of 16 but later opted for a university education at Cornell where he was a star player.&bull; After a brief stay with the Canadian national team, Dryden turned professional with Nova Scotia in the American League and had a 2.68 goals against average in 33 games before being summoned by the parent Canadiens.&bull; After six games at the tailend of the 1971 season (Dryden allowed only 1.65 goals per game), he opened the quarterfinals in goal for the Habs against defending Stanley Cup champion Boston, ahead of seasoned pro Rogie Vachon. Dryden went on to help eliminate the Bruins by robbing them repeatedly with his long reach and quick reflexes prompting Phil Esposito to call him &ldquo;a bleeping octopus.&rdquo;&bull; Named Conn Smythe Trophy winner as 1971&rsquo;s top playoff performer, Dryden earned the highly unusual distinction of being named the Calder Trophy winner the following season as Rookie of the year.&bull; In 1973, after aiding the Canadiens&rsquo; second Stanley Cup triumph in his three seasons with the club, Dryden &ldquo;retired&rdquo; from hockey because of a salary dispute with the club. He sat out one year during which time he articled for his law degree with a Toronto firm.&bull; Despite not playing for a year except for a few games as a defenseman in an industrial league, Dryden returned to theCanadiens for the 1974-75 season and compiled a not-too-shabby 2.69 goals against mark during the regular seasort and a 2.53 average during the playoffs.&bull; During the next four years in which the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup all four times, Dryden had the best individual goals against mark in the league three times, led in shutouts three times and led in playoff average three times.&bull; For his career, Dryden shared or won the Vezina Trophy as goaler with the best average five times, had 47 regular season shutouts, appeared in over 400 games and had a goals against mark of less than 2.30&mdash;all by the age of 31.What made Dryden so different was his ability to analyze his and his team&rsquo;s performance in terms which often sent media, men scurrying for their dictionaries. But he remained a down-to-earth guy. one who gave due quests, etc., no matter how tiresome, innocuous or repetitive they may have been.During the past season Dryden told THE HOCKEY NEWS that he and his wife Linda had been giving &ldquo;serious consideration&rdquo; to his future outside hockey and that &ldquo;they had done more thinking about it in the past year than ever before.&rdquo;Among the considerations which came before him were: 1) writing a book; 2) possibly playing in the Soviet Union as an exchange goaltender; 3) beginning his law practice; or 4) entering into the business world or a governmental agency to deal with consumer-related enterprises.Following the Canadiens&rsquo; Stanley Cup celebration, Dryden attended his last formal function as a member of the Habs, the club&rsquo;s annual golf tournament and then headed to Edmonton to visit his brother, Dave, goaler for Edmonton Oilers and then on to Vancouver for a wedding. He then left for a few weeks in Europe and shortly after his return held a news conference at the Forum to announce his retirement.Although still undecided about his future at the time of the announcement, Dryden indicated that he and his wife felt that it was the best possible time to go on to another phase in his life.It was a rare phenomenon in sports for an athlete to achieve such heights of success so rapidly and then sever his ties with the game at the young age of 31, but it also says something for the versatility of Dryden and the fact that his interests are so diverse.With huge financial inducements removing the image of the athlete as someone who plays the fame for fun, it is perhaps honorable that more and more athletes are turning towards whatever interests them the most rather than following the code of the 70s and just staying in the game<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04188/5039793-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="598" height="1718"><figcaption class="caption-body">The familiar Dryden stance will be missing this season In the NHL for the first time since 1970. Dryden has retired after winning five Vezina Trophies as</figcaption></div><h2>Dryden&rsquo;s NHL Record</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-05145/5039786-1-eng-US/f0024-052.jpg" title="f0024-05" width="1010" height="780"></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Canadiens’ Goaler Was Unique Personality

<h2>FINAL STANDINGS LEYDEN DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03313/5040546-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="611" height="202"></div><h2>EMMS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04218/5040539-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="619" height="211"></div><h2>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05170/5040532-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="617" height="315"></div><h2>FINAL SCORING BY TEAMS BRANTFORD</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06144/5040525-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="621" height="604"></div><h2>KINGSTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07133/5040518-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="615" height="545"></div><h2>KITCHENER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08125/5040511-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="622" height="605"></div><h2>LONDON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09113/5040504-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="622" height="581"></div><h2>NIAGARA FALLS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10110/5040497-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="617" height="523"></div><h2>OSHAWA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-11103/5040490-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="618" height="601"></div><h2>OTTAWA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1299/5040483-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="629" height="599"></div><h2>PETERBOROUGH</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1390/5040476-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="635" height="575"></div><h2>SAULT STE. MARIE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1486/5040469-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="633" height="456"></div><h2>SUDBURY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1582/5040462-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="634" height="511"></div><h2>TORONTO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1681/5040455-1-eng-US/f0034-162.jpg" title="f0034-16" width="629" height="598"></div><h2>WINDSOR</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1774/5040448-1-eng-US/f0034-172.jpg" title="f0034-17" width="618" height="465"></div><h2>FINAL GOALING RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1870/5040441-1-eng-US/f0034-182.jpg" title="f0034-18" width="625" height="1548"></div> &#9632;

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Ontario Major League Statistics

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02515/5039624-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GREGG SHEPPARD&hellip;Ready For Full Season</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Pittsburgh Penguins made some great strides last year in the National Hockey League by first of all putting a much-improved team on the ice and then by attracting larger audiences to the Igloo to watch them.The Penguins made the playoffs&mdash;which was a change from the year before&mdash;upset Buffalo in the best of three preliminary rounds and then were eventually sidetracked by the powerful Boston Bruins.But it was a season of vast improvement, as evidenced by such honors as having general manager Baz Bastien selected as THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; executive of the year. Bastien recently had his contract extended by Penguin management.Perhaps the only unsettling feature of the past year has been the Gregg Sheppard situation. Contract negotiations went on for the entire year and there was an extended period at the beginning of the season when Sheppard refused to report.Indications were that he was more interested in joining Edmonton&mdash;then with the World Hockey Association&mdash;although he finally agreed to suit up for the Penguins. Then, although the effort was there, Sheppard&rsquo;s production was not as great as the Penguins had hoped it would be, and not as great as during his six years with the Boston Bruins where the 30-year-old North Battleford, Sask, native averaged better than 25 goals per year.Hopefully all of Sheppard&rsquo;s troubles as a Penguin are in the past because one of the brighter moments for the club came in midsummer when they announced that he had signed a multi-year contract. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.Sheppard&rsquo;s signing assures the Penguins of good depth at the center spot with captain Orest Kindrachuk heading the list, along with Peter Mahovlich and Greg Malone, plus others who have seen service at the position.Penguins&rsquo; losses in the expansion draft to stock the four new teams which entered the NHL, the worst of which was defenseman Colin Campbell being nabbed by Edmonton, place the club in a position to go for defensemen as a top priority in the August entry draft.Penguins also lost Tom Edur, who retired from hockey due to religious reasons early in the season and Wayne Bianchin, the promising youngster whose back gave him troubles last season. Bianchin was severely injured in a surfing accident shortly after he started in professional hockey.The Penguins were also unable to gain the rights to gifted scorer Morris Lukewich who was a priority selection of the Winnipeg Jets who thought a great deal of the 60-plus goals he scored for them this year and defenseman Paul Baxter, who was protected by the Quebec Nordiques. They did, however, reclaim Kim Clackson and were able to place him on their protected list, so he should be a helpful addition to their defense next year because of his hard hitting. &#9632;

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Sheppard’s Signing Aids Pens’ Center Depth

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01578/5039921-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="549" height="1372"><figcaption class="caption-body">MICHEL GOULET&hellip;Wins In Court</figcaption></div>WASHINGTON&mdash;Capitals&rsquo; General Manager Max McNab feels he has already made the key acquisition of the 1979 amateur draft. And the 1980 draft, and the 1981 draft&hellip;However, McNab&rsquo;s newcomer has none of the on-ice potential of Robert Picard or centre Ryan Walter, his last two draft picks. In fact, you can bet the milk money that this new face won&rsquo;t take a single shot on goal all season.Still, there isn&rsquo;t a club in the league that wouldn&rsquo;t welcome Jack Button into their organization with open arms.For the 39-year-old Button is the man who built the NHL&rsquo;s central scouting network from scratch and, until this past month, ran its operations from the NHL office in Montreal. He now becomes the Capitals&rsquo; &ldquo;director of player recruitment,&rdquo; which means he directs the franchises&rsquo; North American scouting operations.&ldquo;With the new developments in the draft, there&rsquo;s no question that scouting will be even more important than ever,&rdquo; said McNab. &ldquo;In order to compete for players, we&rsquo;re going to need a top-notch scouting system. By bringing Jack to Washington, we know we&rsquo;ve found the man whose expertise and experience will get the job done.&rdquo;McNab was making references to the inclusion of underage players in the upcoming amateur drafts, a move which will force all clubs to assess a much wider field of candidates, ranging from the early ages of 15 and 16-year-olds to 19 and 20-year-olds.&ldquo;I was very happy working in the NHL office, but one thing you always miss is the competitiveness, and I&rsquo;m a competitive person,&rdquo; said Button, who worked as the GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins for a season and a half before taking the position with the NHL in 1976.So how does the newest Capital feel about this year&rsquo;s draft, which will go six rounds and cover all 19 and 20-year-olds?&ldquo;Obviously, this is going to be a better year than most,&rdquo; Button commented. &ldquo;Any time you double the supply of hockey players, it makes it that much better for that particular year. I think you&rsquo;d have, to go back to 1974 to find a year with as much promise.&rdquo;&ldquo;However, even with all the extra available talent, there will still be some mistakes made. In 1974, you had major restrictions on the underage players, in that you could take only one underage player, and you had to select him in the first or second round. This year, it&rsquo;s all over the ballpark. There are lots of new rules and regulations, some of which even I haven&rsquo;t completely digested.&rdquo;One thing remains certain. By adding a thick layer of underage icing to an already sweet draft, the Capitals have increased their chances of landing an NHL&rsquo;er in the second round. However, no one doubts that the first round will be anything but spectacular.Drafting fourth, the Capitals will probably be looking at a winger, since defensemen Rob Ramage and Craig Hartsburgh will likely have vanished by then. Among the names at the top of everyone&rsquo;s list are the fiery Rick Value, the speedy Mike Gartner, the gutty Perry Turnbull, the awesomely explosive Brian Propp and the consistent Mike Foligno.If the Capitals decide to take a bit of a gamble and go underage in the first round, three names stand above all the rest. Verdun&rsquo;s defenseman Raymond Bourque is regarded as the hottest blueliner in the Quebec league since Robert Picard, while Portland&rsquo;s Keith Brown is a dazzling skater and playmaker although a bit small. Finally, Tom McCarthy of Oshawa is regarded as a major talent who should blossom into a potent monster of a winger.&ldquo;Usually, a club must commit itself to taking the best athlete available,&rdquo; said McNab. &ldquo;This year, with the inclusion of the underage players, it looks like one of the best drafts in history. A bottom club, drafting by position, isn&rsquo;t going to get hurt, because so many of this crop look like solid NHL players.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02406/5039914-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="601" height="902"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03338/5039907-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="1240" height="1268"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICKY VAIVE&hellip;Could Be Caps First Pick</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Caps Lure Button Away From NHL To Concentrate On Underage Draft

NEW YORK&mdash;The NHL has come up with a new wrinkle for its 1980 All Star game&mdash;it will stage a hockey doubleheader at the Detroit Olympia.NHL president John Ziegler said the league had awarded the All Star classic to the city of Detroit with the game to be played either Tuesday or Wednesday the week of Feb. 4. It will revert to its old format matching the Campbell Conference All Stars again the Prince of Wales All Stars.The league has also invited both the Canadian and United States Olympic teams to perform in a preliminary contest to the All Star game. Ziegler said plans have not been finalized for the event.The NHL did not stage an All Star game as such last season. Instead the NHL All Stars played the Soviet Union in a three-game Challenge Cup series at New York&rsquo;s Madison Square Garden.The Soviets won the series 2-1.While setting up the All Star game, the league delved into some financial matters as well. Ziegler announced a $6 million budget for next season for league operations and also partially approved the transfer of stock by Dr. Jerry Buss, the new owner of the Los Angeles Kings.Buss, who purchased the Kings, basketball Lakers, the L.A. Forum and a 13,000-acre California ranch from Jack Kent Cooke, will be moving assets of the Kings to another company and Ziegler said the NHL would officially approve the sale once the transaction is done.<h2>Gregory To Get Role With NHL</h2>TORONTO&mdash;Jim Gregory was the odd man out in the wholesale front office shuffle of the Toronto Maple Leafs and it appears the former GM of the Leafs will step into the role of director of scouting operations for the NHL as well as become a permanent league executive and a liaison officer between junior hockey and the league.Gregory was replaced by Punch Imlach as GM of the Leafs, a position he held for the past 10 seasons, and since he wasn&rsquo;t offered an alternate job with the team, he is reportedly considering accepting a role that would give him wide responsibilities in the NHL&rsquo;s player development system.Gregory is expected to replace Jack Button, who left the NHL as director of the league&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau to accept a job with the Washington Caps.Details have still to be worked out between Gregory and the league but it is expected to be completed prior to the NHL entry draft Aug. 9. The NHL would also &#9632;

Detroit Awarded All Star Classic

<h2>THE NHL&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021010/5038589-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="614" height="896"></div><h2>OTHER LEAGUES&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03749/5038582-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="606" height="330"></div><h2>COLUMNISTS&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04521/5038575-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="618" height="236"></div><h2>FEATURES&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05383/5038568-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="602" height="132"></div> &#9632;

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Where To Find It…

In the September issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS we will present a special supplement dealing with hockey equipment. It will comprise an inside look at what&rsquo;s new in the equipment field and will contain many feature stories on helmets, sticks, masks, skates and their &#9632;

HOCKEY EQUIPMENT SPECTACULAR!!!

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0002-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011226/5038513-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Maple Leafs&rsquo; owner Harold Bollard is flanked by the two men who will hopefully guide his team back to prominence in the NHL. Left is general manager Punch Imlach, who returns to Toronto after 10 years. At right is new coach Floyd Smith, who previously worked for Imlach in Buffalo. (Photo by Jerry Hobbs)</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;New Maple Leafs&rsquo; coach Floyd Smith has a plan. He intends to put the attack back in the hockey club.Although Smith concedes that defensive hockey is of considerable importance, he prefers that a team plays &ldquo;aggressive offensively.&rdquo;It is Smith&rsquo;s way of telling his Maple Leafs as their newly appointed coach that he wants them to carry the play to the opposition while keeping a tight rein on the defense. The only hitch in Smith&rsquo;s planning is that the Leafs may not be up to it on a personnel basis to achieve his ambitions. In other words, the club may be a little thin on talent.One thing is certain, Leafs&rsquo; fans are in for a new ice look. Smith&rsquo;s preference for an attacking team represents a major change from Roger Neilson&rsquo;s defensive approach to the game the past few years. The Leafs dealt away many players&mdash;Smith Would dearly love to have them back&mdash;in order to supply Neilson with more sound defensive players last season.It appears it will be new general manager Punch Imlach&rsquo;s job to get them back or a reasonable facsimile of players Smith will need to carry out his plan for more speed on the club.Now both Imlach and Smith see upgrading the club&rsquo;s speed as a prime assignment.&ldquo;Skating, of course, always has been an important part of the game but, right now, speed is the key,&rdquo; Smith said after officially signing a multi-year contract as Leafs&rsquo; coach. &ldquo;Montreal Canadiens have won the Stanley Cup the past four years and the fact that they&rsquo;re the best skating team, the one with the most quickness, in the NHL has been a big reason for that success.&ldquo;In fact, I coached the last team to beat Canadiens in a playoff series (Buffalo Sabres in a &rsquo;75 semi-final). The big reason Sabres won that series was because they had more speed than Canadiens at the time.&rdquo;Smith sees his new job as a good one because Leafs do have considerable talent.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m certainly not joining any poor team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The Leafs have a good nucleus of first rate players. I didn&rsquo;t see them last year except one game on television so I&rsquo;m not too familiar with some of their newer players.&ldquo;But Punch saw them often and he likes some of their younger players. We&rsquo;re going to give those kids the chance to play a great deal. The really good players on the club can expect a great deal of ice time, too.&rdquo;Those young players who will receive a heavy workload include wingers John Anderson and Rocky Saganiuk, two offensive wingers with speed; Ron Wilson, a smart puckhandler; and defenceman Joel Quenneville, who played solidly as a rookie last season.A reduced emphasis on defensive play could earn a good look at a first-string job for centre Bruce Boudreau, a quick little player with a good scoring touch.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m fortunate to be taking over a club that has a pair of forwards like Darryl Sittler and Lanny McDonald, who are just outstanding players and leaders, and two fine rushing defencemen in Borje Salming and Ian Turnbull, plus Mike Palmateer in goal,&rdquo; Smith said.&ldquo;The team also has a group of hardworking players, guys who won&rsquo;t be shoved around. It&rsquo;s a strong point, a very definite asset, that Leafs were the fourthbest defensive club in the NHL last season. You just know that the players on any club Roger Neilson has coached will know how to check.&rdquo;In his three seasons with Sabres, Smith stressed wide-open defensive hockey while building an enviable .668 winning percentage.&ldquo;Sure, physical strength is important in players but the goon thing, the heavy use of intimidation, thank heavens, is no longer a big factor in hockey,&rdquo; Smith added.&ldquo;The number of goals scored in the NHL increased considerably last season, which demon-strates that attacking hockey is back in prominence. I like a team to be aggressive on the attack and use puck control and forechecking as a part of its defence.&ldquo;Besides, playing the game in the other team&rsquo;s zone is better than playing it in your own. At least, if you make a mistake in the attacking zone, it&rsquo;s 180 feet from your own net.&ldquo;The good rushing defenceman is a key man in hockey these days and it will be luxury for me to work on a team that has two of the best in Salming and Turnbull. In fact, Turnbull has so much speed and skill with the puck that ne could be shifted to the wing.&rdquo;Smith and Imlach now must sell their new administration to the Leaf players, a job which won&rsquo;t be without its difficulties. Several Leafs were strong Neilson supporters. In fact, their presence on the roster was owed to him and they felt he should have been rehired.Imlach didn&rsquo;t exactly gladden the hearts of some Leaf players when, on the day he was hired as Leafs&rsquo; main man, he said the club had &ldquo;five or six good players&rdquo; and the remainder of the team captain Sittler to start the process of gaining the players&rsquo; confidence.&ldquo;Sittler is an outstanding leader, a player who works extremely hard all the time and sets the example for the club,&rdquo; Smith said.Smith would like to have a claim but they weren&rsquo;t too happy with it.Smith hopes to meet soon with fulltime assistant coach. A top candidate for that job is former Leaf, New York Ranger, Montreal Canadien and Sabre winger Dick Duff.Both Smith and Imlach insist that each will have strongly identified areas of responsibilities in the operation of the team, although they&rsquo;ll work together closely on overall planning of the operation. &#9632;

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Speed, Attack Key Says New Coach

<div class="byline">&#x2014;By Charlie Halpin, Editor</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011254/5038644-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="383" height="453"></div><h2>Hockey Summer Drag</h2>WHAT A DIFFERENCE a year makes.The National Hockey League appears to have gone underground with the arrival of the summery season. This time last year, the competition for sports page headlines was brisk. While the NHL was handing Don Murdoch a tentative one-year suspension for a cocaine rap, the WHA was busily engaged in stealing some of the NHL&rsquo;s thunder by signing top players from their draft.There were announcements, trades, inter-league deals, firings, and the like by both leagues to attract the attention of the media. It was a hot summer sort of speak.Since the two leagues collaborated on their late spring expansion concept, it almost seems someone has drawn the curtain. They appear to be telling us, we&rsquo;ll see you at training camp. Hockey has taken the summer off.Once the NHL completed its player dispersal in the expansion draft, news out of league offices in both Montreal and New York has been sparse. Strange, since it seems there is still so much to be decided before the teams can get down to the matter of hockey playing come mid September.The NHL even managed to postpone its so-called amateur draft&mdash;they&rsquo;re calling it the entry draft now because the players being picked over are actually professionals&mdash;and I would have to say this was a mistake. The summer hockey meetings in Montreal, which once attracted 600 delegates before falling off to less than 500, staged a revival in the summer of 1978 when they brought the amateur draft back to the meeting agenda. It was something that made the trip to MonTreal worthwhile besides expensive.This year the NHL made the decision to put the teen draft off until Aug. 9 and will go back to hiding it from the media via a closed circuit telephone draft. The reasoning was that there was simply too much on the crowded summer meeting agenda with the expansion to 21 teams. There was simply no time for the amateur&mdash;err entry draft. Hence it was pushed forward to early August. Most hockey observers feel that it would have generated far more interest if it had been squeezed into the June 11-13 meetings in Montreal and I would have to agree with their thinking.<h2>Agents Apply Pressure</h2>THE LAG IN HOCKEY information for the past two months has been discouraging to both media and fans alike. Baseball and football have virtually pushed hockey off the sports pages since June 13 and it isn&rsquo;t likely the staging of the entry draft is going to do too much to enhance the off-season activities of the hockey teams.The NHL&rsquo;s insistence that the entry draft being moved to Aug. 9 from June has been created in part by the pressure brought to bear on the pros by the maze of pro hockey agents. Threatened with endless court cases if they did not include 19-year-olds in the amateur draft this year, the NHL had to back track on its draft planning. There had to be lengthy meetings of course between the players association and the governors, both in Nassau and New York, and later in Toronto. And all because the agents were putting their best legal foot forward. The NHL had to appease the hockey agents.NHL president John Ziegler said that in changing the name of the draft the word amateur no longer was descriptive because there would be players involved in the draft who were actually professionals. The governors voted to change the name of the universal amateur draft to the entry draft to both keep the NHL from being legally entangled with the players and to get the agents off their backs.<h2>Draft Aggravation Mounts</h2>WHILE THE NHL is confident it has headed off a potential explosive situation by lowering the draft age to 19 this year and likely 18 in 1980, there are storm clouds gathering on another horizon for the league.NHL player agents are adamant that their clients are being treated unfairly by being subjected to the entry draft because they are 19 years old after having already played as professionals. One agent has as many as five players who played pro last year and will be eligible for the draft according to an NHL ruling. Another has already been to Quebec Superior Court and won a decision to force the NHL to leave him out of the draft entirely. He is 19.The idea, behind the agents&rsquo; threats is money. They want their players declared free agents if they played professional the past two years enabling them to sell their services to the highest bidder. The NHL has turned a deaf ear to their pleas and according to one source all players will be put on the draft eligibility list even if they performed with Cincinnati or Birmingham or whatever club last season.The aggravation was created as the result of the NHL ruling that Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; million dollar kid, Wayne Gretzky, was ineligible for the entry draft despite the fact he is 18. It seems the Oilers obtained Gretzky&rsquo;s exemption during expansion negotiations. But the other player agents aren&rsquo;t buying it and several are pressing the NHL to declare players like Michel Goulet, Craig Hartsburg, Rob Ramage, Gaston Gingras, Pat Riggin and Rick Vaive among others as professionals and totally ineligible for the draft. If it&rsquo;s good enough for Gretzky it&rsquo;s good enough for their players, claim the agents.That decision will probably have to be made Aug. 7 or 8 in Toronto when the governors and players gather to put their stamp of approval on the entry draft bylaw. The outcome might prove livelier than anything else that happened in this listless of all hockey summers. &#9632;

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INSIDE HOCKEY

OFFICIAL NATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY FOUNDED 1947VOLUME 32, NUMBER 36AUGUST, 1979Kenneth W. McKenzie President and PublisherCharlie Halpin Editorial DirectorTom Murray Assistant PublisherMike Dennis Assistant EditorPeter Emerson Vice-President SalesSuite 314, 314 King St., West. Toronto. Ont. M5H 1K4, Telephone: (416) 59S-1TS3.<h2>Advertising Representatives:</h2><h3>New Volt:</h3>Tom Murray850 Third Ave.New York, N.Y. 10022 &bull; (212) 593-2100<h3>Chicago:</h3>Hooper, Jones & Associates3322 W. Peterson AvenuesChicago, Ill. 60659 &bull; (312)478-5544<h3>Boston:</h3>Steve GanakSteve Ganak Ad RepsStatler Office BuildingBoston, Mass. 02116 &bull; (617)542-6913THE HOCKEY NEWS (ISSN 0018-3016), is published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Publishing Co., Ltd., 214 King St., W., Suite 314, Toronto, Ont. M5H 1K4. Phone: (416) 598-1753. In U.S. c/o W.C.C. Publishing Corp., 850 Thirtl Ave., NewYork, N.Y 10022. Phone (212)593-2100.YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $13.9S in Canada, $14.95in the U.S.A. and $19.25 in Foreign Countries. Second class postage paid at New York, N.Y. 10001 and at additional mailing offices. SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO 1434 ST. CATHERINE STREET WEST, SUITE 217, MONTREAL, CANADA H3G 1R7. Second Class mail Registration No. 1327. Ail inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should be addressed to Subscription Dept., The Hockey News, 214 King St. W., Suite 314, Toronto, Ont., M5H 1K4. Canada. &#9632;

