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.

March 21, 1980

The Hockey News March 21, 1980

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011207/5105056-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Even without the &lsquo;C&rsquo;, Darryl Sittler has been the undisputed leader for the Leafs.,</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Craig Abel)</span></figcaption></div><p>TORONTO&mdash;Sit&rsquo;s not getting older, only better.</p><p>That&rsquo;s Darryl Sittler, of course, ex-captain of the Maple Leafs, the 29-year-old, 10-year veteran of Toronto, who at times during this season may have felt 39&mdash;or 49. He&rsquo;s been under all kinds of duress&mdash;from confrontations with the front office, to seeing his closest friends traded away, to hearing his name mentioned nearly every day for the past three months as a moveable commodity. But Darryl just decided what&rsquo;s going to happen will happen and concentrated on playing to the best of his abilities.</p><p>And oh how he&rsquo;s played!</p><p>At a time when the Leafs were rapidly sliding towards the bottom of the league, Sittler just dug a little deeper within himself and once again showed his teammates, old and mostly new alike (the Leafs have just six players from the 1978 playoff team) the way back towards respectability.</p><p>For example, in a 17-game stretch Sittler:</p><p>&bull; scored 15 goals and 19 assists</p><p>&bull; had two hat tricks, back to back, giving him three on the season</p><p>&bull; scored three game-winning goals</p><p>&bull; reached the 30-goal mark for the seventh season in a row</p><p>&bull; joined the top 10 of the league in scoring</p><p>During that period, the Leafs, who had dipped to 15th in the overall standings, reversed gears and moved back up to 11th with a 9-7-1 showing. Sittler was particularly hot in consecutive road triumphs over Detroit and Pittsburgh in early March when he a) assisted on the first three Toronto goals and scored three third-period goals against Detroit in a 6-3 verdict and b) drew an assist on a first period goal by Pat Hickey and then pumped in three consecutive third-period goals to tie, forge a lead and insure the Leafs&rsquo; 5-3 decision over the Penguins.</p><p><b>(He) dug a little deeper and once again showed his teammates the way back to respectability</b></p><p>Proof of Sittler&rsquo;s combustibility of late occurred in the Penguin game when he scored from an impossible angle while being bounced along the boards, later blasted in the game-winner on a 40-foot &ldquo;knuckle-ball&rdquo; shot which dipped when it reached goaler Greg Millen, and then was the recipient of a Wilf Paiement feed for an empty net goal when Paiement could have just as easily scored himself.</p><p>On the weekend before the NHL&rsquo;s trade deadline, word came from Leafs&rsquo; owner Harold Ballard that Sittler would not be traded, that the team wasn&rsquo;t going to try to move him. But it seemed small consolation for Sittler, who remains firmly convinced that at some point in the not-too-distant future, he&rsquo;ll be packing his bags for another uniform in another city. He did say however, when of Ballard&rsquo;s proclamation: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad it&rsquo;s over&hellip;now I can concentrate on getting this team somewhere.&rdquo;</p><p>For awhile, it seemed that most of the front office concentration was directed at getting Sittler but of Toronto, but in addition to the trade deadline, two other factors mitigated against moving him&mdash;first, his no-trade contract, or at least his right of refusal to accept a trade, and second, his inspired play of the past month and a half.</p><p>It was no secret that Sittler was only interested in being traded to a contending team and at the same time, the pattern established by Punch Imlach in all of his swaps this season has been that the Leafs have dealt strictly with teams at about the same level or in most cases, below Toronto in the standings, such as Colorado and Vancouver. And the deals that Imlach sought with the top teams&mdash;for example, Sittler for Buffalo&rsquo;s Gil Perreault, or Montreal&rsquo;s Guy Lafleur&mdash;have been out of the question.</p><p>Thus the Leafs were set to wind down the regular season with an ex-captain who still led the club by example on and off the ice, and with a supporting crew which had eight wins and a tie in its last dozen starts.</p><p><b>LOOSE LEAFS:</b> Defenseman Carl Brewer took over 30 stitches in his scalp when he crashed into a goalpost during a &ldquo;Chase the Rabbit&rdquo; skating drill. He missed a quick jaunt to Pittsburgh, but then suited up for the weekend series against Quebec Nordiques&hellip;Leafs split that series, winning at home 3-2 and losing in Quebec City 5-4. In the second game, the Leafs overcame a 3-0 deficit for a 4-3 lead, only to lose on a Marc Tardif goal in the final three minutes&hellip;Dave Farrish has been a great addition for the Leafs&rsquo; blueline. He is one of the very few great bodycheckers left in the game and has been moving the puck out well from his own end as has Richard Mulhern, the player the Leafs obtained on waivers from Los Angeles.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0015-01

IN THIS ISSUE

Sittler’s Climbing Value Cools Leafs’ Trade Talk

<div class="byline">FRANK ORR&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011232/5104347-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="337" height="360"></div><h2><b>Sticks Cause Hockey Headache</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE WAY THINGS</b> are in the National Hockey League these days, you get the impression that a hockey stick in the head is one of the best things life has to offer.</p><p>At least, if it&rsquo;s not, then why do so many NHL players accept sticks in the bazoo without doing something about it?</p><p>You also get the impression that handing out punishment with the cane&mdash;either the good, old hardwood handle to the mush or that sharp little blade-tip to an opponent&rsquo;s gizzle&mdash;is a barrel of laughs, too. If it wasn&rsquo;t, then why do a large number of players do it so often?</p><p>This isn&rsquo;t an attempt to say that hockey players are either a pack of sadists who enjoy inflicting pain on each other or masochists who enjoy taking it. But it does seem that stick fouls continue to be far too prevalent in the NHL&mdash;and all other levels of hockey&mdash;and the quicker those offenses are eliminated, the better it will be for the hockey.</p><p>There seems to be less fighting in the NHL this season than in previous terms and there has been a heavy decline in the number of what are usually called &ldquo;bench-clearing brawls&rdquo;. Perhaps they should be called &ldquo;bench-clearing dances&rdquo; because they consist mainly of players pairing off and waltzing around.</p><p>The NHL has made the price of dance cards rather expensive and, besides, if you have heard the organists in most NHL arenas, you wouldn&rsquo;t want to dance to them unless you were wearing a plaid shirt and long rubber boots with the tops turned down.</p><p>However, the use of sticks hasn&rsquo;t decreased. Many people view &ldquo;stick&rdquo; fouls as two players swinging their lumber at each other&rsquo;s heads. That happens very seldom. What does happen far too often is sticks used to slash, hook and come in contact with opponents&rsquo; heads.</p><p>&ldquo;There are far too many players in this league who can&rsquo;t seem to check you if they don&rsquo;t have their stick up in your face,&rdquo; said one good NHL center.</p><p>Most players won&rsquo;t discuss rough play publicly because they feel that if they do, the management of their teams will label them as &ldquo;chicken&rdquo;. However, this season, some major stars&mdash;Marcel Dionne of the Los Angeles Kings, the NHL&rsquo;s leading scorer, Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders, perhaps the best pure goal scorer in the game, and Wayne Gretzky, the incredible 19-year-old center of the Edmonton Oilers have spoken out strongly about the baloney in the game.</p><h2><b>Bossy Called Chicken</b></h2><p><b>BOSSY SAID</b> that he was a little sick and tired of being hacked and chopped and hooked. Gretzky agreed. Dionne said he thought that it would be a nice gesture if some players learned to pass the puck and stickhandle with it as well as they high-stick and slash.</p><p>Of course, a few NHL players viewed such an attitude as chicken&mdash;and told those players that on the ice.</p><p>&ldquo;Yeah, I was called chicken&mdash;and a few worse things&mdash;on the ice but it didn&rsquo;t matter,&rdquo; Bossy said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll stick by what I said. I think our game would be better if we could eliminate a few of the fouls.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I feel that the emphasis in hockey should be entirely on the development of skills, not on violence,&rdquo; Dionne said. &ldquo;The game is beautiful when it&rsquo;s played with speed, good passing and playmaking and that still leaves room for good, clean bodychecking. But when it gets slowed down by many fouls, it&rsquo;s not that way at all.</p><p>&ldquo;If more players would keep their sticks on the ice, it would be a big improvement. It&rsquo;s being checked&mdash;and having your opponent use his stick high on your body&mdash;that really bugs me.&rdquo;</p><p>In hockey at all levels, it&rsquo;s almost an automatic reaction for sticks to come up when two players approach each other. Perhaps that&rsquo;s the reason why bodychecking is almost a lost art. Players are reluctant to deliver a clean, open-ice, stick-down check because the chance that they&rsquo;ll run into a raised stick is very high.</p><h2><b>Deprogramming Youngsters</b></h2><p><b>IN CANADIAN</b> minor hockey, or at least many parts of it, strong efforts are being made to eliminate the use of sticks as a weapon. Some boys&rsquo; leagues now have rules that call for penalties if a player raises his stick above his shoulder, for any reason, in an effort to deprogram the &ldquo;sticks-up&rdquo; complex which players acquire at an early age.</p><p>Other leagues have eliminated bodychecking in leagues for boys up to 12 years of age. They&rsquo;ve done that to place the emphasis in the game on basic skills&mdash;especially skating and passing the puck.</p><p>Perhaps Scotty Bowman, general manager-coach of the Buffalo Sabres, said it best.</p><p>&ldquo;The problem in our game&rdquo; Scotty said, &ldquo;is that there are too many players who can play in the NHL because they&rsquo;re allowed to get away with a borderline foul on just about every play.</p><p>&ldquo;If we can get rid of them and open the game up to the smaller man with skill, our game will be that much better.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0002-01

HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="byline">Fan Forum Compiled By CATHY MUNRO</div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>D</span>o you have an opinion on hockey? Here&rsquo;s your chance to get it off your chest. Write the Fan Forum, The Hockey News, 214 King St., West, Suite 314, Toronto, Ont. M5H 1K4. To facilitate processing, type-written letters are given preference.</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021023/5104805-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="569" height="326"></div><h2><b>Pools of Crimson Please Some, Not All</b></h2><p>I&rsquo;ve been reading THE HOCKEY NEWS for several weeks now, but I still can&rsquo;t get over the number of letters I see in which the merits&mdash;whatever those may be&mdash;of hockey violence are extolled. I disagree with all these latent goons for obvious reasons, but not till I saw this year&rsquo;s Olympic hockey did I think it worthwhile to comment.</p><p>I saw both the Canada-USSR and USA-USSR games (not to mention the obligatory USA-Finland game), and, by gum, I was just about swept off my feet by these spectacles. These guys were playing true, blue hockey (and hockey with a capital &lsquo;H&rsquo;) with such style, talent, drive and class, that it just made all the NHL teams seem pee-wee by comparison. (Not that the NHL is totally lacking in talent, style, drive and class. Look at Sittler, Lafleur, Clarke. There are times when it seems to me that these qualities are dispensed throughout the season much the same why the good Lord dispenses precipitation in the Sahara desert). All the Olympic teams&mdash;they were stupendous, just absolutely stupendous!</p><p>Something was lacking, however, and this disturbed me. Not a black eye in sight! A dreadful problem! And nary a glove on the ice, either. It seemed as if none of the players had known that a hockey game cannot be won, much less called a &lsquo;hockey game&rsquo;, if at least one opposition player is not kicked, -punched or partially dismantled.</p><p>As long as there are legions and legions of fans who are prepared to pay heavy money in order to enjoy the aesthetically pleasing sight of a puddle of crimson spreading across the ice, I guess the violent acts will continue.</p><p>But hell, that is despicable. And if that&rsquo;s real hockey, does the Lady Byng trophy count for anything?</p><p><b>Eva Pietrowski</b>&nbsp;<br><b><i>Toronto, Ont.</i></b></p><h2><b>Some Things Deserve To Be Remembered</b></h2><p>When ABC didn&rsquo;t think it was important enough to include the USA-USSR hockey game, live, in their Olympic coverage, I found out that CTV in Canada was going to carry it live.</p><p>I will never forget the spine chilling thrill I got from Mike Eruzione&rsquo;s goal. I will also never forget where I saw the game.</p><p><b>Paul Drdul</b>&nbsp;<br><i>Buffalo, N.Y.</i></p><h2><b>Variety Needed To Spice Up Games</b></h2><p>I find it very frustrating to be a hockey fan in Canada today and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is to blame. Week after week they persist in showing only games that feature Canadian based teams. I am rapidly losing my patience.</p><p>There are a growing number of ardent hockey fans across the country, and I am one of them, who are sick and tired of the Canadiens, frustrated with the Leafs, indifferent towards the eyesore Canucks and couldn&rsquo;t care less about the Jets, the Nordiques and the Oilers.</p><p>If the CBC hopes to keep pace with its competitors in the sports broadcasting field, it might take a lesson from the highly successful &ldquo;Monday Night Football&rdquo; broadcasts where games are chosen for their entertainment value first and foremost. Imagine how few people would watch &ldquo;Monday Night Football&rdquo; if they aired only games featuring the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, and the San Francisco 49&rsquo;ers.</p><p>As a case in point, consider Saturday, February 23rd. Even though the schedule for this night includes a game featuring the Kings, with the highest scoring forward line in hockey, versus the league-leading Flyers, I am left to watch the decidedly maudlin Toronto Maple Laughs against the last place Low-Flying Jets.</p><p>I think I&rsquo;ll watch Rhoda instead.</p><p><b>B. J. Kiely</b>&nbsp;<br><i>Calgary, Alberta</i></p><h2><b>More Cries Of Anti-Violence</b></h2><p>I do not completely agree with Stan Fischler and Bob Verdi on their anti-fighting stance, but I&rsquo;m rapidly moving in their direction.</p><p>There was an incident in a recent Flyers-Canucks TV game from Vancouver that disturbed me greatly. While I have no strong objections to two players dropping their gloves and going at it for a few seconds&mdash;as Tiger Williams of the Canucks did with Holmgren and Bridgman of the Flyers&mdash;the benchclearing brawl and subsequent half-hour delay late in the third period really turned my stomach. There was no need for a brawl and the resulting delay by the officials in handing out penalties. Even announcers Dan Kelly and Howie Meeker thought a brawl was about to erupt.</p><p>It is my opinion that the NHL should step in and declare the game a tie. The next game played by the offending teams would then be forfeited as a loss. This action would punish both teams responsible for the brawl and, hopefully, discourage future outbreaks. Also, ALL players from both teams would be fined heavily and the most flagrant violators suspended for at least three games. The more evil the deed, the heavier the fines and suspensions.</p><p><b>Carlton Lee</b>&nbsp;<br><i>San Francisco, CA</i></p><h2><b>Canucks&rsquo; Loss, Toronto&rsquo;s Gain</b></h2><p>I am a very devout Vancouver Canuck fan who is concerned about their recent trades. The Canucks are known for these kinds of trades but I had hoped this would become a thing of the past when Jake Milford came to Vancouver three years ago. How could the Canucks trade two future stars in Bill Derlago and Rick Vaive?</p><p>I admit that Dave &lsquo;Tiger&rsquo; Williams and Jerry Butler will help the Canucks, but not as much as Derlago and Vaive could have if they had been given a fair chance.</p><p>Derlago and Vaive are first class and I hope they can help the Maple Leafs for the rest of the year.</p><p><b>Edward <i>Gunther</i></b><br><i>Abbotsford B.C.</i></p><h2><b>Writers Off-Base In Assessing Flyers</b></h2><p>Shortly before the start of this NHL season, hockey experts across Canada and the U.S. were absolutely positive that the Philadelphia Flyers were in for a very bad season and would finish no better than third or fourth in the Patrick Division. Being a Flyers&rsquo; fan since the first time they took to the ice, this really bothered me.</p><p>Now that the Flyers are leading the entire NHL, not just their division, and boasting one of the most incredible records ever compiled by an NHL team, the &lsquo;experts&rsquo; are saying that they have peaked too early and will not be able to keep up their record-setting pace through the playoffs.</p><p>To the Flyers I would like to say, &lsquo;thank you&rsquo; for putting on a show that this fan will never forget.</p><p>To the &lsquo;experts&rsquo; I would like to say: You were wrong once, would you like to try for twice?</p><p><b>Heidi Doppmeier</b>&nbsp;<br><i>Calgary, Alta.</i></p><h2><b>Include Referees In NHL Summaries</b></h2><p>A hockey fan reading an NHL summary can learn much about a game. Every summary records the scorers, time of scores and what goal of the season it was for the scorer. The assists, penalties and time thereof also are recorded. Oh yes, shots on goal and even the attendance are a matter of record. What is not recorded is the identity of the individual whose decisions so greatly influenced the game and its outcome, namely the referee.</p><p>A hockey enthusiast studies the many statistics maintained on players: goals, assists, points, penalties, goaltenders&rsquo; averages and even plus and minus ratings. However, there is not a single statistic regarding the game&rsquo;s dominant man, the referee.</p><p>It is suggested that henceforth all summaries include the name of the referee. It is further suggested that statistics be maintained and published regarding the referees&rsquo; performance. For example: minutes officiated and number of penalties assessed by category, ie. minor, major, misconduct, game misconduct and penalty shots. At a time when there is so much criticism of the officiating, much of it deserved but much of it prejudiced, the identification of the referee in every summary would add an important dimension to a fan&rsquo;s understanding of a game. Similarly, statistics on a referee&rsquo;s officiating would evidence much concerning a referee&rsquo;s performance. There are, of course, many variables affecting a referee&rsquo;s decisions, but over a period of time these statistics would distinguish the permissive referees from the strict referees, would identify those referees whose performance differs from the norm of their colleagues, and would evidence that some officials are more apt to lose control of a game than others.</p><p>It is time that the men whose performance often is a critical factor in a game emerge from the obscurity in which they function. Hopefully, the identification of a referee working a game and the maintenance of statistics on the performance of referees would both improve and standardize the officiating in the NHL.</p><p><b>Francis Coleman</b>&nbsp;<br>Washington, D.C.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-02

FAN FORUM

<p><b>(Standings on Mon. March 10)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2247/5106635-1-eng-US/f0034-222.jpg" title="f0034-22" width="555" height="952"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-22

The Point Race…

<div class="byline">BY STEVE WINTER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011272/5104378-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>The Capitals tabbed Ryan Walter as a natural leader when they drafted him two seasons ago. His fierce pride and dedication earned him the respect of his teammates from the moment he joined them.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</span></figcaption></div><p>No player epitomizes the heart and soul of the Washington Capitals better than their 22-year-old captain, Ryan Walter.</p><p>Take, for example, a recent game at the Capital Centre between Washington and the Vancouver Canucks. Moments after the opening faceoff, Walter chased a loose puck along the right wing boards, where he came face-to-fists with the Capitals&rsquo; favorite opposing villain, Harold Snepsts.</p><p>Snepsts took two shots at the Washington captain, one legal, the other not-so-legal. As Walter turned to skate toward the play, Snepsts wrapped his arms around Walter and started throwing wild punches in the direction of Ryan&rsquo;s CCM helmet.</p><p>Walter, struggling for position, landed a few punches against his towering opponent before the two linesmen intervened to restore order.</p><p>Across the ice, Vancouver forward Stan Smyl made the unfortunate mistake of challenging Washington&rsquo;s 6&rsquo;-4&rdquo; resident giant, Paul Mulvey. With no Vancouver player in sight to lend assistance besides goaltender Glen Hanlon, the 5&rsquo;-8&rdquo; Smyl took a substantial beating before Hanlon pulled Mulvey to the ice, drawing a fairly obvious, automatic game misconduct.</p><p><b>&ldquo;I look at the playoffs very realistically,&rdquo; Walter says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be there.&rdquo;</b></p><p>Over at the penalty box, Ryan Walter was smiling. With backup goalie Curt Ridley now tending the net, Washington pumped home seven goals in the first two periods, en route to their sixth win in three weeks.</p><p>Although Walter was ony partly responsible for Hanlon&rsquo;s early exit, it was his first-period shorthanded goal on a brilliant individual effort which gave the Capitals a 3-1 lead and practically closed the door on the Canucks.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a perfect example of Ryan Walter and his second effort,&rdquo; said defenseman Rick Green, who watched Walter take a center-ice flip from Guy Charron and cut around defenseman Dennis Kearns before beating Ridley with a high wrist shot. &ldquo;He just plugged his way right through, overpowered the defenseman, and managed to put it away.&rdquo;</p><p>Ryan Walter leads his team by just such an example.</p><p>A soft-spoken, extremely polite individual off the ice, he plays his game with uncanny desire and intensity, setting an example for the young, up-and-coming Capitals in this, their sixth season in the NHL.</p><p>Walter was selected captain of the team prior to the current season by way of a secret team &lsquo;vote&rsquo;, staged by then-Capitals&rsquo; coach, Danny Belisle. Only 21 years old at the time, Walter had become the youngest captain in the NHL. Although Belisle&rsquo;s tactics drew continual criticism as the season wore on, the ultimate result has turned out for the best.</p><p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say enough about Ryan Walter,&rdquo; says his current coach, Gary Green, who replaced Belisle on November 14. &ldquo;His overall intensity and drive makes this hockey team go.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got great leadership qualities, and he&rsquo;s an excellent captain for us. I couldn&rsquo;t see anyone else different as captain of this team.&rdquo;</p><p>Quite obviously, Walter fell under considerable pressure as the 1979-80 season began, although he contends the captaincy never directly affected his play.</p><p>&ldquo;True, I had a bit of a rough start, but I really don&rsquo;t blame the captaincy,&rdquo; Walter said. &ldquo;Perhaps there was an adjustment at the beginning, but I think I just had a bit of a slow start&mdash;I mean points-wise. Y&rsquo; know, once you get into a slump, it&rsquo;s hard to get out of it.&rdquo;</p><p>As the season wore on, Walter shook off the slump, and after the Capitals survived that early-season rash of injuries which decimated the club for an entire month, his scoring punch and hard work guided the Capitals toward respectability.</p><p>&ldquo;We all knew it was going to be tough for Ryan because of his age to be captain of our team,&rdquo; said defenseman Robert Picard. &ldquo;But he came along and has done a really good job. He&rsquo;s obviously our leader out there&mdash;hitting, skating, and doing all the things he&rsquo;d been doing before becoming captain.</p><p>&ldquo;I guess now he feels he has to do it a little more, and he does it real well.&rdquo;</p><p>Another thing Walter does well is play the game by the book&mdash;the book written by Gary Green, who immediately upon arrival in Washington installed the &ldquo;Green System&rdquo;, which caught many of the players, fans and media by surprise.</p><p>But not Ryan Walter.</p><p>&ldquo;I was always brought up with a system he said, &ldquo;and I think it&rsquo;s very important, because in critical situations you always go back to basics. And if those basics that you go back to are a system, then you&rsquo;re going to come out right. If you have to go back to your own &lsquo;what do I do now?&rsquo;, then you&rsquo;re going to have trouble.</p><p>&ldquo;Gary&rsquo;s system organized our drive. Even when we were losing, the system was the key; and when we finally wound up winning, well, that was as a result of the system.&rdquo;</p><p>Nobody appreciates Walter&rsquo;s dedication to the system more than Green himself.</p><p>&ldquo;Walt is used to playing under a system from junior hockey,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;There, he played under a very good system (with the Kamloops Chiefs and the Seattle Breakers) and he knows what a system can do.&rdquo;</p><p>Walter knows that a system can unify a hockey club, just as Green&rsquo;s system has unified the Capitals.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty much in favor of any system,&rdquo; Walter says, &ldquo;but Gary&rsquo;s got a good one. We use it, and it works. It works well.</p><p>&ldquo;In fact, it&rsquo;s not just one system; actually there are three or four systems that Gary&rsquo;s got to play different teams. We can adjust defensively, offensively, or in the neutral zone. Whatever he wants us to play, we adjust to it.&rdquo;</p><p>A perfect illustration of Green&rsquo;s system with interchangeable parts was the role it played during the Capitals&rsquo; 5-5 tie with the Moscow Dynamo.</p><p>&ldquo;Against the Russians, we just totally cut off the middle,&rdquo; Walter said. &ldquo;The centermen weren&rsquo;t allowed to go any farther than the top of the faceoff circles. We cut the middle off completely, and the Russians simply didn&rsquo;t know what to do.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s just one example of how we can adjust, and how we have to adjust for the playoffs.&rdquo;</p><p>Aah, the playoffs. Now there&rsquo;s a point upon which everybody on the Capitals agrees.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s only one goal&mdash;personal, team, or anything else on this club&mdash;and that&rsquo;s the playoffs,&rdquo; Walter said. &ldquo;Once we get there, you never know what can happen, but we look at it very realistically.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to be there.&rdquo;</p><p>If nothing else, Ryan Walter is a realist. At the end of the 1978-79 season, he was selected runner-up to Minnesota&rsquo;s Bobby Smith in the balloting for the Calder Trophy as NHL Rookie-of-the-Year.</p><p>The selection of the Calder Trophy recipient falls under the auspices of the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association&mdash;the fraternity of journalists from the 21 NHL cities who observe each professional player perhaps three or four times a year. And yet when the Toronto Star conducted their own private poll of the NHL coaches, Walter was the overall choice as top rookie.</p><p>&ldquo;It would&rsquo;ve been nice to win the Calder Trophy,&rdquo; Walter said; &ldquo;but it was flattering just to be considered against rookies as good as Bobby Smith, Wayne Babych and all the other good first-year players.</p><p>&ldquo;But the coaches&rsquo; selection was really the most satisfying thing. It&rsquo;s not being recognized by the media or the fans that counts, but to be respected among your peers; that, I appreciated.&rdquo;</p><p>Walter left enough of his NHL peers looking over their shoulders and shaking their heads during the 1978-79 campaign, when he scored 28 goals and 56 points, after missing all of training camp and the first two weeks of the season with a freak knee injury.</p><p>&ldquo;It was a weird sort of thing,&rdquo; said Washington&rsquo;s number-one choice&mdash;the second player selected overall in the 1978 Amateur Draft. &ldquo;I was back home in British Columbia and I&rsquo;d just finished a workout one day, when my little brother wanted me to play catch with a lacrosse ball.</p><p>&ldquo;I turned and reached for the ball&mdash;the wrong way, I guess&mdash;and something gave out in my knee.&rdquo;</p><p>More than 3,000 miles away, the shock waves were felt in the office of Capitals&rsquo; GM Max McNab, who&rsquo;d already seen more than his share of misfortune with his struggling team.</p><p>Walter underwent immediate surgery to repair cartilage damage and quickly worked his way into the lineup. After an understandable slow start, he soon became a Capital Centre favorite with his non-stop hustle and solid two-way play.</p><p><b>&ldquo;When you play against Walter,&rdquo; says Bobby Clarke, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re in for a night&rsquo;s work.&rdquo;</b></p><p>In fact, from the day he first signed as a Capital, the media and management labeled Walter a carbon copy of the man who epitomized the qualities of hard work and desire, the great assistant coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, Bobby Clarke.</p><p>Walter indeed plays a Bobby Clarke-type game. Like Clarke, he possesses a great deal of &lsquo;hockey instinct&rsquo;, but in the long run, he&rsquo;s achieved more from hard work than from pure talent.</p><p><b>&ldquo;Walter&rsquo;s intensity and drive make this hockey team go,&rdquo; says Caps&rsquo; coach Gary Green</b></p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s certainly a fine hockey player,&rdquo; says Clarke of his counterpart 120 miles to the south. &ldquo;The only way you can really judge a player on another team is when you play against him. And when you play against Ryan Walter, you&rsquo;re in for a night&rsquo;s work.&rdquo;</p><p>On most nights, it&rsquo;s the opposing team&rsquo;s top scoring line that finds itself paired against Ryan Walter, and as Clarke says, that&rsquo;s never easy.</p><p>&ldquo;Ryan plays the game with a lot of intensity, and he likes to play the body,&rdquo; said Gary Green. &ldquo;As a result, he gets a lot going for us.</p><p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll notice around the league, sometimes all it takes is one guy to throw a few hits, and the momentum gets going. Walt does that for us.&rdquo;</p><p>Walter stirred up enough attention in three full seasons in the WCHL to warrant the Capitals&rsquo; number one selection in 1978.</p><p>In his first full season with the Kamloops Chiefs (1975-76), he scored 35 goals and 84 points, totals which he far surpassed each of the next two seasons. In 1977, the Chiefs became the Seattle Breakers, and the native of New Westminster, B.C. contributed 54 goals and 71 assists while racking up 148 PIM.</p><p>Last year, with the Capitals, Walter finished fifth on the team in scoring, despite playing in only 69 games. A quick glance at this year&rsquo;s stats finds Walter on top of the club&rsquo;s scoring list with 19 goals and 31 assists after 64 games.</p><p>But perhaps more impressive is that Walter is one of only two Washington Capitals (the other being Swedish forward Bengt Gustafsson) to have played in every game to date.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re starting to make our move now,&rdquo; Walter said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll see. We&rsquo;ve got the personnel here to become contenders. We&rsquo;ve got the goaltenders, our defense is playing excellently, and I think the forwards are playing as well as they can.</p><p>&ldquo;And the system is prevailing. Things are just starting to fall together, and this is when we need it.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0003-01

