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.

December 7, 1979

The Hockey News December 7, 1979

<div class="byline">By NEIL MILBERT</div><p class="dropcap"><span>C</span>HICAGO&mdash;At long last, Stan Mikita has his first goal of the season. Unfortunately, the ecstasy of ending a slump isn&rsquo;t enough to ease the agony of an aching back.</p><p>The pain, according to the Black Hawks&rsquo; senior citizen, has been &ldquo;coming and going for about 12 years, but lately it&rsquo;s been coming more than going.&rdquo;</p><p>Hot packs, whirlpool baths, trips to the doctor for injections that relax the muscle, and a couple of days rest go only so far.</p><p>Intestinal fortitude, cunning, and craftsmanship are what is keeping this 39-year-old man in the National Hockey League in spite of his nagging aches and pains.</p><p>Mikita&rsquo;s first goal of the current campaign was scored against Gary Inness in the course of Chicago&rsquo;s 40 victory over the Washington Caps on Nov. 21. It was No. 540 of a Chicago career encompassing more than two decades. But lately the goals have been fewer and further between. This was Mikita&rsquo;s 13th game of the season.</p><p>He sat out six others mostly because of his back.</p><p>&ldquo;For the last five years I haven&rsquo;t been as productive goal-wise and there are times that I wonder if I&rsquo;m still useful,&rdquo; said Mikita. &ldquo;Sure, my confidence goes a little bit and instead of letting it happen naturally, I&rsquo;ll think about it and wind up messing up a shot.</p><p>&ldquo;When that happens you wonder what in the name of heaven you&rsquo;re doing out there. I marvel at Gordie Howe. I&rsquo;m 12 years younger and I know how this body feels.&rdquo;</p><p>Goalie Tony Esposito, ranking second in seniority on the Hawks, would hate to see Mikita call it a career before the end of the year.</p><p>&ldquo;Believe me when I tell you that Stan doesn&rsquo;t have to score goals to be helping this hockey team,&rdquo; said Esposito. &ldquo;I see the things he does. Even if he could only play 40 games a year, he&rsquo;d be a big asset.&rdquo;</p><p>Under normal circumstances, the lines centered by Terry Rus-kowski, Tom Lysiak, and Reg Kerr get more ice time than the Mikita trio that usually has John Marks on left wing and J.P. Bordeleau or Cliff Koroll on the right.</p><p>But when the Hawks are trying to kill a powerplay or are confronted with a clutch situation, Coach Eddie Johnston constantly calls on Mikita to take the faceoffs.</p><p>Coach Tom McVie of Winnipeg agrees with Johnston when he says, &ldquo;Stan is the best in the business at taking draws.</p><p>&ldquo;In my three years at Washington, he was the guy who killed us the most,&rdquo; said McVie. &ldquo;More than Guy Lafleur, more than Bryan Trottier, more than any other player. It just seemed like he never lost a faceoff. And he constantly was setting up people.&rdquo;</p><p>Mikita wants very much to go out as a member of a powerful team&mdash;&ldquo;first class, the same way I came in.&rdquo;</p><p>There are times when he wonders how he will be remembered. Will people think of him as one of the most important players on some of Chicago&rsquo;s greatest teams? Or will their mental picture be that of an eroding athlete skating for a team on a treadmill of mediocrity?</p><p>When Mikita retires, he wants to begin by &ldquo;staying away from the game for a year and then deciding what I want to do; the idea of a winter vacation and playing golf out in the sun someplace is very appealing.&rdquo;</p><p><b>HAWK TALK</b>&mdash;Esposito&rsquo;s shutout against Washington was his third of the season and the 70th of his NHL career that dates back to the 1968-69 season&hellip;Just when it seemed the Hawks were going to give Coach Eddie Johnston a tie for his 43rd birthday on Nov. 24 in Toronto, defenseman Dave Logan delivered a surprise package. Logan scored his first goal of the year&mdash;and his third in four seasons&mdash;with 6:31 remaining to give the Hawks a 2-1 victory over the Maple Leafs, extending their winning string to four games (three triumphs and one tie)&hellip;In their nine games together, the line of Terry Ruskowski, Rich Preston and Grant Mulvey has produced at least one point per night. Their aggregate output adds up to 13 goals and 18 assists. However, Ruskowski&rsquo;s string of penalty free games ended at 10 when he was found guilty of tripping Lanny McDonald at 9:19 of the third period.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

IN THIS ISSUE

Mikita Longs To Leave Chicago As Winner

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01343/4308990-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div><p>&mdash;C&mdash;Captain<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0035-01

NHL TEAM ROSTERS

<div class="byline">BY TOM MURRAY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011031/4307124-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="584" height="852"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Coach Fred Shero admits that the Rangers&rsquo; problems haven&rsquo;t been the fault of goaltender Wayne Thomas.</i></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>N</span>EW YORK: Something is wrong with the New York Rangers. Very, very wrong. And the worst thing about it is that no one&mdash;from coach Fred Shero to any of the players&mdash;seems to know what it is.</p><p>After losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3, for their third straight loss and sixth in their last eight games, the emotions of the Rangers&mdash;now mired in third place in the Patrick Division with a 9-12-1 record, 14 points behind the first-place Flyers&mdash;ranged from irritable to downright confused.</p><p>For an example of the irritable, listen to this exchange between Shero and a reporter after that Toronto game:</p><p>&ldquo;Fred, can you explain in a few sentences what is wrong with your team?&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I can do it in a few sentences.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Well, how about a paragraph?&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be a very long paragraph. Do you have all night?&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Sure. Go ahead.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;No. I don&rsquo;t have the time.&rdquo;</p><p>And for an example of the confused, you could have gone to any Ranger. They all had wrinkled brows, shaking heads, and distressed looks on their faces. Here&rsquo;s what some of them were saying:</p><p>&ldquo;Geez,&rdquo; said Don Maloney wistfully, &ldquo;I dunno. I really don&rsquo;t. I think we&rsquo;re trying hard enough, but something&rsquo;s wrong. Maybe we just have to get back to basics and work harder.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m used to losing,&rdquo; Barry Beck said, &ldquo;but that doesn&rsquo;t mean I like it. I think we&rsquo;re working hard enough, but we&rsquo;re not getting any breaks. We&rsquo;re gonna break out, I can feel it. And I&rsquo;d hate to be the team we&rsquo;re gonna do it to.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Lack of hard work is not our problem,&rdquo; Phil Esposito offered. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been working our butts off. But I think we&rsquo;ve been very guilty of over-reacting and trying <b><i>too</i></b> hard. When you don&rsquo;t win after doing that, you get even more frus-trated.&rdquo;</p><p>It was pretty much the same everywhere you went in the room: Everyone had something to say, but stopped just short of really saying anything of substance. Reporters furiously scribbled all the words they heard, took a look at them and realized that they really didn&rsquo;t say a helluva lot. Anders Hedberg explained why.</p><p>&ldquo;You can ask every player in this room what the problem is,&rdquo; Hedberg said, &ldquo;but you&rsquo;re not going to get the real answers. They are the kinds of things that should be said only in the privacy of a team meeting&mdash;not here in the room after a game.&rdquo;</p><p>Maybe so, but one thing that&rsquo;s certainly not a secret is the news that John Davidson, who used to be the No. 1 goalie, has voluntarily sent himself to the Rangers&rsquo; New Haven farm club to play himself back into shape. J.D.&rsquo;s decision to demote himself came in the wake of the Rangers&rsquo; recent loss to the Winnipeg Jets, which J.D. started and was bombed for four goals in the first nine minutes of the game. Wayne Thomas&mdash;also known as &ldquo;The Other Guy&rdquo; by his coach&mdash;has been the new No. 1 for five of the past six games. During that span the Rangers have compiled a 2-4 record. Does that mean that Doug Soetaert (The Other Other Guy?), who hasn&rsquo;t played since that 10-5 Islander fiasco, is due for a shot?</p><p>&ldquo;I dunno,&rdquo; Shero said. &ldquo;I think Thomas is playing very well.&rdquo;</p><p>True enough. The fault, dear Brutus, lies not with the goaltending. But it lies somewhere, and it&rsquo;s up to the Rangers to find out where. Whether that means the next step is for them to lock themselves in a room and start screaming at each other is another question.</p><p>One thing is for damn sure: Nothing else has worked so far.</p><p><b>BLUE CHIPS:</b> Captain Dave Maloney, who suffered a badly bruised knee in that Winnipeg game, has missed the last two games. He&rsquo;s expected back soon and will probably be active by the time you read this&hellip;Phil Esposito scored his 826th career assist in the Toronto game, making him third-highest assist scorer in NHL history&hellip;The next goal Steve Vickers scores will be his 200th in the NHL&hellip;Dean Talafous returned to action after missing eight games with that pinched neck nerve&hellip;Rangers power play is now successful on 21 of 92 attempts, for a 23% success ratio.</p><p>Anders Hedberg is red hot, scoring 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) in his fast 15 games&hellip;Best advice the Rangers have heard so far this season came from a fan at that Toronto game: &ldquo;Pleasssssssse,&rdquo; came the voice from the rafters, &ldquo;can&rsquo;t you guys play just one 60-minute game for us!&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0007-01

Confused Rangers Pondering Recent Skid

<p>VANCOUVER&mdash;The surprising Vancouver Canucks have discovered the secret to success in the NHL is defense.</p><p>The Canucks, who have been pretenders for years, have suddenly come alive and gaining respect with each passing week. Their recent 5-2 upset of Montreal Canadiens, the first time they&rsquo;ve achieved the feat in 22 games at home, was the gusto to inflate the team&rsquo;s ego. They&rsquo;ve earned it with a 9-6-5 record, tops in the usually forlorn Smythe Division.</p><p>The Canucks have put together a tighter defensive game to go along with a hot goalkeeping performance by Glen Hanlon, who has been the difference between first place this year and third or fourth place last season.</p><p>The Canucks have lost only one of their last seven starts, won seven of their first 13 and outscored the opposition 53-38. Hanlon, who missed most of last season with an injury, has allowed 20 fewer goals against and has a 7-1-3 record in his last 11 starts.</p><p>The Canucks don&rsquo;t have a scorer among the top 25 testifying to their all-round offensive balance. But they do believe that if you score the first goal, you&rsquo;ll more than likely win the game. Their record is 8-1-4 in games in which they scored first.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Tighter Defense, Hot Goaler Give Canucks New Outlook In NHL

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01704/4309562-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>RANGERS COUNT ON BARRY BECK FOR THE FUTURE</b></p><p><b>FACE MASKS SPARK COLLEGE ICE ROW</b></p><p><b>AMAZING RATELLE BRIGHTENS BRUINS</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Cover-01

DIONNE IN RECORD HUNT—Page 7

<h2>The NHL&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02959/4306814-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="520" height="778"></div><h2>The Minors&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03710/4306807-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="512" height="340"></div><h2>Columnists&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04485/4306800-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="506" height="224"></div><h2>Features&hellip;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05354/4306793-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="510" height="298"></div><h2>What&rsquo;s Coming Next Week!</h2><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>e will have a special page 3 feature next week in which HOCKEY NEWS columnist Stan Fischler talks with NHL president John Ziegler in what promises to be a revealing and informative story. Fischler will fire some interesting shots at Ziegler about the NHL, where it&rsquo;s going, its manyproblems and how the league has handled its latest expansion program. Don&rsquo;t miss it!</p><p>In addition to our Ziegler feature, we will present a story on Rob Ramage, the NHL&rsquo;s No. 1 draft pick who ended up on the Colorado defense beside big Barry Beck. Now with Beck gone from the Rockies much of the pressure will be on Ramage&rsquo;s shoulders. Correspondent Frank Orr tells how the youngster solved his contract dilemma and what it&rsquo;s like playing for a coach like Don Cherry.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0002-02

Where To Find It…

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011069/4306845-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="436" height="336"></div><h2>Improve Basic Skills</h2><p><b>IT HAPPENS MANY TIMES</b> in just about every National Hockey League game played these days.</p><p>A player is in the open, maybe 20 or 25 feet, often closer, from a teammate who&rsquo;s in possession of the puck. A pass is made but does it arrive? No, it&rsquo;s five feet ahead or the same distance behind the intended receiver.</p><p>Or it&rsquo;s an accurate pass and the receiver botches up the reception.</p><p>Passing the puck doesn&rsquo;t seem to be a difficult matter. Neither does receiving one. Heck, Soviet hockey players do both successfully quite often.</p><p>There are other areas of the game, small, basic skills the execution of which should be a big part of every NHL player&rsquo;s repertoire, where NHL players, many of them considered to be the league&rsquo;s front-line stars, show a weakness far too often. But poor passing ability is one that, in the NHL, stands out like a skunk at a garden party.</p><p>In last winter&rsquo;s Challenge Cup series between the NHL All Stars and the national team of the USSR, the comrades&rsquo; big edge was in that basic skill&mdash;passing the puck. Knowledgeable fans and many NHL people remarked on that skill.</p><p>Now that the NHL has taken a big step away from the &ldquo;goon&rdquo; hockey of the mid-1970s and speed, puckhandling and the scoring goals are once again the ideals, an upgrading of basic skills is needed badly.</p><p>Of course, how that skill improvement can be accomplished and at what level of hockey the work should be done is one angle that the NHL hasn&rsquo;t worked out yet.</p><p>When the NHL merged with the World Hockey Association last spring, there was a great deal of gung-ho talk that the distillation into one league would inspire a concentration on the game itself. But the projection that ten NHL teams would lose $13 million this season indicates that things aren&rsquo;t so peachy-keen in the 21-team NHL and that the problem is not only skill improvement.</p><p>But the people in the league are concerned about the pure hockey problems. There are even a few heretics who figure that perhaps, just perhaps, if the skill-level of the players was improved, maybe a few more fans would be interested in the game.</p><h2>Where Do We Start?</h2><p><b>ALTHOUGH HOCKEY THINKERS REALIZE</b> that work needs to be done on the skills of NHL players, just where to place the emphasis on this upgrading isn&rsquo;t easy to figure out in the game&rsquo;s development system. It&rsquo;s much easier in the Soviet Union where the players go through a massive, state-financed program and promising youngsters attend &ldquo;sports&rdquo; schools.</p><p>One promising step in that direction was produced by the survey of minor hockey parents conducted in Ontario this year. A large majority of parents stated that players up to the age of 12 years should spend much more time working on hockey skill development than they do playing games.</p><p>Of course, that will be a rather long-range evolution and, if it does happen, it won&rsquo;t be felt in the NHL for a decade or so.</p><p>Others feel that the juniors should be doing a better job on the teaching of pure skills. But the juniors are battling financial problems and the NHL dealt them a heavy blow with the drafting of underage players.</p><p>&ldquo;The skill-level of the juniors we&rsquo;ve drafted has declined steadily since the universal amateur draft came in and the sponsorship of the junior teams by the pros ended,&rdquo; said Cliff Fletcher, general manager of the Atlanta Flames.</p><p>&ldquo;During the sponsorship days, an NHL team didn&rsquo;t have to make money on its junior operation. If a junior team produced a few prospects with good skill, the NHL team was satisfied. Now, though, the junior operator must try to at least break even on his team and that&rsquo;s his aim, not thinking about the skill of his players.&rdquo;</p><h2>Development League</h2><p><b>ONE NHL GENERAL MANAGER</b> has a plan to change rather drastically the development scheme for young players. In revealing it, he requested anonymity.</p><p>The man&rsquo;s scheme is to create a new-style league in hockey-similar to the Florida rookie leagues in baseball, and the way he explains it makes good sense.</p><p>&ldquo;In baseball&rsquo;s player development, the colleges are the big source of talent but because of the time factor, the college teams can take the player&rsquo;s skill development only so far,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>&ldquo;Thus, the rookie leagues where the major league baseball clubs concentrate their best instructors with the most sophisticated methods of teaching work solely on skill improvement.</p><p>&ldquo;This year, we claimed 19-year-olds in the entry draft and only about a dozen of them made the NHL clubs. The others were returned to junior hockey where we have their pro rights but no control over the instruction they&rsquo;re receiving.</p><p>&ldquo;My idea is this: The NHL should take a big step and establish our own rookie or development league for players from 18 to 22 years of age. That way we would have some control on the coaching these kids receive.</p><p>&ldquo;In junior hockey, the teams are forced to play a 70-game schedule which leaves little time for practice sessions or heavy instruction. The U.S. college teams, which play about 40 games, are doing a better job on skill-teaching than the juniors because they have so much more workout time available&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0002-01

FRANK ORR’S HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="byline">BY TOM MURRAY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011076/4306876-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>A groin injury has slowed Barry Beck&rsquo;s debut with the Rangers but the club is expecting big things from him in the future. Beck, acquired from Colorado, cost the New Yorkers a bundle in players and other considerations.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he player wearing the home colors of the New York Rangers took the pass right before he reached the red line, streaked down the left side of the ice and into the offensive zone of the Los Angeles Kings, where a lone defenseman named Barry Gibbs was the only obstacle between the player and the LA goalie.</p><p>As Gibbs went down, trying to intercept the puck with a sweep check, the player neatly slipped the disc beneath Gibb&rsquo;s body, stepped around the defenseman, picked the puck up, took a quick look at the goal, and fired a black blur into the upper left corner. An instant after the puck hit the cord, the player, having jumped over the prone body of the beaten goaltender, crashed into the crossbar of the cage, knocking the net off its anchors as his body jacknifed around the bar. As the cheering crowd at Madison Square Garden hushed momentarily, wondering if the player was badly injured, he nonchalantly disengaged himself from the cage and turned around, his arms up in the air and his face smiling as his teammates crowded around to congratulate him.</p><p>Who was this player who had just executed this spectacular agile move? Anders Hedberg? Ulf Nilsson? Ron Duguay? Don Murdoch?</p><p>None of the above and none of the other quick, fast-skating Ranger forwards who immediately come to mind. The mystery man was none of than Barry &ldquo;Bubba&rdquo; Beck, a 6-3, 217-pound defenseman who was making his Garden debut that evening, just five days after the Rangers acquired him from the Colorado Rockies for Pat Hickey, Mike McEwen, Lucian DeBlois, Dean Turner, a player to be named later (who turned out to be 1979 playoff hero Bobby Sheehan) and, supposedly, a bundle of cash.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a rah-rah guy in the locker room,&rdquo; Beck says. &ldquo;I do my leading on the ice.&rdquo;</b></blockquote><p>Defensemen, especially when they are as big as Barry Beck, simply aren&rsquo;t supposed to be able to manoeuver themselves with the speed and agility that he displayed in that Kings&rsquo; game. But Barry Beck, who only turned 22 last June, isn&rsquo;t just any defenseman. And the Rangers, who had been coveting him since he first broke in with Colorado two years ago, feel that he is the one essential ingredient they need to bring the Stanley Cup to New York after 40 years. More on that later. First, some background on the man whose teammates affectionately call &ldquo;Mister Bubba&rdquo;.</p><p>Beck, who was born and raised in Vancouver, B.C., played his junior hockey for the Westminster Bruins of the WCHL, where in three seasons he scored 44 goals and 159 assists and accumulated a whopping 654 minutes in penalties. In Beck&rsquo;s last year with the Bruins, 1976-77, he led them to the Memorial Cup, Canadian junior hockey&rsquo;s most prized championship.</p><p>In the amateur draft that June, the Colorado Rockies picked Beck as their No. 1 choice, immediately designating him as the man who would lend credibility to the floundering franchise and transform the team from the laughing stock of the league to a contender.</p><p>But it never happened. While Beck enjoyed a sensational season with the Rockies&mdash;setting NHL records for most goals scored by a rookie defenseman in one season (22) and most points scored by a rookie defenseman in one season (60)&mdash;the Rockies won only 19 of 80 games, as Beck finished in second place to the New York Islanders&rsquo; Mike Bossy in the voting for Rookie of the Year. The following season, the Rockies were even worse, winning only 15 games as Beck&rsquo;s production dropped to 14-2842.</p><p>It was during that 1976-79 season, right after Beck&rsquo;s impressive New York performance in the Challenge Cup series, that the rumors started circulating around New York. Beck, they said, would soon be a Ranger They even went so far as to suggest that Hickey, McEwan and DeBlois were all marked as the men to be traded for Beck.</p><p>But nothing ever came of the rumors. The Rangers, while admitting that they certainly could use a player of Beck&rsquo;s calibre, denied that any deal was imminent. And Colorado general manager Ray Miron became so incensed that he tnreatened to sue the Rangers for tampering.</p><p>That threat, coupled with the Rangers&rsquo; great success in the playoffs without the benefit of a big, intimidating defenseman, put the issue to rest. But just several weeks into the current season, the rumors were resuscitated once again when word got out that Beck was unhappy in Colorado because the Rockies refused to renegotiate his multi-year, $80,000-a-year contract.</p><p>Then there was the Rockies&rsquo; record: In their first 10 games this season, Colorado was 1-7-2, good enough for four points and a firm grip on last place in the weak Smythe Division. The team&rsquo;s big problem was scoring; they lacked it entirely. The Rangers, of course, had a surplus of goal scorers. Result? The Rangers once again started making overtures to Colorado.</p><p>But Miron wanted no part of any deals for Beck. End of conversation. Case closed.</p><p>But not quite. Sonny Werblin, the infamous entrepreneur and president of Madison Square Garden, is an old friend of Colorado owner Arthur Imperatore. And when Ranger coach and general manager Fred Shero told Werblin that Miron was not being particularly cooperative, Werblin said that he&rsquo;d do what he could.</p><p>What Sonny did was to call up Imperatore and arrange for a meeting in New York between the two men plus Miron and Rangers&rsquo; assistant GM Mickey Keating. (Shero was on the road with the team.)</p><p>&ldquo;I pointed out to Arthur,&rdquo; Werblin said, &ldquo;that his team wasn&rsquo;t really generating too much offense, that we had some players who could do that for him and that we in turn needed Beck.&rdquo;</p><p>According to many people in the hockey world, that&rsquo;s not all Werblin said to Imperatore. A group of livid executives from various teams, led by the always outspoken Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; owner Harold Ballard, feel that Werblin arranged with Imperatore for Beck to be an advanced indemnification payment by Colorado to New York. While Werblin denies this vehemently, Imperatore has made no bones about his desire to move his hockey club to the New Jersey Meadowlands that facility opens in 1981, and the overwhelming sentiment throughout the League is that trading Beck to the Rangers was Imperatore&rsquo;s way of not only being assured of the Rangers&rsquo; support when the time comes, but also of significantly reducing the hefty indemnification fee he&rsquo;ll have to pay to the Rangers for infringing on their territory.</p><p>The repercussions of that dispute will be felt if and when Colorado does attempt to move into New Jersey. For the time being, however, Shero and everyone else in New York is just tickled that, at long last, the Rangers have someone on their blueline who has range, speed and, most important of all, size.</p><p>There&rsquo;s just one problem: At this writing, the Rangers have played just over one quarter of their season and the team&rsquo;s record is hovering right aound the .500 mark. The main reason for this is (gulp) the defense, or lack of it. After 20 games last season, the Rangers were 12-4-4, had allowed only 49 goals and were sporting the best defensive record in hockey. This season, after the same amount of games, the Rangers have allowed twice as many goals for the NHL&rsquo;s third worst defensive record. What gives, Mr. Bubba?</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>Many hockey people feel that Beck was an advanced indemnification payment by Colorado</b></blockquote><p>&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;re just fighting ourselves right now,&rdquo; Beck says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re too good a team to be playing only .500 hockey. We&rsquo;re not playing 60 minutes every game and we&rsquo;re making a lot of mental mistakes that we shouldn&rsquo;t be making. We put together one good period, then slow down. By the time we start playing together again, it&rsquo;s sometimes too late.&rdquo;</p><p>While Beck is not very happy with the overall play of his new team, he is extremely pleased to be part of it (&ldquo;It was the best thing that could have happened for my career&rdquo;) and is quick to point out that he sees himself as the kind of player who is capable of pulling a team out of a slump like the one the Rangers are currently experiencing.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not exactly a rah-rah guy in the locker room or anything like that,&rdquo; Beck says. &ldquo;I do my leading on the ice. But it&rsquo;s going to take a little while for me to get comfortable with the guys here. Right now, I&rsquo;m playing more defensively than I like to. As time goes on, though, I&rsquo;ll get more confident and start doing more with the puck.&rdquo;</p><p>To be fair, Beck&rsquo;s mobility has been greatly hampered by a groin injury, which he has had since coming to New York. &ldquo;I think I got it playing in my first game with the Rangers (a 7-2 loss to, ironically, Colorado,)&rdquo; Beck says. &ldquo;I just haven&rsquo;t had a chance to give it a rest and I&rsquo;ve continued to play on it.&rdquo;</p><p>Despite the groin injury and the time it&rsquo;s taken him to adjust to his new teammates and the vaunted Shero system, Shero and his assistant, Mike Nykoluk, couldn&rsquo;t be more pleased with Beck&rsquo;s performance to date.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s done everything we&rsquo;ve asked him to,&rdquo; says the reticent Shero. &ldquo;I have no problem with the way he&rsquo;s been playing at all.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t been the domineering man out there that he had been in the past with Colorado,&rdquo; Nykoluk concedes. &ldquo;But I think a lot of that is due to his groin injury and then getting adjusted to everyone.</p><p>&ldquo;For now, though,&rdquo; Nykoluk goes on, &ldquo;the size of the man is helping us a lot. An opponent just won&rsquo;t go into the corners as quickly as he normally would if he knows that Beck&rsquo;s on the ice. Wait &lsquo;till he gets healthy and gets to really know our system&hellip;he&rsquo;ll be an even more imposing figure out there.&rdquo;</p><p>For someone who has been playing with as much pain as Beck has, the big guy has really been quite effective. While he hasn&rsquo;t made too many rushes like that one against the Kings, Beck has been a big help in the area where the Rangers need him most&mdash;right in front of his goaltender. He blocks shots, throws fierce bodychecks and can&mdash;by merely giving an intruder in his area the slightest bump with his elbow or rap with his stick&mdash;send an opponent scampering away to position himself elsewhere.</p><p>For those who choose not to play this little game Beck&rsquo;s way, the consequences can be unpleasant. The man whom Colorado coach Don Cherry calls &ldquo;the best fighter I&rsquo;ve ever seen&rdquo; has yet to display any of these pugilistic talents to his new fans or teammates. But that is undoubtedly because no one in the league is particularly anxious to tangle with Beck once he drops his gloves&mdash;he&rsquo;s that tough.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>&ldquo;Do you want to get killed?&rdquo; Phil Esposito asked one opponent, &ldquo;because you will be if you go near Beck.&rdquo;</b></blockquote><p>The closest Beck came to fighting occurred in a game a while back between the Rangers and the Quebec Nordiques. A scuffle erupted in front of the Nords&rsquo; net and for a fleeting, frightening instant, Beck stood face to face with former Ranger Pierre Plante. Before words could even be exchanged, Plante was pulled away from the fuming Beck by Ranger Phil Esposito.</p><p>&ldquo;I said,&rdquo; Espo told reporters after the game, &lsquo;&ldquo;Pierre, are you crazy? Do you want to get killed? Because you will if you go near the guy.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>While Beck has a ferocious reputation on the ice, off it he is an incredibly quiet and subdued young man who describes himself as being &ldquo;shy&rdquo; and who seems to have very quickly immersed himself in all of the joys that make New York City such an exciting and stimulating place to live.</p><p>In the short time that he has been with the Rangers, Beck, who is living with fellow defenseman Ron Greschner until he finds his own apartment, has already taken in many of the cinemas, Broadway shows and restaurants which flourish in New York, and his agent is already negotiating with several companies to get up some endorsement work.</p><p>&ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t have a spare moment during the day,&rdquo; Beck says, smiling, &ldquo;and that&rsquo;s a lot different from Colorado.&rdquo;</p><p>Also a lot different from Colorado is the long term contract he&rsquo;s signed with the Rangers which guarantees him something in the vicinity of $250,000 a year.</p><p>&ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s great,&rdquo; Beck says. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;ve gotta start playing better, and I&rsquo;ve gotta start playing better. I don&rsquo;t know how much longer it&rsquo;ll take. But one of these games, it&rsquo;ll happen&hellip;everything&rsquo;s just gonna fall together.&rdquo;</p><p>And that&rsquo;s when the rest of the league is really going to have to watch out.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0003-01

Rangers Count On Beck As Imposing Figure

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011127/4306935-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="419" height="340"></div><p><b>&bull; THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE</b> was formed 62 years ago on Nov. 22, 1917, and wouldn&rsquo;t some of the founders be astounded at some of the things that are taking place this season, such as a 51-year-old grandfather (Gordie Howe) still playing and a 26-year-old coach (Gary Green)&hellip;Don Penniston, one of hockey&rsquo;s top coaches in the 1930s, &rsquo;40s and early &rsquo;50s, died in Montreal recently at the age of 74. A real student of the game, Penniston had his greatest coaching successes with Quebec Aces and Hershey Bears&hellip;Vincent Bartimo, owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, figures the week-long strike by the employees at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena cost his team more than $300,000&hellip;If Bruce Norris and his family sell the Detroit Red Wings as is expected, the team will stay in Detroit. The Red Wings have just entered into a long-term lease agreement with the city to play at the new Joe Louis Arena&hellip;Atlanta&rsquo;s Garry Unger nas now passed his 900th consecutive game in the NHL. This is a record which will probably never be shattered&hellip;One of the best hockey programs to cross our desk is the one put out by Mike Emrick of the Maine Mariners. It is better than most of the NHL programs&hellip;Philadelphia&rsquo;s Pat Quinn and Boston&rsquo;s Fred Creighton have done outstanding coaching jobs so far this season. Quinn has his team playing a strong offensive game and has cleverly mixed the young players with the old, while Creighton has gone with set lines and power play combinations. The Bruins also practice and warm up differently than when Don Cherry was at the helm. Creighton has meshed a team of happy athletes and the Bruins nave fooled a lot of fans with their play to date. Philadelphia and Boston have shown the most of any of the 21 NHL clubs so far this season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021081/4306928-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="262" height="399"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Pat Quinn</i></figcaption></div><p><b>&bull; OUTSPOKEN HAROLD BALLARD,</b> head honcho of the Toronto Maple Leafs, loves to annoy other NHL executives Recently Harold said that Sonny Werblin, president of Madison Square Garden and the New York Rangers knows nothing about hockey and wouldn&rsquo;t know which end of the stick you play with&rdquo;. He then said: Arthur Impera-tore (owner of the Colorado Rockies) &ldquo;is a bleeping truck driver&rdquo;&hellip;Werblin and Imperatore countered with the following: &ldquo;Ballard knows nothing about nothing. The poor man has spent his life making unfriends. It&rsquo;s a shame, but he does make me laugh&rdquo;, said Werblin. Imperatore stated through his stepson, Armand Pohan, president of the Rockies, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to believe people like Ballard still exist&rdquo;&hellip;Gary Smith, presently the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; No. 1 goalie, has played with seven different NHL teams. The 35-year-old Smith, who was away from the NHL last season, played with Toronto, Oakland, Chicago, Vancouver, Washington and Minnesota before joining Winnipeg&hellip;One of the Jets biggest nights was their recent 6-4 win over the Rangers on New York ice&hellip;Followers of the New York Islanders are getting worried about the way the club has slipped of late. Their defensive record is particularly poor&hellip;Minnesota North Stars are off to their finest start in years and it&rsquo;s been a long time since they&rsquo;ve had four players among the NHL&rsquo;s top scorers. Before Bobby Smith was injured the Stars&rsquo; line of Smith, Steve Payne and Al MacAdam had 26 goals, 37 assists and 63 points among them which works out to 4.5 points per game&hellip;The NHL record for most points by one forward line in a season is 336 and was set by Boston Bruins line of Phil Esposito, Wayne Cashman and Ken Hodge in 1970-71&hellip;The United States Olympic team has been winning most of their exhibition games and their enthusiastic supporters are looking forward to big things from them this coming February.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-03975/4306921-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="257" height="391"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Bobby Smith</i></figcaption></div><p><b>&bull; THE SOVIET RED ARMY</b> and Moscow Dynamos, the two clubs that will play exhibition games against nine different NHL teams, are currently running one-two in their league standings at home. These teams are generally regarded as the two best in the Soviet Union and 17 of the 23 players who faced the NHL All Stars last February in the Challenge Cup series came from these clubs. Twelve were from the Red Army and five from the Dynamos. The Red Army team has won over 20 league championships in the Soviet Union. They open the exhibition series against the Rangers in New York on Dec. 27 and it ends eight days after the New Year. Other NHL teams besides the Rangers who will be involved in the series are the New York Islanders, Buffalo, Washington and the five Canadian cities, Montreal, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Quebec and Vancouver&hellip;Talking about the NHL Canadian cities, more and more fans tell us they wish the NHL would have one division composed entirely of the six Canadian teams. That would be the five mentioned plus Toronto. Fans believe some great rivalries would exist and it would be a monumental move by the National League&hellip;A crowd of around 20,000 is expected to be on hand at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit for the NHL All Star Game on Feb. 5&hellip;All four of the new NHL teams, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Quebec and Hartford have drawn capacity crowds at home&hellip;Quebec Nordiques, comprised for the most part of French-Canadian Catholics, have won five straight Sunday night games. Could there be an omen here somewhere?&hellip;St. Louis Blues have defeated the New York Rangers only once in New York since they entered the NHL in Oct. 1967. That was on Nov. 13, 1968. The Blues have 28 losses and three ties on Madison Square Garden ice&hellip;Coach Don Cherry of the Colorado Rockies says he knows why the Rockies never won two games in a row last season. &ldquo;When they win one, they act like they&rsquo;ve won the Stanley Cup,&rdquo; stated the outspoken mentor.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04873/4306914-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="267" height="389"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Gary Smith</i></figcaption></div><p><b>&bull; THERE ARE</b> no less than nine members of the Philadelphia Flyers who are graduates of the Maine Mariners, the Flyers&rsquo; American Hockey League franchise. The Mariners are owned outright by the Flyers and it was one of the smartest moves Ed Snider ever made when he placed a franchise in Portland, Maine back in 1977. Keith Allen, general manager of the Flyers, holds down the same position with the Mariners&hellip;Close to 75 per cent of the players in the American League now wear helmets. Only one player on the Springfield Indians fails to wear one and there are only three players on the New Brunswick Hawks without helmets&hellip;The Kalamazoo Wings are off to their best start in years in the Interna tional Hockey League. At one stage they led the league in goals scored, goals against, had the leading goalie and leading scorer. All at the same time&hellip;Michel Parizeau was replaced as coach of the Syracuse Firebirds by Duane Rupp. Parizeau will become a scout for the Quebec Nordiques, one of the Firebirds&rsquo; parent NHL clubs&hellip;They are still behaving badly in the Western Hockey League. The antics of several of the WHL coaches and excutives are a disgrace to hockey. Latest to be fined and suspended for pulling their teams off the ice are coaches Pat Ginnell of Medicine Hat Tigers and Jack Shupe of Victoria Cougars. Ginnell and Shupe were each fined $1,000 and suspended two games&hellip;When Vancouver Canucks recently downed Montreal Canadiens, 5-2, before their home fans, it marked the first time in their nine years of existence that they had defeated Montreal at home&hellip;Canadiens also lost at home on two consecutive Saturdays which is something that happens very seldom. Canadiens have been beaten by teams this season that they &ldquo;owned&rdquo; for years.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05734/4306907-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="265" height="394"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Duane Rupp</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0004-01

