Search for your favorite player or team
© The Hockey News. All rights reserved. Any and all material on this website cannot be used, reproduced, or distributed without prior written permission from Roustan Media Ltd. For more information, please see our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
October 5, 1979
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
A Special Message To Our Readers
This issue marks the start of a fresh new hockey season and the beginning of THE HOCKEY NEWS’ 33rd year of serving everyone who is interested in hockey either as a business or an avocation. Hockey has changed greatly over this period, with the most dramatic changes coming in the late sixties and into this decade. The National Hockey League doubled its size in one swift move. A rival league was born, struggled, and finally died. Minor leagues have come and gone and come again. International hockey has gone from a seldom discussed, almost elitest segment of the sport to become an area of major interest. The number of universities offering hockey has more than quadrupled. And, perhaps more important than any of these factors, but obviously connected to them, is the…
FAN FORUM
Stars Still Shine Despite Helmets My congratulations go out to the National Hockey League for finally making helmets mandatory for incoming NHL players. After the tragic death of Bill Masterson of the Minnesota North Stars I was expecting the move to come sooner. I remember players like Dave Balon and Phil Goyette moving to the helmet and people laughing. Well, it is no laughing matter. A couple of seasons ago Stan Mikita crashed into a goalpost, headfirst. The veteran Hawk stated then that only his helmet saved him from serious injury. Still, NHL players had too much pride (vanity?) to switch to helmets. Finally the move has been made to protect some of these players. For years people argued that stars would be hard to recognize wearing helmets. Well, I had little trouble last…
Geoffrion’s Homecoming A Dream Come True
MONTRE.AL—Bernard (Boom-Boom) Geoffrion has returned home to the Montreal Canadiens after a 12-year absence. And the 48-year-old Hall of Fame member has more than a bit on his plate as he steps behind the bench of the most successful club in the National Hockey League. He comes in here with a tough act to follow. The Canadiens won their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup last spring and that only whets the appetite for a fifth and sixth in a row, which would shatter the record the Canadiens set from 1956-60 when Geoffrion was a star right wing on the team. Many observers are skeptical about Geoffrion’s ability to coach because ill health forced him out of two jobs before—in New York with the Rangers mid-way during the 1968-69 season and in Atlanta during the…
More Second Line Scoring May Reverse Blues’ Slide
ST. LOUIS—The success of the St. Louis Blues this season may depend on the success of coach Barclay Plager’s efforts to put together a second big scoring line. The Blues already have the spectacular trio of Bernie Federko, Brian Sutter and Wayne Babych. Plager probably will resist any temptations to tamper with that unit. But the scoring power of that line last season was not enough to move the Blues higher than the second-worst record in the league. The team’s goals-against record was the worst in the league. So, Plager’s task is to experiment with various combinations of his old and new forwards to form that second dependable scoring line. He seems to have the talent for such a line. The likely candidates are centers Mike Zuke or Blake Dunlop, right wingers Bob…
Made possible with the support of