Walter’s Leadership Assures Gains For Capitals

<div class="byline">KEN MCKENZIE&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011300/5104437-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="281" height="335"></div><p>&bull; <b>THE PROPOSAL</b> for a National Hockey League division made up entirely of Canadian teams has received some support but does not look like it will be implemented in the next two years. Although many league members are interested in a schedule which allows more games between natural geographic rivals, to change the schedule for the 1980-81 season would require a unanimous vote. One of the stipulations by the four expansion teams which joined the league this year was that each team in the league would visit their city twice for the first two years&hellip;A conference having all of the Canadian teams, though, and an unbalanced schedule (more games with divisional and conference rivals) seems a strong possibility for the 1981-82 season&hellip;Wonder what happened to the Minnesota North Stars after their excellent first half? The answer is contained in their injury list which has been filled by up to seven starters. Earlier this month Glen Sharpley, Mike Fidler, Steve Carlson (all out for the season) as well as Tom McCarthy, Mike Eaves, Gary Sargent and Gary Edwards were all sidelined&hellip;The NHL will apparently start its entry draft this year with an underage player. He&rsquo;s David Babych of the Portland Winter Hawks of the Western League, brother of St. Louis star Wayne Babych. The Winnipeg Jets, who appear to have a lock on last place and thus first pick in the draft, are said to be high on him&hellip;Philadelphia&rsquo;s Pete Peeters may have the inside track on winning the Calder Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s top rookie. He&rsquo;s been impressing many hockey people around the league. Of course, teammate Brian Propp, Detroit&rsquo;s Mike Foligno and Ray Bourque of Boston are being considered as well&hellip;Hockey fans will be pleased to know that Central League president Bud Poile is recovering from surgery in a Dallas hospital and expects to be back on the job before too long.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021214/5104430-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="276" height="313"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Gary Edwards</i></figcaption></div><p>&bull; <b>MIKE ERUZIONE,</b> fiery captain of the United States&rsquo; Olympic hockey team, is a cousin by marriage to Italian soccer star Giorgio Chinaglia. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s well named,&rdquo; said Giorgio. &ldquo;In our country, Eruzione means erupting volcano&rdquo;&hellip;Out of the last four Stanley Cup winning Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; teams, only two members, Pete Mahovlich in 1976 and 1977, and Pierre Larouche in 1978 and 1979, had played in the NHL with another team. This means that all the players on the championship Canadiens were developed or drafted by the Canadiens. Experts say this might prove more difficult to do in future years&hellip;Wayne Turner&rsquo;s overtime goal that won the first Beanpot Tournament ever for Northeastern University is being compared to Bobby Orr&rsquo;s Stanley Cup winner in 1970 for importance to Boston hockey fans&hellip;Many NHL players have the habit of putting their left skate on first and the majority of them put on the left pieces of equipment first&hellip;Ken Dryden received numerous compliments on the outstanding job he did as color commentator for ABC during the Olympic telecasts. It seems that Dryden does an excellent job in everything he undertakes&hellip;Gordie Roberts, star defenseman on the Hartford Whalers, was named after teammate Gordie Howe. His parents originally wished to call him Clifford. Gordie Roberts was born in Detroit, and had two older brothers who played professional hockey. His brother Doug played with Detroit Red Wings and brother Dave played in the St. Louis Blues organization. Gordie was the highest scoring defenseman on the Whalers last season and he signed a contract on his 18th birthday with the New England Whalers for just under $500,000&hellip;Over 10,000 hockey enthusiasts witnessed the 5-5 tie played recently between Montreal Canadiens Oldtimers and Buffalo Sabres Oldtimers.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031037/5104423-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="273" height="386"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Mike Eruzione</i></figcaption></div><p>&bull; <b>FIFTEEN MEMBERS OF</b> the United States Olympic hockey team have already been drafted by National Hockey League clubs and half of the 15 have already made appearances this season in the NHL&hellip;Jim St. Clair, the attorney who successfully defended the NHL against the Boston Bruins&rsquo; appeal of John Ziegler&rsquo;s suspensions, was chairman of the March 10 &ldquo;Salute to the Boston Bruins&rdquo; dinner&hellip;Coach Bobby Kromm of Detroit says the new home of the Red Wings, the Joe Louis Arena, has cost his team at least 10 points in the standings because they never get a chance to practice there and when they do play there it is like playing a road game. Apparently, when the Wings practice in the mornings the building employees stop work and watch, thus holding up the completion of the unfinished building. It is expected it will be at least another six months before the Joe Louis Arena is finally completed&hellip;There were seven penalty shots handed out during the first half of this NHL season. Lanny McDonald was the only successful scorer&hellip;Pat Quinn, Philadelphia&rsquo;s celebrated coach, tells us his two daughters, Valerie and Kalli, hold state swimming records for their age groups in both Georgia and Maine, and his wife Sandra was twice the Canadian national baton champion&hellip;Six members of Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team are set on having NHL careers&hellip;Bill Watters and his Sports Management Limited in Toronto handle the affairs of approximately 100 NHL players. Some of the stars included in his stable are Darryl Sittler, Bill Barber, Marcel Dionne, Steve Shutt, Lanny McDonald, Mike Palmateer and Vaclav Nedomansky. Sports Management has nine first-round picks out of the 1979 junior entry draft as clients. Watters is vice-president of the organization but the person who really keeps the office humming is Susan Sheppard, his very capable assistant&hellip;Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team failed to win any medals but they certainly won the hearts of hockey fans everywhere by their outstanding display of guts and determination in their game against the Soviets.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04908/5104416-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="275" height="409"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Gordie Roberts</i></figcaption></div><p>&bull; <b>HOCKEY WAS</b> first played in the Soviet Union on February 22, 1946&hellip;and it was 34 years to the day that the Russians suffered their most humiliating defeat. Overwhelming favorites to capture the gold medal at this year&rsquo;s Olympics, they were defeated by the underdog United States team coached brilliantly by the astute Herb Brooks, 4-3, in a game that brought more excitement to hockey fans in North America than any single game in years. When the Americans knocked off Finland, 4-2, two days later to capture the gold, it was the first time the Soviets had failed to finish first in Olympic hockey since 1960. The unheralded United States team won that year, too&hellip;The scholarly Brooks will have his choice of several NHL coaching jobs next season. Several prominent NHL clubs have already signified their intention of signing the extremely capable coach&hellip;Did you know that there are 749,940 registered hockey players in the Soviet Union, along with 986 fulltime coaches and another 50,000-plus part-timers? No wonder they&rsquo;ve been able to turn out such powerful squads during the last 20 years&hellip;Frank Daigneault, longtime goal judge at Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; home games and a former hockey referee, died the other day in Montreal. Frank was one of the most likeable of the NHL minor officials&hellip;One of the most promising young defensemen in the NHL this season has been Ray Bourque of the Boston Bruins. Serge Savard, veteran Canadien, rates Bourque among the four best rearguards in the league. He places him in the same category as Larry Robinson, Denis Potvin and Borje Salming. Pretty heady stuff for a rookie.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05759/5104409-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="258" height="337"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Herb Brooks</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0004-01

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">BY BUDDY O&#x2019;CONNOR</div><p class="dropcap"><span>Q</span>UEBEC&mdash;Definitely the most underrated player with the Nordiques&mdash;and possibly across the league&mdash;right wing Jamie Hislop has been a tremendous asset all season long in Quebec&rsquo;s struggling quest for a playoff berth in the National Hockey League.</p><p>Hislop, a 26-year-old Samia, Ont. native, came to the Nordiques after first being picked up by Winnipeg Jets in last summer&rsquo;s draft. He and Barry Leauge were then traded to Quebec for Barry Melrose in late June, 1979.</p><p>And the Nordiques could not have made a better choice in getting the unassuming young Hislop. A 5-10, 180-pounder, Hislop is perpetual motion on the ice, never letting up defensively or offensively.</p><p>Head coach Jacques Demers calls him &ldquo;a very intelligent guy. He is a great team player and he gives you 150 percent of himself all the time. He never kicks, never questions a decision I make. His personality is tops and he has the will to win. He is a winner.&rdquo;</p><p>Yet, when you speak to Hislop, he remarks, &ldquo;I never had any aspirations to become a major league hockey player. I doubted that I could make it to the majors, and so I concentrated on getting an education first and foremost.&rdquo;</p><p>Jamie carried through with his education aim, and earned a hockey scholarship with the University of New Hampshire, graduating in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education.</p><p>New Hampshire plays in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, Division 1, against such universities as Harvard, Boston College, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, and Pennsylvania. A Nordiques&rsquo; teammate, Paul Stewart, was with Pennsylvania University and was an opponent of Hislop&rsquo;s.</p><p>Hislop played all of his minor league hockey in Samia, excepting one season in Junior B with Stratford. He was drafted by the Junior A Niagara Falls Flyers, but never played there, opting for school instead.</p><p>In his sophomore year in New Hampshire, Jamie was drafted by both the Montreal Canadiens and Cleveland of the WHA. After graduation, he went to the Cincinnati Stingers, played there almost three years (one year under his present coach Demers) and finally came to the Nordiques this season.</p><p>His future will be in teaching or coaching. &ldquo;I love hockey,&rdquo; Hislop says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll play the game until I don&rsquo;t enjoy it anymore, and then decide. But, just now, I love it and I love the life.&rdquo;</p><p>Hislop is always in fantastic physical shape, lifting weights for endurance, playing squash frequently, and jogging every day. He played some baseball and basketball in school, but like teammate Robbie Ftorek, his real love is soccer.</p><p>Hislop is very satisfied with his season in Quebec. &ldquo;I really like it here. We had a very good first half, but injuries have been taking their toll.&rdquo;</p><p>Known as a defensive player, Hislop is coming into his own as a scorer following the arrival of centerman Jacques Richard from the Buffalo Sabres. These two now form a line with talented young Michel Goulet. In three recent games, Hislop hit for Quebec&rsquo;s only goal in a 2-1 loss to Pittsburgh, came back the following night to score Quebec&rsquo;s two goals in a 2-0 shutout against the same club and got his fourth two nights later against Hartford. At this writing, he has 13 goals and could well land up with over 20 for the season.</p><p>Jamie is one of four children in a very sports minded family. His father, Don, is a chemical engineer with Imperial Oil in Sarnia, his older brother John &ldquo;does some refereeing now,&rdquo; Mary Ellen, his 21-year-old sister is in physical education studies at the Lakehead in Thunder Bay, while Robert, 17, is playing with Jamie&rsquo;s old team, the Junior B&rsquo;s in Sarnia. Mom Mary keeps the whole family running smoothly.</p><p>Jamie Hislop will be around the National Hockey League for a long time to come, if he has any say in it. And he&rsquo;s got what it takes.</p><p><b>SKATE MARKS:</b> Nordiques&rsquo; Paul Baxter has a younger brother, Roger, 14, playing defense in Bantam in Winnipeg. He could be a real comer in future years&hellip;Hartford general manager Jack Kelley, has a word of caution for all NHL clubs: &ldquo;Bring your team into Quebec on the day of the game only. Not before. The hospitality, the food and everything else is just too good here.&rdquo; He made the comments following a 9-5 Nordique rout after the Whalers arrived in Quebec on Sunday for a Tuesday night game&hellip;&ldquo;It will ake us three weeks to get back into shape,&rdquo; he concluded&hellip;Buddy Cloutier is foresaking the plastic hockey boot and anxiously awaiting delivery of a set of leather boots. How Many NHL&rsquo;ers will follow in his &ldquo;footsteps&rdquo;?<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Underrated Hislop A Big Hit With Nordiques

<div class="byline">BY ARNOLD IRISH</div><p class="dropcap"><span>S</span>T. LOUIS&mdash;If the Blues fail to win the home ice advantage for the Stanley Cup playoffs, they can look over their shoulders to their recent back-to-back losses to the Hartford Whalers.</p><p>If, on the other hand, the Blues finish the regular season among the NHL&rsquo;s top eight, Red Berenson&rsquo;s team can point to its even more recent 5-1 victory over Pittsburgh as that cliche of the sports world&mdash;the turning point.</p><p>The symbolism of those successive losses wasn&rsquo;t lost on Berenson, who has a good memory. The last time the Blues had dropped back-to-back decisions (Dec. 4-6, to Winnipeg and Quebec), Barclay Plager had resigned as head coach (albeit for reasons of declining health) and been replaced by Berenson.</p><p>&ldquo;It was a brutal weekend,&rdquo; Berenson said, &ldquo;and I don&rsquo;t understand it. We lose (defenseman Joe) Micheletti, and all of a sudden the team is unsettled.&rdquo; Micheletti had suffered a knee injury on Feb. 26 against Toronto and underwent surgery.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to figure, because we didn&rsquo;t make that many changes&mdash;just sitting out Blake Dunlop. And we weren&rsquo;t playing him that much before.&rdquo;</p><p>Actually, Berenson had shaken up his personnel somewhat more than that.</p><p>When he gave Dunlop a rest, Berenson went to a six-defenseman system. He utilized Dick Lamby, Micheletti&rsquo;s replacement from the Blues&rsquo; Salt Lake City farm, and defenseman Neil Komadoski, who hadn&rsquo;t been in the lineup.</p><p>Also, Berenson sent backup goaltender Ed Staniowski to Salt Lake so he could work himself back into playing shape and recalled Doug Grant to sit and watch the indefatigable Mike Liut tend goal.</p><p>&ldquo;I know that there&rsquo;s a fine line between winning and losing,&rdquo; Berenson said. &ldquo;Until those two games against Hartford, we&rsquo;ve been just above that fine line and we&rsquo;ve been winning the close ones. Gradually, though, we began to slip below that fine line.</p><p>&ldquo;And in those two games against Hartford, we didn&rsquo;t get 60 minutes of concentration in either game. They seemed to lull us to sleep and then strike. We&rsquo;d come back strong and tie it up or take the lead, and then they&rsquo;d lull us to sleep again and put us away.&rdquo;</p><p>Whatever was ailing the Blues in that game apparently infected even Liut. Four of Hartford&rsquo;s goals at St. Louis came on long shots, the sort that he ordinarily turns away with ease. Berenson pointed out, however, that Liut was screened on two of the goals and that another was deflected.</p><p>Liut&rsquo;s luck continued on the next night in Hartford, though, when the Whalers&rsquo; legendary Gordie Howe collected the 800th goal of his career.</p><p>If Berenson was visibly relieved by his team&rsquo;s victory over Pittsburgh, he was less than elated by it. &ldquo;We still had some inconsistencies,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>The most encouraging aspect of the victory was the fact that two of St. Louis&rsquo; goals, both by Wayne Babych, came on their power play which had been hurting badly.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Successive Losses May Cost Blues Home Ice

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011173/5104540-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="291" height="340"></div><h2><b>Complaint Department Open</b></h2><p><b>THE COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT</b> is now open. Several important people in hockey are angry at me, so speak now or forever hold your peace.</p><p>Name and occupation, please: &ldquo;Art Kaminsky, New York representative for athletes.&rdquo;</p><p>How many? &ldquo;Somewhere between several and numerous.&rdquo;</p><p>Why were you so happy at the recent XIII Winter Olympics? &ldquo;Well, I handle Herb Brooks, coach of the victorious United States Olympic Hockey team, several (numerous?) of its players, plus speed skater Eric Heiden, who captured five gold medals.&rdquo;</p><p>Then how could you be complaining? &ldquo;Because I don&rsquo;t understand why you always take Al Eagle-son&rsquo;s side whenever anything is mentioned concerning the National Hockey League Players&rsquo; Association. I don&rsquo;t understand your attraction to him and his record. He has done nothing, he has not done the job.</p><p>&ldquo;The NHLPA is a Kangaroo Court, and Eagleson is part of the reason. You say that one of the great assets of the man is that the owners are petrified of him. I disagree. I say that the owners realize that Eagleson is a man who has his price. Meanwhile, the players suffer. In all other sports, when a player is subject to disciplinary action, the association takes part in it. Not the NHL? Where was Eagleson during the incident with the Bruins and the fans in Madison Square Garden?</p><p>&ldquo;My point is you can never get any answers from Eagleson&rsquo;s office, because they don&rsquo;t provide any. Athletes by nature are apolitical. They want to have someone to do all the dirty work for them.</p><h2><b>Sellout By Eagleson</b></h2><p><b>&ldquo;THEY ARE BY AND LARGE</b> uneducated&mdash;and by that I do not mean they are not intelligent. What I mean is they have no time for fine print. They have their careers to attend to. But when you have an issue at stake like the one the players confronted in Nassau last summer, it required preparation. This could have been their inning to reap new freedoms. Instead there was no preparation at all. Eagleson went down there, settled for some money, and that was that. It was a complete sellout.</p><p>&ldquo;Where does all the money go? Well, I don&rsquo;t suggest or suspect impropriety, but I do suspect a great deal of waste. I do know that one-third of his office rent in Toronto is ascribed to the NHLPA, yet only one-tenth of his office space is for the NHLPA. You never see any accounting of funds. Once in a while, there is a sum of money listed for &lsquo;office expenses.&rsquo; What does that mean?</p><p>&ldquo;What I am saying is that the NHLPA is not what it could be because of Eagleson, and because he simply is not doing the job. He has too many conflicts, which is why many of the players want a review of the situation and a fulltime director. You say they must have someone ready for the job before he is replaced. I say one thing has nothing to do with the other. He is not effective, period.</p><p>Thank you, Mr. Kaminsky. Next.</p><p>Name and occupation, please: &ldquo;Bill Wirtz, president of the Chicago Black Hawks and chairman of the NHL Board of Governors.&rdquo;</p><p>Why are you unhappy, Mr. Wirtz? Your club is doing better than anybody expected.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m unhappy because you suggested that the NHL had nothing to do with the U.S. Olympic Hockey victory.</p><p>&ldquo;Over a four-year period, it cost us $700,000 to build and subsidize the team that represented the U.S. at Lake Placid. American clubs contributed more than half of that. On top of that, we allowed several NHL clubs to play exhibition games against the U.S. Team. Plus, NHL-affiliated clubs in the Central League played several games against the U.S. Team. We gave them the Met Center in Bloomington, Minn., as their training base. We let them play one period against the Canadian Olympic team before our All Star Game in Detroit.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>Needed Gate Receipts</b></h2><p><b>YES, MR. WIRTZ,</b> but the Russians also &lsquo;allowed&rsquo; the U.S. Team to practice against it. Do the Russians also deserve part of the gold medal because of that? And I contributed to the U.S. Olympic fund. Do I get a piece of the medal, too?</p><p>&ldquo;Look, there are 56 sports in the Winter and Summer Olympics. Do you think any of them has ever received the kind of support that hockey got from the NHL? Furthermore, we pledged our support to the Olympic Committee by not signing any of the players on the team until Lake Placid was done.&rdquo;</p><p>Yes, but the U.S. Olympic team, which was supposedly so well-funded, still had to play 62 exhibition games because it needed gate receipts. Moreover, by not signing players, aren&rsquo;t you merely allowing them to develop? You drafted them, you&rsquo;ve budgeted money for them. Isn&rsquo;t that like a farm system?</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see how you can say we had nothing to do with it. The NHL could have homed in, but we purposely stayed in the background. You don&rsquo;t give your children money, and then when they succeed at something, get up and recite all the things you did for them. Do you?&rdquo;</p><p>The Complaint Department does nothing. It only listens.</p><p><b><i>Editor&rsquo;s Note: For more of Wirtz&rsquo; reaction to Verdi&rsquo;s comments, see page 8.</i></b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0005-01

HOCKEY TALK

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><p>MONTREAL&mdash;Just when it appeared the Canadiens might be down on their defensive strength, they signed what they feel will be a winner.</p><p>Bill Baker has already been a winner, coming to the Canadiens from the gold-medal U.S. Olympic team and observers who watched him perform at Lake Placid have put a can&rsquo;t-miss tag on the 23-year-old from Grand Forks, Minn.</p><p>But unlike many of his former team-mates, Baker will not be in the major leagues right away, although with the injury bug nipping through the Montreal defense the way it is, you never can tell.</p><p>The latest injury was suffered by Larry Robinson, who had been the leader on defense for the last three months. He suffered a slight shoulder separation when Colin Campbell of the Edmonton Oilers slammed him to the ice in a game at the Forum on March 6.</p><p>That injury came on the same night that Guy Lapointe, who played in only three games in the second half, returned &bull; from his separated shoulder and a couple of nights before Brian Engblom returned from a back injury.</p><p>But Baker, who signed a three-year deal worth about $200,000, went down to the Voyageurs to learn the vaunted Canadians&rsquo; system.</p><p>&ldquo;They told me I was going to Nova Scotia. Some of the other guys are getting tryouts with other teams. I knew all along that I wasn&rsquo;t going to get a shot up here right away. I didn&rsquo;t expect to be here right away because of the calibre of players they have.&rdquo;</p><p>Even while he was playing close to 70 games with the American Olympians, Baker was thinking of the day he would sign with Montreal.</p><p>&ldquo;It was in the back of my mind most of the year,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;I talked with Ron Caron (the Canadiens&rsquo; director of player personnel) last fall and a couple of times during the season.</p><p>&ldquo;It became more evident to me this year that I was going to sign. When they drafted me, they had me more in mind for the future. They encouraged me to stay in college.&rdquo;</p><p>Baker is six-feet, one inch and weighs about 195 pounds, which is on the smallish side. But he was the steadiest of all the U.S. defense during the Olympic tournament. There was nothing flashy to his play, although he drew some raves for an over-the-boards check he administered to Frantisek Kaberle over the boards in a preliminary round game against Czechosovakia.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been hectic since the Olympics,&rdquo; admitted Bill Baker. &ldquo;It was so hectic, I didn&rsquo;t have a chance to sit down and relax at all.</p><p>&ldquo;I think I have come down from the Olympics, but I don&rsquo;t think any of us realized the impact the Olympics were having outside of Lake Placid.&rdquo;</p><p>Commenting on the decision of U.S. team captain Mike Eruzione not to pursue a professional hockey career, despite receiving an offer from the Hartford Whalers, Baker said he &ldquo;is looking for some things here in Montreal&rdquo;.</p><p>&ldquo;Mike felt he reached the top and couldn&rsquo;t play any more. But he was in a little bit of a different situation. He started in the International League with Toledo, but I haven&rsquo;t really given it a shot yet.</p><p>&ldquo;This is a big thing for me. It has been a dream to stand in the Canadiens&rsquo; locker room&hellip;special after I was drafted by them in 1976.&rdquo;</p><p>But Baker decided to pursue his degree and left the University of Minnesota a few credits short of his major in business. He has been accepted into dental school, something which he worked long hours to accomplish.</p><p>He will either go back to Minnesota or New York University to pursue his interest.</p><p>&ldquo;I worked very hard in college to be accepted into dental school. I don&rsquo;t want to threw away four years of hard work, but this is the chance of a lifetime here.</p><p>&ldquo;I could have had a biology or chemistry major with the courses I had taken for pre-dentistry, but I wanted to cover my backside just in case I didn&rsquo;t get accepted.</p><p>&ldquo;By playing hockey, people get to know you and there might be a chance to get into business.&rdquo;</p><p>The arrival of Baker in the organization has led to some trade speculation, although a good deal will depend on what happens at the end of the season to veteran Serge Savard.</p><p>There is some thought that he will call it a career after picking up a couple of serious foot injuries, the first picked up New Year&rsquo;s Eve against the Rangers and the second against Winnipeg on Feb. 21. He had not recovered from the second injury by the time Robinson got hurt and did not resume skating until the second week of March.</p><p><b>IN PASSING&mdash;</b> Mario Tremblay got 100th career goal against the Rangers&rsquo; Steve Baker with 23 seconds remaining in the game as Montreal won 5-2&hellip;</p><p>Dennis Herron was 20-3-1 after stopping 34 shots in the victory over New York&hellip;</p><p>The Canadiens decided not to return Chris Nilan to the Voyageurs, feeling that his size up front was a definite asset.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011355/5104571-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="603" height="724"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Olympian Steve Baker intends to become a dentist, but he&rsquo;ll try pro hockey first.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0006-01

Learning Montreal System In Minors Initial Step For Olympic Star Baker

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011206/5104602-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Being hated around the NHL doesn&rsquo;t bother Paul Holmgren because he is appreciated by the Flyers.</i></figcaption></div><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;The news did not stop the presses or send anyone out to revise his hockey encyclopedia.</p><p>Paul Holmgren&rsquo;s first 20-goal NHL Season is only a milestone in Philadelphia, where his teammates know how important he is to the Flyers. However, seeing Holmgren score 20 goals should silence a few shallow-minded critics who only see the muscular right winger a few times each season and think all he can do is trample goaltenders.</p><p>The Flyers did not draft Holmgren to be the next Gordie Howe. What Flyers&rsquo; scouts saw was a 6-3, 210-pound prospect who loved the physical side of hockey. Gary Dornhoefer wasn&rsquo;t far from retirement and the scouts hoped Holmgren, a versatile athlete out of St. Paul, Minn., could eventually replace the Flyers&rsquo; veteran.</p><p>In case Dornhoefer has been too busy lately applying his makeup for Hockey Night in Canada telecasts, Holmgren is making him proud. Next to the revived Reggie Leach, Holmgren has been the best right winger on a team with the NHL&rsquo;s best record.</p><p>Holmgren is harassing goaltenders&mdash;sometimes excessively&mdash;in the Dornhoefer tradition, but the powerfully built Holmgren is also patrolling the corners, checking and even scoring goals.</p><p>&ldquo;A lot of guys score 20 goals now, so it&rsquo;s no big thing,&rdquo; said the young man who spent last summer coaching a summer league basketball team as a requirement for a West Chester State College physical education course. &ldquo;The main reason I&rsquo;ve been able to score more is more playing time. I&rsquo;ve played on lines with all our centers. Mostly, I&rsquo;ve been with Ricky (MacLeish). But the last few games, I&rsquo;ve been with Kenny (Lin-seman) and (Brian) Propp. Geez, with Kenny, he&rsquo;s so quick I just trail the play.&rdquo;</p><p><b>He won&rsquo;t win any speed-skating contests, but like O&rsquo;Reilly, is a valuable asset to a contending team.</b></p><p>Like Boston&rsquo;s Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, a similar-style player, Holmgren won&rsquo;t win any speedskating contests. But like O&rsquo;Reilly, Holmgren is a valuable asset to a contending team. The Flyers&rsquo; winger doesn&rsquo;t like fighting, but, as long as the rules allow it, he&rsquo;ll participate when the situation demands.</p><p>Not surprisingly, players like O&rsquo;Reilly and Boston teammate Stan Jonathan rank highest on Holmgren&rsquo;s respect list.</p><p>&ldquo;They come to play every game,&rdquo; Holmgren said.</p><p>Another gentleman who comes to play every game is Holmgren&rsquo;s teammate, Bob Clarke. And, like Holmgren, Clarke is thoroughly disliked in almost every NHL arena except the Spectrum.</p><p>If the fans in New York, Boston, Buffalo and Vancouver could meet Holmgren, they&rsquo;d find a personality completely different from the one they see on the ice. A man wondered if Holmgren doesn&rsquo;t wish he could stand at center ice sometime and let people know he isn&rsquo;t the villain he appears to be.</p><p>&ldquo;No, it really doesn&rsquo;t bother me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This is a pretty close-knit team, and just knowing that my role is appreciated by my teammates is all that really matters.&rdquo;</p><p>Smiling, Holmgren added, &ldquo;My wife doesn&rsquo;t call me a goon, either.&rdquo;</p><p>One of the proudest moments Holmgren has had in hockey was off the ice. It was the night the U.S. Olympic team, featuring many fellow Minnesotans, shocked the sports world with a 4-3 upset of the heavily favored Soviets at Lake Placid.</p><p>&ldquo;We were in Vancouver and could see the game live on television,&rdquo; Holmgren recalled. &ldquo;When the U.S. scored that fourth goal I jumped right out of bed. That was one time I wished I was there.&rdquo;</p><p>Some people will tell you Holmgren couldn&rsquo;t have made the U.S Olympic team. They might be the same people who insist, despite a 20-goal season, the Holmgren doesn&rsquo;t belong in the NHL.</p><p><b>FLYERS FACTS:</b> Dave Gardner, the former first round draft choice of Montreal, was impressive during an emergency recall from Maine. Gardner scored a goal (75th in the NHL) and assist in a 4-1 victory over Colorado. At 28, Gardner is hoping for one last major-league chance.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0007-01

Crease Crasher Holmgren Proving Worth To Flyers

<p>The International Hockey Weekly Founded in 1947</p><p>Published by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd.</p><p>214 King St. West, Suite 314, Toronto, Ont. M5H 1K4</p><h2><b>Crime Prevention</b></h2><p><b>IN THE VIOLENT</b> climate of North American sport it&rsquo;s probable that the National Hockey League will continue to be unique and to be more physical than its European counterparts. Fans like a measure of blood and thunder but it&rsquo;s still possible to preserve a clean, physical nature in the North American game, while discouraging the dangerous and annoying patterns of fouling which damaged the product and contributed to idiotic brawling during the seventies.</p><p>The point has already been made that the skills and style of play which will be brought to the NHL by collegians and Olympians from the United States and Canada, can improve the quality of the North American professional game. But if the new influence is to be lasting and effective, then the league must ensure that the new players don&rsquo;t pick up the bad habits of some of the older pros&mdash;which the league insists it is trying to eliminate.</p><p>When the NHL holds rules discussions in June, it should pay some attention to complaints of such talented and skilled performers as Mike Bossy of the Islanders. Because of the quality of his play, Bossy has probably taken more than his share of hammering. But what he has been complaining loudest about lately is the hooking, slashing, holding, clutching and interference, which damages the quality of play, causes a flaring of tempers and leads to outbursts of brawling.</p><p>Live audiences and television fans have been complaining for a couple of years, now, about the amount of hooking and slashing from the rear which seems to be allowed in too many games.</p><p>It disturbs fans when they see a trailing checker hooking from the rear of a puck carrier, welting him about the arms and legs and getting away with it. For every occasion on which hooking or slashing is called, there are probaby a dozen occasions on which there are no calls at all.</p><p>These uncalled infractions, along with the turmoil permitted in the slot, are the minor crimes which frequently lead to the larger ones, including benchclearing brawls.</p><p>If the NHL genuinely wishes to clean up its act, then it should listen to Bossy and others. It&rsquo;s still the fact that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And unless the league can control such minor aggravations as hooking, clutching and chopping from the rear, then it will be preserving the climate in which brawls are bred.</p><h2><b>Cautious Re-alignment</b></h2><p><b>THE PROSPECT SEEMS</b> strong that all Canadian franchises of the NHL will be placed in the same conference for the 1980-81 season. Not the same division, of course, but the same conference.</p><p>In other words, the Canadian teams would be distributed among the two divisions of a single conference, which may be as far as the league should go in this direction.</p><p>One problem with a purely Canadian division would be travel costs. Also, it&rsquo;s possible that the Canadian teams would be meeting one another too frequently for the tastes of Canadian fans if they were lumped into a single division. After all, Canadians are like other NHL fans, wishing to see frequently such contenders as Rangers, Islanders, Bruins, Sabres and the Flyers.</p><p>There&rsquo;s another point to be made against lumping the Canadian franchises into one division&mdash;it would damage the image of the NHL as an international and continental league. The NHL is neither U.S. nor Canadian&mdash;it is North American.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">By WILLIAM W. WIRTZ</div><p class="dropcap"><i><span>I</span>n his column in last week&rsquo;s edition of THE HOCKEY NEWS, Bob Verdi wrote that the National Hockey League &ldquo;doesn&rsquo;t deserve&rdquo; to benefit from the gold medal victory by the U.S. Olympic hockey team at Lake Placid. Here is a response to Verdi&rsquo;s column by William</i> W. <i>Wirtz, the president of the Chicago Black Hawks and the chairman of the Board of Governors of the NHL.</i></p><p>The fact of the matter is that without the National Hockey League it wouldn&rsquo;t have been possible for the United States team to win the goal medal.</p><p>It cost approximately $700,000 to build and subsidize the team that represented the U.S. in Lake Placid. Of that amount, the clubs in the NHL contributed more than half.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011291/5104657-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="273" height="430"></div><p>I&rsquo;m also involved with the National Basketball Association. Ask the AAU and the NCAA what the NBA ever did for our Olympic basketball team. Nothing, that&rsquo;s what!</p><p>If the $350,000 NHL donation isn&rsquo;t association, I don&rsquo;t know what is. In the Winter and Summer Olympics there are 56 sports. Has any other athletic endeavor received that kind of support?</p><p>Bob Fleming, the chairman of the U.S. hockey team, called on four of us in the NHL to serve on his seven-man committee: Bruce Norris, chairman and president of the Detroit Red Wings, Walter Bush Jr., vice-president of the Minnesota North Stars; Lou Nanne, general manager of the North Stars; and myself. More than 50 per cent of the members of the hockey committee were intimately connected with the NHL.</p><p>When Bob Pulford became general manager of the Black Hawks in 1977, I donated his predecessor, Tommy Ivan, to use all of his ability and expertise on a full-time basis to oversee the organization of the U.S. Olympic team.</p><p>Every general manager in the league did a fantastic job of supporting us. The general managers&rsquo; committee adopted a hands-off policy on signing Olympic prospects who had been drafted by NHL clubs. They said: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve pledged to support the United States Olympic Committee; those players are sacred.&rdquo; And not one team tried to sign a player.</p><p>The teams in the Central Hockey League are owned by teams in the NHL. We incorporated the Olympic team into the Central League schedule for 18 games, and to make those games as competitive as possible they were counted in the standings.</p><p>We arranged for the Olympic team to play pre-season games against Atlanta, St. Louis, Minnesota and Washington.</p><p>The Olympic team&rsquo;s home base was the Met Center; the home of the Minnesota North Stars.</p><p>We donated our air-time so U.S. Olympic hockey team fund-raising commercials could be shown on local and league cable telecasts.</p><p>Similar types of support were given to the Canadian Olympic team as well.</p><p>The NHL purposely stayed in the background after the Olympic team defeated the Soviet Union and won the gold medal against Finland. You don&rsquo;t give your children money and then get up and begin reciting all that you&rsquo;ve done when your children achieve something through their own hard work.</p><p>The people with whom we were associated in amateur hockey were caught up in one of the greatest things ever to happen in sports in this country. They didn&rsquo;t have a chance to thank us publicly.</p><p>But, as soon as we were criticized, they rushed to set the record straight. On Wednesday, March 5, John Ziegler, president of the NHL, received a letter of thanks from Fleming that summarized the various areas of contribution and cooperation. He said: &ldquo;I thought by recording them now they could serve as a guide to our future efforts and cooperation.&rdquo;</p><p>Fleming went on to say: &ldquo;We are deeply indebted to the NHL for the large role you played in the formation, development and success of the U.S. Olympic hockey team. The efforts of the League and its member clubs in the areas of (a) fund raising; (b) assistance with our Summer Sports Festival; (c) cooperation in allowing NHL draft choices to play with the Olympic team; (d) use of NHL arenas; and (e) scheduling of games against NHL and affiliated clubs was of utmost importance in this year&rsquo;s Olympic effort. Needless to say, our task would have been most difficult without these many contributions and this cooperation. I look forward to continuing our outstanding working relationship in the quest for the gold medal four years from now in Yugoslavia.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-01