KEN McKENZIE’S PASSING THE PUCK

<p>OFFICIAL NATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY FOUNDED 1947</p><p><b>VOLUME 33, NUMBER 10, DECEMBER 7, 1979</b></p><p><b>Editorial and Advertising Offices:</b></p><p><b>214 King Street West</b></p><p><b>Suite 314</b></p><p><b>Toronto, Ontario. M5H 1K4</b></p><p><b>Charlie Halpin</b><br><b><i>Editorial Director</i></b></p><p><b>Tom Murray</b><br><b><i>Assistant Publisher</i></b></p><p><b>Mike Dennis</b><br><b><i>Assistant Editor</i></b></p><p><b>Cathy Munro</b><br><b><i>Copy Editor</i></b></p><p><b>Bob Hanley</b><br><b><i>Editorial Consultant</i></b></p><p><b>Stan Fischler, Frank Orr Bob Verdi</b><br><b><i>Contributing Editors</i></b></p><h2>Business Staff</h2><p><b>Peter Emerson</b><br><b><i>Executive Vice President and General Manager</i></b></p><p><b>Joanne Hatch</b><br><b><i>Sales Service Manager</i></b></p><p><b>Kenneth W. McKenzie</b><br><b><i>President and Publisher</i></b></p><p><b><i>W. C. C. Publishing Ltd.,</i></b><br><b><i>Suite 217, 1434 St. Catherine St W.,</i></b><br><b><i>Montreal, Canada. H3G 1R7</i></b></p><p><b>Donald R. Wall</b><br><b><i>Chairman</i></b></p><p><b>Tom Murray</b><br><b><i>Assistant Publisher</i></b></p><p><b>850 Third Avenue,</b><br><b>New York, N.Y. 10022</b></p><h2>Advertising Representatives:</h2><h3>New York:</h3><p><b>Tom Murray</b><br><b>850 Third Ave,</b><br><b>New York, N.Y. 10022 &bull; (212) 593-2100</b></p><h3>Chicago:</h3><p><b>Hooper, Jones & Associates</b><br><b>3322 W. Peterson Avenue</b><br><b>Chicago, III. 60659 &bull; (312) 478-5544</b></p><h3>Boston:</h3><p><b>Steve Ganak</b><br><b>Steve Ganak Ad Reps</b><br><b>Statler Office Bulding</b><br><b>Boston, Mass. 02116 &bull; (617) 542-6913</b></p><p><b>THE HOCKEY NEWS</b>, (ISSN 00183016), is published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Publishing 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 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022. Phone (212) 593-2)00.</p><p><b>YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES:</b> $14.95 in the U.S.A., 13.95 in Canada, $19.25 In Foreign Countries. Send all subscription requests to The Hockey news, 850 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022.</p><p>Please allow 4-6 weeks for processing. <b>SEND ADDRESS CHANGES (AND 3579 FORMS)</b> to: The Hockey News, Martinsville Center, Martinsville, New Jersey 08836. Second class postage paid at New York, N.Y. 10001 and additional mailing offices. Second Class ZMail (Registration No. 1327).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY PAT DOYLE</div><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>INNIPEG&mdash;The Winnipeg Jets, like their three 1979-80 National Hockey League expansion partners, are being judged in two categories this season.</p><p>The first priority, of course, is the product Jets are putting on the ice.</p><p>In that regard, Winnipeg is having its problems, although that shouldn&rsquo;t come as too great a surprise. The Jets weren&rsquo;t expected to strike fear into the hearts of many clubs in their freshman whirl in the NHL, and they had made just five trips to the winner&rsquo;s circle through their first 20 games.</p><p>That&rsquo;s a quarter of a season, you realize, and if Jets maintain that pace until April 6 they&rsquo;ll have themselves 20 wins for the year, which isn&rsquo;t all that bad for a first-year club.</p><p>Meanwhile, the struggle Winnipeg has experienced with its on ice foes hasn&rsquo;t extended to the box office, which is the second area on which all expansion clubs are judged.</p><p>The Jets are doing quite well at the ticket wicket, thank you, establishing three single-game attendance marks in their first 11 home dates.</p><p>For the home opener against Colorado Rockies, 12,648 fans sifted through the turnstiles of the expanded Winnipeg Arena, and that was a record which lasted a grand total of 12 days.</p><p>The Boston Bruins came to town on Oct. 26 to be beaten by the Jets, 3-2, and there were 13,699 loyalists in the audience that night.</p><p>It wasn&rsquo;t long before that standard was bettered&mdash;Nov. 10 to be exact when 14,347 clients witnessed the first coming of Harold Ballard&rsquo;s Toronto Maple Leafs.</p><p>The date of that game is interesting, in that it marked the completion of Jets&rsquo; first month&rsquo;s an NHL entity and already the club had shattered a trio of attendance records.</p><p>In relation to the other 20 teams in the league, Winnipeg is more than holding its own in box office figures. Through all NHL games played up to and including those of Nov. 18, Jets were 10th in average attendance (12,494) and sixth in total head count (137,432).</p><p>The average is somewhat misleading, too, because not all seats in the expanded arena have been available to the club. The two new balconies were closed completely for all but five of those 11 games, and only once, for the opener versus Colorado, were they in full use.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve played to 95 per cent capacity,&rdquo; says Ken Fenson, publicity man for the Jets. &ldquo;In fact, for the game against Boston we were over capacity&hellip;it was 102 per cent that night.&rdquo;</p><p>Seating availability has fluctuated from 15,000 down to 12,185, back up to 14,347 and eventually it&rsquo;ll hit 15,400.</p><p>&ldquo;Once we get this building finished,&rdquo; says Marc Cloutier, executive director of business administration for the club, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re going to put 17,000 people in the rink.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Winnipeg Flying High On Turnstile Counts

<div class="byline">BY PAT CALABRIA</div><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>ONG ISLAND&mdash;It is frustrating, bewildering and frightening. For the first time in a long time, the Islanders are unable to protect themselves from both criticism and opposing forwards. The team has been put on the defensive.</p><p>In years past, that was fine. The Islanders&rsquo; defense was strong and deep and determined. Now it is weak and tender and confused. While the club continues to score at an appropriate rate, the defense has sagged, dragging the team down with it.</p><p>For the first time in three years, the Islanders lost three straight games in a stretch that saw them lose five of six&mdash;one of their worst slumps in club history. It raised a few eyebrows too that two of the three losses were to teams with their own problems.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s our defense, that&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s wrong,&rdquo; coach Al Arbour bellowed after a 6-3 defeat in St. Louis. &ldquo;They better look the word up in the dictionary and see what defense means. They&rsquo;re running all over the place and they&rsquo;re not touching anybody. They let everyone stand in front of the net.&rdquo;</p><p>That defeat followed a 5-4 loss to Detroit at Nassau Coliseum and sent the Islanders spinning into a deep hole&mdash;16 points behind the Philadelphia Flyers, leaders in the Patrick Division. With a 3-1 loss in Minnesota the Islanders were reeling.</p><p>During one stretch, the Islanders allowed at least five goals in five straight games and they had never done that before. Victimized were goalies Glenn Resch and Bill Smith, having their own struggles and not getting help besides.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re doing a lot of bad things,&rdquo; Reach said. &ldquo;Maybe each guy is trying to do too much on his own. I haven&rsquo;t made a good save since the last snowstorm&hellip;all the guys are on pins and needles. They&rsquo;re wondering what&rsquo;s going to happen next.&rdquo;</p><p>So was general manager Bill Torrey. He has hinted at small changes and at least one player could be called up from the Indianapolis farm team. Torrey also did not deny he might summon Rich-hard Brodeur, the leading goalie in the Central Hockey League.</p><p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the solution?&rdquo; Torrey said. &ldquo;We could trade. But we&rsquo;d solve our problems quicker if some of our All Stars began playing like All Stars. Obviously, they&rsquo;re not.&rdquo;</p><p>Neither are the support players adding much support. Torrey has been critical of his core of &ldquo;defensive&rdquo; defensemen, such as Dave Lewis, Stefan Persson and Bob Lorimer. &ldquo;The thing is, they&rsquo;ve always played well in the past,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like they can&rsquo;t do the job. It&rsquo;s just that they haven&rsquo;t been doing it.&rdquo;</p><p>The turn-around is mystifying to the players. Potvin said: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve run out of explanations.&rdquo; Resch said: &ldquo;Would it help to trade me? I don&rsquo;t know. Would it get me going? Would it get the team going. You&rsquo;ve got me.&rdquo;</p><p>Torrey is not likely to make a move that sweeping in nature. He is convinced he has assembled enough talent to make a run at the Stanley Cup which the team was favored to win last season. It appears, however, the Islanders will not repeat as the NHL point-leader and may have trouble capturing the third straight division title.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like we have to score seven goals to win a game,&rdquo; Arbour said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not blaming the goaltenders. They&rsquo;re at the mercy of the defensemen.&rdquo;</p><p>The Islanders are concerned now with correcting their faults before they forget how to correct them. Arbour would like to get the team rolling so it can begin to experiment with strategy that might be helpful in the playoffs. The Trottier line still is together and Arbour would like to dissas-semble it on occasion. He hasn&rsquo;t had the chance.</p><p>The power play, once the best in the league, is no longer as threatening and the penalty killing has deteriorated. After Wayne Merrick, the club does not have one experienced centre who is skilful at taking faceoffs. Generally, few of the forwards have checked consistently.</p><p>Torrey has been hoping that the return of Bobby Nystrom from a separated shoulder would help. But Nystrom has not had much support. In addition, Potvin has not rounded into the form that has made him a Norris Trophy winner. In the St. Louis game, he was caught out of position when the Blues scored a shorthanded goal.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Puzzling Islanders Defensively Deficient

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-01978/4307038-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="514" height="356"></div><h2>Wirtz Has Clout</h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>C</span>LOUT. WHETHER YOU</b> like it or not, Billy Wirtz has it. Whether you like it or not, the mergerexpansion-marriage-amalgamation-consolidation between the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association wouldn&rsquo;t have happened without him.</p><p>Clout, Billy Wirtz, president of the Chicago Black Hawks and chairman of the NHL Board of Governors for a third time, has clout.</p><p>Billy Wirtz also has a temper, and he&rsquo;s not very excited about the way his favorite sport is being treated these days by Team Typewriter.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand all the criticism for our league,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;What happened had to happen, for the good of hockey. We lost $200,000 million in those seven years we were fighting the WHA, and I have no idea what they lost. I mean, I saw owners come into meetings and break down because they were just about busted. The three bloodiest wars in history have been the Civil War, the Peloponesian War and the war between the two hockey leagues.</p><p>&ldquo;I hear people talking about how wonderful it was during the days of the six-team league. Well, of course it was wonderful, but it was an abnormal thing. Six teams in the northeast sector of North America. If we hadn&rsquo;t expanded logically, it would have retarded the growth of the sport. You had towns all over putting up beautiful new buildings just waiting for the sport.</p><p>&ldquo;You couldn&rsquo;t stay with the six-team league. Sure, all the games were great then. Tell me, though, when have you seen a six-team National Football League or a six-team league in baseball? You haven&rsquo;t, because it&rsquo;s abnormal, unrealistic.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying we don&rsquo;t have problems. Sure, I&rsquo;m concerned that some of the cities that used to draw well (editor&rsquo;s note: Chicago, included) aren&rsquo;t drawing as well as they used to. And I&rsquo;m aware that Denver is probably going to wind up in the Meadlowlands. But I don&rsquo;t agree with the people who say we&rsquo;re not going in the right direction.</p><h2>Fantastic Interest</h2><p><b>&ldquo;CLARENCE CAMPBELL</b> (former NHL president) said the other day that we&rsquo;re too big. Well, you know what I think of Mr. Campbell, but I just can&rsquo;t agree with him there. I&rsquo;m not saying we won&rsquo;t lose a team or two, but I can&rsquo;t ever see us getting under 18 teams. Ever. The interest now in the NHL in Canada is fantastic. Montreal goes into Quebec City and the Nordiques beat them&hellip;well, they&rsquo;ll be talking about that for three years.</p><p>&ldquo;And the Islanders going into Edmonton and getting beat. I think there&rsquo;s a message there. The message is that parity is a lot closer than maybe some of our critics say it is. I think we gave the WHA clubs a hell of a deal. They got two goalies and two priority skaters. These teams might wind up as the best expansion teams we ever had.</p><p>&ldquo;But the best part about the two leagues getting together is that we can worry about our game now and stop worrying about who&rsquo;s suing who. We can all turn to our own clubs and try to improve them. For a while, it looked like some of our owners would have to cash it in. And if you don&rsquo;t have any owners, you don&rsquo;t have any teams. And if you don&rsquo;t have any teams, you don&rsquo;t have any league.&rdquo;</p><p>And the National Hockey League, Wirtz promises, will survive without national television.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to get on national TV, we might as well resign ourselves to that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Hockey just isn&rsquo;t going to have the appeal in Arizona, so the outlets down there are going to show an &lsquo;I Love Lucy&rsquo; re-run. It&rsquo;ll be cheaper and it will make more money.</p><h2>Cable Concept Booming</h2><p><b>&ldquo;THE NEW FIELD</b> for sports is cable TV, anyway. There were facilities for 2&frac12; million homes in 1973. Now, it&rsquo;s 34 million. The cable and subscription TV concept is booming, and hockey will be fortunate there because the sports which have been giving away their product for free on the networks won&rsquo;t be able to charge for it.&rdquo;</p><p>Wirtz blanches at suggestions, here and there, that hockey people sell their sport with all the gusto of a turtle.</p><p>&ldquo;I believe in marketing to an extent,&rdquo; said Wirtz. &ldquo;But I also believe in the product. I sell liquor. If you don&rsquo;t have it in the bottle, it won&rsquo;t sell. Period. We have the ingredients of the greatest game in the world. Sixty minutes of action. What does football have&mdash;11 minutes the ball is actually in play? Baseball, ten minutes? We have 60 minutes.</p><p>&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve cut down on the violent aspect of the game. The bench emptying, the brawls. We didn&rsquo;t need that. I think we have to keep our concept of equalization and compensation in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. It is necessary to the game. I know one thing. If the sport ever goes the direction of no compensation, then I&rsquo;m getting out of it. And I won&rsquo;t be the only owner to get out. And remember what I said. If there are no owners, there are no teams. And if there are no teams&hellip;&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0005-01

HOCKEY TALK

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>UFFALO&mdash;The Derek Smith-Tony McKegney-Danny Gare line is back together and seems to have found the scoring range and that is good for the Buffalo Sabres.</p><p>In the Sabres&rsquo; opening game, Smith centered for McKegney and Gare and the line came through with three goals in a 6-3 win over Washington.</p><p>&ldquo;That Smith line looks like a dangerous one,&rdquo; said Scotty Bowman, when his first regularseason game as coach of the Sabres was over.</p><p>Scotty experimented with his forwards in the early eason, however, changing lines around during games; even during shifts.</p><p>Gare would play at least one shift with Smith and McKegney, but he more often would be with Gil Perreault and either Craig Ramsay or Rick Martin than with Smith and McKegney.</p><p>Smith and McKegney, meanwhile, were having trouble finding the net. It wasn&rsquo;t until the seventh game that Smith, who scored once in the opener and assisted on two goals by Gare, scored his second goal.</p><p>McKegney, who has scored 21 goals in 24 games when he was sent to Hershey of the American League last season, didn&rsquo;t get his first goal for Buffalo this campaign until the 10th game.</p><p>After a good deal of switching around, Bowman seemed to settle on forward lines that he used regularly. Smith, McKegney and Gare began to play together almost ex-clusivey the middle of November.</p><p>In an important 5-1 win over Atlanta, Gare and McKegney each scored a goal and added an assist. That was the first game at home the Sabres played against a team that finished higher in the standing than they did in 1978-79.</p><p>The next time was another big one. Against Minnesota on the North Stars&rsquo; ice. The Stars had won all six of their home games until then and they had beaten the Sabres early in the season.</p><p>In the opening minutes of play, McKegney skated the puck into the Minnosota end, slid it to his left, where Smith was racing up, and Smith scored on a shot from a difficult angle. The Sabres went on to win, 4-2.</p><p>Then came a crazy game, a 9-7 victory over Edmonton. The only goal by the Smith-McKegney line in that game was tallied by Smith, who also had an assist during a power play.</p><p>The following game was a bad one for Buffalo, a 5-3 loss to Hartford on the Whalers&rsquo; ice. The only line to score for Buffalo was the Smith line. Gare had two goals and McKegney one.</p><p>Last Saturday, against Washington, Gare scored the first of two Buffalo goals and Smith got the third in a 6-1 triumph. That gave the line six straight Buffalo goals.</p><p>Almost as important as the scoring, though, was the fact that in the two successive games in which the opposition trailed by 14 goals, the Smith line was on for only one goal against.</p><p>There wasn&rsquo;t one game in the Sabres&rsquo; first 21 that Smith and Company had more goals scored against them than they scored.</p><p>Smith and McKegney both were coming back from a disappointing campaign and 1978-79 was not a happy one for Gare, either.</p><p>Smith, with the Sabres through an entire schedule for the first time, was hurt twice and played only 43 games, scoring 14 goals. He had spent three previous seasons moving between Buffalo and Hershey.</p><p>McKegney, the Sabres&rsquo; second draft choice in 1978, had a great training camp that year and got off to a good start but fell into a scoring slump and was shipped off to Hershey, where he had 39 points in 24 games. He came back to the Sabres for the playoffs, which lasted only three games for Buffalo.</p><p>Gare was bothered by an ailing back and other injuries. He scored 27 goals, good for many fowards but not for the 50-goal man he was in 1975-76.</p><p><b>ICE CHIPS:</b>&mdash;In his last 10 games, Gare had seven goals and five assists for 12 points&hellip;Gil Perreault, who went seven games without a goal, began to hit again and scored five goals in his last five games&hellip;Craig Ramsay played his 500th consecutive regular-season game when the Sabres beat Edmonton.</p><p>Veteran defenseman Jerry Korab, hurt in the first pre-season game, returned to action against Washington.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011158/4307069-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="576" height="1148"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Center Derek Smith has been particularly effective when teamed with Gare and McKegney.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0006-01

Reunited Sabres’ Combo Large Plus

<div class="byline">BY ARNOLD IRISH</div><p class="dropcap"><span>S</span>T. LOUIS&mdash;It&rsquo;s never easy for a team to close ranks and carry on when its leading scorer is injured. The St. Louis Blues understand the difficulty factor, in spades. They were playing for a while without their top three scorers from last season.</p><p>&ldquo;How am I feeling?&rdquo; Bernie Federko exchanged noonday greetings recently with a friend, &ldquo;Fine, but I&rsquo;m losing my wingers.&rdquo;</p><p>In a matter of hours, Wayne Babych had sustained a partial shoulder separation and captain Bryan Sutter had gone on the shelf with a pulled thigh muscle.</p><p>Federko was just beginning to adjust to new linemates (technically, Babych had been taken off the Kid Line shortly before his injury in an effort to broaden the scope of St. Louis&rsquo; attack) when he himself was consigned to the Blues&rsquo; sick bay with a pulled muscle in his side.</p><p>Federko led the Blues in scoring last year with 95 points (31 goals, 64 assists), Sutter was runner-up with 80 points (41 goals, 39 assists) and Babych finished third with 63 points (27 goals, 36 assists).</p><p>If losing star after star gave the Blues a feeling of deja vu, making do without their top scorer was a new experience. In recent years, their top scorer had been Garry Unger, and of course the &ldquo;Iron Man&rdquo; (traded to Atlanta at the beginning of this season) never missed a game.</p><p>St. Louis&rsquo; training room is beginning to resemble a Civil War battlefield scene from the movie &ldquo;Gone With The Wind&rdquo;, and there was speculation whether the team&rsquo;s most valuable player award this season will go to trainer Tommy Woodcock or Dr. Jerome Gilden, the team&rsquo;s orthopedic surgeon.</p><p>The pattern began in training camp when the return of speedy Chuck Lefley (a 43-goal Scorer in 1976), who had been out of professional hockey the past two years, was postponed several months when his shoulder separation required constructive surgery.</p><p>Since Federko&rsquo;s injury, the Blues lost yet another forward when winger Bobby Simpson was forced out of action with a possible shoulder or collarbone separation and a leg injury after crashing into a goal post.</p><p>The mass exodus of Blues&rsquo; forwards applied more pressure to the line Mike Zuke centers for Ralph Klassen and Hartland Monohan. That trio hasn&rsquo;t been together long, either. Zuke missed the season&rsquo;s first four games following with a cut tendon (suffered during a pre-season donnybrook when an opponent skated over Mike&rsquo;s hand), and only now is beginning to operate with his customary authority.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen anything like it,&rdquo; bewildered Blues coach Barclay Plager said of the seemingly endless string of injuries, hockey&rsquo;s answer to Legionairre&rsquo;s disease. &ldquo;But these guys are pros. When we lose men, the rest have to buckle down and get the job done.</p><p>&ldquo;Injuries are a part of the game. The thing I like best, though, is the way nobody has used injuries as an excuse for not trying.&rdquo;</p><p>Ever the positive thinker, Plager said the rash of injuries is giving him &ldquo;an opportunity to look at a lot of people&rdquo; (Floyd &ldquo;White Pine&rdquo; Thompson was recalled to take Sutter&rsquo;s place and Rick Bowness filled in for Babych) and expressed the hope that when all his troops are healthy again, he&rsquo;ll know more about everyone on the roster than he did before.</p><p>Meanwhile, in a move unrelated to the Blues&rsquo; physical misfortunes, they obtained 23-year-old right winger Brian Chapman from Pittsburgh in exchange for veteran defenseman Bob Stewart.</p><p>Emile Francis, the Blues&rsquo; president and general manager, had been trying for two years to land Chapman, who for three years was Federko&rsquo;s linemate with the Saskatoon Blades in Junior &ldquo;A&rdquo;. Chapman, possessor of a wicked wrist shot, two years ago had 24 goals and 20 assists although last season his production tailed off to only 10 goals and eight assists and this year he was playing out his option.</p><p>St. Louis fans feel snakebitten, having only recently adjusted to the reality that their Cardinals of the National Football League have been virtually destroyed (10 men on injured reserve) by crippling injuries.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s as if the city&rsquo;s teams are going through a cycle,&rdquo; one Blues supporter said. &ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s our drinking water.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Injury Barrage Cripples Blues’ Scoring Machine

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02796/4307155-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Marcel Dionne of the L.A. Kings is the hottest thing on ice this season. He leads the NHL with 46 points and is aiming at several league records.</i></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>M</span>ONTREAL&mdash;Marcel Dionne of Los Angeles Kings and the Philadelphia Flyers shared the spotlight in the first quarter of the National League season. With still three-quarters of the season remaining, Dionne appears to be taking dead aim at Phil Esposito&rsquo;s record for most points in the season while Flyers have appeared unbeatable during the early going.</p><p>Dionne, off to the fastest start of his career, leads the league scoring race after 22 games with 46 points&mdash;20 goals and 26 assists. Projected over the remainder of the schedule, Dionne, who is averaging 2.09 points per game, would accumulate 164 points. Phil Esposito, who established the points record of 152, including a record 76 goals in 1970-71, averaged 1.95 points per game. After 22 games that season, he had 39 points and 15 goals.</p><p>Dionne is also ahead of the pace set by Bobby Orr en route to his league record 102 assists&mdash;the only player ever to attain 100 assists.</p><p>Orr had 23 assists after 22 games in 1970-71. Dionne added five points to his total last week, including three goals. Dionne now holds a 10 point-lead over teammate Charlie Simmer while Montreal&rsquo;s Guy Lafleur and Los Angeles&rsquo; Dave Taylor are tied for third spot with 35 points. New York Islanders&rsquo; Bryan Trottier, last year&rsquo;s scoring champion, has moved into fourth spot with 33 points.</p><p>Meanwhile Flyers have extended their undefeated streak to 117 games last week and share the overall League lead with Boston Bruins with 33 points each. However, Flyers hold two games in hand over Bruins. Flyers increased their undefeated streak with victories over Los Angeles and Vancouver and a tie with Edmonton Oilers Saturday. Flyers are the only team in the League who have yet to be defeated on home ice this season. Flyers only loss of the year came October 13 in Atlanta when they fell to a 9-2 defeat at the hands of the Flames.</p><p>One reason Flyers have been able to get off to such a successful start this season is their team penalty record. Unlike other years when Flyers have led the League in that department, the club this season has been penalized 343 minutes, which puts them seventh behind League-leading Winnipeg, which has 436 penalty minutes. Another reason for Flyers&rsquo; success is the steady goaltending the team has been getting from veteran Phil Myre and rookie Pete Peeters. Peeters&rsquo; average of 2.22 is the best of any goalie with a minimum of 300 minutes played.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0007-02

Kings’ Dionne Hunting Espo’s Point Record

<p>The International Hockey Weekly Founded in 1947</p><p><b>Published by the W.C.C. Publishing Co.</b></p><p><b>214 King St. West, Suite 314, Toronto, Ont. M5H 1K4</b></p><h2>The French Fact</h2><p><b>THE NEWEST CONTEST</b> in the National Hockey League involves Canadiens and Nordiques, each undertaking to identify more thoroughly with French-speaking Quebec.</p><p>It&rsquo;s a conflict which is good for hockey, helping build up a new rivalry within the league, but it doesn&rsquo;t necessarily follow that it will be good for tolerance, the English language or the essential idea of One Canada.</p><p>Quebec writers have already complained in print about public address announcements being given in the Colisee in both French and English. They say 99 per cent of Quebec residents are French, and since Maple Leaf Gardens makes announcements only in English, there is no need for the Colisee to make announcements in other than French.</p><p>Two of the writers protesting bilingualism in the Colisee are Pierre Champagne and Claude Larochelle, both of Le Soleil, the French-language paper in Quebec City. Larochelle has called for sustained booing whenever announcements are repeated in English.</p><p>From Montreal, where public announcements and press box statistical services are given in both French and English, there have been complaints from writers (English speaking) that all statistical services in the Quebec press box are in French only.</p><p>While all of this has been going on, a Montreal writer has dredged up some interesting facts about the naming of game stars in Montreal&rsquo;s Forum.</p><p>In 244 games since the start of the &rsquo;76-&rsquo;77 season, English-speaking selectors chose 189 anglophones and 153 francophones. In the same period, French-speaking writers selected 173 anglophones and 217 francophones.</p><p>When it got down to stars from the Canadiens club exclusively, the preferences showed more clearly&hellip;English writers named 106 English and 132 French players, while French writers named 90 English and 183 French players.</p><p>The French-speaking writers are obviously proud of the French-Canadian players, among the finest in professional hockey.</p><p>And the new contest between Nordiques and Canadiens is to determine which can identify most deeply with the fans of Quebec.</p><h2>No Tag Days</h2><p><b>AMONG THE OLD TIMERS</b> returned to action recently was Gerry Cheevers, the 38-year-old horseman and sometimes goalie of the Bruins. Cheevers, who was recovering from surgery nicely when he twisted his knee, earned a shutout in his second start of the season (over Leafs).</p><p>With Brad Park still out at that point, the return of Cheevers was good news for Bruins who have come along well under the new low-key approach of Freddie Creighton.</p><p>Cheevers is a wily old pro who draws compliments from other seniors in the league. He has an inimitable way of protecting his net and minimizing second chances.</p><p>But the important fact about Cheevers is that he spends more time with The Racing Form than with THE HOCKEY NEWS. As successful with his thoroughbred stable as with hockey, they&rsquo;ll never need a tag day for Cheevers. Indeed, they won&rsquo;t need tag days for his horses, either.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

<div class="byline">BY BRENT LADDS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011149/4307210-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="283" height="458"></div><p>Amateur hockey is still lour prime concern!</p><p>Reaction and questions have recently arisen over an announcement by the National Hockey League, that 31 junior aged players had been signed by NHL teams and sent back to play with their former junior clubs.</p><p>National Hockey League teams have been exercising an option available to them, to avoid having to go through a re-entry draft to claim these same players for next season. What affect will this have on amateur hockey? How does it affect the amateur status of the players who are now receiving signing bonuses, and have been returned to their amateur junior clubs?</p><p>Amateur hockey executives throughout Canada are searching for answers to these questions!</p><p>The obvious effect of an increase in 18 and 19-year-old players participating in the NHL, will be the drain on the player supply within the amateur ranks. This latest move by the NHL will probably result in an increased demand by junior teams on minor talent. That in itself will initiate a chain reaction which could be felt through the entire amateur structure.</p><p>The Ontario Hockey Association is currently addressing itself to this problem, with the assistance of its 12 major junior hockey clubs.</p><p>It is certainly not the association&rsquo;s position to deny any player the right to a decent living in his natural environment. However, our foremost consideration has to be the effect all this will have on the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association.</p><p>Present age limits for junior and minor hockey were effected during the days when the age of majority was 20 and 21 in various provinces of Canada. Perhaps they need adjustment to accommodate this current trend. Hopefully, National Hockey League governors are conscious of our amateur structure, and will give it due consideration before determining any policy which may have adverse effects.</p><p>The matter of &ldquo;who is a professional&rdquo; is another concern. When it became apparent that junior teams would be registering players who had received pro payments, a primary issue which arose was, how does it affect their amateur status?</p><p>The definition of an amateur is spelled out in the CAHA handbook. It states that an, &ldquo;amateur hockey player is one who either is not engaged in organized professional hockey or if he has so engaged, has been reinstated.&rdquo;</p><p>Amateur bodies have looked to their European counterparts for some direction on this issue. It is very common in European hockey for players to be recruited through enterprises who sponsor top class hockey clubs. Although many of the players appear on the company payroll, their first responsibility is to the hockey club. Inso doing, they do not jeopardize their amateur standing in the eyes of those who head the International Ice Hockey Federation, a body which governs international competition.</p><p>The CAHA and its branches have taken a similar outlook regarding those players who have received signing bonuses from NHL clubs. As long as the payments are not being generated through the player&rsquo;s amateur hockey club, his amateur status will not be jeopardized.</p><p>Additional guidelines will be set down by the National League on the number of pro games in which these players will have to compete, in order to avoid next year&rsquo;s entry draft. It is hoped that a mutual understanding between the professional operators and amateur executives can be struck to protect our general interests.</p><p>Out of the whole issue the only thing that seems abundantly clear is that the NHL&rsquo;s accommodation of former World Hockey Association teams over the past summer, was not the last hurdle in the great hockey steeplechase!</p><p><i>&bull; Brent Ladds is the secretary manager of the Ontario Hockey Association.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-01

Player Supply Being Drained

<div class="byline">BY LARRY GORDON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021034/4307241-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="280" height="345"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he terms of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s fifth expansion were a take-it-or-leave-it situation for the teams from the World Hockey Association.</p><p>The Edmonton Oilers did well in terms of attendance in the WHA and so did the Quebec Nordiques but we had to accept the procedure set up by the NHL because it would have been hard to continue as a league with only two teams.</p><p>A lot of people mention Winnipeg and the six or seven players they lost, but we lost 13 players and our defense was decimated. Our captain Paul Shmyr went to Minnesota; Dave Langevin, a bright young player was lost to the Islanders; John Hughes went to Vancouver and we lost Risto Siltanen and had to trade another good prospect, Joe Micheletti, to St. Louis to get him back.</p><p>Then we had a ruling turn (Bengt) Gustafsson over to the (Washington) Capitals and Doug Berry, another forward, was taken by Colorado.</p><p>Over the long run, though, it&rsquo;s the best thing for the game; it&rsquo;s in the best interests of hockey.</p><p>The team we&rsquo;ve been able to assemble is due to Bryan Watson (assistant coach), Barry Fraser, our chief scout and Bruce McGregor (director of hockey personnel). It&rsquo;s through their knowledge that this team has been put together.</p><p>We went with the youngest guys available with the most potential and naturally our first priority was in building our defense.</p><p>We were very fortunate to be able to obtain players like Lee Fogolin, he&rsquo;s been a super addition to our team, and Doug Hicks, Colin Campbell and Pat Price for our defense.</p><p>I shudder to think what would have happened if we hadn&rsquo;t been able to come up with players like those.</p><p>Our philosophy now is to go with the younger players. In Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, we have the two youngest players in the league. We also want to maintain our draft choices and to follow the example set by the Islanders so that we can have a top team in three or four years.</p><p>Our primary problem is inconsistency which can be attributed to inexperience as a whole. But people love to watch the young guys on this team develop. In every city we go, they&rsquo;re all keen to see our youngsters.</p><p><i>&bull; Larry Gordon is the executive vice president and general manager of the Edmonton Oilers.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-02

Edmonton Didn’t Have Choice

<div class="byline">By VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><p>DETROIT&mdash;The Detroit Red Wings are for sale.</p><p>Officials of the National Hockey League club have begun serious negotiations aimed at selling the club, which has been owned for nearly half a century by the Norris family.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a real shock, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; said Lincoln Cavalieri, a vice-president and assistant secretary of the Detroit Hockey Club.</p><p>Bruce A. Norris, owner and president of the Red Wings since 1955, is entertaining offers and this time, if the price is right, he is prepared to sell.</p><p>The sale price is expected to be about $20 million.</p><p>Of the four potential buyers mentioned initially, two are local interests.</p><p>There are reports that the sale could be completed quickly before the end of the current season, but Cavalieri said there is no timetable.</p><p>&ldquo;There is a time and place for everything. Nothing is forever,&rdquo; said Cavalieri when the &ldquo;For Sale&rdquo; sign went up.</p><p>&ldquo;The biggest thing, as I see it, is that Bruce is getting to the age (55) where he wants to relax and do other things. Unlike his father, who could leave things to his sons and daughter, there&rsquo;s nobody he can confide in and leave something to.&rdquo;</p><p>Norris has designated Cavalieri, a longtime confidant, as his spokesman during the negotiations for the sale of the hockey club.</p><p>&ldquo;Bruce has kept away from the whole thing. He&rsquo;s put it all in my lap to negotiate and also discuss anything that has to be discussed,&rdquo; Cavalieri said.</p><p>&ldquo;This is a time when Bruce feels it&rsquo;s time to let go of the hockey club. He&rsquo;s got a lot of other interests&hellip;the Norin Corporation has expanded. He&rsquo;s got a lot of things to keep him busy.&rdquo;</p><p>Norris is president and chairman of the board for the Miamibased Norris Grain Co. and Norin Corp.</p><p>Of the offers to purchase the hockey club, Cavalieri labelled four &ldquo;legitimate&rdquo;.</p><p>&ldquo;There is no timetable. You know how negotiations can go&hellip;one month, three months, six months,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>&ldquo;There is no doubt that the team will remain in Detroit. In fact, the lease we have with the city requires that we lease to whoever we sell the club to. We have a 30-year lease in the new arena. Anybody would be stupid not to take the Louis Arena in Detroit. There&rsquo;s no better hockey city anywhere&rdquo;</p><p>The last NHL team to be sold was the Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens. The price: $23 million.</p><p>&ldquo;I compare our franchise to Montreal,&rdquo; Cavalieri said. &ldquo;Maybe it&rsquo;s not worth quite as much because we don&rsquo;t have the team they have. But we&rsquo;re one of the best franchises in the country. Going into the Joe Louis Arena with 20,000 seats available, it&rsquo;s an outstanding franchise.&rdquo;</p><p>There was a time when the Norris family held an interest in three of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s six teams.</p><p>James Norris Sr. passed his interest of the game on to his two sons. The elder Norris purchased the Red Wings in 1933 and later was co-owner of the Chicago Black Hawks. At one time before his death in 1952, the senior Norris owned a majority interest in Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Rangers.</p><p>Marguerite Norris Riker, Bruce&rsquo;s sister, is the only woman ever to be actively involved in the NHL heirarchy. It was Marguerite Norris who assumed the presidency of the Red Wings upon the death of the father in 1952. and held the office until turning it over to Bruce in 1955. She remains the executive vice-president of the hockey club.</p><p>James D. Norris, Bruce&rsquo;s older brother, was co-owner of the Red Wings with his father before becoming an owner of the Black Hawks. All except Marguerite are enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.</p><p>Norris currently is involved with another major sale&mdash;a 30, - 000-acre parcel in Florida valued at $50 million.</p><p>John Ziegler, president of the National Hockey League, has been closely associated with Norris since 1959. Ziegler eventually became a vice-president of the Detroit Hockey Club. When Ziegler was mentioned as a successor to Clarence Campbell as president of the NHL, Norris was among his staunchest supporters.</p><p>&ldquo;On the sale, I deliberately am not that close and if Bruce is seriously considering it, his attitude has changed,&rdquo; Ziegler said.</p><p>&ldquo;When I talked to him when the story broke, he said it was kind of like it has been every year when I was with the club. There was an annual receipt of offers.</p><p>&ldquo;Bruce has reponsibility not only to himself but to a daughter, a sister and nephews and nieces for whom he is trustee and different things. In the past, anytime some kind of offer would come in, he would have to investigate it because he has that fiduciary responsibility.&rdquo;</p><p>The NHL would only get involved, Ziegler said, once an agreement is reached between Norris and a buyer.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Red Wings’ Sale Could Close Norris Dynasty