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY FRED PIETILA</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021027/5038699-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>DENVER&mdash;The whole scene surrounding the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Colorado Rockies has changed dramatically in the last two months. And the primary reason is Don Cherry, the former Boston Bruins&rsquo; coach, who was signed to a multi-year contract to take over the struggling franchise headed into its fourth season in Colorado.Ticket sales immediately picked up. Enthusiasm is at a fever pitch, among players and fans. And for once, people are wondering what the Rockies are going to do with the No. 1 draft choice (No. 1 over-all) this summer instead of wondering whether or not the team is even going to be around.Cherry, meanwhile, came out to the Mile High City with his wife Rose and children Cindy and Timothy in search of a house in early July. He found one in suburban Englewood within a week and returned to the Boston area.His mere presence in Colorado sparked instant and positive publicity for a franchise which has had nothing but negative vibes since its shaky inception three summers ago.As of the first week in July, the Rockies had sold 3,600 full season tickets. Granted, that&rsquo;s not a staggering figure but compared to the 3,400 (which included full, partial, comps and tradeouts) they sold last season, that figure was encouraging. And more ad campaigns are planned for August and September.Anyway, the 45-year-old Cherry is amazed by ren&rsquo;t thinking of me going to Colorado, just thinking of me leaving Boston,&rdquo; Cherry said of the response of many fans in the Boston area.&ldquo;The thing that amazes me is the reaction out here. Never in my wildest dreams did I think there&rsquo;d be that many people at that press conference (announcing his signing to the reported $130,000 per year contract). I thought there&rsquo;d be five or six people there. The season tickets have increased, too. But the reception here is the thing that boggles my mind. And to me it&rsquo;s added more pressure&mdash;which I like.&rdquo; The press conference was one of the best attended in Denver sports history.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re buying these season seats because I&rsquo;m here. I won&rsquo;t let &rsquo;em down. I hope I don&rsquo;t let &rsquo;em down,&rdquo; Cherry said.&ldquo;I said to my wife, geez, I hope we can bring them a good, competitive team. I hope we don&rsquo;t let them down.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have sugar plum visions in my head. I know she&rsquo;s going to be a long grind. A lot of people say I&rsquo;ll have to be patient, but I won&rsquo;t be,&rdquo; Cherry said, with a smile, of the prospect of taking over the team with the worst record in the league last season.And what kind of a team does he expect to put on ice?&ldquo;I would like a good, competitive team&mdash;one where the fans see that we don&rsquo;t quit and that we&rsquo;re trying to do our best. I&rsquo;d like a good aggressive team, a tough team and naturally I&rsquo;d like to make the playoffs,&rdquo; Cherry said.The Rockies also moved to strengthen their goalie position by acquiring the rights of Swedish netminder Hardy Astrom from the New York &#9632;

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Rocky Mountains Get High On Cherry’s Hockey Magic

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-06448/5038789-1-eng-US/f0004-062.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Top Draft Picks Over The Years

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011285/5038758-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB SMITH&hellip;First Year Sensation</figcaption></div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;With the days ticking by towards the 1979 amateur&mdash;entry as it&rsquo;s now called&mdash;draft, the Colorado Rockies have been successfully rejecting all sorts of offers and entices from many of the other 20 National Hockey League teams for The Big One, Numero Uno, the first choice among all of the 20 and 19-year-old junior hockey players.Just how good is the first pick in the entire draft? Well, of course, it depends upon the crop of juniors about to enter the professional market, but with the addition of 19-year-olds to this summer&rsquo;s draft, including several who played in the World Hockey Association the past year, you can figure that the top pick might be worth a Pierre Larouche and a Gilles Lupien from Montreal, or perhaps a Rick MacLeish and an Andre Dupont from Philadelphia. How about Don Murdoch, Mike McEwen and Lucien DeBlois from the New York Rangers? In other words, though these are only speculative offers, it stands to reason that many clubs consider the first draft choice to be very important.Certainly among those clubs is Minnesota, a team which got off to a shaky start despite joining forces and getting some talented players from the Cleveland Barons. Around Christmas time last year, though, the North Stars started to get their act together and leading the way was none other than the man who led off the 1978 amateur draft, Bob Smith, six-foot-four, 210-pound youngster drafted from the Ottawa 67s.Smith, who led the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League in scoring his final junior year, came into national prominence during the 1978 World Junior championships held in Montreal.In much the same way that scouts found Bobby Orr when they were supposed to be watching an older and starrier junior, media at the World championships to watch wunderkind Wayne Gretzky, who acquitted himself quite well, were pleasantly surprised by the leadership qualities displayed by the rangy Smith who controlled play at both ends of the ice.After a slow start with the North Stars, Smith, along with left winger Steve Payne, who played on Smith&rsquo;s line in Ottawa and right winger Al MacAdam, became Minnesota&rsquo;s most effective threesome, and Smith went on to become the third player in NHL history to become Calder Trophy winner as Rookie of the Year after being selected first in the amateur draft, joining Gil Perreault (1971) and Denis Potvin (1973).During his splendid rookie season with the North Stars, Smith led all NHL first-year players in points (74), in goals (30) and in assists (44). His 74 points were the most ever scored in one season by a Minnesota rookie. He was the only first-year player to lead his team in scoring during the 1978-79 season.&ldquo;Bobby Smith arrived here under tremendous pressure, accepted it and lived up to his advance notices,&rdquo; said general manager Lou Nanne, the man who made Smith his No. 1 choice a year ago. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a mature young man and showed it by his ability to handle that pressure. Bobby has the attitude of a winner, an attitude we feel will make the players around him winners.&rdquo;&ldquo;Bobby is the kind of play; er every coach hopes for,&rdquo; said coach Glen Sonmor. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a two-way performer. He&rsquo;s an outstanding scorer. But above all, he&rsquo;s consistent. His statistics prove that he&rsquo;s a fine hockey player, but he&rsquo;s also an outstanding individual with the maturity and self-confidence to handle the pressures of professional hockey. As a Calder winner, he joins such players as Bobby Orr, Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier and Ken Dryden. That&rsquo;s good company, but he&rsquo;s not out of place.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really pleased to win it,&rdquo; said Smith, &ldquo;because it represents being at the top of the rookie class and because it justifies Lou&rsquo;s choice in the draft last year. The real proof, however, is in the years to come. You don&rsquo;t draft a guy for one year, you draft him for a career. I&rsquo;ve got a long way to go to get to be the player I want to be.&rdquo;The Rockies, no doubt, realize the value of a good first-round draft choice because they have to look no further than their own Barry Beck, the six-foot-three, 220-pound defenseman who became an instant star in Colorado.In addition to his cool, heady play, and the fact that his size served as a deterrent to other teams taking liberties with the rest of the Rockies, Beck&rsquo;s greatest value, much like Smith&rsquo;s, is his leadership capabilities and the fact that he has been chosen to stand as the cornerstone around which the Rockies are attempting to build.Buffalo thought much the same when they drafted Perreault and although he might not have the personality to be a vocal leader, his play certainly showed a fine example for his teammates to follow.Potvin, of course, is the number one draft choice who stands as the model as far as taking over the burden of leadership for his club. The Islanders&rsquo; rise, naturally, has been a combination of the maturation of young players, wise trading and the arrival of Bryan Trottier and then Mike Bossy to supplement Potvin. Bossy by the way was bypassed by 14 other NHL clubs in the first round although there was a suspicion that he couldn&rsquo;t play defense.Dale McCourt, as Smith&rsquo;s immediate predecessor in the 1977 draft is yet another example of a player who helped turn around a franchise. Detroit Red Wings made the biggest jump in the NHL standings in 40 years during the 1977-78 season and McCourt was a big part of their success. Last year, when the club was hard hit by injuries and inconsistent goaltending, McCourt again fashioned impressive statistics&mdash;despite the pressures of battling in court to avoid being transferred to Los Angeles.Thus far it appears that the Rockies are holding out for the chance to get the best 19 or 20-year-old in Canada to complement their team. Off the basis of the rookie season enjoyed by Bob Smith and the success stories written by many other top draft choices, it seems the wisest policy.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021199/5038751-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="616" height="866"><figcaption class="caption-body">BARRY BECK&hellip;Fitted Right In</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031024/5038744-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="616" height="832"><figcaption class="caption-body">DENIS POTVIN&hellip;Became A Super Star</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04901/5038737-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="622" height="844"><figcaption class="caption-body">RYAN WALTER&hellip;Solid Top Pick</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05754/5038730-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="626" height="900"><figcaption class="caption-body">WAYNE BABYCH&hellip;Headed For Greatness</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Hockey History Proving There’s Gold In Retaining Top NHL Draft Picks

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011155/5038827-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="564" height="1638"><figcaption class="caption-body">GILLES GILBERT&hellip;Ready To Sign</figcaption></div>BOSTON&mdash;Fred Creighton, who has had only four jobs in his 17 years of coaching hockey teams, nodded and allowed that, yes, he was a little uncomfortable, a little apprehensive, about taking up No. 5 as coach of the Boston Bruins.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s obvious that the success of my predecessor, Don Cherry, is going to make it very difficult,&rdquo; he said, displaying a masterful grasp of understatement. &ldquo;But I think if people don&rsquo;t prejudge me and let me get at my job I&rsquo;m confident I can get things done.&ldquo;This is an exciting experience for me. If I was a pussyfoot and I didn&rsquo;t think I could coach I would never place myself in a position like this. It&rsquo;s a little bit scary. It&rsquo;s a great hockey town. If things aren&rsquo;t going well you can&rsquo;t hide here, I know that.&rdquo;Creighton, like Cherry before him, a longtime minor league defenseman, was introduced as the new Bruins&rsquo; coach at a news conference July 5, a couple of months after he was fired by the Atlanta Flames for whom he toiled for seven years in Omaha and Atlanta.Matchups with Cherry went on and on.&ldquo;Do you own a cat?&rdquo; was the first question put to Creighton, who looked a little nonplussed until he was reminded that Cherry&rsquo;s bull terrier, &ldquo;Blue,&rdquo; was also departing for greener hydrants in Colorado, leaving a void in Boston&rsquo;s animal population. No, he doesn&rsquo;t own a cat. Cherry would have liked that.&ldquo;How many suits do you own?&rdquo; another interviewer asked Creighton, who by this time must have been wondering if it really was a great hockey town after all.For the record, he was a vision in green&mdash;a light green shirt, a green summer suit, a dark green tie with white polka dots and green and white loafers. It was, he admitted, the best he had at the moment. Cherry would have liked that, too.There were, of course, some hockey questions and Creighton fielded them with a dash of low-keyed humor.He has never had a losing season as a coach in 17 seasons with New Haven, Charlotte (where he won two titles), Omaha (where he won another) and Atlanta, yet the last four years his Flames failed dismally in the playoffs. Had he analyzed those failures?&ldquo;More so last year than ever before,&rdquo; said Creighton. &ldquo;When it costs you your job you spend a lot of time analyzing it. If I had not been successful at Charlotte and Omaha then I really would have cause for self-doubt. But I feel confident, when the opportunity presents itself again, I&rsquo;ll win in the playoffs.&rdquo;Did he have any trouble motivating his Flames for the playoffs?&ldquo;It breaks down to how much of that comes from a coach and how much comes from peer pressure,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;I see a player like Terry O&rsquo;Reilly out there and playing to the utmost of his ability night after night. It must be awful difficult to sit in that dressing room and not&ldquo;I really felt that in Atlanta we lacked a player of that capacity.&rdquo;Does he plan any changes in the Bruins, either in style or in personnel?&ldquo;The team has been very, very successful,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;m not about to walk in here and say, &lsquo;You&rsquo;ve been doing it all wrong. Now we&rsquo;re going to change and do it another way.&rsquo; But after I work with the team longer, if I see some area I think we can improve, we&rsquo;ll certainly go at it.&ldquo;I believe very strongly that an attacking team is a strong team. I think that the building itself here and the personnel of the Bruins lends itself to a strong forechecking type of game. I think you can do that and not be suspect defensively.&rdquo;Cherry would have liked that, too.Three of the Bruins, Jean Ratelle, Peter McNab and Donnie Marcotte, stopped by the news conference for coffee, doughnuts and a chance to pose for pictures with their new coach.&ldquo;This is my power play,&rdquo; cracked Creighton as the shutters clicked.&ldquo;My wife told me I&rsquo;d better get down here,&rdquo; said McNab.&ldquo;There won&rsquo;t ever be anyone else like Cherry,&rdquo; said Marcotte. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of a kind. But all the guys are professionals. I&rsquo;ve been through one, two, three, four coaches and each coach has a different style but they all came around to the same thing; they all want to win and they&rsquo;ll do their best to win.&rdquo;And leave it to Cherry, who has not yet left the Boston area to take up the coaching reins at Colorado, to have the last word.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;ll be a good coach,&rdquo; Cherry told a caller. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good guy and probably the best choice they could have made, with all the jerks there are running around looking for jobs.&ldquo;Besides, I know he&rsquo;ll treat my boys right.&rdquo;BRUINS&rsquo; BRIEFS: Gilles Gilbert is said to be close to signing with the Bruins. One obstacle was removed when Cherry left town for Denver&rsquo;s mountains, and it now appears likely that Gilbert will remain in the Bruins&rsquo; fold.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02851/5038820-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="1218" height="1796"><figcaption class="caption-body">FRED CREIGHTON&hellip;Faced Boston Media&rsquo;s Inquiries</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Creighton Steps Into Bruin Hot Seat Replacing Highly Successful Cherry

Following are the latest offseason movements in hockey:<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>ATLANTA&mdash;Al MacNeil named coach succeeding Fred Creighton. Pekka Rautakallio, forward, signed to two-year contract as free agent.BOSTON&mdash;Fred Creighton named coach succeeding Don Cherry.BUFFALO&mdash;Scotty Bowman named coach and general manager succeeding Bill Inglis as coach. Roger Neilson named assistant coach to Bowman.COLORADO&mdash;Don Cherry named coach succeeding Aldo Guidolin. Bill Lochead, forward, traded to N.Y. Rangers in exchange for NHL rights to Hardy Aastrom, goaler.CHICAGO&mdash;Ed Johnston named coach succeeding Bob Pulford, who remains as GM. Keith Magnuson, defenseman, announced retirement from hockey.DETROIT&mdash;Vaclav Nedomansky, forward, signed to multi-year contract as free agent.EDMONTON&mdash;John Bednarski and Byron Baltimore, defensemen, and Clayton Pachal, forward, signed as free agents.HARTFORD&mdash;Dave Keon, forward, signed as free agent.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Mike Murphy, forward, signed to multi-year contract as free agent. Lorne Molleken, Doug Keans and Julian Baretta, goalkeepers, signed as free agents.MINNESOTA&mdash;Jean Potvin, defenseman, signed as free agent.MONTREAL&mdash;Ken Dryden, goaler, announced retirement from hockey. Jacques Lemaire, forward, signed to play with team in Switzerland for next three years. Claude Ruel named interim coach to succeed Scotty Bowman. Serge Savard, defenseman, signed to multi-year contract as free agent.N.Y. ISLANDERS&mdash;Billy MacMillan named asst, coach to Al Arbour. Bert Marshall, defenseman, announced retirement to accept coaching job with Fort Worth of CHL.N.Y. RANGERS&mdash;Mike Nykoluk signed new contract to remain with team as asst, coach.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Bernie Parent, goaler. announced retirement from hockey.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Greg Sheppard, forward, signed multi-year contract as free agent.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Chuck Lefley, forward, returned to Blues after playing hockey in Eu rope. Mike Liut and Paul Skidmore, goalers, and Joe Mullen, forward, signed to NHL contracts.TORONTO&mdash;Punch Imlach named GM succeeding Jim Gregory. Floyd Smith named coach succeeding Roger Neilson.VANCOUVER&mdash;Ron Sed-Ibauer, forward, and Bob Manno, defenseman, signed to multi-year contracts as free agents. Chuck Arnason, forward, purchased from Minnesota for future considerations.WINNIPEG&mdash;Peter Marsh, forward, signed multiyear contract. Lyle Moffat, forward, signed to one-year &#9632;

Hockey Movements

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011337/5038882-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="335" height="481"></div><h2>Summertime Letters</h2>THE LONG, HOT summer has begun. I know for sure, because I went to the mailbox the other day&hellip;Dear Mr. Verdi:Regarding your column on the so-called &ldquo;Series of The Century,&rdquo; The Challenge Cup: If it had been played in Canada instead of The Rotten Apple last February, we would have won the second game and the series.We Canadians blame the ugly Americans for turning hockey into roller derby. There were no Americans on Team NHL, which was really Team Canada, so why should we have played the games in New York?But you wouldn&rsquo;t understand, because your columns show your great ignorance about our national game. Canada has a history of selling out to the ugly Americans, but hockey is our pride and joy and there is no way we are going to allow the greedy NHL owners to continue the way they are. We in Canada will change that.Bob MacLellan, Sudbury, Ont.Unfortunately, you seem to suffer the same myopia as the greedy NHL owners whom you detest. Writing from your dark closet, you fail to realize that the Soviets whipped the NHL because they played better hockey, period. The Challenge Cup could have been staged on an outdoor pond in Flin Flon with the same results. If you think the fact that it was held in Madison Square Garden influenced the outcome, then your problems go beyond your inability to spell. By the way, I received your letter the same day a Memorial Cup game was delayed because the two teams beat each other&rsquo;s brains in during the warmup. For a half hour. In Sher-brooke, which is in Canada.So it would appear that the problems of hockey have little to do with geography, and much to do with people who can&rsquo;t think straight, whether they own teams or crayons.<h2>Dislikes His Attitude</h2>YOU WRITE THAT Garry Unger wants to leave the St. Louis Blues and end up with a winner, tra la, tra la, tra la. This is an old story that has been given out by Unger numerous times. Well, if he wanted to play on a winner, why on earth didn&rsquo;t Unger put everything into making the Blues more competitive?The attitude of Unger was not one of making the best of the situation but one of, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m here, but I will not be next year, and I sure am not going to hurt myself for the Blues.&rdquo; When the Blues were starving for a winner, where was the leadership that could have been provided by this man?John Smith, Florissant, Mo.There is a disturbing trend creeping into your column which I, along with other St. Louis fans, must voice an opinion about. The Blues aren&rsquo;t that bad. They are anything but the St Louis Blahs. Why not come to St. Louis and hear the cheers for yourself?Patricia De Zego St. Louis, Mo.I come to St. Louis often, and I hear the cheers, and they merely underscore what I&rsquo;ve been saying all along. The St. Louis&rsquo;fans, whose loyalty is exceeded only by their patience, deserve better.<h2>Blues Get Defense</h2>WHEN YOU CALL the St. Louis Blues a joke, you fail to mention that they had to fend off impending bankruptcy, the death of their best defenseman, the retirement of a 43-goal scorer and the ill-health of their owners. Furthermore, is the work of Federko, Babych and Sutter the work of incompetents? If so, your Chicago Black Hawks are even worse.Alfred Korn, Urbana, Ill.Wait a minute. I know you don&rsquo;t like me, but don&rsquo;t inflict unfair punishment on me. They&rsquo;re not MY Chicago Black Hawks.So now you think that John Ziegler&rsquo;s persecution of Don Murdoch will be remembered as a properly tough action. Not true. In New York, it will be remembered as the act of a cold-hearted, arrogant man who cares more about appearances than he does about people.Ziegler did not have to take such harsh action. Punishing people who break the law is the responsibility of the courts, not a professional sports league. Don&rsquo;t credit John Ziegler for Don Murdoch&rsquo;s newfound maturity. Credit Don Murdoch.And while John Ziegler goes around depriving Murdoch of playing hockey for a half season, players like Philadelphia&rsquo;s Paul Holmgren get six games for trying to cut Carol Vadnais&rsquo; head off with a stick. This is justice?Marie Knox, Stoney Brook, N.Y. &#9632;

f0006-01

HOCKEY TALK

<div class="byline">By BILL FLEISCHMAN</div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;What does a coach preparing for his first full season behind National Hockey League club&rsquo;s bench do in mid-summer?If the coach is Pat Quinn, he spends his time house-hunting in the Philadelphia area, completing the sale of his Atlanta home, searching for an assistant coach, and&hellip;well, you get the idea. The man is busy.If you&rsquo;re a thinking man like Pat Quinn, thoughts about your hockey team continually swirl through your head.&ldquo;Probably there isn&rsquo;t a day that goes by without you thinking about your personnel,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;One idea I had was a type of form to give the players to help me know them better. I don&rsquo;t know if it would work, but it might be worth a try.&rdquo;One question on the form might be: &ldquo;Why did we get embarrassed by the Rangers in the Stanley Cup quarter-finals?&rdquo; Ah, maybe Quinn believes the Flyers&rsquo; recent disappointing history should be filed away with an old Fred Shero questionnaire. Like Shero, the astute Quinn knows we learn from history, but in the Flyers&rsquo; case it&rsquo;s time to concentrate on the future.For the Flyers to have a successful immediate future, everybody from here to Haliburton knows they need help on left wing, defense, and goal. Three cloudy positions out of six isn&rsquo;t too good.With the addition of experienced Phil Myre and the potential of youngsters such as Pete Peeters, Robbie Moore and Rick St. Croix, goaltending is at least respectable. Left wing isn&rsquo;t a disaster either, with second-team All Star Bill Barber, Rick MacLeish (if he isn&rsquo;t traded), Bob Kelly, Yves Preston (a 35-goal scorer at Maine), and rookie Danny Lucas.Defense? Jimmy Watson, Bob Dailey and Behn Wilson are solid&mdash;when they&rsquo;re playing up to their capabilities&mdash;but Moose Dupont is returning from a shaky season. And after these four, there isn&rsquo;t any above-average talent available in the organization.When the Flyers assemble at the University of Pennsylvania in September, Lucas is one player who will attract considerable attention.A 50-goal scorer at Sault Ste. Marie, Lucas was the third of Philadelphia&rsquo;s first-round selections in the 1978 draft. Through the last exhibition season the 6-1, 195-pound right wing was impressive enough to have a berth with the Flyers reserved. However, his play quickly deteriorated when the regular season began and he wound up at Maine where, after a slow start, he finished with 21 goals. During the Mariners&rsquo; march to a second consecutive Calder Cup, Lucas compiled decent 3-6-9 scoring figures in 10 playoff games.That Lucas finally recovered from the shock of his demotion to left-handed shooting Powell River B.C., native will be a threat to take someone&rsquo;s left-wing job with the Flyers.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question he (Lucas) has the talent to help us,&rdquo; said Quinn, who was Maine&rsquo;s coach when Lucas arrived last autumn. &ldquo;When I first watched him at Maine I thought he was either confused or disinterested. After talking with him, I knew he wasn&rsquo;t disinterested.&ldquo;I think he had some problems adjusting to the professional game&mdash;he hadn&rsquo;t developed any real self-confidence. When he couldn&rsquo;t play in Philadelphia, it was a real blow and he didn&rsquo;t respond right away.&rdquo;Presuming he won&rsquo;t have to worry about Lucas, some observers think Quinn will add a few more grey hairs fretting over the Flyers&rsquo; lack of toughness. With Dave Hoyda gone to Winnipeg in the NHL expansion draft, the Flyers appear to be missing the Dave Schultz-Jack Mcllhargey type. Mel Bridgman, Paul Holmgren, Wilson and Kelly are tough enough, but none is the old Schultz-Mcllhargey-Hoyda style enforcer.&ldquo;I see a trend in the game away from the hit man, or whatever you want to call it,&rdquo; said Quinn. &ldquo;When we played the top teams how many brawls did you see? I think there&rsquo;s a mutual respect at the upper echelons of the league. Plus, a player who can only fight can be a hindrance at that level.&rdquo;Quinn makes it clear he was distressed at losing Hoyda. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s a prospect,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;We hurt him by keeping him in the National League but not playing him enough.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02967/5038913-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="568" height="1720"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAN LUCAS&hellip;Highly Regarded</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0006-02