Gold Medal “Not Possible” Without NHL

<div class="byline">BY DR.JERRY BUSS</div><p class="dropcap"><i><span>T</span>HE HOCKEY NEWS asked Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; owner Dr. Jerry Buss what effects making star center Marcel Dionne the highest paid player in hockey might have upon the National Hockey League. Dionne is said to be negotiating for a five-year deal in the vicinity of three million dollars, thus earning him approximately $600,000 per season.</i></p><p>I don&rsquo;t think signing Dionne will affect hockey very much. Our reasons for offering him a contract (that will undoubtedly make him the highest paid player) are that we feel he is the best player in the game; we clearly recognize this and want to reward him because of that.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021080/5104688-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="261" height="389"></div><p>I think at some point there has to be a limit on how high salaries can go, but it has to be a negotiated thing&mdash;worked out between the owners and the players.</p><p>What I would like to see would be for the players&rsquo; salaries to be paid from some percentage of the gate. Then how you distribute the money will create more competition among the players.</p><p>Hockey is a sport with a lot of required athletes and I don&rsquo;t think you can buy a championship in hockey. Perhaps you can buy a contender but it is more a team sport than baseball and football.</p><p>If you get one or two additional first rate pitchers in baseball, you&rsquo;re going to have a pretty good chance at a championship. In football, if you were to take Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swann and move them to another team, they would make a big difference, but it&rsquo;s different in hockey.</p><p>I don&rsquo;t really see a levelling off of salaries coming up. Maybe later. I think there has to be in the future.</p><p>You may be assuming that negotiations with Dionne have already been completed but they have not, so I can&rsquo;t comment on the contract because it hasn&rsquo;t been settled, but I do believe that when you have a player of his calibre who&rsquo;s going to become a free agent, well, letting him go is not going to improve my chances of winning a Stanley Cup.</p><p>We&rsquo;re paying the salary necessary to keep him a part of this hockey team.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-02

Dionne’s Talents Bring Rewards

<div class="byline">BY PAT CALABRIA</div><p>LONG ISLAND&mdash;The more things remain the same, the more things change.</p><p>The season was remaining too much the same for Islander coach Al Arbour&rsquo;s liking. So Arbour installed a flurry of changes that had players consulting lineup sheets to find out exactly what position they were supposed to be in. Now, maybe, the season is changing, too.</p><p>What uplifted the team&rsquo;s spirits was a steady, unspectacular, but sound 5-2 victory over the Flyers in Philadelphia. The Islanders stopped short of hailing it as a turning point, but they did make the locker room throb with enthusiasm.</p><p>&ldquo;I think we finally proved to ourselves that when we want to play well, we can,&rdquo; Bobby Nystrom said.</p><p>And Nystrom had played especially well. In one of the most stunning changes, Arbour used left wing Bob Bourne at center&mdash;an experiment that seemed to have been discarded. Bourne responded with a fine game and his line produced two goals&mdash;one by Nystrom and one by John Tonelli.</p><p>There have been other notable changes. Since returning to the lineup, Denis Potvin has added mobility to the offense and power play. Rested and fit, Potvin has been conspicuous by his presence.</p><p>&ldquo;Denis makes a big difference,&rdquo; Bourne said. &ldquo;You can see that.&rdquo;</p><p>More changes? How about the addition of U.S. Olympic star Ken Morrow. He signed a three-year contract and although he and Potvin entered the lineup the same day and the Islanders were beaten by Detroit, 4-3, Morrow has improved steadily.</p><p>He had two assists in the victory over the Flyers and Arbour said: &ldquo;The kid has poise. I think he&rsquo;s coming along well.&rdquo;</p><p><b>The Islanders continue to carry 24 players&hellip;which Arbour believes is a good way of stirring competition.</b></p><p>And more changes. Two days after Morrow joined the team, helping to shore up a sagging defense, center Garth MacGuigan was called up from the Indianpolis farm team&mdash;becoming the 29th player to wear an Islander uniform this season. That is the highest number of players employed by the team since the 32 it used in its first season, 1972-73.</p><p>&ldquo;Really?&rdquo; Arbour said. Really.</p><p>The Islanders continue to vary 24 players, five over the limit, which Arbour believes is a good way of stirring some competition. No player seems immune from a benching now. The list of players scratched includes Wayne Merrick, Stefan Persson, Dave Langevin, Dave Lewis and Bourne&mdash;until he was added to the lineup when Tonelli came down with the flu.</p><p>Few players are grumbling about changes and benchings the way they were. &ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s good,&rdquo; goalie Glenn Resch said.</p><p>&ldquo;Now is the time for us to pull together. We have to realize that being benched for one game doesn&rsquo;t mean much. Whoever it happens to, he&rsquo;ll survive. Life will go on. And maybe it&rsquo;s a message we all needed to hear again.&rdquo;</p><p>The resurrection has taken place without the help of Clark Gillies&mdash;who is out with a hyperextended left elbow. He has been replaced by Anders Kallur&mdash;who seems well suited to playing with Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy.</p><p>It was Kallur who scored the shorthanded goal that padded the Islanders&rsquo; lead in the closing minutes against the Flyers. He has three of the team&rsquo;s five shorthanded goal this season and has helped salvage what was a slumping penalty-killing unit.</p><p>In one recent stretch, the Islanders allowed 11 goals in 19 power plays. But Kallur and Bourne have been a graceful and exciting addition to the penaltykilling. &ldquo;With any kind of luck, I could have had 12 or 15 shorthanded goals,&rdquo; Bourne said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s my own fault. I missed the chances. But we were getting them and that&rsquo;s important.</p><p>And more changes. Billy Harris at left wing. Mike Bossy at left point on the power play. More players given ice time on the power play. Garry Howatt given more ice time and responding with two goals in three games and some crisp checking.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve made a lot of changes, right,&rdquo; Arbour said. &ldquo;Some, I&rsquo;m going to discard and some I&rsquo;m going to keep. You&rsquo;ll see which are which.&rdquo;</p><p>But not everything has changed. Bossy recently scored his second hat trick of the season in a 5-4 victory over Edmonton, scored against the Flyers two nights later and pushed toward the league leaders again. It&rsquo;s almost certain he&rsquo;ll score 50 goals for a third straight season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011268/5104719-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="574" height="1124"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Mike Bossy hasn&rsquo;t changed much for the Islanders; he&rsquo;s rolling towards another 50-goal year.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0009-01

More Changes Mean Better Islanders

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div><p class="dropcap"><span>C</span>HICAGO&mdash;Buffalo&rsquo;s Scotty Bowman has a bigger name and Philadelphia&rsquo;s Pat Quinn has a better record than the Black Hawks&rsquo; rookie coach, Eddie Johnston.</p><p>On paper, both have superior material. Seven Flyers and four Sabres were named to the All Star team, while goalie Tony Esposito was the only Chicago player picked.</p><p>But neither Bowman nor Quinn has improved his team as much as Johnston has helped the once wishy-washy Hawks.</p><p>A strong case can be made that Johnston should be selected Coach of the Year in the National Hockey League.</p><p>&bull; Last season the Hawks were 11th in the league in points. They went into this weekend in fifth place. (Philadelphia has gone from fourth to first under Quinn and Buffalo has climbed from seventh to second under Bowman&rsquo;s new regime.)</p><p>&bull; The Hawks are a team that has smoothly made a drastic transition. Ten of the players on the roster (on the week ending March 8) were skating elsewhere on the same date last season. But since Dec. 15, only Philadelphia has a better winning percentage than Chicago.</p><p>&bull; The Chicago defense is one of the league&rsquo;s best and the offense has improved enormously even though none of the Hawks are to be found on the list of the NHL&rsquo;s top 25 scorers.</p><p>During the second half of the season they&rsquo;ve been consistently outshooting the opposition and the powerplay has been transformed from a mediocrity to a menace. They&rsquo;ve scored 55 powerplay goals compared to 41 for all of last season and their percentage is the fourth highest in the NHL.</p><p>Opposing players and coaches appreciate what Johnston has accomplished.</p><p>Boston coach Fred Creighton&mdash;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad we don&rsquo;t have to play Chicago any more this year. Eddie has done an outstanding job of motivating the players and the team keeps getting better.&rdquo;</p><p>Montreal coach Claude Ruel&mdash;&ldquo;That team never stops working and the players always are looking to help one another. This is a reflection of Eddie&rsquo;s coaching. They believe in him and want to win for him.&rdquo;</p><p>During his 16 years as an NHL goalie, Johnston was a fun-loving night owl off the ice. He didn&rsquo;t turn into a hardnose when he embarked on his coaching career last season with the New Brunswick farm club jointly operated by Chicago and Toronto. Johnston runs a relaxed ship but he&rsquo;s respected.</p><p>&ldquo;Best coach I&rsquo;ve ever had,&rdquo; says center Tom Lysiak, one of the players most instrumental in this season&rsquo;s renaissance movement. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s so well-prepared. We don&rsquo;t have a hard and fast system. Every game we adapt our style to the scouting report. We attack the other team&rsquo;s weaknesses.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Everybody toes the line because Eddie knows what he&rsquo;s talking about and we all know what&rsquo;s expected of us,&rdquo; says Tony Esposito. &ldquo;All Eddie asks is that you put out for him. And that&rsquo;s easy because of the kind of guy he is.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Anything good that is said about me also is a tribute to my assistant coach, Keith Magnuson,&rdquo; says Johnston. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what I&rsquo;d do without Maggie. He comes up with great scouting reports, studies the game from the press box and helps me plan strategy between periods, communicates with the defenseman, and works his head off at practice.&rdquo;</p><p><b>HAWK TALK&mdash;</b> Recapping the 8-day western swing that saw the Hawks go undefeated in 5 games and accumulate 10 points: Left wing Ted Bulley broke out a slump with gusto by banging in two goals to trigger the 4-1 triumph in Minnesota. However, Bulley strained his left shoulder in the game and missed the rest of the trip&hellip;In Winnipeg the following afternoon the Hawks fell two goals behind in the first 4 minutes 55 seconds, then rallied to give their gritty little backup goalie, Mike Veisor, a 3-2 victory. Rookie left wing Tim Trimper scored the winning goal with 5:20 to play after Lysiak won a draw from Peter Sullivan&hellip;The Hawks played to a 3-3 tie against Vancouver and lost their leading point-producer, captain Terry Ruskowski (14-45-59), for 10 days with a torn muscle in his hip. Playing his first game in Vancouver since the trade of Dec. 21 that made a Canuck out of defenseman Dave Logan, Ron Sedlbauer scored two of the Chicago goals and Trimper&rsquo;s goal in the third period produced the tie&hellip;Veisor got another of his rare starts in Colorado and the little goalie stood out like the Rocky Mountains, making 42 saves to lift Chicago to a 4-2 victory. Rookie center Doug Lecuyer severed a 2-2 deadlock with 3; 14 to play in the second period.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

EJ Winning Raves For Soaring Hawks

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE WARRINER</div><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>ARTFORD&mdash;With the acquisition of Bobby Hull, &ldquo;The Golden Jet,&rdquo; the Hartford Whalers are beginning to take on the look of an old folks home for hockey players. Normally a 41-year-old would be the elder statesman on any hockey club. But playing for the Hartford team already is a man who is Hull&rsquo;s senior by more than a decade. Gordie Howe will celebrate his 52nd birthday on March 31. And then there&rsquo;s David Keon, who turns 40 years of age on March 22.</p><p>No doubt putting the three together as a line has crossed the minds of many hockey fans. It&rsquo;d be easy&mdash;at left wing, Bobby Hull; center, Dave Keon; and at right wing, Gordie Howe. And you&rsquo;d have about 71 years of hockey playing experience. But there&rsquo;s little likelihood of it happening&mdash;at least on a regular basis.</p><p>Although Keon may be considering retiring after this campaign, he is still regarded as one of the best defensive centers in the league. Coach Don Blackburn automatically puts David&rsquo;s line against the opposition&rsquo;s top offensive threat. Keon and his wings&mdash;Jordy Douglas and Tommy Rowe&mdash;have proved to be good pointgetters as well. So there was no thought of breaking up that trio.</p><p>Gordie Howe has spent most of the season working with a fourth line and occasionally being spotted on the power play with the assignment to camp in front of the cage. It didn&rsquo;t seem likely Blackie would give him a regular shift.</p><p>And since the combination of Mike Rogers, Blaine Stoughton, and Pat Boutette had been working together so effectively, the most logical spot for Hull to start out was on a third line with nifty stickhandler Bernie Johnston centering and speedy Dave Debol working on the right side. Debol, a former All-American at the University of Michigan, had played center until Blackburn experimented with him on right wing.</p><p>Now, the 24-year-old speedster feels very comfortable on the right side. Dave&rsquo;s experience as a center should blend very nicely with Hull&rsquo;s style, which was epitomized during the years when Bobby combined with Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson in Winnipeg. There was no such thing as skating lanes for that trio. They just weaved in and out until opportunities arose.</p><p>No one has any delusions of creating the same thing in Hartford, but Blackburn was ready to give the Hull-Johnston-Debol combo a good look as soon as Bobby was ready to go.</p><p>Prior to coming to Hartford (from Winnipeg for the proverbial &ldquo;future considerations&rdquo;) Hull had been skating for some time. And he was on the ice for his first practice a good half hour before his new teammates arrived, staying on afterwards to take an extra several dozen shots. There was no question&mdash;Bobby was eager to get back in harness.</p><p>&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s going to help us,&rdquo; Blackburn said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s enthusiasic about playing and that&rsquo;s going to carry over to our team. If he can play anywhere near like he has in the past, that&rsquo;s a great bonus for us.&rdquo;</p><p>At first, Hartford fans were not altogether thrilled with Hull&rsquo;s acquisition. The Whaler organization was supposed to be concentrating on building for the future. Besides, the team was doing much better than the experts had predicted and seemed destined to pick up a playoff spot fairly comfortably.</p><p>Hull&rsquo;s contract with the Whalers runs only until the end of the current season&mdash;with an apparent option for next year and beyond. So, in these last few weeks, if Bobby can prove that he still has a good bit of the old pizzaz, Whaler management will have basically two routes they can follow.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011331/5104774-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="595" height="1067"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Recently converted right wing Dave DeBol may soon have Bobby Hull as a linemate.</i></figcaption></div><p>Bobby has cattle interests in Connecticut and other parts of New England, but he&rsquo;s always expressed an interest in going back to Chicago. Perhaps Black Hawk GM Bob Pulford will shuffle aside his misgivings about such a deal, if the price was right. In Chicago, Bobby would be reunited with former Winnipeg mates Terry Ruskowski and Richie Preston.</p><p>Another possibility would be New York&rsquo;s Madison Square Garden. There the obstacle of Fred Shero&rsquo;s reluctance would have to be overcome, but the idea of reuniting with Hedberg and Nilsson has always appealed to Bobby.</p><p>All of this speculation, of course, precludes the idea that the Whalers might like to keep Hull in Hartford. There&rsquo;d be many reasons for doing just that if Bobby shows that he still has his old flair on the ice.</p><p>With Gordie Howe having reached another milestone&mdash;NHL goal No. 800 on February 29&mdash;and also realizing a long-time ambition of playing in the NHL with both sons, Mark and Marty (Marty was to be on hand when the Whalers made their final trip into Detroit in mid-March)&mdash;it seemed quite likely that Gordie would finally hang them up for good. Hull would then be the top drawing card in a hockey town still in its infancy.</p><p>As to fears that the signing of Hull would stunt the Whalers&rsquo; youth development program, director of hockey operations Jack Kelley indicated that Hull&rsquo;s presence would &ldquo;give us time to develop our youngsters. I don&rsquo;t want to rush any of our kids along,&rdquo; said Kelley of several promising youngsters with the team&rsquo;s Springfield (AHL) farm club, as well as a couple who are finishing out their junior hockey eligibility.</p><p>And from a practical point of - view it was pointed out that, if Hull works out well for the Whalers, he should be worth an extra 1,000 tickets or so per game next season. At an average of $8 per ducat, that figures to $8,000 per night&mdash;$320,000 per season. &ldquo;That&rsquo;ll more than pay his salary.&rdquo; says Blackburn, also concurring with Kelley&rsquo;s feeling that it would give the Whalers time to develop their youngsters.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-01

Whalers Must Find Place For Hull

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD FRIEDMAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011218/5104836-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="580" height="789"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i><b>Dave Maloney reached a career high in goals with his first NHL hat trick against Minnesota.</b></i></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>N</span>EW YORK&mdash;Their longest winning streak of the season finally came to the end, but for the New York Rangers the times are far from discouraging.</p><p>First, they finally got Ulf Nilsson back&mdash;after an absence of 27 games due to a mysterious neck ailment.</p><p>Then, they discovered a new offensive big gun&mdash;none other than defenseman Dave Maloney, who scored the first hat-trick of his career as the Rangers defeated the Minnesota North Stars, 4-2, on Sunday, March 9 at Madison Square Garden.</p><p>And not to be overlooked is that they played well in a losing cause when they bowed to the Montreal Canadiens, 5-2, on Saturday, March 8 at the Forum.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a flashy player and I try to concentrate on playing defense,&rdquo; explained an elated Maloney on Sunday as he shared the credit for his hat-trick with his defensive partner, veteran Carol Vadnais.</p><p>&ldquo;Now, Vad tells me, &lsquo;you got the legs,&rsquo; so I carry the puck more. It used to be the other way around when we first started playing together.&rdquo;</p><p>Vadnais had a simple explanation for the turnaround.</p><p>&ldquo;As I get older, he gets faster,&rdquo; said the 34-year-old Vadnais, the archetype of the defensive defenseman. Vadnais rarely is found in front of his own blue line. This is what gives Maloney, 23, the freedom to move with the puck.</p><p>&ldquo;When he carries the puck,&rdquo; Vadnais added, &ldquo;he knows I&rsquo;m back there.&rdquo;</p><p>Maloney&rsquo;s first goal came on a shot from the slot after a set-up by his brother, Don. The second hit North Stars goalie Gilles Meloche in the ribs and trickled behind Meloche into the cage. And the third was set up by precise, rinkwide passes from Anders Hedberg and Eddie Johnstone.</p><p>Minnesota&rsquo;s Tom Younghans opened the scoring with the game just 57 seconds old, and the North Stars entered the second period leading 2-0 before giving up three goals in the second and Maloney&rsquo;s last goal in the third.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0011-01

Ranger Fortunes On Decided Upswing

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><p>BOSTON&mdash;After 64 games, the 1978-79 edition of the Boston Bruins, coached by Don Cherry, had 83 points, third best in the NHL.</p><p>After 64 games, the 1979-80 edition of the Boston Bruins, coached by Fred Creighton, had 83 points, third best in the NHL.</p><p>It would follow, then, that there is little to choose between the coaching talents and techniques of the bombastic Cherry and the quiet Creighton.</p><p>Not quite so.</p><p>Those who have watched the two of them in action behind the Bruins bench for at least 64 games have come to this conclusion: Cherry is the better motivator of men but, in the long run, Creighton may be the better coach.</p><p>Although they won&rsquo;t say so in so many words, the Bruins players appear to feel that way, too.</p><p>&ldquo;Don Cherry was tremendous for getting guys up and keeping them up for 60 minutes,&rdquo; says Brad Park. &ldquo;Every game was a new do or die crisis. I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve ever run across anybody like that.</p><p>&ldquo;On the other hand, Fred Creighton is very good strategy wise. He is more basics, correcting guys, making sure they&rsquo;re doing the right things at the right time, giving the younger guys a free hand to explore and improve.&rdquo;</p><p>Creighton himself warned the Bruins before he took over the coaching job not to expect too much in the way of motivation from him.</p><p>&ldquo;It breaks down to how much of that comes from a coach and how much comes from peer pressure,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>&ldquo;I see a player like Terry O&rsquo;Reilly out there playing to the utmost of his ability night after night. It must be awfully difficult to sit in the dressing room with him if you&rsquo;re not playing really hard yourself.&rdquo;</p><p>The basic playing styles of the two coaches are similar. Both emphasize forechecking, outmuscling the opposition in the corners. Both insist on the wing coming back. It is in the little things that they depart company.</p><p>Cherry is a cautious coach. His playing patterns are rigid. He has taken what is probably the simplest of all games and simplified it even further. His players, with few exceptions, are not permitted much latitude on the ice.</p><p>Creighton, on the other hand, is an innovator, inclined to take a chance when the occasion warrants it. He is an advocate of player movement and puck control at a time when the whole game of hockey is moving that way.</p><p>&ldquo;I like movement on the ice by everybody all the time,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I like the people without the puck to keep moving because that kind of movement creates more puck movement and hockey is a game of movement.&rdquo;</p><p>Cherry&rsquo;s Bruins almost inevitably wheeled the puck around the boards in their own end, relying on the wing against the boards to tip it out of the zone or steer it to the centerman at the blueline. Creighton&rsquo;s Bruins throw it around the boards only as a last resort.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easier on the wings coming out of our end because we&rsquo;re not pinned against the boards and guys aren&rsquo;t running at us,&rdquo; says Rick Middleton. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re coming off the boards for the pass. When you get it you&rsquo;re already moving so you clear the zone a lot faster.&rdquo;</p><p>At the other end of the ice, Creighton&rsquo;s team is not so quick to dump the puck in and go after it.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m an advocate of forechecking,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t like to dump the puck in when it can be carried over the blue line. I don&rsquo;t think you should give up the puck unnecessarily. The longer you have it the better off you&rsquo;re going to be.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;When we&rsquo;re moving through the neutral zone, we try to assess quickly whether we have a chance to carry the puck over the blue line and make a play inside the zone or put the puck in deep and go after it with a good chance of getting it back.&rdquo;</p><p>There&rsquo;s always a man moving toward the net, too, when the Bruins have control of the puck.</p><p>&ldquo;Sometimes he doesn&rsquo;t accomplish a lot but he is at least a diversion,&rdquo; says Creighton. &ldquo;He makes it difficult for a defenseman to decide what to do. And if the puck carrier is in trouble, he knows he can go to the net and 90 per cent of the time there&rsquo;s a man there.&rdquo;</p><p>On Cherry&rsquo;s Bruins, each line had its designated backchecker, the man assigned to come back as soon as the puck changed hands. Under Creighton&rsquo;s system, the last man in is the first to come back.</p><p>The Bruins&rsquo; penalty killing has been more effective under Creighton, possibly because his penalty killers have more freedom to stretch the corners of the basic box. They defense the power play aggressively.</p><p>&ldquo;Not just the two guys up front but the four people out there,&rdquo; says Creighton. &ldquo;Letting the defensemen go in the corners is dangerous but what is more dangerous than letting people have all the time in the world to do things?&rdquo;</p><p>Cherry&rsquo;s Bruins rarely practiced the power play. Often, the next line up WAS the power play. Creighton will mix lines to get the best personnel on the ice. Again, puck control is the guide.</p><p>He likes to have a good faceoff man to get the puck at the start, a good cornerman to get it back if it&rsquo;s lost or thrown up for grabs, and a good scorer to put it in the net. His favorite power play: Jean Ratelle, Wayne Cashman and Rick Middleton.</p><p>And it all adds up to 83 points in 64 games&mdash;the same as Cherry did with motivation.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Bruins Adopt Coach’s Control Game

<div class="byline">BY PAT DOYLE</div><p>The Jets won only five of those 18 games.</p><p>&ldquo;Usually, the upper echelon teams win those one-goal games,&rdquo; claims Winnipeg coach Tom McVie. &ldquo;When I was with Washington, we only had two 20-goal scorers, so in a game we&rsquo;d be leading 2-1 it was pretty tough to get a goal to make it 3-1. Or, if we were down, 2-1, that equalizer just wasn&rsquo;t going to come.</p><p><b>Among the Jets&rsquo; one-goal games were victories over Boston and Minnesota</b></p><p>&ldquo;Here we have more people who can get us goals, but still not enough to win the majority of those one-goal games.&rdquo;</p><p>In this year of expansion, the Jets promised they would be hardworking and competitive, if nothing else. Well, they&rsquo;ve made good on both those points.</p><p>Heading into the final 30 days of the season, the record was a dismal 15-42-10, but the Jets were competitive in 64 percent of those 67 games. They had been tough in the 18 one-goal games of course, and they were also in another 10 games which were decided by a two-goal margin. Winnipeg was 5-5 in those games. Meanwhile, the Jets had also tied 10 times and they&rsquo;d won five games by more than a one or two-goal spread.</p><p>They&rsquo;ve managed to compete with some of the top clubs, too, because among the Jets&rsquo; one-goal games are victories over the Minnesota North Stars and Boston Bruins, and losses to Boston, Atlanta, Buffalo (twice), Philadelphia Flyers (twice) and the Chicago Black Hawks.</p><p>Perhaps all of this is merely a case of imagining a silver lining in a very dark cloud, but when you&rsquo;re 21st in a 21-team league you find solace in such statistics.</p><p><b>JETS NOTES:</b> The Jets have broken a club record for most losses in a season. Their previous high had been 39 established in 1973-74, the team&rsquo;s second season in the World Hockey Association&hellip;Young Dave Christian scored his first NHL goal seven seconds into his first NHL shift. It came on March 2 versus the Black Hawks, in the first period&hellip;The NHL record for fastest goal by a rookie from the start of his first game is 15 seconds. Holder of the mark is Gus Bodnar&hellip;Christian&rsquo;s goal came 1:07 into the game&hellip;General manager John Ferguson made a series of player moves prior to the roster freeze. Sent back to the Tulsa Oilers of the Central League were Larry Hopkins, Gerry Rioux and John Bethel, while Lorne Stamler and Bill Lesuk were recalled from Tulsa. Stamler found the scoring touch while he was down on the farm. He scored eight goals in six games&hellip;Peter Marsh&rsquo;s season came to an end on Feb. 15 in Hartford. The Jets didn&rsquo;t know it at the time, but the broken thumb he suffered that night had to be operated on and that finished him&hellip;The Jets had been counting on Marsh to contribute 25 to 30 goals this year, but he ended up with 18 in 57 games&hellip;The Jets are in danger of Setting other club records which they won&rsquo;t be too proud of. Included among them are fewest points and fewest wins in a season.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Jets Taking Solace In Staying Competitive