<div class="byline">Fan Forum Compiled By CATHY MUNRO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011136/4307320-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="564" height="326"></div><h2>Heart and Soul Of Rangers</h2><p class="dropcap"><span>C</span>heap shot, Fred Shero! First it&rsquo;s Nicky Fotiu, now Pat Hickey, Mike McEwen and Lucien De Blois?!? As far as I&rsquo;m concerned, Pat, Mike and Lucien were the heart and soul of the New York Rangers&mdash;dedication and talent, character and finesse.</p><p>Granted, Barry Beck, formerly of the Colorado Rockies, is good, but I have my doubts about his being worth the loss of three of the Rangers&rsquo; most dedicated, most definite players.</p><p>I think I&rsquo;m just about ready to hand in my Ranger jersey now&hellip;</p><p><b>Mary Roth</b><br><i>E. Brunswick, NJ</i></p><h2>Predict Playoffs for Capitals</h2><p>Once again the people who publish hockey magazines underrated a lot of teams, mainly Washington, Colorado, St. Louis, Vancouver, Hartford, Toronto and Detroit. First off, the Washington Capitals are picked to finish last in the Patrick division. No way! The Caps have better goaltending and defense and more scoring punch than Philadelphia (do you wanna fight?) Flyers. The Capitals will finish fourth and make the playoffs.</p><p>The Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Blues are coming off awful seasons but they both have a lot of talent. And both will have good seasons with Colorado finishing second and St. Louis third. Vancouver will surprise everybody and win the Smythe division.</p><p>Also, Hartford and Detroit will have good seasons with an outside shot at beating out the Pittsburgh Penguins and the defenseless Los Angeles Kings.</p><p>The Toronto Maple Leafs may look bad on paper but they&rsquo;ll beat our Boston (have some Geritol) Bruins for second place. In conclusion, I wish the worst of luck to the Islanders, Philadelphia, Chicago, Montreal and Boston.</p><p><b>Russ Morris</b><br><i>Floral Park, N. Y.</i></p><h2>McCourt Case, One More Time</h2><p>In regard to the Dale McCourt farce, I&rsquo;d like to enlighten readers on some facts. Marcel Dionne became a free agent from Detroit and decided to go to the Los Angeles Kings, just like free agent Rogie Vachon decided to go to the Detroit Red Wings. Marcel was not traded either, but the Kings were obligated to compensate Detroit for him and consequently broke up a very prromising team to do so. Los Angeles had to give Captain Terry Harper and Dan Maloney to Detroit as compensation for Dionne. These two were the nucleus of our team at the time and the fans at the Forum were very upset at losing them.</p><p>However, what is past is past, and everyone in LA is delighted to have Dionne on our team. At the same time, we still have a lot of respect for Harper and Maloney.</p><p>Let&rsquo;s face it, McCourt is definitely a misled young man, turning down a fabulous contract from the Kings, which would have ensured his future along with that of his family. I just hope that for his sake he never falls out of favor with the Detroit organization.</p><p><b>Freda Pike</b><br><i>Cerritos, CA</i></p><h2><b>Ballard Hot Over Beck Trade</b></h2><p>I am sick and tired of Harold Ballard sounding off every time he can&rsquo;t have his way, with the most recent incident being that of the New York Rangers acquisition of Barry Beck.</p><p>Ballard&rsquo;s very derogatory statement to the effect that &ldquo;Sonny Werblin does not know which end of the hockey stick to use,&rdquo; shows the childishness of the Maple Leafs&rsquo; owner. Whether Sonny Werblin used the Meadowlands complex as bait to lift Beck from the Colorado Rockies or not is academic, because Mr. Werblin&rsquo;s vote alone will not move the Rockies into the Meadowlands.</p><p>If Ballard knows as much about hockey as he thinks he does, he would realize that the trade benefitted both teams equally, and by no means was it a steal for the Rangers. The bottom line is that next to the Montreal Canadiens, the Rangers have the best talent in the NHL to offer the Rockies for Beck.</p><p>The truth of the matter is that Ballard is still upset with the Rangers because he was unable to sign Mike Nykoluk as the Maple Leafs head coach.</p><p><b>Larry D&rsquo;Andrea</b><br><i>Corona, N.Y.</i></p><h2><b>Hat Trick On Anthems?</b></h2><p>Just a thought: if Premier Rene Levesque and his Parti Quebecois are successful in their bid for sovereignty for Quebec, will that mean that <i>THREE</i> national anthems will be sung before every NHL game in this country?</p><p>Whew!</p><p>Aw nuts. Drop the puck!</p><p><b>Tina Hallinan</b><br><i>Idaho Falls, Idaho</i></p><h2><b>Telecast Shuffling Just Too Much</b></h2><p>In response to the letter from Arthur Lord of NBC News I would like to say that I agree that NBC did a superb job from the games I saw on television.</p><p>The problem was that we didn&rsquo;t see too many games here because they were optional to the local NBC affiliates. We were lucky to see one game a month. A game would be scheduled in the local paper only to be pre-empted by a movie. The Stanley Cup final game was pre-empted by a pre season baseball game that was rain delayed for 2 hours.</p><p>There are seven professional and semi-professional teams within a 200 mile radius of my city. This area is not without hockey fans, yet we were deprived of telecasts due to the whim of the local program director.</p><p>I am sure that if all NBC affiliates had carried all of the games the ratings would have been much better and probably increased in time. The fans here stayed away in droves only because they were forced to stay away.</p><p><b>Paul Arnold</b><br><i>Columbus, OH.</i></p><h2><b>Draftees Gone From L.A. Lineup</b></h2><p>I don&rsquo;t understand the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; management. Dr. Jerry Buss buys the team and says he will build a Stanley Cup contender through top draft choices&mdash;something new to the LA franchise. So, this past draft the top two choices were defensemen.</p><p>And where do the two players (Jay Wells & Mark Hardy) end up? At Binghamton in the AHL! Meanwhile, a St. Louis Blues&rsquo; reject, Barry Gibbs, 32, is playing a regular shift on defense.</p><p>Next year the Kings will have several first and second round draft picks. And I am sure more defensemen will be drafted since the LA defense is the worst in the NHL. And if Kings&rsquo; management follows tradition, the minor league affiliate should have the best defense in North America while the Kings continue to trade for over-the-hill defensemen.</p><p>And King management wonders why they can&rsquo;t get 10,000 people to a game!!!</p><p><b>Rick Lewis</b><br><i>Van Nuys, CA</i></p><h2><b>Hark, When The Whistle Blows&hellip;</b></h2><p>A new system of handling fights should be instituted in the NHL. When a fight starts the referee should blow his whistle loudly. The players now have five seconds to break it up. After five seconds the ref would blow his whistle again; that&rsquo;s $500 each. If they continue fighting they will get another $500 fine.</p><p>Finally, if they don&rsquo;t stop, the officials would break up the fight and each player would be thrown out for the remainder of the contest. In addition, the players would receive a one game suspension. Implement this system and excess fighting might stop.</p><p><b>Rob Henke</b><br><i>Alliance, OH.</i></p><h2><b>Dryden Clone Needed By Habs</b></h2><p>I think the Montreal Canadiens will be in for a surprise if they think Denis Herron or Bunny Larocque will replace Ken Dryden in goal for Montreal.</p><p>Dryden&rsquo;s value to the Habs has always been overlooked due to the flashy play of Guy Lafleur and company. Of the three losses the Canadiens suffered during the off-season, Dryden&rsquo;s is the most critical.</p><p>Forget all the booing by the Montreal fans of Dryden, which only occurred because he was English instead of French like Larocque.</p><p>Without Dryden there would not have been six Stanley Cups in the last nine years. No countless Vezina trophies either.</p><p><b>Bob Mikkelsen</b><br><i>Barrie, Ont.</i></p><h2><b>Imlach Needs New Philosophy</b></h2><p>This letter is to deal with the hopeless Toronto Maple Laughs.</p><p>Old Punch is back to his old tricks. In Buffalo, he always threatened to trade Jim Schoenfeld, Gil Perreault and Richard Martin. Now it&rsquo;s Darryl Sittler, Mike Palmateer and Lanny McDonald. Punch should come up with a new theory.</p><p>Now everybody is saying, &ldquo;Oh! It worked, everything is back to normal. Toronto is on a four game winning streak.&rdquo; St. Louis twice, Winnipeg and Edmonton. Oh boy, if only they would have played the Colorado Rockies. It could be five.</p><p>Toronto should trade Imlach and throw in a first round draft pick for somebody else to pick him up.</p><p><b>Brian Dundas</b><br><i>St. Mary&rsquo;s, Ont.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-01

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY BUDDY O&#x2019;CONNOR</div><p>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;The Nordiques are hurting these days, not so much pointwise but because of an injury list that grows longer almost day by day.</p><p>Quebec has not yet played one game in the National Hockey League this season with their complete roster, and during the first 20 confrontations in this the first year in their &ldquo;new&rdquo; league, the Quebeckers have been missing at least two of their key players in every game because of injury.</p><p>Despite this seemingly insurmountable obstacle for an expansion club, Nordiques picked up 16 points in their first 20 games on seven wins, 11 losses and two ties.</p><p>And their wins were not against so-called weak clubs!</p><p>They split with Stanley Cup champs, Canadiens, losing 3-1 in Montreal and winning 5-4 at home, shut out Chicago 3-0, beat Detroit 5-1, knocked off Toronto 4-2, and after losing to Atlanta in their home opener 5-2, tied with the Big Flames 4-4 in their own backyard.</p><p>In the loss column, the high flying Philly club edged them 4-3 while the &ldquo;bruising&rdquo; Boston Bruins took them 5-3 and 7-4 back to back.</p><p>But check the record: their big man, left winger Marc Tardif, the synthesis of overall play by the Nordiques, has only seen action in four games, sitting it out because of a knee injury that if further damaged could result in surgery and his loss to the club for months or even worse, for the season.</p><p>Coach Jacques Demers says that Tardifs absence this far has meant &ldquo;four definite points in the standings that we would have gained&rdquo;.</p><p>Take Alain Cote, the promising young 22-year-old left winger who had a good camp this year. He has returned after being out for some ten games. Says Demers, &ldquo;He&rsquo;s coming around slowly, but you have to give him some time.&rdquo;</p><p>Cote states that his return is like &ldquo;a new training camp the second time around in one season. It&rsquo;s strange, but I know I&rsquo;m coming along.&rdquo;</p><p>Think of Robbie Ftorek, captain and &ldquo;Mr. Determination&rdquo; himself. Again Demers: &ldquo;Robbie should have been out for five and he has played hurt for ten games. First an injured elbow, then a hamstring. He&rsquo;s back in, but still hurting.&rdquo;</p><p>Centreman Bob Fitchner, a stellar face-off man and defensive stalwart, is out for at least another two weeks with a bone break just behind the collarbone.</p><p>Baxter should return soon. The day after his accident, Baxter walked into the Quebec Coliseum and told coach Demers he was ready to play the next game.</p><p>Demers answered: &ldquo;Get the hell home. I&rsquo;m calling your wife and I&rsquo;ll tell her to keep me posted.&rdquo;</p><p>Then, Demers lifted his shoulders: &ldquo;Guts, courage, you name it, Baxter has it. Paul is my kind of guy. He just wants to play, no matter the cost to him.&rdquo;</p><p>Several other Nordiques are &ldquo;walking wounded&rdquo; but are still playing. Demers and assistant Andre Boudrias are amazed, but you cannot find two happier men because of the showing by their &ldquo;boys&rdquo;.</p><p>Coach Demers: &ldquo;The Nordiques just can&rsquo;t keep up with Fitchner out of the lineup. He has done a fantastic job this season. He has got some goals but his work on penalties has been the best I&rsquo;ve seen in a long time. And when we have a crucial faceoff, Fitch comes up with it, anywhere, anytime. His value to the club cannot be replaced.&rdquo;</p><p>Digger John Smrke, son of former player Lou, will be out for at least six weeks with a broken ankle. He is a player that Nordiques did not have in mind but with a terrific training camp stayed with the big club. He is really being missed for defensive purposes. With any luck, Smrke would have at least a half dozen goals so far.</p><p>Adding to the ever-growing list of injuries is defenceman Paul Baxter who in a freak accident with friend and co-player Bob Fitchner ended up with a concussion in a game against Boston Bruins.</p><p>Demers declared about goalies Goran Hogosta and Michel Dion: &ldquo;Andre (Boudrias), assistant coach, recommended Goran to us while I always knew how good Michel was. Both have given us strong goaling and have come up with key saves thus helping our offense.</p><p>&ldquo;By alternating our goalies, we keep both sharp. Both have been consistent,&rdquo; he added.</p><p>Defense: &ldquo;We called ourselves the &ldquo;No Name Defense&rdquo; at the beginning of the season. This is where everyone said we would falter. We have not and our defensive corps has held up better than anyone would believe. (Gary) Hart and (Dave) Hoganson, experience and heady work, (Garry) Lariviere, always there, Baxter, guts, drive and much more maturity. (Barry) Legge, an honest workman. They&rsquo;ve made mistakes but they are always trying.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;If Boston has Ray Bourque, we have Pierre Lacroix. We do not want any comparison made of these two. Lacroix is cool, has a magnificent shot, can hit clean and will not be intimidated. He has everything and he cannot miss being a super star of the future. All he needs is experience.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;The biggest surprise on the Nordiques Club this year is Richard Leduc,&rdquo; states Demers.</p><p>&ldquo;They, not I, said Leduc could not skate to NHL standards. I always said he could and he&rsquo;s proving my point every time out. Richie has given us some of our most important points this year. He has not had one bad game.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Everyone thought that we would get creamed in the NHL but just look at our goals against. We are very respectable.</p><p>&ldquo;Buddy Cloutier is being played close by every team we meet, but he is learning the NHL style and nobody can keep Cloutier from scoring.&rdquo;</p><p>Michel Goulet, a skater with tremendous acceleration, is learning to check now and he&rsquo;s going against the likes of Guy Lafleur and Lanny McDonald. Demers says: &ldquo;Goulet is going to get a pile of goals one of these nights.&rdquo;</p><p>Demers concluded, &ldquo;we will start to really roll in January, but our only real goal this season is to make the playoffs.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Nordiques Playing Tough Despite Ailments

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011084/4307351-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="461" height="354"></div><h2>Fracturing Freddie&rsquo;s Fibs</h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>T HAS BEEN A</b> month since the New York Rangers imported Barry Beck from Denver and exported Mike McEwen, Pat Hickey, Lucien DeBlois, Dean Turner, Bobby Sheehan and Lord knows how much money and special favors to the Rockies.</p><p>In four weeks&rsquo; time we have been able to better put the trade&mdash;or THE deal as some rabble-rousers prefer to call it&mdash;into perspective. The adjectives must be tamed and Fred Shero&rsquo;s observations as always should be put through the Fib Finder machine.</p><p>When Beck arrived on Broadway the five-for-one transaction immediately was labelled (by shallow thinkers) as the greatest exchange since the Indians unloaded Manhattan for 24 bucks.</p><p>Shero bluffed one newsman (Walt MacPeek) recently by claiming that the Rangers&rsquo; getting Beck was a better deal than hockey&rsquo;s single most spectacular trade&mdash;the Toronto Maple Leafs landing Max Bentley from Chicago for five regulars.</p><p>&ldquo;They (the Leafs) traded five players for Bentley back in the &rsquo;50s,&rdquo; Shero told MacPeek, &ldquo;but he (Bentley) was 37 years old then.&rdquo;</p><p>Putting The Fischler Fib Finder on the case, we find out two major errors in one Shero sentence. (A) The Bentley deal was consummated in 1947, not the 1950s. Thus Fibber McShero is only a decade late. (B) Bentley was 27 years old, not 37, at the time. So, Freddie misses by ten&mdash;again!</p><p>Shero&rsquo;s attempt to lump the Beck trade with the Bentley extravaganza is merely an insult to NHL history. So far Beck has won nothing for anybody. With Bentley orchestrating their attack, the Leafs won three Stanley Cup championships (1948, 1949, 1951) in four years and with a break or two could have made it four in a row.</p><p>And that inspires the question: apart from the Bentley deal, which were the biggest NHL trades of all time? Here are my choices:</p><p><b>METHUSALAHS IN THE CROWD</b> will remember Leafs&rsquo; boss Conn Smythe (who also engineered the Bentley swap) trading Art Smith and $35,000 to Ottawa for King Clancy. If he wasn&rsquo;t the Bobby Orr of his era, King was close to it and promptly converted the Toronto franchise into a dynasty in 1930.</p><p>During the Summer of 1950 the Red Wings and Black Hawks executed <i>a</i> shuffle which, for sheer numbers, was unprecedented.</p><p>The Chicagos traded goalie (Sugar) Jim Henry, defenseman Bob Coldham and forwards Caye Stewart and Metro Prystai for goalie Harry Lumley, defenseman (Black) Jack Stewart and Al Dewsbury and forwards Don Morrison and Pete Babando. Although it wasn&rsquo;t a direct part of the package, the Red Wings later obtained forward Stasiuk from Chicago in exchange for defenseman Leo Fogolin (father of Edmonton&rsquo;s Leo Fogolin, Jr.) and forward Steve Black.</p><p>Chicago got zilch out of the exchange whereas the Red Wings finished first five straight times and won three Stanley Cups in the five years.</p><p>Toronto&rsquo;s GM Punch Imlach momentarily stopped breathing around the league one Saturday in February 1964 when he swapped defenseman Rod Seiling and Arnie Brown as well as forwards Bob Nevin, Dick Duff and Bill Collins to New York for Rangers&rsquo; captain Andy Bathgate and center Don McKenney.</p><p>A number of critics villified Imlach for unloading Duff and Nevin, who had been members of previous Cup-winners in Toronto. &ldquo;They stopped carping,&rdquo; says Punch, &ldquo;that spring when Bathgate helped win a Stanley Cup for us. The Rangers still haven&rsquo;t won THE Cup.&rdquo;</p><p>And the Beck deal won&rsquo;t mean beans until the Rangers win The Cup!</p><h2>Biggest Of All Time</h2><p><b>NOTES:</b> There are more Scandinavians in the NHL than you can shake a smorgasbord at. &ldquo;The one who is still best,&rdquo; says the Islanders&rsquo; Stefan Persson, &ldquo;is Borje Salming. Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson are right behind.&rdquo;&hellip;Former Toronto defenseman Carl Brewer returned to Canada after a two-month stint playing in Germany. Watching the Leafs&rsquo; turmoil under Punch Imlach is deja vua for Brewer. &ldquo;Punch liked to brag that he won four Stanley Cups with the Leafs,&rdquo; says Brewer. &ldquo;My point is that with the players we (he) had, we should have won NINE Cups.&rdquo;&hellip;Class can be spelled another way&mdash;G-O-R-D-I-E H-O-W-E. The great man appeared for a pre-game interview in New York recently but the camera broke. Although he had to suit up for the game, Gordie hung around for 40 minutes while video repairs were made. Then, he went on camera and handled the interview as if he hadn&rsquo;t been held up for a minute&hellip;Atlanta GM Cliff Fletcher tells me not to worry about Garry Unger. &ldquo;His attitude is great,&rdquo; says Fletcher. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m pleased we got him.&rdquo;&hellip;John Ferguson on Wayne Gretzky; &ldquo;The kid reminds me so much of Jean Beliveau it&rsquo;s incredible. Just wait til Wayne puts on a few more pounds.&rdquo;&hellip;Overheard by a sportswriter after the Edmonton Oilers visited Boston Garden: &ldquo;People in Boston don&rsquo;t know where Edmonton is and furthermore they don&rsquo;t want to know!&rdquo;&hellip;Jake Milford, one of the truly grand hockey men, offered to fire himself if Vancouver Canucks botched up this season. But methinks we&rsquo;ll be seeing Jake in the B.C. metropolis again next year&hellip;As if Guy Lafleur hasn&rsquo;t found enough ways of converting pucks to bucks, he&rsquo;s now marketing a disco album, pressed by Unison Records. Guy says the album is intended for young players but Canadian jazz critic Peter Goddard has second thoughts. &ldquo;The album,&rdquo; says Goddard, &ldquo;comes complete with a picture of Guy in the dressing room, bare-chested and all. Beefcake this, pure beefcake.&rdquo;</p><p><b>TED ON TARGET:</b> Ted Lindsay and I aren&rsquo;t the best of friends&mdash;although I wish we were&mdash;but I can&rsquo;t find a GM whose ideas I favor more than Theodore&rsquo;s.</p><p>Lindsay is one of the few managers who will fight Al Eagleson head-on. Further, he seems to have the best insights on how the game should be played. He wants kids to learn the basics&mdash;skating, shooting, passing. &ldquo;Most young players today can&rsquo;t give and take a pass. The only thing they can do is take a slapshot. The Russians learned hockey from us and now show us how the game should be played, using eight or nine passes coming down the ice.&rdquo;</p><h2>Likes Lindsay&rsquo;s Ideas</h2><p>Of all Lindsay&rsquo;s points, the one I like best is his abhorrence of friendliness among foes, especially in pre-game warmups. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not asking them to hate each other,&rdquo; says Lindsay, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t like to see them greeting each other at center ice before a game starts. Every game is a contest and it just looks to me as if some of those guys are too friendly.&rdquo;</p><p>Right on, Ted. And you have the NHL Players&rsquo; Association to blame for that.</p><p><b>MEDIA:</b> Pat Calabria of Long Island Newsday and THE HOCKEY NEWS is another scribe losing patience with Fred Shero. &ldquo;Freddie,&rdquo; says Pat, &ldquo;would like to play every game in an empty rink with just two teams and no one else there&hellip;. Rodger Gottlieb, Philly&rsquo;s gift to the NHL, has been upped to assistant public relations director in the league&rsquo;s Manhattan office&hellip;Vancouver Canucks defenseman Lars Lindgren writes a twice-monthly column for a Swedish daily, Ornskoldsvid Allehanda. Says his first &ldquo;scoop&rdquo; will be when he wins an NHL fight&hellip;When the Islanders&rsquo; TV crew takes off for an away game they fly by charter. One of the pilots is Eddie Westfall, the club&rsquo;s &ldquo;color&rdquo; commentator&hellip;Mike Billoni of the Buffalo CourierExpress favors a change in league rules which would further curb violence.</p><p><b>TYING ONE ON!</b> Power-skating instructor Laura Stamm has a fresh insight into the problems of young NHL stickhandlers. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t know the proper way to lace their skates,&rdquo; says Laura. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s amazing how many players lock their feet into their skates as if in casts. As a result they are unable to maneuver their feet at all. Proper lacing makes an incredible difference in skating ability.&rdquo;</p><p><b>MORE NOTES:</b> Red Wings&rsquo; coach Bobby Kromm says that Rogie Vachon is &ldquo;pretty well&rdquo; back on the track. &ldquo;But,&rdquo; adds Kromm, &ldquo;he still falls asleep occasionally&rdquo;&hellip;Hard To Believe Dep&rsquo;t.: Last May, goalie John Davidson was the toast of Broadway and now the Rangers are talking of peddling their erstwile hero. Advice: <b>DON&rsquo;T&hellip;</b> Sign in NHL Prexy John Ziegler&rsquo;s office: &ldquo;All lawyers should be shot!&rdquo;&hellip;J. Z. happens to be an attorney&hellip;John Colombo, author of Colombo&rsquo;s Canadian Quotations, has a neat one from the late Leaf goalie Turk Broda. &ldquo;Personally,&rdquo; said Broda, &ldquo;the only indication I have of growing old is that my butterflies have slowed up.&rdquo; The line originally appeared in Stan Obodiac&rsquo;s tome, The Leafs: The First Fifty Years.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0011-01

ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>LOOMINGTON&mdash;Defenseman Fred Barrett, probably more than any other member of the Minnesota North Stars, savored the first six weeks of the National Hockey League.</p><p>But, Barrett had an advantage in this regard. He is the ranking Stars&rsquo; veteran, in terms of continuous service in Minnesota.</p><p>Barrett is in his ninth year with the team, and most of those seasons have been very frustrating. He is the only Minnesota player who suffered through all of the Great North Star Depression after sharing in the club&rsquo;s highest finish (second place) in 1972-73.</p><p>But now the Stars are playing their best hockey since that season. They are contending in the Adams Division. At one point, they were the only NHL team with nothing but victories on their home ice.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>He is the only Minnesota player who suffered through all of the Great North Star Depression</b></blockquote><p>&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t been this confident in ourselves in a long, long time,&rdquo; said Barrett. &ldquo;You have to go back seven years when we had that veteran team that never allowed more than two or three goals. Now, we have the confidence we can score a lot of goals. And this team is building a togetherness&hellip;togetherness usually comes with success.&rdquo;</p><p>Barrett, 29, has spent the major part of his career on losing North Star teams that were either jeered heartily or hardly supported.</p><p>&ldquo;Those times were tough on everybody&mdash;the players, the fans and the organization,&rdquo; Barrett said. &ldquo;About the only way I kept my sanity was to justify to myself that I gave 100 per cent every night. You can give 100 per cent and look like an All Star and give 100 per cent and look like a bum. The important thing is to give the 100 per cent. Our loyal fans were patient in that respect. As long as they saw a guy gave a good effort, they whouldn&rsquo;t complain. It could have been worse and I&rsquo;m sure in other cities it has been.&rdquo;</p><p>Barrett has not changed in that regard. He still goes all out, and is enjoying one of his better seasons. He already has a career season high of four goals.</p><p>More important, those crisp body checks he always threw are becoming more noticeable. &ldquo;Ceaches insist that players finish every check,&rdquo; coach Glen Sonmor says. &ldquo;We ought to show them films of Freddie. When he takes guys out, they feel it. He doesn&rsquo;t need to score to be a valuable member of this team.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02886/4307382-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="553" height="776"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Fred Barrett is not one to be counted out and is enjoying this season immensely.</i></figcaption></div><p>That&rsquo;s a nice compliment for a guy many people didn&rsquo;t think would even make the club this year after the Stars acquired the rights to Bill Nyrop, who stayed retired, and drafted Craig Hartsburg No. 1. Last season, Barrett was not even listed on the Minnesota roster after the merger with Cleveland, but made the club.</p><p>&ldquo;So what else is new,&rdquo; Barrett said. &ldquo;It was no different this year than it was last year. But I never take myself for granted. I think positive. I think I&rsquo;m good enough to play in the NHL, if not here some place else. I came to training camp and did the best I could.&rdquo;</p><p>Barrett, an off-season resident of Ottawa, serves as the Stars&rsquo; player representative. In nine seasons, he has overcome a number of fractures and other painful injuries. Last year, he missed 34 games with a deep thigh bruise. But he has overcome his injuries to be named the team&rsquo;s outstanding defenseman three different times on his &ldquo;100 per cent theory&rdquo;.</p><p><b>STAR DUST:</b> Ole Brasar&rsquo;s wife, Pia, gave birth to the couple&rsquo;s second child, a son&hellip;The club will soon be at its best physical strength since training camp&hellip;Mike Fidler, left winger who suffered a broken bone in a knee, and Greg Smith, defenseman who had an injured knee cartilage, have rejoined the team for workouts&hellip;Smith, amazingly, was skating just 2/4 weeks after surgery.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0011-02

Barrett No Stranger To Hard Work

<div class="byline">By GLENN COLE</div><p>MONTREAL&mdash;There is an old adage that statistics can be deceiving.</p><p>Take the fact that Mark Napier scored three goals in the first 20 games played by the Canadiens this season. To some, that would indicate that Napier is getting a good deal of ice time and when he gets on, he is not doing much.</p><p>Nothing could be further from the truth.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve only had three goals, but I think I could have had a lot more,&rdquo; said Napier. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been getting enough chances. I guess I could say the puck hasn&rsquo;t been bouncing for me that well so far.&rdquo;</p><p>Napier, who is in his second full year with the Canadiens, had an excellent training camp and after a spotty start, he has been progressively coming on strong.</p><p>Playing on a line with Rejean Houle and Pierre Mondou, Napier has not looked out of place and helped set up Houle for a couple of goals in a 7-0 triumph over the Winnipeg Jets on Forum ice.</p><p>&ldquo;The coach has told me I&rsquo;m looking to pass too much instead of shooting the puck,&rdquo; said Napier. &ldquo;I might be delaying that extra second and that is giving the goaltender time to get set or the defenceman time to get over.&rdquo;</p><p>But playing with Houle and Mondou has helped Napier and the Canadiens because for the first time in a while, they have a visible No. 2 scoring line to compliment Steve Shutt, Guy Lafleur and Pierre Larouche.</p><p>&ldquo;Reggie and Pierre open things up a bit for you,&rdquo; Napier explained. &ldquo;Both of them can carry the puck. It took us a while to get to know each other because they are both good with the puck too.&rdquo;</p><p>And Napier, who once scored 60 goals in a season in the World Hockey Association and who was intensively sought after by the Canadiens&rsquo; organization, seems to be on the verge of developing into the type of prolific scorer in the NHL that they had hoped he would be.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011109/4307413-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="556" height="834"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Mark Napier has the kind of scoring talent to give the Canadiens another explosive line.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0012-01

Stats Cloudy on Canadiens’ Napier

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02943/4307451-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="339" height="359"></div><h2>Fighting For His Place</h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>T HAS BEEN</b> a fight for John Wensink from the first time he turned to hockey. He couldn&rsquo;t skate very well and still can&rsquo;t and that&rsquo;s a handicap to a hockey player. He can fight, which is a help to a hockey player, and that got him to the big leagues, where he has been hanging on desperately ever since.</p><p>John is a six-foot, 200-pound farmboy with muscles that bulge from tossing 80-pound bales of hay and 20-gallon tins of milk onto trucks dawn to dusk. He is a white man who has worn an Afro, a head so wild with hair his teammates nicknamed him &ldquo;wire.&rdquo; He wears a bushy mustache. His best gaze is a glare.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03685/4307444-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="274" height="336"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>John Wensink</i></figcaption></div><p>When he growls, foes step aside. Those that don&rsquo;t, he fights. He usually wins. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a goon,&rdquo; he growls. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been a goon. People who call me a goon, better look out. I&rsquo;ll fight. I&rsquo;m a fighter. But, I&rsquo;m a hockey player, too.-Fighting got me here, but becoming a better all-around player will keep me here.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a goon,&rdquo; agrees Don Cherry, who brought him to Boston and coached him until this season. &ldquo;But he started to forget what brought him here last season. He&rsquo;s an enforcer. He intimidates the tough guys on the other teams and keeps them in line. He frees our players to get goals. He got so many goals last season he stopped doing the things that got him here. We had a heck of an argument about it.&rdquo;</p><p>Wensink said, &ldquo;He just wanted me to fight. I wanted to do more. Everyone just wants me to fight,&rdquo; he growled, looking ominously in the direction of Fred Creighton, the new Bruin coach. This was after a Bruin game. Creighton had not dressed Wensink, who stood in civvies with his back to the wall of the dressing room and watched enviously as his teammates stripped off their sweaty gear.</p><h2>Teased About Performance</h2><p><b>ALL HIS CAREER</b> Wensink has had trouble getting into games. Now, even after scoring 28 goals last season, he was still having trouble getting into games. After scoring eight goals in the first seven games last season, his teammates started to call him &ldquo;Jean Guy&rdquo; and tease him about his flashy performances. He is supposed to be down in the mines digging, not atop the mountain dreaming. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like I wasn&rsquo;t supposed to get goals,&rdquo; growls Wensink.</p><p>He was born in Pincher Creek, Alberta, but reared on a 300-acre dairy farm near Maxville, Ontario. His folks came from Holland. He played Junior B in Maxville and Junior A in Cornwall. He played defense at first, then forward. He says, &ldquo;I was always the extra defenseman or the extra forward. My skating was so bad I seldom got into games. In Junior A, my team lost its first 20 games. My coach sent me in to stir up my team. I got into fights and my team got going. It attracted attention to me. But, from then on that&rsquo;s all teams wanted from me and I knew what was expected of me.&rdquo;</p><p>St. Louis made him the 104th choice of the 1973 draft, but when he got to town his skating had him headed out of town. Cherry, then coaching Rochester in the American League, came to town looking for help and got him on loan.</p><p>Then John missed most of one season with a back injury and all the next season after a spinal fusion. St. Louis gave up on him and he almost gave up the game, but Cherry, by then coaching Boston, signed him as a tree agent, let him play back into shape back at Rochester, and brought him to Boston.</p><p>&ldquo;He was an atrocious skater even before he hurt his back. He was crude and couldn&rsquo;t play. But he wanted to play and he would fight for the chance. He had the guts to come back from a back injury,&rdquo; Cherry says. &ldquo;Any place he was, no one liked him but me. But I always liked what he could do for a team. He made a team tough.&rdquo;</p><h2>Afraid To Fall Down</h2><p><b>DON&rsquo;S BROTHER, DICK,</b> noticed that Wensink turned in wide circles because he was afraid of falling down if he tried sharp cuts and then getting laughed at, which is the way it used to be with Terry O&rsquo;Reilly. Dick told Don to tell John to skate harder and just get up and go harder yet if he fell, the way Terry learned to. Don did and John did.</p><p>He scored 16 goals season-before-last and then 28 last season, but lately his coaches have been concerned he&rsquo;s trying to be more fancy than ferocious. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just trying to become a good-enough player to last in this league, to make the good money to buy a good farm,&rdquo; he growls.</p><p>&ldquo;My dad died of a heart attack and we had to sell our farm because my younger brothers and me were in no position to run it and we didn&rsquo;t have the dough to keep it. I&rsquo;m sorry now. I&rsquo;ll be happy when I&rsquo;m back on a farm. It&rsquo;s not an easy life, but it&rsquo;s the life I like. It&rsquo;s a good family life.&rdquo;</p><p>He, like so many others, is not all he seems to be. He and his wife of four years, Rhonda, have a daughter, Kip, born last December, and another, overdue as this is written, and they live quietly in Danvers in suburban Boston in season. His mom visits them often. He has two younger brothers, Peter, 19, who is studying forestry in college in Thunder Bay, and Bruce, 16, who is in high school and living with John in Boston.</p><p>John says, &ldquo;Peter is the studious one, but Bruce wanted to live with me and I figured the schools were better in the Boston area, so I told him to come on. There&rsquo;s nothing for a teen-age boy to do back home but drink and get into trouble. There&rsquo;s no movie house, not even a pool hall. It&rsquo;s a small town and people were starting to shake their heads at him. But, he&rsquo;s not a bad boy. I guess they shook their heads at me at times, too, when I was a boy back there, and I&rsquo;m not really too bad a guy,&rdquo; John Wensink said, laughing under his menacing mustache.</p><p>And he&rsquo;s not.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-02