Changes In Flyers Necessary To Restore Tough Ice Image

<div class="byline">Ken McKenzie&#x2019;s</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011276/5038972-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="470" height="475"></div>&bull; THE NATIONAL Hockey League doesn&rsquo;t appear to be worried about the political situation in Quebec, for they&rsquo;ve just signed a new 10-year lease for quarters in Montreal&rsquo;s Sun Life Bldg. They&rsquo;re moving across the hall from their present offices&hellip;NHL president John Ziegler spends three days a week in his New York office and two days a week in Montreal&hellip;Dale Tallon, who has played for a number of NHL teams during his short but checkered career, is one of Canada&rsquo;s most promising golfers. He recently had his amateur card restored by the golf association but he&rsquo;s unlikely to use it for awhile, as he&rsquo;s still wearing a cast on his broken foot which he incurred in Vancouver last March&hellip;Philadelphia Flyers have the best pre-season exhibition schedule at home this autumn. They play Boston, Islanders, Rangers, Montreal and Buffalo, five of the best teams in the league&hellip;Fred Creighton, new coach of the Boston Bruins, has a big pair of shoes to fill replacing the degarted Don Cherry&hellip;The ruins hope to ink goalie Gilles Gilbert to a new contract any day now. They&rsquo;re doing everything possible to sign the star of last season&rsquo;s semi-finals against Canadiens&hellip;Canada lost one of its finest sportswriters in the tragic death of Doug Gilbert at the Pan-Am Games in Puerto Rico. The versatile columnist of the Edmonton Sun was hit by a car just outside the press headquarters while running to an assignment&hellip;Glen Sather, coach of the Edmonton Oilers, figures the four expansion clubs might have done better in the recent draft if they had held a little tougher together&hellip;Most of the new clubs figured they did pretty well, however&hellip;Vaclav Nedomansky signed an unusual 15-year contract worth a reported $1 million. He is expected to play five or six seasons with Detroit and then be associated with the Red Wing organization for another nine or 10 years.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021072/5038965-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="281" height="373"><figcaption class="caption-body">Glen Sather</figcaption></div>&bull; CINCINNATI STINGERS of the defunct World Hockey Association, will serve as a farm club in the Central Hockey League for the four former WHA cities who are now part of the National Hockey League. The four cities are Hartford, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Quebec City&hellip;Winnipeg expects to move into their enlarged 26,000-seat arena at the start of the upcoming season, but Hartford and Quebec City are still far from ready. At best, Hartford might be able to move into their new arena by mid-season and Quebec won&rsquo;t be ready for at least another full Season&hellip;Edmonton Oilers play in the finest arena to be found anywhere to watch a hockey game&hellip;Toronto would like to unload Dave (Tiger) Williams and Ian Turnbull. The Leafs would like to make a trade with Philadelphia for these two in exchange for Rick MacLeish and Bob Dailey. Not much chance of that happening as Dailey is the leader type and Vancouver Canucks made a major error in 1977 when they traded Dailey to the Flyers for Larry Goodenough and Jack Mcllhargey. Dailey is the player the Canucks have been seeking ever since to lead them out of the doldrums&hellip;The 1980 NHL All-Star game will be played at the new Joe Louis Arena by Detroit&rsquo;s riverfront. The last time the NHL All-Star game was played in Detroit was 1955&hellip;The date has not been set but it will be in early February, around the 5th or 6th&hellip;A capacity crowd of 19,275 is expected&hellip;Vladislav Tretiak, the Soviet Union&rsquo;s great goaltender, advises all young hockey players to take part in many sports. &ldquo;First he acquires new skills in each sport and second, he develops the self-assurance and physical conditioning to be derived from any sport&rdquo;, he pointed out&hellip;Among the outstanding hockey announcers seeking jobs for the coming season are Ron Oakes of San Diego, Don Stevens of Seattle and Lee Hamilton of Akron. All three have had considerable experience and are just waiting for that one big break&hellip;Billy Inglis, recently appointed coach of the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League, is the 19th coach of the club which is entering its 24th season in the league. Inglis did a stickout job guiding Buffalo Sabres after he replaced Marcel Pronovost&hellip;Jack Riley, the new commissioner of the International Hockey League has been on the job for several weeks. Riley should do a first - rate job for the IHL.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03891/5038958-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="272" height="353"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Dailey</figcaption></div>&bull; CANADA&rsquo;S 1980 Olympic team will play eight exhibition games against NHL teams with five of the games slated for Calgary it was revealed the other day. The team commenced training in Calgary this month and the 60 players who reported will be eventually cut to 25. The players will come from Canadian and United States colleges and major junior ranks&hellip;The Soviet Olympic team is expected to be one of the youngest&hellip;Jerry Buss, new owner of the Los Angeles Kings (also Lakers and the Fabulous Forum) is one of the most colorful owners to grace the NHL. He&rsquo;s been written up in detail in several prominent U.S. publications. One of the first things Buss did was to sign Mike Murphy, the Kings&rsquo; captain to a multi-year contract. Murphy, who became a free-agent this summer, ranks fifth among Kings&rsquo; all-time scorers&hellip;Pittsburgh Penguins also signed Gregg Sheppard to a long-term contract. The Penguin center and the club had been negotiating for months about his contract&hellip;The Western Hockey League and the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League will miss Ed Chyno-wetn, who resigned as president and executive director respectively, to become &lsquo;a minority owner with the Calgary Wranglers. He will act as general manager and governor of the club. Chynoweth did a superb job in the seven years he headed the WHL and is extremely optimistic that he can turn the Calgary franchise around and make it one of the best in the league which it was at one time&hellip;Scotty Bowman would like to make Gill Perreault captain of the Buffalo Sabres. Perreault is the highest paid player in pro hockey but he has yet to display the reason why he should be&hellip;Ball hockey has reached the college scene. Lambton College (Sarnia, Ont.) has a varsity team registered with the Ontario Ball Hockey Association. It is coached by Bruce Neely, former IHL player&hellip;Clarence Campbell, professional sport&rsquo;s greatest administrator, celebrated his 74th birthday last month. Clarence and his wife Phyllis were recent recipients of a trip anywhere in the world courtesy of the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04466/5038951-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="279" height="372"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gil Perreault</figcaption></div>&bull; CHING JOHNSON, the former New York Rangers&rsquo; great defenseman who died recently at the age of 80, was rated by many as the finest body checker to ever play the game. He was also one of the most colorful with his bald pate and incessant smile and as a result was responsible for selling tickets. This talent enabled Johnson to be one of the highest paid players in his era&hellip;The Atlanta Flames Booster Club will host the 1979 NHL Boosters Club Convention August 10-12. Sharon Pierce, the chairman, may be reached at Box 8882, Atlanta, Ga. 30306&hellip;All hockey players, even those playing in pick-up no-contact leagues, should wear face protectors, says Tom Pashby, a nationally recognized expert on eye injuries. &ldquo;Eye injuries have dropped considerably since the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association made face protectors mandatory for young players and tightened up its rules on high sticking, said Dr. Pashby. &ldquo;But we are noticing that more and more of the injuries come in pick-up games and concern people in their 20&rsquo;s and 30&rsquo;s,&rdquo; he added&hellip;Eddie Johnston, Chicago Black Hawks&rsquo; new coach, plans to convert that club&rsquo;s dismal defensive style to a fiercely offensive one. Something drastic has to be done, and soon, to lure the customers back to the Black Hawks games&hellip;Doug Lecuver and Rick Paterson are a pair of rugged forwards that Johnston hopes will help his new style of play&hellip;Keith Magnuson, one of hockey&rsquo;s touch-luck guys, plans to retire from hockey. The Chicago captain has had more than his share of injuries since he entered the NHL in 1969&hellip;Ken Dryden showed a lot of class at his press conference when he announced his retirement from the Montreal Canadiens. What with his outstanding hockey ability, legal degree and polished presence in public, he would be an attractive hockey executive of the future&hellip;In a recent poll of some NHL players. Montreal fans were voted the most knowledgeable and Philadelphia fans were singled out for having the most<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-05338/5038944-1-eng-US/f0008-052.jpg" title="f0008-05" width="275" height="370"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Paterson</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0008-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">By FRANK ORR</div>THE RETURN of George (Punch) Imlach to Toronto Maple Leafs has been rumbled, rumored, reported and informed-sourced&mdash;and denied&mdash;all spring, which removed all the surprise when Imlach did re-join the Leafs.Imlach will be major domo, head honcho and boss of the National Hockey League team. Neither Leaf owner Harold Ballard nor Imlach could deliver a precise title, although Imlach will call all the shots in the Leaf operations.Ballard did retain exclusive rights to make all outrageous pronouncements on behalf of the team. Imlach granted his new boss that privilege, considering the vast amount of expertise Ballard has in that area.Neither Ballard nor Imlach could say exactly what the future possibilities were in the Leaf organization for Jim Gregory, the man who&rsquo;s held the general manager&rsquo;s post since Imlach was sacked back in 1969.Ballard said that there was a job for Gregory in the organization if he wanted it.However, recent rumblings have Gregory head for the NHL&rsquo;s Central Registry as the man in charge of the league&rsquo;s scouting bureau.Imlach didn&rsquo;t return to Maple Leaf Gardens with a large show of bravado. In fact, there was a slight bit of humility on display. &ldquo;The Leafs are a .500 hockey team,&rdquo; Imlach said. &ldquo;They have five or six very good hockey players, a good core of a team. But the remainder of the cast needs to be improved.&ldquo;The team needs more speed because that&rsquo;s the way the game is these days. Skating always has been a key but it&rsquo;s a speed game now.&rdquo;The first chore facing Imlach was to select a coach for the Leafs to replace Roger Neilson, who handled the job for the past two seasons. Imlach said that he&rsquo;d love to do the job himself.&ldquo;Coaching is where it&rsquo;s at, the part of the job I like best,&rdquo; Imlach said. &ldquo;But while my doctors gave me the okay to be a general manager or whatever you call the job, they wouldn&rsquo;t give me a green light to coach.&rdquo;Despite all the rumbles about his return to the Leafs&mdash;at least 234 Toronto writers and broadcasters claimed to have had the scoop on his return&mdash;from the time he was sacked by Sabres last December, Imlach insisted that he had no serious negotiations with Ballard until two weeks before his late-June appointment.Imlach, 61, first joined the Leafs in 1958. The team&rsquo;s junior farm system had produced a fine stock of young talent which Imlach augmented with good veterans to win four Stanley Cups in the 1960s.Minutes after Boston Bruins had completed a four-game humiliation of Leafs in the 1969 playoffs, the late Stafford Smythe, Ballard&rsquo;s partner in the club&rsquo;s ownership, sacked Punch.When the Sabres entered the NHL as a 1970 expansion team, Imlach was their GM-coach. of any expansion team in sport&mdash;from scratch to the Stanley Cup final in five seasons.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-06271/5039003-1-eng-US/f0008-062.jpg" title="f0008-06" width="574" height="1142"><figcaption class="caption-body">PUNCHIMLACH&hellip;Full Responsibility</figcaption></div>But after their advance to the finals in &rsquo;75, Sabres went flat and never matched that bright promise. Last fall, the team&rsquo;s owners, Seymour and Northrup Knox dumped Imlach and coach Marcel Pronovost.Imlach concedes that there&rsquo;s a world of difference between the two situations with the Leafs which he&rsquo;s faced in 20 years.&ldquo;Back in the 1950s, there were six teams and 120 players in the NHL which meant you could pick up some useful veterans who were only 30 or so and had some good years left,&rdquo; Imlach said.&ldquo;Now the only way to build is through good draft choices. You can make deals but it&rsquo;s tough because of contracts and the fact that there are no veterans in the minor leagues itching for an NHL chance.&rdquo;Imlach wants to make changes in the Leaf personnel but concedes that it will be difficult.&ldquo;Sure, I want to make changes in the club but I can&rsquo;t predict how many,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;I think the club should become a little more offensively minded, play a little more firewagon hockey.&rdquo;The Leafs have been a strong defensive club under Neilson for the past two years. &#9632;

f0008-06

Speedier Players In Punch’s Plans As Toronto Boss

<div class="byline">BY TOM MURRAY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011255/5039034-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOBBY SHEEHAN&hellip;Still a Free Agent (Photo by Bruce Bernett)</figcaption></div>NEW YORK&mdash;With the NHL&rsquo;s amateur draft just a few weeks away (August 9) and the opening of training camp less than two months away (September 18), the Rangers&rsquo; front office is in a slight quandry these days, trying to determine which players to go after in the draft and where to tell them to report to training camp come September.The Rangers trained and practiced last season at the Westchester Ice Skating Center in Haw-thorne, N.Y., just a 45-minute ride from the city. Everyone loved the location because it was close to the players homes&mdash;in both Westchester County and New York City&mdash;and a lot more convenient to reach than the old practice rink in Long Beach, N.Y.But the Hawthorne facility, which was plagued by severe financial problems during the whole time the Rangers were there, has ceased operations and the team&mdash;after rejecting the idea of buying the struggling arena&mdash;is looking for both a training camp site and a rink for the 1979-80 season.According to a team spokesman, the rink at the Rye, N.Y. &ldquo;Playland&rdquo; site will most likely be picked as the practice rink even though coach Fred Shero isn&rsquo;t that pleased with the location because he feels it&rsquo;s too busy an area.While finding a suitable training and practice facility certainly isn&rsquo;t a small matter, neither is the upcoming amateur draft.According to assistant general manager Mickey Keating, the Rangers&rsquo; No. 1 priority will be to acquire some help for the team&rsquo;s forward positions.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re pretty well set as far as goaltending and defense are concerned,&rdquo; Keating said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve especially got some good backup defensemen in New Haven. If I had to say where we&rsquo;re weak, I guess it would be at center ice.&rdquo;But Keating doesn&rsquo;t expect whomever the Rangers draft to be of any help to the team in the &ldquo;immediate future&rdquo;&mdash;in other words, not this year.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d be very surprised if we get someone who can move up right away,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re picking too far down on the ladder (13th out of 21). The way the draft usually goes is that the first seven or eight players picked move right into positions on the big team. All the rest usually have to go to the minors, for at least a year, anyway.&rdquo;Although Keating may say that Rangers&rsquo; biggest need is up front, don&rsquo;t be deceived. The team is still actively seeking that elusive, clearing defenseman they&rsquo;ve been talking and dreaming about since last season. And while Keating likes to talk about all of the young defensive talent the Rangers have in New Haven, he&rsquo;d trade all of it in a second for a shot at someone like a Barry Beck, Rob Ramage or Robert Picard. Ramage, particularly, holds a special place in the hearts of Keating and Shero but there&rsquo;s no way the Colorado Rockies are going to part with the young defenseman&rsquo;s rights.&ldquo;The last time I spoke to Colorado,&rdquo; Keating said of the team that has the draft&rsquo;s No. 1 pick, &ldquo;they were hanging tough with their choices. We&rsquo;ll just have to see what the 12 teams ahead of us do and go from there.&rdquo;BLUE CHIPS: There&rsquo;s still a chance that Bobby Sheehan may be back with the Rangers this season. The 30-year-old center, who played so well for the team in last year&rsquo;s playoffs, is free to negotiate with any team. Keating is hopeful that Sheehan will contact the Rangers after he gets some offers from other teams. &ldquo;I have a feeling,&rdquo; Keating said, &ldquo;that Bobby will be in our organization this year.&rdquo;&hellip;Nobody picked up the unprotected Wayne Thomas in the expansion draft last June, so the quiet, capable goaltender will be in camp along with John Davidson and Doug Soetaert. Does that mean the Rangers will go through yet another season with three goaltenders?&hellip;It&rsquo;s all but definite that the Rangers will play an exhibition game against the Boston Bruins in Providence, R.I. on Sept. 25. &#9632;

f0009-01

Training Camp Site, Draft Keep Rangers In A Quandry

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011313/5039065-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div>Write to:FAN FORUM, The Hockey News, 1434 St. Catherine St., W., Montreal, Canadd H3G 1R7<h2>Reader Enjoyed Dryland Section</h2>Devoting eight pages to Dryland Training (June, 1979) was an excellent idea. Too many hockey teams, including most in the National Hockey League, ignore this much needed facet of the game.An explanation, though, is needed about the pictures used of the Buffalo Sabres training methods. They were taken when professional wrestler Fred Atkins was the team&rsquo;s physical trainer. Atkins worked the team into peak physical condition during the 1974-75 season when the Sabres reached the finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs but he was released previous to this season by former coach Marcel Pronovost, who stressed a more complicated method of office training.Atkins, whose methods are similar to those of Boston&rsquo;s Jim Kausek, worked the team before training camp and during the season by using a variety of flexibility exercises.His workouts were not by any means easy, but they proved to be effective.I was sorry to see you did not include Atkins&rsquo; theories on conditioning in your spread. The 69-year-old Crystal Beach, Ont. resident continues to work out daily and maybe if he was with the Sabres this past season they would not have ended their season so soon.MICHAEL J. BILLONI, Kenmore, New York.<h2>Hockey Draft Complete Farce</h2>Some observations from an old hockey fan. I agree with the editor, the draft was a farce. Something drastic must be done or Montreal will keep on winning. The other teams are stupid. As a Maple Leaf fan I wonder why Ballard didn&rsquo;t grab Rick Ley? They need help on defense.As for the playoffs, there are too many teams. Next season the teams could be playing in June.JOHN ZAZULA, Thunder Bay, Ont.<h2>Selke Awarded To Wrong Player</h2>Bob Gainey&rsquo;s relatives must do the voting for the Seike award each year&mdash;especially this year. How he beat out Craig Ramsay and Don Luce for that award is beyond me. In points scored, Ramsay (57) and Luce (61) both outscored Gainey (38). In goals scored: Ramsay and Luce each had 26 to Gainey&rsquo;s 20.Furthermore, they all had power play goals: Luce had six, Ramsay had four, and Gainey had only one. And as far as being in the penalty box, Luce and Ramsay &ldquo;combined&rdquo; for 24 minutes and Gainey had 44 minutes alone.I think the fact that Gainey also played quite a few games at defense should have disqualified him altogether, because the Seike award is supposed to go to the best &ldquo;defensive-offensive&rdquo; player, isn&rsquo;t it?And, in response to R. Brown&rsquo;s letter in the July Fan Forum, I also think John Davidson should ry Bob!). Those Canadiens can&rsquo;t lose, can they?JAMES M. CARRIG, Buffalo, New York.<h2>Bruins&rsquo; Management Making Fans Angry</h2>Once again the Boston Bruins management has hammered a nail into the hearts of loyal Bruins fans.C&rsquo;mon guy, give us a break! You&rsquo;d think that management would have realized that they are getting the fans&rsquo; anger up since they have been forced to wave bye bye to such heroes as Orr, Espo, Sheppard and Derek Sanderson. Yet the Bruins continue to let people go and appear to have hit the climax with the release of hockey&rsquo;s best coach&mdash;Don Cherry.Hey Boston&mdash;who&rsquo;s next to go&mdash;O&rsquo;Reilly, Cashman, maybe Milbury?WARREN ROSENBERG, New York City, N.Y.<h2>Few Bad Fans Spoil It For Others</h2>I am a loyal Penguin fan, and as such would never throw anything on that ice. If certain &ldquo;fans&rdquo; want to throw things, they should just stay home. Penguins don&rsquo;t need this type of fan. Thankfully, this type is in the minority.The Pens are now a good team and deserve fans who are appreciative of their efforts. There are a lot more good Penguin fans than bad ones.I am naturally unhappy about what some of the fans did. I love the Boston Bruins team&mdash;they have the same right to win!MARLENE BREAUNINGER, Pittsburgh, Penn.<h2>NHL Behind By 40 Years</h2>As a subscriber to your magazine I read continuously about how the NHL wants a national TV contract in the USA. The NHL should clean up its act first and become more consistent in its dealings within the league.1. Don Murdoch gets banned for eternity for possession of a pinch of cocaine. This was later reduced to a ban from 40 games, yet Wilf Paiement got only 15 games for almost decapitating Dennis Polonich. Shouldn&rsquo;t Paiement have been banned for life and Murdoch for 15 games?2. Players playing out their options: Marcel Dionne plays out his option but does Detroit get Vachon as compensation? No, they get Harper and Maloney. Vachon plays out his option with a clause in his contract from L.A. saying that no compensation is to be awarded, yet McCourt is headed to L.A.3. Bobby Orr has his option and goes to the Black Hawks and Boston is left holding the bag.The difference between items two and three is that Alan Eagle-son is the agent for Orr so the NHL has exercised its double standard to suit the situation.Hopefully, the NHL will grow up in the 1980&rsquo;s because it is about 40 years behind the times.DOUG WHITE, Lake Orion, Mich.<h2>Feels Parent The Greatest</h2>I feel Bernie Parent is the greatest goaltender who ever played hockey. I am very thankful that I got to see him play as many times as I did.It is a shame that a freak accident has to end such a super career. Bernie may have played up to five more years.I will never forget the sixth game of the 1975 Stanley Cup playoffs when he beat the Buffalo Sabres. He stopped everything that was shot at him. A super and excellent goaltending job.Thank You Bernie!GARY AROMOLA, Buffalo, N.Y.<h2>Amazed By Bernie&rsquo;s Exploits</h2>The news of the retirement of Bernie Parent was disheartening to me as it was to every hockey fan in North America.Although I&rsquo;ve always been an avid Ranger fan and naturally disliked the Flyers&rsquo; Stanley Cup teams, Bernie&rsquo;s exploits remain forever etched in my mind. From my perch in the Garden balcony, he continually amazed me with his magical goaltending.Good luck Bernie and thank you. You&rsquo;re a class guy who will be missed.KEN MURRELL.<h2>LETTER OF THE WEEK</h2><h3>Dionne Overlooked In MVP Voting</h3>Once again Marcel Dionne has been bypassed for the Hart Trophy as league MVP. It seems a travesty that a player of his ability should receive only 47 votes after his outstanding performance this past season.He finished second in total points, four behind Bryan Trottier who had three teammates among the top 10 scorers, where Dionne had but one. He finished second in goals behind Trottier&rsquo;s phenomenal winger Mike Bossy and third In assists with one more than Trottier&rsquo;s Norris-winning defenseman Denis Potvin. His sixth place standing in plusminus stats with a team that gave up only six less goals than it scored, combined with his gentlemanly 30 penalty minutes attest to his over-all ability.Marcel Dionne was virtually half his team&rsquo;s offense, figuring in 44 per cent of their scoring (as compared to Trottier&rsquo;s 37 per cent) making him the prime target of opposition goons ans other assorted &ldquo;defensive specialists&rdquo;.I don&rsquo;t wish to belittle Bryan Trottier&rsquo;s remarkable season or Guy Lafleur&rsquo;s but it seems to me that Marcel Dionne was somewhat more valuable to the Kings than they were to their respective clubs. And that&rsquo;s what the Hart Trophy is all about.JOHN WALTON. &#9632;

f0010-01

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021013/5039096-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg"></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Unlike last year when the Los Angeles Kings lost free agents Rogie Vachon, Gary Sargent, and Dave Hutchison prior to the start of the new season, the club this year lost no one and announced the signing of free agent Mike Murphy as this summer&rsquo;s highlight.The players the Kings received as compensation for Sargent and Hutchison did not make up for their loss. Dale McCourt might have made up for the loss of Vachon, but the Kings so far have had to do without him as he carries on his case in the courts.At this writing, the latest court ruling upheld the National Hockey League&rsquo;s compensation rule and awarded McCourt to the Kings, but his latest move in his desire to remain in Detroit was to ask for a hearing at the state supreme court level.The new owner of the Kings, Jerry Buss, believes he could convince the young center he would like life in southern California, but McCourt will not talk to anyone from the Kings, who believe he is being given bad advice by the Wings.The NHL has not stepped into the case and general manager George Maguire says he will not ask it to do so, but he dropped a bombshell the other day when he said he believed that because the Kings went an entire season without compensation they now will ask for more than McCourt. Frankly, that seems fair. The Wings had both Vachon and McCourt last season. It does not matter now that Vachon was a disappointment to them.Manager Maguire and coach Bob Berry continue to insist that they do not think McCourt would behave as a discontent if he came and they have no intention of developing a deal for him, even with Detroit if they could sign Reed Larson.&ldquo;McCourt is worth more than Larson,&rdquo; Maguire says.Although center ice is the only position in which they are deep with outstanding talent in Marcel Dionne and Butch Goring, they disagree with those of us who think a third defenseman would be of more value to them than a third centerman.Maguire says, &ldquo;Strength down the middle is the most important thing in this sport.&rdquo; Berry says, &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t have enough good centermen.&rdquo; Murphy says, &ldquo;He might be worth 10 points to us.&rdquo; Ten points would have given the Kings the sixth-best record in the league instead of the 10th best.Murphy says, &ldquo;I think the Kings can become contenders in four or five years.&rdquo; Berry says, &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ll be improved this season simply because we&rsquo;ve been together using the same system for one season now.&rdquo; Maguire says, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m optimistic as I can be about this season.&rdquo;George explains, &ldquo;We got rid of a lot of old deadwood and we have a young team which should improve with experience. The older players we dropped want to play, but no longer could play. The older players we still have can play. We&rsquo;re youngest in defense and goal and these players are getting better.&rdquo;He admits the team would be better off with the addition of a quality player or two, but who wouldn&rsquo;t? He thinks expansion has spread the talent so thin teams can&rsquo;t afford to trade the quality players they have and good defensemen, especially, are treasured.He listed as priority targets, &ldquo;A good defenseman or two, a third center, and a left winger,&rdquo; but added, &ldquo;until we know if we have McCourt or not it is difficult to figure out who to trade and who to try to trade for.&rdquo;Murphy said the McCourt case has hurt the cause of free agents. Clubs hesitate to sign any until they know what kind of compensation it might cost them. He said he had only two offers and he did not seriously consider them as his agent, Alan Eagleson, told him the Kings&rsquo; bid was best.The 28-year-old right-winger, club captain, said he wanted to see if he could fall into a gold signed the usual &ldquo;multi-year&rdquo; contract, probably for three years. He is solid and the Kings are happy to have him back.Everyone now is signed, although Dave Taylor, Rob Palmer, and Randy Manery are entering the option years of their contracts and the club needs to tie them to their future. Taylor is superstar stuff.The older players dropped include Danny Grant, Ernie Hicke, Russ Walker, Kurt Walker, Pete Stemkowski, and Gary Simmons&rsquo;. Dennis Abgrall was drafted and Steve Clippingdale traded. Rookie Dan Bonar is given a chance to beat out Syl Apps and Vic Venasky for the third center slot if McCourt doesn&rsquo;t come and rookies Lorne Molleken, Doug Keans and Julian Baretta get a shot at Ron Grahame for the second goaltending spot. Deals could develop here.For the first time since the first draft, the Kings have high draft choices&mdash;16th, 29th, and 30th in order&mdash;and hope to pick a player who can play at the top right now. If he is not drafted, Murphy&rsquo;s brother Mark will get a tryout.Buss pleased Berry by buying an away from home camp, Sept. 14-27 at the Jantzen Beach Ice Center in Portland, Oregon, concluding with Sept. 28-Oct. 9 training at home. The exhibition game schedule: Sept. 23-at Vancouver, 24-Vancouver at Victoria, 27-at Colorado, 29-Edmonton at LA; Oct. 1-at &#9632;

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Kings Optimistic Big Improvements About To Happen