<div class="byline">BILL LIBBY&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011304/5104915-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="279" height="348"></div><h2><b>The Team Triumph</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>B</span>Y THE TIME</b> you read this, the Winter Olympics will be long over, but I suspect the memory of that unexpected, dramatic triumph by Team USA over all odds in the hockey tournament at Lake Placid will still be strong, still stirring.</p><p>We in the USA were made to feel a part of it. The victory was scored in our country, by our team. American flags waved in the stands. At the finish, one was draped over the shoulders of goaltender Jim Craig.</p><p>I suppose the patriotism Americans felt and still feel was and is no different than what Canadians, Russians, Czechs, West Germans, East Germans, French or British feel when their citizens score stunning triumphs in international competition.</p><p>I for one was moved not so much by it being the USA beating the Soviet Union as I was by the fact that a couple of coaches and 20 young men got together for six months and put together a team that beat the best hockey team in the world, as well as several other supposedly superior teams.</p><p>They were not even expected to finish as high as third or fourth, get any medal or come close to one. Considering that they were performing on a world wide stage under ever-increasing pressure, they performed an upset that ranks with the greatest in the history of sport.</p><p>When the 1960 USA hockey club performed a similar feat at Squaw Valley, Canada was the tournament favorite. The upset of Russia is best remembered, but Russia had not yet beaten the best in the world. Russia has since beaten the best in the National Hockey League. I admire their ability to do this&mdash;and also realize that a bunch of kids beating them means even more. But not because it was a battle in the cold war. This was a fight on the field of sports.</p><h2><b>Carter Played Politics</b></h2><p><b>I RESENTED PRESIDENT CARTER</b> seizing the opportunity to play politics by publicly praising this Winter Olympic team even while he was smashing the dreams of the summer team. If we were not still doing billions of dollars of business with the Soviets, if we were not still maintaining relations with Russia and permitting tourists to visit the Soviet Union, then I would not oppose the boycott which will not permit our team and fans to take part in the Moscow Games.</p><p>I think the boycott is the easiest thing to do, not the best thing, and it certainly should not be our only answer to the Soviets for invading Afghanistan. We resented the Russians boycotting the annual track meet with the USA because we were in Viet Nam. We resented the boycotting of the black nations at the Montreal games because New Zealand competed with South Africa. I resent being called unpatriotic for opposing a boycott of the Olympics.</p><p>Obviously, there is politics in sports and in the Olympics. But it is the politics that is wrong and it is the sport that is right in the Olympics; putting more politics in will not help remove the wrong. All that is right with the Olympics was displayed by that team of young men who sacrificed six months of their lives to be the best team they could be and showed how much man can achieve if he&rsquo;s determined, uses his talent to its fullest and works to make more of himself than anyone thought he could.</p><p>It was not even an &ldquo;Impossible Dream&rdquo; realized because no one, not even the coach, dreamed this really could be. But Herb Brooks, helped by Craig Patrick, put together a team composed mostly of college kids, took them on a tougher tour than any such team ever had taken before and swung a deal which enabled them to play pros in the minors in contests that counted. Brooks charted the course that took this team to the title and he coached this club as well as any ever has been coached.</p><h2><b>Those Ecstatic Embraces</b></h2><p><b>STARTING WITH THE</b> last-second goal which tied Sweden, the USA team then won six in a row enroute to the gold medal. Game after game they came from behind in incredibly dramatic fashion. Mark Johnson, Mike Ramsey, and Jim Craig were the key men, but the captain, Mike Eruzione, kept them blazing away with his fiery leadership and many more came through with clutch shots and plays.</p><p>I will never forget the embraces after every score, seemingly more ecstatic as each goal became greater in importance. These young men became brothers, sharing a bond that was strengthened each time they overcame yet another challenge. Their mutual joy was a sort of poetry of athletic achievement.</p><p>As the team wended its improbable way towards a gold medal, Brooks&rsquo; cheeks puffed up and he started to exhale great bursts of air, as if he had been unable to breathe for long stretches of time. And he shot his fists to the heavens as if to shake hands with God. Each moment seemed more of a miracle than the previous one, each more emotional.</p><p>The players shared these moments with their parents, many of whom were there, and with their fans, who cheered them on. At the finish, a moment of confusing madness, Craig stood on the ice searching the seats for sight of his father. Later, the players went one by one to the victory stand to take their medals and express their thrill.</p><p>All the players were awarded medals except the coaches, who stood in the shadows, silently proud. They got much more than medals. So did the players. After the anthem, Eruzione called his teammates together to the victory stand. They barely fit, but there they stood, together in one last embrace of that brotherhood that makes a true team, living testimony to the fact that with enough sacrifice, sweat and dedication&hellip;man is capable of achieving more than he could ever possibly conceive.</p><h2><b>Boni Goalie Trainers Beneficial To All Players</b></h2><p>If you&rsquo;re wondering what that funny-looking machine is in the current &ldquo;Showdown&rsquo;&rsquo; series, which can be viewed during the intermissions of televised National Hockey League games in both the United States and Canada, it&rsquo;s called the Boni Goalie Trainer.</p><p>Named for its inventor, Orlando Boni, and produced by Boni Goalie Trainers, Inc., the purpose of the machine is to advance the training and skills of not only goaltenders, but of forwards and defensemen, too. The versatility of the machine allows innovative coaches to come up with many drills and exercises which will greatly enhance the skills of anyone using the machine.</p><p>The machine, which comes in four different models, has been in use since 1973 by American and Canadian colleges, high schools, hockey schools, goalie schools and professional goalies. Also on that list is the gold medal-winning United States Olympic hockey team, who included the Boni &ldquo;Porta Puck&rdquo; model in their training program.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-01

HOCKEY AD LIB

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011230/5104946-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="302" height="357"></div><h2><b>Beware Of May Tragedies</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE SUPERNATURAL AMERICAN</b> Olympic hockey triumph of February could become a horrific tragedy in May when the NHL season is over, but only Jack McCartan and Ray Volpe can comprehend the reasons why.</p><p>Let&rsquo;s start with McCartan. He was the Jim Craig of 1960. If you think golden goalie Craig was great at Lake Placid, you should have seen McCartan at Squaw Valley. But, then again, you may not even remember McCartan.</p><p>I do. Jack was the granite-faced American Olympic goalie in 1960 who helped Uncle Sam to his first hockey gold medal. Like Craig, McCartan was smothered with publicity. Too much so. The glare of media attention completelly distorted the view of McCartan&rsquo;s true ability, which was modest at best.</p><p>Because Jack was a good Olympic goalie did not mean that he would make a good professional, and therein lies the tragedy then and the possibility of one now. What happened to McCartan could happen to Craig and chums in the week to come.</p><p>For McCartan, the bonanza began when the Rangers, who needed a late season attendance boost in March, 1960 signed the Minnesotan while the Olympic cheers were still ringing in his ears.</p><p>&ldquo;The publicity was the reason I got my chance with the Rangers,&rdquo; says McCartan. &ldquo;The attention I got was fantastic, so much so that I would say the relationship between publicity and fact was 80-20 in favor of the publicity.&rdquo;</p><p>I was there the night McCartan made his Rangers&rsquo; debut at the old Madison Square Garden on Eighth Avenue and 49th Street. The joint was packed and McCartan was suitably hailed as America&rsquo;s-Most-Holy-Blessed-Be-He-On-Ice. Early in the game he stopped Gordie Howe of the Red Wings on a breakaway and the place went bananas. Even better, the Rangers, who usually didn&rsquo;t win, won. Here, New Yorkers thought, was a latter-day George Vezina.</p><p>When McCartan&rsquo;s bubble burst, it <i>really</i> burst. Jack mucked through the end of the 1959-60 season (&ldquo;I had some fair success and at the other times it was very hard&rdquo;) but bombed in 1960-61. That was it for McCartan, a hero one day, a you-know-what the next. &ldquo;Maybe I didn&rsquo;t hang around very long,&rdquo; Jack reflects, &ldquo;but I would have done the same thing all over again.&rdquo;</p><p>Now Jim Craig, Mark Johnson, Ken Morrow, Dave Christian, Dave Silk et. al. are taking their crack at the bigs. If they&rsquo;re smart and have any sense of history, they will anticipate a build-up to a letdown. It happened before and it can happen again.</p><p>An even greater tragedy, on the grand scale, will be the NHL&rsquo;s inability to exploit the U.S. hockey gold medal to its advantage. After what has been a five-year hockey recession, the graph bottomed out and turned sharply upward with the Lake Placid triumph.</p><p>Depressing though, is the knowledge that the NHL is neither equipped, nor does it plan to take the giant public relations, marketing and other steps necessary to push the game forward.</p><p>One reason is&mdash;astonishing as it may seem&mdash;that the league <i>still</i> has not hired a P.R. director since Bob Casey left that post last fall.</p><h2><b>Genius Who Got Away</b></h2><p><b>ANOTHER REASON IS</b> that the NHL does not have Ray Volpe. There are two reasons why it doesn&rsquo;t have Ray Volpe.</p><p>One is that Volpe is commissioner of the Ladies Professional Golf Association. And two is that the NHL needs help in recognizing genius.</p><p>Volpe once worked for the NHL and when he did he was the best damn marketing man the league ever had. But the narrow-thinkers who ran the NHL&rsquo;s Manhattan fortress couldn&rsquo;t cope with Volpe&rsquo;s genius and he was forced out of the NHL and into a job that pays him thrice as much as hockey ever did.</p><p>Still, Volpe loves hockey (&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the best spectator sport&rdquo;) and, like myself, is appalled at the NHL&rsquo;s failure to make hay while the Olympic gold medal still shines. He knows what could and should be done.</p><p>&ldquo;What was necessary immediately after Lake Placid,&rdquo; Volpe tells me, &ldquo;was a complete promotional follow-up on every level. For example, the NHL should have played up the whereabouts of every single Olympic hockey player. Like when Jim Craig signed with Atlanta the story should have been placed all over the country, but especially in the sun belt states where the people normally wouldn&rsquo;t care about hockey, but now they do.&rdquo;</p><p>A second after the final buzzer signalled the grand U.S. triumph, Volpe says, he would have been walking Madison Avenue, doing what the NHL so very pessimistically says it can&rsquo;t do&mdash;get a U.S. network contract.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question in my mind,&rdquo; says Volpe, &ldquo;that I could get the 1980 semi-finals and finals on one of the three networks. But I am not the only one who can do that; there are a lot of talented people out there who could. And I&rsquo;m just as sure that a network contract for the 1981 season is available.</p><p>&ldquo;But the NHL can&rsquo;t wait for Madison Avenue to come to them. They&rsquo;ve got to go to Madison Avenue&mdash;and they may have to take some risks&mdash;or they&rsquo;ll continue to flounder.&rdquo;</p><p>Do not scoff. After Pete Rozelle of the NFL, Volpe is the can do man of professional sport. The trouble is, he&rsquo;s in the wrong sport. The NHL desperately needs him and his ideas, especially now when there are such gaping voids in the league&rsquo;s TV and marketing areas.</p><p>&ldquo;The problem,&rdquo; Volpe goes on, &ldquo;is that getting the network contract is not that hard to do, but nobody up at the top of the NHL recognizes how to do it.&rdquo;</p><p>Ed Snider, Harold Ballard, Sony Werblin, awaken! The best follow-up to the Olympic win for the NHL would be for the 21 governors to hurry-up and bring Ray Volpe back to the ice game.</p><p>But Volpe says he has another idea. &ldquo;If I were the guys running the league, I&rsquo;d quickly put $500,000 aside and sign Rozelle to run the hockey show!&rdquo;</p><p>One thing is for sure: If Rozelle&mdash;or Volpe&mdash;were orchestrating, the NHL would be sharing the gold medal following the triumph at Lake Placid.</p><h2><b>Rockey Mountain Rift</b></h2><p><b>CHERRY VS. MIRON:</b> There have been rumblings of a feud between coach Don (Grapes) Cherry and Rockies&rsquo; GM Ray Miron. Grapes, it is said, wants more say in the picking and choosing of players so that the club can be molded in his image. And if the tug-of-war continues between them, observers say, either Grapes or Miron will not be in Denver next year. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s possible,&rdquo; wrote Woody Paige in the Rocky Mountain News, &ldquo;that if Miron remains, then Cherry could leave. The problem is that serious.</p><p>Grapes tells me that the dispute with Miron &ldquo;was blown out of proportion&rdquo; although he left enough room in his reply to suggest that there is at least smoke, if not fire, in the Rockies&rsquo; front office. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not as bad as the guy (Paige) put it in the paper,&rdquo; says Grapes. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve got to get more of my own kind of players here.&rdquo;</p><p>Cherry says he is pleased with some aspects of his performance in Denver. &ldquo;When I came here, one of my goals was to boost attendance. We&rsquo;re up well over a 100,000 from last year and we&rsquo;ve won more games. I want to make the playoffs but it&rsquo;s going to be very tough. Very, very tough.&rdquo;</p><p>P.S. Don&rsquo;t be surprised if Bobby Schmautz winds up assisting Grapes behind the bench next year as well as playing. And don&rsquo;t be surprised if Miron is gone.</p><p><b>NOTES:</b> An upcoming power struggle can be expected in New York, where Rangers&rsquo; boss Sonny Werblin and his aide Jack Krumpe would like their pal Nick Fotiu back in a Blueshirts&rsquo; uniform next year. GM Fred Shero wants no part of Nick. Naturally Fotiu wants to be back with his people at the Garden&hellip;With Bobby Hull now in the told, Hartford should have no qualms about releasing Nick&hellip;The big name in agentry is now Art Kaminsky. The Manhattan attorney returned from Lake Placid with a spate of gold medalists (Eric Heiden included) as clients&hellip;Speaking of collegians, Jim Korn&mdash;ex of Providence College&mdash;impresses me on the Red Wings&rsquo; blueline&hellip;Don&rsquo;t be so sure Olympic hero Herb Brooks will be an automatic winner coaching in the NHL. Remember what happened to Ned (Cornell) Harkness when he graduated from the collegians to the Red Wings?&hellip;If Gordie Howe wasn&rsquo;t around to capture all the attention, people would be raving about one of the finest young players in the NHL; name of Mark Howe&hellip;Detroit&rsquo;s Dan Bolduc has an interesting ambition. When he&rsquo;s through with hockey, he wants to finish law school and become a players&rsquo; rep.&hellip;Harold Ballard says the difference between his Maple Leaf Gardens and Sony Werblin&rsquo;s Madison Square Garden is that the New York arena &ldquo;is not as well kept.&rdquo;&hellip;I don&rsquo;t know about you but I miss Terry Harper.</p><p><b>NEXT WEEK:</b> Would you believe there are players in the NHL who are not to be unduly fouled? These are the &ldquo;Untouchables,&rdquo; fellows recognized as super-gentlemen, who have the unwritten law&mdash;&ldquo;Leave &lsquo;em alone!&rdquo; on their side. Guess who they are?</p><p><b>JERSEYS:</b> Here&rsquo;s the final result of our poll of best NHL (away) jerseys. The top six are: the Rockies, Black Hawks, North Stars, Capitals, Oilers and Whalers.</p><p><b>MEDIA NOTES:</b> Bantam already has a book in the stores about the U.S. Olympic win&hellip;Woody Paige in the Rocky Mountain News figures that if Don Cherry weren&rsquo;t in Denver the Rockies would, by now, be defunct. &ldquo;He (Cherry) has been primarily responsible for attendance increasing to the 10,000-average level with his showmanship, style and hockey philosophy,&rdquo; writes Paige.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0013-01

ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="byline">BY STEVE WINTER</div><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>ANDOVER&mdash;What goes up, eventually must come down; and in the case of the Washington Capitals, that &ldquo;roller coaster syndrome&rdquo; is readily apparent.</p><p>First came the good news: With Wayne Stephenson providing a solid backstop in the Washington nets, the Capitals defeated Chicago and Los Angeles at home and tied Colorado on the road to pull within four points of that ever-so-tantalizing 16th and final playoff position. The adrenalin was flowing, and the entire team was talking playoffs.</p><p>But gravity finally took hold, as the Captials dropped important &ldquo;four-point&rdquo; games to Detroit and Colorado, sandwiched around a 6-3 loss to Montreal.</p><p>Suddenly, it was back to the wheel and grindstone.</p><p>&ldquo;We know what we have to do,&rdquo; said right wing Mark Lofthouse after a 3-1 loss at home to the Rockies. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to win 11 of our last 16 games. This one would have made it 10.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got some tough games coming up, and we can&rsquo;t afford to give away any more points; but I don&rsquo;t think anybody&rsquo;s going to give up. I know I&rsquo;m not.&rdquo;</p><p>The Capitals didn&rsquo;t exactly give up against Montreal, throwing 25 shots against Dennis Herron in the Forum, one of which included Pierre Bouchard&rsquo;s first goal against his former teammates. They even entered the final period trailing by just 3-2, but wound up on the short end, losing to the Stanley Cup Champs, who were still seething from that 3-1 Washington win on March 1.</p><p>&ldquo;Against the Rockies, everybody came out flat,&rdquo; said defenseman Robert Picard, whose 30 assists after 64 games is second only to captain Ryan Walter&rsquo;s teamhigh of 31. &ldquo;Sometimes, we want a win so badly that some guys try to do too much, instead of playing a team-type game.&rdquo;</p><p>Against Colorado, too much turned out to be not enough, as Rockie goaltender Hardy Astrom repelled 34 of 35 Washington shots and left many of the Capital Centre faithful singing, &ldquo;here we go again&rdquo;.</p><p>&ldquo;That was a game we had to win, but we didn&rsquo;t win it,&rdquo; said Mike Gartner, Washington&rsquo;s leading goal scorer; &ldquo;but we&rsquo;ve got to look on the bright side. We can&rsquo;t die because we lost this game.&rdquo;</p><p>Gartner&rsquo;s attitude seems to reflect that of the entire club, as they shoot for that 70-point mark, a barrier established by coach Gary Green that should all but assure the Caps of a spot in the playoffs.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all a matter of getting ourselves back together,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re still going to be in the playoffs. I&rsquo;m very optimistic.&rdquo;</p><p>Perhaps the attitude is best summed up by Guy Charron, Washington&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer, who underwent surgery to repair torn knee ligaments in last January. Hobbling on crutches, Charron shuffled past Gartner&rsquo;s dressing stall in the Caps&rsquo; locker room following the loss to Colorado. As the two forwards exchanged glances, Charron said to Gartner, &ldquo;Hey. This doesn&rsquo;t mean a thing.&rdquo;</p><p><b>CAPSHOTS:</b> The Capitals can&rsquo;t seem to avoid that injury hex which plagued the club earlier in the season. Recently, the bug resurfaced, although it caused only temporary havoc. At one point, Green looked around to find only 13 players on the ice at the Fort Dupont ice rink for practice. Pat Ribble, hit in the right hand with a puck during the Colorado game, missed several days due to extreme soreness and fellow rearguard Rick Green re-injured his ailing left knee. Add the minor injuries to two other defensemen, Bouchard and Alan Hangsleben, and assorted injuries to Ryan Walter, Bengt Gustafsson and Rolfredberg, it&rsquo;s a wonder the Capitals ave been able to field a team at ll.</p><p>&ldquo;It seems to come all at once or us,&rdquo; Green said.</p><p>Center Dennis Maruk&mdash;last ear&rsquo;s leading scorer&mdash;made his long-awaited comeback recently, nd scored his first point in 54 games, setting up Hangsleben&rsquo;s eighth goal of the season against</p><p>Montreal. He came within a referee&rsquo;s decision of scoring his ninth goal of the season, but Alf Lejeune ruled that his backhander, which hit the pad of Colorado goalie Astrom while Astrom was lying in the net, never crossed the goal line.</p><p>Paul Mulvey, Washington&rsquo;s resident enforcer and motivational leader, became only the second player in Capitals&rsquo; history to break the 200 PIM mark. With another month yet to play, it seems Gordie Lane&rsquo;s team-record of 207 will soon be passed.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Capitals Hang Tough On Roller-Coaster Ride

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><p class="dropcap"><span>V</span>ANCOUVER&mdash;Since the end of November, positive signs around the Vancouver Canucks have been about as numerous as total eclipses of the moon.</p><p>But while things have been pretty much the way they have been since the franchise was conceived nine years ago, one good point was seen recently. That is, the Canucks won a game they had to win.</p><p>Trailing the Edmonton Oilers by three points and in pursuit of a playoff spot, the Canucks went in for what is nauseatingly referred to as a four-pointer and won, 5-2. Had they lost, they would have been finished for the year, even though their final 17 games contain the best part of their schedule.</p><p>This fine performance, which inspired hopes for the playoffs, came on the heels of one of the team&rsquo;s most dismal performances of the year, one in which they still gained a tie. It was in Winnipeg, where the shorthanded Jets jumped to a 3-0 lead before the Canucks decided they would play for a period and came back for the tie, thanks to Tiger Williams&rsquo; goal with 12 seconds left.</p><p>&ldquo;We were awfully lucky,&rdquo; said Williams after scoring his first goal in a Vancouver uniform. &ldquo;If we can&rsquo;t come into Winnipeg and win, needing the points as desperately as we do, we don&rsquo;t deserve to be in the playoffs.&rdquo;</p><p>Williams may have hit on an interesting thought, one which has occurred to a few people around the league&mdash;that many of the teams that will be included in the playoff format this year don&rsquo;t deserve to be.</p><p>But the Canucks have a reason for their problems of late, that being the fact that many of the players haven&rsquo;t really had a chance to meet each other.</p><p>&ldquo;It was pretty hairy there for a while with all the trades,&rdquo; said defenseman Kevin McCarthy. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re still a young team and we&rsquo;re just getting to know each other. We&rsquo;ll be coming around down the stretch.&rdquo;</p><p>Another defender, John Hughes, who played well in Edmonton, also thinks the trades which have brought in Ivan Boldirev, Darcy Rota, Williams and Jerry Butler have taken a while to sort out.</p><p>&ldquo;Right now, we&rsquo;re just basically 20 guys who aren&rsquo;t really used to playing with each other,&rdquo; said Hughes. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to take a while to get settled down, but we have a lot of players with heart and it will come.&rdquo;</p><p>Veteran Chris Oddleifson, who along with Boldirev is the only other unsigned player on the squad, says he thinks the players should get the lead out.</p><p>&ldquo;When we were sixth in the league earlier in the season, it was time to pinch ourselves,&rdquo; said the former team captain. &ldquo;Now that we&rsquo;re this far down at this time in the season, we should be kicking ourselves in the butt.</p><p>&ldquo;There is just no reasonable explanation for what happened to us in the last half of December and January,&rdquo; said Oddleifson.&rdquo;</p><p>Indeed, the only really good news for the club since their great start has been the play of the two second year linemates, Stan Smyl and Thomas Gradin.</p><p>Both have been the only players remotely threatening to score on some nights, and Smyl now has a streak in which he has had points in 11 games and 21 of his last 22 games. Gradin has 24 goals with 17 games left, which is four more than he had all last year when he was among the league&rsquo;s top rookies. The two have put up with struggling left wingers much of the season, even playing with refugee center Gary Lupul for a few games as well as regular left-siders Jere Gillis and Curt Fraser.</p><p>The two should eventually get some help from Boldirev and Williams in the scoring department, and having a second line will come none too soon for coach Harry Neale, who has been fighting a war with two guns since the new year. The power play is the most laughable of the problems affecting the club: It is currently the worst in the league and it is threatening to get absolutely no better.</p><p>Another helper down the stretch will be 19-year-old winger Brent Ashton, who missed much of the season with knee problems. He was hit by Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Ron Stackhouse in early December, and was out until just recently, but has looked sharp since returning.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Clutch Canuck Win Rare Positive Sign

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>OS ANGELES&mdash;It is hard to believe, but when Butch Goring was selected for the annual All Star game at mid-season as a substitute for an injured King, it was the first time the little center had participated in the game.</p><p>Of course there are a lot of fine centers in each conference and he never has been a first or second All Star at season&rsquo;s end, but Butch has been one of the best for many years.</p><p>Now 30, Goring has played in the NHL 11 seasons, all with the Kings, and after 64 games this season had totalled 275 goals for his career. He has scored 20 or more goals in nine straight seasons, 30 or more in four straight, and 70 or more points in four straight.</p><p>In 1978 he won both the NHL&rsquo;s Lady Byng and Bill Masterton trophies, which supposedly removed him from obscurity. But Goring&rsquo;s value as a perpetual motion machine has always meant more than mere points, anyway.</p><p>As to his first selection to the mid-season classic, he said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d have preferred being picked originally instead of as a sub, but it&rsquo;s a thrill, anyway.&rdquo;</p><p>Goring&rsquo;s long-time right-winger Mike Murphy also made the select team as a substitute choice as both Dave Taylor and Charlie Simmer, Marcel Dionne&rsquo;s teammates on the first line, were injured.</p><p>Murphy is 29, and after stints with the Blues and Rangers is in his seventh season with the Kings and ninth in the NHL. He is a hard-working, good-checking player who has scored 20 or more goals five times and 60 or more points three times in the league.</p><p>He said, &ldquo;Hey, for a player like me, it&rsquo;s quite an honor.&rdquo;</p><p>Because they are the top players the club might be willing to trade and because the team needs big defensemen and wingers badly, the two old teammates have been mentioned many times in trade talk the last season or two and could go any time.</p><p>Goring says, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to go anywhere and I&rsquo;ve never been traded so I try not to pay any attention to such talk, but trades are a part of sports and if one happens to me, it happens, that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;</p><p>Murphy says, &ldquo;You try not to let talk like that upset you, but you have to know a trade is always possible &ldquo;</p><p>It is not that Goring and Murphy have not contributed considerably to the club the last couple of seasons, but there are those who think they have slowed down and that their good statistics are deceptive. Both admit they had problems last season, but both think they have come back effectively this season.</p><p>Goring actually came within one goal of his all-time season high of 36 and set an all-time points high with 87 last season. He is not too far from that pace now, with 20 goals and 65 points after 64 games this season.</p><p>Murphy missed 16 games with injuries last season and was limited to 16 goals and 45 points, his lowest totals in five seasons. He has bounced back with 23 goals and 39 points this season. He is not getting his usual assists because his line with Goring is not working as well as usual.</p><p>It is interesting to note that Goring, while having scored only two power play goals, has scored five goals and assisted on 26 while playing one way or another with the first line of Dionne, Simmer, or Taylor, or a point man like Doug Halward. Goring can still make the plays that good players can convert into goals.</p><p>During the recent 17-game slump in which the Kings won only two games, the old pros carried on and behaved blamelessly. The team wasn&rsquo;t scoring much, but Goring scored six goals and assisted on six, while Murphy scored five and assisted on three. They continued to work hard while others were criticized for supposedly not hustling.</p><p>The team snapped its slump with three straight victories, but then lost three straight. At the end of February it was five games below .500 and instead of talking about finishing in the first eight to gain the home ice advantage in the playoffs it should be talking about matching last season&rsquo;s .500 mark and merely making the playoffs.</p><p>It is true the Kings have had a difficult time killing penalties; they no longer are among the best in the business in this specialty and this has hurt them terribly. It may have taken too long to phase Goring out of this to save him for other play, but he and Murphy have generally continued to contribute through this crisis and rate respect.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011283/5105001-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="601" height="750"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Butch Goring&rsquo;s selection to the 1980 All Star team was his first, despite four 30-goal seasons.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0014-01

Veteran Kings Goring, Murphy Draw Respect

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011082/5105108-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div><p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01953/5105101-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="594" height="774"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02769/5105094-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="560" height="2552"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03592/5105087-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="524" height="549"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0016-01

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-04" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04447/5105139-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Buffalo goaltender Don Edwards, above, and his backup, Robert Sauve, continue to lead the NHL&rsquo;s Vezina Trophy race as the schedule heads for the finish line.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Robert Shaver)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>M</span>ONTREAL&mdash;In case you haven&rsquo;t noticed the Washington Caps appear to be the hot club coming down the home stretch in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s battle for playoff berths.</p><p>Under league rules, the first 16 finishers in the 21-team NHL are assured of playoff spots. There is no problem at the top where Philadelphia, Buffalo, Boston and Montreal will likely finish in that order. And such teams as Chicago, Rangers, Minnesota, Islanders and Atlanta seem to be as good as in for the playoff spots.</p><p>St. Louis in 10th place and Toronto in 11th, also appear secure. The dogfight begins from 12th place Los Angeles with 62 points right down to 19th where Edmonton is languishing with 52 points.</p><p>Only 10 points separate the Kings, Pittsburgh, Hartford, Detroit, Quebec, Vancouver, Washington and the Oilers.</p><p>With some teams having as many as 14 games to play, it would seem that all eyes have to be on the revitalized Washington Caps.</p><p>Gary Green&rsquo;s youth movement is gathering momentum for the run to the finish line and if the club continues its present pace, someone may have to move over and make way for them.</p><p>Washington gave a pretty indication that it means business this past week when the Caps triumphed 7-5 over St. Louis, 9-5 against Hartford and upset the Islanders 3-1 for a sweep of their week&rsquo;s schedule. The six points moved them into 18th spot in the overall team standings with 54 points. That leaves the Caps eight in back of L.A., in 12th place with 62, six in arrears of Pittsburgh, five behind Hartford, four in back of Detroit, and just one in arrears of Quebec and Vancouver.</p><p>The Caps have managed to come from 21st place in the overall NHL point race in recent weeks to 18th and it is a sign that Green&rsquo;s young warriors may be ready to make their move with the lure of the playoff money in the offing.</p><p>Certainly the Caps are to be reckoned with and it may be time for the other teams to start looking over their shoulder at the onrushing Caps before it is too late.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Kings&rsquo; Marcel Dionne dominated the NHL scoring race in the first half of the 1979-80 season, it appears as though Edmonton&rsquo;s Wayne Gretzky and Toronto&rsquo;s Darryl Sittler are being left to fight over the second half honors.</p><p>Gretzky, who earlier became the youngest player in League history to reach the 100-point plateau, leads the second-half scoring race with 55 points, five more than Sittler. After 29 games in the second half, Gretzky has scored 17 goals and has added 38 assists.</p><p>Sittler, meanwhile, who scored 13 goals in the first half of the season, has compiled 21 in the last 27 games. That gives Sittler 50 points in the second half.</p><p>Hartford&rsquo;s Blaine Stoughton is third in the second-half race with 40 points, including 19 goals. Stoughton, who averaged just under one point per game in the first half is averaging 1.2 points per game in the second half.</p><p>Dionne, who remains the overall League leader with 122 points, nine points ahead of Gretzky, has the fourth-best scoring record in the second half with 39, including 15 goals. Dionne averaged 2.08 points per game in the first half.</p><p>In the second, his average has droped to 1.4 points.</p><p>Montreal&rsquo;s Guy Lafleur, who returned to Canadiens&rsquo; lineup this week after missing six games withan injury, is tied with Buffalo&rsquo;s Gilbert Perreault and Hartford&rsquo;s Mark Howe behind Dionne with 38 points each. However, Lafleur has scored 16 goals in the second-half while Perreault and Howe each have nine. Perreault has added 29 assists as has Howe.</p><p>The leading goal-scorer in the second-half has been Buffalo&rsquo;s Richard Martin with 23. Four of those goals were scored Sunday night in Buffalo&rsquo;s 9-4 win over St. Louis. Perreault collected five assists in that victory as well.</p><p>Second to Martin in goals is New York Islanders Mike Bossy with 22. Bossy, who now has 47 goals for the season, has scored 22 in 28 games in the second half. Sittler&rsquo;s 21 goals places him third, behind Martin and Bossy in that Department.</p><p>Meanwhile, Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; Don Edwards and Bob Sauve continue to lead the League in goals-against with 177 followed by Boston which has allowed 195. Traiing Boston with 176 goals-against is Chicago&rsquo;s goaltending duo of Tony Esposito and Mike Veisor.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-04