BILL LIBBY’S HOCKEY AD LIB

<div class="byline">BY FRED PIETILA</div><p class="dropcap"><span>D</span>ENVER&mdash;Sports fans around the Mile High City have associated the phrase, &ldquo;They&rsquo;re going to back up the truck&rdquo; with the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association, who always make major personnel changes regardless of how they&rsquo;re faring.</p><p>But now, with flamboyant Don Cherry at the helm of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Colorado Rockies, whenever the sound of a truck going in reverse is heard, or mentioned, the Rockies come to mind and with good reason.</p><p>Of the 21 players the Rockies had on their NHL roster in late November, only seven were with the team the first game of the 1978-79 season. A total of nine new players have joined the team since the end of last season.</p><p>And the way the Rockies are going, more players could be expected to come and go as the truck keeps its wheels in motion.</p><p>After a third straight 4-1 loss to the Chicago Black Hawks Nov. 17, Cherry was not his loquacious self in a very brief post-game interview. &ldquo;What can I tell you? I&rsquo;m getting tired of talking like this all the time. It&rsquo;s very disappointing,&rdquo; Cherry said.</p><p>Asked if there was anything, in particular, he was concerned about, Cherry had the appropriate response. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m concerned about everything, to tell you the truth,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>And through the first quarter of the season, the constant changing of faces had seemingly been little more than just that. The faces were in the same uniforms other Rockies had worn and the results were always the same. A good effort, but not enough goals and few wins.</p><p>Defensemen John Van Boxmeer and Barry Beck were both traded. Rene Robert was acquired, as were former New York Rangers Pat Hickey, Lucien DeBlois, Dean Turner, Mike McEwen and Bobby Sheehan. Nick Beverley was recalled from Fort Worth. Cherry was having trouble figuring out his players without a program. And he promised there&rsquo;d be more changes unless the team started producing in the win column.</p><p>Sheehan, the 30-year-old center from Weymouth, Mass, who spent last season in the American Hockey League before being called up to the Rangers in the playoffs where he centered Hickey and Ron Duguay, was quick to point out the Rockies&rsquo; problems.</p><p>It wasn&rsquo;t that Sheehan was being smart-alecky, a know-it-all or anything such. It was just that while the Rockies have been concerned about their lack of goalscoring punch and their numerous breakdowns and their run of bad breaks, they perhaps had forgotten about the system they were supposed to be playing.</p><p>Wilf Paiement, off to a horrid start but working hard, had pointed to similar shortcomings in the Rockies&rsquo; approach after the Chicago loss.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not playing Don Cherry&rsquo;s type of hockey. We&rsquo;re dipsy-doodling over the red line. We should be throwing it (the puck) in and sending two wingers in after it. We should be playing this type of hockey &lsquo;cause we&rsquo;re not winning on our own,&rdquo; Sheehan said.</p><p>Sheehan was happy to get another shot in the NHL this season. He went to the Rangers&rsquo; training camp in the fall, but it &ldquo;was-a Bobby Sheehan training camp. I didn&rsquo;t go anywhere. I was talking to them (Rangers) about a contract and at the end, it fell through. Then New Haven said they&rsquo;d give me a contract with a stipulation that if an NHL team wanted me, they&rsquo;d help me get back into the NHL. I&rsquo;ve got to thank Parker MacDonald (New Haven coach) for letting me out of there to come here.</p><p>&ldquo;Getting back into the NHL, I&rsquo;m really happy. We&rsquo;ve got a great coach in Don Cherry. He tells you when you make a mistake and he&rsquo;s got so many wins behind him. So he knows what he&rsquo;s talking about.&rdquo; Now if the Rockies would just pay attention.</p><p><b>ROCKY RAMBLINGS:</b> Despite their dreadful start, record-wise, the Rockies continued to average close to 9,000 per game and had three crowds of 12,700 or more in their first 10 games.&hellip;That 9,000 average is about 2,500 per game more than they averaged all of last season&hellip;DeBlois and McEwen were the steadiest of the four Rangers acquired in the trade for Barry Beck, while Hickey was inconsistent and Turner showed his inexperience but never stopped hustling and earned respect for that, if not his limited talent.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Rockies’ Shake-Up Not Finished Yet

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s like good wine,&rdquo; said Boston Bruins Coach Fred Creighton.</p><p>&ldquo;Some people think of what they&rsquo;re going to do after they get the puck. He&rsquo;s thinking all the time. He&rsquo;s half a stride ahead of other people with his knowledge of the game and his anticipation.&rdquo;</p><p>Creighton may be the 100th, or more likely the 200th, National Hockey League coach who has said something like that about Jean Ratelle, the Bruins&rsquo; center who is going on 40 on paper, but seems to be going on 25 on the ice.</p><p>The occasion was Gentleman Jean&rsquo;s eighth hat trick of his 19-year career in a 7-4 romp over Quebec Nordiques, an accomplishment that went almost unnoticed amid the flying fists, elbows and sticks of two clubs that, after only two games, decided they didn&rsquo;t really like each other very much.</p><p>Two days later, Ratelle, who turned 39 on Oct. 3, was playing in his 250th consecutive game as a member of the Bruins. He has missed only three games since coming over from the New York Rangers in the historic trade Nov. 7, 1975.</p><p>Coincidentally, Ratelle&rsquo;s hat trick came only a couple of days after the first Boston Garden appearance of the season of Gordie Howe, the geriatric wonder who is still playing for the Hartford Whalers at the age of 51. Ratelle, the old man of the Bruins, was only 6 when Howe played his first NHL games.</p><p>&ldquo;Inspire me?&rdquo; said Retelle. &ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t he inspire you? It always does something for me watching Gordie Howe. I&rsquo;m sure everybody feels the same way. He makes you fee! young. There&rsquo;s only one Gordie Howe, eh?</p><p>&ldquo;Me? I&rsquo;m just playing them one at a time. Of course, he probably said the same thing when he was my age. But I&rsquo;m just going one year at a time. I&rsquo;ll play this year and if I feel good and I can help the team, I&rsquo;ll play next year. When you retire you retire forever.&rdquo;</p><p>Ratelle, who has had the luxury of playing on a set line with hard rock Stan Jonathan and super sniper Rick Middleton this season, has been worked judiciously by Creighton, He practices when he feels like it, a routine established last year by then-Coach Don Cherry.</p><p>He was a little distracted earlier this season, as were a number of Bruins, by Creighton&rsquo;s use of four lines, which meant that everyone had to sit on the bench just a little longer between shifts.</p><p>&ldquo;It was a matter of getting used to it,&rdquo; said Ratelle, who rarely complains about anything. &ldquo;Coach Creighton tries to change us fast enough so that we don&rsquo;t sit on the bench too long and so far it&rsquo;s worked. Anything that works is fine with me.</p><p>&ldquo;If you have a lot of penalties then some of our players may sit on the bench too much. Fortunately, Coach Creighton is using me on the power play so it gives me a chance to keep warm. And sometimes he&rsquo;ll send me out just for a minute or so when we have a five-minute penalty.&rdquo;</p><p>Ratelle was out &ldquo;just for a minute or so&rdquo; to kill penalties several times during the Quebec game in Boston Garden as the Bruins sought revenge for the dreadful things that were done to the person of Bobby Schmautz two days before in Quebec.</p><p>Schmautz suffered a 24-stitch cut inside his upper lip, lost three teeth and had a couple of others decapped when he took Robbie Ftorek&rsquo;s stick in the mouth. Ftorek said it was accidental. Schmautz and the Bruins didn&rsquo;t think so.</p><p>Once they had established a 3-2 lead in the second period in Boston, the name of the game changed to &ldquo;Get Ftorek!&rdquo; which confused the loyalties of 11,699 fans since Ftorek is a hometown favorite from nearby Needham. Mass.</p><p>Jonathan racked him up first and drew four minutes in penalties for his pains. Don Marcotte got in a shot while killing the penalties. Goalie Gilles Gilbert nearly decapitated Ftorek with an elbow and got two minutes.</p><p>Then Nordiques trotted out their big guns, Paul Stewart, Gilles Bilodeau and Greg Tebbutt, who Coach Jacques Demers conceded had been brought up specifically to protect Ftorek.</p><p>The appearance of Stewart as an enforcer also drew mixed reviews from the Boston crowd since he is the grandson of a local sports institution, Bill Stewart, the only American ever to coach a Stanley Cup champion, the Chicago Black Hawks in 1938.</p><p>Stewart took on, in succession and with varying degrees of success, Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, Jonathan and Al Secord, which is not exactly picking on the little folks.</p><p>Meanwhile, weaving his way in and out of the behemoths and flying fists was Jean Ratelle, doing what he does best, scoring goals.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Ratelie’s Ageless Talent Brightens Boston Outlook

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011064/4307530-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(Photo By Ian MacAlpine)</span></figcaption></div><h2>CRAIG HARTSBURG&hellip;Minnesota North Stars</h2><p class="dropcap"><i><span>W</span>hen the Minnesota North Stars used the sixth pick in the 1979 entry draft to pluck defenseman Craig Hartsburg it was hailed as perhaps the greatest &ldquo;steal&rdquo; in the first round. The six-foot-one, 190-pound Stratford, Ont. native already had a year of professional hockey under his belt with the Birmingham Bulls and led rookie WHA defensemen in scoring with nine goals and 40 assists. The North Stars saw him as a key component for their talented, young defense and his play in Minnesota thus far has justified the team&rsquo;s faith in selecting him.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0013-01

Meet The Rookies

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011090/4307585-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="333" height="349"></div><h2><b>Belisle Was Sacrificed</b></h2><p><b>DANNY BELISLE HAS NEVER</b> pretended to be a genius. I have never heard anyone say Belisle could be the next Scotty Bowman or Fred Shero.</p><p>What Danny Belisle is though, is a good hockey coach, a decent human being with a great sense of humor.</p><p>The way the Washington Capitals handled his firing, Belisle needed a sense of humor. A one paragraph announcement told the world, and those masses in the Washington area who care about hockey, that Belisle was being replaced by 26-year-old Gary Green.</p><p>Jay Greenberg, my colleague at the Philadelphia Daily News, was stunned. When Belisle reached the AHL Firebirds&mdash;one of the many minor league stops where he gained people&rsquo;s respect&mdash;Jay and I learned to like the man.</p><p>&ldquo;The Capitals said Tommy McVie was too tough,&rdquo; said Jay. &ldquo;Now they say Danny was too easy. Maybe a year from now they&rsquo;ll say Green was too young.&rdquo;</p><p>Obviously, Caps&rsquo; owner Abe Pollin blamed the club&rsquo;s 4-10-2 record on Belisle. Wouldn&rsquo;t it be nice, just once, if an owner said, &ldquo;The reason for our poor record is our players aren&rsquo;t good enough.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Why didn&rsquo;t they wait for, say, 30 games before evaluating me?&rdquo; Belisle asked. &ldquo;We played nine of our first 13 games on the road. We lost Dennis Ma-ruk, our leading scorer, with an injury. We lost Pierre Bouchard and Paul McKinnon&mdash;my most consistent defenseman. I&rsquo;m also missing Bobby Sirois and Guy Charron only played about half the games.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>Didn&rsquo;t Get Support</b></h2><p><b>THE PANICKY DECISION</b> to drop Belisle was clearly Pollin&rsquo;s. Last year, just two days before the season opened, McVie was fired and Caps&rsquo; GM Max McNab desperately reached out for Belisle. Under such short notice, Belisle, who had overcome numerous problems to make the AHL Firebirds competitive, guided the Capitals to a 24-41-15 record. Not too impressive by Bowman standards, but the 63 points topped the Caps&rsquo; previous season high by one.</p><p>McNab praised Belisle&rsquo;s work, saying &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there was a more difficult job in the league last year.&rdquo; Yet, before training camp began, a story in one Washington newspaper said Green, who had coached Peterborough to the Memorial Cup last season, was being groomed in Hershey to succeed Belisle. &ldquo;Why didn&rsquo;t they fire me in August instead of torturing me like that?&rdquo; Belisle asked.</p><p>Don&rsquo;t ask Belisle about his treatment by the Washington hockey press. &ldquo;They created a negative scene here toward me,&rdquo; Belisle charged. &ldquo;The job is tough enough, but they made it an ordeal.&rdquo; One Washington writer was close to McVie and never forgave Belisle for replacing him.</p><p>Worrying about the press was only part of Belisle&rsquo;s problem. He never felt the Caps&rsquo; front office fully supported him. &ldquo;Green was always on the phone to (assistant GM) Roger Crozier, and I never heard from Crozier.&rdquo;</p><p>Despite last season&rsquo;s record, Washington&rsquo;s players suspected that Belisle was only an interim coach. The Capitals are a young team with no winning tradition, making them easily influenced by outside forces.</p><h2><b>Caps Lack Experience</b></h2><p><b>BELISLE REFUSED TO CRITICIZE</b> the players, saying, &ldquo;The effort was there. Our problem was, we made a lot of mistakes through lack of experience. I felt I had pretty good communication with the players. But, when you&rsquo;re going through tough times, there&rsquo;s always somebody who won&rsquo;t agree.&rdquo;</p><p>Although he wouldn&rsquo;t publicly identify him, Wayne Stephenson had to be Belisle&rsquo;s biggest disappointment. During Stephenson&rsquo;s restless years in Philadelphia, he insisted he was capable of playing as a team&rsquo;s No. 1 goaltender. With the Capitals, Stephenson finally had his chance. However, his goals-against average had been among the league&rsquo;s highest.</p><p>&ldquo;The goaltending hadn&rsquo;t been as good as we expected, but you need 80 games to show these things, not 16,&rdquo; was all Belisle would say.</p><p>Belisle will have the rest of this season to collect his money from the Capitals and plan for his future. One caller thought that with his sense of humor he&rsquo;d have a future as a TV-radio commentator.</p><p>&ldquo;You could be the Don Meredith of hockey,&rdquo; the caller said. Laughing, Belisle replied, &ldquo;Right, they&rsquo;d call me Danny Dingbat.&rdquo;</p><p>Belisle will likely wind up coaching back in the minor leagues next season. But he knows where he should be working.</p><p>&ldquo;When something like this happens,&rdquo; Belisle said, &ldquo;you analyze everything. I have, and I&rsquo;m totally confident I can handle an NHL coaching job.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-01

BILL FLEISCHMAN’S HOCKEY WORLD

f0014-02

College Tournaments

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>OS ANGELES&mdash;After trading away draft choices for mostly disappointing veterans throughout their history, the Kings, under a new administration, turned to youth this year. They had high draft choices and at first it looked like three or four big, strong rookies would beef up the team.</p><p>However, Mark Hardy now has followed Jay Wells to Binghamton of the American League so the Kings&rsquo; high hopes for their two new defensemen were not realized. Both have ability, but neither proved ready for the big jump from junior ranks. They were playing less and less and have to be where they will play.</p><p>This leaves the defense in the hands of veterans Barry Gibbs, Brad Seiwood, Doug Halward, Richard Mulhern, Randy Manery, Rob Palmer, and Randy Holt. Halward is the only one who has been playing well, mainly on offense. It is defense the club lacks.</p><p>The Kings were 10th worst among the 17 teams in the National League last season and hoped to be better this season. Instead, they were 21st among the 21 teams after five weeks of play. The best offense in the league has kept their record respectable so far, but their defense makes them vulnerable. They have been giving up, on the average, almost 4&frac12; goals a game.</p><p>Gibbs is one of five newcomers left on the roster. Selwood is the only other on defense. Up front are Steve Carlson and Dean Hopkins. Carlson is a spot player. Hopkins is the lone remaining rookie and plays fairly regularly. The team has not been appreciably strengthened by additions.</p><p>Gibbs is a natural leader and is supposed to provide leadership to the disorganized defense. But he is an offensive defenseman who has been asked by Bob Berry to concentrate on defense and has been having some problems adjusting.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure I can adjust,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I have played either way in the past and I&rsquo;m happy to play any way they want me to play. I&rsquo;m tired of moving around and I&rsquo;d like to make a permanent place for myself here.&rdquo;</p><p>Barry is 31 and has played professionally 13 seasons since being Boston&rsquo;s first-round draft-choice in 1967. The Bruins had him at Oklahoma City most of his two seasons with them. Then he played 5&frac12; seasons with Minnesota, 3&frac12; with Atlanta, and 1&frac12; with St. Louis before coming here in trade for Tommy Williams this season.</p><p>&ldquo;I was young, just learning, and never got a chance in Boston,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I made the most of my chance in Minnesota and played well there, but they began to move a lot of players. I had contract troubles at Atlanta. The team had troubles in St. Louis and had to make changes.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m tired of moving around, but it&rsquo;s hardest on your family,&rdquo; he sighs. He and his wife, Lynda, have three sons&mdash;Scott, 10; Guy, 8, and Michael, 6. They are in school so he left his family at home for the time being and is living alone, and lonely.</p><p>He&rsquo;s from a farming family in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, and owns his own farm there. He grows grain and raises cattle, and also sells lumber on the side. One of seven children, he comes from a hard-working family and is a hard worker.</p><p>He is highly intelligent and speaks well. Although he has been traded around, he was respected wherever he was. He was captain in St. Louis and is expected to be a leader here. He could make a fine coach some day.</p><p>He may not be the player he was expected to be. He has had blood problems in the past and for awhile bruised badly on contact so could not hit the way a 5&rsquo;11&rdquo;, 190-pounder should. But he is determined to make a place for himself here.</p><p>The defense here needs any help it can get.</p><p><b>KINGS THINGS:</b> Manery missed the first 15 games before treatment for an iron deficiency in his bone marrow returned his strength. Refusing to go to the minors, Selwood was restored to the team and played well enough his first few games to squeeze Hardy out. But Palmer has been having his problems and the defense has been dreadfully uneven as a group. The forwards have not been backchecking effectively and goalers Mario Lessard and Ron Grahame have given uneven performances from period to period&hellip;Forwards Mike Murphy and Dave Taylor snapped seven-game streaks without goals&hellip;Marcel Dionne stretched his streak of games with points to 17 this season and 24 over two seasons and the first line stretched its streak of games with points to 17 and 55, 52 with goals before being stopped in a 3-1 loss to Montreal.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011044/4307654-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="568" height="758"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>The Kings have turned towards veteran Barry Gibbs to try to steady a leaky defense.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0015-01

Kings Postpone Youth Movement On Defense

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01895/4307706-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01787/4307699-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="564" height="834"></div><h2>GOALING STATS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02661/4307692-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="560" height="2348"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03511/4307685-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="556" height="544"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0016-01

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>ORONTO&mdash;Be prepared is a pretty good motto to live by if you&rsquo;re a boy scout and an even better one if your occupation happens to be goaltender.</p><p>In that classification of profession you have to be prepared for a number of things. Like jumping into play on short notice when &ldquo;the other guy&rdquo; is hurt. Like getting a starting assignment just about the time when the cobwebs have settled upon your goalkeeping equipment. Like waiting, waiting, waiting for an opportunity to play.</p><p>Paul Harrison, age 24, is a back-up goaltender for the Maple Leafs. He&rsquo;s a back-up shot-stopper mainly for the very good reason that one Michael Palmateer, age 25, happens to have permitted a little less than 3.00 goals against per game in close to 200 National Hockey League contests for Leaf teams that haven&rsquo;t played much better than .500 hockey.</p><p>But of late, Harrison has been seeing much more duty between the Leafs&rsquo; pipes, starting three games in a five-game stretch and also appearing &ldquo;in relief&rdquo; in a fourth contest during that stretch a situation which suits him fine. And he&rsquo;s produced, too, with two victories and a tie for his three starting assignments and a goals against average just slightly higher than Palmateer&rsquo;s.</p><p>His latest tie game was a 4-4 deadlock against the Edmonton Oilers where he faced 40 shots&mdash;including 20 in a second-period barrage&mdash;and was a major factor in the Leafs salvaging a point.</p><p>Two of the goals came on power plays by Wayne Gretzky and the Oilers, at the time, just happened to have had the best power play percentage in the league, close to 30 per cent. With the Leafs trailing 3-1 early in the third period, Harrison slid in front of a Dave Lumley deflection to prevent the Oilers from extending their lead and as so often happens, the Leafs roared back after the big save, scored three goals and took the lead before finally settling for the tie.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04389/4307737-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="578" height="776"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Paul Harrison seems to have an excellent temperament for his role with Toronto.</i></figcaption></div><p>In addition to his sliding stop on Lumley, Harrison picked off a couple of sizzling drives by Gretzky and by Brett Callighen who along with B. J. MacDonald accounted for the entire Oiler offense.</p><p>With 6.07 to play Harrison suddenly departed for the bench and ran into the dressing room. He quickly returned with 5.00 minutes remaining after lubricating his contact lense which had slipped out of place, a minor problem, but plenty disconcerting for a goalie.</p><p>Afterwards Harrison was asked about his night&rsquo;s work and his efforts of late. On the save off Lumley he commented: &ldquo;I was able to read the play&mdash;it&rsquo;s easy to make a save like that if you know where the shot is going.&rdquo;</p><p>About his role with the club he said: &ldquo;I still think that Palmy (Palmateer) is the best goaltender in the league. Hopefully I&rsquo;ll play as much as I can and just try to be ready to do as well as I can when I&rsquo;m called.&rdquo;</p><p>A second-round choice by Minnesota North Stars in the 1975 amateur draft, Harrison appeared in 27 games for the North Stars in the 1977-78 season with a 3.82 goals against average and one shutout. The following year, however, he wasn&rsquo;t in the team&rsquo;s plans.</p><p>&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t offered a contract and then about a week before the merger (Cleveland and Minnesota) I was traded to Toronto. I guess they knew that they were combining and they had (Gilles) Meloche and (Gary) Edwards, plus (Pete) LoPresti with the North Stars.</p><p>&ldquo;By coming here, it opened the door for me to play,&rdquo; Harrison explained. &ldquo;Otherwise I don&rsquo;t know where I would have been.&rdquo;</p><p>Last year in Toronto, Harrison saw action in 25 games with a 3.51 goals against average and his second NHL shutout.</p><p>In the deal, the Leafs turned over a fourth-round choice in the 1981 draft, as well as other considerations, pretty reasonable compensation for a guy whose motto is to be prepared&mdash;and who lives up to it.</p><p><b>LOOSE LEAFS:</b> The Leafs earned a weekend split with a 4-3 victory over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden after dropping a 2-1 decision at home to Chicago the previous evening, but much of the news was bad. Captain Darryl Sittler and defenseman Ian Turnbull were both injured in the later stages of the loss to Chicago and Sittler may be sidelined for several weeks&hellip;Leafs were off to their second lowest start in the last decade through the first quarter of the season with an 8-10-2 mark&hellip;Coach Floyd Smith was particularly disgusted by the Leafs&rsquo; performance in a 4-4 home ice tie with Edmonton claiming that his players were outskated, outworked and outhustled for the first two periods. &ldquo;It was embarrassing,&rdquo; said Smith&hellip;Leafs scored three times in the first six minutes of the third period for a 4-3 lead before settling for the tie.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-04

Leafs’ Harrison Always Prepared

<div class="byline">By BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><p class="dropcap"><span>P</span>HILADELPHIA&mdash;With the Flyers and Boston Bruins playing the best hockey of all NHL lodge members through November, it is almost cruel to put any players under the interrogation-room bare bulb. Ah, but why not? Most coaches will tell you sports writers are generally mean people.</p><p>Sit in that chair, Dennis Verver-gaert. You, T. J. Gorence, sit over there. The glare of the lights directly in your eyes? Good.</p><p>What&rsquo;s going on here, gentlemen? The rest of the Flyers are playing as if they&rsquo;re serious about winning a Stanley Cup. Leach, Clarke, Propp, MacLeish, Linse-man, Barber&mdash;they&rsquo;re all scoring often. Maybe you two guys should cuddle up with one of Reggie Leach&rsquo;s sticks.</p><p>&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve been playing okay,&rdquo; replied Ververgaert, the perspiration glistening on his forehead. &ldquo;I just haven&rsquo;t been scoring.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I know I haven&rsquo;t been filling up the net,&rdquo; admitted Gorence, nervously licking his lips. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve been trying to help the team in other ways.&rdquo;</p><p>Okay, okay, you&rsquo;ve caught us in <b><i>a</i></b> weak moment. There will be no harsh sentence yet.</p><p>To the dismay of Philadelphia&rsquo;s hard-hearted hockey critics, Ververgaert and Gorence have been helping the Flyers sprint to their best start ever. Ververgaert has been spreading his natural enthusiasm to other areas.</p><p>&ldquo;He (Ververgaert) has been trying hard since training camp,&rdquo; said coach Pat Quinn. &ldquo;And Tommy has improved. He&rsquo;s been playing his position better and he works as hard as anyone on the team.&rdquo;</p><p>After Gorence scored in the season-opening victory over the Islanders, he has been scoreless since. Until Ververgaert scored off a slick feed from Bill Barber in the Flyers&rsquo; 6-4 triumph in Los angeles, the former Vancouver first-round draft choice had located the net in just one other game, a two-goal effort against Detroit.</p><p>Such a meager goal output wasn&rsquo;t what GM Keith Alien had in mind when he traded Kevin McCarthy and Drew Callander to Vancouver for Ververgaert last December. In five seasons with the Canucks &ldquo;Vervy&rdquo; had been under 21 goals just once. When he played against the Flyers, he was always a scoring threat, rumbling down the right wing and cranking up a dangerous slapshot.</p><p>His first few weeks with the Flyers required an understandable adjustment. Then Bob McCammon was demoted and Quinn took over as coach. Ververgaert shook his head, saying, &ldquo;Oh, no, I&rsquo;ve been through this before in Vancouver.&rdquo;</p><p>Quinn put the Flyers&rsquo; zig-zagging ship back on course, but Ververgaert never really climbed aboard. He finished with just nine goals in 37 games with the Flyers.</p><p>When training camp began, Ververgaert was still struggling, which qualified his announcement that he was playing out ms option for a Fred Shero Curious Comment Award. To make it worse for him, the Flyers had several right wingers, including Gorence, Leach, Paul Holmgren and rookie Gary Morrison who were playing well.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what my position is,&rdquo; Ververgaert told the Bulletin&rsquo;s Terry Brennan recently. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t classify myself as a regular, but I don&rsquo;t see myself as a substitute either.</p><p>&ldquo;I just want to stay here, prove that I can play, and hope the (trade) rumors go away.&rdquo;</p><p>Earlier this season, Ververgaert was rumored on his way to Los Angeles for Rick Hampton. The Flyers have no inclination to trade Gorence, who with Ken Lin-seman and Brian Propp form the foundation of young legs the team hopes to rely on for years.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what it is, but I&rsquo;ve always been a slow starter,&rdquo; said Gorence. &ldquo;Even in college (Minnesota) it was the same way.&rdquo;</p><p>In an effort to give Ververgaert more playing time, Quinn has occasionally switched Gorence to left wing. Lately Gorence played on a line with Holmgren, another Minnesota native, and Mel Bridgman. If they ever click, a perfect nickname for their line would be the &ldquo;Go-pher-it Line.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Jury Still Deliberating On Flyers’ Pair

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01804/4307799-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="548" height="712"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02641/4307792-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="540" height="720"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>The news was both good and bad for the rampaging Canucks. Goaler Glen Hanlon was superb in beating Montreal for the first time ever. Stan Smyl, below, was lost for 10 days with a heel injury.</i></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>V</span>ANCOUVER&mdash;Cobwebs had to be cleared from the mind and the sleep from the eyes as the Vancouver Canucks did what had never been done before at the Pacific Coliseum ice.</p><p>They beat the Montreal Cana-diens for the first time in 22 starts in regular season play&mdash;and they did so convincingly.</p><p>It should be said Canadiens were without Denis Herron, Doug Risebrough and Bob Gainey, but in the same game Canucks lost their steaming right winger Stan Smyl for 10 days to two weeks with a bruised heel.</p><p>The score was 5-2, but it Could have been anything really as Canucks and Canadiens both had glorious chances to score throughout the game.</p><p>But the game cannot be seen as one extraordinary happening. Canucks have been super all season, and this was the culmination. The win for Vancouver made nine wins, five losses and five ties in their first 19 hockey games, a great start for the Harry Neale-Dave Dunn coached squad which is doing it through hard work and the consistently expert goaltending of Glen Hanlon.</p><p>Hanlon was brilliant in stopping 34 of 36 shots by the Habs and he said after the standing ovation had subsided for the final time in the evening, that it was one of the happiest moments of his life.</p><p>&ldquo;I just can&rsquo;t stop crying I&rsquo;m so happy,&rdquo; said Hanlon, who made at least five great saves in the third period.</p><p>The one save he made off Pierre Mondou brought a standing ovation all by itself four minutes into the period as his rapier-like glove speared a sure goal. The sometimes placid Vancouver crowd roared its approval, and when a delayed penalty was called against Montreal with the score tied 4-2, Hanlon apparently skated to the bench and said, &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to get my heart beating, it&rsquo;s going to stop.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;We should all chip in and help pay his salary,&rdquo; said Rick Blight, a man who has played himself from the trade market into one of the more valuable men on the squad. He recently tied a club record for consecutive games with a goal scored&mdash;six.</p><p>The one that tied a record was in Atlanta, where he picked up a Chris Oddleifson pass and slid it into the empty net, his first empty net goal in his career.</p><p>&ldquo;I was just so happy to be out there at that time,&rdquo; said Blight. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s my first empty net goal in this league because I&rsquo;m never usually on the ice at the time.&rdquo;</p><p>Blight has worked like a demon from the outset this year, but at the beginning of the season he still wasn&rsquo;t getting much ice-time. But he eventually worked onto a right wing spot with Chris Oddleifson and Ron Sedlbauer and the line has been tremendous for Canucks in their recent road trip in which they gained six of a possible eight points and the current homestand.</p><p>&ldquo;We should be playing twice a night the way we&rsquo;re going,&rdquo; said coach Harry Neale after Canucks had overcome Pittsburgh 5-2. &ldquo;We had about 15 or 20 scoring chances tonight and normally you&rsquo;re between seven and a dozen. Everybody on the team is going now.&rdquo;</p><p>Neale has to stand in line to heap the praise on Hanlon, who has played 17 of the team&rsquo;s 19 games and his last loss came in early November against the New York Rangers.</p><p>&ldquo;We are fortunate to have our goalkeeper as one of our leaders,&rdquo; said Neale. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve coached teams when they (the goalies) just come out and play the games, and as long as they have played well I&rsquo;ve just kept my mouth shut and put up with it. But Hanlon is our hardest working player all the time and when you have an example like that it helps the other guys get ready.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-01

Canucks Realize Dream; Beat Habs

<h2>DANNY GARE&hellip;Buffalo Sabres</h2><p>The Buffalo Sabres are starting anew this season under a new coach and with a new attitude and it appears to be working.</p><p>Danny Gare, the team&rsquo;s captain, has taken the initiative under Scotty Bowman and the Sabres are hanging in against the Boston Bruins in the Adams Division race.</p><p>Gare gave a pretty good indication of how vital he is to the Sabres this past week when he picked up eight scoring points to top all NHL producers. Gare scored four times raising his season total to 13. He also had four assists.</p><p>With two two-goal games, Gare helped the Sabres to two wins in three games as he continued to provide the inspirational leadership the Sabres need to become an NHL force this season.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Player Of The Week

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01768/4307861-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Veteran Chicago goaler Tony Esposito came up with his third shutout of the season last week and in so doing posted his 70th of his NHL career. Only four other goalers in league history have more shutouts than the indestructible Tony O.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</span></figcaption></div><h2>Snow Job</h2><p>DENVER&mdash;Some 2,003 fans braved a driving snowstorm in Denver to watch the Colorado Rockies and the Washington Capitals skate to a 3-3 tie.</p><p>It was the second major storm to hit the Denver area in the month of November and severely hampered the attendance at McNi-chols Arena where the Rockies have been drawing around 9,000 per game, up 2,500 over last year.</p><p>The crowd was NOT an NHL crowd low for modern times. That distinction belongs to the Chicago Black Hawks who defeated Cleveland 5-0 on the night of Thu. Jan. 26, 1978 at the Chicago Stadium. An unexpected snowstorm blanketed Chicago that day and only 537 fans managed to get to the rink for the game. The Hawks won, too, 5-0.</p><h2>Chicken Goaltender</h2><p>BUFFALO&mdash;San Diego&rsquo;s famed Chicken, as portrayed by Ted Giannoulas, will realize a long time ambition to entertain in the National Hockey League when the Buffalo Sabres Old Timers meet the Montreal Canadiens Old Timers in an exhibition match in Memorial Auditorium, Sunday, Feb. 10.</p><p>Giannoulas, who was born in Lndon, Ont. where he played minor hockey, plans to tend goal during the game in his chicken attire. Proceeds from the contest will go to the Children&rsquo;s Hospital.</p><p>Among the ex-Sabres expected to play are goalie Roger Crozier, Reggie Fleming, Gerry Meehan, Jim Lorentz and Steve Atkinson. Former Montrealers include Henri Richard, Ken Mosdell, J. C. Tremblay and Gump Worsley.</p><h2>Lemaire Frustrated</h2><p>VILLARS&mdash;How is life going in Switzerland for Jacques Lemaire? It could be better for the former member of the Stanley Champion Montreal Canadiens.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02617/4307854-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="1798" height="1484"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Leafs&rsquo; captain Darryl Sittler and his linemates are under fire in Toronto for not keeping up with their defensive game. Team coach Floyd Smith benched Sittler&rsquo;s right winger, Lanny McDonald, during a game with Edmonton this past week. Trio, which also includes Tiger Williams, was told to tighten up or the line would be broken up.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Rebert Shaver)</span></figcaption></div><p>Lemaire, the 34-year-old NHLer who bolted the Canadiens after 12 years this season to become player-coach of the Sierre club of the Swiss B League, watched as his team lost its second game of the new season.</p><p>Lemaire&rsquo;s team was beaten 6-3 by Villars. Gaetan Boucher, a 23-year-old former member of the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Hockey League, overshadowed Lemaire in this game. Boucher scored the tieing and clinching goal while Lemaire went pointless.</p><p>Lemaire admits the Sierre club doesn&rsquo;t quite play like his former Canadiens&rsquo; teammates. &ldquo;All they want to do is score goals and to heck with the defense,&rdquo; said Lemaire.</p><h2>NHL Coach Returns</h2><p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Blues&rsquo; coach Barclay Plager was given the green light to return to his position behind the St. Louis bench after undergoing a medical examination.</p><p>Plager was examined for scar tissue that formed on his brain as the result of an old hockey injury. His doctors cleared him to return to work.</p><h2>Espo Climbing</h2><p>CHICAGO&mdash;Goaler Tony Esposito of the Hawks hung up his third shutout of the 1979-80 season and for the veteran netminder it was a step towards climbing in the alltime NHL goaling race.</p><p>Tony O now has a career total of 70 shutouts putting him within one of Harry Lumley on the alltime goaling list. Esposito ranks fifth behind the all-time leader Terry Sawchuk, who had 103, Glenn Hall, 84, Jacques Plante, 82 and Lumley 71.</p><h2>Bad Man To Minors</h2><p>BUFFALO&mdash;Once the most penalized player to skate in the NHL, former &lsquo;bad man&rsquo; Dave Schultz is in the minor leagues for the first time since 1972 when he played with Richmond of the AHL.</p><p>The Buffalo Sabres relegated the 30-year-old left winger to the AHL with the Rochester Americans after dropping him from the NHL roster last weekend. Schultz, who was the terror of the Broad Street Bullies when Philadelphia won the Stanley Cup back in 1974 and 1975, still holds both the league and playoff penalty records in the NHL.</p><h2>Saving Face</h2><p>PETERBOROUGH&mdash;There is still a chance the CAHA will send the Peterborough Petes to the world junior hockey championships in Helsinki, Finland, Dec. 25 to Jan. 3.</p><p>Bill Domm, member of parliament for Peterborough, said that it &ldquo;looks encouraging that the CAHA and Hockey Canada are going to be able to get together to resolve the financial problem that would make it possible to send the Petes to represent Canada in Helsinki.&rdquo;</p><p>The CAHA had requested financial aid from Hockey Canada to send the Petes overseas. The bid was rejected and the junior team owners were hesitant to supply players.</p><p>The withdrawal would have jeopardized two exhibition games Hockey Canada had arranged in Finland for the team it is sending to the Izvestia tournament in Moscow. The CAHA asked for $50,000 to finance the Canadian team&rsquo;s way to Finland and the Canadian government said the request came after the sports ministry&rsquo;s financial budget was closed.</p><h2>Teams In The Red</h2><p>TORONTO&mdash;There is a likelihood that seven of the 21 NHL teams will end the present season losing money&mdash;because they are running in the red now.</p><p>A recent report said that Colorado, Pittsburgh and Washington stand to lose at least $2 million each, and Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Atlanta are good for at least $1 million each in financial losses.</p><p>A revealing figure in the financial story is that the four new expansion teams are actually making money and giving the NHL some unexpected financial stability.</p><p>In a brief rundown on gate receipts for the top 10 NHL teams, Rangers led with $162,844 per game average. Edmonton was $153,484, Montreal $141,499, Islanders $139,754. Toronto $138,792, Philadelphia $137,371, Buffalo $120,155, Vancouver $117,932, Detroit $109,394 and Winnipeg $107,082. Bringing up the bottom Colorado&rsquo;s receipts are only $45,579, Pittsburgh $50,054, Washington $51,893, St. Louis $63,558, Chicago $66,716 and Los Angeles $67,808.</p><h2>Hockeybriefs</h2><p>DETROIT&mdash;Charles Walby, a wealthy businessman from Bloomfield Hills, Mich,, says that negotiations to purchase the Detroit Red Wings start at $16 million. Walby claims to be part of a group that has expressed an interest in purchasing the Red Wings&hellip;When the Soviet Union asked for an NHL official to handle the Izvestia tournament in Moscow, NHL refereein-chief Scotty Morrison assigned Mike Noeth, a young New Englander&hellip;Despite Harold Ballard&rsquo;s blockade&rsquo; of Showdon Showdown on TV&rsquo;s Hockey Night in Canada program, the between-periods feature in running on U.S. television and has already been shown in such NHL cities as Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Atlanta&hellip;Stan Mikita is having such back problems these days, he may consider packing it in before the present season expires&hellip;The sports world and hockey people were saddened by the death of Toronto broadcaster Fred Sgambati, who lost a five-year fight against cancer. Sgambati, who was 58, aired several world hockey championship tournaments involving Team Canada&hellip;The Pittsburgh-Philadelphia NHL game that was cancelled Oct. 27 because of a maintenance strike, has been rescheduled for Tuesday, March 11 in Pittsburgh.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-01