<div class="byline">BY AL SMITH</div>ATLANTA&mdash;It&rsquo;s been over two months since any National Hockey League team has lost a game and the trials and tribulations of the 1978-79 season have been forgotten.It&rsquo;s the off season and optiimism reigns supreme.Coaches and general managers are smiling and looking ahead, and talking like coaches and general managers in all sports in the off season.Of the super star who had a poor season, &ldquo;Just an off year, he&rsquo;ll come back.&rdquo; Of the rookie who didn&rsquo;t live up to expectations, &ldquo;He just needed some experience in the NHL, he&rsquo;ll be all right.&rdquo; Of the goalie who got sunburn from the red light above his cage, &ldquo;He had some personal problems, but he&rsquo;s got his head screwed on right now.&rdquo; And of course, the guy who everyone hoped would rebound from an injury the year before, but bruised his ribs in training camp and sat out 70 some games, &ldquo;Ah, he&rsquo;s a tough kid, he&rsquo;ll bounce back.&rdquo;Ah, yes, the off season and optimism.And such is the case with the Atlanta Flames. But in this case, maybe, just maybe, the optimism is justified.The expansion draft has come and gone and the Flames lost only one player&mdash;John Gould&mdash;off their &rsquo;78-79 NHL roster. On the other hand they reclaimed forward Kent Nilsson, a 107-point scorer the past two seasons, from the Winnipeg Jets.Add new coach Al MacNeil and Pekka Rautakallio, a European defenseman with two years pro experience, and one can see the reason for optimism in Atlanta.And then there&rsquo;s the amateur draft. The Flames have three choices in the first 33 picks and as assistant general manager David Poile puts it, &ldquo;The underage draft couldn&rsquo;t come at a better time for us.&rdquo;The Flames pick 12th, 23rd and 33rd with the No. 23 pick coming from St. Louis in the second round, a result of the Bob MacMillan trade, which continues to be one of the greatest steals since Brinks.MacNeil takes over the Flames at a time when the team has the most depth it has ever had at forward. The addition of Nilsson gives the Flames 13 forwards with considerable NHL experience.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011201/5039134-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="594" height="942"><figcaption class="caption-body">KENT NILSSON&hellip;Talented Addition</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I think we could be a tremendous power in the NHL,&rdquo; MacNeil said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m familiar with some of the players, and I know the nucleus is there. I wouldn&rsquo;t have come here if I did not like the personnel.&rdquo;MacNeil says today&rsquo;s players are offensive-minded and his first job will be to get the Flames thinking and playing defensively.&ldquo;I believe we have to work to build a tough defensive club. Most hockey players today are geared offensively, and I like the offense as much as anyone. But it&rsquo;s the defense that&rsquo;s going to get you a lot of wins when you&rsquo;re in the playoffs. I want to see more drive, more fore-checking.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m an emotional coach, and I like a lot of life on the bench. I like an aggressive team, but not one that takes a lot of stupid penalties&hellip;If you get to the playoffs not hurting, you should make a good account of yourself. There&rsquo;s no reason, if we can get there in good shape and get some breaks, that we shouldn&rsquo;t think of going all the way next season.&rdquo;But while MacNeil speaks of building a defensive team, this is the area where the Flames need the most improvement. Last season they gave up 280 goals, ninth in the league, and must improve in that area this season. And while they have quality on defense they lack depth. The Flames have only six defensemen under contract and may once again go looking for help in the amateur draft.&ldquo;We could go for a defenseman,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;But to use an old cliche, I think we&rsquo;d go for the best player available at the time we choose. With the underage players being picked in the regular draft, we feel we might be able to get two or three players who can step right in and help now.&ldquo;Yet, we are now in a position that we can wait awhile. We can pick a player and not put pressure on him by playing him in the NHL right away. It depends on which players we get and how they develop. But for the first time in our history we have some depth.&rdquo;FLAME NOTES: Flames have five players in their option year they are negotiating with. They are: Eric Vail, Darcy Rota, Ivan Boldirev, Nilsson and David Shand&hellip;Flames open training camp at Ice Land Sept. 16&hellip;Flames play two exhibition games at The Omni, Sept. 22 against St. Louis and Sept. 28 against the New York Islanders. The rest of the schedule: Sept. 21&mdash;Minnesota at Baton Rouge, La.; Sept. 23&mdash;Hartford at Houston, Tex.; Sept. 27&mdash;Islanders at Long Island; Sept. 29&mdash;St. Louis at St. Louis; Sept. 30&mdash;Minnesota at Duluth, Minn.: Oct. 3&mdash;Olympic team at Grand Forks, North Dakota; Oct. 5&mdash;Hartford at Springfield, Mass.; and Oct. 7&mdash;Birmingham, CHL at Birmingham.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02917/5039127-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="1246" height="1968"><figcaption class="caption-body">IVAN BOLDIREV&hellip;Negotiating New Contract</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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MacNeil Confident Flames Have Nucleus To Win With Beefed Up Defense

<div class="byline">By PAT DOYLE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011287/5039165-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="586" height="950"><figcaption class="caption-body">PETER MARSH&hellip;Multi-Year Contract</figcaption></div>WINNIPEG&mdash;The first 18 selections in the 1979 National Hockey League entry draft represent 18 Hail Marys to John Ferguson.Ferguson, general manager of the expansionist Winnipeg Jets, is 19th in line to take a dip into the player pool, so he&rsquo;ll be doing some heavy praying hoping the player he wants is still available on Winnipeg&rsquo;s first call.Ferguson&rsquo;s battle plan is to take &ldquo;the best player available regardless of position,&rdquo; but he won&rsquo;t try to hide the fact he wants a center&mdash;preferably Laurie Boschman.At the moment, only three people are listed at the pivot position on Winnipeg&rsquo;s depth chart&mdash;Peter Sullivan, Bobby Guindon and Gord McTavish. There&rsquo;s a fourth center, Dale Yakiwchuk, but you are hereby advised he won&rsquo;t be wearing a Jets&rsquo; jersey next winter.So, Boschman fits into Ferguson&rsquo;s plans in a very large way, and the Winnipeg GM is convinced the 19-year-old native of Kerrobert, Sask., is ready to make the jump from junior hockey to the NHL.&ldquo;The kid down the road is a National Leaguer already,&rdquo; advises Ferguson. &ldquo;If we can get him, we&rsquo;ll have the center we&rsquo;re looking for.&rdquo;Ferguson refers to Boschman as &ldquo;the kid down the road&rdquo; because he has spent the past three season 130 miles west of Winnipeg, playing with the Brandon Wheat Kings.In the 1978-79 Western Hockey League season, Boschman centred Wheaties&rsquo; high scoring line which included Brian Propp and Ray Allison, both of whom are expected to be top drafts. Combined, the trio accounted for 496 points in finishing one-two-three in the scoring derby, and 149 of those points came from Boschman, who was the No. 3 scorer.Whether or not Jets manage to lay claim to Boschman remains to be seen, of course, but Ferguson is confident he&rsquo;ll get a center-iceman who can play for the Jets.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll get our center,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;maybe even two. One thing is certain, because we lowered the draft age to include the 19-year-old players, we&rsquo;re going to come out of it with two kids who can play for the Winnipeg Jets.&rdquo;Other 19-year-olds Ferguson is excited about are Kevin Brown of Portland, Raymond Bourque of Verdun, Paul Reinhart of Kitchener, Oshawa&rsquo;s Tom McCarthy, Brent Ashton of Saskatoon and Lethbridge&rsquo;s Duane Sutter.Ferguson and his scouting staff are particularly high on Bourque, who won the Emile Bouchard Trophy as the best defenseman in the Quebec Major Junior League last winter.&ldquo;If we hadn&rsquo;t dropped the age,&rdquo; suggests Ferguson, &ldquo;Bourque would have been the No. 1 draft next year. No question about it.&rdquo;Which means, of course, that Ferguson can forget about drafting him this year.JETS JOTTINGS: Peter Marsh, Winnipeg&rsquo;s first pick in the June expansion draft, has signed a new multi-year contract with the team. Marsh had two years remaining on his existing contract, which dated back to Cincinnati Stingers and the World Hockey Association, but Ferguson wanted to make sure the 22-year-old right winger would be part of Jets&rsquo; family for a couple years extra&hellip;Lyle Moffat has also agreed to new terms. He signed a one-year pact&hellip;Jets released their exhibition schedule, which has them playing four of 10 games at the Winnipeg Arena. The schedule: Sept. 22 vs Colorado at Colorado Springs; Sept. 23 vs Edmonton at Brandon; Sept. 27 vs Washington Capitals at Winnipeg; Sept. 28 vs Vancouver at Vancouver; Sept. 30 vs Tulsa Oilers at Winnipeg; Oct. 2 vs Vancouver at Winnipeg; Oct. 3 vs Vancouver at Brandon; Oct. 4 vs Minnesota at Thunder Bay; Oct. 5 vs Minnesota at Winnipeg; Oct. 6 vs Edmonton at Edmonton&hellip;Season ticket sales have passed the 9,000 mark and should hit 10,000. &#9632;

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Jets Coveting Centers In Draft

AS JACK KENT COOKE did before him, Jerry Buss is certain to add considerable color to hockey. Cooke commanded attention and so will Buss. These are self-made multi-millionaires who prowl restlessly through life in search of desirable properties. As owner of the Washington Redskins, Los Angeles Lakers, L.A. Kings, and the southern California Forum, Cooke became the most powerful person in the history of sports. As new owner of the Lakers, Kings, and Forum, Buss now becomes that.And Buss at 46 may only have begun. It is not clear that he does not have an interest in the NBA&rsquo;s Indiana Pacers. He pursued that purchase until the long-delayed deal with Cooke finally developed, then turned it over to a friend who had been a member of his group. He still is seeking to acquire operating rights to the Indianapolis Market Square Arena, is interested in buying the Indianapolis Motor Speedway facility, and may be interested in acquiring an NFL franchise there. He&rsquo;d have to build a stadium, but recognizes the city as an untapped gold mine.He also would like to locate an NFL expansion franchise in the Los Angeles Coliseum, which will be deserted next season when the Rams shift to Anaheim Stadium. The fact that the NFL does not approve its owners owning other sporting teams does not dismay men like Cooke and Buss. Cooke sold the Lakers and Kings so he could settle the record $41 million conferred by the courts on his ex-wife, Jeannie, not because it was necessary in order to keep the Washington Redskins. He still owns 87 per cent of the Redskins. E. Bennett Williams owns the other 13 per cent. Williams, a noted attorney, is seeking to buy baseball&rsquo;s Baltimore Orioles. Cooke, settling in Virginia, would not be a disinterested observer in his partner&rsquo;s purchase.COOKE AT 66 is far from finished. He will wheel and deal until the day he dies. He suffered through a terrible time in which his beloved mother, Nancy, best friend, Roy Thomson, and personal aide, Ed Parr, died, his wife filed for divorce, and his daughter-in-law divorced his son, Ralph, to marry Pete Rozelle, the NFL commissioner. Most of this came within a year. Cooke suffered a heart attack and bounced back. He rebuilt the fortunes of his cable television concern. And he turned his $24-million investment in Los Angeles sports into a $67.5-million sale, largest in the history of sports. You can&rsquo;t count Cooke out.He ruled rigidly and earned the displeasure of many employees by demanding more of them than they were willing to give, but he made the Forum the most successful indoor entertainment centre in the world. He brought Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers and Rogie Vachon and Marcel Dionne to the Kings, and made them competitive and entertaining teams. Everyone will not miss him, but he was my friend and I will miss him. On the other hand, it is a pleasure to welcome the new King, who seems to everyone an extraordinarily agreeable guy for one of such wealth and power.Buss comes from the cattle country of Kemmerer, Wyoming, but his parents were accountants. He did live in L.A. a few years during World War II. He did leave school for awhile as a teen-ager to work as a gandy dancer on the railroad, but returned to seek an easier way to earn a buck. He studied math-oriented chemistry and took his bachelor&rsquo;s degree from the University of Wyoming at 19 and his Master&rsquo;s from the University of Southern California at 24. He then went on to take a Ph.D. from USC.DR. BUSS taught at USC for awhile, but didn&rsquo;t like the pay. He worked for a Boston business firm, then a Los Angeles missiles concern, but got bored by it, though still hooked on numbers. He and a friend, Jerry Mariani, invested $1,000 each in the purchase of a couple of apartment houses and Mariani-Buss Associates have ridden the real estate boom to the top. He estimates his personal fortune at $350 million and rising. He likes those kind of numbers. &ldquo;A few years ago I could only afford the Forum, but my properties have appreciated so fast I now can afford almost anything&rdquo; he &#9632;

New Sports King Buss Eyes Success In L.A. Markets

<div class="byline">&#x2014;BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021079/5039227-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="350" height="454"></div>He paid approximately $14 million for the Lakers, $10 million for the Kings, and $43.5 million for the Forum and for Rai-Jon, the ranch Cooke owned in the Sierra foothills. Most of it came in cash, though a bank kicked in $10 million on the arena and ranch. He says he didn&rsquo;t really want the ranch, but Cooke wanted him to buy it, too, so he did. He says, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s 13,000 acres of beautiful property, so how much can I lose?&rdquo;He lost $2.5 million on the Los Angeles Strings and others in World Team Tennis, but considers it a learning experience. He says he has learned and is still learning from Cooke, whom he admires for his success, self-education, and varied interests, and on whom he says he will rely heavily as a consultant. He says the Lakers have averaged only $500,000 a year in profits, the Kings $700,000 a year in losses, but believes pay-television could make them and the Forum tremendous money-makers in the future.Where Cooke was conservative, Buss is flashy. The new King has long, Woven hair and a bushy moustache. He wears open sports shirts, jeans, and cowboy boots. He drives a Rolls Royce and a Caddy with built-in TV. He Collects antiques, stamps, coins, and other cash. He is divorced, has a daughter lovely enough to be a beauty-contest winner, and lives in his hotel in Palm Springs and a house in Bel-Air and now at the Forum.He says he is a sports fan who knows little about sports but is learning fast. Those who think he will be a soft touch, beware: &ldquo;I am taking a crash course,&rdquo; he smiles. &ldquo;I got through chemistry in College in 2&frac12; years so I should know what I need to know to operate successfully in sports in a short time.&rdquo;This is a man on the move.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03726/5039220-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="1134" height="1192"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dr. Jerry Buss, the new owner of the Los Angeles Kings, Lakers and L.A. Forum, is a lively fellow known for his enthusiasm and determlnation When tackling a project. He is certain to add color to hockey and</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Hockey Ad Lib

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011213/5039258-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Three of hockey&rsquo;s all-time scoring greats managed to get together during the summer hockey meetings to rehash old times. The three from the left, are Jean Beliveau, Frank Mahovlich and Gordie Howe. The 51-year-old Howe is actually the only one still playing. He&rsquo;ll start his 33rd season of professional hockey this fall when he skates out with one of the NHL&rsquo;s newest expansion teams&mdash;the Hartford Whalers. (Photo by Ian MacAlpine)</figcaption></div>HARTFORD&mdash;No one really expected that Gordie Howe wouldn&rsquo;t play another year of professional hockey and the greatest scorer of all time confirmed it by declaring he would perform at least one more season unless his health fails him.The 51-year-old scoring legend will await a team medical with the Hartford Whalers before deciding if he&rsquo;ll put the skates on for his 33rd pro season but there wasn&rsquo;t much doubt he was fully confident he would make it to the starting gate one more time.Howe&rsquo;s wife Colleen, who is the administrator and business agent for the entire Howe hockey family, informed the media that there was a 100 per cent sure chance Gordie would be playing in 1979-80 with his two sons, Marty and Mark, when the Whalers enter the NHL for the first time under the newest major league hockey expansion program.&ldquo;Gordie will be playing unless there is something medically wrong with him and I&rsquo;m sure there isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Colleen. She added that Gordie felt good but also admitted he was a mite concerned about the ankle he injured last season that kept him sidelined through most of the last part of the season.Colleen Howe said she was fully aware that Gordie&rsquo;s heart is still in playing despite his ageing years. She said he was confident that his summer exercise program of running, golf and tennis would strengthen his ankle and allow him to pass the Whalers&rsquo; medical examination.Colleen said Gordie&rsquo;s pride is an important factor in his hockey future. She added he would not play if he thought for a minute he wasn&rsquo;t physically capable of doing the job for the Whalers.For the first time in his illustrious hockey career, Howe did not score 20 goals in a single season. He missed the last 22 games and managed only 19 along with 24 assists for 43 points.The irrepressible Howe will get another chance to enhance his present NHL scoring marks which have stood untouched since he retired from the Detroit Red Wings in 1971. During his 25 year NHL career, Howe scored 786 goals and added 1,023 assists, both records that still stand today. After a two-year layoff Howe came out of retirement to join his sons, Mark and Marty, with the Houston Aeros and after four years in Houston, he landed in New England with the Whalers.During his six years in the WHA, Howe scored 174 goals and added 334 assists for 508 points. Coupled with his NHL totals, he has a lifetime mark of 960 goals, 1,357 assists and 2,316 points in regular league play.The Whalers are counting on Gordie returning this season in order to allow NHL fans to get a glimpse of him and his two sons for the first time. Howe retired from the Red Wings before his two boys were old enough to play pro hockey and as a result, NHL fans have not had the opportunity of seeing them perform.There have been reports that Gordie is being lured away from the hockey playing end of the game by business offers but his wife, Colleen, says she knows that his heart belongs in hockey and he&rsquo;ll want to continue playing as long as he is physically capable.The big question hockey people are asking is will Gordie be able to stand up to the wear and tear of an 80-game schedule, the competitiveness of the NHL and the extensive travelling that all NHL teams must endure during the course of a hockey season.His wife says that if he finds it all too much for him you can rest assured he&rsquo;ll be the first to know it. &#9632;

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Howe’s Heart Set On Another Season If Health Holds

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011266/5039310-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Ian MacAlpine)</figcaption></div><h2>Whiz Kid Joins Perfecta</h2>Wayne Gretzky, the million dollar hockey whiz of the Edmonton Ollers, Is shown after signing a contract with PFZ Enterprises of Montreal to promote Perfecta skate blades. Roger Helal, right, vice-president of marketing, looks on at signing. Perfecta has two new products on the market, a skate guard and the R-2 runner, and Gretzky will join Helal in promoting the company&rsquo;s new hockey Items.<h2>Meeting His Conqueror</h2>Guy Lafleur, right, of the Canadiens, lost his hold on the NHL&rsquo;s top awards this season and the man who replaced him in the spotlight was Bryan Trottier, left, of the Islanders. Trottier won the player of the year award, and the league scoring title, both of which Lafleur had locked up In recent years. Lafleur came out the richer of the two when Montreal won the Stanley Cup again.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02997/5039303-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="634" height="1376"></div><h2>Man At The Top</h2>Clifton H. Eaton became president and chief operating officer of Cooper Canada Ltd., in a recent shift in power in the top operation of the company. Eaton, formerly with the Gillette Corporation, became a Cooper director in January. He replaces Jack Cooper, who will continue as chairman and chief officer of Cooper Canada, Cooper International and Winnwell Ltd.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03700/5039296-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="1592" height="1462"></div><h2>Europeans Visit Hockey Shrine</h2>Three world famous European hockey coaches visited the United States Hockey Hall of Fame at Eveleth, Minn., in conjunction with a nationwide tour to lecture on off-ice training methods. In the center of the group Is Anatoly Tarasov, &lsquo;the Father of Soviet Hockey&rsquo;. Tarasov is shown presenting D. Kelly Campbell, second left, USHHF board chairman, with a momento. Pictured left to right are Roger Godin, Hall of Fame executive director, Campbell, Gus Hendrickson, Minnesota-Duluth coach, Arkady Chernlshev, top Soviet coach, Lou Valro, AHAUS coaching director, Tarasov, Charles Pekarek, Interpreter, and Dr. Ladislav Horsky, leading Czech<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04496/5039289-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="1504" height="1488"></div><h2>College Sweep Rarity</h2>It Isn&rsquo;t very often that one team can sweep the boards In the post-season awards but Bowling Green did It In the Central Collegiate Hockey Association this past season. Here&rsquo;s CCHA commissioner Fred Jacoby, right, presenting the awards from the left to Ken Morrow, CCHA player of the year, George McPhee, rookie of the year, and Ron Mason, who was chosen coach of the year after Bowling Green romped through league. Morrow Is a defenseman and a top candidate for the U.S. Olympic team. Mason has since accepted the head coaching job at Michigan State after being named the CCHA&rsquo;s best coach three times in the last four years. &#9632;

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HOCKEY PEOPLE

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE HALPIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011194/5039383-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAUL REINHART&hellip;Should Go High</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;The wheels are in motion for the introduction of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s newest innovation&mdash;the entry draft&mdash;or what was affectionately known in the past seven years as the amateur draft.In order to side step any legal involvement, the NHL decided it was going to hold a closed-door telephone draft Aug. 9 in its Montreal offices calling it an entry draft rather than an amateur draft. The outcome could prove vital to most of the league&rsquo;s have not teams.Up for grabs will be the country&rsquo;s prime 19 and 20-year-old hockey players, who will be picked over for six rounds by the 21 NHL teams leaving junior hockey poorer by 126 skaters next year. In 1978, the NHL took a total of 234 juniors and collegians in the amateur draft.The basic rules for the draft will mean that all teams will pick from 1 to 21 for six rounds. Colorado, as the lowest team in the NHL standings last year, has the No. 1 pick. Edmonton, as one of the four new league teams coming into the operation for the first time, will draft 21st.If an NHL team drafts a 19-year-old it must keep him on their major league roster or offer him back to the junior team they picked him from. No 19-year-old drafted can be sent to the minors the first year. If a player who is on the NHL draft list is not selected, he becomes a free agent.The entry of the 19-year-olds into the draft was a form of compromise with the vast colony of preying hockey agents who are steering the fuzzy-cheeked kids into the pro ranks. Many have threatened to sue the NHL if they didn&rsquo;t include their clients&mdash;most of which are 19&mdash;in the draft. The NHL no longer will consider the draft amateur since some professionals&mdash;like Rob Ramage, Craig Hartsburg, Mike Gartner, Pat Riggin and many more who played in the WHA last season as underage players&mdash;are eligible for the draft.The final approval of the entry draft is still being awaited. The Players&rsquo; Association and the NHL governors must still sit down Aug. 7 and 8 in Toronto to iron out the draft bylaw. If the players approve, and it is 99 per cent sure they will under the collective bargaining agreement, the draft bylaw would be amended to include 19-year-olds this year and 18-year-olds in 1980.It will be the first time since 1974 the NHL has drafted players under the age of 20. In the past they have maintained a strict hands-off policy in regard to the juniors but had the issue forced on them by the WHA. The outgoing pro league was compelled by U.S. court decisions to sign 17 and 18-year-olds the past two years creating today&rsquo;s present draft havoc. In &rsquo;74, the NHL drafted 17 and 18-year-olds for one season but abandoned the idea.There has been mixed reaction on the part of the three Canadian major junior hockey leagues&mdash;the Ontario, Quebec and Western circuits&mdash;to the NHL&rsquo;s decision to stage an underage draft. Many NHL teams feel that most of the underage 19-year-olds selected will be returned to junior hockey for more seasoning under the NHL&rsquo;s draft rules.As for the drafting itself, it is expected that the cream of the underage crop&mdash;the 19-year-olds&mdash;will probably go first. Such junior stars as Tom McCarthy of Oshawa, tough Jim Fox of Ottawa, Brandon&rsquo;s hard-nosed Laurie Boschman, Raymond Bourque of Verdun and Keith Brown of Portland, both defensemen, Duane Sutter of Lethbridge, brother of St. Louis Blues&rsquo; star Brian Sutter, Stewart Smith of Peterborough, Paul Rinehart of Kitchener, Bill Gardner, another Pete star, and Brent Ashton of Saskatoon, loom as the best selections among the underage players.NHL scouts have indicated that not more than 10 underage players will get the call and insist that no more than two of them could step right in with the pros.In the draft of junior age players, the field is topped by a bevy of WHA performers who jumped from Canadian leagues into the pros the past two years and became instant stars. The No. 1 pick here appears to be Mike Gartner, who did so much for the Cincinnati Stingers last year. Others maintain that defenseman Rob Ramage will be the first to go primarily because every scout has him on the top of their list and the demand for rearguards Is top priority.Others who will go high are defenseman Craig Hartsburg, who like Ramage, was a standout with Birmingham Bulls last season in the WHA. Best of the graduating junior crop is Perry Turinbull of Portland, Brian Propp, the scoring phenomenon of the Brandon Wheat Kings, and Mike Foligno, the OHA scoring champion from Sudbury.There are others but these players seem to have caught the fancy of the ivory hunters in their trips around the hockey leagues. Some college players will figure in the voting but the field is sparse this year as compared to last season when more than 50 U.S. college players were grabbed by the pros.Among the college prospects from U.S. teams are Jeff Brownschidle of Notre Dame, brother of Jack Brownschidle of St. Louis Blues, Tim Watters of Michigan Tech, Bill Welton of Boston University, Cary Eades of North Dakota and Brock Tredway of Cornell.The NHL teams are divided on the value of the underage draft. They see it as a means of making the strong stronger and weak weaker. By that they suggest the talent rich clubs can pick an underage player for the future and sit back and wait. The NHL&rsquo;s have-not clubs&mdash;like Colorado, St. Louis and Washington&mdash;will be out picking for today, hoping to land a star who will shine overnight. It is a critical draft for the NHL&rsquo;s lower clubs and their quality of selection will go a long way towards determining their future.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02873/5039376-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="1208" height="1404"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILL GARDNER&hellip;Eyed By NHL Scouts</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03663/5039369-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="596" height="686"><figcaption class="caption-body">TOM MCCARTHY&hellip;No. 1 Underager</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04496/5039362-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="558" height="664"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM FOX&hellip;He Has Muscle</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-05367/5039355-1-eng-US/f0015-052.jpg" title="f0015-05" width="598" height="678"><figcaption class="caption-body">BRENT ASHTON&hellip;Pride of West</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-06306/5039348-1-eng-US/f0015-062.jpg" title="f0015-06" width="594" height="680"><figcaption class="caption-body">CRAIG HARTSBURG&hellip;Could Be No. 2</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-07265/5039341-1-eng-US/f0015-072.jpg" title="f0015-07" width="602" height="670"><figcaption class="caption-body">BOB RAMAGE&hellip;Everybody&rsquo;s Choice</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Teen Entry Draft Seen As Critical For Existence Of NHL Have-Not Clubs