Revived Capitals On The Move

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01983/5105170-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Defenseman Mike Ramsey, just 19, as well as Rob McClanahan, Eric Strobel and John Harrington, are getting an excellent opportunity to join the Sabres&rsquo; organization.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>UFFALO&mdash;No National Hockey League team got in bigger on the hoopla resulting from the United States hockey team&rsquo;s gold medal win in the Olympic Games than the Buffalo Sabres.</p><p>And, ironically, few teams would profit from it less right now.</p><p>The Sabres now have four members of the U.S. team in their organization&mdash;Rob McClanahan, the winger who scored the winning goal in the final game against Finland; Mike Ramsey, a highly thought of defenseman; Eric Strobel, a small but speedy forward, and John Harrington, another swift forward.</p><p>They won&rsquo;t sell any tickets for the Sabres, however, for the club has sold out every game since its second season in the NHL, 1971-72, and there is a waiting list of 1000 for season tickets.</p><p>And the Sabres are second in the NHL standing. Will any of the Olympians be able to break into the lineup?</p><p>All four are with the Sabres under amateur tryout rules, which allows them to play eight pro games without losing their amateur standing.</p><p>Scotty Bowman, Buffalo general manager and coach, who dickered with Art Kaminsky, the agent who represents all four, says he will decide after the tryout period whether to turn them pro this season or wait until 1980-81.</p><p>Ramsey and McClanahan were to get immediate trials with the big club. Strobel and Harrington were sent to Buffalo&rsquo;s American League farm club in Rochester.</p><p>&ldquo;I think both Ramsey and McClanahan will help our club,&rdquo; said Bowman, the day last week when both reported for their first practice session. &ldquo;We lack depth. We have been lucky this season as far as injuries are concerned. Now we have extra players in case of injury.&rdquo;</p><p>Ramsey was the first draft choice of the Sabres in the 1979 draft as an underager. He turned 19 in December. McClanahan was the club&rsquo;s third choice in the 1978 draft and, like Strobel, who was the eighth-round pick, went back to the University of Minnesota to play another season.</p><p>Harrington was a free agent. He played for the University of Minnesota at Duluth. All the other three played for Herb Brooks, the Olympic coach, at Minnesota, national collegiate champion last year.</p><p>The newcomers couldn&rsquo;t help but cause some tension among the Sabre veterans. The club has been going with only one extra player through the season and, because of minor injuries, rarely did a player who could play have to sit down.</p><p>Now there are eight defensemen and 13 forwards, with Bobby Mongrain, who scored 25 goals and added 26 assists in 39 games for Rochester, also joining the club for practice last week.</p><p>One of the defensemen, however, Lindy Ruff, another underager and the Sabres&rsquo; No. 2 draft choice, has been playing mostly at right wing.</p><p>The players refused to admit to any added tension and many of them said they thought competition for jobs would help the club, which had not been playing as well, lately, as it did early in the season.</p><p>Playfair, a second-year pro and one of the eight defensemen, said, &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s good to have a little more pressure on you to hold your job. Everybody will put a little more into it, to make sure they are playing.</p><p>&ldquo;I was impressed with both Ramsey and McClanahan,&rdquo; the big backliner added, after the first practice the newcomers took part in. &ldquo;They weren&rsquo;t out of position, they passed the puck well, they played with confidence.&rdquo;</p><p>John Van Boxmeer, another defenseman, mentioned, &ldquo;It is that time of year when you have to dig a little deeper and having competition for jobs is good for the team. We haven&rsquo;t been playing very well the last 10-12 games.&rdquo;</p><p>In the last 13 games before the Olympians joined the club, the Sabres had won only six times.</p><p>They had three ties and four losses. They were having trouble holding a lead and were not scoring as they had earlier.</p><p>Practically the only forwards who were scoring consistently were Rick Martin who scored his 37th and 38th goals of the season in a 4-3 win over the Hartford Whalers the night before Ramsey and McClanahan reported, and Danny Gare, who scored No. 43 in that game.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-01

Tryouts By Olympians Spur Sabres’ Veterans

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><p>DETROIT&mdash;Ted Lindsay calls the learning process &ldquo;growing pains&rdquo;.</p><p>&ldquo;We must recognize that Reed (Larson) hasn&rsquo;t played that much hockey or received that much coaching. He&rsquo;s kind of a selftaught player,&rdquo; said Lindsay, general manager of the Detroit Red Wings.</p><p>&ldquo;But there&rsquo;s so much raw material there, if you can polish it. Nobody&rsquo;s stronger than Reed. He wants to play. Nobody wants to play more than he does. Those are beautiful ingredients.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy with the way Willie (Huber) has been playing. He&rsquo;s exerting himself a little more&hellip;he&rsquo;s not hitting every guy but he&rsquo;s being physical at the right time. He&rsquo;s not getting caught out of position. I&rsquo;m very pleased at the way he&rsquo;s been shooting the puck. He can wrist it better than most guys can slap it.</p><p>&ldquo;The way Reed has played recently and the way Willie has been playing, these are just the growing pains. Reed&rsquo;s a rough jewel and Willie needs that maturity. He has the talent.&rdquo;</p><p>Larson, 23, in his third full National Hockey League season, already is a two-time participant in the league All Star game. Huber, 22, the Wings&rsquo; first round draft pick in 1978, at his current rapid rate of development could join Larson as an All Star in the very near future.</p><p>That&rsquo;s how well the two young defensemen have been playing in recent weeks. Both have excellent offensive skills. Larson&rsquo;s goal production hit 17, and his potential in that respect is unlimited. Huber had 16 goals and he was just beginning to find the range.</p><p>Huber&rsquo;s improvement is traced to confidence.</p><p>&ldquo;I think the fact his mobility is an awful lot better and his confidence&mdash;that&rsquo;s the biggest improvement,&rdquo; Lindsay said.</p><p>Defenseman Greg Joly plays alongside Huber most of the time.</p><p>&ldquo;He could always do these things, but he was leery about doing them,&rdquo; Joly said. &ldquo;Now he&rsquo;s got more confidence. He knows what he can do and he&rsquo;s doing it. He knows the other players in the league, and he knows he&rsquo;s as good or better than most of them.&rdquo;</p><p>Huber agrees.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s confidence,&rdquo; said the 6-foot-5 defenseman. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting a lot of ice time&mdash;on the power play, killing penalties, and I&rsquo;m being used in key situations. I&rsquo;m just glad to be out there all the time.&rdquo;</p><p>Added coach Bobby Kromm, &ldquo;Willie has been outstanding all year. He&rsquo;s come along very well. I couldn&rsquo;t be happier. He&rsquo;s got a great shot, moves the puck, makes great passes. He&rsquo;s not getting beat on the outside. And he&rsquo;s our most consistent hitter.&rdquo;</p><p><b>MOTOR CITY SHORTS</b>&mdash;The Wings placed John Hilworth on waivers and three teams claimed him&mdash;Philadelphia, New York Rangers and Edmonton. He went to the Oilers. Hilworth, who hadn&rsquo;t dressed in 11 straight games, is a rugged defenseman with potential but he needs work to develop and he wasn&rsquo;t getting it in Detroit.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Growing Pains Clip Wings

<h2><b>RICHARD MARTIN&hellip;Buffalo Sabres</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>R</span>ichard Martin of the Buffalo Sabres was beginning to wonder why the puck wouldn&rsquo;t go in when he took the ice at Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo. Martin had been scoring but not at home and was perplexed by the fact he had counted only six times.</b></p><p><b>This past week, the sharp-shooting Buffalo left winger laid to rest any doubts he had lost his touch at home. Martin pumped in six goals and all six were scored in the friendly confines of the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.</b></p><p><b>Martin counted four goals in one game as the Sabres creamed St. Louis is 9-4 giving him a total of 42 for the season and allowing him to pass the 40-goal plateau for the first time in four years. He could also surpass his single season high of 52 as he moves toward the 400-goal mark with a career total of 372.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

NHL Player Of The Week

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01913/5105256-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Among the first of the triumphant U.S. Olympians to make the jump to the NHL was Steve Christoff, who was in a Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; uniform less than one week after the end of the Games. Christoff, a native Minnesotan who scored two crucial goals for Team USA, made his pro debut in Montreal against the Canadiens.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Ian MacAlpine)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Hull&rsquo;s Role Reviewed</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>N</span>EW YORK&mdash;The National Hockey League is reviewing the role of Bobby Hull as a player for the Hartford Whalers and an owner of the Winnipeg Jets to determine whether a conflict of interest exists.</p><p>NHL president John Ziegler said that it was a unique situation which the league must address to &ldquo;determine whether the operations of the Winnipeg Jets are influenced&hellip;by someone who is involved either directly or indirectly with another NHL franchise.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;A precedent has not been set,&rdquo; Ziegler said. &ldquo;It may be that Mr. Hull will be forced to sell, or at least entrust, his share in the Jets while he plays in Hartford.&rdquo;</p><p>The Jets have nearly been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs this season, while the Whalers are still very much in the running.</p><h2><b>Campbell Fined</b></h2><p>MONTREAL&mdash;Former NHL president Clarence Campbell is walking around a free man today after receiving a one-day jail sentence and being fined $25,000 for his involvement in the Dorval Sky Shops affair.</p><p>Campbell and businessman Gordon Brown both received the same sentence from Mr. Justice Melvin Rothman of the Quebec Superior Court. They have three months to pay the fine.</p><p>Justice Rothman said the oneday &lsquo;symbolic&rsquo; sentence to the 74-year-old Campbell was given out of consideration for his failing health. He spent a total of five hours in cells and was allowed to go free.</p><p>The defence turned down an appeal against the convictions. Campbell and Brown were found guilty Feb. 8 of conspiring to give Senator Louis Giguere $95,000 in exchange for an extension on the lease of the duty-free Sky Shops at Dorval Airport.</p><h2><b>Canucks To Pay</b></h2><p>VANCOUVER&mdash;The Supreme Court of British Columbia has ordered the Vancouver Canucks hockey club to pay the $400,000 negligence suit won by former player Mike Robitaille.</p><p>The Canucks have appealed the earlier decision awarding Robitaille the money but have been told to begin paying him the money. According to judge Patricia Proudfoot, it is &ldquo;patently unfair and unjust for the defendant (Canucks) to have the use of the plaintiff&rsquo;s money pending an appeal.&rdquo;</p><p>Robitaille was awarded $394,113.04 plus taxable costs in a Dec. 19, 1979 ruling.</p><h2><b>Canada Cup On</b></h2><p>TORONTO&mdash;Hockey Canada negotiator Alan Eagleson says that the 1981 Canada Cup tournament is &ldquo;on&rdquo; for this fall and that he will meet with representatives of the Federal Government to receive Ottawa&rsquo;s backing.</p><p>Eagleson originally expressed pessimism that the six-team tournament could be held because of the U.S. proposal to boycott the Summer Olympics in Moscow, but now says that Hockey Canada &ldquo;has had the opportunity to rethink the Canada Cup question&rdquo; and will move ahead with plans for the competition, which matches the best from Canada, the Soviet Union, the United States, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and Finland.</p><p>Vancouver and Montreal are said to head the list of probable tourney sites.</p><h2><b>Bourque Eyes Record</b></h2><p>BOSTON&mdash;Bruins&rsquo; rookie defenseman Ray Bourque topped a club record for points by a first-year player and has his sights set on an NHL record as well.</p><p>A three-point game against Detroit (one goal, two assists) on March 5 gave the 19-year-old 51 points on the season, erasing the club mark of 50 established by Gregg Sheppard in 1972-73. Bourque now needs just 10 more points to surpass the league record for rookie defensemen of 60 points, set in the 1978-79 season and shared by the Rangers&rsquo; Barry Beck, then with Colorado, and Reed Larson of Detroit.</p><h2><b>Nordiques Shut Out</b></h2><p>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;The media turned the tables on the players when some 35 reporters in the Quebec Coliseum press box refused to interview Nordiques&rsquo; players following a game against the Minnesota North Stars.</p><p>The boycott of the Nordiques&rsquo; dressing room followed charges of &ldquo;unprofessional journalism&rdquo; by several players on the club who were angered by a series of articles concerning left winger Marc Tardif and by a reporter&rsquo;s story that two players had missed curfew. The reporters were also objecting to a new club press policy which limited their access to coach Jacques Demers to a 10-minute formal conference after games rather than informal meetings after Nordique practices.</p><h2><b>Ballard Predicts Cup</b></h2><p>TORONTO&mdash;Take it from Harold Ballard, the Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup next season.</p><p>The bombastic owner of the Leafs has predicted that his team will do it next season. &ldquo;People would think I would have to be smoking marijuana to predict that we would win it this year, but we will definitely win the cup next year,&rdquo; commented Ballard.</p><p>Ballard cleared the air in regards to Punch Imlach, his general manager, and Darryl Sittler, his former team captain. He said he had much faith in Imlach and that he was an excellent manager and great student of the game. &ldquo;I venture to. say that when he gets through doing the job, we will be tough to beat.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>Ballard said it would take some trade to get rid of Sittler, who has become the team&rsquo;s hottest scorer in recent weeks.</p><h2><b>WHL Chief Quits</b></h2><p>CALGARY&mdash;Dave Descent has resigned as president of the Western Hockey League after less than one year in office and there is speculation that the league&rsquo;s former long-time chief, Ed Chynoweth, will be back at the helm of the major junior hockey league next season.</p><p>Descent, a native of Ottawa, cited personal reasons for stepping down as WHL president as well as a desire to pursue a career in private business.</p><p>Brian Shaw, chairman of the WHL board, said the committee would seek a replacement for Descent as soon as possible. Chynoweth left the top WHL post at the close of last season to become an investor in the Calgary Wranglers of the WHL. He is reportedly selling his shares to return to his former post.</p><h2><b>Olympian Grounded</b></h2><p>ATLANTA&mdash;Olympic goaling star Jim Craig, who recently signed a multi-year contract with the Atlanta Flames, was knocked out of the NHL team&rsquo;s lineup with a strep throat.</p><p>Craig, who backstopped the U.S. to the Olympic gold medal and won his NHL debut with Atlanta, has not been able to play since he stopped Colorado 4-1 in his first pro start.</p><p>The Flames embarked on a West Coast trip leaving Craig at home for a week to recover. He said he had not been feeling well since the Olympic Games ended in late February.</p><p>Atlanta won three road games with Pat Riggin and Dan Bouchard playing goal. Flames&rsquo; GM Cliff Fletcher said he expected Craig would be ready to play in another week.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02682/5105249-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="1796" height="1734"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>The Montreal Canadiens &lsquo;hopes for winning their fifth consecutive Stanley Cup received a crushing blow recently when All Star defenseman Larry Robinson separated his shoulder in a game against the Edmonton Oilers.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Ian MacAlpine)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0019-01

SLAPSHOTS

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><p>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;The conclusion of the Olympics couldn&rsquo;t have come at a better time as far as the Minnesota North Stars were concerned.</p><p>Even with the price of gold what it is these days, the North Stars invested some hard currency for some Olympic glitter when they signed Team USA forward Steve Christoff to a multi-year contract and goalie Steve Janaszak to an amateur tryout.</p><p>Christoff gave no second thoughts to forsaking a few days of Olympic hoopla to join the Stars.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always wanted to play in the NHL,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I knew if we had not won the gold medal, I&rsquo;d be itching to get started. Why should winning the gold medal stop me from achieving something I&rsquo;ve always wanted?&rdquo;</p><p>General manager Lou Nanne announced the signings two days after the United States won the gold medal, when the Stars had a third of the regulars out of action with injuries. Christoff made his NHL debut against the Montreal Canadiens and Nanne said that Janaszak would be playing both with the North Stars and their farm team in Oklahoma City for the last month of the season.</p><p>Christoff, who had a shorthanded goal and an assist for Team USA in its gold medal clinching victory over Finland, grew up only a few slapshots away from Met Center in the Twin Cities suburb of Richfield.</p><p>&ldquo;We used to come to practice,&rdquo; Christoff said, &ldquo;and see if we could get sticks and pucks from the North Stars. I loved the way Bill Goldsworthy used to burn down the right side and score.&rdquo;</p><p>Christoff is, like Goldsworthy, a right winger but he can also play center. At 6-1 and 185 pounds, he played both positions for the University of Minnesota team that won the national collegiate championship a year ago.</p><p>The 22-year-old forward scored 77 goals and 82 assists in three college seasons, twice leading Minnesota in scoring. He was the No. 2 Olympic scorer behind Wisconsin&rsquo;s Mark Johnson.</p><p>&ldquo;We showed what we thought of Christoff&rsquo;s potential when we chose him in the second round of the 1978 draft,&rdquo; said Nanne. &ldquo;What he has done since at the university and the Olympics simply confirms that impression.&rdquo;</p><p>Christoff came out of the same draft group that has produced high-scoring forwards Bobby Smith and Steve Payne and defenseman Curt Giles on this year&rsquo;s North Stars.</p><p>The North Stars hold the rights to two other Olympic gold medalists, center Neal Broten and left winger Phil Verchota.</p><p>Broten, who still has three years of eligibility remaining, will return for another season or two to the University of Minnesota. Verchota was still debating on whether to continue his studies or turn professional.</p><p>The addition of Christoff and Janaszak helped Nanne solve some personnel problems because of these assorted injuries:</p><p>Wingers Ron Zanussi, ribs; Tom McCarthy, ribs, and Dave Hanson, flu; centers Glen Sharpley, knee, and Mike Eaves, shoulder; defenseman Paul Shmyr, broken nose, and goalie Gary Edwards, bad back.</p><p><b>STAR DUST:</b> Payne broke Danny Grant&rsquo;s record for goals by a left-winger in one season with his 35th against Vancouver&hellip;Defenseman Gary Sargent, troubled by a bad back, returned from the injured ranks&hellip;Goalie Gilles Meloche has a career-high 24 victories&hellip;Left winger Rob Flockhart, up from Oklahoma City, scored his first goal as a North Star against his former Vancouver teammates and it turned out to be the winner in a 5-4 game&hellip;The line of Smith, Payne and Al MacAdam went on a spree of 30 goals in a 12-game span.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Olympians Relieve North Stars’ Injury Woes

<div class="byline">BY FRED PIETILA</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0021-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01574/5105311-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Former WHA All Star Kevin Morrison has played on defensean left wing for the Rockies, but says he doesn&rsquo;t care where plays&mdash;as long as it&rsquo;s in the NHL.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Steve Babinea)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>D</span>ENVER&mdash;They both had high hopes at the beginning of the National Hockey League season, those two potential reclamation projects of Colorado Rockies&rsquo; coach Don Cherry.</p><p>But neither Kevin Morrison nor Barry Smith realized those aspirations immediately. For the former World Hockey Association All Star defenseman Morrison, it took some 13 NHL games and a lengthy visit to the minors before he came around. And for the hustling center Smith, it took a three-month stay in the minors and an injury to Rockies&rsquo; center Jack Valiquette before he got untracked.</p><p>Actually, neither the 29-year-old Morrison, a mean-looking guy with a full beard, nor the 24-year-old Smith, a red-haired bundle of energy, has set the Rockies afire. But both have contributed after being signed during the summer as free agents upon Cherry&rsquo;s request by Rockies&rsquo; general manager Ray Miron.</p><p>Morrison was slightly overweight upon reporting to the Rockies&rsquo; training camp, lost some of the poundage, but was caught in a pinch as far as a position went. The Rockies were fairly well set on defense, so Cherry used Morrison some on left wing before assigning him to Fort Worth.</p><p>&ldquo;Sure, I was disappointed,&rdquo; Morrison said. &ldquo;It was my first taste of the NHL and I only played in 12 or 13 games. I didn&rsquo;t think it was a fair trial.&rdquo;</p><p>But some time in Fort Worth rounded Morrison in shape and he&rsquo;s been back with the Rockies since just after Christmas, playing steady hockey, mainly on defense this time around.</p><p>&ldquo;Well, I think it&rsquo;s sort of a rags-to-riches story with Kevin since he couldn&rsquo;t make it in the WHA last year,&rdquo; Cherry said. &ldquo;They sent him down to Philadelphia (American League). When he came to camp I don&rsquo;t think he thought I&rsquo;d send him down because he&rsquo;s a good friend of mine and we go back a long way. But I&rsquo;d send down my son Timothy if he weren&rsquo;t going well. No, I&rsquo;d keep Blue around for morale purposes.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind where I play as long as I can help the team. As long as it&rsquo;s not in Forth Worth,&rdquo; Morrison said.</p><p>Smith, too, did not make the grade in the early going because of an abundance of familiar centers with the Rockies. &ldquo;I did not have an outstanding training camp,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;Sure, I was disappointed but it was just a matter of going down and hopefully I&rsquo;d get called back up and prove what I could do.&rdquo;</p><p><b>Time in Fort Worth rounded Morrison into shape&hellip;and he&rsquo;s been playing steady hockey.</b></p><p>The only problem was Smith was sent back to Rochester where he had been a valuable and popular player the previous tour years. This time around he didn&rsquo;t get enough ice time to be either valuable or popular.</p><p>Rochester, formerly a Boston farm club when Smith belonged to the Bruins, was now operated by the Buffalo Sabres.</p><p>&ldquo;It was tough,&rdquo; Smith said, &ldquo;&lsquo;cause I was in an organization that was trying to develop Buffalo players and I kept getting the short end of the stick. So I didn&rsquo;t see much ice time there.&rdquo;</p><p>Most of that time came killing penalties, where he has become proficient with the Rockies. &ldquo;I enjoy doing that, so I wasn&rsquo;t disappointed in that aspect at all.&rdquo;</p><p>And now, after effectively helping the Rockies&rsquo; penalty-killing crew the second half of the season, Smith still wears a &ldquo;defensive center penalty killer&rdquo; label.</p><p>&ldquo;I played in New Westminster in junior with &lsquo;Bubba&rsquo; (Barry Beck), Ron Greschner and Clayton Pachal. There were some other guys who are now in the NHL, too. We had a tough team. My job was that of a checking center and to kill penalties.</p><p>&ldquo;Well, I guess in the long run, it&rsquo;s good. Don likes checkers and hard workers. I enjoy killing penalties. I don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s a good label or a bad label. I just try to do it to the best of my ability,&rdquo; Smith said.</p><p>&ldquo;Barry Smith killing penalties&hellip;,&rdquo; Cherry said, without finishing the sentence. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s getting to be the talk of the league. Some of the reporters are coming up to me and asking, &lsquo;Where did you get that red-headed kid? I wish we could get more like him and Morrison.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p><b>ROCKY RAMBLINGS:</b> The Rockies turned to the Toronto Maple Leafs once again via the trade mart, obtaining 32-year-old center Walt McKechnie for future considerations, believed to be a 1980 third round draft choice. With the injury to Rene Robert, the Rockies were short on experienced centers.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0021-01

Rockies Value Contributions From Pair Of Free Agents

<div class="byline">BY AL SMITH</div><p>&ldquo;I have not approached anyone about selling the Flames,&rdquo; Cousins said. &ldquo;But people from several cities have approached me. I am looking and listening, but my first aim is to keep the Flames in Atlanta.&rdquo;</p><p>Besides Calgary, Cousins has made trips to Dallas, Houston and the Meadowlands in New Jersey to listen to offers and check out existing facilities. Cousins could sell the franchese for $14 million, but that figure wouldn&rsquo;t cover the losses he has suffered in Atlanta since bringing the Flames to the city in 1972.</p><p>&ldquo;As a businessman,&rdquo; Cousins said. &ldquo;I have to look and listen, but I am still hopeful that we&rsquo;ll be able to raise sufficient revenue from television and other advertising to keep the Flames in Atlanta. I didn&rsquo;t get into hockey to make money, but I don&rsquo;t know how much longer I can afford to absorb the annual losses. Obviously, I can&rsquo;t afford to operate much longer the way things have been going. The Flames will lose close to over $2 million this year, and that&rsquo;s not a tax shelter.&rdquo;</p><p>While the Flames are becoming a success on the ice, with one of the best records in the league since the start of the new year, they haven&rsquo;t been a hit at the box office. They are averaging less than 9,000 per game, and bring in the third lowest gross revenue in the league. Their only sellout occurred the night Olympic gold medal winning goalie Jim Craig made his National Hockey League debut.</p><p>Weekend crowds haven&rsquo;t been bad, averaging between 10,000 and 14,000, but during the week they have had crowds as low as 5,500.</p><p>On top of that, the Flames&rsquo; television and radio revenue brings in less than any other franchise in the NHL. In fact, the club derives more revenue from radio than TV.</p><p>&ldquo;Salaries and expenses are virtually the same here in Atlanta as they are in other NHL cities,&rdquo; Cousins said. &ldquo;So, we must derive more revenue to remain competitive.</p><p>&ldquo;But, I&rsquo;m an optimist,&rdquo; Cousins added. &ldquo;I think the Olympic team&rsquo;s victory over the Russians did more for hockey than anything that has happened. And the No. 1 hero, Jim Craig, is now an Atlanta Flame.</p><p>&ldquo;We have a very competition team now, and a team that is capable of going a long way in the playoffs. If we had a championship team, maybe it would turn the sport around in Atlanta.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not threatening or begging the fans, but we&rsquo;ve got to have more support if we are going to keep the team here.&rdquo;</p><p>Cousins is bucking overwhelming odds in Atlanta. It is the 17th smallest market, and outside the city limits there is little interest. In fact, other than transplanted northerners, there is little support inside the city limits.</p><p><b>HOT NOTES:</b> With their victory over the Winnipeg Jets March 10, the Flames ran their record to 3024-10 after being 14-18-4 on Jan. 4. The turnaround seemed to come in that Jan. 4 game against the Detroit Red Wings when three players were called up from Birmingham to play in the place of regulars Eric Vail, Darcy Rota, and Pekka Rautakallio. The shakeup lasted only one game, but since that time the Flames have posted a 16-6-6 record. After beating the Jets, the Flames owned the fourth best crowd record in the league and were 10-2-2 in their last 14 games away from The Omni&hellip;Another reason for their newfound success was the play of Guy Chouinard. The 23-year-old center who scored 50 goals last season, had only nine after 34 games, but connected for 20 in the next 31.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01661/5105342-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="600" height="1491"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>After carrying the bulk of the Flames&rsquo; offense this season, Kent Nilsson is finally getting support.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0022-01

Flames’ Franchise Future Flickers

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not big, but he has hockey smarts,&rdquo; said Penguin general manager Baz Bastien. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not real concerned about his size right now. I think he proved to be pretty durable when he played in the Olympics. But we&rsquo;ll just have to wait and see about the NHL.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;My size has always been a problem,&rdquo; Johnson admits. &ldquo;But it hasn&rsquo;t affected my career so far. That was one of the big assets of the pre-Olympic preparation we had. Forty eight of the 60 games we played were on the road, and the 18 games we played in the Central League meant something to those clubs. They weren&rsquo;t just exhibitions because they got two points if they beat us.&rdquo;</p><p>Johnson, by virtue of his strong showing in the Olympics, picked up a signing bonus in addition to an estimated $65,000 per year contract.</p><p>&ldquo;Mark Johnson personifies what we&rsquo;re trying to do with the Penguins,&rdquo; team president Vince Bartimo said. &ldquo;We have a youth movement, a six-year plan, and we expect to be Stanley Cup contenders in another two years.</p><p>&ldquo;I think it works out as a fortunate thing for both Mark and the Penguins. I think we&rsquo;re fortunate to have him joining the organization. He showed a great deal of talent playing with the Olympic team and I think his joining the Penguins right now can help him grow.&rdquo;</p><p>Johnson is expected to get a fair amount of ice time the rest of this season because of the loss of the Penguins&rsquo; top two centers: Leading scorer Greg Malone has been lost for the remainder of the year after undergoing surgery for torn knee ligaments and team captain Orest Kindrachuk has missed over 20 games with a hip pointer.</p><p><b>PENGUIN TRACKS:</b> Johnson will wear uniform No. 9 for the Penguins. He wore No. 10 in the Olympics and in college. No. 10 in Pittsburgh is worn by Peter Lee. Johnson&rsquo;s father, Bob, was his coach at Wisconsin and also coach of the 1976 U.S. Olympic hockey team.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Johnson Prepared To Make Adjustments As Pro

<p>GLENS FALLS&mdash;Here is an almost unbelievable success story. The Adirondack Red Wings could be almost sold out for all of next season.</p><p>People are now getting a chance to renew their season tickets for the 1980-81 campaign because Red Wings officials want to give as many people as possible a chance to see some games at the Civic Center this season. Adirondack has had quite a few sell-outs during their latest campaign in the AHL and there is a good possibility that the club will play to a full house at every home game next year. That&rsquo;s quite an accomplishment for a team that has been in last place for just about all of the last two months.</p><p>Who would have believed that the AHL would be a smash hit in Glens Falls, New York? Not too far up the road is the now empty Olympic Ice Arena, the site of another recent miracle and a perfect facility for an AHL team. One has to believe that this area could support two franchises and develop a tremendous rivalry between Lake Placid and Adirondack. It&rsquo;s strictly wishful thinking at this time, however, but cast my vote for naming such a club the Lake Placid Olympics.</p><p>Back to the action on the ice. The Red Wings had two important games on tap against northern division rivals. Maine came into the Civic Center before another one of those wild crowds in Glens Falls and the Wings edged the defending AHL champions, 5-3. The next night the club went to Springfield and dropped a 5-4 game to the fourth-place Indians.</p><p>The parent Detroit Red Wings made a few player moves during the week. They recalled center Bill Hogaboam to the NHL and sent forward Brent Peterson to Adirondack. Another forward, Alex Pirus, went to the CHL from Detroit.</p><p><b>BINGHAMTON:</b> The line of Ken Hodge, Randy MacGregor and Brian McGregor has been hot of late and the Dusters are starting to show some signs of life. Whether or not they can improve during the latter part of the season to earn a playoff berth is another question. Binghamton did win a thrilling game in Rochester when Hodge scored late in the contest to give the Dusters a 3-2 victory. The return match down in Binghamton ended in a 3-3 overtime tie. The week ended in New Brunswick, where the Dusters started a swing through the Maritimes by losing, 82 in Moncton to the Hawks.</p><p>Center Craig McTavish was recalled once again by the Boston Bruins. In addition, goaltender Jim Stewart was returned to Utica of the EHL. Netminder Marco Baron as brought up from Grand Rapids of the IHL.</p><p><b>HERSHEY:</b> Home attendance at Hershey games is considerably higher than reported in the official AHL statistics recently supplied by the league. The Bears have been averaging a respectable 3,687 per game at the Hersheypark Arena, which is 1,000 more than previously stated in an earlier issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS.</p><p>Hershey finished the week in sole possession of second place in the southern division with Syracuse and Rochester breathing down their necks. The Bears lost to Maine twice, but rebounded to take an important 4-2 win in Syracuse over the Firebirds.</p><p>Claude Noel and Ed Godin now lead the Bears in the scoring while goaltender Dave Parro continues to play just about every game in the nets. Parro had a 3.41 GAA and a 13-26-2 record through his first 36 appearances. Back-up netminder Mike Parker appeared in just two games, sporting a huge 6.00 GAA although he was yet to be involved in any decisions in those two brief AHL workouts. The Bears were hoping that Washington would send them goaltending help before AHL rosters are frozen for the playoffs.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Lowly Wings Winners At Box Office