SLAPSHOTS

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE WARRINER</div><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>ARTFORD&mdash;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been more or less a do or die year for me. I either had to produce or maybe I&rsquo;d be looking for another job next year.&rdquo; So said five-foot-seven, 170 pound Whaler centerman Mike Rogers commenting about the fact that he was leading the Whalers in scoring after the first 15 games of the season.</p><p>Actually, Rogers has scored at least 25 goals each year since turning pro in 1974. (He played junior hockey in his home town of Calgary.) &ldquo;What I&rsquo;m trying to do now is to prove to management that I can play in this league,&rdquo; said the quick-skating little center. &ldquo;If I continue to play the way I have been, then I&rsquo;m not worried about next year&mdash;that&rsquo;ll take care of itself.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always known what I could do and what I can&rsquo;t do. I knew that to survive in this league I&rsquo;d have to produce point-wise&mdash;plus take care of my own end a little bit better than i have in the past. And I think I&rsquo;ve done both of those so far.&rdquo;</p><p>Rogers has always been one of the unheralded players among the Whalers. Soneone usually got the notoriety that Mike often deserved. Frequently the feisty centerman would find himself centering the third line and his wingers would come and go. Seldom did he have the same set of wingmen for more than two or three games. As a matter of fact, his teammates would kid him saying that he couldn&rsquo;t keep a pair of wingers for more than two games.</p><p>But after the first six or seven games this season, coach Don Blackburn moved Mark Howe up from defense to the left wing&mdash;on a more permanent basis. The line that developed found Rogers centering for Mark and Gordie Howe. Mike had been-doing well up to then, but from that point on things began to click. &ldquo;When you play with those two guys you&rsquo;re bound to get scoring chances,&rdquo; said Mike.</p><p>&ldquo;Mark is one of the best skaters in all of hockey and to have him on the left side makes me skate a little bit harder,&rdquo; continued Rogers.</p><p>&ldquo;And the thing about Gordie is that he opens the play up so much. He&rsquo;s not going to be streaking down the wing&hellip;but people are aware of him. And if you give him the puck inside the blueline then he&rsquo;s going to make plays that pretty near nobody else can. If we (he and Mark) are skating for Gordie, it&rsquo;s going to open up everything for us, and that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve done ever since we&rsquo;ve been together. Mark and I have done a lot of skating. Let Gordie take care of the other stuff&mdash;the passing, the work in their end.&rdquo;</p><p>What about the backchecking when the other team breaks out of their end? Nobody expects the 51-year-old grandfather to pick up his check heading the other way. But, says Rogers, &ldquo;Everybody looks at Gordie and says he&rsquo;s out of the play or he&rsquo;s not coming back&mdash;but before you know it, he ends up having the puck in our own end. How he does it, I don&rsquo;t know. It&rsquo;s just 30 years of experience that&rsquo;s all!&rdquo;</p><p>Having the Howes on either side certainly won&rsquo;t hurt Mike Rogers&rsquo; point production at all. But you get the feeling that if you put any decent pair of wings with Mike&mdash;and left them together for more than a couple of games&mdash;they too would get their share of goals, and then some.</p><p><b>WHALER WAVES:</b> Director of hockey operations, Jack Kelley, says he&rsquo;s pleased about his club&rsquo;s play so far. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s a guarded pleased,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I know how quickly things can change&mdash;with injuries, etc&hellip;. Y&rsquo;know, when everybody was zinging us and saying how weak and poor we&rsquo;d be, I just kept my mouth shut&mdash;and I&rsquo;m still keeping my mouth shut! &ldquo;</p><p>Assistant coach Larry Pleau has a unique job in pro hockey. He&rsquo;s the assistant for Whalers&rsquo; head coach Don Blackbun, and at the same time, assists Larry Kish with the Springfield Indians operation. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got the best setup in the National Hockey League,&rdquo; says Pleau in reference the fact that the Whalers and their top farm club (Springfield&mdash;AHL) are based only 26 miles apart. With Pleau&rsquo;s home located right between the two, the situation is ideal. &ldquo;I really like it, &lsquo;.&rsquo; says Larry of the arrangement&hellip;</p><p>Of all the kids &lsquo;down on the farm&rsquo;, 20-year-old center Don Nachbaur, from Billings (Western Hockey League) juniors is given the best chance to see some action with the Whalers before the season is over. &ldquo;I really think he&rsquo;s got the goods to make it up,&rdquo; said Kelley, who also serves as general manager of the Springfield team&hellip;</p><p>Unfortunately, Nachbaur&rsquo;s progress was slowed considerably when he broke a bone in his wrist during training camp. After getting back into action, he found that he would be required to wear a semi-cast until sometime around Christmas. The development of the big (six-foot-two) centerman may be an important factor in the future of the Hartford franchise&mdash;especially in light of the ages of their two senior centers, Dave Keon (39) and Andy Lacroix (34).</p><p>Nick Fotiu has served the Hartford Whalers well as their policeman even though he had not drawn a major penalty through the first seventeen games of the season. Fotiu has not been invisible, however. Not only does he get ice time with the fourth line, but he has also found occasion to challenge the opponent&rsquo;s bench on two occasions&mdash;once against Toronto (no takers), and the other versus Edmonton (again no takers)&hellip;</p><p>Goalie Al Smith, in only his second start of the season, racked up a shutout over Edmonton (4-0). Smitty managed only one shutout in 40 appearances last season in the WHA.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Rogers Producing In Crucial Year

<p>NEW YORK&mdash;&ldquo;The Islanders series was just unbelievable. End to end hockey for six games. It was great! &ldquo;</p><p>Those were the words New York Rangers&rsquo; goaltender John Davidson uses to describe the type of hockey played during last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup semi-final series between the National Hockey League&rsquo;s two New York based teams.</p><p>Last season was one that will be well remembered by Davidson and all of the Rangers. They surged from the ranks of the pretenders to contenders during the regular-season schedule, finishing with 91 points which was fifth best in the 17-team League.</p><p>The Rangers seemed to struggle at times during the season but still managed to gain their lofty position despite what Davidson considered a general lack of consistency.</p><p>&ldquo;They told me with about seven games to go that I was going to start in the playoffs,&rdquo; says the 6&rsquo;3&rdquo;, 205 pounder. &ldquo;They played me seven in a row and I was pulled in two of them. I was rotten.</p><p>Winning became the rule of thumb for the upstart Rangers. They downed the Flyers in five games for a quarter-final series victory. It then seemed that the New Yorkers would see their bubble burst as they prepared to play their cross-town rivals&mdash;the New York Islanders.</p><p>But the Rangers won that &ldquo;unbelievable&rdquo; series and then met the Canadiens.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Rangers’ Davidson Remembers ‘Unbelievable’ Win

<div class="byline">BY NORM JEWISON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02384/4307954-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="259" height="346"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Vancouver Canucks</b></figcaption></div><p>VANCOUVER&mdash;Ice hockey has never really been a stranger in the eyes of the Vancouver sporting public.</p><p>No fewer than 67 years ago, the old Denman Street Arena opened its doors to become the first artificial ice rink in North America. And only two years later, led by playing manager Frank Patrick, younger brother of legendary Lester Patrick and the unforgettable Fred &ldquo;Cyclone&rdquo; Taylor, a team called the Vancouver Millionaires challenged for and won the coveted Stanley Cup.</p><p>Immediately following the Second World War, returning Canadian war veterans, affectionately known around the globe as &ldquo;Canucks&rdquo;, were instrumental in icing a team in the old Pacific Coast League called the Vancouver Canucks. In 1948. that team joined the Western Hockey League and operated with great success for the next 21 years in the Vancouver Forum.</p><p>Vancouver officially applied for a franchise in the National Hockey League in 1967, the year St. Louis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Los Angeles and Oakland gained entry, but was turned down in no small part due to lack of a proper facility.</p><p>But in January, 1968, the spanking new Pacific Coliseum was opened, paving the way for Vancouver&rsquo;s NHL franchise, granted May 22, 1970, along with one for the city of Buffalo, N.Y. Vancouver was finally in the big leagues.</p><p>After paying their $6 million entry fee, the new NHL Canucks picked up 18 skaters and a pair of goalies in the June 10, 1970 Expansion Draft. And a day later, they plucked six more players from the junior ranks in the Amateur Draft. That was the famous draft, you may recall, where, after spinning the &lsquo;Las Vegas&rsquo; style wheel of fortune, Buffalo got first dibs, selecting Gilbert Perreault, while Canucks settled for Dale Tallon.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03310/4307947-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="570" height="1008"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Dale Tallon was the Canucks&rsquo; first expansion draft pick back in 1970 when Vancouver entered the NHL.</i></figcaption></div><p>Canucks embarked on the 1970-71 season with general manager Bud Poile, coach Hal Laycoe and their fledgling club full of hope and expectation, as were the Vancouver fans who had waited so long for their own NHL team to arrive. People filled the Coliseum night after night to see their Canucks perform against the likes of Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Jean Beliveau and Bobby Orr.</p><p>But as the knowledgeable Vancouver fans watched the successful exploits of other expansion teams such as Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders, they wondered why it was taking so long for the Canucks to gain a similar measure of respectability. The ensuing years became filled with turmoil, both on and off the ice. The team&rsquo;s lack of consistency and meagre progress spawned a series of events which, over a period of years, was to produce a change in ownership, four different general managers and six different coaches. And in that same nine-year span, the club finished over the .500 mark only twice, winning the Smythe Division championship in 1974-75 and finishing second the following season&hellip;not a very fitting reward for the win-starved Vancouver fans who had stuck by their club for so long.</p><p>The &lsquo;new era&rsquo; Canucks began in the summer of 1977 when they hired Jake Milford as their general manager. Milford had had a long track record as a shrewd judge of hockey talent and tireless administrator, having worked 14 years in the New York Rangers organization and another four with the Los Angeles Kings, running the gamut from scout to G.M. In his first season in Vancouver, the club he inherited finished a disappointing third in its division, missing the playoffs for a second straight year, and Milford was not pleased.</p><p>In the aftermath of that season, Milford jolted the hockey world in May and June, 1978 by hiring a new coach, a new assistant coach and signing no fewer than nine new players to Canuck contracts. Harry Neale was the new bench boss, a no-nonsense innovator who had never missed the playoffs in six years of coaching in the WHA. Former NHL defenceman Dave Dunn signed on as his assistant. Canucks reached over the Atlantic to pluck slick centre Thomas Gradin and burly rearguard Lars Lindgren from Sweden. In the amateur draft they selected Billy Derlago in the first round, the Brandon Wheat King who had shredded just about every scoring record there was in the Western Canada Junior League. They chose hard-nosed left winger Curt Fraser in the second round from Victoria and Stan Smyl, the fireplug right winger from Memorial Cup champion New Westminster in the third round. All later became fixtures in the Canuck lineup.</p><p>As a further illustration of its desire to discard old traditions and create a new mood of enthusiasm, the club abandoned the old familiar blue and green uni (orms in favor of the current striking yellow, black and red combination.</p><p>The effects of these transitions, however, were not immediately felt. Derlago was sidelined with knee ligament damage after performing in only nine NHL contests; Glen Hanlon, Canucks&rsquo; talented first-string goalie, was knocked out of action in January with a similar ailment and never returned; and defenceman Kevin McCarthy, obtained in a deal which sent Dennis Ververgaert to Philadelphia, played one game for Canucks before sitting out the rest of the season with a hip injury. All told, the club lost an incredible 300-plus man-games through injury in 1978-79.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01492/4307940-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="1838" height="1228"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Hard-nosed Rick Vaive represents the new era in Vancouver hockey. Here the talented winger is shown at his signing as he tried on his new Canuck jersey for coach Harry Neale, left, and GM Jake Milford, in center.</i></figcaption></div><p>For most of the year, they struggled through their 72,000 mile schedule, showing flashes here and there, but without any consistent - degree of success. But then, down the stretch to the playoffs, the club jelled, winning six and tying three of their last 11 games of the regular season. Finishing second behind division-leading Chicago, Canueks met the powerful Philadelphia Flyers in the opening round of the playoffs, and nearly deposed the rugged Broad Street Bullies in a stirring three-game series. The Canucks had lost again&hellip;but this time they had shown some real pizzaz, and their fans once more rallied around them.</p><p>This past summer, Vancouver reclaimed tough defenceman John Hughes from Edmonton Oilers just prior to four newly-admitted teams&rsquo; Expansion Draft. In August, Canucks selected the abrasive but talented Rick Vaive in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft. Vaive had led the now-defunct Birmingham Bulls in scoring last season and the entire WHA in penalties. Second, they chose Brent Ashton, a 19-year-old left winger from Saskatoon who had fired 64 goals in just 62 games in 1978-79. The stage was set&hellip;and going into their 10th season, Canucks had assembled the youngest squad in the NHL, with an average age of just 24.1 years.</p><p>&ldquo;Can we start up where we left-off at the end of last season,&rdquo; was the biggest question in Harry Neale&rsquo;s mind as the 1979-80 campaign got under way? Canucks came out of the gate well, losing only four of their first 13 contests, but more importantly, a new, refreshing mood of togetherness began filtering around the dressing room and out along the bench. In no small way did that mood contribute to the Canucks gaining early-season points against clubs that, over the past few seasons, had literally blown the team out of its own building. And there were whisperings beginning to be heard which sounded curiously like the theme about Pittsburgh Pirates&rsquo; &ldquo;family&rdquo;. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve certainly got the best bunch of guys since I&rsquo;ve been with this club,&rdquo; intimated captain Don Lever, Canucks&rsquo; eight-year veteran who is off to his best start ever.</p><p>Winning pro sports teams have been few and far between in Vancouver. The B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League last won the Grey Cup in 1964 and fans had little to cheer about again until this past September when the new darlings of the sporting community, the Vancouver Whitecaps of the North American Soccer League, won it all in the Soccer Bowl.</p><p>And while no one is predicting the Stanley Cup for the Canucks this season, the indisputable signs of progress are there.</p><p><b>&bull; NEXT WEEK: Winnipeg Jets</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0022-02

Canucks Arrive After Shaky Start

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>OSTON&mdash;If the torrid emotion and flying sparks generated in the on-ice action of the 1979-80 Eastern college hockey season can match the furor stirred up in pre-season by the newly imposed mask rule, then eastern fans are in for the hottest season they&rsquo;ll ever witness.</p><p>Yes, we&rsquo;ve finally begun to play hockey out east, but not without such debate and acrimony generated by the requirement passed by the athletic directors of the Eastern College Hockey Association (ECHA), a subsection of the Eastern College Athletic Conference, that all players in the east must wear a mask this year.</p><p>The rule was passed during the summer, in response to assertions by team doctors from a few Ivy League schools that masks should be worn to cut down on the possibility of disabling eye injuries and lawsuits. The ECHA athletic direcders voted overwhelmingly in favor of the mask, and hereupon the criticism and soul searching began.</p><p>Coaches complained that they weren&rsquo;t consulted on the matter. Apparently, many of the athletic directors voted for the mask rather hastily and without consideration for several fine points about the game. Among the difficulties cited were loss of peripheral vision, which could cut down on the skilfull players&rsquo; effectiveness as ell as make skaters more vulnerable to blindside checks; Dutch courage of many more players in blocking and deflecting shots; tendency to carry the stick even higher than is currently done; potential use of the mask as a butting weapon; lack of compatibility of the new &ldquo;approved&rdquo; masks with current model helmets, and the investment required to comply with the rule; the possibility of the mask snagging on another player&rsquo;s equipment or on the safety glass around the rink; the &ldquo;float&rdquo; tendency of helmets which would cause movement of the mask and result in friction cuts around the chin and jaws; concern about the referees&rsquo; interpretation of rules about high sticking in light of the new protection afforded; and basic concern about whether the approved masks would really give the eye protection that the doctors and makers claimed.</p><p>The opposition of the coaches was almost total, but it varied between outright condemnation of the mask itself and acceptance of the mask as a good idea whose time had almost come but which needed further refinement before being made mandatory. Petitions and complaints circulated, every injury and difficulty related to the masks was trumpeted during preseason, and the athletic directors began to have second thoughts.</p><p>In the first week of November, the eight member executive committee of the ECHA, all athletic directors, met by telephone to discuss whether they might consider rescinding the requirement pending further study. When news of this upcoming conference call leaked out to the coaches, the general feeling was that &ldquo;Well, we&rsquo;re finally coming to our senses,&rdquo; or some such notion.</p><p>But the committee upheld the mask provision, by a majority vote, according to ECAC president Joe Zabilski, athletic director of Northeastern University. Joe declined to reveal the way the vote went, but it is safe to assume that he voted for recision himself because he had told this writer on the day before the ballot that &ldquo;We might have acted too hastily when we first passed the rule.&rdquo;</p><p>There are few coaches or players who would disagree with that statement, but for better or worse, they&rsquo;re stuck with the bird cages barring something unusual or tragic like a rash of serious injuries directly related to the mask itself. This seems unlikely, although coaches and trainers will be keeping close tabs on maladies like torn knee ligaments resulting from unanticipated checks and neck injuries from the masks snagging somewhere.</p><p>Then, of course, we can&rsquo;t forget the University of New Hampshire&rsquo;s pair of forfeit losses at Ohio State on Nov. 9 and 10. UNH coach Bob Kullen pulled his team off the ice during the second period of the Friday contest, claiming that the Buckeye players were repeatedly grabbing his players&rsquo; masks and not being called for infractions by the referees. UNH forfeited the Friday game and didn&rsquo;t take the ice for Saturday&rsquo;s contest either.</p><p>The incident prompted a flurry of phone calls among the executive offices of the ECAC, CCHA, an WCHA. The Buckeyes, as you know, are not required to wear masks because they are not members of the ECHA. One of Kullen&rsquo;s allegations is that a ref in Columbus told him &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing in the rule book about grabbing a face mask.&rdquo;</p><p>If the official actually said this, then his fitness for refereeing is in doubt because he should have called any such actions as violations. Still, the NCAA rules committee promptly held a conference call and stipulated penalties for grabbing masks or for using them as weapons. This was another fine point overlooked by the ECHA when they passed the rule.</p><p>Ohio State coach Jerry Welsh says in retort that some of Kullen&rsquo;s charges bordered on the libellous, and that he saw only two incidents of his players touching UNH masks when films were viewed the morning after the game. One time was a self defense move and the other was a reflex action after both players dropped their gloves, he maintains.</p><p>Sadly, it seems that none of this acrimony was necessary. The NCAA is studying the feasibility of the masks anyway, with the definitive report due out in February or March. Why couldn&rsquo;t things have waited until then? Further, most of the players of high school age currently engaged in hockey have been required to wear masks since they began to play organized hock ey. It would have been a simple thing to wait a couple of years and let those youngsters bring their masks along to college, rather than forcing today&rsquo;s juniors and seniors who&rsquo;ve never worn masks to take them up at this stage of their careers. By that time, the feasibility studies could be much more complete than they are now.</p><p>&ldquo;The hard plastic football helmet with the full mask changed the game of football,&rdquo; commented Bowdoin coach Sid Watson, who still holds several ball carrying records for his alma mater. Northeastern.</p><p>&ldquo;The hockey mask is going to change the game of hockey too. Whether the change is a good one remains to be seen.&rdquo;</p><p>Agreed. Meanwhile, look for a season of confusion and uncertainty, and even more discontent with the referees than usual. Those much maligned men in the striped shirts are in for more complaints than ever.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01463/4307985-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="576" height="862"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Bob Kullen pulled the Wildcats off the ice at Ohio State claiming his players&rsquo; face masks were being grabbed without penalty.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0023-01

New Face Mask Rule Sparks Row As UNH Team Quits Ice In Protest

<div class="byline">BY MIKE MURRAY</div><p class="dropcap"><span>D</span>ALHOUSIE&mdash;After losing their first two games of the year, Pierre Page has his Dalhousie Tigers hungry once again. In their last six games, they have won five and tied one, and have moved ahead of the pack in the Maritimes. Led by their All Star duo of Ken Bickerton in the nets and Louis Lavoie on defense, the Tigers&mdash;who gave up 12 goals in their first two games&mdash;have given up only 18 in their last six starts. Up front, they have the league&rsquo;s leading scorer in Brian Bualazzi who was the fourth leading scorer in the Ontario Major Junior League last year. The Tigers will have to take care of the &ldquo;X Men&rdquo; before they can lay claim to the AUAA championship.</p><p>St. Francis Xavier stayed right on the heels of Dalhousie as they upped their record to 5-1. Led by Greg McDonald&rsquo;s two goals, the &ldquo;X Men&rdquo; tripped Acadian 6-4.</p><p>In the western division, Mount Allison climbed into first place by virtue of their three victories. First, they defeated UPEI at home 6-2 before travelling to Newfoundland to dispose of Memorial 6-0 and 5-4. It appears that Jack Drover has his troops hustling and playing good positional hockey.</p><p><b>QUAA:</b> The tables have certainly reversed for the Trois-Rivieres Patriotes. Norm Meunier&rsquo;s club, which finished out of the playoff picture last year, remains the only undefeated club in Quebec. The Patriotes won all three of their games as they continued to average seven goals per game. Regis Vallieres scored three goals in a 93 romp of McGill, while Claude Huard had two goals and two helpers in a 9-7 shoot-out with Concordia. Yves Geneau, making his first start in goal, handled 36 shots as Ottawa fell 6-2.</p><p>Bishop&rsquo;s, Chicoutimi, Ottawa and Laval all split their weekend encounters. Chicoutimi, without head coach Gilles Delisle who recently resigned, handed Bishop&rsquo;s their first loss 4-1 as Laval Leclerc stopped 31 Gaiter shots. Bishop&rsquo;s defeated Laval 4-2 at home and Laval defeated Chicoutimi 8-1.</p><p>The only sure thing in this exciting QUAA race was that McGill kept their winless streak intact as Ottawa feasted on the lowly Red-men 9-3.</p><p><b>OUAA:</b> Ties were the key in Ontario as McMaster tied once, Toronto twice, and Laurentian twice. This left McMaster one point ahead of Laurentian and Toronto. Laurentian travelled to Toronto for a weekend doubleheader in the big city where they fought back to tie the Varsity Blues 4-4. In the second game Rick Rissco connected for both goals as Laurentian tied York at two.</p><p><b>CWAA:</b> The standings stayed the same as all the teams split their weekend double-headers in recent WUAA action.</p><p>Up in Edmonton, Alberta got two goal efforts from Greg Skorey-ko and Noel Elliott as the Golden Bears disposed of Calgary 8-1. Jerry Banks scored three times in the following game, twice in overtime as the Dinosaurs came back to knock off Alberta 5-3.</p><p>In Saskatoon, the hometown Huskies got by UBC 9-6 in the first game. Roy Hudson, John Gordon and Stew Walker each scored twice to lead the way.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Hungry Tigers Devour Foes

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div><p>MINNEAPOLIS&mdash;Western Collegiate Hockey Association teams are making prophets out of Western Collegiate Hockey Association coaches.</p><p>Most of the coaches, including Brad Buetow of Minnesota and Gino Gasparini of North Dakota, have predicted a tight league race with the possibility of a new leader cropping up almost weekly.</p><p>Both Buetow and Gasparini and were on the money Nov. 23-24, much to the happiness of Buetow and much to the dismay of Gasparini.</p><p>Buetow&rsquo;s Minnesota Gophers are the new league leaders and Gasparini&rsquo;s Sioux are in a tie for second with idle Michigan after the latest results were tabulated.</p><p>Minnesota took over first lace by virtue of a sweep over archrival Wisconsin by 6-5 and 7-2 margins. North Dakota, the previous leader, fell from the top by splitting at Michigan State. The Sioux won the opener 9-2, but fell in overtime 5-4 the second night.</p><p>In the only other WCHA series played, Duluth and Denver split a pair. Duluth won the opener 5-4, then fell 5-3.</p><p>In non-league play, Michigan beat Western Michigan 5-4. Notre Dame swept Cornell 5-4 in overtime, then 6-4, and Michigan Tech split with Northern Michigan, winning 3-2 then losing 6-2.</p><p>Let&rsquo;s take a closer look at what happened in the three league series:</p><p><b>WISCONSIN AT MINNESOTA:</b> Tim Harrer scored on a wicked slapshot with 1:14 left to play to give the Gophers the victory in the opener.</p><p>Typical of the Wisconsin-Minnesota series, it was close all the way. Minnesota took a 2-0 lead on goals by Kevin Hartzell and Steve Ulseth, only to see Wisconsin rally on goals by Ron Vincent, Scott Lacy and Bruce Wallace.</p><p>Minnesota&rsquo;s Mike Knoke and Wisconsin&rsquo;s Ed Lebler traded goals in the second period before the Gophers moved in front again on scores by Aaron Broten and Ulseth.</p><p>After Vincent&rsquo;s second goal of the game tied it for Wisconsin, Harrer collected his 8th goal of the year and put the Badgers away.</p><p>Roy Schultz had 40 stops for Wisconsin and Paul Buttes turned back 39 for the Gophers.</p><p>The second night, Minnesota led all the way and used a hat trick by Harrer to move into first place with the sweep. Aaron Broten and Jeff Teal gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead after one period with Chuck Durocher scoring for Wisconsin.</p><p>Goals from Harrer and two by Ulseth gave Minnesota a commanding 5-1 lead before Wisconsin pulled to within 5-2 after two on a score by Ron Griffin.</p><p>Minnesota then put it out of reach with two third period goals from Harrer.</p><p>Jim Jetland was outstanding in the Minnesota nets with 46 saves, including 19 stops out of 20 chances in the second period. Jamie Gre-more had just 23 stops for the Badgers.</p><p>The sweep boosted the Gophers to a 7-3 record and a .700 percentage and past North Dakota (5-3, .625) in the topsy-turvy WCHA race.</p><p><b>DULUTH AT DENVER:</b> Du luth, still stuck in the WCHA basement, earned a split in Denver by winning 5-4 in the opener before Denver came back for a 5-3 win the second night.</p><p>For a while, it looked like Duluth was on ts way to a sweep and a trip out of the WCHA cellar. Two goals by Scott Carlston and one by Glenn Kulyk gave the Bulldogs a 30 lead.</p><p>But Gary Nedelak, Andy Hilliard and Andy Hill tied it for the Pioneers, who then got the winning goal from wing Mark Davidson with just over three minutes to play. Barry Hudson&rsquo;s opener net goal with five seconds left wrapped it up for Denver.</p><p><b>NORTH DAKOTA AT MICHI GAN STATE:</b> In one of the best two-man performances in years in the WCHA, senior center Mark Taylor and Junior wing Doug Small destroyed Michigan State 9-2 as North Dakota won the opener to stay in first place.</p><p>Taylor, North Dakota&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer, blasted five goals and added one assist for a six-point night. Taylor&rsquo;s five goals tied the WCHA record for goals in a league game first set by Michigan&rsquo;s Red Berenson against Colorado College in 1962. It was later tied by Wisconsin&rsquo;s Mike Meeker against Michigan Tech in 1977 and again by Wisconsin&rsquo;s Mark Johnson, also against Michigan Tech in 1978.</p><p>While Taylor was putting the puck in the net, Small was doing the leg work. Small, who is one of the swiftest skaters in the WCHA, had two goals and five assists for a seven-point night.</p><p>North Dakota led 5-0 after one period, 8-0 after two and led 9-0 in the third before State broke the shutout bid by Sioux All-American goalie Bob Iwabuchi with third period goals by Joe Omiccioli and Jeff Bacon. Iwabuchi finished with 25 stops to 45 for State&rsquo;s Mark Mazzoleni and Doug Belland.</p><p>It was a different story the second night, however. The game was marred by 40 penalties, 21 of them on the Sioux.</p><p>Leo Lynett, the second-leading scorer in the league going into the weekend, won it for State in overtime when his power play goal with 2:41 left in sudden death ended the game.</p><p>Lynett&rsquo;s goal came with North Dakota skating two men short.</p><p>State had forced the tie with just 12 seconds left in regulation play when Ted Huesing slapped in a rebound past Sioux goalie Mel Donnelly.</p><p>The rash of penalties drew strong words from Gasparini, the second-year coach who took North Dakota to the WCHA title in his first season as head coach.</p><p>&ldquo;You just can&rsquo;t beat the opposition and the officials as well. In overtime, he (official Duane Markus) calls double penalties against us. You just don&rsquo;t do that in hockey.</p><p>&ldquo;Brutal, absolutely brutal. That&rsquo;s the hockey game. Michigan State played a lot better than we did, but not that much better,&rdquo; Gasparini said.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01480/4308040-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="567" height="652"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Tim Harrer scored four goals in a Gopher sweep against Wisconsin.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0024-01

Coaches Prophetic About Crowded WCHA

<h2>WCHA CONFERENCE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Fri. Nov. 30)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01416/4308162-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="540" height="271"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Minn-Duluth 5, Denver 4</p><p>Denver 5, Minn-Duluth 3</p><p>North Dakota 9, Michigan State 2</p><p>Michigan State 5, North Dakota 4</p><p>Minnesota 6, Wisconsin 5</p><p>Minnesota 7, Wisconsin 2</p><h3>NON-CONFERENCE GAMES</h3><p>Michigan 5, Western Michigan 4</p><p>Michigan 8, Western Michigan 7</p><p>Michigan Tech 3, Northern Mich. 2</p><p>Northern Mich. 6, Michigan Tech 2</p><p>Notre Dame 5, Cornell 4</p><p>Notre Dame 6, Cornell 4</p><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02308/4308155-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="543" height="607"></div><h2>CCHA CONFERENCE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Nov. 26)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03214/4308148-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="546" height="171"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Northern Mich. 8, Lake Superior 7</p><p>Northern Mich. 8, Lake Superior 1</p><h3>NON-CONFERENCE GAMES</h3><p>Ohio State 6, Boston College 1</p><p>Ohio State 6, Lowell 1</p><p>Ferris state 4, Miami (0) 3</p><p>Ferris State 6, Miami (0) 0</p><p>Bowling Green 5, Providence 3</p><p>Bowling Green 3, Providence 2</p><p>Western Mich. 12, Wilfrid Laurier 3</p><p>Western Mich. 7, Wilfrid Laurier 4</p><p>Michigan 5, Western Mich. 4</p><p>Michigan 8, Western Mich. 7</p><p>Lake Superior 9, Lakehead 6</p><p>Lake Superior 4, Lakehead 3</p><p>New Hampshire 5, Bowling Greer. 2</p><p>New Hampshire 4, Bowling Green 2</p><p>Michigan Tech 3, Northern Mich. 2</p><p>Northern Mich 6, Michigan Tech 2</p><h2>CALIFORNIA CONFERENCE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Fri. Nov. 16)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-04154/4308141-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="527" height="147"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Northridge 10. UCLA 3</p><p>Long Beach 4, Irvine 2</p><p>USC 8, Irvine 4</p><p>USC 5, UCLA 4</p><p>Northridge 9, USC 2</p><p>Long Beach 6, Northridge 4</p><p>Long Beach 3, UCLA 1</p><h2>ECAC CONFERENCE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Nov. 26)</b></p><h3>EASTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-05131/4308134-1-eng-US/f0025-052.jpg" title="f0025-05" width="551" height="169"></div><h3>WESTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-06108/4308127-1-eng-US/f0025-062.jpg" title="f0025-06" width="556" height="128"></div><h3>IVY DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-07101/4308120-1-eng-US/f0025-072.jpg" title="f0025-07" width="549" height="147"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Dartmouth 3, Colgate 2</p><p>Clarkson 7, Dartmouth 2</p><p>Harvard 8, Northeastern 2</p><p>Boston University 5. Maine 3</p><p>Clarkson 8, Yale 7</p><p>Yale 6, St. Lawrence 3</p><p>Princeton 4, Dartmouth 2</p><p>RPI 6, Harvard 2</p><p>Maine 6, Northeastern 3</p><h3>NON-CONFERENCE GAMES</h3><p>Clarkson 6, St. Lawrence 5</p><p>Boston College 8, Salem State 5</p><p>U.S. Olympic 5, Harvard 0</p><p>U.S. Olympic 9, RPI 3</p><p>St. Marvs 4, Maine 3</p><p>New Hampshire 5, Bowling Green 3</p><p>New Hampshire 4, Bowling Green 2</p><p>Princeton 10, Holy Cross 3</p><p>Merrimack 6, Providence 3</p><p>RPI 6, Waterloo 2</p><p>Manitoba 7, St. Lawrence 4</p><p>Vermont 8, Plattsburgh 4</p><p>Vermont 3, Toronto 2</p><p>Vermont 9, Toronto 3</p><p>Western 9, St. Lawrence 7</p><p>Clarkson 6, Western 5</p><p>Merrimack 6, Elmira 4</p><p>Plattsburgh 6, Elmira 2</p><p>Merrimack 12, New Haven 2</p><h2>ONTARIO CONFERENCE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Nov. 26)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0891/4308113-1-eng-US/f0025-082.jpg" title="f0025-08" width="529" height="312"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Toroonto 4, McMaster 4</p><p>Guelph 10, Western 3</p><p>Toronto 4, York 1</p><p>York 6, Laurier 4</p><p>Waterloo 8, Brock 2</p><p>McMaster 9, Guelph 8</p><p>Queen&rsquo;s 5, McMaster 3</p><p>Guelph 7, Queen&rsquo;s 4</p><p>Windsor 2, Laurier 1</p><p>Waterloo 4, Windsor 3</p><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-0982/4308106-1-eng-US/f0025-092.jpg" title="f0025-09" width="534" height="294"></div><h2>CANADA WEST CONFERENCE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Fri. Nov. 23)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1065/4308099-1-eng-US/f0025-102.jpg" title="f0025-10" width="561" height="124"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Alberta 8, Calgary 1</p><p>Saskatchewan 9, UBC 6</p><p>Calgary 5, Alberta 3</p><p>UBC 8, Saskatchewan 6</p><p>UBC 5, Regina 1</p><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1157/4308092-1-eng-US/f0025-112.jpg" title="f0025-11" width="556" height="142"></div><h2>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Nov. 19)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1248/4308085-1-eng-US/f0025-122.jpg" title="f0025-12" width="550" height="192"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>UQTR 9, McGill 3</p><p>UQTR 9, Concordia 7</p><p>Bishop&rsquo;s 4, Laval 2</p><p>Ottawa 9, McGill 3</p><p>UQTR 6, Ottawa 2</p><p>UQTR 5, Bishop&rsquo;s 1</p><p>Laval 8, UQAC 1</p><h2>ATLANTIC CONFERENCE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Nov. 19)</b></p><h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1342/4308078-1-eng-US/f0025-132.jpg" title="f0025-13" width="541" height="120"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1439/4308071-1-eng-US/f0025-142.jpg" title="f0025-14" width="544" height="166"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Mount Allison 6, UPEI 2</p><p>St. F. Xavier 6, Acadia 4</p><p>Moncton 7, UNB 4</p><p>Acadia 3, St. Marys 1</p><p>UNB 2, UPEI 1</p><p>Dalhousie 4, Acadia 2</p><p>Mount Allison 6, Memorial 0</p><p>Mount Allison 5, Memorial 4</p><p>UPEI 6, St. Thomas 1<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0025-01