<h2>JUNIOR AGE</h2>1. Mike Gartner, Cincinnati*2. Rob Ramage, Birm.*3. Perry Turnbull, Portland4. Craig Hartsburg, Birm.*5. Brian Propp, Brandon6. Mike Foligno, Sudbury7. Erroll Rausse, Seattle8. Ray Allison, Brandon9. Ray Newfeld, Edmonton10. Gaston Gingras, Birm.*11. Blake Wesley, Portland12. Kevin Lowe, Quebec13. Ricky Vaive, Birmingham*14. Ken Eilacott, P&rsquo;tborough15. B. McCrimmon, Brandon16. G. Theberge, P&rsquo;tborough17. Jim Mann, Sherbrooke18. Bobby Crawford, Cornwall19. John Liprando, Oshawa20. Pat Riggin, Birmingham*21. Gary Dillon, Toronto22. Pat Conacher, Saskatoon23. Ed Hospodar, Ottawa(*WHA players)<h2>UNDER AGE</h2>1. Tom McCarthy, Oshawa2. Jim Fox, Ottawa3. Laurie Boschman, Brandon4. Raymond Bourque, Verdun5. Keith Brown, Portland6. Duane Sutter, Lethbridge7. Stewart Smith, Peterborough8. Paul Rinehart, Kitchener9. Bill Gardner, Peterborough10. Brent Ashton, Saskatoon11. Allan Hayworth, Sherbrooke12. Dale Hunter, Sudbury13. Louis Begin, Sherbrooke14. Tim Hunter, Seattle15. Paul Marshall, Brantford16. Frank Nigro, London17. Lee Norwood, Oshawa18. Jim Jackson, Oshawa19. Doug Morrison, Lethbridge20. Brian Carroll, Niagara Falls21. Jacques Cloutier, T-Rivers &#9632;

NHL’s Top Draft Picks

<div class="byline">By WAYNE WARRINER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011066/5039445-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Whalers received a big break when veteran Dave Keon decided to play another year. He has experience new Whalers desperately need for their NHL entry.</figcaption></div>HARTFORD&mdash;Heading into the National Hockey League&rsquo;s entry draft in August, the Whalers are pleased that they didn&rsquo;t deal away any of their choices during the expansion draft shuffling in June. Looking at the prospect of signing his first two choices, director of hockey operations, Jack Kelley, indicated that he&rsquo;ll be looking for the best hockey player available at the time Hartford&rsquo;s turn (18th) comes around.Most observers agree, however, that the Whalers need some beefing up back on the blueline as well as some depth on the right side. It would not be surprising if Kelley were to enter the trade market unless the entry draft is productive in those departments.Whaler captain and veteran defenseman, Rick Ley, was disappointed that the team did not pick up a big blueliner the likes of Gilles Lupien or Rick Chartraw. &ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s expendable on our club,&rdquo; said Ley emphasizing how much he feels the Whalers could use one of the young Montreal defensemen.Commenting about the right wing situation Ley said, &ldquo;I hope we get Warren (Miller) back. He can play on my team any day!&rdquo; The hard-working winger was taken by the Rangers prior to the expansion draft. If Miller is not returned, the Whalers will be left with sophomore Jim Warner, Blaine Stoughton, and Bob Stephenson&mdash;obtained in the dispersal draft when the Birmingham Bulls disbanded.Veteran right wing Tom Webster is scheduled to try a comeback again (after back surgery). Webbie&rsquo;s scoring ability would bolster an offensive punch that some feel to be a little on the weak side. But the Whaler organization cannot afford to rely on his return.In the expansion and WHA dispersal drafts the Whalers picked up six left wingers which might enable coach Don Blackburn to move Mark Howe over to the right side&mdash;if no other help is forthcoming The Versatility of young Mr. Howe is one of the big pluses for the Hartford entry. Last season he excelled while playing defense during the final weeks of the campaign.Most of the size and aggressiveness that the Whalers acquired seems to be packaged on the left side. Left wingers Byron Shutt (brother of Montreal&rsquo;s Steve) and Steve Alley came over in the WHA dispersal draft. But the big guys&mdash;Nick Fotiu and Bill Bennett&mdash;arrived in the expansion draft.Bennett&rsquo;s size (6&rsquo;5) will be a welcome sight for Hartford fans who have decried the team&rsquo;s lack of muscle in the corners. Whether the big winger is ready to step in and help the Whalers may be questionable, but local fans liked what they saw of him in late-season Bruins&rsquo; telecasts last spring.Fotiu, of course, has a built-in fan club by reason of his previous stint with the Whalers. He assured fans that he hasn&rsquo;t changed his style. &ldquo;I only play one way&mdash;rough and aggressive. I worked hard in New York on improving my checking and staying on my wing,&rdquo; said Nick, proud of the fact that he &ldquo;was a plus player last year&rdquo;.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-02856/5039438-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="1140" height="1156"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hockey fans who remember Nick Fotiu as a Whaler will get another chance to see the strapping New Yorker play. He was plucked from the Rangers in the recent expansion draft.</figcaption></div>Hartford&rsquo;s hopes got a boost when veteran Dave Keon decided to lace &rsquo;em up again. Voted &ldquo;Favorite Whaler&rdquo; by the fans and &ldquo;Unsung Hero&rdquo; by the media for his play last year, the 39-year-old centerman will be entering his 20th major league season.&ldquo;I still like to play,&rdquo; said Keon. &ldquo;I still think I can make a contribution to the team. I also have a chance to play in the NHL again and against some pretty good hockey players.&rdquo;Coach Blackburn was elated: &ldquo;I could not envision our team going into the NHL without Davey being there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Just his presence means so much&hellip;I don&rsquo;t see any end to the guy. He keeps himself in great shape and he knows how to get the utmost results&hellip;&rdquo;WHALER WAVES: The Whalers have announced affiliations with Utica (NEHL) and Cincinnati (CHL) but, at press time, their major farm team is still expected to be in Springfield (AHL). Negotiations for the purchase of that franchise have been long and drawn out, but most observers are confident Hartford will have its major affiliate within a halfhour&rsquo;s drive to the north.The Whalers feel that Bennett may be ready to blossom this year. Having missed two-and-a-half years due to four hernia operations, his development in hockey has been slow. With the Bruins&rsquo; top farm team (Rochester) last year, however, he was leading scorer&mdash;so Kelley and company have high hopes.The Whalers&rsquo; prospects of having a rookie camp of 15-20 players prior to the opening of training camp may hinge on the availability of a site. Their regular training facility in Glas-tonbury was expected to be converted to a racquet ball club so the Whalers have been looking for an alternate arena for their camp. Kelley indicated that he may &ldquo;take the team out for a week someplace&rdquo;.Gordie Howe is keeping in shape by bicycling, playing tennis and golf. If the doctors give him the go-ahead, he&rsquo;ll be back in uniform next season. Assuring that he was &ldquo;not going to make just one trip around the league,&rdquo; the 50-year-old grandfather said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll play the whole season or not at all!&rdquo;Rick Ley is operating a hockey school in suburban West Hartford while Whaler trainers Joe Altott and Skip Cunningham run another successful school in northern Connecticut&hellip;Scott Wahle, anchorman for the NHL&rsquo;s TV game of the week last season, has really hyped the hockey scene since taking over as sportscaster for WVIT-TV Channel 30 in Hartford. &#9632;

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Whalers Looking For Muscle In Entry Draft

<div class="byline">BY DONALD BERNS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01937/5039476-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">CHUCK LEFLEY&hellip;Regains Enthusiasm For Hockey</figcaption></div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Chuck Lefley, waiting in the wings until the protecting and unprotecting of the World Hockey Association draft was finished, stepped forward to say he will start honoring-his two-year-old contract with the St. Louis Blues.The contract still has one more year to run. The Blues are delighted the 29-year-old Lefley finally has made himself available.Lefley stunned everyone nearly two years ago when he said he was quitting hockey. He said he had lost interest in the game and intended to go back to his family farm in Manitoba.But shortly thereafter Lefley was playing hockey in Finland, and St. Louis general manager Emile-Francis was dismayed. He tried to persuade Lefley to return to the Blues but was unsuccessful. Last season when Lefley tried to play in Germany, Francis became more militant and was able to block Lefley from playing.&ldquo;The reason-I&rsquo;m coming back is a change in attitude,&rdquo; Lefley said recently. &ldquo;I had just lost all interest in hockey. I can&rsquo;t really say why, but I just want to play again.&rdquo;Lefley&rsquo;s reasoning was hard to comprehend when he left the Blues, and his reversal also is slightly difficult to understand. But the Blues are not quibbling about the vagares of the young man&rsquo;s career course. They simply are happy to have Lefley&rsquo;s lightningquick skates back on left wing.Lefley set club records with 43 goals and 85 points in the 1975-76 season. His production fell to 11 goals and 41 points the following year before he left the team.&ldquo;I quit because I didn&rsquo;t think I was an 11-goal scorer,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I might not be a 60-goal scorer but I am much better than I showed that last year. My concentration was shot.&rdquo;The farm at home is not a myth, even though Francis once remarked long after Lefley left the Blues, &ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t seen a harvest on that farm yet.&rdquo;The farm is a 700-acre spread with a wheat crop and is serious business to Lefley and his brother, Glenn, who have plans to expand it. Lefley said he was spraying the crop and nearly missed the airplane taking him to St. Louis for announcement of his return to the team.Both the farm and his NHL career were secondary to whatever drew Lefley to Europe for most of two winters. He says the reason was &ldquo;fun&rdquo;, a word he used several times the night he said he was leaving the Blues. Lefley said playing in the NHL no longer provided the fun he wanted.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t go over there to play hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I went over there to have fun, and I did.&rdquo;Now, Lefley says, he is eager for the 1979-80 season to begin in St. Louis, and an eager Lefley could be a big plus for rebuilding Blues in scoring power on the ice and pulling power at the box office.&ldquo;A guy with his speed can mean a lot to the team,&rdquo; coach Barclay Plager said. &ldquo;I still have nightmares about the way we&rsquo;d get bottled up in our zone last season. We had no one with breakaway speed who could bust out of there for us. That&rsquo;s what Chuck does best.&rdquo;Plager added, &ldquo;Definitely we will pair him with a centre who can feed him and take advantage of his great speed.&rdquo;Plager said Lefley&rsquo;s centre could be Mike Zuke with perhaps either Bob Murdoch or Mike Crombeen on right wing.Such a combination could give the Blues another big scoring line to go with the spectacular trio of Bernie Federko, Brian Sutter and Wayne Babych. The team scoring record Lefley set three season ago was broken this past season by Federko.Scoring usually was not the Blues&rsquo; problem last season, when they finished with the second-worst record in the league. Rather, the blame in many losing games could be placed on the shoulders of the defensive corps. So far, the Blues have added Rick LaPointe from Philadelphia and Byran Maxwell from Minnesota to help solve that problem, and in addition to the No. 2 choice in the amateur draft the Blues are expected to make Furthermore. &#9632;

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Lefley’s Return To Blues Will Lift Team’s Offense

<div class="byline">FRANK ORR&#x2019;S</div><h2>A Reluctant Draft</h2>THE NATIONAL HOCKEY League really wanted no part of the drafting of &ldquo;underage&rdquo; players in its 1979 amateur draft. Oops, that should read &ldquo;entry&rdquo; not &ldquo;amateur&rdquo; draft. The name was changed to protect the innocent&mdash;or some such reason.Junior hockey certainly agreed with the NHL&rsquo;s philosophical leaning on the matter of the claiming of players before their junior eligibility elapsed. The juniors never have really recovered from the underage raids by the World Hockey Association and the &rsquo;74 assault by the NHL on the teenage players.However, the men who really call the shots in sport these days&mdash;the lawyers and legal advisors&mdash;warned the NHL that it was running the risk of lawsuits from 18 and 19-year-old players if the &rsquo;79 draft didn&rsquo;t include the younger players.So the NHL will claim 19-year-olds this year and lower that to 18 hext year in an effort to stay out of the courts.Player agents had warned the league that their clients who weren&rsquo;t draftable this year under the old rules were prepared to go to the courts.Their action would be based on the view that the 20-year-olds-only rule prevented a lad 18 or 19 from earning a living in the game of hockey. It&rsquo;s the old story: If a lad can fight a war, drink booze and drive a car, even get married, at 18, then why shouldn&rsquo;t he be allowed to earn his living chasing a puck?It&rsquo;s the old hockey rights vs. civil or human rights question and it&rsquo;s a tough one on which to have a polarized view.If a boy at 18 is good enough to earn his living in the game of hockey and wants to do it, then he should have the right to do it. If the same kid wants to get a job parking cars, pumping gas or on the old assembly line, there&rsquo;s no law which says he can&rsquo;t do it&mdash;and sport can&rsquo;t exist outside the mainstream, exempt from the law of the land which governs every other endeavor.<h2>Restoring Some Order</h2>BUT AT THE SAME TIME, the NHL is trying to restore some order in the game now that it&rsquo;s gobbled up the WHA. A large segment of that restored order must be to make junior hockey, the No. 1 player development source, as strong as possible.The junior operators have faced a tough time in the 1970s. First, the underage raids of their rosters took away their players who would sell tickets, their gate attractions. Then the juniors, especially in Ontario, faced a heavy schedule of televised NHL games to compete for fan interest.Junior team operating costs went up but gates fell off. Breaking even became a huge challenge for the junior owners.&ldquo;The underage signings by the pros hurt our gates badly,&rdquo; said a junior team owner. &ldquo;But losing those top players also lowered the overall calibre of junior play.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why it was a bit of a laugh when some NHL people claimed that the skill level of the junior graduates had declined. Why wouldn&rsquo;t it decline? They took away our best players, the ones who made the others improve more quickly by having to play against them.&rdquo;<h2>Leaves An Out</h2>THE NHL HAS GIVEN itself an out on the underage question. If a 19-year-old player claimed in the draft fails to make the NHL club at training camp this fall, then he must be returned to his junior club&mdash;if it wants him.The NHL club must pay the returnee&rsquo;s salary although, technically, he&rsquo;ll be playing amateur hockey.No underage player can be sent to the minor leagues.&ldquo;What we&rsquo;ve done is return to a form of sponsorship, the way things were in the old six-team NHL days,&rdquo; said Punch Imlach, new head man of the Toronto Maple Leafs.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll bet that most of the underage players claimed in the draft will be back in junior hockey for a little seasoning&mdash;and we&rsquo;ll be picking up the tabs for them.&rdquo;Some NHL men were opposed to the underage draft because they saw it as a widening of the gap between the strong and the weak.&ldquo;A team at the top with some depth in talent can afford to draft the good underage player because they don&rsquo;t need him immediately and can afford to wait for him to age and develop,&rdquo; said the general manager of an NHL team near the bottom of the pack.&ldquo;At the same time, we need help right away. We want to draft a 20-year-old who can help us next season and to do that, we might have to pass a better long-range prospect.&rdquo; &#9632;

HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="byline">BY PAT CALABRIA</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01967/5039538-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">JEAN POTVIN&hellip;His Signing Top Priority (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>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 CanadaLONG ISLAND&mdash;With little more than two months left before the start of the season, Islander general manager Bill Torrey appears convinced that the team is improved on the ice and off it&mdash;with a bolstered confidence that the club&rsquo;s bank account is growing&rdquo; as strong as its defense.A team that just one year ago was nearly placed in receivership and faced $20 million in debts and court judgments now is approaching solvency. General manager partner John 0. Pickett called the Islanders &ldquo;a break even proposition&rdquo; and added that the team was on a &ldquo;sound financial basis&rdquo;.In support was the team&rsquo;s claim that it generated $10 million in income last season, which Pickett said was just about the total of its expenses. A new 30-year lease with Nassau Coliseum that begins this season gives the team a better percentage of gate receipts and last month the team finally moved its executive offices into the Coliseum from its cramped Farmingdale practice rink.That was a move Torrey had tried to make since the club was granted its franchise in 1972. &ldquo;It gives us identity,&rdquo; he said. So, with freshly-painted walls and walnut doors trimming the office complex, located down the hall from the Islander locker room, Torrey insisted the change of location could have its effect. &ldquo;A matter of being major-league,&rdquo; he said.A new office may appear to be a small improvement, but a thicker bankroll is not dismissed lightly. There seems to be no doubt that Torrey is capable of making Mike Bossy a competitive offer to remain with the club. Bossy is entering the option year of a three-year contract and Torrey said: &ldquo;I can assure you I will make Mike an offer that is equal to or better than he Will get anyplace else.&rdquo;While rebuilding the organization&rsquo;s financial reputation in his capacity as club president, Torrey has also begun to add the touches to a team he expects to make another charge for the Stanley Cup. He scotched speculation that Jean Potvin, whose rights were reacquired from the Minnesota North Stars, was involved in a future deal.That was welcome news to brother Denis, who met with Torrey at the NHL meeting in Montreal in June to find out if Jean, a free agent, would be signed and kept by the Islanders. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s my first priority this summer,&rdquo; Torrey said.Potvin is likely to be used as an insurance defenseman and right wing. With Dave Langevin added from the Edmonton Oilers and so much expected from Bob Lorimer, in his second season, and Mike Hordy, in his first season, the team again appears strong at defense.Yvan Vautour and Hector Marini, both combative wings, will get shots to make the team at training camp next month and Torrey said, &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s accurate to say one of them will make it, and possibly both.&rdquo;And resolving the question about his own future was coach Al Arbour, who had raised eyebrows by refusing to comment on reports from club sources that The was considering leaving the team with three years left on his contract.Arbour was admittedly disappointed by the Islanders&rsquo; defeat to the Rangers in the Stanley Cup semi-finals, but he said: &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to leave the job here undone.&rdquo;ISLAND SOUNDS: Lorne Henning is spending the summer jogging horses at Roosevelt Raceway. Former Islander Jude Drouin has sold his interest in a local restaurant and is training daily in hopes of landing a job with an NHL club&hellip;The teams&rsquo; softball squad, again captained by Clark Gillies, is participating in charity events.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02731/5039531-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="592" height="1454"><figcaption class="caption-body">YVON VAUTOUR&hellip;Could Stick</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Islanders Put Finances in Order; Aim To Strengthen Squad’s Depth

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01901/5039569-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">VACLAV NEDOMANSKY&hellip;Signing Plus For Wings (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>DETROIT&mdash;Vaclav Nedomansky is like a man walking on the clouds these days. Everything that has happened to him since the last National Hockey League campaign closed has been productive.Big Ned hasn&rsquo;t taken a backward step since the 1978-79 season ended and it all started when he and his family were sworn in at Toronto as new Canadian citizens. It was something Nedomansky wanted since the day he defected from Czechoslovakia when he chose to join the free world.On the hockey side of the ledger, Nedomansky ended his free agent status by signing a new multi-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings and now he says proudly, he&rsquo;s ready to face the hockey world with renewed enthusiasm.Nedomansky became a free agent June 1. Big Ned is special, and his free agent situation was particularly special to the Red Wings&mdash;and 20 other teams in the NHL. He was a free agent without compensation, meaning that should he have elected to play elsewhere next season, the Wings would not receive compensation for the lack of his services. However, speculation that Ned might play elsewhere is over. His unwillingness to leave Detroit and Ted Lindsay&rsquo;s persistence to keep him, led to the signing of a multi-year contract with the Detroit club. A contract that might see him play out his hockey career in a Red Wings&rsquo; uniform.Nedomansky, 35 last March 13, topped the Red Wings scoring parade last season with 73 points on 38 goals and 35 assists, ranking eleventh overall among the league&rsquo;s top goal scorers&rsquo;. His 38 goals have been bettered only 15 times in Red Wing history by seven players. Of those 38, Nedomansky notched 13 on the power play and recorded three hattricks including hattricks in back-to-back games.General manager Lindsay sees the signing of Nedomansky as a major acquisition for the years to come: &ldquo;He showed Bob (coach Bobby Kromm) and I last year what he could do. Ned has probably the best and most accurate wrist shot in hockey today. He scored 38 last year, and could just as easily have had 45 or 50. Scoring goals isn&rsquo;t the whole game but you have to have them to win games. I can&rsquo;t help but feel that we have solved a serious void on our hockey club by signing Ned. I&rsquo;m elated that he decided to stay in Detroit.&rdquo;Nedomansky came to Detroit via the WHA in November 1977. In 63 games he recorded just 11 goals and 17 assists. Like many other European players, and players out of the WHA, there seems to be a period of adjustment to the NHL&rsquo;s style of play. But whatever it was, Nedomansky certainly adjusted last season.In other developments, approximately 35 players will take to the ice Sept. 17 at the James Norris Centre in Sault Ste. Marie for the start of another training camp. The remainder of the roster and some drafts will train in Glen Falls, New York, the home of Detroit&rsquo;s new American League affiliate, the Adirondack Red Wings. Glen Falls will also host the Wings annual rookie camp the week prior, from Thursday, Sept. 11 thru Saturday, Sept. 15.Detroit will commence their eight-game exhibition slate Sept. 22, six days after camp begins with two games against Minnesota, game one on the Canadian side where Red Wing Paul Woods played his junior hockey, and game two on the American side with the proceeds going to their minor hockey program. Detroit will have a five day breather from exhibition games, but two a day scrimmages until they travel to Pittsburgh for a game with the Penguins Sept. 29, and a return match in Windsor the next day benefiting the Windsor minor hock. ey program. Monday the Wings meet one of the NHL&rsquo;s new entries the Hartford Whalers at their temporary home in Springfield, Mass, with the same two teams going at it two days later Oct. 3 in Glens Falls. Detroit winds out their exhibition schedule with a home and home series with the Quebec Nordiques Friday in Quebec and Saturday back in Glens Falls. The Wings are tentatively scheduled to open their regular season on the road Oct. 10. &#9632;

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Big Ned Hits For ‘Double’, Becomes Canadian Citizen And Signs Multi-Year Pact

BUFFALO&mdash;Fans expecting to see the wide-open Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; offensive of days past will be in for a disappointment this season. But then again, coach Scotty Bowman will be attempting to reverse the Sabres&rsquo; downward trend in recent years and he&rsquo;ll be doing so with a new style called defensive hockey.Bowman, who&rsquo;ll run the show as general manager of the Sabres and will enlist the aid of Roger Neilson as a co-coach behind the bench, will be stressing team play, checking, positional play and various other strategems which have been foreign to Sabre teams of the past. And he&rsquo;ll be in the position he has been seeking for the past few years&mdash;one where he is running the hockey operation and is solely responsible for the progress of the team&mdash;and that&rsquo;s what Bowman likes the best.With Neilson as a co-coach, Bowman will be turning to the method he first employed successfully when he coached Team Canada in 1976. In that tournament Bowman was the head man of a four-coach contingent which included Al MacNeil, Don Cherry and Bobby Kromm, which employed walkie-talkies and spotters for the international tourney.In Buffalo, Bowman will be dealing with the relatively familiar position of having a strong No. 1 goaler as the main workhorse&mdash;Don Edwards, who&rsquo;s onl 23, and will have Bob Sauve as the capable netminder. Sauve, who signed a long-term contract with the Sabres a year ago, came on with an excellent performance when he pinch-hit for a fluridden Edwards in last year&rsquo;s playoffs. He was a standout even though the Sabres were eliminated in three games.Bowman will not have the forward depth that he&rsquo;s been accustomed to in Montreal, but then what other team can match the Canadiens&rsquo; array of forwards? He will have the strong checking of Craig Ramsay and Don Luce, the scoring power of Gil Perrault, Danny Gare, and if they&rsquo;re back on the track Rick Martin and Rene Robert, as well as the physical play of Rick Dudley, second-year man Tony McKegney and veteran Dave Schultz.Changes are most likely to occur in the largesized but slow defense where Jim Schoenfeld, Jerry Korab, Bill Hajt and company are often left in the lurch by speedier forwards.That&rsquo;s where the talents of Bowman and Neilson will come in&mdash;formulating a system which can take advantage of Buffalo&rsquo;s speedy crew of sharpshooters, while at the same time, allowing for a reduced workload on the lumbering defensemen.With Bowman given a carte blanche to mold his hockey club as he sees fit, Sabre fans may be saying good-bye to some of their favorites who are unable to make the transition. However, the new set-up is bound to produce a better all-around team which can be expected to go farther in the playoffs. &#9632;