<div class="byline">BY JIM LEAHY</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>NEW HAVEN&mdash;&ldquo;We have that winning attitude going for us and that has been one of the keys to our success. It becomes infectitious and we all know there is no substitute for hard work,&rdquo; said Nighthawks&rsquo; general managercoach Parker MacDonald after his team had skated to a 6-4 win over Syracuse. Later in the week the powerful Nighthawks edged Rochester for their fifth win in a row, giving them a huge 26 point lead on their closest southern division rival.</p><p>As predicted in THE HOCKEY NEWS before the season began, the Nighthawks were expected to breeze to another southern division title this year. They also have the best overall record in the league and will gain the all-important home ice advantage in the upcoming playoffs if they finish on top of the 10-team circuit.</p><p>The parent New York Rangers have provided the Nighthawks with several excellent players. However, it has been the coaching of MacDonald that has enabled rookies to develop and the veterans to stay motivated. With the recent addition of Frank Beaton, who played an outstanding game in the 3-2 win over Rochester, the Nighthawks have all they need to bring New Haven their first ever Calder Cup title.</p><p>New York sent rookie center Pat Conacher back to New Haven along with Beaton. Winger Jim Mayer was brought up when Beaton and Conacher were sent back to the Nighthawks. Mayer had been burning up the AHL prior to his call-up, scoring 29 points and adding 28 assists in only 50 games as a Nighthawk.</p><p>Bill Lochead scored four goals, his third of the night tying an AHL record as the Nighthawks beat Syracuse, 6-4, before 5,115 at the Coliseum. Lochead&rsquo;s third goal against Syracuse was his sixth hat trick of the season, which equalled the AHL mark for hat tricks this year. The scoring eruption lifted the talented Nighthawk winger into second place in the AHL scoring race.</p><p>Beaton had two assists and hustled all night in New Haven&rsquo;s 32 win over Rochester before 5,885 at the Coliseum. Tom Colley, Jeff McDill and Mike McDougall found the range and a victory that saw goaltender Doug Soetaert improve his record to 14-4-4.</p><p><b>NOVA SCOTIA:</b> Three home games enabled the Voyageurs to enjoy some home cooking on their way to winning two of three contests. Maine came to town first and dropped a close 3-2 decision at the Metro Center to the Vees. Nova Scotia then split a two-game set with vastly improved Springfield. They edged the Indians 5-2 in the first encounter, only to be on the short end of a 6-1 loss three days later. All of this left Nova Scotia still locked in a frantic battle with New Brunswick and Maine for the top spot in the northern division. The Voyageurs were trailing New Brunswick by two points and had a two-point lead over the third place Mariners.</p><p><b>SYRACUSE:</b> The Firebirds 11game home unbeaten streak came to an end as Hershey skated to a 42 win at the War Memorial. Earlier, the Firebirds dropped a 6-4 contest in New Haven despite solo tallies by Mike Korney, Tom Price, Jamie Masters and Gordie Brooks. The &lsquo;Birds were in the midst of playing six of their next seven games&rsquo; against the Hershey Bears or Rochester Americans, the two teams that Syracuse is battling with for sole possession of second place in the southern division. The team that finishes last in this particular race will have the unenviable task of playing New Haven in the first round of the upcoming Calder Cup playoffs.</p><p><b>ROCHESTER:</b> The Amerks have hit the skids and are now winless in their last 11 games. A 33 overtime tie in Birmingham was the only point the club could manage. Those same Dusters won, 3-2 in Rochester on Ken Hodge&rsquo;s foul with just 15 seconds left to play. Some 4,014 were on hand at the War Memorial for that game. A trip to New Haven turned out to be fruitless as the Nighthawks skated past Rochester, 3-2.</p><p>Despite losing 3-2 to New Haven, the Amerks hustled all night and were in the game all the way. They complained bitterly throughout the contest about referee Terry Gregson, who apparently decided to let the players determine the contest on the ice rather than on power plays. As a result, few penalties were called in what had to be one of the hardest hitting contests seen this year. Though several altercations were about to break out, none occurred during the action-packed contest. In that game, Rich Suwek and Bill Stewart scored for Rochester in the losing effort against New Haven.</p><p><b>NEW BRUNSWICK:</b> Now that the strike is over, the Hawks are back in the Moncton Coliseum for the stretch run in the tight northern division race. If the season were to end today, New Brunswick would be the divisional champions. Obviously, Maine and Nova Scotia will have a lot to say about whether the Hawks should start ordering the champagne.</p><p>The Hawks had only two games scheduled in recent action. Springfield came to town and upset New Brunswick to try to maintain first place by posting a big 5-4 win over the Hawks. Just two nights later Binghamton visited the Coliseum and were blasted 8-2 by the first-place Hawks.</p><p><b>SPRINGFIELD:</b> The Indians returned from a very successful trip to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, played their fourth game in five nights and won, 5-4 over the Adirondack Red Wings at the Big E Coliseum. During the three-game visit to their northern division rivals, the Tribe lost, 5-2 in Nova Scotia but came back to defeat New Brunswick, 5-4 and the Voyageurs, 6-1. The initial loss in Nova Scotia was caused by the team&rsquo;s inability to finish off their scoring chances. As a result, the Tribe was unable to generate much of an offense against Voyageur goaltender Rick Walmsley. They did regroup later and went on to defeat each of the Maritime clubs.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01597/5105397-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="511" height="998"></div><p>Jeff Brubaker, Mike Antonovich and Bill Bennett were still out of the lineup with injuries. Marty Howe suffered a pulled groin muscle and missed a few games. However, he is now back in action with the Tribe.</p><p><b>MAINE:</b> The Mariners took a charter flight from Portland to Glens Falls for their important game with the Red Wings. Despite this rather luxurious style of travel, the Mariners lost a 5-3 decision to Adirondack. Two other road games were split evenly by the Mariners. They lost, 3-2 in Nova Scotia and won, 5-3 in Hershey. In the only home contest scheduled, Maine edged those same Hershey Bears this time by a 4-3 margin. When the dust settled, Maine was tied with Nova Scotia for second place in the northern division and most clubs trailed front-running New Brunswick by four points.</p><p>Several players were shuffled around as the defending AHL champions were trying to find the winning combination. With defenseman Dennis Patterson off the injured list and backliner Greg Natale back from Toledo of the IHL, the Mariners sent two men to the IHL in return. Goaltender Sam St. Laurent and winger Dave Faulkner were chosen to leave the Mariners. In addition, right winger Bruce Crowder and defenseman Mike Greeder were out of action for a few games after being injured.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0023-01

Runaway Nighthawks Maintain Pace; Northern Race Three-Team Dogfight

<p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>Ken Richardson got the only goal the Eagles really needed in the rout of Birmingham. He scored shorthanded early in the first period, his first goal of the season. Kevin Willison also scored in the first, Oglivie and Mullen in the second, then Ogilvie again between two by Thomson in the third.</p><p>Backing up Staniowski&rsquo;s shutout of Indy, Hansen scored in the first two periods, Thomson in the third. The next night Thomson scored two in the opening period in a 24-second span and Simpson counted in the third. That gave Thomson five goals in three games, after he had scored only three in the previous 21 starts.</p><p>After Oklahoma City jumped to a 3-0 lead, the Eagles had a second-period goal by Crawford disallowed. Seconds earlier on the same play, Palazzari had shoved and argued with linesman Jim Tedesco, when the official happened to be in Palazzari&rsquo;s way. The linesman couldn&rsquo;t inform referee Bob Hall of the incident until play was stopped by the scoring of the goal. Then Hall handed Palazzari a misconduct, and ruled &ldquo;No goal&rdquo;.</p><p>Ogilvie, Richardson and Hess (on a power play) tied the score, but Ted Olson won it for the Stars with 6:23 left, and the visitors got an empty-net goal with six seconds to play.</p><p>The Eagles&rsquo; blue-line corps was restored to five when St. Louis recalled Gordon Buynak from Dallas and assigned him to Salt Lake. Rookie Steve Harrison, the Eagles&rsquo; top-scoring defenseman, was the only player who had appeared in all of Salt Lake&rsquo;s games.</p><p><b>DALLAS:</b> The Black Hawks slid deeper into the cellar by losing at home to Tulsa, 3-1 and in Fort Worth, 6-4. The latter game ran their road losing streak to 10. They had fallen 10 points behind seventh-place Oklahoma City, with only 17 games left in the regular schedule.</p><p>Gerry Minor had the only goal of the first period against Tulsa, but the Hawks couldn&rsquo;t beat Oiler goalie Lindsay Middlebrook again. Dallas rallied from an early two-goal deficit against Fort Worth, but couldn&rsquo;t match the Texans&rsquo; three-goal burst in the final period. Rookie goalie Richard Martens, up from Toledo in the International League, played his first full professional game.</p><p>Right wing Brad Smith returned from Atlanta, but the Hawks lost defenseman Gordon Buynak, who was reassigned by the St. Louis Blues to Salt Lake.</p><p><b>BIRMINGHAM:</b> Coach John Brophy was looking for bodies, as the Bulls suffered four straight setbacks to end their long road trip with a 2-7 record. They were still in second place, but only a point ahead of challenging Fort Worth and two in front of Indianapolis.</p><p>The Bulls were blanked in Salt Lake, 7-0, two nights after winning there easily, 5-1. They wound up with a 3-3 record in the Salt Palace, and were the only CHL team to own a season series advantage over the first-place Eagles (6-4, with three games left, all in Birmingham).</p><p>Defenseman Gord Wappel was recalled by Atlanta, and forward Mike Dwyer by Colorado. Forward Earl Ingarfield was called home by his mother&rsquo;s serious illness, and defenseman Paul Terbenche missed two games with a groin pull. Atlanta returned left wing Curt Bennett briefly, but recalled him. Left wing Yves Dandurand, from Milwaukee in the IHL, was loaned by Quebec.</p><p>The week concluded with a loss in Fort Worth (3-2) and two in Houston (6-3 and 5-3). A late rally in Fort Worth fell short. The Bulls swarmed the ice to congratulate Tim Bernhardt on stopping Bobby Sheehan&rsquo;s second-period penalty shot, but drew a delay-of-the-game penalty.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01639/5105452-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="601" height="743"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Stepping into the lineup from St. Louts, goalie Ed Staniowski has kept the Eagles flying high.</i></figcaption></div><p><b>INDIANAPOLIS:</b> The Checkers were glad to get home after a five-loss road trip. They rallied from two down to go ahead, but eventually lost in overtime at Oklahoma City, 4-3. A pair of shellackings in Salt Lake featured goalie Ed Sta-niowski, who made 26 saves in a 30 shutout, 35 in a 3-1 game.</p><p>The New York Islanders recalled center Garth MacGuigan and goalie Richard Brodeur. Bob Janacyk from Fort Wayne was the backup for goalie Jim Park at OC. Trainer Craig Smith had that role for the games in Salt Lake.</p><p>Yvon Vautour had Indianapolis&rsquo; only goal in six periods against Staniowski. Vautour became the Checkers&rsquo; seventh 20-goal scorer.</p><p><b>TULSA:</b> The &ldquo;revolving door&rdquo; Program of the parent Winnipeg Jets continued in full force. Returning to Tulsa were defenseman Don MacIver. and forwards Larry Hopkins, Gerry Rioux, John Bethel and Dave Hoyda, although Hoyda was still sidelined by a knee injury suffered with the Jets.</p><p>The parent club recalled left wings Lorne Stamler and Bill Le-suk, but not before Stamler had collected eight goals in six Oiler starts.</p><p>Stamler had a goal in an 8-2 loss at Fort Worth (where Merlin Malinowski&rsquo;s four-goal bombardment personally buried the Tulsans). Lorne had no goals, but set up two for Ben Gosselin, in a 3-1 victory at Dallas, then scored twice (as did just-returned Hopkins) in a 6-2 romp at Oklahoma City.</p><p>The &ldquo;new-look&rdquo; Oilers had lost only once in eight games.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-01

Salt Lake’s Eagles On Record-Setting Course

<p class="dropcap"><span>G</span>RANGER, Utah&mdash;Tragedy found its way into the world of hockey on Feb. 27, when Thayne Acord, an owner of the Salt Lake Golden Eagles of the Central Hockey League, and his wife, Lorraine, were found shot to death in the basement of their suburban Salt Lake City home.</p><p>Authorities, who quickly arrested two suspects in the killings believed the Acords were slain when they surprised burglars in their home.</p><p>Police said the Acords had been bound and shot in the head. Mrs. Acord was also found handcuffed.</p><p>Acord and his two sohs, Dean and Bill, had shared the ownership of the Salt Lake Eagles with Art Teece.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

CHL Team Owner Shot To Death

<p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he Texans surged past Indianapolis into third place, only a point behind second-place Birmingham. Fort Worth was in last place from Nov. 10-Jan. 4, during which span they suffered through a 10-game losing streak. Ron Ullyot&rsquo;s crew took over seventh place Jan. 5, sixth Jan. 12, fourth Feb. 6, and third March 1.</p><p><b>HOUSTON:</b> The Apollos asserted themselves with a vengeance in the jockeying for playoff spot. After splitting with Oklahoma City, they took back-to-back victories at home over second-place Birmingham.</p><p>The victory over the Stars was a 5-0 shutout engineered by goalie Don Cutts, just returned from Edmonton. Dean Magee had a hat trick, with a goal in each period. But the rematch in OC two nights later was a 5-2 setback, with the Apollos&rsquo; only goals&mdash;by Wayne Bianchin and Cal Roadhouse&mdash;coming on power plays.</p><p>Bianchin and Alex Tidey each scored twice in the 6-3 win over Birmingham. A three-goal explosion in the first period the next night (Magee, Mike Toal, Ron Areshenkoff) started the Apollos toward a 5-3 triumph. It was their fourth straight home victory, their fifth straight game without a loss.</p><p>The Apollos regained fifth place by a point over Tulsa. The CHL&rsquo;s leading goalscorer, right win Ron Carter (39) spent a week in Edmonton and returned, along with goalies Cutter and Bob Dupuis and forward Kari Makkonen. Forward Mark Miller was recalled from Dayton in the International League, and goalie Hannu Kampuuri was sent to Baltimore in the Eastern League.</p><p><b>OKLAHOMA CITY:</b> Winning three of five games in a busy week, the Stars climbed within three points of sixth-place Tulsa. But their hopes of overtaking the Oilers suffered a severe jolt when the Tulsans won a 6-2 game in the OC Myriad, capturing the Turnpike Trophy for the seventh time in 13 seasons. -</p><p>Earlier the Stars had beaten Indianapolis, 4-3, on Dave Delich&rsquo;s goal after 5:34 of overtime (his second goal of the game). Oke City was shut out by Don Cutts in Houston, 5-0, but came home to win a 52 rematch. Following the loss to Tulsa, the Stars went into Salt Lake and beat the league-leading Eagles, 5-3.</p><p>Steve Janaszak, backup goaltender for the gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic team, made his pro debut in the OC nets in the win over Houston, then was recalled by the Minnesota North Stars. With Louis Levasseur ailing, Jim Warden was in goal for the other four games.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

alinowski’s Magic Touch gnites Fort Worth Spurt

<p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>PORT HURON&mdash;Don&rsquo;t talk about a three-team race for the International Hockey League&rsquo;s Huber trophy around Port Huron coach Doug Hinton. He doesn&rsquo;t stop counting at three. Four is his lucky number.</p><p>Kalamazoo, Saginaw and Fort Wayne, who have been waging a three team battle for quite a spell, had better take a good look behind them. Hinton&rsquo;s Flags are on the march and it&rsquo;s a four-team scrap now.</p><p>As the season approached the stretch run, only six points separated the top four teams. North leader Kalamazoo is still leading the parade with 81 points. Saginaw is two back with 79. Fort Wayne is three in arrears at 78 and the Flags now have 75.</p><p>Port Huron has lost just twice in the last nine games on the road. They picked up a point on Kalamazoo with a 2-2 week and matched strides with Saginaw, also 2-2 for the week.</p><p>But all the news wasn&rsquo;t good for Port Huron and Hinton. One of the losses during the week was a 10-4 bombing in Saginaw, but the loss may not have been the most significant factor. High scoring Brian Kinsella suffered a knee injury in the game and could be out of the lineup for some time. Port Huron can&rsquo;t afford to lose a 40-goal scorer at this point in time.</p><p>Kinsella limped off the ice in the second of the game at Saginaw, shortly after picking up his 79th point of the season. He returned to the bench but did not play.</p><p>&ldquo;He has a knee problem,&rdquo; Hinton reported. Hinton didn&rsquo;t know at the time how serious the injury was, but, &ldquo;it was too serious for him to play the final period.&rdquo;</p><p>Helping the manpower shortage was the expected return&mdash;for a fourth tour of duty&mdash;of veteran Jim Gustafsson. Gustafsson has agreed to contract terms and was expected to be available for the balance of the season.</p><p>Winning on the road continues to be a problem for Kalamazoo. A three-game swing resulted in one win and a pair of losses which left the K-Wings with a 1-5-1 log over the last seven excursions. The lone win was a 5-2 romp at Muskegon&mdash;the first time in four visits to Mohawk land.</p><p>The numbers remained the same over the next two games, but in reverse, as Kalamazoo lost by 52 scores at Fort Wayne and Flint. The loss to Fort Wayne put the south leaders one up in the season series, with the finale set in Kalamazoo as part of a weekend set with Saginaw. The two games just might be the season for the defending Turner Cup champions.</p><p>It was a rocky road for Saginaw also. The Gears dropped a pair, 4-1 in Milwaukee and 3-2 in Muskegon while winning home games over Port Huron, 10-3, and Muskegon, 31. Veteran Ted Tucker performed well in both Muskegon games and has posted a 3-1 record in the four games he&rsquo;s started.</p><p>Fort Wayne fired blanks from the road, too. Their only bright spot recently was a 5-2 conquest of Kalamazoo. The Komets were bombed at Port Huron, 10-4, and lost to Milwaukee, 5-3. The Komets have won just twice from the Admirals this season.</p><p>Elsewhere in the IHL:</p><p><b>TOLEDO:</b> The Diggers remain the hottest team in the league. A 63 win over Dayton at home and a 7-7 tie at Grand Rapids extended Toledo&rsquo;s undefeated streak to 10 straight.</p><p>A crowd of 5,286 showed up for the game with Dayton which featured a personal appearance by Mike Eruzione, the former Goaldigger who became a national hero as captain of the victorious U.S. team in the winter Olympics. Eruzione was a key cog in the Toledo Turner Cup effort two seasons ago.</p><p><b>GRAND RAPIDS:</b> The Owls overcame a 5-2 deficit for the tie against Toledo to prevent the week from becoming a complete washout. In their only other appearance Grand Rapids dropped an 8-5 decision at Muskegon.</p><p><b>MILWAUKEE:</b> The Admirals skated out of the south division cellar by sweeping a three-game homestand. Milwaukee opened the week with a 4-1 win over Saginaw, and followed with an 8-5 triumph over Grand Rapids and closed out the action by dominating Fort Wayne again, 5-3.</p><p><b>DAYTON:</b> The Gems snapped a five-game losing streak with a 6-4 win over Port Huron at home. Road losses at Flint, 4-2, and Toledo, 6-3, boosted the losing streak to five. Dayton has slipped into the IHL&rsquo;s south division basement and has the fewest points of the 10 clubs, with 48.</p><p><b>FLINT:</b> The Generals have bounded back from a crippling seven-game losing streak but appear locked into no better than a fourth-place finish in the north. A 3-1 week pushed the Generals&rsquo; point total to 66&mdash;nine behind third place Port Huron.</p><p><b>MUSKEGON:</b> The Mohawks are clinging to the final playoff spot. They added two points with a 3-2 win over Saginaw and that&rsquo;s all the Mohawks could muster in four outings. Kalamazoo dumped the &lsquo;Hawks at home, and the Mohawks lost road games at Flint and Saginaw as well. Muskegon now has 54 points, four more than Milwaukee.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01560/5105538-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="510" height="777"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02371/5105531-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="522" height="826"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0025-01

Four Teams Battle For Huber Trophy As Flags Chase IHL Pace-Setters

<div class="byline">BY PATRICK LYON</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>The Blades have three of the top ten scorers in the league, with Gulutzan (73 points), defenseman Daniel Poulin (72 points) and center Jim Cowall (61 points).</p><p><b>UTICA:</b> For the first time since early in the season the Mohawks are a .500 hockey club; coach Larry Mickey&rsquo;s crew is playing the hottest brand of hockey in the circuit.</p><p>With their 8-1-1 record in the last ten games and a four-game unbeaten streak to their credit, the Mohawks have all but wrapped up the fourth and final playoff spot.</p><p>The rampaging Mohawks topped Baltimore, 5-4 on the road, Utica&rsquo;s first win in Maryland in six attempts. Ed Smith, Brian Drumm and Bob Ferguson had one goal each and one assist, with Pete Mavroudis and Dean Willers scoring the other red lighters.</p><p>For the second time the Mohawks swept a weekend home and home series with Johnstown. Utica stopped the Red Wings without a goal in a 4-0 home triumph and then turned right around and toppled the Flood City crew, 6-4 in Johnstown.</p><p>Pete Mavroudis had a pair of goals in the blank job as goalie Tom O&rsquo;Toole rejected 34 shots in registering his second shutout. Bob Sunderland, the newest Mohawk, who came to the club from Holland, proved to be a valuable addition with two goals and an assist in his initial appearance keying the road win in Johnstown. Smith and Drumm contributed a goal and three assists each.</p><p>Playing their fifth game in five nights, the tired Mohawks finally saw the long grind take effect in a 2-2 tie in Hampton. Dean Willers had a pair, Lee Keller two assists.</p><p><b>HAMPTON:</b> The Aces equaled their longet winning streak of the year (two games) with a shocking 5-2 upset victory over first place Richmond. Richard Duguay&rsquo;s 11 points in four games put more offensive punch in the Hampton attack; Bob Schryer got six points in the same stretch.</p><p>Richmond came back the following night and ended the modest Aces&rsquo; streak with an 11-4 pounding of Glenn Patrick&rsquo;s club. The Aces managed a 2-2 overtime tie with Utica on home ice, but were then pummeled by the Blades 9-1. Danny Gruen gave Hampton a 1-0 advantage after the first period, but that was all the Aces could get by Erie goalie Carey Walker.</p><p>Duguay remains Hampton&rsquo;s top pointman with 44 (20 goals and 24 assists), while Steve Salvucci has 17 goals and 39 points.</p><p><b>JOHNSTOWN:</b> A 16-point gap seems too great to overcome for the fifth-place Red Wings, who would need a miracle to overtake Utica for fourth place with only 15 games remaining.</p><p>The Red Wings were hit all season long by injuries like no other club in the Eastern League. When this issue went to press the Red Wings had 10 players on the injured list and managed to dress only 14 players for a road game in Erie.</p><p>Johnstown lost a crucial home and home two game set with Utica and were then dealt a crushing blow in losing 10-0 in Erie, the second time the Red Wings were shutout in just three days.</p><p>Colin Ahern, Ed Starkey, Randy Betty and Paul Mancini were the goal getters against Utica, with Lorry Glockner netting three assists.</p><p>Goaltender David Johns was the timore, 4-2. Richmond also attracted 5,288 in losing to the Blades, 42.</p><p>Lawrie Nisker and Kent Reardon each chipped in two goals in the Hampton romp with Nisker continuing as the EHL&rsquo;s second best scorer. Rookie goalie Tom Semenchuk has an 18-5 record with a goals against average of 2.91.</p><p>Coach Ray Clearwater broke up the high scoring &ldquo;Bullet Line&rdquo; of Nisker, Reardon and Alex Jeans to get a more balanced scoring attack.</p><p><b>BALTIMORE:</b> Baltimore halted a three-game losing skein by ripping the Rifles, 5-1, before a crowd ot 5,678 at the Baltimore Civic Center, the largest weekday crowd of the year.</p><p>Latest Johnstown casualty; the netminder suffered a separated shoulder and is lost for the remainder of the season. He joined Wes George and Rob Clavette on the disabled list, Johnstown&rsquo;s most recent walking wounded.</p><p>Johnstown showed a credible 17-10 record at the War Memorial in Johnstown, but only a 3-25 mark in road contests.</p><p><b>RICHMOND:</b> The Rifles became the first club to go over 100,000 in paid admissions when they drew 14,700 spectators for three home games with the Clippers, Blades and Aces. After falling in Hampton, 5-2, Richmond drew 5,184 in an 11-4 home victory over the Aces and followed that up by drawing 4,419 while defeating Bal-</p><p>New Clipper goaltender Hannu Kampuuri allowed a Richmond goal just 10 seconds into the game, but then kept the Rifles off the board the rest of the way. The Clipper defense aided their new netminder by allowing the Rifles only 11 shots the entire contest, including one in the third period. Kampuuri came to Baltimore from Houston of the CHL, where the 22-year-old had a 5-9-2 record and 4.73 goals against mark.</p><p>Henry Taylor tied Johnstown&rsquo;s Dave MacQueen for the goal-scoring lead as his two goals pushed him to 42.</p><p>The Clippers were on the short end of a 5-4 game to Utica and also suffered a 5-3 loss in Erie and a 4-2 loss in Richmond.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01591/5105569-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="599" height="705"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Defenseman Greg Tebbutt&rsquo;s hat trick got the Blades back on the winning track.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0026-01

Heartbreaking Loss Spurs Revitalized Blades

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div><p>BOSTON&mdash;Ah, hindsight. Ain&rsquo;t it wonderful. Let&rsquo;s wrap up the news about the 1979-80 season, and indulge.</p><p>The East&rsquo;s Division One teams waited until a couple of overtime periods on the last day of the regular season before dotting the last i and crossing the last t on the playoff pairings.</p><p>Cornell sneaked into eighth spot via a 6-5 OT win at Boston University. Brian Marrett swiped home an errant crease pass at 9:12 of the extra session to cap a nutty contest which saw the Red take a 5-0 lead by early in the second period, only to have BU tie it at 4:46 of the third.</p><p>Vermont journeyed to Hamilton and secured the final home ice berth by nipping Colgate 2-1 on an overtime goal by Chris Zimmerman. The win relegated Clarkson to fifth spot despite the Knights&rsquo; 73 win over Harvard. Colgate was losing its second game in the week but had already won the seventh seed.</p><p>So, the pairings were set: Cornell at Boston College; Colgate at Providence; RPI at Dartmouth; Clarkson at Vermont. Now, let&rsquo;s recap.</p><p>The coaches&rsquo; All-America ballots were due at Charlie Holt&rsquo;s office on March 1. Here are this writer&rsquo;s candidates: Forwards&mdash;Ross Brownridge, Dartmouth; Bill Army, Boston College; Craig Homola, Vermont; Mike Prestidge, Clarkson. If these four do in fact rank at the top, look for Prestidge to get nosed out in the ballotting because Clarkson is a small school out in the sticks that gets little exposure for its good players.</p><p>Defensemen&mdash;a little tougher to pick, especially since the trend is away from the attention-grabbing puck carriers who used to pile up the points. Vermont&rsquo;s Lou Cote is one remaining player in this category and despite his lengthy absence due to injury should repeat. Others worthy are Mark Murphy, Boston College; Mark Fusco, Harvard; Kevin Lovitt, Brown; Ed Small, Clarkson; Andre Aubut, Maine; and any one of the Providence sophomores Jim Colucci, Scot Kleinendorst, and Jon Hogberg. Another one I liked was Dartmouth freshman John Donnelly, moved to defense in mid-season by George Crowe.</p><p>Goal is perhaps even tougher to call than defense, not because it&rsquo;s difficult to gauge a good performance but because there were so many very fine showings. Seven goalies had averages under four goals allowed per game. Colgate&rsquo;s Guy LeMonde led the division until the final week along with Sylvain Turcotte, and as he had a much less experienced defense in front of him he should probably get the nod.</p><p>Scott Fiske of Providence and Kevin Constantine of RPI showed vast improvement and were big reasons their teams did better than expected. Doug Ellis of Boston College was superb all season and Bob Gaudet of Dartmouth went it alone when Jim Jankwoski got hurt in mid-season.</p><p>Maybe it&rsquo;s a copout, but I&rsquo;ll take any of these netminders for my traveling squad.</p><p>How about coach of the year? Do you give it to somebody who wins when he&rsquo;s ahead? If so, Len Ceglarski, George Crowe, or Jim Cross is the man. If the award goes to someone who wins when least expected, try Lou Lamoriello, Mike Addesa, or Terry Slater.</p><p>Hmmm&hellip;This article hems and haws more than it should. Okay, let&rsquo;s take a stand. Coach of the year&mdash;Lamoriello. Forward&mdash;Army. Defense&mdash;Cote. Goal&mdash;LeMonde.</p><p>Finally, some random observations:&mdash;The three-way divisional split was a plus, not because of the subdivisions but since everybody had to play everyone else at least once. No team could get fat on the patsies while avoiding tougher opponents (i.e. a few of the Cornell and Harvard teams in the &lsquo;70s).</p><p>&bull; We haven&rsquo;t heard much about the masks lately. But it still looks like the players are quicker to get that stick up when the going gets rugged.</p><p>&bull; This season again proved that you&rsquo;ve got to have both personnel turnover for psychological leavening and continuity for experience in order to win consistently. Teams with overly large departures from last season (BU, New Hampshire, Northeastern) couldn&rsquo;t bridge the gap, while a couple with a lot of experience but nearly pat hands faded back in the running (Yale, Cornell, Brown).</p><p>&bull; However, not only do the freshmen you bring in have to blend well with the rest of the players; you&rsquo;ve got to have significant improvement from several players advancing from freshman to sophomore and from sophomore to junior year. Lacking in that department this season were Brown, Cornell, Yale and BU especially.</p><p>&bull; Don&rsquo;t lose sight of Princton&rsquo;s program strides even though they didn&rsquo;t make the playoffs. This was their most successful season since 1967-68, even though the high scoring forwards still haven&rsquo;t emerged.</p><p>&bull; Twenty applicants sent resumes to Canton for the job of resurrecting the moribund St. Lawrence program. All are assistant coaches who want to run their own show. Had the school decided to go to the grant-in-aid system rather than financial need, athletic director Bob Sheldon would have received many more inquiries.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01556/5105600-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="574" height="1317"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Boston College forward Bill Army has to be rated among the best in the ECAC.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0027-01

Cornell, Vermont Employ Overtime To Pick Up Playoff Confirmations

<p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>OWELL&mdash;Merrimack College avenged three earlier defeats when it counted most by blanking top seeded Lowell University 4-0 to gain the ECAC Division Two East championship.</p><p>In the ECAC Division Two West, third seeded Oswego State journeyed to second place Plattsburgh and knocked off the Cardinals 8-3 to take that section&rsquo;s title.</p><p>Merrimack, 18-8-2, thus acquired the top spot from the east in the NCAA Division Two championship Tourney to be held at Elmira College March 20-22. The Warriors drew Elmira, entered as an at-large team because of its 18-3-1 record even though it lost to eighth seeded North Adams State 7-5 in the Division Two West quarterfinals.</p><p>Lowell, ending up at 21-5, was selected as the East&rsquo;s number two team and drew Minnesota&rsquo;s Mankato State in the NCAA semi-final round game. Mankato is considered the top Western outfit. The NCAA selection committee thus bypassed Oswego, ECAC West playoff winner, which finished up with a mark of 19-7.</p><p>Merrimack&rsquo;s defenseman Dean Fraser scored a goal and set up another for the Warriors in addition to blocking seven shots. Lowell only had 20 shots on goalie Joe Cappellano.</p><p>In the East semi-finals, Merrimack, which began the playoffs as fifth seed, journeyed to Brunswick to tip second ranked Bowdoin 5-4 in overtime. Kevin Lawler scored at 2:25 of the extra session to keep Merrimack winning. Their quarterfinal victory was also on the road, 9-3 at Babson.</p><p>Lowell got to the East title game by downing upstart Holy Cross 4-2. The winning marker was a 20-foot wrist shot by defenseman Tom Mulligan.</p><p>Oswego&rsquo;s win at Plattsburgh was the second time the Great Lakers had done in the Cardinals on the road. On Februarry 22, the score was 7-4, so neither game was exceptionally close.</p><p>To make it to the West final, Plattsburgh had edged North Adams, that surprising eighth seed, 4-3 in a goal by Bob Burke with 34 seconds to play in regulation. Oswego&rsquo;s high powered offense was running wild over Army in the meantime, blowing the Cadets back into the Hudson River by a 12-6 count.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Merrimack, Lowell Division II Reps