How They Stand

<h2>ECAC Conference</h2><h3>NOVEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1534/4308256-1-eng-US/f0025-152.jpg" title="f0025-15" width="562" height="228"></div><h3>DECEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1629/4308249-1-eng-US/f0025-162.jpg" title="f0025-16" width="576" height="780"></div><h3>JANUARY</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1724/4308242-1-eng-US/f0025-172.jpg" title="f0025-17" width="582" height="968"></div><h2>WCHA Conference</h2><h3>NOVEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1820/4308235-1-eng-US/f0025-182.jpg" title="f0025-18" width="600" height="428"></div><h3>DECEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-1915/4308228-1-eng-US/f0025-192.jpg" title="f0025-19" width="608" height="932"></div><h2>CCHA Conference</h2><h3>NOVEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-2012/4308221-1-eng-US/f0025-202.jpg" title="f0025-20" width="564" height="100"></div><h3>DECEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-219/4308214-1-eng-US/f0025-212.jpg" title="f0025-21" width="572" height="540"></div><h2>CIAU Conference</h2><h3>NOVEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-227/4308207-1-eng-US/f0025-222.jpg" title="f0025-22" width="558" height="306"></div><h3>DECEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-237/4308200-1-eng-US/f0025-232.jpg" title="f0025-23" width="560" height="758"></div><h2>Leading U.S. College Teams</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-246/4308193-1-eng-US/f0025-242.jpg" title="f0025-24" width="494" height="412"></div><div class="sidebar"><p><b>VICTORIAVILLE</b></p><p><b>Quality sticks from PeeWee to Pro.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

f0025-15

College Games To Come

<div class="byline">BY JIM SCHNEIDER</div><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>OWLING GREEN&mdash;Defending Central Collegiate Hockey Association champion Bowling Green pushed its season record over the .500 mark with a sweep over ECAC Division I foe, Providence College, 5-3 and 3-2.</p><p>In other CCHA action Northern Michigan swept Lake Superior 8-7 in overtime and 8-1 in the first league action of the season, while in non-league play Ohio State collected a pair of wins on the road at Boston College, 5-4 in overtime, and at Lowell 6-1. Ferris State swept Miami 4-3 and 6-0, and Western Michigan moved its winning streak to seven games-sweeping Wilfrid Laurier, 12-3 and 7-4.</p><p>Chris Guertin paced the Bowling Green sweep with three goals in the series with two coming in the 3-2 contest.</p><p>BG held 1-0 and 3-1 leads in the opener, but the PC Friars came back to tie the game 3-3. St. Louis transfer Doug Olson finished off a pretty passing play with Kim Collins and Andy Crowther for the winning goal as Wally Charko made 22 saves.</p><p>In the second game Guertin and Bill Newton scored power play goals in the first period to give BG a 2-1 lead and Guertin&rsquo;s second period marker proved to be the winner. Michael David made just 14 saves in the win.</p><p>Bad news for the Falcons, who, moved their record to 4-3-1, as George McPhee suffered a shoulder injury in the second game and may be lost for several weeks. McPhee, CCHA rookie-of-the-year in 1978-79, had played his best game of the season scoring in this third straight game in the 5-3 win.</p><p>In Saut Ste. Marie the host Lake Superior Soo Lakers ambushed Northern Michigan early in the game and led 6-3 in the third period, but power play goals by Steve Bozek and Don Waddell brought the Wildcats back into the game.</p><p>Steve Fisher tied the game for NMU at 13:52, but newcomer Greg Retty pushed LSSC back on top at 15:12 on a power play goal. NMU&rsquo;s Dave Ikkala tied the game 7-7 at 18:29.</p><p>Bozek scored the winner from Mike Mielke at 4:38 of the overtime period.</p><p>The second game found NMU ahead 3-2 after one period and the lead stretched to 8-0 with Bruce Martin scoring a pair of goals before Bryan Alexander&rsquo;s second goal of the series put the Lakers on the scoreboard.</p><p>MNU&rsquo;s Jeff Pyle was CCHA player-of-the-week as he earned six points on a goal and five assists. Steve Weeks was solid in goal with 64 saves in the sweep.</p><p>OSU veteran center Paul Tilley made sure the ECAC fans knew he was around during the eastern swing taken by Jerry Welsh&rsquo;s buckeyes.</p><p>Tilley, an All-CCHA first team selection last season, scored two goals at Boston College including the winner at 1:39 of the overtime period.</p><p>At BC Ohio State led 1-0 after one period on Mike Conrad&rsquo;s power play goal at 7:37. After the host Eagles had taken a 2-1 lead, Larry Marson scored at 14:36 of the second period of a 2-2 tie.</p><p>Tilley&rsquo;s first goal of the game at 1:43 of the third period made the score 3-2 and Mark Freeman made it 4-2 at 1:57 assisted by Tilley and Jim Penningroth. BC&rsquo;s Bill O&rsquo;Dwyer tied the game with an unassisted goal at 17:16, setting up the othertime.</p><p>Steve Jones had 29 saves at BC, and Mike Blake made 35 to win the next night at Lowell against the defending division two Chiefs.</p><p>Conrad again had the one first period goal, but OSuu moved the lead to 3-0 in the second on goals by Steve Amoruso and Tilley. OSU wrapped up the scoring in the third period on goals by Conrad, Amoruso and Marson.</p><p>At Ferris State Miami took a 20 lead on goals by Bill Bok and John Malloy, but Brian Walters and Rocki Smith tied the game at 2-2 after one period in the opener. Jim Baker scored the lone goal in the second period and Randy Strong iced the game at 7:03 of the third period before Malloy&rsquo;s second goal of the game at 15:01. Doug Nowels had 20 saves in the win for the Bulldogs.</p><p>Ted Ykema recorded a shutout with 15 saves as Ferris State ran its record to 8-0 with a 6-0 win in the second game, scoring three goals in the second and third periods. Freshman Paul Pickard scored the winning goal at 6:10 of the second period and Steve Bano-nis scored two goals for the Bulldogs.</p><p>At Western Michigan the Broncos used hat tricks from Bob Scur-field and Rob Reid in the 12-3 win in the opener over Wilfrid Laurier. Scurfield added two assists for a five-point game and Ross Fitzpatrick had a goal and four assists.</p><p>Fitzpatrick had three goals and an assist in the 7-4 win to finish off the weekend with nine points and the overall scoring lead in the CCHA with 25 points in eight gams.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01428/4308287-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="580" height="760"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>George McPhee of Bowling Green suffered the anguish of playing his best game of the CCHA season and being knocked out of the lineup indefinitely with a shoulder separation.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0026-01

Bowling Green, Ohio State Show ECAC Foes They’re No Pushovers

<div class="byline">BY MORRIS DALLA COSTA</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01409/4308318-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="602" height="772"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Dino Ciccarelli is now nearly fully recovered from last year&rsquo;s broken leg.</i></figcaption></div><p>LONDON&mdash;The Knights have to be the biggest mystery so far in the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League.</p><p>Knights are always tough. Year in and year out it seems the team puts a solid contender on the ice and with a brain trust like coach and general manager Bill Long running the show chances are they&rsquo;ll continue to ice a strong team.</p><p>But this year the Knights are in an odd position in the Emms division. Granted they are in second place but with their record that isn&rsquo;t much to brag about. Knights sport a 10 win, 14 loss record. They are fortunate not one other team in that division, other than the Windsor Spitfires, who are ripping apart the division with a 17 win, five loss record, seems to be able to win with any consistency.</p><p>Knights were touted as perhaps the team to beat in that division. They had from 12 to 15 returning players, including the high scoring duo of forwards Frank Nigro and Dino Ciccarelli. They had a solid nucleus to build on, but they&rsquo;ve been slow getting out of the gate. Included in their early season miseries was a six game losing streak, the longest in the club&rsquo;s history since Long took over behind the bench seven years ago.</p><p>They&rsquo;ve managed to shake off the streak with wins against Toronto, Kingston and their latest a 6-4 win over Oshawa Generals. Between those games though were a pair of losses, one of them at home to Peterborough Petes.</p><p>Some of the problems are obvious. London has run into an injury problem. Nigro hurt an arm and has been out for a month. It will be a while before he returns. They&rsquo;ve also had trouble between the pipes.</p><p>Kevin Hamlin and Frank Caprice have not been the solution to Knights&rsquo; problems, so they&rsquo;ve gone one step more and acquired overage netminder Paul Minaker from Ottawa &rsquo;67s. If he sticks one of the other two netminders are going to go, and chances are it may be Hamlin.</p><p>But all is not bleak on the horizon. Knights are too good a hockey club to play the way they have been playing. Ciccarelli, although not yet 100 percent after his broken leg last year (he still sports a pin in his leg), can still score goals and although he won&rsquo;t be classified as a good defensive player, no one expects him to shadow anybody. Ciccarelli was drafted by Minnesota North Stars as an under-age and rumour has it, if he finishes in the top five scorers in the OMJHL this year there is a sizable amount of cash in it for the winger.</p><p>Knights also are fortunate with the likes of Basil McRae, Wayne Thompson and Jim Egerton, all solid forwards. Joe Paterson is another top notch two-way forward. He&rsquo;s the type of guy who won&rsquo;t get a lot of ink, but who always seems to get the job done.</p><p>As long as Knights hang tough in their division they&rsquo;ll get better and they&rsquo;ll be reckoned with before the season is over with.</p><p>That entire Emms division is a little strange. Another expected power in the division, Niagara Falls Flyers, are still trying to settle in under new coach Fred Stanfield. They are two points behind London with three games in hand.</p><p>Niagara Falls fattened up on Kitchener Rangers (doesn&rsquo;t everybody these days?) for a 6-4 win. Pat Graham, who came over in the Wayne Crawford deal from Toronto had a pair of goals with hard hitting defenseman Paul Thomas getting the winner.</p><p>Meanwhile, a rare loss for Windsor Spitfires who may run and hide from the rest of the division. Sudbury Wolves taught them a hockey lesson with a 7-2 win in Sudbury. The teacher in the lesson was big center Mike Allison who led Wolves with three goals. Then it was Kingston&rsquo;s turn as they headed into Sudbury.</p><p>They were greeted by a four goal second period in an 8-4 loss to <b><i>a</i></b> tough home club. Sudbury got three goals from both Wayne Gro-leau and Frank Perkins. Groleau came over from Sault Ste. Marie in an early season trade and it looks like Wolves should be charged with theft. Since coming to Wolves Groleau has been filling the net, while the Soo looks to trades for help.</p><p>In an attempt to strengthen a weak forward unit, Sault Ste. Marie and Kitchener Rangers made a four player deal. Flashy blueliner Paul Coffey moved from one last place club to the other, as the Soo traded him to Rangers in return for a blueliner and two forwards.</p><p>The players going to the northern club are Kerry Williston, Tim Zwijack and Doug Shedden. It&rsquo;s probably the type of deal that will favor Sault Ste. Marie. Rangers are a lot more than one player away from a winner. Chances are they&rsquo;ll lose Coffey next year to the under-age draft.</p><p>Toronto Marlies are in one of their down periods. That hockey club is up and down. After a horrendous start Marlies put together a modest winning streak. Now they&rsquo;ve lost four games in a row arid in the manner to which they have grown accustomed. They play well enough to win in many cases, but they don&rsquo;t.</p><p>Latest losses have come to Peterborough Petes 4-3 and 7-4 to London Knights. The big problem is goal scoring. The Dukes&rsquo; leading scorer is Jim Peplinski with 12 goals. That isn&rsquo;t enough.</p><p>The Leyden division has a tight race with Peterborough on top and Sudbury, Oshawa, Kingston and Ottawa in a dog fight. Ottawa continues to win on the road, Oshawa has trouble away from the Motor City and Peterborough is still Peterborough. Get a couple of goals behind and you&rsquo;re dead.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0027-01

Struggling Knights Remain OMJHL Mystery

<p class="dropcap"><span>O</span>SHAWA&mdash;The National Hockey League teams have gotten a jump on the re-entry draft by signing 31 juniors from the various junior leagues in Canada.</p><p>The 31 players had to be signed before Nov. 1 or they would have been required to go through the entry draft, which will include 18-year-olds along with the 19 and 20-year-olds.</p><p>Fears are that the constant signings may make the draft almost extinct. Eleven players were signed before the deadline from the OMJHL.</p><p>Philadelphia, who signed six players took Tim Kerr of the Kingston Canadians and Dan Barber from the Toronto Marlboros.</p><p>Buffalo Sabres took three from the OMJHL. They were Mark Wichrowski from Kingston Canadians, Dave Fenyves from Peterborough Petes and Oshawa Generals Peter Horachek.</p><p>Detroit Red Wings settled for Brantford Alexanders&rsquo; Randy Ladouceur, while Montreal Canadiens signed Dan Lane from Oshawa and Bill Kitchen from Ottawa &rsquo;67s.</p><p>Vancouver Canucks signed gangling Ottawa &rsquo;67s rearguard Rory Cava, while Minnesota took Dino Ciccarelli from the London Knights.</p><p>New York Rangers inked speedy Oshawa winger Bob Crawford. Reports say most of the free agents signed two year contracts.</p><p>Following is a list of the 31 players signed by NHL teams before the Nov. 1 deadline:</p><p>ATLANTA: Jay Solway, Ralph Andresen, Lethbridge.</p><p>BUFFALO: Jean Francois Sauve, Trois-Rivieres; Mark Wich-rowski, Kingston; Peter Horachek, Oshawa; Dave Fenyves, Peterborough.</p><p>CHICAGO: Florent Robidoux, Portland; Warren Skorodenski, Calgary.</p><p>DETROIT: Rejean Cloutier, Sherbrooke; Brian Johnson, Verdun; Michel Champigny, Trois-Rivieres; Bruce Howse, New Westminster; Randy Ladouceur, Brantford.</p><p>EDMONTON: Jim Crosson, Calgary; Gordon Stafford, Billings.</p><p>MINNESOTA: Dino Ciccarelli, London.</p><p>MONTREAL: Francois James, Sherbrooke; Bill Kitchen, Ottawa; Danny Lane, Oshawa.</p><p>PHILADELPHIA: Greg Adams, Victoria; Simon Learmouth, Lethbridge; Marc Marchand, Hull; Ron Flockhart, Regina; Tim Kerr, Kingston; Dan Barber, Toronto.</p><p>QUEBEC: David Pichette, Quebec.</p><p>RANGERS: Bobby Crawford, Oshawa.</p><p>TORONTO: Benoit Laporte, Trois-Rivieres.</p><p>VANCOUVER: Rory Cava, Ottawa; Ian Tennant, Saskatoon.</p><p>WASHINGTON: Jim McTag-gert, Billings.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Pros Sign 31 Junior Players

<div class="byline">BY DAVE SENICK</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>LETHBRIDGE&mdash;The big question isn&rsquo;t plaguing Duane Sutter.</p><p>In the past, one of the main concerns of a 19-year-old playing in the Western Hockey League was exactly what his worth would be in that year&rsquo;s National Hockey League draft.</p><p>There are still those who ponder the prospects but a ruling which allowed the selection and signing of 18-year-olds in August&rsquo;s entry draft has eliminated the question for Sutter and others like him.</p><p>Sutter is playing in the WHL but there&rsquo;s a difference for him. He has a contract which links him to the New York Islanders of the NHL.</p><p>It&rsquo;s a contract that was negotiated after Sutter became the first-round pick of the Islanders and the 17th over-all player to be claimed by an NHL club in the entry draft.</p><p>Islanders were obviously impressed with Sutter&rsquo;s Offensive capabilities. Last season, the right winger scored 50 goals and collected 75 assists in 71 games with the Lethbridge Broncos.</p><p>This season, Sutter had 13 goals and nine assists in 17 games with the Broncos.</p><p>He didn&rsquo;t attend Lethbridge&rsquo;s training camp and missed the team&rsquo;s first few games but had a good reason for his absence. Sutter was taking part in the Islanders&rsquo; pre-season activities.</p><p>It was deemed that he needed more seasoning, following the New York camp, and that&rsquo;s why he is back with the Broncos. The move didn&rsquo;t upset the Viking, Alta., native. He figured he was a winner no matter what happened.</p><p>&ldquo;I went with the attitude that it was good either way,&rdquo; says Sutter. &ldquo;If I stayed up, I&rsquo;d certainly benefit. But, in the WHL, I&rsquo;ll be getting more ice time. It should be a confidence builder.&rdquo;</p><p><b>BILLINGS:</b> The Bighorns had a seven-game winning streak ended with a 6-2 loss to Saskatoon. That game was halted at 19:57 of the third period because of fighting.</p><p>Billings also dropped an 8-5 decision to Regina. Lindsay Carson tallied twice for the losers. The results left Bighorns in second place with 21 points, just one less than Regina and Calgary.</p><p><b>BRANDON:</b> Wheat Kings picked up five points in the standings and Mike Winther. Brandon defeated Saskatoon 7-5 then edged Medicine Hat Tigers 3-1 and played to a 3-3 tie with the Tigers.</p><p>Wheat Kings acquired Winther, a forward, from Medicine Hat. Winther, Dan Torualt and a player to be named later went to Brandon in exchange for Brad Kempthorne and Brant Kiessig. Winther had 10 goals and 13 assists in Medicine Hat&rsquo;s first 20 games.</p><p>Don Gillen added two goals to his scoring statistics in the game against Saskatoon while center Vaughn Karpan tallied twice in the win against Medicine Hat.</p><p><b>CALGARY:</b> Wranglers won twice to increase their record to 11-3, good enough for a first-place tie with Regina. Bill McLean and Ray Cote both scored in the third period to break a 2-2 tie and give Calgary a 4-2 win over Portland. The Wranglers also beat Victoria by a 4-2 count. Goalie Warren Skorodenski made 32 saves in that game.</p><p><b>GREAT FALLS:</b> The Americans continued to struggle, losing 6-0 to Regina. That left the club with just one win and a tie in 14 games.</p><p>One dubious distinction given the Americans is that team member Derek Davis has accumulated the highest penalty percentage per game in the league. He has been assessed 100 minutes in 13 outings.</p><p><b>LETHBRIDGE:</b> Broncos snapped a three-game losing streak with an 8-4 victory over Portland. Mike Moller scored twice for Lethbridge. Broncos had four minor penalties for illegal sticks called against them and avoided a penalty on a fifth check.</p><p>The Broncos also defeated Victoria 6-2, blanking their opposition through the final two periods. Duane Sutter had two goals.</p><p>The only loss of the week came at the end of the three-game road streak. Broncos lost 5-4 to Regina.</p><p><b>MEDICINE HAT:</b> Tigers were fined $700 for their actions in a penalty-filled game against Regina. General manager-coach Paddy Ginnell was fined $200 for pulling his team off the ice during the first period.</p><p>Ginnell was upset with the refereeing but returned to finish the game. The team was fined an additional $500 for having a player leave the bench to join a fight. Forward Brian Ziegler was suspended for five games for leaving the bench in an incident that eventually prompted all the players from both teams to move onto the ice. More than 200 penalty minutes were assessed in the game which Medicine Hat lost 13-3.</p><p><b>REGINA:</b> Pats have put together a seven-game winning streak to move into a first-place tie, at 22 points, with Calgary. Ron Flockhart scored twice to help Regina to a 5-4 win over Lethbridge. Pats then dumped Medicine Hat 13-3, producing seven consecutive power-play goals en route to an 8-0 lead after the first period. Doug Wickenheiser, Brian Varga and Darren Veitch all scored three goals in that encounter while Mike Blaisdell added two.</p><p>Wickenheiser continued to score, producing four goals and an assist in an 8-5 win over Billings. Blaisdell contributed three goals. And. goalie Bart Hunter stopped 27 shots to record a shutout in a 6-0 win over Great Falls. Flockhart scored twice in the game.</p><p><b>SASKATOON:</b> Blades scored four power-play goals in a 6-2 win over Billings. The game was halted at 19:57 of the third period because of a series of fights which brought penalty totals for the game to 130 minutes. Kevin MacNaught scored two goals and goalie Ron Loustel stopped 41 shots.</p><p>Saskatoon also lost 7-5 to Brandon. Dan Bent is the team&rsquo;s leading scorer with 14 goals and 10 assists in 18 games while MacNaught is 11-10.</p><p><b>NEW WESTMINSTER:</b> Last place has been a permanent home for the Bruins since the season began. The team lost 3-1 to Seattle which left its record at 2-17-1.</p><p>The team has scored just 55 goals while allowing 100.</p><p><b>PORTLAND:</b> The Winter Hawks did not find life on the road that easy, dropping four of five games to East Division opponents. The team lost 4-2 to Calgary, 8-6 to Medicine Hat and 8-4 to Lethbridge this week. Winter Hawks also dropped an 8-3 decision to Seattle in another road game.</p><p>Although Portland had a bad week. Tim Tookey turned in a good offensive performance. He had four goals against Medicine Hat and two against Lethbridge. Jim Dobson tallied twice against Calgary.</p><p>Dave Babych suffered an ankle injury which will keep him sidelined from three to six weeks. That could be the reason for some of the team&rsquo;s problems since he is considered a key to the defense.</p><p><b>SEATTLE:</b> Breakers earned two victories while just losing once. John Neeld scored two goals to help Seattle to a 3-1 win over New Westminster Breakers then scored three goals in the first four minutes and coasted to an 8-3 triumph over Portland. Dan Held tallied three times in that game.</p><p>The loss was against Victoria, by an 8-3 score.</p><p><b>VICTORIA:</b> Cougars won only once while losing twice but remained atop the West standings with a 13-4 record. Greg Adams scored three goals and Grant Rezansoff two to lead Cougars to an 8-3 win over Seattle.</p><p>But Victoria then lost 4-2 to Calgary and 6-2 to Lethbridge. Against Lethbridge, coach Jack Shupe was assessed a gross misconduct in the first period after pulling his team off the ice. He was upset over a decision to eject Barry Pederson from the game for being the third man in a fight.</p><p>Pederson is the team&rsquo;s leading scorer with 10 goals and 18 assists in 15 games.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01394/4308373-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="566" height="782"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Warren Skorodenski helped Calgary climb into a first-place tie with stellar netminding.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0028-01

Waiting’s Over For Broncos’ Sutter; Bighorns’ Win Streak Ends In Brawl

<div class="byline">BY DANNY YOUNG</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>CORNWALL&mdash;In his two years as coach of the Cornwall Royals, Doug Carpenter has learned the hard way what key injuries can do to a hockey team.</p><p>Last season, he lost Brian Fontaine, who had scored at a 65-goal pace, for 20 games. And though Bob Crawford scored 62 goals and 70 assists, he was hampered by a shoulder separation injury during the first half of the season.</p><p>This season, things have been even worse for the Royals. Rod Willard, a 38 goal and 57 assist man last season, missed the first eight weeks of the season with an injury. And as Willard returned to the lineup, the club&rsquo;s top scorer Mark Crawford broke his jaw and will be out for about six weeks.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been tough,&rdquo; says Carpenter. &ldquo;When you lose a kid like Willard for eight weeks or Arthur (Fred), our leader on defense for five games, it&rsquo;s a struggle. And now Crawford has a broken jaw.&rdquo;</p><p>Despite the injury depletions, the Royals have maintained an 1113-1 record, quite commendable under the circumstances. And aided by the return of injured players Into the lineup, the Royals recorded decisive victories in their last two outings.</p><p>Willard, Newell Brown, Dale Howerchuck and Mike Corrigan all scored two goals each as the Royals bombed Laval 12-1. Then goalie Tom Graovac and the Royals blanked Quebec 5-0.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the first time we&rsquo;ve been able to put it together for three periods,&rdquo; says Carpenter. &ldquo;Not 30 minutes, or 40 or 50, but 60 minutes.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;My concern is that we haven&rsquo;t been consistent. If we can get some consistency in our goaltending and the rest of the club, we&rsquo;ll be up in the horse race.&rdquo;</p><p>The Royals never really fell out of the horse race. They are only three points out of both first place in the Lebel division and third in the overall standings.</p><p>One of Carpenter&rsquo;s biggest frustrations as coach is that he cannot trade with the other teams in the league. The lopsided trade that sent Normand Aubin to Sherbrooke was a painful reminder of the Royals&rsquo; disadvantage in this area.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really not fair for us to see ridiculous trades go on,&rdquo; says Carpenter. &ldquo;The league is quite competitive, it&rsquo;s close. But when you get a trade like this, how can the rest of the teams compete.&rdquo;</p><p>The trading handicap has not hurt Cornwall teams too badly in the past. If Carpenter and the Royals could shake the injury jinx, it probably wouldn&rsquo;t in the present or future either.</p><p><b>CHICOUTIMI:</b> The Sags are just one point out of first place in the overall standings. After 24 games, they are 16-7-1, while Sherbrooke is 16-7-2 having played an extra game. The Sags defeated Cornwall 6-4, but then lost to Hull 9-7, though Gilles Hamil and Gilbert Delorme provided two goal efforts. Then against Shawinigan, Alain Lemieux and Guy Carbon-neau picked up two goals apiece in a 6-3 win. Chicoutimi closed out by tying Trois-Rivieres at seven, thanks to a Lemieux hat trick, and two scores from Chris Langevin.</p><p><b>SHAWINIGAN:</b> A win and a tie stretched the Cats&rsquo; November unbeaten streak to seven games (6-01), but that&rsquo;s where it ended. After tying Laval 3-3 and upsetting Sherbrooke 5-3, the Cats lost to Chicoutimi 6-3. In their next encounter, Pierre Dumouchel scored a hat trick in a 6-5 losing cause against Verdun.</p><p><b>SHERBROOKE:</b> The damage caused in a 3-2 loss to Quebec was much more than just a notch in the loss column for the Beavers. A bench clearing brawl ended in suspensions for two Sherbrooke players and coach Ghislain Delage. Rejean Cloutier was suspended five games for attacking the Quebec bench. Alan Haworth also received a five game suspension for being the first player to leave the bench. Delage was suspended two games for not controlling his players.</p><p>Sherbrooke then lost to Shawinigan 5-3, but held on to first place by edging Montreal 5-4 Serge Boisvert scored his 24th and 25th goals of the season.</p><p><b>LAVAL:</b> Not that bad a week for the Voisins. Francois Perreault scored at 16:26 of the third period to give the Voisins a 3-3 tie with Shawinigan. Alain Grenier scored a goal and two assists in a 6-3 loss to Quebec. In their next game, the Voisins made Grenier&rsquo;s scoring count. Grenier had a pair and they tied Hull 5-5.</p><p><b>QUEBEC:</b> Jacques Chouinard scored two third period goals to give the Remparts a 3-2 victory over Sherbrooke. Then Pierre Giard scored twice in a 6-3 win over Laval. Against Cornwall, the Remparts were shut out, 5-0. Quebec&rsquo;s 9-13-1 record puts them in last place in the Dilio division, and ninth overall. The fact that they gave up only 10 goals in three games may indicate that their defense is improving.</p><p><b>TROIS-RIVIERES:</b> Pierre Aubry scored three goals and Jean Francois Sauve added two as the Draveurs blasted Verdun 8-3. Against Chicoutimi, one of the newest Draveurs Rene Labbe fired four goals to give them a 7-7 tie. Aubry has snuck up among the scoring leaders with 25 goals and 21 assists.</p><p><b>HULL:</b> Jean Poulin scored seven goals in the Olympics three games. Four of those came in Hull&rsquo;s 9-7 win over Chicoutimi. Two more came in a 7-4 loss to Montreal. The last one was scored in a 5-5 tie with Laval. Marcel Tourigny scored twice for the Olympics in that deadlock.</p><p><b>MONTREAL:</b> The Juniors lead a four way battle for the Lebel division lead. They have 26 points, Verdun has 25, Hull has 25 and Cornwall has 23. The Juniors beat rival Hull 7-4 with Denis Cyr and Jean Pierre Dubois scoring doubles. In their next game, Montreal lost a tough one to Sherbrooke 5-4. Denis Savard scored twice, but is only in ninth place in the scoring race with 54 points.</p><p><b>VERDUN:</b> Recovering from the shcok of the Normand Aubin trade, the Hawks split a pair of games. Andre Chartrain scored twice in an 8-3 loss to Trois-Rivieres. Then Alain Bouchard reached the 50 point mark with two goals as Verdun slipped by Shawinigan 6-5.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01347/4308404-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="566" height="776"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Sherbrooke coach Ghislain Delage was suspended for two games for failing to control his players on the bench after a brawl.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0029-01

Cornwall Contender Despite Injury Problem

<div class="byline">BY JIM LEAHY</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>SPRINGFIELD&mdash;The improving Indians are starting to get their act together. All season long the Tribe has been in nearly every game they have played, losing many of them in the last minute. They have an even split in their last six games (2-2-2) and are now starting to come back and win a few rather than fold their tent at the last minute. A come from behind effort in Maine was outstanding. Ex-Mariner Bernie Johnston scored midway through the third period to knot the score at 4-4 after Springfield had trailed 4-2 going into the third period. They held the Mariners to just six shots on goal in the third stanza and fired 20 shots at Robbie Moore. Marty Howe got his second goal of the year earlier in that period, setting the stage for Johnston&rsquo;s game tying marker.</p><p>The Tribe did the same thing later in the week. They overcame a 4-0 deficit in Glens Falls to gain a high-scoring 6-6 time with the Red Wings. Springfield made another remarkable comeback in Rochester. They erased a 2-1 Amerk lead in the third period, scoring with 18 seconds to play to knot the count at 2-2, and won the game in overtime.</p><p>Brian Hill continues to lead the club in scoring, with Bernie Johnston and Jean Savard behind Hill in the scoring race. Tim Sheehey and Steve Alley who joined Springfield from Cincinnati a few weeks ago, have added to the club&rsquo;s scoring attack. Sheehey had four goals in three games including a hat trick against Rochester. Alley scored two goals in two games.</p><p>Goaltender Julian Baretta has been acquired from the Los Angeles Kings. Baretta played at the University of Wisconsin last season and has been with Saginaw of the IHL this year. He will get some playing time in the AHL to see if he can make it in the vastly improved league. Baretta was brought in because Terry Richardson returned home due to the death of his father.</p><p><b>NEW HAVEN:</b> The much-maligned Nighthawk defense held Adirondack to five goals and the high-powered offense clicked for a nine-goal outburst as the &lsquo;Hawks buried Adirondack 9-5 before 5,008 at the Coliseum. Claude Larose and Dave Snopek each had two goals during the scoring blitz. Later in the week the club visited Syracuse and came away with a 22 tie on goals by Snopek and Ed Hospodar. Mike McDougal&rsquo;s overtime deflection lifted the club to a 5-4 win over the Nova Scotia Voya-geurs at the Coliseum two nights later.</p><p><b>NEW BRUNSWICK:</b> The Hawks are still locked in a tight battle for the top spot in the Northern Division with Maine and Nova Scotia. The club won two of three during the week and moved to a five-point lead over Maine. Syracuse upset the Hawks 8-5 in Moncton, but the club roared back to edge Nova Scotia 3-2, also on home ice; and to belt the same Firebirds 6-3 over in Syracuse. Tim Trimper held the early lead in the AHL scoring race, with Reg Thomas and Bruce Boudreau not too far behind.</p><p><b>NOVA SCOTIA:</b> Montreal called up Voyageur goaltender Richard Sevigny for a while and the Vees replaced him with rookie Richard Wamsley. The youngster was in the nets in a 5-4 overtime loss down in New Haven. Dan Metivier scored late in the first period and cut New Haven&rsquo;s lead to a slim 2-1 advantage. Bruce Baker&rsquo;s goal in the second, kept Nova Scotia close at 3-2. Bill Riley and Keith Acton each scored third period power play goals to knot the count at 4-4, but Mike McDougal scored in overtime to deal the Vees a heartbreaking 5-4 loss. Prior to the loss in New Haven, Nova Scotia had blasted Syracuse 8-4 in Halifax and dropped a 3-2 game in Binghamton.</p><p><b>ADIRONDACK:</b> Looking at TV the other night in the Albany/-Glens Falls area turned out to be a disaster for Red Wing fans. A local station televised the game between Adirondack and the New Haven Nighthawks, being played in Connecticut. It was a norror show. The Wings were buried 9-5 while the Adirondack defense fell asleep. Of course, they were playing their fourth game in five nights and New Haven was well-rested.</p><p>The Wings ended up losing three straight during that road trip. They were beaten 3-1 in Springfield, 3-2 in Maine and 9-5 in New Haven. Rick Vasko continues to lead the club in scoring and the team can score goals. Stopping the opposition from turning on the red light has been the problem to date. Adirondack had a wild scoring week to prove that point. They outscored Hershey 7-4 and then blew a 4-0 lead on home ice and had to settle for a 6-6 overtime time with Springfield. A near-capacity crowd watched the action at the new civic center.</p><p><b>MAINE:</b> Gordie Clark, Wayne Schaab and Paul Evans are pacing the Mariner scorers, but Maine is still having trouble putting the puck into the net. At this writing, they are the lowest scoring team in the AHL, yet are still good enough, thanks to their outstanding defense, to still be in the middle of the race for the divisional lead.</p><p>In a light schedule during the week, Maine answered the call only twice. They edged the Adirondack Red Wings 3-2 in Portland and skated to a 4-4 tie with improving Springfield, also at the Civic Center.</p><p><b>HERSHEY:</b> Bears are playing less than .500 hockey and in danger of falling into fourth place. Their often brutal road schedule has a lot to do with their relatively poor record to date. Only five of Hershey&rsquo;s first 14 games were on home ice. Just look at a recent road trip they made. It was a four games in five nights swing through the AHL. The Bears were at home on a Wednesday and beat Springfield 5-1. They bussed to New Haven the next afternoon and played the Nighthawks on Friday, losing 5-4. The bus motored back to Hershey immediately following that game. Saturday night at the Hershey Park Arena the Bears won a 6-3 contest against Binghamton, traveled to Binghamton the next day and lost 4-2 to the Dusters. Three nights later the Bears were back on home ice, this time losing 7-4 to the Adirondack Red Wings.</p><p>Wes Jarvis, Steve Clippingdale and Bob Bilodeau were pacing the Bears&rsquo; scoring attack in the early season statistics. Rollie Boutin had a 2.48 GAA and Dave Parro was his back up man, sporting a 4.53 average in six games.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01388/4308435-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="580" height="1251"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Brian Hill is Springfield&rsquo;s leader in scoring this year.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0030-01