Bowman Brings New Game To Buffalo

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01760/5039655-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK BLIGHT&hellip;Determined To Make Amends (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>VANCOUVER&mdash;Because free agents are having such a rough time finding better contracts in other cities this offseason, most of the general managers are taking things fairly easily.That includes Vancouver GM Jake Milford, who among other things, had a trophy named after him this summer for the Central League&rsquo;s coach of the year. But rather than have a trophy named after him, Milford would likely love to land a player or two that can help the National League team make some headway in the standings this season.While Smythe Division leaders Chicago picked up the likes of Terry Ruskowski and Rich Preston when all the shuffling was complete, all Vancouver got was John Hughes, of whom they have doubts as to whether he can make the club.That makes coming up with at least one man who can play for the team in the upcoming draft all the more important to the Canucks, who will likely have thoughts of first place in the division if they can stay healthier than last season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re hoping to get at least one and maybe two players who can play for us,&rdquo; said Milford of the Aug. 9 draft which will include the underage players for the first time. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll likely be looking for a right winger.&rdquo;&ldquo;Of course we&rsquo;d like to have either Rob Ramage or another defenseman, but it&rsquo;s unlikely that either of these Birmingham players will be still around.&rdquo;That likely leaves the Canucks looking at one of three players for the draft&mdash;Mike Gartner, Rick Valve or Mike Foligno.&ldquo;Right wing is really wide open on our club right now,&rdquo; said Milford of one of the team&rsquo;s sore spots. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t know how Rick Blight is going to do after last year. We still have Drew Callander whom we haven&rsquo;t given up on so we&rsquo;ll just have to see what happens there. But I suppose we are determined than ever to come back next season and have a good year, after signing a new three year contract last year and then falling flat on his face. He scored only five goals the whole year, which was marked with strife, asking to be traded and some long stints in Dallas in the Central League.&ldquo;I still maintain that it wouldn&rsquo;t have happened if I hadn&rsquo;t been hurt in training camp, but that&rsquo;s all past now,&rdquo; said Blight. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m determined to come back and have a good year. I made the mistake of going public and it got blown way out of proportion.&rdquo;The return of a healthy, productive Blight would go a long way to helping the fortunes of Canucks, who badly missed his goals last year.Canucks are also optimistic with the return of Kevin McCarthy, Bill Derlago and Glen Hanlon from their crippling injuries of last season. Doubtless Canucks will not go through another injury year like they did last year, but they haven&rsquo;t really left it to chance.Milford and trainer Pat Dunn felt almost certain it was the travel that was hurting the team physically, almost setting them up for the blows.So this season, Milford plans on using the charter services of World Airways out of Toronto as soon as the team goes east, using the old prop planes to take them directly to their next city.&ldquo;We won&rsquo;t use it to go to Atlanta, but that&rsquo;s about all,&rdquo; said Milford. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll just keep the plane with us the whole trip and leave when we want. When we have a game the next night in another city, we&rsquo;ll leave right after the game and get in late instead of travelling on the day of the game. It will cost us a little bit more, but I think it will be worth it. We just have to do something about the injury situation and we&rsquo;re hoping this will help.&rdquo;Meanwhile, Canucks have expressed an interest in gaining the services of center Tom Roulston of the St. Louis Blues, the latter having had such a fine year for Vancouver&rsquo;s Dallas team. They are &#9632;

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Canuck Right Side Area For Concern

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div>CHICAGO&mdash;Well, at least it&rsquo;s over.After three months of promises, promises, the Black Hawks finally have hired Eddie Johnston as their coach for next season. They said this would happen last March, when the Toronto Maple Leafs wanted to hire the popular ex-goalkeeper. But not until late June did the Black Hawks bring Johnston to Chicago to unveil him at a press conference.Now, they can&rsquo;t get out of it. Nor should they want to. Johnston shows every sign of being just the type of fellow who will dispell the old homily that former masked men don&rsquo;t make good coaches.He knows the game, he&rsquo;s properly stern but more often light, and he talks to people. Moreover, his affable way cannot but help the Black Hawks&rsquo; dreadful image with a tuned-out media and turned off public.&ldquo;I see nothing but good things ahead for the Black Hawks,&rdquo; said Johnston. &ldquo;I think we could finish with 85 points here next year. We have the premier goalkeeper in hockey here in Tony Esposito, and we&rsquo;ve just acquired two good hockey players (Rich Preston and Terry Ruskowski) from the Winnipeg Jets.&ldquo;I think that will allow us to open the game up a little more. If we get Bobby Hull, too, then we&rsquo;ll have that much more goal scoring ability. Especially, I think, he&rsquo;ll help our power play.&rdquo;The names Johnston just mentioned&mdash;Esposito and Hull&mdash;still represent thorny issues here.Esposito remained unsigned as of July, at which time general manager Bob Pulford departed Chicago for a month&rsquo;s vacation, indicating that the negotiations would be extended that much longer.Before he left, Pulford had one meeting with Esposito. Also in attendance was Esposito&rsquo;s financial representative, plus the Wirtzes.When he emerged, Esposito&rsquo;s only comment was that the session was &ldquo;grim&rdquo;.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re a long, long way away,&rdquo; said Esposito. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what my chances are of staying in Chicago if they don&rsquo;t budge. The only thing we told the Black Hawks a few months ago was that we would talk with them before we went and made a deal with any other teams or really got serious with any other teams. Well, it might be the time to start looking around.&rdquo;Pulford concurred that the Black Hawks and Esposito were on different wave lengths, but he chose not to label the issue as a problem: &ldquo;I believe Tony will sign with us. And we have three months to negotiate before they drop the first puck.&rdquo;Black Hawks&rsquo; president Billy Wirtz called Tony &ldquo;one of our er&rdquo;. Billy then said &ldquo;God Bless You&rdquo; twice to Esposito in front of cameras and Team Typewriter. Esposito bowed his head.Hull? Well, Wirtz (Billy) said he&rsquo;s optimistic that The Golden Jet will wind up in Chicago spangles despite the wild fandango that the Hawks and Winnipeg Jets have performed in recent months.&ldquo;What the Jets did with Hull at the expansion draft was immoral,&rdquo; said Wirtz. &ldquo;It was collusion. But Bobby wants to play here and we want him to play here, and that&rsquo;s the main thing. We have to give Winnipeg something for him now that they have his NHL rights. But we won&rsquo;t give them what theyHAWK TALK: Chicago offered Alain Daigle to Winnipeg when the Jets snatched Hull back. Jets GM John Ferguson giggled&hellip;Keith Magnuson now might give it one more shot, after all. Pondering retirement, the oft-injured captain tried his knee in a charity summer hockey game and reported good vibes. If he can&rsquo;t play next season, he&rsquo;ll be Johnston&rsquo;s assistant coach and Pulford&rsquo;s promotions director.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01559/5039686-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="558" height="662"><figcaption class="caption-body">TONY ESPOSITO&hellip;Not Satisfied</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Johnston Ready For Hawk Challenge But Esposito, Hull Not Yet Confirmed

MONTREAL&mdash;The 17 National Hockey League teams in 1978-79 recorded the highest average of goals per game in 35 seasons.During 680 regular-season games, the clubs scored 4,757 goals, an average of 7.0 goals per game (actually, the total is three goals short of providing an average of exactly seven goals). The last time there was a higher average was in 1943-44, the season the red line was introduced. Six teams that season scored 1,225 goals in 150 games for an 8.2 goals-per-game average.Five teams set club marks for most goals in a season&mdash;Atlanta, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York Islanders and Washington&mdash;while only two teams, Atlanta and St. Louis, had team records for most goals against in a season.Three teams scored more than 300 goals each, led by Islanders&rsquo; 358. Montreal scored&rsquo; 337 goals and Boston 316.Shooting accuracy by players of the 17 NHL teams, collectively, was the highest in the 22 seasons such records have been maintained by the League. The players fired 39,973 shots on goal and scored 4,757 goals for a scoring percentage of 11.9. The best previous percentage was 11.3 in 1977-78.New York Islanders, with 358 goals on 2,300 shots, had a scoring percentage of 15.6, the highest on record. The best previous mark was 14.6 per cent by Montreal Canadiens in 1974-75 (374 goals, 2,553 shots).Only one team failed to reach the 10-percent mark in shooting&mdash;Colorado Rockies, who scored 210 goals on 2,187 shots for 9.6 per cent. That, incidentally, is higher than the average of 9.2, in the first season shooting percentages were tabulated by the League&mdash;195758 when the six teams scored 1,175 goals on 12,775 shots.Center Ulf Nilsson of New York Rangers recorded the highest individual scoring percentage in the 22-season history of such statistics. The 29-year-old native of Nynasham, Sweden, scored 27 goals on 96 shots for 28.1 per cent. The previous record was 26.5 per cent by then rookie Murray Wilson of Montreal, who scored 18 goals on 68 shots in 1972-73.There were 17 players who had scoring percentages of at least 20, the most ever, among those who scored at least 15 goals during the regular 1978-79 season.Three players had more than 300 shots on goal. Leading the list was Marcel Dionne of Los Angeles who had 362 shots and was one of four players to reach the 50-goal plateau. The little center had 59 goals for a scoring percentage of 16.3.Right winger Guy Lafleur of Montreal, whose efforts for a fourth straight scoring championship were thwarted by Bryan Trottier of New York Islanders and Dionne had 342 shots on goal. He scored 52 goals for 15.2 per cent. The other player with more than 300 shots was Lanny McDonald of Toronto with 314 shots, 43 goals and 13.7 per cent.A total 448 players, excluding goaltenders of course, played at least one game in the NHL in 1978-79. Since there were 39,973 shots on goal, that produced an average of 89.2 shots on goal per player for the season. The 448 players also averaged 10.6 goals each for the season.There were 66 three-goal games recorded during the 197879 NHL season plus four four-goal games and two five-goal games&mdash;by Trottier and Tim Young of Minnesota North Stars. Mike Bossy of Islanders was the individual leader with four three-goal games and one four-goal game.New York Islanders had the most three-or-more-goal games with 11, including the five by Mike Bossy. Montreal Canadiens had eight three-goal games. Each club had at least one three-goal game during the regular season.A total 91 players scored at least 20 goals during the 1978-79 regular NHL season. Atlanta led with nine 20-goal players, although Ivan Boldirev and Darcy Rota played for both the Flames and Chicago Black Hawks. Boston had eight players with at least 20 goals.There were 10 players with at least 40 goals each: Bossy, 69; Dionne, 59; Lafleur, 52; Guy Chouinard, Atlanta, 50; Trottier, 47; Dave Taylor, Los Angeles and McDonald, 43 each; Phil Esposito, Rangers, 42; Brian Sutter, St. Louis, 41; and Ron Sedlbauer, Vancouver, 40.Among individual records during the season was Bryan Trottier&rsquo;s mark of six points (three goals, three assists) in the second period, Dec. 23, during a 9-4 Islanders&rsquo; win against New York Rangers.Trottier became only the fifth player in NHL history to collect eight points in one game. He had five goals and three assists, Dec. 23, during a 9-4 victory against New York Rangers. The record of 10 points was set by Darryl Sittler of Toronto, Feb. 7, 1976.Bossy tied the modern consecutive-goal scoring streak when he had at least one goal in 10 straight games. Four players&mdash;Ian Turnbull of Toronto, Trottier, Stefan Persson of Islanders and Denis Potvin, both of the Islanders&mdash;shared the longest consecutive assist-scoring streak for the season with at least one assist in nine straight games. The longest consecutive point-scoring streak for the season was recorded by record-holder Lafleur, who had at least one point in each of 23 straight games. He set the mark of 28 games in 1976-77.Most shots in one game by a player in 1978-79 was 13 by Guy Charron of Washington. He scored one goal during a 5-2 loss to Philadelphia.Most shots by both teams in one game was 88 by Pittsburgh (52) and Washington (36) during a 5-3 Penguin win at Pittsburgh, Nov. 29.Chicago Black Hawks had the most shots by one team in a game. Hawks had 56 shots on goal, Jan. 17, during a 2-1 victory against Colorado at Chicago.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01583/5039717-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="574" height="968"><figcaption class="caption-body">ULF NILSSON&hellip;Best Percentage.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Ulf Nilsson Most Accurate Shooter Among NHL’s Best In First Year

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01645/5039755-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02403/5039748-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="3079" height="2829"></div> &#9632;

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NHL’s Final Shooting Statistics

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01546/5039852-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">MICHEL LAROCQUE&hellip;Ready For Starter&rsquo;s Job (Photo by Steve Babineau)</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;The decision had been made several weeks before. In fact the Canadiens knew that Ken Dryden was contemplating retirement when the 1978-79 National Hockey League season began.And he had let it be known a couple of times during the Stanley Cup playoffs that there was no way he would be back with the Canadiens for the 1979-80 season.So, on the morning of July 9 when Dryden held his news conference at the Forum, it was more of a final farewell than an information session.&ldquo;A change like this does not come easily,&rdquo; Dryden said. &ldquo;I must say that this was a lot easier yesterday than today. It feels like you kind of feel when you are going to get married.&rdquo;But the marriage between Dryden and the Canadiens organization ended here, just as other relationships had been cut earlier in the summer.Dryden was not always the most popular player with the fans and during the past season, a few jeers and boos eminated from the gallery gods when Dryden would let in what they thought was not&rsquo; such a good goal.But the Cornell University graduate, who came on the scene with a flourish during the 1971 Stanley Cup playoffs, left a gaping hole in the Canadiens when he walked out the Forum doors for the last time.His lifetime goals-against average of 2.24 will be recorded among the all-time best.He had 46 career shutouts, was named to the first All Star team on five occasions, led the NHL in shutouts four times, including three of the past four seasons. He won the Vezina Trophy outright twice and shared it thrice.So, Canadiens managing director Irving Grundman, who al-&lsquo; ready lost center Jacques Lemaire, his coach from last season, Scotty Bowman, and Al MacNeil, the Canadiens&rsquo; director of player personnel, is looking for another replacement.&ldquo;We have always been able to find replacements for people who have retired,&rdquo; Grundman said, &ldquo;the retirement of Ken Dryden wasn&rsquo;t really a shocker, although we had hoped he would reconsider. We knew about the possibility last fall.&ldquo;But we will not be able to sign a free agent. We do not do business in that way.&rdquo;The No. 1 man going into training camp will be Bunny Larocque, who found himself in a similar situation when Dryden left to article at a law firm in Toronto at the start of the 1973-74 season.But unlike that season, Larocque Is definitely the top dog and will not have to battle with the likes of Michel Plasse and Wayne Thomas as he did six years ago&rdquo;&ldquo;I am going to miss Ken,&rdquo; said Larocque. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t surprised. Ken told me after the Stanley Cup parade that he was through.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a friend. I got along well with him. It&rsquo;s a mixed thing because now it&rsquo;s a big chance for me.With Grundman asserting that there is no way Montreal would go after free-agents Gilles Gilbert and Tony Esposito, the backup man will come from the American Hockey League. Richard Sevigny, Robert Holland and Maurice Barrette all played with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs last season and the 22-year-old Sevigny, who recently signed a two-year deal with the Canadiens, appears to have the inside track at the No. 2 job.But it&rsquo;s not going to be the same without Dryden around.Maybe those fans here who booed and directed catcalls at him might regret it sometime during the forthcoming season. Larocque is confident he can do a better-than-adequate job as the No. 1 goaltender. It&rsquo;s his big chance to prove himself. He does not want to blow it.HAB-BITS: The Canadiens will play their first pre-season game on Sept. 21 against the Buffalo Sabres. It should be a spirited affair for obvious reasons. The Canadiens visit Chicago Sept. 22 and then go to Buffalo the next night. Chicago will provide the opposition for the Canadiens in Ottawa on Sept. 26, and they go to Toronto to play the Leafs one night later. The balance of Montreal&rsquo;s pre-season schedule: Sept. 28 Philadelphia at Montreal; Sept. 30 at Philadelphia; Oct. 2 vs. Boston at Halifax; Oct. 3 vs. Boston at Providence, R.I.; Oct. 5 Boston at Montreal; Oct. 6 at Toronto. Habs&rsquo; season opener is on October 11 when they host Atlanta. Two nights later they&rsquo;ll receive provincial-rivals Quebec Nordiques in the Forum.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02366/5039845-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="544" height="858"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICHARD SEVIGNY&hellip;Possible Backup</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Larocque Prepares For Big Chance As First-String Backstop In Montreal

MONTREAL.&mdash;How far does loyalty go? Well you&rsquo;re Claude Ruel of the Montre Canadiens it might go to the pol where he&rsquo;d work a full season af job he didn&rsquo;t like as a special vor to his employers.Ruel, the erstwhile assists coach and man-behind-the-scenes in the Canadiens&rsquo; organization former coach Scotty Bowman right-hand man and director layer development, informed He boss, executive vice president at managing director Irving Grur man that he would serve as inte im head coach until such time the Canadiens were able to fix the man who would take over full-time leader.Although the Canadiens have been searching for a replacement for Bowman throughout the summer it appears that Ruel, we indeed, open the season as tie bench boss of the Canadier Should captain Yvan Cournoy fail in a second comeback bid aft back surgery, he&rsquo;ll likely serve assistant coach to Ruel and heventual replacement. &#9632;

Ruel Likely As Canadiens No. 1 Coach

QUEBEC CITY&mdash;The Quebec Nordiques continued their battle with the National hockey League over possession of be playing rights to under-age defenseman Michel Goulet and just prior to Aug. 9 it appeared no decision had been made either way.The NHL has declared it will ace Goulet&rsquo;s name on the list of nior-age players eligible for the ague&rsquo;s new entry draft of amaurs.Goulet and his agent, lawyer buy Bertrand, appeared to win the first round of their injunction case against the NHL when a Quebec city judge ordered the Birmingam Bulls, whom Goulet played ir last season in the WHA, to respect the team&rsquo;s contract with the 19-year-old left winger by offering his services to the Nordiques, he of four WHA teams entering the NHL next season for the first me.Mr. Justice Gabriel Roberge of quebec&rsquo;s Superior Court gave the bulls, who have not been included i the new NHL expansion proram, five days to comply with his decision.Goulet has a clause in his contract with the Bulls saying that should the WHA and the NHL ever merge, as they did this past spring, and if the Bulls weren&rsquo;t a part of the merger, which they are at, then Goulet&rsquo;s contract would be offered to the Nordiques first before being made available to any other team.Bertrand said he had sent letters informing both leagues and all existing clubs of the terms of Gouet&rsquo;s contract. He has maintained hat Goulet, as a professional, is hot eligible for the entry draft which will be held in Montreal Aug. 9 involving 19 and 20-year-old Players.Bertrand said his letters went manswered. It was then that he &#9632;

Nordiques Get Line On Goulet

<div class="byline">BY JIM MATHESON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01543/5039976-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Four new coaches joined the National Hockey League with the addition of the four teams from the World Hockey Association. From left to right, Glen Sather, Edmonton, Tom McVIe, Winnipeg, Jacques Demers, Quebec and Don Blackburn, Hartford. (Photo by ban MacAlpline)</figcaption></div>EDMONTON&mdash;All&rsquo;s quiet on the Western front.Strange, considering Edmonton Oiler officials could be kicking and screaming as the annual summer lottery of purebred young hockey talent draws nearer.After all, Oilers drew the shortest straw of the entering World Hockey Association clubs, getting the 21st pick in round one of the conference telephone draft Aug. 9. By then, pickings might be getting a tad slim.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not as upset as we could be,&rdquo; admitted Oiler general manager Larry Gordon. &ldquo;The central scouting registry did a study of the top 200 young players right now and guess what?&ldquo;Edmonton Oilers have the best Although he&rsquo;s not eligible for the July entry draft of 20 and 19-year-olds, Wayne Gretzky is still the No. 1 rated prospect in the country. And the smooth center, who ran up 110 points in his first pro season in 1978-79, signed an incredible 21-year contract with Oilers when he turned 18 last Jan. 26.The 14,600 fans who&rsquo;ve bought season tickets for the first National Hockey League season will be coming to watch Gretzky just as much as Montreal and the Islanders.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got the guy to build a team around&hellip;now we&rsquo;re just going to try to give him some help,&rdquo; said Gordon. &ldquo;Hopefully by the time we pick in round one, there will be a player left who can possibly make our club THIS year.&rdquo;Still, it&rsquo;s a helluva long shot for Oilers. Even though the Baby Bulls from Birmingham are eligible, the Oilers don&rsquo;t stand a hope of securing any of the former underage kids. Defensemen Rob Ramage, Craig Hartsburg and Gaston Gingras and winger Rick Vaive will be long gone by the time Oilers choose. Goalie Pat Riggin probably won&rsquo;t be available, either. Neither will Cincinnati Stinger forward Mike Gartner.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d love to have Vaive,&rdquo; said Oiler coach Glen Sather, who watched the rightwinger rack up 50 plus points and more than 200 penalty minutes last season with Birmingham. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s tough and a competitor, but I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;ll be there when we pick.&rdquo;Several other underagers who played junior last season are likely out of Oilers&rsquo; grasp too. Guys like defensemen Ray Bourque of Verdun, Keith Brown of Portland, winger Tom McCarthy of Oshawa, center Laurie Boschman of Brandon and all-purpose player Paul Reinhart of Kitchener could be early selections as well. Boschman, who centered the explosive Wheat King line with Brian Propp and Ray Allison, is a tough-nosed kid who would fit Sather&rsquo;s requirements for a center. But even if the long-standing NHL clubs pass on the 19-year-old, Winnipeg Jets will gobble him up prior to Oilers. They desperately need a pivot after losing Terry Ruskowski to Chicago.The best of the draft-age players are Perry Turnbull, a leftwinger from Portland, and rightwinger Mike Foligno of Sudbury. Turnbull is tougher, but Foligno, who played with current Oiler Dave Hunter in &rsquo;77-78 in junior, is the OHA scoring champ. Both players will be gone by the halfway point in the first round, however. Blueliners Kevin Lowe of Quebec City and Blake Wesley of Portland are highly-rated too.&ldquo;Our chances of getting a top player are certainly better than they would have been had no underagers been included,&rdquo; admitted Gordon. &ldquo;Apparently it&rsquo;s not been a great year for eligible draft-age players. &#9632;

f0027-01

Oilers’ Chances Of Drafting Starter Slender

MIDDLETOWN&mdash;Frank Polnazek is sitting idle in his Connecticut home wondering about two things:What to do with the volumes of existing WHA records he has in his possession and where does he go from here on the job market.Polnazek was entrusted with locking the office tor the final time in Hartford and when he left he found himself stuck with all the records for the last seven years. To Frank it represented a labour of love since he was the highly efficient statistician and keeper of the league records.He fully expects someone, somewhere will come forward and claim the records for posterity. He had also been expecting to be assimilated into the NHL-WHA merger or expansion. He hasn&rsquo;t and it is a point of concern with him.Few people in the hockey business can keep the kind of statistics and records Polnazek did for the WHA and he says he would like to go on doing it for someone else.In the meantime, Frank Polnazek sits in his suburban Middletown, Conn, home along 92-D2 Cynthia Lane waiting and hoping some hockey club will call on his 203-347-1214 line and tell him to come along. He&rsquo;ll even bring his old records&mdash;since nobodv else &#9632;

WHA Statistician Polnazek Stuck With League Records

<div class="byline">BY JIM LEAHY</div>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 CanadaROCHESTER&mdash;Billy Inglis, the man who stepped in and steered the Buffalo sabres through the final half of the National Hockey League season in 1978-79, is the new coach of the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League.Inglis, who had the third best Coaching record in Sabres&rsquo; history, was appointed to the Rochester job in keeping with the Americans&rsquo; new working agreement with the Buffalo club. Sabres&rsquo; new GM, Scotty Bowman, made the announcement along with Rochester GM George Bergantz.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re delighted Billy has accepted the coaching job with Rochester,&rdquo; said Bowman. &ldquo;We all know the job he did in Buffalo last season and his ability to work with the younger players will be an asset to our organization.&rdquo;Following a 15-year playing career, Inglis was named interim coach of the Sabres on Dec. 5, 1978. The Sabres responded to Inglis in the first seven games, posting a record of 5-0-2. On Dec. 18, he was rewarded by being named coach for the balance of the season. He finished with an overall record of 28-18-10, best in the Adams Division over the final 66 games, and third best in the NHL over that period.During his playing career, Inglis scored 225 goals in 10 seasons in the AHL. He played with Springfield, Cincinnati, New Haven, Hershey and Binghamton.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve known Billy since 1972-73 when we were together in Cincinnati and he was captain of the Calder Cup champion Swords,&rdquo; said Bergantz. &ldquo;We are most fortunate to have Billy here in Rochester at this point in his career. He&rsquo;s a winner and his enthusiasm is contagious.&rdquo;MAINE: The Maine Mariners, one of the best-run organizations in minor league hockey, came up with another winner recently. After winning two straight Calder Cup titles in the first two years of their existence, the Mariners were on the receiving end of yet another award when their director of publicity and public relations, Mike Emrick, was named as one of the &lsquo;Outstanding Young Men of America&rsquo;.&ldquo;The winners are selected for significant contributions to their communities and professions,&rdquo; said Beverly Massey from the organization&rsquo;s headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama.The winners, selected by an editorial board from nominations by alumni associations, legislators and colleges and universities, receive an award certificate and their names are included in a nationally-published alumni volume. For the 31-year-old Emrick, who earned his doctorate degree from Bowling Green State University, this is the second time he has won the coveted award. In 1974, while with the IHL Port Huron Flags, Emrick also was honored by the 15-year-old organization.Emrick was the inaugural winner last year of THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; Ken McKenzie Award as the American Hockey League&rsquo;s best publicist.Alumni members of the Outstanding Young Men of America include former president John F. Kennedy, Henry Ford II, singer Harry Chapin, Los Angeles Dodger first baseman Steve Garvey and Chip Carter, son of president Jimmy Carter.NEW HAVEN: Nighthawk GM-coach Parker MacDonald Was a leading candidate for the coaching job in Boston that eventually went to Fred Creighton, however the Nighthawk leader may be ready to sign a long-term contract with the parent New York Rangers. According to a published report in the New Haven Register, MacDonald will soon ink a &ldquo;multi-year contract&rdquo; with the New York club, thus ending his agreement with the local owner of the Nighthawks. He would become an employee of the Ranger organization, probably assigned to player development while continuing to run the Nighthawks. According to the report. MacDonald has already talked with assistant Ranger GM Mickey Keating and the agreement should be formalized soon.In other news, the Nighthawks have already sold 1,100 season tickets and have switched their radio affiliation from WNHC to WAVZ for the upcoming campaign. The club may also arrange a radio network to cover all 80 games next season, similar to the group of stations that beamed Nighthawk Playoff games.SYRACUSE: The Quebec Nordiques, who will provide most of the players for the Syracuse Firebirds next season, emerged from the recent NHL expansion draft with several good hockey players. Many of these skaters will be in Syracuse when the AHL season starts which is good news for Firebird fans.The Nordiques selected 16 players during the draft, and, combined with players the club obtained in the WHA dispersal draft, players they retained as priority selections after other NHL clubs claimed players they held rights to, those already on the roster, and others, the Firebirds&rsquo; parent club now has 45 skaters under contract or they own their NHL rights. When the NHL holds the draft of amateurs on Aug. 9, Quebec could pick up another 10 to 15 players.Undoubtedly, several deals will be made by the Nordiques before the NHL campaign gets under way, but the players they now have, plus others to be signed, could ensure Quebec of a successful entry into the NHL. Their commitment to player development is just what will make the turnstiles click this season in Syracuse for the new AHL team.Firebirds&rsquo; director of operations, John Den Hamer, was most happy with the Nordiques&rsquo; selections and the overall outlook for the Firebirds. &ldquo;What the Nordiques said they were going to do when we agreed on the affiliation has become a reality. They followed it right to a tee. The talk in all of hockey is how well Quebec drafted, and obviously we are going to be the benefactor. And the best part is that they&rsquo;re not finished yet! &ldquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01549/5040031-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="603" height="1351"><figcaption class="caption-body">BILLY INGLIS&hellip;Returns To AHL</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Americans Get Inglis As New Coach; Firebirds Eye Quebec’s Draft Picks