<div class="byline">BY JIM SCHNEIDER</div><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>OWLING GREEN&mdash;Ohio State finished the regular season with a 5-3, 7-6 sweep of Bowling Green to capture the &ldquo;Battle of Ohio&rdquo; four games to none in 1979-80.</p><p>The sweep allowed OSU to tie its single season record of 25 wins heading into the playoffs and settled the playoff picture with BG placing fourth and Ferris State third.</p><p>Other CCHA action on the final regular season weekend found Ferris State sweeping Lake Superior, 7-5 and 5-2, while champ Northern Michigan split at Western Michigan, winning the opener 5-4, before dropping the second game, 7-5.</p><p>OSU&rsquo;s Larry Marson earned player-of-the-week honors with a five-point performance in the Bowling Green series that included several clutch goals.</p><p>The first period of the opener was scoreless with Bowling Green holding an 18-6 shooting edge and Steve Jones hot in goal for the Buckeyes. In the second period it was BG&rsquo;s Wally Charko&rsquo;s turn to shine in net as he recorded 30 saves while facing 33 OSU shots; the score was 3-3 after two periods.</p><p>Mark Freeman and Mike Conrad gave OSU leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but BG collected goals from Yves Pelland, Don McLaughlin and Brian MacLellan for a 3-2 lead before Marson&rsquo;s tying goal at 19:21.</p><p>Tom Scanlon scored the winner for OSU and Marson&rsquo;s shorthanded goal at 15:38 provided the insurance. Charko finished the game with 49 saves and Jones had 39.</p><p>Tri-captain Steve Dawe opened the scoring in the second game and BG led 3-2 after one period, with Brian Hills and Tim Alexander adding the other BG goals and Rick Barker and Rod McNair scoring for OSU.</p><p>Defensemen scored three of the four second period goals with Greg Kostenko tying the game at 3-3 before BG blueliners Pete Sikorski and Ron Megan pushed the lead to 5-3. Marson connected with another key tally on the power play at 15:23.</p><p>Defenseman McNair notched his ninth goal of the season at 4:02 of the third period to tie the game and OSU took the lead at 8:12 on a Jim Mroszak goal. Alexander tied the game for BG, but yet another OSU defenseman, Brian Jenks, scored the winner at 8:19 of the overtime period.</p><p>Sophomore Jim Baker scored three goals to pace the Ferris State attack in the opener in Lake Superior&rsquo;s Norris Center. The host Lakers jumped to a 3-0 lead with Jeff Sawyers scoring his first goal of the season and Bobby Ciotti and Bryan Alexander potting goals by the 14:42 mark of the first period.</p><p>Ferris State jumped back into the game quickly with goals by Paul Pickard and Perry Zoldak just 20 seconds apart and LSSC led, 3-2, after one period.</p><p>Kevin MacDonald gave the Lakers a 4-2 lead early in the second period, but the game was tied after the second period as Randy Strong and Baker added Bulldog goals.</p><p>Baker opened the third period with goals at 60:25 and 3:30 to decide the contest.</p><p>A Laker highlight in the game was the play of goalie Pat Ansell, who made 36 saves and collected a pair of assists in the loss.</p><p>In the second game, Ferris State, third place finisher in only its first full season in the league, led 2-0 after one period on goals by Steve Ross and Steve Banonis, and 4-0 after two periods, with Paul Cook and Baker adding the goals.</p><p>Brian Gratton and Steve Sherman scored for LSSC at the start of the third period, but Cook added the final goal of the game.</p><p>Northern Michigan&rsquo;s Bill Joyce paced the Wildcat offense in the final series of the CCHA season to capture the scoring title. His seven points against Western Michigan gave him 82 points overall and pulled him into a tie for the national scoring lead with Michigan&rsquo;s Murray Eaves.</p><p>Joyce opened the scoring at WMU as NMU led 1-0 after one period and 4-2 after two with Bob Scurfield scoring both Bronco goals.</p><p>Goals by Diego O&rsquo;Dino and Ross Fitzpatrick pulled the hosts to within one goal twice in the final period, but Mike Mielke&rsquo;s power play goal at 11:56 of the third period proved to be the game winner.</p><p>The Saturday contest was scoreless until the second period, when WMU&rsquo;s Fitzpatrick, Rob Reid and Scurfield outscored NMU&rsquo;s Brian Verigan and Joyce for a 3-2 lead.</p><p>The third period featured seven goals with Reid and Scurfield pushing the Western Michigan lead to 5-3 before goals by Joyce and Jeff Pyle tied the game at 5-5 with just about five minutes to play.</p><p>Terry Olson scored the winner at 15:51 and Kelly Mitchell added an empty net goal at 19:57.</p><p>Scurfield&rsquo;s four goals in the final series allowed him to set a new WMU single-season scoring record with 34 goals. The win allowed WMU to finish the season with an 18-16-2 record, the first winning season for the Broncos since 1975-76 under Bill Neal. WMU has missed the playoffs for three straight seasons.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Buckeyes Cop State Title While Tying Team Record

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div><p>GRAND FORKS&mdash;And then there were four.</p><p>The 10-team Western Collegiate Hockey Association has been trimmed to four teams after the first round of the league playoffs.</p><p>And not surprisingly, the four surviving teams all finished in the first division during the season and the opening round contained only one mild surprise.</p><p>North Dakota, the league champion and the top-ranked college team in North America, breezed past eighth place Michigan State 61 and 5-3 for a 13-4 edge in the total goal series in Grand Forks.</p><p>League runnerup Minnesota survived some roughhouse tactics by Michigan Tech to eliminate No. 7 Tech 7-2 and 6-3 for a 13-5 margin in Minneapolis.</p><p>No. 3 Colorado College struggled past No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth 4-3 and 7-6 for an 11-9 edge in Colorado Springs to keep the first round running on form.</p><p>The only surprise came in Ann Arbor, Mich., where Michigan was eliminated from the playoffs by Notre Dame, which finished a step below the No. 4 Wolverines in regular season. Notre Dame routed Michigan 8-3 in the opener and lost 4-3 the second night, to take the series 11-7 in total goals from Michigan, which tailed off badly at the end of the season.</p><p>So North Dakota, Minnesota, Colorado College and Notre Dame advance to the final round. North Dakota will take its 16-game home ice winning streak against Notre Dame while Colorado College will visit Minnesota.</p><p>If North Dakota beats Notre Dame, it will advance automatically to the nationals in Providence, R.I. March 27-29. Should the Sioux lose to Notre Dame, the Minnesota CC winner would be the automatic qualifier and Notre Dame would compete against the winner of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association Playoffs, set for March 22.</p><p>Eleven pro scouts came to watch the North Dakota-Michigan State series. If they came to see Doug Smail and Mark Taylor, North Dakota&rsquo;s scoring aces, they picked the right weekend.</p><p>Smail got the hat trick in the opener as North Dakota rallied from a 1-0 deficit after one period to bury Michigan State 8-1. The Sioux outshot State 96-24 and scored four goals in both the second and third periods to build an insurmountable lead.</p><p>Taylor, the leading scorer in the nation, had the hat trick the next night, all his goals coming in the third period and as the Sioux erased a 3-2 State lead for 5-3 win.&rsquo; Taylor also picked up an assist to run his season point total to 84, bettering his own school record of 83 set the year before. He&rsquo;s a shoo-in for All-American honors and could be the hands-down winner as the College Player of the Year in the country as well.</p><p>The Philadelphia Flyers have his draft rights and no doubt will welcome the smooth center next year. Taylor, the grandsom of legendary NHL Hall of Famer Fred (Cyclone) Taylor, is making the most of the one year he&rsquo;s played center in college. He&rsquo;s been a winner until this year when North Dakota was in dire need for centers when Dave Christian left for the U.S. Olympic hockey team and Kevin Maxwell joined the Canadian Olympic team.</p><p>Taylor, captain of the Sioux, does more than score. He teams with Smail to give North Dakota the best penalty-killing unit in college hockey. Between them, they&rsquo;ve accounted for 10 shorthanded goals, six of them by Smail.</p><p>While Taylor and Smail have captured the headlines, North Dakota&rsquo;s defense, headed by future pros Marc Chorney and Howard Walker, have quietly been the reason for UND&rsquo;s 27-8-1 record. North Dakota has allowed 3.0 goals per-game in 36 outings, the best defensive record in school history and perhaps the best in college hockey in a few years as well.</p><p>Minnesota, the national champion of a year ago, took a giant step toward another crack at the nationals by handling Michigan Tech eaily.</p><p>Tim Harrer, Steve Ulseth and John Meredith fired in two goal apiece for Minnesota in the opener as Harrer ran his season goal output to 52, tops in the nation.</p><p>The second game was marred by 22 penalties, including 16 on Michigan Tech. Harrer didn&rsquo;t score in this game but Paul Lundeen picked up two goals as Minnesota wiped out an early 2-0 lead on goals by Rick Boehm to close Michigan Tech&rsquo;s season at 18-18-2.</p><p>It&rsquo;s not been a happy finish for Tech, figured to be one of the powers in the WCHA this season. The Huskies not only finished seventh in the league, but lost veteran coach John MacInnes down the stretch as well.</p><p>After MacInnes notched his 502nd coaching victory in Denver Feb. 23 to set an all-time winning record for college hockey, he was hospitalized in Minneapolis for kidney trouble and complications from diabetes. He hasn&rsquo;t been behind Tech&rsquo;s bench since. It looks like he&rsquo;ll have to undergo extensive treatment and it has to be wondered if he&rsquo;ll return to coaching again.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01563/5105655-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="587" height="939"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Mark Taylor broke the Sioux scoring record with a hat trick to sink Michigan State.</i></figcaption></div><p>His friends can drop him a line at the Hennepin County Medical Center (Room 4116), 701 Park Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minn. 55415. I&rsquo;m sure he would appreciate some words of encouragement.</p><p>Colorado College had a struggle with Duluth. The Tigers got a goal from Dale Maksymk midway through the third period to take the opener 4-3 in Colorado Springs, then survived a shoot-out the second night 7-6 for the 11-9 total goal edge.</p><p>The sweep ran Colorado College&rsquo;s victory total to 21, one of the best in school history. Only the 1954-55 team (22 wins), the 1956-57 team (25 wins) and the 1974-75 team (23 wins) had better seasons.</p><p>Overtime has been kind to CC and that&rsquo;s a big reason why the Tigers can still dream of a national berth. The Tigers have won six of eight overtime contests and tied another.</p><p>The fans are starting to believe in the Tigers, too. CC drew 4,800 to watch CC play Denver recently, the first sellout in three years at the Broadmoor World Arena. Fans love a winner.</p><p>Notre Dame continued its mastery over Michigan in the final first round series. Notre Dame, which beat Michigan 5-4 and tied the Wolverines 5-5 in Ann Arbor in mid-February, then stunned Michigan again in the playoffs in Ann Arbor.</p><p>Notre Dame stunned Michigan by scoring the last seven goals of the game to take the opener 8-3 to put the total goal series out of reach in the opener.</p><p>Greg Meredith highlighted the win by collecting his 100th career goal, becoming only the second player in Notre Dame history to reach the century mark.</p><p>Michigan had forged a 3-1 lead on goals by Roger Bourne, Ted Speers and Bruno Baseotto sandwiched around a tally by Notre Dame&rsquo;s Kevin Humphreys. But Notre Dame ran off seven straight to bury Michigan&rsquo;s hopes, getting five unanswered goals to put it away.</p><p>Michigan did win 4-3 the second night but fell five goals short of victory. John Blum, a defenseman, had a goal and one assist to lead Michigan. Michigan had hopes after taking a 4-1 lead, but goals by Tom Michalek and John Schmidt, both on power plays, sealed Michigan&rsquo;s fate.</p><p>Notre Dame has been a good road team all year. The Irish are 13-7-1 on the road and just 6-10 at home. Michigan would have been wiser to petition the series be moved to Notre Dame, it appears.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0028-01

Irish In Mild Upset As WCHA Powers Advance

<h2><b>ECAC CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><h3><b>DIVISION 1 EAST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01484/5105843-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="548" height="180"></div><h3><b>WEST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02332/5105836-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="546" height="154"></div><h3><b>IVY DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03214/5105829-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="546" height="183"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>New Hampshire 7, Northeastern 1</p><p>Boston College 7, Boston Univ. 1</p><p>Princeton 6, Colgate 1</p><p>Cornell 5, Providence 2</p><p>Harvard 5, St. Lawrence 3</p><p>Boston Coll. 8, Northeastern 6</p><p>Cornell 6, Boston Univ. 5</p><p>Clarkson 7, Harvard 3</p><p>Vermont 2, Colgate 1</p><p>Brown 3, Yale 0</p><h2>PLAYOFF GAMES</h2><p>Quarter-Finals</p><p>Tues. Mar. 11</p><p>Cornell at Boston College</p><p>Colgate at Providence</p><p>RPI at Darthmouth</p><p>Clarkson at Vermont</p><p>(Sudden-death games)</p><p>Fri. Mar. 14</p><p>Semi-Final playoffs</p><p>Sat. Mar. 15</p><p>Final playoffs</p><h2>ECAC PLAYOFFS</h2><h3>Division II East</h3><p>Semi-Final Playoffs</p><p>Merrimack 5, Bowdoin 4</p><p>Lowell 4, Holy Cross 2</p><p>Final Playoffs</p><p>Merrimack 4, Lowell 0</p><h2>Division II West</h2><p>Semi-Final Playoffs</p><p>Plattsburgh St. 4, No. Adams 3</p><p>Oswego St. 4, Middlebury 2</p><p>Final Playoffs</p><p>Oswego St. 8. Plattsburgh St. 3</p><h2><b>WCHA CONFERENCE</b></h2><h3>First Round Playoffs</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04148/5105822-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="545" height="125"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>North Dakota 8, Michigan State 5</p><p>North Dakota 5, Michigan State 3</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-05130/5105815-1-eng-US/f0029-052.jpg" title="f0029-05" width="541" height="127"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Minnesota 7, Michigan Tech 2</p><p>Minnesota 6, Michigan Tech 3</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-06106/5105808-1-eng-US/f0029-062.jpg" title="f0029-06" width="545" height="127"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Notre Dame 8, Michigan 3</p><p>Michigan 4, Notre Dame 3</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0788/5105801-1-eng-US/f0029-072.jpg" title="f0029-07" width="544" height="126"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Colorado Coll. 4, Minn.-Duluth 3</p><p>Colorado Coll. 7, Minn. Duluth 6</p><h2>GAMES TO COME</h2><h3>Second Round Playoffs</h3><p>Fri.-Sat. Mar. 14-15</p><p>Notre Dame vs North Dakota</p><p>Col. College vs. Minnesota</p><p>(Two-game total goals series)</p><h2><b>WCHA CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0878/5105794-1-eng-US/f0029-082.jpg" title="f0029-08" width="548" height="279"></div><h2><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0973/5105787-1-eng-US/f0029-092.jpg" title="f0029-09" width="564" height="1093"></div><h2><b>GOALING AVERAGES</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1065/5105780-1-eng-US/f0029-102.jpg" title="f0029-10" width="544" height="350"></div><h2><b>Less than 10 games</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1160/5105773-1-eng-US/f0029-112.jpg" title="f0029-11" width="535" height="133"></div><h2><b>CCHA CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>Semi-Final Playoffs</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1255/5105766-1-eng-US/f0029-122.jpg" title="f0029-12" width="541" height="130"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>No. Michigan 11, Bowling Green 3</p><p>No. Michigan 3, Bowling Green 3</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1348/5105759-1-eng-US/f0029-132.jpg" title="f0029-13" width="542" height="131"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Ferris State 4, Ohio State 4</p><p>Ferris State 8, Ohio State 4</p><h3>Final Playoffs</h3><p>Fri.-Sat. Mar. 14-15</p><p>Ferris State at No. Michigan</p><p>(Two-game total-goals series)</p><h2><b>CCHA CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>Final Standings</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1444/5105752-1-eng-US/f0029-142.jpg" title="f0029-14" width="546" height="179"></div><h2><b>ONTARIO CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>FINAL PLAYOFFS</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1540/5105745-1-eng-US/f0029-152.jpg" title="f0029-15" width="541" height="104"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>McMaster 5, Guelph 3</p><p>Guelph 3, McMaster 1</p><p>Guelph 4, McMaster 3</p><h2><b>SEMI-FINAL PLAYOFFS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1638/5105738-1-eng-US/f0029-162.jpg" title="f0029-16" width="545" height="220"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Toronto 4, Guelph 3</p><p>Guelph 5, Toronto 2</p><p>Guelph 4, Toronto 0</p><p>McMaster 3, Queen&rsquo;s 2</p><p>McMaster 8, Queen&rsquo;s 1</p><h2>QUARTER FINAL PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1736/5105731-1-eng-US/f0029-172.jpg" title="f0029-17" width="540" height="106"></div><p>Guelph 8, Laurentian 6</p><p>McMaster 4, Waterloo 3</p><h2>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</h2><p><b>Final Playoffs</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1834/5105724-1-eng-US/f0029-182.jpg" title="f0029-18" width="544" height="237"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Concordia 5, T-Rivieres 0</p><p>Concordia 8, T-Rivieres 5</p><h2><b>Semi-Final Playoffs</b></h2><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Concordia 5, Ottawa 3,</p><p>Concordia 3, Ottawa 2</p><p>T-Rivleres 7, Bishop&rsquo;s 2</p><p>T-Rivieres 8, Bishop&rsquo;s 2</p><p>ATLANTIC CONFERENCE</p><h3><b>Final Playoffs</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1929/5105717-1-eng-US/f0029-192.jpg" title="f0029-19" width="541" height="103"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Moncton 10, Dalhousie 7</p><p>Moncton 6, Dalhousie 0</p><h3><b>Semi-Final Playoffs</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-2025/5105710-1-eng-US/f0029-202.jpg" title="f0029-20" width="545" height="226"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Dalhousie 7, St. F. Xavier 3</p><p>St. F. Xavier 3, Dalhousie 1</p><p>Dalhousie 4, St. F. Xavier 2</p><p>St. Mary&rsquo;s 5, Moncton 4</p><p>Moncton 6, St. Marys 5</p><p>Moncton 5, St. Mary&rsquo;s 4</p><p>Quarter-Final Playoffs</p><p>St. Mary&rsquo;s 4, Mt. Allison 0</p><p>St. F. Xavier 7, UNB 4<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0029-01

How They Stand

<h2><b>ECAC Conference</b></h2><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-2125/5105895-1-eng-US/f0029-212.jpg" title="f0029-21" width="389" height="99"></div><h2><b>WCHA Conference</b></h2><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-2221/5105888-1-eng-US/f0029-222.jpg" title="f0029-22" width="486" height="62"></div><h2><b>CCHA Conference</b></h2><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-2320/5105881-1-eng-US/f0029-232.jpg" title="f0029-23" width="563" height="34"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-2419/5105874-1-eng-US/f0029-242.jpg" title="f0029-24" width="573" height="254"></div><p><b>Fri. 14 CCHA Playoffs final round</b></p><p><b>Sat. 15 CCHA Playoffs final round</b></p><p><b>Fri. 21 NCAA Regionals</b></p><p><b>Sat. 22 NCAA Regionals</b></p><p><b>Sun. 23 NCAA Regionals</b></p><p><b>Thur. 27 NCAA Finals</b></p><p><b>Fri. 28 NCAA Finals</b></p><p><b>Sat. 29 NCAA Finals</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0029-21

Games To Come

<h2>ONTARIO CONFERENCE</h2><h3>FIRST TEAM Goal</h3><p>Barry Ashby, Queen&rsquo;s</p><p>Defense</p><p>Rick Mastroluisi, McMaster</p><p>Rick Rizzo, McMaster</p><p>Forwards</p><p>Don Langlois, Waterloo</p><p>Mike McFarland, Guelph</p><p>Paul Stothart, Queen&rsquo;s</p><h3>SECOND TEAM</h3><p>Goal</p><p>Rick Nlcklechok, Waterloo</p><p>Defense</p><p>George Morrisey, Toronto</p><p>David Hilborn, Western</p><p>Forwards</p><p>Al Sinclair, York</p><p>Jamie Conroy, Western</p><p>Geoff Shaw, Toronto</p><h2>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</h2><p>Goal</p><p>Andre Paradis, Bishop&rsquo;s</p><p>Defense</p><p>Michl Blais, Concordia</p><p>Jerry West, Ottawa</p><p>Forwards</p><p>Doug Feasby, Concordia</p><p>Francois Bellerose, T. Rivieres</p><p>Bernard Chamberland, Chicoutimi</p><h2>GREAT PLAINS</h2><h3>FIRST TEAM</h3><p>Goal</p><p>Vern Mott, Brandon</p><p>Defense</p><p>Kevin Nagel, Regina</p><p>Blair Davidson, Manitoba</p><p>Forwards</p><p>John Swan, Brandon</p><p>Vince Frlyia, Lakehead</p><p>Kevin Knlbbs, Manitoba</p><h3>SECOND TEAM</h3><p>Goal</p><p>Darnell Crockett, Manitoba</p><p>Defense</p><p>Rob Winkler, Brandon</p><p>Chris Kelland, Lakehead</p><p>Forwards</p><p>Bob Genoway, Manitoba</p><p>Mark Piller, Regina</p><p>Larry Ell, Regina</p><h2>CANADA WEST</h2><h3>FIRST TEAM</h3><p>Goal</p><p>&bull;Ted Poplowski, Alberta</p><p>&bull;Jerry Farwell, Calgary</p><p>Defense</p><p>Rick Williams, Calgary</p><p>Larry Riggins, Alberta</p><p>Forwards</p><p>Jim McLaughlin, UBC</p><p>Chris Holland, Alberta</p><p>Dell Chapman, Saskatchewan</p><h3>SECOND TEAM</h3><p>Goal</p><p>Terry Krvczka, Calgary</p><p>Defense</p><p>Bruce Rolland, Alberta</p><p>Marlowe Allison, Saskatchewar</p><p>Forwards</p><p>Jerry Bancks, Calgary</p><p>Rob Jones, UBC</p><p>Willie Desjardins, Sask.</p><p>(&bull;&mdash;Tied in voting)</p><h2><b>CANADA WEST Final Playoffs</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-2517/5105975-1-eng-US/f0029-252.jpg" title="f0029-25" width="541" height="103"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Calgary 3, Alberta 1</p><p>Calgary 2, Alberta 0</p><h2>GREAT PLAINS</h2><p><b>Final Playoffs</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-2615/5105968-1-eng-US/f0029-262.jpg" title="f0029-26" width="538" height="102"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p><b>Regina 6, Brandon 5</b></p><h2>ONTARIO CONFERENCE</h2><p><b>Final Standings</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-2716/5105961-1-eng-US/f0029-272.jpg" title="f0029-27" width="545" height="324"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>Final Standings</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-2813/5105954-1-eng-US/f0029-282.jpg" title="f0029-28" width="545" height="199"></div><h2><b>ATLANTIC CONFERENCE</b></h2><p><b>EAST DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-2913/5105947-1-eng-US/f0029-292.jpg" title="f0029-29" width="540" height="127"></div><p><b>WEST DIVISION</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-3011/5105940-1-eng-US/f0029-302.jpg" title="f0029-30" width="539" height="149"></div><h2><b>CANADA WEST</b></h2><p><b>Final Standings</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-319/5105933-1-eng-US/f0029-312.jpg" title="f0029-31" width="542" height="124"></div><h3><b>GREAT PLAINS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-328/5105926-1-eng-US/f0029-322.jpg" title="f0029-32" width="538" height="152"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0029-25

Canadian CoHege AH Star Teams

<div class="byline">BY MIKE MURRAY</div><p>CALGARY&mdash;Ask any coach what he would like to have most in a short series and your answer would be&hellip;good goaltending.</p><p>For the University of Calgary, unbelievable goaltending has put them into the National Finals. The Dinosaurs made history as they became the first team in the Canada West conference ever to capture the championship while on the road. Calgary upset the defending national champions in two straight games as they held the high scoring Alberta Golden Bears to only one goal.</p><p>The duo of Jerry Farwell and Terry Kryczka, who have had some rocky moments during the past five weeks, came up with what many felt were the games of their lives. A few eyebrows were raised earlier when the CWUAA All Star team showed Farwell in a tie with Alberta&rsquo;s Ted Poplowski for first team honors. These All Stars faced each other but it was Farwell who stole the show. The Golden Bears fired 33 shots his way but the only goal to elude him was by Mike Broadfoot when the Dinos were playing two men short. Jerry Bancks was the scoring hero as he netted a pair of second period goals to pace Calgary to a 3-1 victory.</p><p>The following day both coaches changed their goaltenders and the match-up featured Terry Kryczka against Brad Hall. During the regular season each had faced the other team four times. Hall had a goals-against-average of 1.75 against Calgary while Kryczka showed a hefty 5.01 average while facing the Golden Bears. But on this day it would be Kryczka who outlasted Hall. Both netminders were brilliant as they blanked the opposing forwards for the first 40 minutes.</p><p>But at 3:06 of the third period Ron Fischer netted his first goal of the season against Alberta and it proved to be the winner. The rest was left up to Kryczka as he held the Golden Bears off the score sheet with save after spectacular save.</p><p>&ldquo;We had our normal breakdowns on the blueline, but our goaltenders sure saved us,&rdquo; said Dinosaur coach George Kingston. &ldquo;Even after the way Farwell had played the night before I had confidence that Kryczka could duplicate the job. If there had been a third game I would have had to flip a coin to see who would have started. It is sure nice to be in that position, knowing that whoever I put in can do the job,&rdquo; Kingston said.</p><p>It was only fitting that the Dinosaurs and Golden Bears cleaned up on the CWAA All Star selections. Calgary put four, including Farwell, defenseman Rick Williams, Kryczka and Jerry Bancks on the two teams. The Bears placed Poplowski, Larry Riggins, Chris Helland and Bruce Rolland. Williams was outstanding in the demise of Alberta in the championship showdown.</p><p>On Jan. 22 the Dinosaurs were Canada&rsquo;s number-one-ranked team and from that point on they proceeded to slide downhill. In their next 10 games they managed to lose seven. In the hearts of a lot of their fans all seemed lost, as they had to win two games in Edmonton. But for George Kingston it was no surprise. He felt that injuries had ruined his game plan for those weeks and that his team had returned to their pre-Christmas form only recently. So it&rsquo;s off to Regina to the national finals. The last time the Dinosaurs were there was in 1975. This time Kingston is confident that his troops are capable of a championship.</p><p><b>AUAA:</b> The Maritimes are breathless as the semifinals proved to be the most exciting in recent memory. The Moncton Aigles Bleus and St. Mary&rsquo;s Huskies scored a total of 30 goals and not once was there a difference of two goals between the teams in their three-game series.</p><p>The Huskies threw a scare into Jean Perron&rsquo;s team as they won the series opener, 5-4. Blair O&rsquo;Donnell netted a pair of goals and Mark Locken stopped 19 third period shots to lead the Huskies. But, as has been the case for most of the season, the Aigles Bleus can never be counted out. The Huskies were within five minutes of knocking off the high flying Moncton team but Michel Bechard scored at 15:07 to tie the game at five and then only a minute and 27 seconds later he scored the winner to even the series at a game apiece.</p><p>In the series&rsquo; final game the script was the same. The Huskies had fought back three times from one goal deficits to tie the game at four but once again it was Be-chard&rsquo;s goal at 16:30 that spelled the end for St. Mary&rsquo;s. Truly, it was one of the most exciting series ever witnessed by the fans in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.</p><p>In the other series, Dalhousie and St. Francis Xavier went the limit also but the series wasn&rsquo;t as dramatic as the one in Moncton. The Tigers received seven goals from seven different scorers in the opening game as they blew the X-Men out, 7-3. Three goals in the space of three minutes and 11 seconds nailed the victory for Pierre Page&rsquo;s Tigers. The X-Men came back as George Barrett stopped 42 shots and his teammates were able to beat Ken Bickerton for three goals to even the series. Both teams saved their best for the end as they were tied at one after two periods. The X-Men led, 2-1 with only 7:58 left in the game. But a fluke goal by Dalhousie seemed to take the wind out of the X-Men&rsquo;s attack and the Tigers scored three goals in the last four minutes and 41 seconds.</p><p>Even though both series could have gone either way it is only fitting that the two teams who finished the season atop their respective divisions meet to fight for the AUAA championship.</p><p>QUAA&mdash;The QUAA semi-finals went as predicted as the Concordia Stingers and Trois-Rivieres Patriotes both disposed of their opposition in two straight games in the best of three match-ups. Against the Ottawa Gee Gees the Stingers&rsquo; top guns were once again unstoppable. Doug Feasby, Canada&rsquo;s third-leading scorer, had a goal and three assists while linemate Roy Halpin had four helpers and a goal. In the quick two-game sweep Concordia never once trailed the Gee Gees and seemed to be on top of their game. In Ottawa the Stingers upended their hosts, 5-3 as Roman Dziatkoweic netted the hat trick. Back in Montreal captain Michel Blais knotched a pair of goals as the Stingers held on to a slim 3-2 victory.</p><p>The Patriotes showed no mercy as they blasted the Bishop Gaitors, 7-2 and 8-2. QUAA All Star goaler Andre Paradis faced 98 shots in the two games. In Lennoxville, Norm Meunier received two-goal efforts from Pierre Tasse and Michel Mercier while on home ice Francois Bellerose had a hat trick. So for the fourth time in the past five years Concordia and Trois-Rivieres will battle it out for the Quebec championship. The Stingers have never lost a final playoff against the Patriotes.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01552/5106006-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="596" height="845"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Defenseman Rick Williams of Calgary, who was named a Canada West All Star this year, led the Dinosaurs&rsquo; upset over Alberta Golden Bears.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0030-01

Calgary Goaltending Duo Proves Too Hot As Alberta’s Bears Are Dethroned

<p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>AMILTON&mdash;No one expected the University of Guelph Gryphons to make it to the Ontario Universities Athletic Association final rounds, let alone win the college championship after their slow first half of the season.</p><p>Unranked in Canada&rsquo;s final top 10 college teams, the surprising Gryphons put it all together in the post-season playoffs round and became the giant killers as they first knocked off Toronto Varsity Blues and then went on to dispose of the favored McMaster Marlins in the championship series to successfully defend their OUAA title.</p><p>The Gryphons beat out the Marlins 2-1 in the best-of-three OUAA final, winning the second game 3-1 at home and the series&rsquo; clincher 4-3 on the Marlins&rsquo; home rink. McMaster had taken the series opener 5-3 and appeared on their way to complementing their first-place finish.</p><p>But the roof fell in as the series progressed and the Gryphons dominated the Marlins. Prior to beating McMaster, Guelph had defeated Toronto 2-1 in a best-of-three semi-final winning the deciding game 4-0 on Toronto ice. McMaster had handily disposed of Queen&rsquo;s in two straight in the other semi-final.</p><p>Scott MacKenzie&rsquo;, Doug Heaslip, Joe Campagnola and Tim Hurl were the Guelph scorers in the championship win over McMaster. Rick Mastroluisi scored two power play goals in vain for the Marlins.</p><p>The defeat may have put McMaster down but the Marlins were not out of the Canadian intercollege title hunt despite their loss at the hands of Guelph, but they needed some help to make it.</p><p>The win put Guelph into the CIAU championship playoff round, which opens in Regina. The Marlins could still make it into the six-team tournament as a wild card team but this depends on the outcome of the Western playdowns.</p><p>Regina and Brandon squared off in a best-of-three Great Plains Conference final. If Brandon wins, Regina would get a berth in the title tournament as the host team. If Regina wins, the CIAU top 10 committee would select a wild card team and McMaster would be considered. If that happens, the Marlins, who were the No. 1 ranked team in the country this season, would stil be alive.</p><p>Guelph coach Bud Folusewych said the win over McMaster would help ease a most frustrating season for his team. &ldquo;I thought we had a stronger team than last year right from day one. But we had an attitude problem. The guys thought all they had to do was step on the ice. That was very frustrating,&rdquo; said the Gryphons&rsquo; coach.</p><p>Folusewych credited a Christmas tournament in San Diego with bringing his team together. &ldquo;After that things turned around for us,&rdquo; said the Guelph coach.</p><p>One of the stars of the Guelph upsurge was goaler Jim Lockhurst, who was in the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; training camp last September but became a victim of the numbers game. The Blues suggested he play a year of college hockey and come back. Lockhurst chose to return to Guelph and helped turn a .500 season into another championship year.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Underdog Guelph Ontario Champs