Indians’ Recent Comeback Efforts Have Club Following Proper Path

<p class="dropcap"><span>R</span>OCHESTER&mdash;The second place Amerks split four games during the week, but were still primed to move past New Haven into the top spot in the division. They started the week beating Springfield 7-6 on the road, they lost back home 3-2 in overtime to the same club, they were blasted in Binghamton 9-3 but came back in Rochester to edge the Dusters 4-3.</p><p>Gordie Robertson scored both of the Rochester goals in the 3-2 loss to Springfield. A crowd of 4,566 at the War Memorial thought that the Amerks had salted away a 2-1 victory, but the Tribe pulled goaltender Ken Holland and Brian Hill scored with 18 seconds left in regulation play to send the game into overtime. That set the stage for Bob Stephenson to score at 2:34 of the extra session and sent Amerk fans home with long faces</p><p><b>BINGHAMTON</b>&mdash;The co-parent Los Angeles Kings sent some player help recently when defenseman Mark Hardy was sent to the Dusters. Hardy was the Kings second round draft choice last summer. He played in 20 NHL games so far this year and is being sent to the AHL to get some ice time and further coaching.</p><p>The Dusters came off a penalty-filled 4-2 win at home against Hershey and returned to the AHL wars with a big 9-3 win over Rochester. The return contest up in Rochester ended up in a 4-3 Amerk victory. The two clubs are in quite a battle for second place in the Southern Division.</p><p>Prior to the start of the game with Rochester at the Broome County Arena, the Key Club presented Duster veteran Randy MacGregor with a community service award. In addition, assistant coach Dave Forbes will serve as the honorary chairman of the Read-A-Thon program being staged by the local Multiple Sclerosis Society.</p><p>&ldquo;Thor&rdquo; will now be seen at all Duster games. He is the cartoon character from the comic strip &ldquo;B.C.&rdquo; and will become the official team mascot from here on in.</p><p><b>SYRACUSE</b>&mdash;Here is another team in the AHL saddled with a simply awful schedule. Ten of their first fourteen games were on the road and most of them against the best teams in the league. It&rsquo;s no wonder that the &lsquo;Birds have the worst record in the 10-team circuit.</p><p>The week was a near disaster for Syracuse. They only managed to get three points in four games, a 2-2 tie on home ice before 3,183 at the War Memorial and an 8-5 win in New Brunswick the only bright spots on the record. They lost to Nova Scotia 8-4 and a return match with New Brunswick in Syracuse ended up in a 6-3 win for the Hawks.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Amerks Poised To Catch ‘Hawks

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;Richard Brodeur has become the new shutout king of the young Central Hockey League season.</p><p>Brodeur extended his string of shutout goaltending to 184 minutes, 15 seconds, as the Checkers vaulted into first place in the CHL East by coming out of a showdown series in Birmingham with a victory and a tie.</p><p>Brodeau, who formerly toiled for the Quebec Nordiques in the World Hockey Association, had posted back-to-back zeros in Tulsa (2-0) and Oklahoma City (3-0) before Earl Ingarfield broke the spell at 12:59 of the third period in Birmingham. The Checker goalie surpassed the streak of 176:23 by Dallas&rsquo; Ken Ellacott, which ended the previous week.</p><p>Two goals by Charlie Skjodt and one by linemate Hector Marini provided the winning margin in Oklahoma City. Skjodt got the winning goal just 15 seconds after the game started. The last two Checker tallies were on power plays.</p><p>That put Indy a point in front of Birmingham, as the Checkers headed for Alabama and the two showdown contests. Jim Park was in goal. Marini, Alex McKendry and Neil Hawyrliw, coming back from a two-week illness layoff, got the Indy goals. Birmingham rallied for a tie on Bobby Gould&rsquo;s goal early in the third.</p><p>But the next night the Checkers were in charge all the way in a 3-1 victory for Brodear. Hawryliw scored again, with other goals from Yvon Vautour, just returned from the parent New York Islanders, and Marini, into an empty net with 10 seconds to play.</p><p>That was the Checkers&rsquo; fifth victory on a nine-game road swing that kept them away from home for 14 days. But the trip ended in disaster as they suffered a 5-1 setback in Houston to wrap up the long grind. Dwayne Lowdermilk got the only Indiannapolis goal, and that didn&rsquo;t come until only six minutes were left on the clock.</p><p>Bert Marshall&rsquo;s charges were glad to get back home, but their 52-1 road swing had given them a three-point edge over Birmingham.</p><p>Brodeur, with a 2.12 average yield, and Park, with a 2.26 mark, were still two-three on the league goaltending chart behind Markus Mattsson of Tulsa (2.00).</p><p><b>CINCINNATI:</b> The Stingers played their best game of the year, in coach Al Karlander&rsquo;s opinion, in a 3-2 home loss to the U.S. Olympic team. They followed with a 5-4 loss in Tulsa, as a late rally fell short, but then came home to turn back Oklahoma City by the same score in overtime.</p><p>Former WHA standout Dave Debol was making his presence felt. He had scored in all seven games (seven goals, seven assists) since joining the club, and had picked up goals in five straight starts.</p><p>The Stingers played on even terms with the speedy Olympians at full strength, but succumbed to power play goals, two by Eric Strobel and one by Rob McClanahan. The Olympic team scored on three of seven power opportunities, Debol and Jim Roberts had given Cincy an early two-goal lead before the Olympians rallied. The turnout topped 3,000 for the first time this season at Riverfront Coliseum.</p><p>In Tulsa the Stingers erased a 3-0 deficit when John Bednarski (on a power play), Jamie Masters and Dale Yakiwchuk scored in the last five minutes of the middle period. The goals by Masters and Yakiwchuk came only 34 seconds apart. But the Oilers scored twice in the third before Dabol counted for Cincy on a power play.</p><p>Wayne Wood was chosen to start in the Stinger nets, but Norm Lapointe, who had worked the previous game, had to go the first two minutes, because coach Kar-lander had inadvertently given Norm&rsquo;s name to the official scorer.</p><p>Lapointe worked the overtime triumph in Oklahoma City. After falling behind in the first period, the Stingers tied it up on Don Kozak&rsquo;s goal with 40 seconds left in that session. Masters had two goals in the second period, one on a power play, and Debol made it 41 in the third. But the Stars rallied for a tie, and Ken Kuzyk got the victory after 1.10 of the extra period. Cincinnati benefitted from two major penalty calls against the Stars in the second period, and outshot OC 13-0, in the 20-minute span. Cincy&rsquo;s Bednarski was ejected as the third man in a fight.</p><p>The Stingers ended the week in a third-place tie with Houston in the CHL East, five points behind second-place Birmingham. However, Houston had three games in hand on the Stingers.</p><p>The Edmonton Oilers, one of four Cincinnati parent clubs, reassigned high-scoring Doug Patey to Houston in mid-week. They sent rookie right wing Alex Tidey (from the University of Washington) as a replacement.</p><p>Bernie Saunders dropped to a third-place tie in the CHL scoring chase, on 19 points. Patey was tied for sixth with 18. Kozak had 60 minutes in penalties, a distant runnerup to Dallas&rsquo; Brad Gassoff&rsquo;s 108.</p><p><b>HOUSTON:</b> The Apollos came out of two overtime games with a tie and a loss before capping the week with a 5-1 home romp over division leading Indianapolis.</p><p>The draw was a 4-4 home joust with Dallas, one of the western division leaders. In Tulsa they rallied twice from two goals down before bowing in overtime.</p><p>Al Rollins&rsquo; Apollos were tied with Cincinnati for third place in the east, but had three games in hand.</p><p>Roy Sommers, Tom Roulston, Wayne Bianchin and Charlie Hud-dy had given the Apollos a 4-2 lead after two periods in Dallas, but the Black Hawks tied it with two power goals in the third.</p><p>In Tulsa it was Cal Roadhouse and newcomer Doug Patey rallying Houston into an early second-period tie. Tulsa regained command before the period ended, but Dean Magee scored twice in three minutes in the third for a 4-4 tie.</p><p>Bob Guindon won it for the Oilers with his third goal of the night, just 23 seconds into overtime, snapping the Apollos&rsquo; three-game unbeaten string.</p><p>It was Roulston, Ron Areshne-koff, Bianchin, Patey and Magee scoring in the rout of Indianapolis. Three Houston goals in the second period settled the issue.</p><p><b>BIRMINGHAM:</b> John Brophy&rsquo;s Bulls, after getting off to a fast start, fell out of first in the CHL East by winning only one of their last six starts. The best they could do in a showdown two-game set with new leader Indianapolis was one point for a tie.</p><p>Bobby Gould&rsquo;s fourth goal of the season brought the tie in the first game with Indy. He&rsquo;d had three winning goals ahead of his tying marker. Dave Gorman and Harvey Bennett had scored previously. In the rematch the next night, Earl Ingerfield spoiled the bid for a third straight shutout by Checker goalie Richard Brodeur, but the third-period tally was the only bright spot in a 3-1 loss.</p><p>Gorman, with 19 points was tied for third place on the league scoring chart.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01356/4308490-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="548" height="814"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Since his arrival in Cincinnati, Dave DeBol has scored in all seven starts and counted goals in five straight games.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0031-01

Hot Goaling Gives Checkers Lift; DeBol Puts New Bite In Stingers

<p class="dropcap"><span>F</span>ORT WORTH&mdash;Home ice didn&rsquo;t bring the expected tonic for Ron Ullyot&rsquo;s Texans. They had dropped the last five CHL starts in a six-game road trip, the capper being a 5-4 loss in Salt Lake, despite a rallying hat trick by newcomer Don Ashby. Then they got home to Will Rogers Coliseum and suffered two more reversals, 4-1 against Oklahoma City and 4-2 in a rematch with Salt Lake.</p><p>That brought their losing streak to seven games, and their unhappy overall and road strings were both the longest of the CHL season to date. The Texans were mired in last place in the western division, four points back of fourth-place Oklahoma City.</p><p>Andy Spruce had the opening goal in Salt Lake, but the Eagles had a 4-1 lead before Ashby started his heroics late in the second period.</p><p>Doug Palazzari&rsquo;s second goal of the night made it 5-2 early in the third. Ashby countered with two goals in less than two minutes, but the rally ended there.</p><p>Newly-arrived Merlin Malinowski got the only Fort Worth goal at home against OC. That brought a 1-1 tie early in the first period, but the Stars regained command in the second.</p><p>Kevin Morrison opened the scoring the next night when Salt Lake came into the Coliseum. Malinowski narrowed the deficit to 3-2 in the Fort Worth on a power play midway of the third. Bill McKenzie, who worked in the Fort Worth net for all three games, was being alerted to leave his cage in the last minute, but the Eagles&rsquo; Bob Murdoch got his second goal of the night with 59 seconds left, and McKenzie stayed in.</p><p><b>SALT LAKE:</b> The two victories over Fort Worth (5-4 home and 4-2 road) somewhat eased the pain of a 7-2 shellacking Jack Evans&rsquo; Golden Eagles suffered in Dallas. They ended the week in a first-place tie with Dallas in the CHL West, but had two games in hand.</p><p>Bobby Crawford, rookie right wing from Cornwall, Ont., broke a long dry spell for the Birds&rsquo; power play in the first period at Dallas. Palazzari, Tony Currie and Murdoch made it 4-1 in the second, and Palazzari scored again in the third, but Ashby&rsquo;s late hat trick turned a laughter into a nail-biter. Only some clutch saves by goalie Doug Grant preserved the Eagle victory.</p><p>The invasion of Dallas started a five-game road swing, and it was a poor start. Murdoch and Crawford scored for the Eagles, but only after the Hawks had taken complete charge. Sparked by Brad Smith&rsquo;s hat trick. It was the first loss of the season for rookie goalie Rick Heinz after four victories and two ties.</p><p>The next night in Fort Worth the Eagles spotted the Texans the first goal and then mopped up. Goals came from Crawford, Murdoch, Palazzari and then Murdoch again to back up Grant&rsquo;s stellar goaltending. It was the 98th regular season coaching victory for Evans, and Palazzari&rsquo;s winning goal was his fourth of the season.</p><p>&ldquo;Pizza&rdquo; Palazzari was the club&rsquo;s top scorer with 18 points, tied for sixth in the league. The Eagles got veteran defenseman Larry Giroux from the parent St. Louis Blues, but veteran forwards Gordon Gallant and Chris Borde-leau decided to retire.</p><p><b>OKLAHOMA CITY:</b> Coach Ted Hampson was searching for the reason his Stars could win on the road but not at home. Their puzzling week included a 3-0 loss at home to Indianapolis, a pair of victories back to back on a trip to Texas (4-1 in Fort Worth and 6-5 in Dallas) and then another loss at home, this time 5-4 in overtime against Cincinnati. That added up to a 2-6 home record (including five straight losses) and a 4-3 home record (with three straight wins).</p><p>In Fort Worth Jon Fontas&rsquo; first-period goal was quickly answered, but Rob Flockhart and Mike Eaves scored in the second period, Alex Pirus into an empty net with 32 seconds left in the third. Ted Olson got the opener in Dallas. Then second-period goals from Tony White, Fontas Robbie Laird and Jamie Gallimore gave the Stars a 5-2 lead. Jim Boo tallied in the third, and his 60-foot slapshot proved the winning goal, as Dallas scored two late ones.</p><p>Peter Shier opened the scoring at home against Cincy, but the Stingers shot into a 4-1 lead before Laird, Curt Gilles and White evened the score. Don Kozak won the game at 1:10 of overtime.</p><p>&ldquo;Attempt to injure&rdquo; major penalty calls by referee Bob Henry forced the Stars to play shorthanded for seven minutes of the middle period. In that period Laird was whistled for butt-ending and goalie Jim Warden for slashing.</p><p>High-scoring center Mike Eaves, last season&rsquo;s CHL rookie-of-the-year, was summoned by the Minnesota North Stars for an indefinite period after Minnesota&rsquo;s Bobby Smith broke an ankle. Eaves had 17 points, ranking just out of the Central League&rsquo;s top 10. Flockhart was OC&rsquo;s leading scorer with 20 points, two off the pace of Dallas&rsquo; Brad Smith.</p><p><b>DALLAS:</b> Brad Smith had five goals and two assists in three games to vault into the CHL scoring leadership on 22 points. Brad&rsquo;s hat trick featured a 7-2 blitz of the Salt Lake Golden Eagles. Earlier the Hawks had rallied to tie in Houston, 4-4. They closed the week with a 6-5 overtime loss in Oklahoma City.</p><p>Steve Hazlett and Dirk Graham were believed about ready to return from their groin pull and ankle injury, respectively. Gordon Buynak, who had surgery on a thumb, resumed play in a wrist cast. Minor was called up by the Vancouver Canucks for the second time in less than a week, but was later returned.</p><p>While Smith led the CHL scoring, Tudor was tied for third with 19 points, and Minor and Affleck shared sixth place with 18. Smith&rsquo;s 14 goals led the league in the department, while Affleck was tops in assists, also with 14 Brad Gas-soff added only four penalty-minutes, for a total of 108, but was almost 50 in front of his closest rival.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Texans’ Luck All Bad—Even On Home Ice

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>DAYTON&mdash;Success&mdash;on the ice&mdash;came quickly for the Dayton Gems in the International Hockey League. Five years after becoming a member of the family, the Gems reached the ultimate with a Turner Cup championship in 1969. Another followed in 1970.</p><p>The Gems added a third playoff crown in 1976. But while victories came easy on the ice, pulling spectators through the turnstiles to witness the accomplishments didn&rsquo;t. And the Gems finally folded up their tent after the 1976-77 season. But it wasn&rsquo;t to be a permanent thing. The Gems protected the franchise by paying league dues for two years and this season Dayton rejoined the fold.</p><p>And while the name is the same and the Wampler brothers, Ralph and Harold, are still the major stockholders, little else remains the same.</p><p>The team has been outfitted in new uniforms and the Wamplers have completely refurbished Hara Arena, the Gems&rsquo; home facility.</p><p>Plexiglas had been installed around the entire playing surface, replacing wire screen. The arena has been painted, new team offices have been built, dressing rooms refurbished and a new VIP lounge and improved press box have been erected.</p><p>The Wamplers expect to spend about $600,000 on the team this season in an effort to make the team a success at the box office. Ralph Wampler says the Gems lost from $200,000 to $300,000 a year from 1971 through the 1976-77 season, when they ceased operations.</p><p>One of the reasons the Wampler brothers have decided to go all out in an effort to make Dayton a permanent fixture along the IHL trail is Keith Sprunk, the 29-year-old general manager. The IHL isnot a new venture for Sprunk.</p><p>Prior to coming to Dayton last year to prepare for the &ldquo;second coming&rdquo;, Sprunk performed in a similar role at Toledo&mdash;then Grand Rapids. Sprunk has a one-year contract with a two-year extension. Wampler has promised the Gems will be &ldquo;a first-class operation all the way&rdquo; and Sprunk intends to follow through.</p><p><b>FORT WAYNE:</b> Coach Moose Lallos is concerned about his defense which has yielded the most goals in the league&mdash;55 through 13 games, also, injuries to key players like veterans Terry McDougall, defenseman Peter Crawford and young Richard Pepin have forced Lallo to juggle his lineup often.</p><p>Still, the Komets stand at the head of the class in the south division. They skated 1-1-1 during the week, winning a key road game at Toledo to boost a winning streak to five. A loss at home to Milwaukee snapped the streak but the Komets managed a tie in a rematch at Milwaukee to complete the week.</p><p><b>MILWAUKEE:</b> Doug Robb&rsquo;s goal-scoring spree has kept the Admirals right on the Komets&rsquo; skates. Robb extended his goalscoring streak to nine games as the Admirals rallied to tie the Komets, 4-4, at home and remain just three points behind the south division leaders. Robb leads the league with 13 goals in just 12 games.</p><p><b>TOLEDO:</b> Veteran Len Fontaine was welcomed back to the Diggers who have been struggling early under new coach Gregg Pilling. The Diggers have won just four games thus far and are anchored in fourth place in the South. Still, Pilling isn&rsquo;t discouraged.</p><p>&ldquo;We have the talent, especially at center. And we have been able to shift our forwards to play other positions which with a 16-player limit will prove very useful in the future.&rdquo;</p><p>The Diggers were 1-2 for the week, losing at home to Fort Wayne and on the road at Grand Rapids (5-2) before snapping back behind goalie Sam St. Laurent at home with a 4-0 shutout over the Owls.</p><p><b>GRAND RAPIDS:</b> The Owls are still having trouble putting things together. Unbeatable on home ice last season. Grand Rapids is having trouble winning this time out. Through 12 games, the Owls have managed to win just twice. Three of their 10 losses have come at home where they lost just twice all last season.</p><p><b>KALAMAZOO:</b> All the news wasn&rsquo;t good for K-Wings fans. Despite continuing to dominate the north division&mdash;save for runner-up Flint&mdash;the K-Wings suffered a severe jolt when the parent Detroit Red Wngs called high-scoring Rob Plumb away to their American League affiliate&mdash;the Adirondack Wings.</p><p>Plumb scored five goals and had 13 assists in 10 games for the Wings. His 18 points led the IHL in scoring at the time.</p><p>Minus Plumb, the Wings still finished the week leading the north, one point in front of Flint. Kalamazoo won two of three, the lone loss being a surprising 5-3 decision at home to Dayton.</p><p><b>FLINT:</b> Despite a record-breaking undefeated string of 11 games, the Generals are still playing second fiddle to Kalamazoo. Flint has posted a 7-2-4 record through the first 13 games and the unbeaten streak reached 11 when Flint bounced back from a 6-1 deficit to tie Saginaw at home, 7-7. The Generals had beaten Saginaw the night before on the road, 6-4.</p><p>A 2-1 defensive battle over Muskegon opened the week which ended with the Generals one point behind Kalamzoo and five in front of third-place Port Huron.</p><p><b>PORT HURON:</b> If the Flags didn&rsquo;t have to play Kalamazoo, they might be leading the north division. Half of the Flags&rsquo; six losses have been dished out by the defending Turner Cup champions. The latest&mdash;a 4-3 decision in Port Huron.</p><p>The Flags skated 1-2 in recent game action, the lone victory coming over Muskegon at home, 52. The game was marred by a bench-clearing brawl, triggered when Muskegon goalie Don Cutts slashed Flag defenseman Brian Schnitzler.</p><p><b>SAGINAW:</b> Life has been a nightmare for Don Perry and the Gears. After missing too many chances and bowing to Flint at home, 6-4, the Gears appeared headed for a romp in the return match at Flint. The Gears had a 6-1 lead. But then the roof caved in. Flint rallied to salvage a 7-7 tie.</p><p>In addition to the near &ldquo;lost weekend&rdquo;, Perry got involved in a hassle with Flint coach Marc Boileau over a player. Player in question was left winger Dominic Miele. Miele was assigned to the Generals by Montreal but taken by the Gears in last summer&rsquo;s International League draft. Boileau, his roster reduced because of injuries, wanted to use Miele against the Gears. Perry said no.</p><p>&ldquo;Boileau called me a week ago about it,&rdquo; Perry said. &ldquo;He offered me some players but I turned it down because I knew what players he was going to offer and I didn&rsquo;t want those players.</p><p>&ldquo;Boileau reportedly offered Perry the $1,500 which is the asking price for a player below a second-round pick. &ldquo;He offered me the money during the national anthem. I told him to send the cheque to my general manager. He was mad but I just told him he should read the rules.&rdquo;</p><p><b>MUSKEGON:</b> A lengthy road trip is raising havoc with the Mohawks. Three straight journeys ended in three straight losses and the team slipped to the bottom of the north division with a 4-7-1 record. The trip opened with a tough, 2-1 loss at Port Huron. Then followed a 5-2 reverse at Port Huron. The big jolt came at Kalamazoo where the Mohawks suffered their worst loss of the season. 10-1.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01368/4308545-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="566" height="1042"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Len Fontaine&rsquo;s experience should help to get the Diggers going in the right direction.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0032-01

Dayton Committed To Off-Ice Renaissance

<div class="byline">BY PATRICK LYON</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b></p><p>HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>BALTIMORE&mdash;Hockey returned to Baltimore for the first time in almost three years and if fans&rsquo; interest is any indication it could be in the Maryland city for many years to come.</p><p>After the Southern Hockey League folded in January of 1977 and Baltimore lost its team, not much thought was given to reviving the Clippers&mdash;that is not until commissioner Bill Beagan came along.</p><p>The first year Eastern Hockey League boss never quit until he finally achieved what he wanted for the EHL in the 1979-80 season&mdash;six franchises. Working with local backers and the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Minnesota North Stars, Beagan reached an agreement that brought the Clippers back from the grave and into the hockey spotlight.</p><p>Everyone&rsquo;s efforts proved very fruitful on opening night at the Baltimore Coliseum as 5,992 fans were on hand to see the return of professional hockey to Maryland. Even though the Richmond Rifles ruined the Clippers&rsquo; debut on home ice, 4-2, it was a good feeling for coach Gene Ubriaco and his players to know they really had a home since they were forced to play their first six regular season games on the road because of the franchise coming into existence on such short notice.</p><p>The crowd, an EHL opening night record, could have been larger by 500 to 1,000, according to public relations director Tim Do-nelli. A computerized ticket system just couldn&rsquo;t keep up with the demand and many fans never had the chance to see their Clippers in action.</p><p>John Karr, president of the North Stars, was on hand for the first night&rsquo;s festivities, along with Minnesota&rsquo;s assistant general-manager John Mariucci and the mayor of Baltimore, William Donald Schaefer, who dropped the first puck.</p><p>Dave Lundeen, sharing the scoring leadership with Bruce Lind (nine points), and Dave Herbst could manage the only Clippers&rsquo; goals against the rugged Rifles. Goaltender Jim Weaver was put to the test early and often as he was fired upon 43 times by Richmond.</p><p>Baltimore ended their long road trip at 2-4, Johnstown nipping the Clippers 5-4 in the highway finale. Henry Taylor and Warren Young were the main ingredient of the Clipper offense, Taylor notching two power play goals, Young getting a goal and two assists in a losing cause. John Rockwell was a loser in his first professional start in the nets.</p><p>Following the home opening loss, Baltimore rebounded the following night by shutting out Hampton, 5-0. Weaver earned the first shutout of the EHL season by rejecting 23 shots by the Aces.</p><p>Taylor again provided much of the offense with two more power play strikes, Ron Friest and Lind each passing off for two assists each.</p><p>Baltimore got some bad news when they learned that captain Ted Olsen was ordered to report to Oklahoma City in the Central Hockey League. The Clippers named Doug Johnson as captain in his absence.</p><p>The Clippers are the only team in the EHL to wear names on the back on their jerseys. It is a big aid to fans in identifying their favorite players and could be considered by the other teams in the league.</p><p><b>UTICA:</b> The Blades continue to be a thorn in the side of the Mohawks, Utica losing their third regular season game to last year&rsquo;s champions in three meetings. The Mohawks are 3-2-1 against the rest of the league, but their lack of success against Erie leaves them 3-5-1 overall.</p><p>Larry Mickey&rsquo;s crew held a 2-1 advantage over the Blades before succumbing to an Erie comeback which resulted in a 4-2 Blades&rsquo; victory. Tom Jacobs and Brian Drumm could muster the only Utica goals.</p><p>The Mohawks got a hat trick from Jacobs against Johnstown, but the Wings prevailed 5-4 at the War Memorial. Kevin O&rsquo;Donoghue had the other goal, leading scorer Ken Yackel chipping in three assists</p><p>Utica now has two Cam McGregors, the newest Cam joining the Mohawks after a 60-goal season at Milwaukee a year ago. To avoid any difficulty with the two players, the second year McGregor is known as Cam, the new Cam being called &ldquo;Mac&rdquo;.</p><p>Despite his 2-3-1 record, goalie Tom O&rsquo;Toole is playing well with a goals against average of just over 3.00.</p><p><b>RICHMOND:</b> The Rifles retained their first place tie with the Blades by playing Erie to a 4-4 tie on the Erie County Fieldhouse ice. Down by 3-0 in the second period, Richmond rallied to tie the contest with goals by Ron Twiss, Lawrie Nisker and newcomer John Corriveau. Kent Reardon sent it into overtime with his last minute red lighter.</p><p>The &lsquo;Bullet Line&rsquo; of Nisker, Reardon and Alex Jeans continue their fine play, the trio combining for\57 points in 11 games. Coach Andre Beaulieu revealed that he has been pleasantly surprised with the play of the highest scoring threesome in the EHL. &ldquo;They are not afraid to move the puck around and they are very unselfish. A real compliment to them is that this year is the first year they have played together.&rdquo;</p><p>Nisker, who leads the circuit with 25 points, ruined the home opener of the Clippers with a pair of goals, while Corriveau, as assignee from the New York Rangers, had the first four goal game of the year with his outstanding display in an 8-3 home triumph over the Red Wings.</p><p>Richmond strengthened their club with the acquisition of six-foot-three defenseman Joe Augustine. Coming from Muskegon of the International Hockey League, Augustine will join Marion Feter and Ron Twiss, who anchor the Richmond backline.</p><p>Richmond fans were pleased to see Mike Clarke in action. The former member of the Richmond Robins came through with three goals in his first three games.</p><p><b>ERIE:</b> The Blades matched their early season success on the ice with an equally successful showing at the box office. Owners of the top record in the league at 6-1-1, Erie has currently doubled their attendance mark over a season ago. After seven games last year the Blades were pulling in a meager 1,200 per game, but have boosted that to over 2,400 a game through the same period this season.</p><p>Even though Erie had an off week for them in winning one, losing one and tieing one, they did manage to remain in a first place tie with the Rifles.</p><p>A five-game win streak was snapped by the Rifles in a 4-4 tie at the Erie County fieldhouse and Hampton brought Erie down from the ranks of the unbeaten by edging them 3-2. The Blades&rsquo; got back on the winning track by tripping Utica 4-2 on the road.</p><p><b>HAMPTON:</b> The Aces broke their long winless streak when they rallied to beat the Blades on the road in a game between last year&rsquo;s Mitchell Cup finalists. Injuries took their toll on the Aces when they succumbed to the Clippers 5-0, Hampton ending the game with only ten players.</p><p>Aces&rsquo; coach Muzz MacPherson related that he saw the stretcher only three times all of last season, but the colorful coach had to feel like eating his hat when he saw three of his players carried off the ice in just two nights.</p><p>Scoring only 17 goals in their first eight games, MacPherson juggled his lines and his club responded with a strong 7-1 home victory over Johnstown. Lorne Rombough, Bo Schryer and Mar-cheschuk each collected two goals as the Aces made their move to escape the basement.</p><p><b>JOHNSTOWN:</b> Marty Read&rsquo;s Red Wings ran their winning streak to four straight with four impressive decisions at the War Memorial in Johnstown. After drawing only one crowd of 3,000 all of last year, the Red Wings were off to a fast start. Attendance wise when they played before 3,200 in their first homestand.</p><p>David Johns has proved invaluable to the Red Wings since they acquired him from Erie as he posted a 3-0 record and a 3.00 goals against mark in his first starts. Johns posted victories in a pair of 5-4 triumphs over Baltimore and Utica before being dealt his first defeats of the year to Richmond (8-3) and Hampton (7-1).</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01333/4308576-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="586" height="844"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Aces juggled their lines and Lome Rombough responded with a pair of goals.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0033-01

Record 5,992 Crowd Greets Clippers; Erie Proves Thorn in Utica’s Side

<p>ATLANTA: Boldirev <i>6,</i> 7, 8, MacMillan 3, Pronovost <i>7,</i> 8, Unger 4, Rauta-kallio 2, Nilsson 12, 13.</p><p>BOSTON: Middleton 6, 7, Ratelie 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, McNab 9, 10, Marcotte 3, Bourque 4, Milbury 1, Smith 2, 3, Secord 4, Cashman 5, Miller 6.</p><p>BUFFALO: Gare 10, 11, 12, 13, McKegney 4, 5, Smith 7, 8, Perreault 14, Martin 8, 9, Gould 6, Ramsay 5, 6, Luce 6.</p><p>CHICAGO: Preston 7, 8, Bordeleau 1, 2, Mikita 1, 2, Lecuyer 2, Logan 1, 2, Bulley 6, Mulvey 8.</p><p>COLORADO: DeBlois 8, 9, 10, Saleski 5, Valiquette 4, 5, 6, Delorme 4, Pierce 4, Robert 7, 8.</p><p>DETROIT: McCourt 8, Polonich 1, Thompson 9, Mahovlich 3, Labraaten 6, Foligno 6.</p><p>EDMONTON: Callighen 7, 8, Gretzky 8, 9, MacDonald 15, Weir 11.</p><p>HARTFORD: Stoughton 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, Douglas 4, 5, Rogers 6, 7, 8, 9, Carroll 2, Plumb 2.</p><p>LOS ANGELES: Dionne 18, 19, 20, Taylor 12, 13, 14, 15, Goldup 2, Hopkins 2, St. Laurent 1, Halward 7, Simmer 18, Jensen 8.</p><p>MINNESOTA: Young 5, 6, Barrett 6, Younghans 1, Manery 2, Eaves 1, MacAdam 9, Maxwell 3.</p><p>MONTREAL: Shutt 10, 11, 12, 13, Houle 8, 9, Larouche 12, 13, 14, 15, Savard 1, Lafleur 18.</p><p>ISLANDERS: Bossy, 13, 14, Trottier 12, 13, Gillies 7, Kallur 2, Henning 1, D. Potvin 3.</p><p>RANGERS: Esposito 9, Hedberg 12, 13, 14, Vickers 10, Duguay 6, 7, 8, Bothwell 1, Greschner 5.</p><p>PHILADELPHIA: MacLeish 11, 12, 13, Barber 10, 11, Propp 10, 11, Ververgaert 3, Leach 15, Hill 3, Clarke 4, Gradin 6, Linseman 7.</p><p>PITTSBURGH: Schutt 2, 3, McAdam 8, Libett 5, Malone 6, Lee 3, 4, Marshall 4, 5, Kehoe 7, Sheppard 5.</p><p>QUEBEC: Lacroix 2, 3, Fitchner 5, Brackenbury 1, Cloutier 14, 15, 16, Ftorek 4, 5, Leduc 6, 7, Goulet 4, Tardif 5.</p><p>ST. LOUIS: Turnbull 3, 4, Patey 2, 3, Sutter 5, 6, 7, 8, Chapman 3, Federko 7, Dunlop 4, 5, Crombeen 2, Babych 7, Brownschidle 4.</p><p>TORONTO: Anderson 4, McKechnie 2, Butler 3, Saganiuk 4, Sittler 11, Williams 11, McDonald 10, Burrows 2, Gardner 5.</p><p>VANCOUVER: Sedlbauer 8, Blight 9, Gradin 6, 7, McCarthy 2, Derlago 4.</p><p>WASHINGTON: Mulvey 2, Lofthouse 4, Gartner 3, Charron 2, 3, Lane 2.</p><p>WINNIPEG: Melrose 2, Stamler 3, 4, 5, Lukowich 5, 6, Lindstrom 5, Sullivan 10, Sioberg 1, Mann 1, Drouin 3.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

NHL’S SCORERS THIS WEEK

<h2>NOVEMBER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1722/4308907-1-eng-US/f0034-172.jpg" title="f0034-17" width="560" height="472"></div><h2>DECEMBER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1821/4308900-1-eng-US/f0034-182.jpg" title="f0034-18" width="558" height="485"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1920/4308893-1-eng-US/f0034-192.jpg" title="f0034-19" width="559" height="1060"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-17

WHERE NHL TEAMS PLAY

<p><b>(Standings on Tues., Nov. 27)</b></p><h2>NORRIS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2118/4308959-1-eng-US/f0034-212.jpg" title="f0034-21" width="517" height="145"></div><h2>ADAMS DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2216/4308952-1-eng-US/f0034-222.jpg" title="f0034-22" width="519" height="125"></div><h2>PATRICK DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2315/4308945-1-eng-US/f0034-232.jpg" title="f0034-23" width="510" height="125"></div><h2>SMYTHE DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2415/4308938-1-eng-US/f0034-242.jpg" title="f0034-24" width="515" height="145"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p><b>Tues. Nov. 20</b></p><p>Islanders 3 at St. Louis 6</p><p>Washington 3 at Colorado 3</p><p>Los Angeles 5 at Vancouver 1</p><p>Boston 5 at Quebec 3</p><p><b>Wed. Nov. 21</b></p><p>Winnipeg 6 at Rangers 4</p><p>Islanders 1 at Minnesota 3</p><p>Philadelphia 6 at Los Angeles 4</p><p>Detroit 1 at Atlanta 4</p><p>Washington 0 at Chicago 4</p><p>Buffalo 3 at Hartford 5</p><p>St. Louis 2 at Pittsburgh 5</p><p>Edmonton 4 at Toronto 4</p><p><b>Thurs. Nov. 22</b></p><p>Winnipeg 0 at Montreal 7</p><p>Quebec 4 at Boston 7</p><p><b>Fri. Nov. 23</b></p><p>Philadelphia 5 at Vancouver 2</p><p>Pittsburgh 1 at Atlanta 4</p><p>Detroit 2 at Colorado 5</p><p><b>Sat. Nov. 24</b></p><p>Rangers 3 at Pittsburgh 5</p><p>Islanders 4 at Los Angeles 4</p><p>Philadelphia 2 at Edmonton 2</p><p>Buffalo 6 at Washington 1</p><p>Boston 1 at Montreal 3</p><p>Quebec 4 at Hartford 4</p><p>Detroit 3 at Minnesota 3</p><p>Vancouver 3 at Winnipeg 5</p><p>Chicago 2 at Toronto 1</p><p>Colorado 2 at St. Louis 5</p><p><b>Sun. Nov. 25</b></p><p>Toronto 5 at Rangers 3</p><p>Atlanta 2 at Hartford 4</p><p>Washington 2 at Quebec 2</p><p>Montreal 2 at Boston 4</p><p>St. Louis 3 at Chicago 6</p><p>Minnesota 2 at Buffalo 6<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0034-21