PORTLAND&mdash;The American Hockey League has retained overtime play for the 1979-80 season. This means the Maine Mariners will once again test their almost-unbeatable extra-period skills when the 44-year-old circuit opens its regular season in early October.League vice-president secretary Gordon Anziano explained the reasoning behind the affirmative ballot: &ldquo;We believe the game is played to determine a winner. Our philosophy in the case of a game which ends after 65 minutes of play is that at least the fans were provided with an exciting attempt to determine a victor.&rdquo;The Mariners will carry a record of 14 wins, three losses and 22 ties into their third AHL campaign. The mariners were undefeated through 15 extra-period contests in their inaugural season. The three defeats (of 23 games played) came last season, one each to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Springfield&mdash;all Northern Division opponents.Against the North Division the Mariners&rsquo; record is 7-3-10. They are undefeated against the south: 7-0-12. Maine has not lost in overtime to New Haven, Rochester, Philadelphia (which will become the Syracuse Fiebirds franchise), Hershey nor Binghamton.The overtime section of the AHL Guidebook has added the 1979-80. &#9632;

Maine Mariners Elated As AHL Retains Overtime

NEW HAVEN&mdash;The American Hockey League has named Parker MacDonald of New Haven as its coach of the year for 1978-79.The AHL&rsquo;s board of governors, convening at Hilton Head, S.C., for their 44th annual meeting, named MacDonald, general manager and coach of the Nighthawks, for the top coaching award as its top coach in addition to other awards.Harry Sinden, general manager of the Boston Bruins and governor of the inactive Boston AHL franchise, along with writer Eddie St. Pierre of the Moncton Times, radio station owner Arnie Patterson of CFDR in Halifax-Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and sports director Jack O&rsquo;Neil of WHYN-TV in Springfield were the other recipients of AHL awards.Since taking back the leadership of the New Haven franchise in 1975-76, MacDonald&rsquo;s teams have never finished lower than third place and have reached the finals of the Calder Cup playoffs for the last two seasons. Unfortunately, Maine won the AHL title twice from New Haven. This past season, MacDonald led a rookie-filled New Haven Nighthawk team to the Southern Division title. In addition, the Nighthawks finished with a 4625-9 record, second only to the Maine Mariners. Their 46 wins was tops in the AHL.MacDonald becomes the 12th recipient of the coveted Louis A. R. Pieri Award, named in honor of the long-time owner of the Providence Reds. He is the first coach from New Haven to win the award.Sinden won the James C. Hendy Award emblematic of the &ldquo;Executive of the Year&rdquo; in the AHL. Sinden has been a governor since 1971 when Boston had a franchise in the league. The Bruins will pay to keep their franchise inactive and Sinden has been a valuable man on the AHL Board. He has been a guiding force behind the AHL and NHL relationship which has improved dramatically in recent years. Previous winners of the Hendy Award include Eddie Shore of Springfield, Lloyd Blinco of Hershey, Robert Clarke of Rochester and AHL president Jack Butterfield. Montreal&rsquo;s Sam Pollock was the winner last year.The James H. Ellery Award is given to the three top members of the newspaper, radio and TV media. St. Pierre was honored for his contribution in helping get the new AHL franchise in New Brunswick throughout the province of New Brunswick. Patterson, owner of radio station CFDR, won for the second time. Last year was the best ever at the gate for the Voyageurs and Patterson was one of the people behind the project to build the magnificent new Halifax Metro Center after the Vees had suffered for years in the old Halifax Forum. O&rsquo;Neil was cited for his extra effort in helping to support the Springfield Indians and the AHL. His evening sports show in Springfield always contains stories about the Indians.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02387/5040086-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="606" height="640"><figcaption class="caption-body">PARKER MacDONALD&hellip;Coach Of Year</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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AHL Honors MacDonald, Sinden With Top Awards

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01471/5040124-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"></div>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;The 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, coached by Herb Brooks, will host NCAA champion, University of Minnesota, Oct. 23 at the St. Paul Civic Center. The game will be a reunion of sorts for Brooks, who coached the Gophers the past seven seasons and guided them to three national championships and one WCHA title.The remaining 11 home games for the U.S. team will be played at Met Sports Center in Bloomington beginning Sept. 29 against the Minnesota North Stars. The other home games include: the Canadian Olympic Team (Oct. 14 and 27), the Soviet Union (Dec. 30), the University of Wisconsin (Jan. 15), and six games against Central Hockey League clubs. The CHL, which will expand from six to nine teams next year, will release dates for these six games.Ken Johannson, general manager of the 1980 team, has also reached agreement to play the St. Louis Blues, Sept. 30 in Des Moines, Iowa, the Washington Capitals, Oct. 7 in Glen Falls, New York, the Atlanta Flames, Oct. 3 in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and the Canadian Olympic Team, Oct. 13 in Hibbing, Minnesota.In total, the Olympic team will play nearly 55 games in preparation for the XIII Winter Olympiad at Lake Placid, New York, Feb. 13-24, 1980.The final selections for the 1980 team will be made in early August following the National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs.<h2>Canadian College Champs&mdash;ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS</h2>The University of Alberta Golden Bears did a repeat performance in winning the Canadian collegiate hockey championship last season. The Bears won the Canadian West and then proceeded to demolish the East in the championship tournament. The defending Canadien college titleholders, from the left, front row, NICK SANZA, DARRELL ZAPARNIUK, JOHN DEVANEY, CLARKE DRAKE, coach, RANDY GREGG, DON SPRING and TED POPLAWSKI. Middle row, PETER ESDALE, asst, coach, RON URNESS, arena supervisor, STEVE KNOWLES, manager, LARRY RIGGIN, MIKE BROADFOOT, MIKE BACHYNSKI, BRUCE ROLLAN, JIM CAUSEGROVE, DALE ROSS, STAN SWALES, RON MATTSON (manager) and BILL MOORES, asst, coach. Back row, DAVE BREAKWELL, BARRY STAFFORD, JIM LOMAS, TED OLSON, DAVE HINDMARCH, GREG SKOREYKO and CHRIS HELLAND.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02323/5040117-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="3127" height="1182"></div><h2>U.S. College Champs&mdash;MINNESOTA GOPHERS</h2>The University of Minnesota Gophers came on to win the NCAA title in Detroit after failing to take the Western championship. The NCAA representatives had to settle for second place behind North Dakota but when the chips were on the tine In the NCAA&rsquo;s they came through to take it all. The 1979 U.S. college champions, from the left, front row, STEVE JANASZAK, ROB McCLANAHAN, JOE BAKER, PHIL VERCHOTA, HERB BROOKS, coach, BILL BAKER, PAUL GIEL, athletic director, STEVE CHRISTOFF, ERIC STROBEL, DON MICHELETTI and JIM JETLAND. Middle row, DAVE TERWILLIGER, MIKE GREEDER, JEFF TEAL, JIM MULCAHY, trainer, MIKE BELL, trainer, BRAD BUETOW, asst, coach, JOHN PERPICH, asst, coach, MIKE FOLEY, asst. coach, STEVE TOLLUND, manager, FRED FIELD, manager, MIKE RAMSEY, BRAD DOSHAN and TIM HARRER. Back row, STEVE UL-SETH, NEAL BROTEN, KEVIN HARTZELL, BRIAN ZINS, JAY LARSON, BOB BER-GLOFF, STEVE PEPPER, PETER HAYEK, JOHN MEREDITH, WAYNE LARSON and BART LARSON. &#9632;

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Champion Minnesota To Oppose U.S. Olympians

<div class="byline">By TOM LOBAUGH</div>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 CanadaTHE CENTRAL Hockey League, which had been desperately hoping to have a nine-team format for the coming season, apparently was willing to settle for an eight-team operation, as negotiations to arrange an Indianapolis franchise continued to be snagged.Bill Torrey, New York Islanders&rsquo; general manager, was in Indianapolis, working to iron out the details, but it appeared they could not come to an agreement at the league meeting in Las Vegas, Nev.CHL president Bud Poile hadn&rsquo;t given up hope for Indianapolis, however.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re thinking in terms of a two-division format,&rdquo; Poile explained. &ldquo;One division would have the four new teams, and the other division the five holdover clubs. If Indianapolis doesn&rsquo;t come in, I think we&rsquo;ll still go with two divisions, possibly moving Salt Lake into the division with the new clubs.&rdquo;Poile said no names had been chosen for the two divisions. Three times in the past the CHL has had a two-division setup, using the names northern and southern. These names would not fit the new setup, with new clubs ranging from Houston to Cincinnati.Member clubs in the proposed two divisions (and their National League parent clubs) would be:Holdover clubs&mdash;Dallas Black Hawks (Vancouver Canucks), Fort Worth Texans (New York Islanders), Oklahoma City Stars (Minnesota North Stars), Tulsa Oilers (Winnipeg Jets) and possibly Salt Lake Golden Eagles (St. Louis Blues).New clubs&mdash;Houston Apollos (Edmonton Oilers), Cincinnati Stingers (Hartford Whalers), Birmingham Bulls (Atlanta Flames), and Indianapolis, with Salt Lake joining that division if Indianapolis does not join the league.There were reports the Islanders&rsquo; new owners wanted to move their CHL farm into Indianapolis, but the deal apparently fell through. This would have left Fort Worth looking for a new parent club. The Colorado Rockies reportedly had expressed an interest in that city.Meanwhile, Jack (Tex) Evans, the most productive coach in the city&rsquo;s professional sports history, will return to pilot the Golden Eagles for the 1979-80 campaign.Evans, who had a .634 overall winning percentage in his two previous seasons with the Big Birds, agreed to terms with St. Louis Blues&rsquo; president-general manager Emile Francis. Terms of the contract were not disclosed. Eagle co-owners Art Teece and Thayne Acord expressed their delight at the return of the popular Welshman.Tex coached two seasons at San Diego in the old Western League before coming to Salt Lake for the Eagles&rsquo; first venture in the CHL in 1974-75. The Birds won the Northern Division title with a 43-24-11 record, then edged Southern Division champion Dallas in a sevengame, overtime-filled final series for the Adams Cup.That earned Evans a promotion to the National League. For three seasons he coached the California Golden Seals (who became the Cleveland Barons).When the Barons folded after the 1977-78 season, Jack returned to Salt Lake City. His Eagles last season posted the best record in CHL history, (47-22-7), finishing first in the regular season, but losing to second-place Dallas in the Adams Cup finals.The 51-year-old native of Garnant, South Wales has posted a 176-125-34 record for four seasons of minor league coaching. His undermanned NHL teams had a total record of 74-129-37.Tex had a 24-year career as a pro defenseman, 12 of them in the NHL with the New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks. He was named THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; minor league coach of the year in 1974-75, as well as receiving a similar honor from his fellow CHL coaches. Last season Evans shared the CHL award with Dallas&rsquo; John Muckier.On the other fronts, Billy MacMillan, Texans&rsquo; coach the past two seasons (and Adams Cup winner in 1977-78), returned to the Islanders as assistant coach. Longtime Islander defenseman Bert Marshall announced his retirement and replaced Billy as Fort Worth coach.The Adams Cup champion Dallas Black Hawks were looking for a new coach, as the Vancouver Canucks announced John Muckier would not be back. Jake Milford, Canucks&rsquo; general manager, filled the void by signing John Choyce, coach at Tulsa the past wo years.The Whalers had not announced their coaching choice for Cincinnati. Coaches already signed, besides Evans and Marshall, were Ted Hampson back at Oklahoma City, Mike Smith at Tulsa, John Brophy at Birmingham, Al Rollins at Houston and Choyce at Dallas.Tulsa owner Bobby Gilbert won a victory off the ice, when the city commission awarded him a contract to operate the concessions booth at the Assembly Centre, where the Oilers play, and the new Performing Arts Centre. Concessions had been run by the city in recent years.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01538/5040155-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="622" height="796"><figcaption class="caption-body">BERT MARSHALL&hellip;New Texan Boss</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Cincinnati In But Indianapolis Lost As CHL Settles On Eight-Team Field

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02398/5040200-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03276/5040193-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="1006" height="1426"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04190/5040186-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="1006" height="1432"><figcaption class="caption-body">In the NHL&rsquo;s latest expansion, three of pro hockey&rsquo;s fastest rising stars will get their first chance to show their scoring prowess next season when the right, of the Quebec Nordiques. The three were among the league&rsquo;s most prolific goal scorers this past season and NHL audiences are in for a rare</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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WHA Whiz Kids Ready To Step Into NHL

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01490/5040231-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg"></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Neither the Montreal Canadians nor the Pittsburgh Penguins have a first round pick in the 1978 entry draft. For the Canadiens, it is a strange turn of events. One season, the Habs had as many as four first-round picks.Here&rsquo;s how the 21 NHL teams will draft this year through the first three rounds:Here are the various draft choices for the first three rounds that were transferred to other clubs:First round&mdash;Boston&rsquo;s 8th pick from L.A.; Minnesota&rsquo;s 10th pick from Pittsburgh; Los Angeles&rsquo; 16th pick from Montreal.Second round&mdash;Philadelphia&rsquo;s 1st pick from Colorado; Atlanta&rsquo;s 2nd pick from St. Louis; Washington&rsquo;s 3rd pick from Detroit; Islanders; 4th pick from Washington; Los Angeles&rsquo; 9th pick from Toronto.Third round&mdash;Montreal&rsquo;s 1st pick from Colorado; Montreal&rsquo;s 2nd pick from St. Louis; Detroit&rsquo;s 4th pick from Washington; Minnesota&rsquo;s 9th pick from Toronto. &#9632;

f0031-01

Montreal, Pittsburgh Without First Round Entry Draft Picks

TORONTO&mdash;The National Hockey League has come to the aid of Canada&rsquo;s 1980 Olympic team by approving a series of exhibition games with teams from its league.Alan Eagleson, president of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, said that the Olympians, who begain training for the Lake Placid, N.Y. event on Aug. 1 in Calgary, will oppose five or six NHL teams in warm-up games in September and play three more with the NHL in the month of October.The games in Calgary and Regina are part of an exhibition program that will also include outings against the U.S. Olympic team, the Soviets, Czechs and Japanese Olympic teams and still another with the Ontario Hockey Association senior All Stars.The NHL teams have agreed to waive their normal $15,000 to $25,000 exhibition game fee for their games against the Olympic squad. Of Hockey Canada&rsquo;s total budget of $l-million, more than half will be generated through the various exhibition game receipts, Eagleson said.Eagleson said Hockey Canada is trying to arrange some final tune-up games against NHL opposition in January or early February.Among the NHL teams that have expressed interest in playing the national team are Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Quebec Nordiques.Eagleson said members of Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team will receive unprecedented support from both the NHL and private enterprise in preparing for the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid.participate in work projects with major corporations and earn between $20-$25,000 while playing for the national team.&ldquo;Our real goal is to play eight games versus NHL teams, five of them in Calgary,&rdquo; Eagleson said. &ldquo;The fact that every NHL team has indicated it would play our Olympic team happily and without compensation is the most significant step forward that this program (Olympic) has been able to make.Prior to Canada&rsquo;s pulling out of all international competition in 1969, the Olympic program was run by Rev. David Bauer.Back then Bauer and his national team concept received little if any support from the NHL.Eagleson believes the games against NHL clubs will not only provide the Olympic team with top-flight competition, but also be a lift to their morale.&ldquo;The NHL games will do a lot, not only for fan interest in Calgary, but also for the players to see how they stack up against some of our top players,&rdquo; Eagleson said.Canada&rsquo;s Olympians will be co-coached by Clare Drake of the University of Alberta Golden Bears, 1978-79 Canadian college champs, and Tom Watt of the University of Toronto. Watt has coached &lsquo;Toronto&rsquo;s Varsity Blues to nine CIAU championships in his 14 years at U of T. Also assisting in the coaching will be Lorne Davis of Regina, a former NHLer with Montreal Canadiens, who has been coaching junior hockey for years in Regina as well as being a member of the Olympic program. Davis and White have already put together one pre-Olympic team which posted a 5-2-1-record last season. Tieing the Edmonton Oilers of the WHA and splitting four gameswith Dynamo Riga of Moscow were the highlights of the series.Watt thinks Canada has more than enough amateur hockey talent to become a medal contender at Lake Placid. The toronto head coach had a sampling of what lies ahead for Canada when he directed a pre-Olympic Olympic team last winter through France, West Germany and Czechoslovakia where his squad emerged with a 6-1-1 record. Watt&rsquo;s Red team beat first division Swedish and Czech teams to capture the gold medal in a tournament at Grenoble in France.The Olympic team, which started out with 60 players, will be slimmed down and will train at the Galgary Corral before embarking on their exhibition series with the NHL teams. The final roster will compose of 25 players and candidates will be selected from Canadian junior teams and Canadian and American colleges. All players must be Canadian citizens, however.Watt thinks Canada will be right up there with Sweden, Finland and the U.S. behind the Soviets and Czechs. Like the Americans, Canada&rsquo;s top players are in the pro ranks and ineligible for the Olympic Games. Watt doesn&rsquo;t think Canada will suffer because as he puts it, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s an awful lot of talent out there.&rdquo;Canada will be part of a six-country group at Lake Placid that will include the Soviet Union, Finland, Poland, The Netherlands and Japan. The second group will comprise Czechosolovakia, Sweden, West Germany, Norway, Romania and the U.S.A. The top two teams from teach group advances to the medal round. Canada won a bronze medal the last time it appeared in the Olympics at Grenoble in 1968.Watt will take a sabbatical from college hockey this season and will work solely with the Olympic team as it leaves on a six-month training schedule that will include tournament stops in Czechosolovakia and Russia and a series with the U.S. Olympic. &#9632;

NHL Arranging Training Games

MONTREAL&mdash;Almost a third of the National Hockey League teams have finalized their pre-season exhibition schedules with the start of training camps slated in most cases for Monday, Sept. 17.The Atlanta Flames have set up a 10-game schedule that will start Sept. 22 in the Omni against St. Louis. The Islanders follow the Blues into the Omni Sept. 28. It is the only two games the team will play in Atlanta. The rest are on the road. The Flames meet Minnesota at Baton Rouge, La., Sept. 21, and again Sept. 30 at Duluth, Minn. They play the Hartford Whalers twice, the first time Sept. 23 at Houston and again Oct. 5 at Springfield. In between there are games with the Islanders at Nassau County Coliseum Sept. 27, against the Blues Sept. 29 in St. Louis, an outing with the U.S. Olympic team at Grand Forks, N.D., Oct. 3 and the windup against Birmingham Bulls, their top farm club in the Central League, on Oct. 7 in Birmingham.The Montreal Canadiens have scheduled three games for their home ice at the Forum and they will play another eight on the road. The Montreal games will be the opener Sept. 21 against Buffalo, Sept. 28 with Philadelphia and Oct. 5 against Boston. The Stanley Cup champs are scheduled to appear in Chicago Sept. 22, Buffalo Sept. 23, Toronto Sept. 27, Philadelphia Sept. 30 and Toronto again Oct. 6 in their final game. They also play Chicago Sept. 26 at Ottawa and the Boston Bruins both on Oct. 2 at Halifax and Oct. 3 at Providence.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02343/5040286-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="588" height="1168"></div>The Detroit Red Wings are down for eight pre-season exhibitions starting Sept. 22 at Windsor against Minnesota. They meet up with the North Stars the next night as well at the Detroit Olympia, their sole Detroit appearance in pre-season play. The Wings are away in Pittsburgh Sept. 29 against the Penguins and again Sept. 30 at Windsor. Then it&rsquo;s on to Springfield Oct. 1 against Hartford and Oct. 3 at Glens Falls, N.Y., also with the Whalers. The Wings conclude with a pair of games against the Quebec Nordiques meeting them Oct. 5 at Quebec City and Oct. 6 at Glens Falls, N.Y., where they will operate the newest AHL franchise, the Adirondack Red Wings, this season.New Los Angeles&rsquo; Kings owner Jerry Buss has arranged for the Kings to train away from home Sept. 14 to 27 at the Jantzen Beach Ice Center in Portland, Oregon before the team goes home Sept. 28 to begin serious workouts for the new NHL season. The Kings&rsquo; exhibition schedule will commence Sept. 23 at Vancouver and Sept. 24 at Victoria, both of which will be played against the Vancouver Canucks. The Kings are in Denver Sept. 27 with the Colorado Rockies, Sept. 29 they return to play the Edmonton Ollers in L.A., move back to Edmonton Oct. 1 to play the Ollers, host the Colorado Rockies Oct. 3 in L.A. and wind up with Vancouver in the L.A. Forum Oct. 6.Winnipeg general manager John Ferguson has announced an 11-game exhibition schedule for the Jets which has the new NHL team playing Vancouver Canucks three times, Edmonton and Minnesota twice each and one game night stands against the Rockies, Washington, Tulsa Ollers of the CHL, a team the Jets will operate as their No. 1 farm club and Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team.The Jets will play four of their exhibitions at home while two others will be staged In Brandon, Manitoba and one in Thunder Bay, Ont. Ferguson said the Jets will play Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team Sept. 26 at Calgary. The Jets also revealed that the game with Tulsa will be staged at the St. James Civic Center.The Jets open Sept. 22 at Colorado Springs with Colorado, meet Edmonton Sept. 23 at Brandon, Washington visits Winnipeg Sept. 27, the Jets travel to Vancouver Sept. 28, the Tulsa Ollers follow Sept. 30 and the Vancouver Canucks Oct. 2, with both games in Winnipeg, before the Jets head to Brandon Oct. 3 to oppose the Canucks followed by two games with Minnesota. The Jets meet the North Stars Oct. 4 in Thunder Bay and return home Oct. 5 for the second game with Minnesota. The Oct. 6 outing at Edmonton will conclude the schedule.Colorado Rockies have set up a seven-game pre-season schedule starting Sept. 22 at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs against Winnipeg. On Sept. 27, the rockies host Los Angeles at Denver before going on the road for four games. They open Sept. 29 in Quebec City against the Nordiques, travel to Springfield Sept. 30 to meet Hartford Whalers, oppose Buffalo Sabres in Rochester Oct. 1 and play the Kings in L.A. Oct. 3&gt; before returning to Denver Oct. 5to meet Vancouver in their final warm-up game.In two other exhibition game developments, Maine Mariners of the AHL will meet the Minnesota North Stars Sept. 27 at the Portland Civic Center. The Vancouver Canucks have announced they will play most of their exhibition games against former WHA teams. Of the nine games the Canucks have scheduled, three will be with Winnipeg Jets and two with the Edmonton Oilers. &#9632;

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NHL Teams Throw Support Behind Canada’s Olympians By Approving Exhibitions

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>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 CanadaThe International Hockey League appears to have come up with the best man available to serve the leagues as its third commissioner. At least his credentials would indicate as much.&rdquo; Jack Riley, who already is functioning as Frank Gallagher&rsquo;s replacement, has a long and varied background. Much more than either Gallagher or Bill Beagan had.Gallagher, while he has-devoted most of his life to hockey, started as a league secretary. Beagan&rsquo;s primary background was that of an official.Riley, however, has played the game, coached it, performed as a general manager at the major league level and has served two leagues as commissioner.During his long career in hockey, Riley became familiar with the IHL, if not actively involved. &ldquo;The IHL is its own worst critic,&rdquo; Riley said at the time of his appointment as commissioner.&ldquo;The IHL has an excellent reputation in hockey. The league is well-run. There are problems, I&rsquo;m sure, but every league has problems,&rdquo; he continued.A native of Toronto, Riley played and coached most of his hockey in the United States. &ldquo;I played junior hockey in Canada but then I moved to the States. I played most of my hockey in the States and coached at Baltimore, Tulsa and Washington.&rdquo;Riley became general manager of Rochester and the American League and then was elevated to the position of commissioner. &ldquo;When expansion came, I had a chance to move to Pittsburgh as general manager. I stayed there for eight years.&rdquo;Riley served the American League as commissioner from 1964 through 1966. After leaving Pittsburgh in 1974, Riley was commissioner of the Southern League until it folded in 1977. &ldquo;Since then I&rsquo;ve been in private business,&rdquo; Riley pointed out.While Riley is still &ldquo;getting my feet wet&rdquo; in his new job, he is aware of some problems. &ldquo;I understand there were some problems last season with the eligibility of players. As a result, I am now in the process or going over the league&rsquo;s constitution and by laws. I feel both should be revised so we know about player eligibility and eliminate the confusion which apparently existed.&rdquo;Riley also sounded a warning he will deal &ldquo;severely with any Player or team official who puts is hand on a referee.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care how bad a referee is, laying a hand on any referee is taboo.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like high sticking. To me it&rsquo;s the coward&rsquo;s way of playing the game. But that&rsquo;s going to happen. And it will be dealt with.&rdquo;Continuing, Riley said, &ldquo;If any player&mdash;or coach&mdash;refuses to comply with league bulletins relating to discipline on the ice, they&rsquo;ll soon find themselves sitting in the stands.&rdquo;As far as violence in hockey is concerned, Riley said, &ldquo;I sometimes think there is more violence in the stands. I don&rsquo;t like violence. And I certainly don&rsquo;t condone it. But I really don&rsquo;t think there has been as much violence as people think. I believe it has been overplayed by the media. But if there is violence, it will be dealt with.&rdquo;Riley believes the future of the IHL is more secure in the wake of the merger (expansion) of the National Hockey League with the World Hockey Association. &ldquo;I think it will be good for all hockey. The leagues will stabilize now that there will be no fighting over players. All the NHL clubs will have a chain of teams in the minors. All clubs should benefit.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01513/5040317-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="601" height="1180"><figcaption class="caption-body">JACK RILEY&hellip;New Commissioner</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Experienced Riley Brings Firm Ideas Into Position As IHL Commissioner

NEW YORK&mdash;There has been a merger of junior A hockey operations involving two highly regarded amateur leagues&mdash;the Metropolitan Junior Hockey Association and the Atlantic Hockey League.The two leagues will get together next season and operate singularly as the Atlantic-Metropolitan Junior Hockey Association and will function as a two-division league&mdash;the Metropolitan Division and the Atlantic Division.The merger was jointly announced by Norman MacLean, president of the Metropolitan Junior Hockey Association, which primarily operated out of the New York-New Jersey areas, and Aaron Siegel, president of the Atlantic Hockey League, which featured junior hockey teams from the Pennsylvania area.The roster of the league teams includes the New Hyde Park Arrows, Bergen-Rockland Colonials, New Jersey Rockets, Essex Golden Blades, Iron Bound Hockey Club, Hershey, Pa. Junior lcers, Philadelphia Junior Flyers and Bristol, Pa. Americans&hellip;Divisional alignment will be set later when other area franchises have signified their intentions. These include the 1979-80 champions of the MJHA, Oyster Bay Gulls, New York Shamrocks and New York Westsiders.Three expansion applications are also under consideration.The Arrows, the Westsiders and the Shamrocks are all charter members of the original six team MJHA formed by the New York Rangers in 1966-67. Chris Ahrens of the Arrows was the first Met Leaguer to play in the National Hockey League. Ahrens played with Minnesota.Richie Hansen, the New York Islanders&rsquo; spare center, played in the Shamrocks organization before moving up. Another MJHA graduate is former Ranger Nick Fotiu.In 1977-78 the New Jersey Rockets, then playing in the MJHA, captured the National Junior B championship. Goalie Bob Barish and forward Brian Foster were the Rockets&rsquo; main stars.Of the eight teams presently committed to the Atlantic-Metropolitan Junior Hockey Association four originate in the MJHA.Both the Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers managements have shown great enthusiasm for the new concept. Meetings are continuing with both NHL teams as well as the New York Islanders as to the extent of their support. &#9632;

U.S. Junior Loops Will Join Forces In New Operation

<div class="byline">&#x2014;By Bill Hilts</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01464/5040372-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="362" height="452"></div><h2>National Junior Champs</h2>The Allen Park, Michigan Saints are feeling a little like the Montreal Canadiens. They are masters of all they survey and that takes in the junior &lsquo;A&rsquo; domination of United States amateur hockey.The Saints won it all&mdash;the U.S. National Junior &lsquo;A&rsquo; championship of the U.S.&mdash;by defeating Austin, Minn. Mavericks of the United States Hockey League at the Wallace Civic Center in Fitchburg, Mass., in the final.Allen Park went undefeated in its five games en route to the title, the highest grade in U.S. junior hockey. This marked the first time New England hosted the junior &lsquo;A&rsquo; championships.New England Jr. Hockey League (NEJHL) champions, the South Shore Braves, had high hopes for the national title, but settled for third place by whipping the Oyster Bay, N.Y., Gulls of the Metropolitan Jr. Hockey Assn. 3-2 in the consolation.The Fitchburg Wallopers vanquished the Braves&rsquo; dream by upsetting South Shore, 4-3, for their only win of the round robin competition. Fitchburg tied with Oyster Bay with 1-3-0 records, but the Gulls reached the consolation by virtue of their 7-2 win over the Wallopers on the tourney&rsquo;s first night.Had Fitchburg defeated Austin the morning of the championship game, the Wallopers would have vaulted into the title game against Allen Park. But the Mavericks of Minnesota erupted and dashed the Walloper ambitions, 60.Both South Shore and Fitchburg played streak hockey. After being routed by Oyster Bay, Fitchburg fell victim to a late Saint onslaught, 7-4. Then the Wallopers topped South Shore, before falling to Austin in the game that cost them a shot at the title.Steve Murphy, forward for the champion Saints, was named the tournament MVP as well as being named to the first team All Stars. In addition to Murphy, teammates Kirt Bjork (forward) and defenseman Ken Leiter, goaltender Steve Falcone, forward Dave Drew of Oyster Bay and defenseman Todd Mishler of Austin also collected first team honors.Second team selections included forwards Tom Theisen (Allen Park), Lee Blossom (Fitchburg), and Scott William (Austin), defensemen Bill Nichols (Oyster Bay) with Keith Carter (Fitchburg) and Tony Sulmonte (South Shore) deadlocked in votes and goaltender Scott Stoltzner of the runner-up Mavericks.<h2>B.C. Junior League</h2>The Bellingham Blazers, champions of the British Columbia Jr. Hockey League for the 1978-79 season, rewrote the BCJHL record book setting marks for most goals scored in a season (497), most wins in regular season (51). least losses (10), and numerous individual marks.Under Coach Don Berry, the Blazers became the most successful sports team in Whatcom and Skagit County in posting an overall record of 70-14-2. Included in those figures were four victories over the world champion 18-year-old squad from Czechoslovakia.Following the Czechs&rsquo; tour of North America they went on to take the world title in Poland by defeating tough competition from the Soviet Union, Germany, Finland and Sweden.The Blazers will return to Bellingham this<h2>N.Y.-Penn. League</h2>Four members of the Empire Cup champion Binghamton Barons have been named to the New York Penn Major Hockey League&rsquo;s First All Star team, and a fifth has been honored on the second team.Binghamton defenseman Bob Castro and Paul Cokinos, along with forwards Scott Press and Steve Salvucci, were all accorded firstteam honors in the voting by league coaches. Filling out the first squad were goaltender Carl Miedaner of Syracuse and forward Bob Weickgenannt of Rochester. Salvucci, Press and Weickgenannt were, respectively, the top three leading scorers this season.Named to the second team were Binghamton goaltender Scott Card, defensemen Dean Schulefand of Buffalo and Joe Indivero of Syracuse, and forwards Deron Bauer (Buffalo), Bill Alexander (Niagara Falls) and Roger Clarke (Syracuse).Of the 12 players honored, six were in their first season of NYPMHL competition. First-teamers Cokinos, Press and Salvucci and second-teamers Carl, Bauer and Clarke were all first-year players, who certainly made their impact felt around the league. Salvucci established new league marks for goals (84) and points (143), Cokinos led all defensemen in scoring with 80 points, Card&rsquo;s 3.88 goals against average led the league, and Clarke accumulated a league-high 240 penalty minutes while scoring 79 points. Press and Bauer finished second and fourth, respectively, in regular season scoring.The only repeater from last year&rsquo;s all star squad is Jr. Sabres defenseman Schulefand. He was named to the 1977-78 second team as well.<h2>United States League</h2>Junior players from the United States Hockey League were awarded the silver medal in the annual Beard Cup junior invitational hockey tournament held in Leysin, Switzerland.Coached by Jack Barzee of the Clark Cup champion Waterloo Black Hawks, the USHL all-stars were victorious over the Swiss National junior team 8-1 and West Germany&rsquo;s Krefeld club 17-0 before falling 7-4 to Slovan Bratislava of Czechoslovakia, defending Beard Cup champions.The Czechs were definitely impressive, said Berzee. big, strong players and excellent skaters and stickhandlers. Even so, we could have beaten them, and if we could have played a second game against Slovan, we would have. Our boys came to play, and they acquitted themselves well.In the tournament&rsquo;s closing ceremonies Jim Finch of the St. Paul Vulcans was awarded the all-tournament goaltender&rsquo;s trophy for his shutout against Krefeld, while Brian Riley, center and right wing for Waterloo, was recognized as top scorer for the USHL squad. Riley had seven goals and one assist in three games, and was just one goal behind Lubomir Pokovic of Czechoslovakia, who was all-tournanent high goal-scorer.Top performing line for the USHL All Stars was that of center Brian Hartmann of Sioux City, left wing John Santori and right winger John Dougherty, both of Green Bay. The line accounted for 17 points in three games&mdash;10 goals and 7 assists.Riley scored four goals and Keith Ballstadt, Anoka Hennepin Nordiques, three against West Germany, while Dougherty had a hat trick against Switzerland.The Austin Mavericks, the USHL participant in the U.S. National Jr. A Tournament in Fitchburg, Mass., were awarded the second place title in the round-robin competition.Coached by Jim Garvey, the Mavericks were defeated by the Allen Park Saints, the Michigan representatives in the tournament.Todd Mishler of East Grand Forks, Minn, was named to the tournament&rsquo;s All Star team while teammates Scott Willman of Marquette. &#9632;

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JUNIOR JOTTINGS

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 CanadaTORONTO&mdash;The Ontario Major Hockey League will be badly depleted in their coaching ranks next season with the departure of two of the league&rsquo;s foremost bench bosses&mdash;Gary Green of Peterborough and Bert Templeton of Niagara Falls.Both OHA coaches are stepping up into professional hockey for the 1979-80 season and both will be rivals in the same league. Templeton was named the general manager and coach of the Nova Scotia Voyageurs of the American Hockey League by the Montreal Canadiens to replace Frank St. Marseille.Templeton, one of the OHA&rsquo;s fieriest individuals behind the bench, has run afoul of the league hierarcy many times in recent years but he has always produced a good, solid hockey club on the ice. His Niagara Falls teams play tough hockey. Last season his Flyers went all the way in the Emms Division to finish first with 43 wins in 68 games. His team had the best defensive record among the 12 league teams and the Flyers were No. 3 in offense behind Peterborough and Oshawa.He has coached in the OMJHL for the past five years with considerable success.Templeton will be taking over a dual position with the Voyageurs. In the past it has been held by two men. St. Marseille was a team coach the past two years and Al MacNeil filled the role of general manager. MacNeil has since left the team to accept the coaching job of the Atlanta Flames in the NHL. Templeton has been given both jobs by the Voyageurs starting with next season.The elevation of Green to the head coaching job with Hershey Bears of the AHL will deprive the Ontario league of one of its greatest tactical coaches. Green has become a master of strategical hockey and been highly successful in recent seasons. Last year he coached Peterborough to the Memorial Cup after losing out to New Westminster the previous season in the Canadian junior finals.Green&rsquo;s Petes were the class of the OMJHL last season winning 46 of 68 games despite the fact the team only ranked fourth in total offense.The Washington capitals announced that Green would start the season at helm of the Hershey club as a replacement for Fred Stanfield and the experience Green secures in the AHL may one day put him in line for the ultimate top job with the NHL Caps. Danny Belisle is the present Washington coach.In other league developments, Bob Ertel, the coach of the Kitchener Rangers, has been informed that he has been suspended for the first 10 games of the 1979-80 league season. The league executive handed down the decision in response to Ertel&rsquo;s criticism of the Ontario Hockey Association and league officials. Ertel had resigned during last season&rsquo;s semi-final playoffs to protest against aggressive play by the Niagara Falls Flyers and an increase in violence in junior hockey.Ertel was later rehired by Kitchener after he had a change of heart.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01528/5040410-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="586" height="502"><figcaption class="caption-body">BERT TEMPLETON&hellip;Gets Dual Job</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02411/5040403-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="590" height="600"><figcaption class="caption-body">GARY GREEN&hellip;Joins Hershey</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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OHA Majors Lose Two Top Coaches As Templeton, Green Join Pros

DALLAS&mdash;The Central Hockey League has decided to honor one of its oldest patrons, Jake Milford, the general manager of the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League.The CHL voted at its recent meeting in Las Vegas to create the Jake Milford Trophy which will be awarded to the league&rsquo;s coach of the year.Milford, who has associated with the Central League for the better part of the last 16 seasons, is currently masterminding the NHL Canucks, who also operate a farm team in the CHL with the Dallas Black Hawks.Milford has been around the CHL as a player for our years, eight as GM-coach of the New York Rangers&rsquo; farm clubs in the CHL like St. Paul and Omaha, and another four as an executive under farm team affiliations with the Canucks and Los Angeles Kings.As one CHL spokesman put it, &ldquo;Jake has been an integral part of this league for many years. He has contributed much to our SUC-<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1660/5040720-1-eng-US/f0035-162.jpg" title="f0035-16" width="590" height="1048"><figcaption class="caption-body">JACK MILFORD</figcaption></div><h2>Colgate Looking At Better Year</h2>ROCHESTER&mdash;Last year, the Colgate University hockey team was the most improved team in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division I standings. The Red Raiders, who finished in last place in 197778, climbed into 12th place last season and were in playoff contention until the final week of the campaign.Last year&rsquo;s turnaround was the result of a fine freshmen class, which may have been the best recruiting effort in Colgate history. Overall the Red Raiders finished with a 15-13-0 record and league mark of 7-13-0 as compared to 5-221 overall and 4-20-1 in the league in 1977-78.Coach Terry Slater has continued to strengthen the Red Raiders with another fine recruiting effort. He has five outstanding prospects for the 1979-80 campaign who will join forces with 17 returning lettermen in pre-season camp.Heading the list of returning players are the top two freshmen scorers in Division I last year, centre Denis Lapensee and left wing Bill McCreary. Lapensee placed eighth in the overall statistics with 19 goals and 35 assists for 54 points while his linemate McCreary tallied 19 goals and 25 for the Red Raiders are junior right wing Ken Moodie (17-16-33), senior left wing Murray Decock (16-17-33), sophomore left wing. Dan Fridgen (20-12-32), senior centre Mike Rowley (5-15-20), sophomore centre Larry Gertsakis (6-13-19) and sophomore left wing Bill Ward (10-8-18).On defense, coach Slater must replace four-year starter Larry Gibson, who finished his career with 23 goals and 98 assists for 121 points. However he has four regulars returning including junior Mark Morris (11-12-23), sophomore Lennox Sterling (2-14-16), sophomore Chris Renaud (1-8-9) and sophomore Ky Roesler (0-9-9).<h2>Vermont Names Ex-All American</h2>BURLINGTON&mdash;Former captain and All-American hockey player, Edward W. Castle, has been named the University of Vermont&rsquo;s first full-time assistant hockey coach and rink manager, it was announced by Denis E. Lambert, UVM&rsquo;s Director of Athletics.Castle, the captain of the 1974 Division II championship team that etched out UVM&rsquo;s best record ever (28-5-0), had been an assistant the last two years at the University of Maine, coached by an &#9632;

f0035-16

CHL Honoring Milford By Establishing Award

<h2>WEST DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01499/5040689-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="622" height="148"></div><h2>CENTRAL DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02396/5040682-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="606" height="146"></div><h2>EAST DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03313/5040675-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="624" height="150"></div><h2>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04260/5040668-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="620" height="572"></div><h2>FINAL SCORING BY TEAMS BILLINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05213/5040661-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="626" height="956"></div><h2>BRANDON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06194/5040654-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="619" height="790"></div><h2>CALGARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07182/5040647-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="626" height="1254"></div><h2>EDMONTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08161/5040640-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="619" height="976"></div><h2>LETHBRIDGE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09153/5040633-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="636" height="1038"></div><h2>MEDICINE HAT</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10133/5040626-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="610" height="1146"></div><h2>NEW WESTMINSTER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-11121/5040619-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="620" height="1128"></div><h2>PORTLAND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-12105/5040612-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="628" height="865"></div><h2>REGINA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1391/5040605-1-eng-US/f0035-132.jpg" title="f0035-13" width="620" height="1254"></div><h2>SASKATOON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1476/5040598-1-eng-US/f0035-142.jpg" title="f0035-14" width="616" height="1070"></div><h2>SEATTLE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1566/5040591-1-eng-US/f0035-152.jpg" title="f0035-15" width="610" height="961"></div><h2>VICTORIA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03286/5040584-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="617" height="724"></div><h2>FINAL GOAUNG RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04208/5040577-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="633" height="1679"></div> &#9632;

f0035-01

Western Hockey League Statistics

<div class="byline">BY DAVE SENICK</div>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 CanadaREGINA&mdash;The search has ended for Billings Bighorns, Regina Pats and Seattle Breakers of the Western Hockey League.The commodities in question were coaching and management personnel. The clubs now have occupied labels attached to the positions.Les Calder has been named general manager-coach of the Bighorns with Joe Arling assuming an assistant&rsquo;s position. Brian Murray is the new coach of the Pats and Monte Miron holds the same post with the Breakers. Bill Moore will act as Seattle&rsquo;s general manager.For Calder, it&rsquo;s a return to the league after a brief disassociation. He resigned as coach of the Breakers in January when the team was floundering in last place of the West Division with 28 points. Don Ward took over as interim coach. The club ended the season still in the bottom spot with 53 points.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy and excited about the move,&rdquo; says Calder. &ldquo;What we have to do now is prove ourselves. There&rsquo;s a good nucleus of players coming back and that&rsquo;s because of what was done in the past.&rdquo;Bighorns&rsquo; past has been marked with a degree of success.Bob Strumm, who has since moved to the Pats, was the team&rsquo;s general manager and Dave King, now coaching at the University of Saskatchewan, was behind the bench for the past two seasons. Those were the first two of the team&rsquo;s existence.In 1977-78, the club advanced to the league final which it lost to New Westminster Bruins. Last season, Bighorns finished first in the Central division but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.Calder has plenty of experience to utilize in his exercise to keep the Bighorns on a winning track.In addition to coaching at Seattle part of last season and all of 1977-78, he was head scout and assistant coach with San Diego Mariners of the defunct World Hockey Association in 1975-76. As a player, he produced more than 400 career goals in the Eastern Hockey League.Arling has been an assistant to Strumm and King at Billings and, last season, was GM-coach of Red Deer&rsquo;s Tier Two team. He switched to the Saskatoon Blades&rsquo; organization Dec. 10, becoming an assistant coach and finished in that capacity.Murray is at the other end of the experience scale as compared to Calder in the WHL. The league is a new environment for the Pats&rsquo; coach. He is taking over from Gregg Pilling who was both general manager and coach last season.Although new to the WHL, Murray has credentials. He compiled nine years of coaching experience in the college and Tier Two junior ranks.Murray was appointed athletic director and hockey coach at of the now defunct Rockland, Ont., in the Central Junior A Hockey League and, for the past three seasons, has coached Pembroke Lumber Kings of the same loop.Rockland won the Centennial Cup, the Canadian Tier Two championship, in 1976 and Pembroke advanced to the 1977 national final which it lost to Prince Albert Raiders.There has been a constant trend in Murray&rdquo;s coaching career. Each of the clubs he has taken over languished in last place before his arrival. But Murray has been able to turn the teams around as evidenced by their accomplishments.Strumm, GM of the Pats, is hoping the formula applies to Regina. Regina finished last in the East Division last season.&ldquo;I have a lot of confidence in Brian,&rdquo; says Strumm. &ldquo;His track record speaks for itself.&rdquo;&ldquo;Naturally, it&rsquo;s a big adjustment,&rdquo; says Murray of the switch to Tier One ranks. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s also a tremendous personal challenge and I love pressure.&rdquo;Pressure is something that the Breakers new personnel will have to contend with.A last-place finish, like Breakers turned in this past season, creates the pressure to improve.&ldquo;This is going to be a rebuilding year for us,&rdquo; says Miron. &ldquo;We expect to be here for a long haul, so I think it&rsquo;s best to go with the younger players.&rdquo;This is also Miron&rsquo;s first crack at coaching in the WHL. The 27-year-old son of Colorado Rockies&rsquo; general manager Ray Miron was a player-coach with Tucson Rustlers of the Pacific Hockey League last season.Moore is moving into his first general-manager position after having formerly been a part owner of the Portland Winter Hawks.Coaching and management positions aren&rsquo;t the only areas Regina and Seattle have made changes. The clubs have completed a trade sending 19-year-old defenseman Greg Lynott and the rights to Geoff Harrigan and Brian Manson, both 17-year-olds who played midget hockey last season in Vancouver, from the Pats to the Breakers.Regina received center Clint Fehr, right winger Glen Sorenson, left winger-defenseman Norm Meyer and defenseman Terry Seitz who all played with Kamloops Chiefs of the B.C. Junior Hockey League along with Tommy Rohrbeck from the Kelowna Bucca-roos.There are also expected to be changes in the New Westminster organization although nothing is yet official.It has been announced that Joseph Scarlatti, a Vancouver land developer, has entered into a tentative agreement to purchase the franchise.No figures have been released but the reported asking price was $400,000. If followed through, the move would have to be ratified by the league&rsquo;s board of governors.The new owner is expected to retain Ernie McLean as coach of the team and Bill Shinske as the general manager. Both are current owners.The Bruins moved to New Westminster from Estevan, Sask, for the 1971-72 season. Since that time, they have won two Memorial Cups and four consecutive league championships. Brandon Wheat Kings ended that latter streak last season.That&rsquo;s what all the changes are about. It&rsquo;s all part of the search for success.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01475/5040758-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="598" height="918"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOE ARLING&hellip;Assistant Coach</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02360/5040751-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="599" height="958"><figcaption class="caption-body">GREG LYNOTT&hellip;Swapped By Pats</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0036-01

Calder, Murray, Miron New Coaches As WHL Teams Shuffle Bench Roles

CALGARY&mdash;The Western Hockey League has decided to deviate from its three-division format and will begin the 1979-80 campaign as a two-division circuit.WHL governors agreed to begin using the new divisional structure next season, which will be called eastern and western.Clubs formerly in the eastern and central divisions will be combined to form an eight-team eastern division. Included will be Billings, Great Falls (formerly Edmonton), Calgary, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Regina, Saskatoon and Brandon. In the western division, Portland, Seattle, New Westminster and Victoria will be grouped to form a four-team section. &#9632;

WHL Governors Decide On Two-Division Format

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01415/5040813-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0037-01

CUPOLO’S

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<h2>FINAL STANDINGS</h2><h3>Dillo Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01486/5040928-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="626" height="173"></div><h3>Lebel Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02384/5040921-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="622" height="172"></div><h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03307/5040914-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="620" height="316"></div><h2>FINAL SCORING BY TEAMS CHICOUTIMI</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04235/5040907-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="617" height="887"></div><h2>CORNWALL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05168/5040900-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="622" height="663"></div><h2>HULL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06130/5040893-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="626" height="968"></div><h2>LAVAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-07116/5040886-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="612" height="831"></div><h2>MONTREAL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0899/5040879-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="621" height="886"></div><h2>QUEBEC</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-0988/5040872-1-eng-US/f0038-092.jpg" title="f0038-09" width="615" height="781"></div><h2>SHAWINIGAN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1084/5040865-1-eng-US/f0038-102.jpg" title="f0038-10" width="624" height="950"></div><h2>TROIS-RIVIERES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1178/5040858-1-eng-US/f0038-112.jpg" title="f0038-11" width="620" height="869"></div><h2>VERDUN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1273/5040851-1-eng-US/f0038-122.jpg" title="f0038-12" width="622" height="709"></div><h2>FINAL GOALING RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-1364/5040844-1-eng-US/f0038-132.jpg" title="f0038-13" width="625" height="1184"></div> &#9632;

f0038-01

Quebec Major League Statistics

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01455/5040959-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg"></div>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<h2>Canucks At Play</h2>Vancouver Canucks are partaking in other sporting endeavors during the summer months. The tennis star is none other than defenseman Harold Snepsts, who captured a celebrity doubles event for the second year in a row at Vancouver&rsquo;s Stanley Park. At left is goaler Glen Hanlon, who was practicing his golfing form. &#9632;

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