NHL SCORE BOARD

<h2><b>NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES</b></h2><h3>Tue. Nov. 20 ISLANDERS 3, ST. LOUIS 6</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01363/4308838-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="577" height="771"></div><h3>WASHINGTON 3, COLORADO 3</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02297/4308831-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="580" height="603"></div><h3>LOS ANGELES 5, VANCOUVER 1</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03216/4308824-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="602" height="527"></div><h3>BOSTON 5, QUEBEC 3</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04137/4308817-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="607" height="654"></div><h3>Wed. Nov. 21 WINNIPEG 6, RANGERS 4</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0597/4308810-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="600" height="628"></div><h3>ISLANDERS 1, MINNESOTA 3</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0671/4308803-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="552" height="450"></div><h3>PHILADELPHIA 6, LOS ANGELES 4</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0763/4308796-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="589" height="647"></div><h3>DETROIT 1, ATLANTA 4</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0856/4308789-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="591" height="484"></div><h3>WASHINGTON 0, CHICAGO 4</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0946/4308782-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="597" height="513"></div><h3>BUFFALO 3, HARTFORD 5</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1044/4308775-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="606" height="592"></div><h3>ST. LOUIS 2, PITTSBURGH 5</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1139/4308768-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="607" height="558"></div><h3>EDMONTON 4, TORONTO 4</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1237/4308761-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="606" height="625"></div><h3>Thu. Nov. 22 WINNIPEG 0, MONTREAL 7</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1331/4308754-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="612" height="531"></div><h3>QUEBEC 4. BOSTON 7</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1428/4308747-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="600" height="811"></div><h3>Fri. Nov. 23 PHILADELPHIA 5, VANCOUVER 2</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1527/4308740-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="555" height="812"></div><h3>PITTSBURGH 1, ATLANTA 4</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1627/4308733-1-eng-US/f0034-162.jpg" title="f0034-16" width="585" height="532"></div><h3>DETROIT 2, COLORADO 5</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02278/4308726-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="549" height="584"></div><h3>Sat., Nov. 24 RANGERS 3, PITTSBURGH 5</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03207/4308719-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="549" height="630"></div><h3>ISLANDERS 4, LOS ANGELES 4</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04166/4308712-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="547" height="671"></div><h3>PHILADELPHIA 2, EDMONTON 2</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05129/4308705-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="595" height="557"></div><h3>BUFFALO 6, WASHINGTON 1</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06110/4308698-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="606" height="512"></div><h3>BOSTON 1, MONTREAL 3</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07101/4308691-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="604" height="509"></div><h3>QUEBEC 4, HARTFORD 4</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0883/4308684-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="617" height="550"></div><h3>DETROIT 3, MINNESOTA 3</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0979/4308677-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="601" height="554"></div><h3>VANCOUVER 3, WINNIPEG 5</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1069/4308670-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="598" height="696"></div><h3>CHICAGO 2, TORONTO 1</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1164/4308663-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="610" height="555"></div><h3>COLORADO 3, ST. LOUIS 4</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1254/4308656-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="599" height="529"></div><h3>Sun. Nov. 25 TORONTO 4, RANGERS 3</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1348/4308649-1-eng-US/f0035-132.jpg" title="f0035-13" width="597" height="771"></div><h3>ATLANTA 2, HARTFORD 4</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1437/4308642-1-eng-US/f0035-142.jpg" title="f0035-14" width="616" height="561"></div><h3>WASHINGTON 2, QUEBEC 2</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1533/4308635-1-eng-US/f0035-152.jpg" title="f0035-15" width="586" height="463"></div><h3>MONTREAL 2, BOSTON 4</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1631/4308628-1-eng-US/f0035-162.jpg" title="f0035-16" width="584" height="535"></div><h3>ST. LOUIS 3, CHICAGO 6</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1721/4308621-1-eng-US/f0035-172.jpg" title="f0035-17" width="562" height="622"></div><h3>MINNESOTA 2, BUFFALO 6</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2812/4308614-1-eng-US/f0036-282.jpg" title="f0036-28" width="575" height="532"></div><h2><b>The Point Race&hellip;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2019/4308607-1-eng-US/f0034-202.jpg" title="f0034-20" width="538" height="709"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-01

HOCKEY NEWS STATISTICS

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Tues. Nov. 27)</b></p><h3>Northern Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01324/4309091-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="526" height="148"></div><h3>Southern Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02244/4309084-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="534" height="278"></div><p>1-Nova Scotia. 4-New Haven. 5-Adi-rondack. 7-Malne. 14-Rochester. 14-Hershev. 19-Springfield. 22-New Brunswick. 23-Binghamton. 24-Svracuse.</p><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p><b>Tues. Nov. 20</b></p><p>Adirondack 2 at New Brunswick 7</p><p><b>Wed. Nov. 21</b></p><p>New Brunswick 3 at Maine 6</p><p>Rochester 5 at New Haven 4</p><p>Adirondack 2 at Nova Scotia 4</p><p>Hershey 4 at Springfield 1</p><p><b>Thurs. Nov. 22</b></p><p>Hershey 5 at Binghamton 4</p><p><b>Fri. Nov. 23</b></p><p>Springfield 4 at New Haven 5</p><p>New Brunswick 3 at Rochester 4</p><p>Nova Scotia 4 at Syracuse 2</p><p><b>Sat. Nov. 24</b></p><p>Nova Scotia 4 at Adirondack 4</p><p>New Brunswick 2 at Hershey 0</p><p>Rochester 3 at Maine 3</p><p>Binghamton 2 at Springfield 4</p><p>New Haven 3 at Syracuse 5</p><p><b>Sun. Nov. 25</b></p><p>Nova Scotia 4 at Binghamton 3</p><p>Syracuse 4 at Rochester 2</p><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03180/4309077-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="553" height="202"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04111/4309070-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="569" height="413"></div><h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. Nov. 27)</b></p><h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0577/4309063-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="552" height="124"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0659/4309056-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="561" height="228"></div><p>9-Salt Lake. 10-Oklahoma City. 12-Indlanapolis. 13-Dallas. 15-Birmingham. 17-Fort Worth. 18-Houston. 19-Cincinnati. 21-Tulsa.</p><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p><b>Tues., Nov. 20</b></p><p>Haouston 2 at Birmingham 3</p><p>Fort Worth 4 at Oklahoma City 6</p><p>Slat Lake 4 at U.S. Olympic 6</p><p><b>Wed. Nov. 21</b></p><p>Salt Lake 5 at Cincinnati 3</p><p>Tulsa 4 at Fort Worth 3</p><p>Dallas 4 at Oklahoma City 7</p><p><b>Thurs. Nov. 22</b></p><p>Houston 5 at Birmingham 1</p><p>Cincinnati 1 at Indianapolis 3</p><p>Oklahoma City 2 at Tulsa 4</p><p><b>Fri. Nov. 23</b></p><p>Salt Lake 5 at Cincinnati 2</p><p>Tulsa 3 at Dallas 2</p><p>Birmingham 4 at Fort Worth 3</p><p>Houston 3 at Indianapolis 3</p><p><b>Sat. Nov. 24</b></p><p>Dallas 3 at Fort Worth 5</p><p>Birmingham 3 at Houston 4</p><p><b>Sun. Nov. 25</b></p><p>Indianapolis 5 at Cincinnati 1</p><p>Dallas 8 at Tulsa 2</p><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed. Nov. 28)</b></p><h3>NORTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0755/4309049-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="559" height="145"></div><h3>SOUTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0850/4309042-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="544" height="265"></div><p>5-Kalamazoo. 7-Toledo. 20-Milwaukee. 25-Dayton. 26-Flint. 27-Fort Wayne. 28-Grand Rapids. 29-Muskegon. 30-Port Huron. 31-Saginaw.</p><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p><b>Wed. Nov. 21</b></p><p>Saginaw 3 at Kalamazoo 9</p><p>Port Huron 3 at Toledo 3</p><p><b>Thu. Nov. 22</b></p><p>Toledo 4 at Fort Wayne 4</p><p>Dayton 5 at Muskegon 3</p><p>Milwaukee 1 at Port Huron 5</p><p>Saginaw 2 at Grand Rapids 6</p><p><b>Fri. Nov. 23</b></p><p>Milwaukee 3 at Flint 10</p><p>Fort Wayne 5 at Kalamazoo 3</p><p><b>Sat. Nov. 24</b></p><p>Kalamazoo 1 at Fort Wayne 3</p><p>Grand Rapids 7 at Muskegon 5</p><p>Dayton 0 at Port Huron 3</p><p>Flint 2 at Saginaw 5</p><p>Toledo 3 at Milwaukee 3</p><p><b>Sun. Nov. 25</b></p><p>Kalamazoo 4 at Port Huron 0</p><p>Toledo 3 at Flint 3</p><p>Dayton 3 at Saginaw 6</p><p>Muskegon 2 at Grand Rapids 4</p><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0944/4309035-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="557" height="319"></div><h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed. Nov. 28)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1041/4309028-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="556" height="266"></div><p>4-Richmond. 5-Johnstown. 10-Baltimore. 32-Erie. 33-Hampton. 34-Utica.</p><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p><b>Wed. Nov. 21</b></p><p>Erie 0 at Richmond 6</p><p>Hampton 2 at Baltimore 10</p><p>Johnstown 3 at Utica 5</p><p><b>Thu. Nov. 22</b></p><p>Richmond 8 at Hampton 5</p><p>Utica 2 at Johnstown 0</p><p>Baltimore 6 at Erie 1</p><p><b>Fri. Nov. 23</b></p><p>Johnstown 0 at Baltimore 8</p><p><b>Sat. Nov. 24</b></p><p>Erie 1 at Utica 4</p><p>Hampton 1 at Richmond 6</p><p><b>Sun. Nov. 25</b></p><p>Utica 3 at Hampton 5</p><p>Johnstown 3 at Erie 4</p><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1138/4309021-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="563" height="318"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0036-01

MINOR SCOREBOARD

<h2>ONTARIO MAJOR LEAGUE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Tues. Nov. 27)</b></p><h3>Emms Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1234/4309227-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="537" height="174"></div><h3>Leyden Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1331/4309220-1-eng-US/f0036-132.jpg" title="f0036-13" width="538" height="154"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p><b>Tues. Nov. 20</b></p><p>Niagara Falls 5 at London 8</p><p>Ottawa 4 at Kingston 4</p><p>Oshawa 5 at Toronto 7</p><p><b>Thurs. Nov. 22</b></p><p>Oshawa at Peterborough 7</p><p>Ottawa 7 at Windsor 4</p><p>Toronto 7 at Sudbury 3</p><p><b>Fri. Nov. 23</b></p><p>Peterborough 4 at Kitchener 1</p><p>Sudbury 3 at London 9</p><p>Brantford 4 at Kingston 4</p><p>Toronto 3 at Sault Ste. Marie 4</p><p>Ottawa 4 at Niagara Falls 8</p><p><b>Sat. Nov. 24</b></p><p>Sudbury 5 at Brantford 4</p><p>Kingston 8 at Kitchener 4</p><p>Ottawa 4 at Oshawa 8</p><p><b>Sun. Nov. 25</b></p><p>Brantford 3 at Niagara Falls 5</p><p>Kitchener 5 at Kingston 12</p><p>Toronto 2 at Oshawa 4</p><p>Peterborough 4 at Windsor 3</p><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1427/4309213-1-eng-US/f0036-142.jpg" title="f0036-14" width="538" height="394"></div><h2>CONTINENTAL SENIOR</h2><p><b>(Standings On Tue. Nov. 13)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1527/4309206-1-eng-US/f0036-152.jpg" title="f0036-15" width="562" height="247"></div><h2>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon. Nov. 26)</b></p><h3>LEBEL DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1625/4309199-1-eng-US/f0036-162.jpg" title="f0036-16" width="527" height="154"></div><h3>DILIO DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1722/4309192-1-eng-US/f0036-172.jpg" title="f0036-17" width="539" height="128"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p><b>Mon. Nov. 19</b></p><p>Verdun 3 at Laval 5</p><p><b>Tues. Nov. 20</b></p><p>Hull 9 at Trois-Rivieres 4</p><p><b>Wed. Nov. 21</b></p><p>Montreal 3 at Hull 3</p><p>Chicoutimi 4 at Shawinigan 4</p><p>Quebec 3 at Laval 7</p><p><b>Thurs. Nov. 22</b></p><p>Cornwall 6 at Chicoutimi 3</p><p>Sherbrooke 5 at Verdun 4</p><p><b>Fri. Nov. 23</b></p><p>Verdun 4 at Montreal 8</p><p>Cornwall 5 at Quebec 4</p><p>Trois-Rivieres 5 at Shawinigan 2</p><p>Hull 3 at Sherbrooke 7</p><p><b>Sun. Nov. 25</b></p><p>Laval 3 at Chicoutimi 8</p><p>Verdun at Cornwall (ppd) Trois-Rivieres 9 at Hull 4</p><p>Sherbrooke 7 at Montreal 5</p><p>Quebec 4 at Shawinigan 3</p><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1822/4309185-1-eng-US/f0036-182.jpg" title="f0036-18" width="568" height="278"></div><h2>WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. Nov. 27)</b></p><h3>WESTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1921/4309178-1-eng-US/f0036-192.jpg" title="f0036-19" width="585" height="125"></div><h3>EASTERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2020/4309171-1-eng-US/f0036-202.jpg" title="f0036-20" width="568" height="202"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p><b>Tue. Nov. 20</b></p><p>Saskatoon 2 at Billings 5</p><p>Seattle 6 at Victoria 4</p><p><b>Wed. Nov. 21</b></p><p>Saskatoon 8 at Great Falls 2</p><p>Calgary 6 at Portland 4</p><p>Victoria 4 at Seattle 1</p><p><b>Thu. Nov. 22</b></p><p>Brandon 5 at Billings 8</p><p>Regina 5 at Portland 5</p><p><b>Fri. Nov. 23</b></p><p>Medicine Hat 2 at Saskatoon 2</p><p>Brandon 4 at Great Falls 3</p><p>Calgary 5 at New Westminster 4</p><p>Regina 6 at Seattle 7</p><p><b>Sat. Nov. 24</b></p><p>Brandon 2 at Billings 4</p><p>New Westminster 5 at Seattle 11</p><p>Calgary 3 at Victoria 6</p><p>Regina 5 at Portland 6</p><p><b>Sun. Nov. 25</b></p><p>Brandon 4 at Great Falls 3</p><p>Regina 11 at New Westminster 7</p><p>Calgary 5 at Seattle 6</p><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2119/4309164-1-eng-US/f0036-212.jpg" title="f0036-21" width="562" height="692"></div><h2>GEORGIAN BAY LEAGUE</h2><p><b>(Standings On Wed. Nov. 14)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2218/4309157-1-eng-US/f0036-222.jpg" title="f0036-22" width="568" height="196"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2317/4309150-1-eng-US/f0036-232.jpg" title="f0036-23" width="562" height="224"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2417/4309143-1-eng-US/f0036-242.jpg" title="f0036-24" width="547" height="142"></div><h2>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</h2><p><b>(Standings On Wed. Nov. 14)</b></p><h3>NORTHERN CONFERENCE</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2514/4309136-1-eng-US/f0036-252.jpg" title="f0036-25" width="551" height="124"></div><h3>SOUTHERN CONFERENCE</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2612/4309129-1-eng-US/f0036-262.jpg" title="f0036-26" width="565" height="102"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2712/4309122-1-eng-US/f0036-272.jpg" title="f0036-27" width="565" height="442"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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AMATEUR SCOREBOARD

<p>1&mdash;Montreal</p><p>2&mdash;Chicago</p><p>3&mdash;Boston</p><p>4&mdash;Rangers</p><p>5&mdash;Detroit</p><p>6&mdash;Toronto</p><p>7&mdash;Philadelphia</p><p>8&mdash;Los Angeles</p><p>9&mdash;St. Louis</p><p>10&mdash;Minnesota</p><p>11&mdash;Pittsburgh</p><p>12&mdash;isianoers</p><p>13&mdash;Vancouver</p><p>14&mdash;Buffalo</p><p>15&mdash;Atlanta</p><p>16&mdash;Washington</p><p>17&mdash;Colorado</p><p>18&mdash;Edmonton</p><p>19&mdash;Hartford</p><p>20&mdash;Quebec</p><p>21&mdash;Winnipeg</p><h2>OTHER AFFILIATIONS</h2><p>22&mdash;Chicago&mdash;Toronto</p><p>23&mdash;Boston&mdash;Los Angeles</p><p>24&mdash;Quebec&mdash;Pittsburgh</p><p>25&mdash;Edmonton&mdash;Winnipeg</p><p>26&mdash;Montreal&mdash;Chicago</p><p>27&mdash;Vancouver&mdash;Islanders</p><p>28&mdash;Boston&mdash;Pittsburgh</p><p>29&mdash;Atlanta&mdash;Colorado</p><p>30&mdash;Washington&mdash;St. Louis</p><p>31&mdash;Los Angeles&mdash;Hartford</p><p>32&mdash;Que.&mdash;Islanders&mdash;Buff.</p><p>33&mdash;St. Louis&mdash;Philadelphia</p><p>34&mdash;Boston&mdash;Hartford<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Who They’re Affiliated With…

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2><h3>NOVEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2911/4309338-1-eng-US/f0036-292.jpg" title="f0036-29" width="574" height="227"></div><h3>DECEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-3010/4309331-1-eng-US/f0036-302.jpg" title="f0036-30" width="562" height="378"></div><h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2><h3>NOVEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-319/4309324-1-eng-US/f0036-312.jpg" title="f0036-31" width="543" height="210"></div><h3>DECEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-328/4309317-1-eng-US/f0036-322.jpg" title="f0036-32" width="542" height="373"></div><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2><h3>NOVEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-337/4309310-1-eng-US/f0036-332.jpg" title="f0036-33" width="528" height="228"></div><h3>DECEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-346/4309303-1-eng-US/f0036-342.jpg" title="f0036-34" width="553" height="464"></div><h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2><h3>NOVEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-352/4309296-1-eng-US/f0036-352.jpg" title="f0036-35" width="519" height="90"></div><h3>DECEMBER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-362/4309289-1-eng-US/f0036-362.jpg" title="f0036-36" width="538" height="376"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-372/4309282-1-eng-US/f0036-372.jpg" title="f0036-37" width="517" height="397"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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PRO GAMES TO COME…

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01281/4309369-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"></div><p><b>PLAYER EQUIPMENT</b></p><p><b>RINK EQUIPMENT</b></p><p><b>PERSONALS</b></p><p><b>FAN CLUBS</b></p><p><b>OPPORTUNITIES OFFERED, WANTED</b></p><p><b>Do you have something to sell&mdash;or tell&mdash;to your fellow readers of The Hockey News?</b></p><p>Here&rsquo;s the place to do it, in this brand new Classified section that&rsquo;s being read right now by thousands of hockey fans and players, many of them &ldquo;in the market&rdquo; for used hockey equipment and rink equipment&hellip;many others seeking playing opportunities and job opportunities&hellip;still others eager to buy, swap, or sell hockey items, services, and ideas on a personal, one-to-one basis. <b>Tell them what you have to offer and get action!</b> It&rsquo;s easy to do&hellip;just use the handy coupon (lower left-hand corner), enclose your cheque, and <b>prepare to do business.</b> (Please note schedule of deadlines&mdash;your copy is due <b>3 weeks before issue date.)</b></p><h2>PLAYER EQUIPMENT</h2><p><b>SKATES, BAUER SUPREME</b> II, 3 pr., 8, 8, 9. Used one season, excellent condition. Best offer over $100/pr. Write: Bill Hitzig, 169 West 21st St., New York, N.Y. 10011</p><p><b>SKATES, CCM PROGOAL,</b> 2 pr., 7, 8. Used two seasons, good condition, best offer over $80/pr. Write: John Monahan, 4 Baldwin St., Newton, Mass.</p><p><b>HELMETS, 4 JOFA, 4 WIN-NWELL 2000. Like new,</b> $100 takes all. Write: Kevin Burke, 56 East 87th St., New York, N.Y. 10028.</p><p><b>STICKS, KOHO,</b> 3 doz., lie 5, left. Never used, team disbanded. Price negotiable. Write: Gordon McMahon, 432 East 85th St., New York, N.Y. 10028.</p><p><b>WANTED: USED UNIFORMS, GLOVES</b> for teenage pickup team. Different colors, sizes OK. Need 12-15 sets. Send description, asking price to: Mark Riley, St. Sebastians School, Newton, Mass.</p><p><b>FULL SET OF GOALIE EQUIPMENT:</b> Pads, chest protector, arm pads, stick glove and catching glove, plus assorted odds and ends. Will negotiate. Write: Tom Murray, 55 East 73rd St., New York, N.Y. 10021.</p><h2>PERSONALS</h2><p><b>A GIRLS ICE HOCKEY TEAM</b> in Denver, Colorado is looking for competition with other girl ice hockey teams. If interested please contact us at 1333 York, Apt. 301, Denver, Colorado 80206.</p><p><b>WANTED:</b> Newspaper clippings, books, pennants, bulletins, articles, gum cards, buttons and other Montreal Maroon memorabilia. Send description and asking price to: Bill LeGrand, P.O Box 775, Manitouwadge, Ontario POT 2C0 or phone 1-807826-4401.</p><p><b>HOCKEY PEN PALS.</b> Send your name, address, age and name of your favourite team and we will find you a pen pal. Send to: Ann E. Bellini or Gilles Alberta. 658 41st Street, Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.A. 50312.</p><h2>OPPORTUNITIES OFFERED, WANTED</h2><p><b>POSITION WANTED,</b> goalie with Jr. B and university experience seeks position with major A or tier two junior team in the U.S. or Canada. Send inquiries to Dept. 4-H, Hockey News, 214 King Street West, Suite 314, Toronto, Ontario M5H 1K4.</p><p><b>HOCKEY FORUM: New</b> publication! Express your opinion now! Type or print. 10&cent; per word, $10.00 minimum. Get your thoughts publicized! Free subscription each month for best letter! Subscriptions $10.00 (12 issues). Send letter and payment to: Hockey Forum, 40 Norfolk, San Mateo, CA 94401.</p><p><b>Experienced:</b> Broadcaster and Public Relations man interested in opportunity in Hockey. Practiced play-by-play broadcaster and successful charity game promoter. Willing to relocate. Contact: Eric Martin, Townhouse Route 66, Apt. 15, Hudson, N.Y. 12534. Tel. 518828-4173 or 518-828-1153.</p><p><b>ICE ARENA MANAGER:</b> City of Janesville (Pop. 50,000) is seeking an innovative manager to direct the operation of the City owned Ice Arena. Duties include all operational aspects of a full service yearround ice arena; maintenance and care of the facilities; promoting, planning and directing activity programs such as figure skating and hockey; operation of pro shop and food service; preparation of budget; over-seeing collection of revenues. Also directly responsible for competitive figure skating program which takes up 65% of available ice time. World level pro works with top competitive figure skating program (U.S.F.S.A.). Successful programs have made this 5-year-old ice arena self-supporting. Must have minimum of two consecutive years experience at an ice arena. Salary $20,000-$24,000, depending upon qualifications. Individuals apply who are not U.S. citizens must be able to provide necessary work permit. Send resume by Dec. 28, 1979, to the Personnel Director, Municipal Building, 18 N. Jackson Street, Janesville. Wisconsin 53545.</p><h2>INTERESTED IN PLACING A CLASSIFIED AD?</h2><p>The charge for Classified Advertising is 50 cents a word, with a $10 minimum. Please specify in which classification you wish your ad listed. When figuring number of words, count phone number, street number, and any abbreviations as one word. Please include area codes and zip codes. Ads with line borders are $25 a column inch. If you would like a blind box&mdash;Hockey News number assigned to your ad, the charge is $5. and responses will be forwarded weekly.</p><p>To avoid errors, no classified ads are accepted over the telephone. All ads must be accompanied by payment.</p><p>Address:</p><p><b>Hockey News</b> Classified, 214 King St. W., Toronto, Ont. M5H 1K4<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0037-01

CLASSIFIED

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01337/4309428-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="876" height="1284"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02265/4309421-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="848" height="1276"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(Photos by Bruce Bennett)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Sharing the spotlight</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><i><span>W</span>hen you go to a hockey game in the Nassau County Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., you can expect to see fans doing their thing, even to the point of snowing up with a Hallowe&rsquo;en type mask on at left. But Islander fans are like all other NHL crowds. They recognize their heroes past and present When former Islander star Ed Westfall, right, was spotlighted in the TV broadcast loft, fans cheered and Ed acknowledged their applause. He is now part of Islanders&rsquo; TV telecasting team.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04140/4309414-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="1786" height="1462"></div><h2><b>Hockey from the distaff side</b></h2><p><i>Clarkson College officials decided to hold the first ever women&rsquo;s alumnae hockey game and the event was an overwhelming success. The varsity team defeated the returning alumnae 7-4 at Potsdam, N.Y., and here are three of the competitors in this unique sporting event for ladies. From the left, Laurel Knibloe, Susan Sweet and Mary Hearing, who all dressed for the varsity side.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03200/4309407-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="1138" height="1612"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(Photo by George Henschel)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Fan of the year</b></h2><p><i>Diane Jackson motions as if to say, &ldquo;what can I say&rdquo; after</i> sha was <i>chosen Fan of the Year by the NHL booster clubs. The vice president of the Washington Capitals Fan Club is obviously camera shy but when it comes to working for the club, fellow members report she never stops.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05103/4309400-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="1130" height="1438"></div><h2><b>All in the family</b></h2><p><i>Mary and Marty McNally returned to Clarkson to get involved in their respective alumni hockey games and both contributed to the games&rsquo; scoring. Mary had three assists in the women&rsquo;s battle and Marty had two assists in the men&rsquo;s game. The McNallys are newlyweds.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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HOCKEY PEOPLE

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div><p class="dropcap"><span>P</span>ITTSBURGH&mdash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry if people think I&rsquo;ve been a disappointment and I&rsquo;m sorry if people think I&rsquo;m going to score 60 or 50 or 40 goals,&rdquo; Pat Hughes was saying.</p><p>&ldquo;Now I have the potential to score 30 or 40. But don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m going to just because they traded Denis Herron for me.&rdquo;</p><p>Hughes, 24, was obtained by the Pittsburgh Penguins in late August along with goaltender Rob Holland in exchange for Herron and a second round draft choice in 1982.</p><p>Herron had been the Penguins No. 1 goaltender and their fans perhaps expected too much, too soon from Hughes, who had only played 44 National Hockey League games with Montreal. In those 44 games he scored nine goals.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard a lot of things about myself,&rdquo; Hughes said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard I was the biggest disappointment in Pittsburgh. I don&rsquo;t like that word &lsquo;disappointment&rsquo;. I see it all the time.</p><p>&ldquo;Hell, it&rsquo;s early in the season. We still have a lot of games to go. I just got off to a slow start. What if I had started big and then went into a slump in the middle of the season? Would they have said I was a major disappointment then?&rdquo;</p><p>Through the first 11 games in a Pittsburgh uniform, the Toronto native scored two goals and assisted on four others. His second goal came against his old Montreal teammates.</p><p>&ldquo;I was out of the play too much,&rdquo; Hughes said of his early season games. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d get the puck, go down the ice, lose it and come back up the ice. Things would be over so fast.&rdquo;</p><p>The former University of Michigan star began this season at right wing for the Penguins, but was switched to center by coach Johnny Wilson because he &ldquo;wanted to loosen things up for him.&rdquo;</p><p>Penguin fans may have come to expect too much from Hughes after hearing that team management had wanted him in two previous trades with Montreal, but had to settle for Peter Lee and Rod Schutt.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know who labeled me a 40-goal scorer, Hughes said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I can score 30 or 40 goals in the National Hockey League. This is really the first time I&rsquo;m getting used to things in the NHL with any regularity. What did THE HOCKEY NEWS call me last year? &lsquo;A utility man?&rsquo; I think it was a utility forward. I just want to get used to playing. I&rsquo;d be happy with a 20-goal season.&rdquo;</p><p>Penguin fans may have also had their appetite whetted by Hughes statistics while playing two years in the minor leagues. He scored 29 and 40 goals during his two seasons in Nova Scotia.</p><p>&ldquo;As far as what people say about me, well, maybe they feel I have potential,&rdquo; Hughes said. &ldquo;As for now I&rsquo;m inexperienced.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01315/4309459-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="562" height="606"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Pat Hughes doesn&rsquo;t know if he can score 30 or 40 goals in the NHL. He says he needs experience.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0039-01

Penguins’ Hughes Just Wants Chance To Play

<div class="byline">BY STEVE WINTER</div><p>WASHINGTON&mdash;Gary Green, the new, young coach of the Washington Capitals must be wondering what&rsquo;s going to happen next.</p><p>Or, on second thought, perhaps he shouldn&rsquo;t ask!</p><p>When the 26-year-old Green replaced Danny Belisle behind the Washington bench on Nov. 14, he inherited a 4-10-2 last place team, whose leading scorer, Dennis Maruk watched from the stands with a cast on his leg, and two steadfast defensemen, Paul MacKinnon and Pierre Bouchard were also hobbled with serious injuries.</p><p>And that&rsquo;s the &ldquo;good news&rdquo;.</p><p>Since Green&rsquo;s arrival, things have gone from bad to worse.</p><p>The next warrior to join the casualty list was center Guy Char-rou, the &ldquo;Iron Man&rdquo; of the Capitals, whose consecutive games-played streak ended at 245 when he pulled a groin muscle, earlier this year. In Green&rsquo;s NHL debut, a 3-2 loss to the Bruins in Boston Garden, Charron suffered a muscle pull in his right thigh, and has been out of action ever snee.</p><p>And combined with All Star winger Bob Sirois, already sidelined with a pulled back muscle, the Caps have incurred a whopping total of 192 missed man-games thus far this season, due to players&rsquo; injuries.</p><p>And to add insult, the club incurred two more injuries&mdash;to defenseman Yvon Labre and Pete Scamurra&mdash;both leg injuries suffered during a 3-3 &ldquo;blizzard bowl&rdquo; tie with the Colorado Rockies.</p><p>Needless to say, this rash of hard luck has done little to help the club&rsquo;s recent on-ice performance.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what we can do,&rdquo; said Green, after the tie with Colorado snapped a five-game Washington losing streak. &ldquo;This brings a grand total of eight hockey players out (including centre Rolf Edberg, nursing a sore knee), all of whom would be playing regularly for us.</p><p>&ldquo;As a team, though, we&rsquo;ve got to forget about those injuries. I still believe we&rsquo;ve got lots of guys here still in the lineup with talent, and we can still win with them. But it sure looks like we&rsquo;ve got a lot of depth, because we&rsquo;re still right in every game.&rdquo;</p><p>Indeed. Aside from their 4-0 loss to Chicago, the Capitals have hung tight all along with the opposition, right up to the very end.</p><p>Putting those games away, however, is another story.</p><p>Following Washington&rsquo;s 3-2 loss to Boston, the club lost consecutive games at 4-2, both at home, to Detroit and Atlanta; both games in which the Caps had a bonafide chance to win.</p><p>&ldquo;Our scoring punch is sitting in the stands,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;If you take the cumulative point totals from Guy Charron, Bob Sirois, Rolf Edberg and Dennis Maruk from last year, that adds up to a lot of scoring.&rdquo;</p><p>And that, in a nutshell, tells the story.</p><h2>CAPSHOTS:</h2><p>The Capitals were handed their second shutout of the season by the Black Hawks and Tony Esposito&mdash;the 70th of his career.</p><p>Recalled from Hershey on &ldquo;emergency status&rdquo; to help out in the wake of the recent injuries to Labre and Scamurra were defenseman Greg Theberge and forward Tony Cassolato. Theberge, who just recently turned 20, played under Green the past three years at Peterborough, of the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League Cassolato, acquired prior to the season as a free agent, played four games with the Capitals earlier in the season. Both players will join Wes Jarvis, another recent recall, who scored his first NHL goal in the Colorado game. Rookie forward Errol Rausse was returned to the Bears.</p><p>The Capitals gave 23-year-old goaltender Jimmy Bedard his unconditional release last week, after clearing waivers. Bedard played 73 regular season games for the club, compiling a 3.94 G.A.A., over the past two seasons.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

New Caps’ Coach Gets Lumps Early

<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2><p>ATLANTA&mdash;Paul Henderson, LW, recalled from Birmingham of CHL.</p><p>BOSTON&mdash;Yves Belanger, G, returned to Binghamton of AHL. Dwight Foster, C, sent to Binghamton for reconditioning program after coming off injury list.</p><p>BUFFALO&mdash;Dave Schultz, LW, sent to Rochester of AHL.</p><p>COLORADO&mdash;Bill McKenzie, G, recalled from Fort Worth of CHL. Kevin Morrison, D, and Don Ashby, C, sent to Fort Worth.</p><p>EDMONTON&mdash;Alex Tidey, RW, acquired from Buffalo to complete earlier trade for John Gould. Cam Connor, RW, Mike Toal, C, Wayne Bianchin, RW, and Byron Baltimore, D, returned to Houston of CHL. John Bednarski, D, returned to Cincinnati of CHL. Al Hamilton, D, placed on injury list.</p><p>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Murray Wilson, LW, assigned to Springfield of AHL but refused to report and was placed on suspended list.</p><p>MINNESOTA&mdash;Bob Smith, C, placed on disabled list with broken ankle for next eight weeks. Mike Eaves, C, recalled from Oklahoma City of CHL as replacement.</p><p>ISLANDERS&mdash;Bob Bourne, LW, returned to lineup from injury list.</p><p>RANGERS&mdash;Ed Hospodar, D, and Claude Larose, LW, recalled from New Haven of AHL. Ray Markham, C, and Bill Lochead, LW, returned to New Haven.</p><p>QUEBEC&mdash;Greg Tebbutt, D, and Richard David, LW recalled from Syracuse of AHL.</p><p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Wayne Ba bych, RW, and Bernie Federko, C, returned to lineup from injury list.</p><p>TORONTO&mdash;Ron Wilson, LW, sent to New Brunswick of AHL for reconditioning program after coming off injury list. Darryl Sittler, C, placed on disabled list with knee and ankle injuryy. Bruce Boudreau, C, recalled, from New Brunswick as replacement.</p><p>VANCOUVER&mdash;Stan Smyl, RW, plated on disabled list for 10 days with heel injury. Gerry Minor, RW, recalled from Dallas as replacement.</p><p>WASHINGTON&mdash;Wes Jar vis, C, Tim Coulis, RW, Greg Theberge, D, and Tony Cassola to, RW, recalled from Hershey of AHL. Errol Rausse, LW, and Claude Noel, D, sent to Hershey. Jim Bedard, G, given unconditional release to become free agent. Yvon Labre, D, and Pete Scamurra, D, placed on disabled list with knee injuries. Guy Charron, C, on disabled list with muscle pull.</p><p>WINNIPEG&mdash;Al Cameron, D, recalled from Tulsa of CHI. Gordon Smith, D, and Hilliard Graves, RW, sent to Tulsa. Glen Tomalty, LW, recalled from Dayton of IHL and returned after one game.</p><h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2><p>ADIRONDACK&mdash;Pierre Tremblay, D, and John Hil-worth, - D, recalled from Johnstown of EHL. Grant Morin, RW, and Glen Wylie, LW, recalled from Kalamazoo of IHL. Steve Marangere, KW, and Jody Gage, RW, assigned to Kalamazoo.</p><p>BINGHAMTON&mdash;Jim Stewart, G, reassigned to Utica of EHL.</p><p>NEW HAVEN&mdash;Joe Augustine, D, reassigned to Richmond of EHL. Ray Clearwater, D, returned to active roster.</p><p>NOVA SCOTIA&mdash;Bruce Horsch, G, signed to amateur tryout form from U.S. Olympic team.</p><p>SPRINGFIELD&mdash;Marty Howe, D, placed on disabled list indefinitely with broken wrist. Julian Baretta, G, recalled from Saginaw of IHL. Terry Richardson, G, removed from active roster.</p><p>SYRACUSE&mdash;Brian Cross, D, sent to Grand Rapids of IHL.</p><h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2><p>CINCINNATI&mdash;Ken Kuzyk, RW, sent on loan by Quebec.</p><p>DALLAS&mdash;Bill Himmel-right, D, sent on loan by Montreal.</p><p>HOUSTON&mdash;Owen Lloyd, D, and Roy Sommers, C, assigned on amateur tryouts by Edmonton. Ace Bailey, RW, announced retirement from pro hockey. Max Kostovich, RW, sent to Grand Rapids of IHL.</p><p>OKLAHOMA CITY&mdash;Doug Johnson, D, Henry Taylor, RW, and Ted Olson, LW, all returned to Baltimore of AHL.</p><p>SALT LAKE&mdash;Chris Borde-leau, C, and Gord Gallant, RW, anounced retirement from pro hockey.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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