<div class="byline">BY MORRIS DALLA COSTA</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>OTTAWA&mdash;When league-leading scorer Jim Fox hurt his knee a month ago, everyone thought his Ottawa &lsquo;67s might as well pack their bags and head back to the nation&rsquo;s capital.</p><p>Unfortunately for the rest of the league, the &lsquo;67s didn&rsquo;t pack it up. Instead they came back and played some of the best hockey of the season.</p><p>Ottawa, despite several injury problems, looks like a sure bet to finish in second spot in the Leyden Division, which means they&rsquo;ll have home ice advantage in the playoffs.</p><p>Ottawa hasn&rsquo;t backed down on the road or at home. They&rsquo;ve come up with a 6-1 win over the Windsor Spitfires and a 5-4 decision over the Toronto Marlboros.</p><p>It appears that the Ottawa &lsquo;67s have found that they can play hockey just as well without Fox, given the opportunity. Coach Brian Kilrea went with six or seven players for the majority of a game. With Fox out, the rest of the players are getting more ice time and they are responding.</p><p>Players like Moe Lemay, Mario Cerri, Jay Fraser, Dan Fascinato and Randy Cunneyworth are basking in the extra ice time and the whole team is profitting.</p><p>In the Windsor win it was Fraser with a pair of goals, while Yvan Joly, Sean Simpson, Kevin Konings and Cunneyworth had singles.</p><p>They&rsquo;ve also been getting good goaltending from Jim Ralph and Mike Vezinax. Windsor outshot Ottawa, 42-31 but only a Blair Barnes goal made it on the scoreboard.</p><p>Against Toronto, the &lsquo;67s were down, 3-0 but they kept coming back and eventually a powerplay goal by Joly gave them the win. Doug Crossman, Lemay, Fascinato and Fraser had other Ottawa goals.</p><p>Bill Barber (with two), Jim Peplinski and Wayne Crawford scored the Toronto goals.</p><p>The &lsquo;67s are getting solid play from a talented, tireless rearguard in Crossman. One of the OMJHL&rsquo;s top candidates for the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the league&rsquo;s top blueliner, Crossman works like a horse and comes up with one strong performance after another.</p><p>Around the league, there&rsquo;s another team that refuses to give in and they play out of the Motor City of Windsor. The Spitfires, who for the second half of the season have had the Toronto Marlboros snapping at their heels, seem to come up big when the time is right.</p><p>Despite losing a 9-5 decision to Peterborough in Peterborough, Windsor is still four points up on Toronto, although the Spitfires have played two more games. The Spitfires played one of their timely games when the Marlies came to visit; the result was a big 7-5 win and the Spitfires looked like they were priming for the playoffs, with Steve Peters (two goals) and Jarrett (three assists) leading the team to the win.</p><p>Toronto&rsquo;s only win of the week came at the expense of the Niagara Falls Flyers by an 8-5 count right in Niagara Falls, with former Flyer Wayne Crawford doing most of the damage. He had two goals and two assists.</p><p>Dan Barber also had a pair of goals for Toronto, while Moe Mantha, Stewart Gavin, Todd Bidner and Jim Malone had the others.</p><p>Keith McClelland, Brian Carroll, Daryl Evans, Mark Osborne and Steve Ludzik scored for Niagara Falls.</p><p>The Flyers had a lean week, losing to the London Knights, 7-5. Jim Egerton had two goals and Dino Cicarelli also notched a pair for London. Steve Larmer had two for the Falls.</p><p>Niagara Falls may still catch third place. They are six points behind Brantford, but have three games in hand.</p><p>The Alexanders aren&rsquo;t making things easy for themselves as they lost a couple of contests, one of them to the Sudbury Wolves, who dumped the Alexanders, 8-6 in Sudbury.</p><p>Dale Hunter, with three goals, John Kirk and Mike Allison with two each, all helped the Wolves ambush the Alexanders.</p><p>Mike Bullard was the top man for Brantford with three goals.</p><p>It didn&rsquo;t get any better, as the Alexanders were demolished, 10-5 by the Kitchener Rangers and Paul Coffee. Coffee had two goals and five assists for the Rangers in front of more than 2,800 fans in Kitchener.</p><p>Brantford did come up with a 63 win over the Oshawa Generals, who are super strong at home, but close to the worst team in the league on the road. Bullard had a pair of goals in the contest, including a franchise-record 60th. Kevin Lavallee, Dave Miles, Scott Vanderburgh and Randy Ladouceur had singles.</p><p>Kitchener seems to have found its skating legs, as late as that may be. They came up with a second win, this one a 7-3 shellacking of the London Knights.</p><p>Grant Martin and Coffey had a pair of goals each, with Kevin Casey, Paul Pooley and Jeff Larmer getting singles.</p><p>Frank Nigro, Egerton and Tony McKenzie scored for London, which looks destined to finish in fifth spot.</p><p>In the Leyden division it was bad news on the fight front. The Oshawa Generals and Sudbury Wolves were involved in a chippy contest that saw the Generals go into the stands to fight the fans. The a-la-Madison Square Garden fiasco resuled in charges being filed against Oshawa&rsquo;s Peter Wilson for causing a disturbance and resisting arrrest. Wilson was upset because a fan suppposedly threw or spit something at him.</p><p>By the way, Sudbury won the game, 8-1, with Peter Reed hitting for three goals and Bruce Kilgour, Dale Hunter, Dan Frawley and Randy Minoletti getting the others.</p><p>Sudbury is warming up to the playoffs and the team who has to travel to the north country is not going to have an easy time of it.</p><p>It looks like that team may be Kingston, who have had less than an ideal time of it lately. The loss to Windsor, coupled with a 5-2 loss to Peterborough, may have cost Kingston third place.</p><p>Bill Gardner scored two goals for Peterborough in 10 seconds to spark the win in Kingston. Dave Morrison, Andre Hidi and Larry Floyd had the others.</p><p>Walt Poddubny and Tim Kerr scored for Kingston.</p><p>Oshawa did manage a road win and that was an overtime decision against Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.</p><p>A goal by Peter Horachek in the overtime session gave Oshawa the 4-3 victory. Bob Crawford with two and a single by Dan Lane were the other Oshawa goalscorers.</p><p>Tony Butorac, Doug Shedder and Steve Gatzos scored for Grey hounds.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01505/5106061-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="577" height="806"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>When the Ottawa 67s reached down for some extra firepower, Yvan Joly responded with two big goals, including game winner.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0031-01

Injury Outbreak Fails To Slow Onrushing 67s

<div class="byline">BY GREGG DRINNAN</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01528/5106099-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="567" height="751"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Lethbridge&rsquo;s Doug Morrison broke his team&rsquo;s all-time record for career goals.</i></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02387/5106092-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="562" height="751"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Brian Graves was the offensive hero as Seattle erupted om a lengthy slump.</i></figcaption></div><p>BRANDON&mdash;It will be the Western Hockey League representative meeting the Ontario Major Junior League champion on Sunday, May 4, when the 1980 Memorial Cup tournament opens here.</p><p>The three-team double roundrobin tournament will be hosted by the WHL, with the first three games slated for Brandon&rsquo;s 5,022-seat Keystone Centre and the final four moving to Regina&rsquo;s Agridome, a facility that seats 5,566.</p><p>The WHL&rsquo;s board of governors took quite a gamble back in the fall of 1979 when they decided to award the 1980 affair to Brandon and Regina. After all, the Regina Pats were coming off their worst season ever and the defending-champion Brandon Wheat Kings had been decimated by graduation.</p><p>Then, while the Pats got off to a great start&mdash;their attendance is up about 1,400 per game over a year ago&mdash;the Wheat Kings staggered coming out of the gate and even spent some time in the Eastern Division cellar.</p><p>Brandon&rsquo;s attendance suffered with its on-ice performance and, suddenly, there was talk that Brandon would lose its three Memorial Cup games, with the entire affair being moved to Regina.</p><p>The hockey fans of this southwestern Manitoba community responded, though, and WHL president Dave Descent says he now expects all seven games to be sold out.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re very, very pleased with the response by the Brandon people,&rdquo; Descent said. &ldquo;The Wheat Kings are playing very well and are legitimate contenders. Their attendance is up now and we&rsquo;ve sold between 2,700 and 3,000 tickets for the Memorial Cup games in Brandon. We felt that at this time we&rsquo;d be right around 3,000, so we&rsquo;re more than happy with the response to date. I&rsquo;m very pleased and very flattered by the response of the people. I&rsquo;ve got all the confidence that we&rsquo;ll sell out all three games.</p><p>&ldquo;Ticket sales in Regina, meanwhile, have been cut off. They hit the 4,000-mark and sales were stopped. Another 800 to 1,000 tickets will go on sale there shortly.&rdquo;</p><p>After the May 4 opener, it&rsquo;ll be the west meeting the Quebec Major Junior League champs on May 5. Then, on May 6, it&rsquo;ll be the OMJHL going against the QMJHL. Games in Brandon will all start at 8 p.m.</p><p>The scene shifts to Regina on May 7, with Ontario meeting the western team. On May 8, it&rsquo;ll be the WHL against Quebec, with Quebec meeting Ontario on May 9. Those three games are all slated for 7.30 starts.</p><p>The Memorial Cup banquet, to be held in the Regina Inn, starts at 7 o&rsquo;clock on the night of May 10.</p><p>And, on May 11, it&rsquo;s the grand finale, with the top two teams from the double round-robin portion of the tournament meeting in the one-game final. That game will start at 1 p.m., and will once again be televised nationally on CTV.</p><p><b>REGINA:</b> The Pats lost twice in two nights, 3-1 to the Cougars in Victoria and 4-3 in overtime to the Bruins in New Westminster. Center Doug Wickenheiser scored three goals in the two games, upping his league-leading total to 79. Regina then went into Saskatoon, beat the Blades, 7-4 and pulled into first place in the Eastern Division. Wickenheiser banged in three more goals and added two assists. The WHL&rsquo;s leading scorer was left with 147 points, on 82 goals and 65 assists. Wickenheiser was held pointless in the Pats&rsquo; next outing, as the Billings Bighorns scored a 6-4 win in Regina.</p><p><b>CALGARY:</b> The Wranglers dumped the Saskatoon Blades, 8-3 to pull into a first-place tie with the Regina Pats in the Eastern Division. Rookie Glenn Merkosky scored three times, raising his total to 31, while center Kelly Kisio had two goals and two assists. Merkosky added two more goals as the Wranglers lost, 11-3 to the Tigers in Medicine Hat and then hit for another in a 5-4 loss to the Wheat Kings in Brandon.</p><p><b>MEDICINE HAT:</b> The Tigers are rolling along in third place in the eastern division, and seem destined to finish there. They erased a 4-1 lead and bounced the Broncos, 9-6 in Lethbridge. Center Brad Kempthorne led the way with a goal and three assists and rookie Ken Solheim picked up goals No. 38 and 39. The Tigers then hammered the Calgary Wranglers, 11-3 in The Hat. Kempthorne, Brant Kiessig and Steve Tsujiura had two goals each and Soleim hit for this 40th.</p><p><b>BILLINGS:</b> Gord Stafford scored three times, giving him 43 on the season, as the Bighorns dumped the Broncos, 5-2 in Lethbridge. The Bighorns came up with a big win, dropping the Pats 6-4 in Regina. Larry Davidson led the way with his ninth and 10th goals, while goaltender Neil Girrard kicked out 51 shots.</p><p><b>BRANDON:</b> The Wheat Kings lost, 6-5 to the Portland Winter Hawks and that was Brandon&rsquo;s first home-ice defeat in 1980. The Wheat Kings had won their last nine at home. Don Gillen upped his goal total to 30, with three powerplay scores as the Wheat Kings got past the Calgary Wranglers, 5-4 in Brandon.</p><p><b>LETHBRIDGE:</b> Doug Morrison scored his 50th goal and picked up his 100th point as the Broncos lost, 9-6 to the Medicine Hat Tigers. Morrison&rsquo;s goal was the 155th of his career, tying Steve Tambellini&rsquo;s club record. Dave Barr had four goals in the same game. Two days after that game, coach Mike Sauter handed in his resignation and he was replaced by Vic Stasiuk. In Stasiuk&rsquo;s debut, the Broncos dropped a 5-2 home-ice decision to the Billings Bighorns. The Broncos headed west and lost 7-4 to the Breakers in Seattle and 8-4 to the Winter Hawks in Portland. Morrison banged in four goals in the loss to Portland, giving him 55.</p><p><b>SASKATOON:</b> The hard-charging Blades are making a run at the Eastern Division&rsquo;s final playoff spot. A 7-6 overtime win over the Portland Winter Hawks, the Blades&rsquo; fifth consecutive victory, moved them to within two points of sixth-place Lethbridge. Kevin MacNaught&rsquo;s 30th goal of the year tied the game at 18:56 of the third period. Tim Hack, with his 16th on a power play, won it at 5:09 of sudden-death. The Blades scored six power-play goals in the game. Saskatoon&rsquo;s winning streak ended with an 8-3 loss to the Wranglers in Calgary.</p><p><b>PORTLAND:</b> The Winter Hawks finished a four-game road trip with a 6-5 win over the Wheat Kings in Brandon. It was Portland&rsquo;s third win in the four games. Bart Yachimec&rsquo;s 19th goal, at 18:05 of the third period, broke a 5-5 tie. The night before, right winger Jim Dobson, who scored goals No. 57 and 58 in Brandon, suited up with the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Minnesota North Stars in a 6-3 victory over New York Rangers. Dobson was the North Stars&rsquo; fifth-round selection in the August 1979 entry draft. Florent Robidoux scored three times, giving him 39, as the Winter Hawks dropped the Lethbridge Broncos 8-4 in Portland. Dobson reached the 60-goal plateau with a pair.</p><p><b>VICTORIA:</b> The Cougars scored a 3-1 home-ice victory over the Regina Pats, as Grant Rezansoff, Mark Robinson and Torrie Robertson scored to erase a 1-0 deficit. Victoria then dumped New Westminster 4-1, for its 13th consecutive win over the Bruins this season. Barry Pederson upped his season&rsquo;s totals to 45 goals and 71 assists as he scored once and added two helpers.</p><p><b>SEATTLE:</b> The Breakers lost 76 to the Bruins in New Westminster, for their 18th consecutive game without a win. They had one tie over that period. The slump ended with a bang, though, as the Breakers whipped the Bruins, 12-2 in Seattle. Brian Graves pumped in four goals, giving him 27, while Dean Postlewaite added three, increasing his total to 19. Allan Graves scored his 39th and 40th goals as the Breakers dropped the Lethbridge Broncos, 7-4 in Seattle. Dan Held picked up his 30th goal in the win and John Neeld banged in his 27th and 28th, both into an empty net.</p><p><b>NEW WESTMINSTER:</b> The Bruins won their sixth game of 1980, riding Dan Sylvester&rsquo;s three-goal effort to a 7-6 win over Seattle Breakers in New Westminster. After losing 12-2 in Seattle, and being mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, the Bruins bounced back to score a 4-3 overtime win over the visiting Regina Pats. Marc Chartier&rsquo;s 21st goal at 3:42 of sudden-death was the difference. The Bruins got some good news when a civil compromise was signed in Multnomah County district court in Portland to end the criminal case against coach Ernie McLean. McLean had been charged with harassment after being accused of pushing Jackie Jones, a 19-year-old female spectator, after a game there Nov. 16. Court papers indicated Ms. Jones had reached a satisfactory agreement with McLean about the incident and would not carry the prosecution further.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0032-01

Brandon Confirms League’s Faith With Memorial Cup Ticket Support

<div class="byline">BY DANNY YOUNG</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p><b>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</b></p><p>SHERBROOKE&mdash;Last year&rsquo;s finalists in the Quebec Major Junior League playoffs, the Sherbrooke Beavers and the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs, are having their problems as the league finishes off the regular season. The Beavers still can&rsquo;t find the consistency it takes to win a championship, while the Draveurs can&rsquo;t seem to keep the puck out of their own net.</p><p>The night Sherbrooke opened their biggest divisional lead in several months was ironically a disappointment. The Beavers had settled for a 5-5 tie with last place Laval to gain a seven-point lead. But for coach Ghislain Delage, anything less than two points was a failure.</p><p>&ldquo;This game was the picture of our season,&rdquo; said Delage. &ldquo;Everytime we have a chance to take a big lead, we blow it. I wanted to clinch first place so we could start preparing for the playoffs.&rdquo;</p><p>In an effort to motivate his players, Delage had shown them films of past Sherbrooke championships two weeks prior to the Laval game.</p><p>&ldquo;It really touched us,&rdquo; said winger Brian Johnson. &ldquo;We wanted that sensation for us.&rdquo;</p><p>Yet, for Delage, the films did not produce the desired effect. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re not playing like champions,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>Meanwhile, Trois-Rivieres, though very much in the running for their third consecutive Jacques Plante Trophy, which is awarded to the league&rsquo;s best defensive club, is giving up too many goals. For example, in a big game in the battle for fourth place, the Draveurs lost in Montreal, 10-7.</p><p>&ldquo;Imagine scoring seven goals on the road and losing,&rdquo; said dejected coach Michel Bergeron after that game.</p><p>If the loss of defensemen like Pierre Lacroix, Michel Leblanc, and Norm Rochefort was responsible for the club&rsquo;s defensive decline, it would be understandable. But because the recent problems have centered around goalie Jacques Cloutier, the man who led the Draveurs to two championships and was drafted by Buffalo, it is very puzzling to all concerned.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01477/5106137-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="591" height="666"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Beaver coach Ghislain Delage is at a loss to explain why his team hasn&rsquo;t been able to come up with a consistent performance throughout the season.</i></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;Cloutier is not making the stops,&rdquo; says Bergeron. &ldquo;And as a result, we&rsquo;re always behind. Then we have to open it up and end up giving more goals. If Jacques goes like he can go, we&rsquo;d be in good shape.&rdquo;</p><p>For Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivieres, however, there were some optimistic signs. Sharpshooter Norm Aubin, who has 87 goals and 59 assists, has returned to the Sherbrooke lineup, while Cloutier played considerably better in Trois-Rivieres&rsquo; wins over Laval and Montreal.</p><p><b>HULL:</b> With just eight games left in the regular season, Marcel Pronovost stunned everyone by announcing his resignation as coach of the Olympics. Pronovost subsequently joined the Detroit Red Wings as a defensive coach and John Lachapelle has taken over as Hull&rsquo;s coach for the remainder of the season.</p><p>The performance of the club immediately before and after Pronovost&rsquo;s resignation did not help to soften the blow. They lost twice to Shawinigan, 2-1 and 5-2, and also to Chicoutimi 7-3. They did, however, defeat Quebec, 4-3.</p><p><b>SHAWINIGAN:</b> With three wins, two of them over rival Hull, the Cataractes look as though they should hold on to seventh place. In the three games, the Cats allowed only three goals. They edged Hull, 2-1 and shut out Sorel, 8-9 with Guy Fournier and Michel Cote scoring two apiece. Finally, they downed Hull, 5-2.</p><p><b>MONTREAL:</b> Up until the 15-minute mark of the third period in a game against Cornwall, the Juniors had a perfect week going. But at that point, they blew a 5-3 lead and lost, 6-5. Previously, the Juniors had defeated Laval, 7-1 and Trois-Rivies, 10-7. Mike Krushelynsky scored four times against Trois-Rivieres.</p><p><b>CORNWALL:</b> In an important home game against Sherbrooke, the Royals outshot the Beavers, 4125, but had to settle for a 5-5 tie. Then against Montreal, the Royals came back from the short end of a 5-3 score to win, 6-5. Dale Hawerchuk scored three goals, including the game winner.</p><p><b>CHICOUTIMI:</b> The Sagueneens defeated Hull, 7-3, but they were upset by Sorel, 4-2 in a penalty &lsquo;filled game. Alain Lemieux scored both Chicoutimi goals. The loss prevented the Sags from gaining sole possession of second place over Cornwall.</p><p><b>QUEBEC:</b> The Remparts started the week with two wins over Sorel. Jacques Chouinard scored twice in a 4-3 win, and then Gaston Therrien and Roberto Lavoie scored doubles in a 6-3 final. Then the Remparts dropped game to Hull, 4-3 and Sherbrooke, 6-2.</p><p><b>TROIS-RIVIERES:</b> Rene Labbe scored twice in an impressive 9-3 win for the Draveurs. In their next game, the goaltending fell apart and they lost to Montreal, 10-7. Pierre Aubry and Marc Roy each scored twice. The Draveurs&rsquo; defense then settled down in a 3-1 win in Laval.</p><p><b>LAVAL:</b> Jean-Pierre Viens scored four times to lead the Voisins to a 5-5 tie with Sherbrooke, an inspiring effort for a last place club. In other games, the Voisins lost to Sherbrooke, 11-4 and Trois-Rivieres, 3-1.</p><p><b>SOREL:</b> After losing twice to Quebec, the Hawks upset Chicoutimi, 4-2 with Chris Valentine scoring twice. A brawl erupted in that game late in the third period, a rather unfortunate circumstance considering the league&rsquo;s success at cutting down on that sort of activity this season.</p><p><b>SHERBROOKE:</b> After losing to Trois-Rivieres, 9-3, goalie Corrado Micalef saved the Beavers with 36 stops in their 5-5 tie with Cornwall. The Beavers then defeated Laval, 11-4, with Bernard Gallant scoring four goals. Against Quebec Ricky Secco scored twice in a 6-2 win. To close a very active week, the Beavers tied Laval, 5-5 with Aubin scoring twice.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02341/5106130-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="584" height="897"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Trois Rivieres&rsquo; defensive problems begin with the usually reliable goaler Jacques Cloutier.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0033-01

Former Finalists Can’t Corral Consistency

<h2><b>MARCH</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1971/5106521-1-eng-US/f0034-192.jpg" title="f0034-19" width="580" height="1116"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2062/5106514-1-eng-US/f0034-202.jpg" title="f0034-20" width="573" height="1153"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-19

WHERE NHL TEAMS PLAY

<p><b>(Standings on Mon. March 10)</b></p><h2><b>Norris Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2344/5106573-1-eng-US/f0034-232.jpg" title="f0034-23" width="557" height="155"></div><h2><b>Adams Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2439/5106566-1-eng-US/f0034-242.jpg" title="f0034-24" width="553" height="130"></div><h2><b>Patrick Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2530/5106559-1-eng-US/f0034-252.jpg" title="f0034-25" width="551" height="130"></div><h2><b>Smythe Division</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2624/5106552-1-eng-US/f0034-262.jpg" title="f0034-26" width="557" height="155"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Mon. March 3</p><p>Pittsburgh 1 at St. Louis 5</p><p>Tue. March 4</p><p>Edmonton 4 at N.Y. Islanders 6</p><p>Colorado 1 at Philadelphia 4</p><p>Winnipeg 1 at Vancouver 2</p><p>Wed. March 5</p><p>Buffalo 2 at N.Y. Rangers 4</p><p>Atlanta 3 at Los Angeles 1</p><p>St. Louis 5 at Washington 7</p><p>Toronto 5 at Pittsburgh 3</p><p>Boston 5 at Detroit 3</p><p>Chicago 3 at Vancouver 3</p><p>Minnesota 3 at Quebec 3</p><p>Thu. March 6</p><p>N.Y. Islanders 5 at Philadelphia 2</p><p>Edmonton 4 at Montreal 5</p><p>Hartford 3 at Buffalo 4</p><p>Fri. March 7</p><p>Atlanta 9 at Vancouver 3</p><p>Chicago 4 at Colorado 2</p><p>Sat. March 8</p><p>N.Y. Rangers 2 at Montreal 5</p><p>Boston 5 at N.Y. Islanders 3</p><p>Philadelphia 6 at Minnesota 2</p><p>Hartford 5 at Washington 9</p><p>Edmonton 4 at Pittsburgh 5</p><p>Detroit 2 at St. Louis 2</p><p>Chicago 3 at Los Angeles 3</p><p>Quebec 2 at Toronto 3</p><p>Sun. March 9</p><p>Minnesota 2 at N.Y. Rangers 4</p><p>N.Y. Islanders 1 at Washington 3</p><p>Edmonton 3 at Philadelphia 5</p><p>Atlanta 5 at Winnipeg 2</p><p>Hartford 1 at Boston 1</p><p>Pittsburgh 2 at Detroit 6</p><p>Vancouver 4 at Colorado 4</p><p>St. Louis 4 at Buffalo 9</p><p>Toronto 4 at Quebec 5<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0034-23

NHL SCOREBOARD

<p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span>TLANTA: Vail 23, 24, M. Reinhart 8, MacMillan 12, 13, 14, Rautakallio 4, Nilsson 30, 31, Houston 17, 18, Chouinard 27, 28, 29, Lever 26, 27, Pronovost 18. BOSTON: MacTavish 6, 7, Bourque 12, Middleton 29, 30, 31, Foster 9, McNab 30, Secord 20, Lalonde 6, Milbury 9.</b></p><p><b>BUFFALO: Ramsay 16, 17, Van Boxmeer 10, Luce 10, Martin 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, Gare 43, 44, Smith 21, 22, Seiling 21. CHICAGO: Sedlbauer 16, 17, Trimper 6, Lysiak 20, 21, Preston 26, Lecuyer 3, Mulvey 31, 32, Higgins 12.</b></p><p><b>COLORADO: Schmautz 9, 10, Quenneville 6, Pierce 16, McDonald 34, 35, Comeau 1.</b></p><p><b>DETROIT: Nedomansky 30, Foligno 30, 31, 32, Thompson 26, Mahovlich 13, 14, McCourt 24, 25, Labraaten 28.</b></p><p><b>EDMONTON: Ashby 1, 2, 3, Gretzky 36, 37, 38, 39, MacDonald 38, 39, 40, 41, Chipperfield 18, Hamilton 3, Messier 9, Hicks 8.</b></p><p><b>HARTFORD. Hull 5, Stoughton 41, 42, 43, Keon 9, Johnston 8, Rogers 33, 34, Lev 4.</b></p><p><b>LOS ANGELES: Murphy 24, Dionne 47, 48, Simmer 48.</b></p><p><b>MINNESOTA: Hartsburg 12, MacAdam 38, Payne 37, Christoff 1, Eaves 12, Younghans 10, G. Smith 4.</b></p><p><b>MONTREAL: Shutt 37, Napier 10, 11, Robinson 11, Lapointe 3, Chartraw 4, 5, Lambert 16, Larouche 44, Tremblay 10. ISLANDERS: Merrick 11, Bossy 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, D. Potvin 5, Howatt 7, Sutter 10, 11, Nystrom 15, Kallur 16, Tonelli 12, 13, Trottier 35.</b></p><p><b>RANGERS: Duguay 21, 22, Beck 11, Bothwell 3, Esposito 29, Greschner 18, Dave Maloney 10, 11, 12, Johnstone 12.</b></p><p><b>PHILADELPHIA: Kelly 14, Barber 33, 34, Gardner 1, Dupont 1, Holgren 21, 22, 23, Propp 28, Linseman 16, Bridgman 14, 15, 16, Clarke 10, Leach 41, 42, 43.</b></p><p><b>PITTSBURGH: Tallon 4, Ferguson 16, 17, Davis 3, Libett 12, Hughes 15, Kin-drachuk 14, Lonsberry 14, 15, Kehoe 22, Sheppard 12.</b></p><p><b>QUEBEC: B. Stewart, 8, Tardif 21, 22, Richard 2, 3, Leduc 19, 20, Goulet 17, Lacroix 9, Smrke 3.</b></p><p><b>ST. LOUIS: Patey 11, 12, 13, Babych 17, 18, 19, Federko 30, 31, Turnbull 7, 8, Klassen 8, Zuke 20, Chapman 23, Sutter 20, 21.</b></p><p><b>TORONTO: Hickey 23, 24, Paiement 24, 25, Sittler 31, 32, 33, 34. Saganiuk 19, Vaive 18, Maloney 17, Farrish 1.</b></p><p><b>VANCOUVER: Fraser 16, McCarthy 10, Gradin 25, 26, Williams 24, Smyl 26, 27, 28, Gillis 13, Logan 3, Boldirev 23, Brasar 9.</b></p><p><b>WASHINGTON: Picard 9, 10, Gartner 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, Sirois 8, 9, 10, 11, Edberg 16, 17, Gustaffsson 15, 16, Lehtonen 9, Hangsleben 9, Jarvis 11.</b></p><p><b>WINNIPEG: Lindstrom 21, Wilson 17, Norwich 9.</b></p><h2><b>NHL LEADERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2152/5106604-1-eng-US/f0034-212.jpg" title="f0034-21" width="555" height="302"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-21

NHL’S SCORERS THIS WEEK

<h2><b>SUN. MARCH 2 LOS ANGELES 4, QUEBEC 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01542/5106483-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="559" height="634"></div><h2><b>CHICAGO 3, WINNIPEG 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02424/5106476-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="557" height="507"></div><h2><b>BUFFALO 2, MINNESOTA 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03324/5106469-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="560" height="506"></div><h2><b>Mon. March 3 PITTSBURGH 1, ST. LOUIS 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04229/5106462-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="566" height="532"></div><h2><b>Tue. March 4 EDMONTON 4, ISLANDERS 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05179/5106455-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="567" height="830"></div><h2><b>COLORADO 1, PHILADELPHIA 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06153/5106448-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="550" height="205"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07141/5106441-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="564" height="451"></div><h2><b>WINNIPEG 1, VANCOUVER 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08132/5106434-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="563" height="502"></div><h2><b>Wed., March 5 BUFFALO 2, RANGERS 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-09120/5106427-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="557" height="727"></div><h2><b>ATLANTA 3, LOS ANGELES-1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-10117/5106420-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="553" height="525"></div><h2><b>ST. LOUIS 5, WASHINGTON 7</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-11108/5106413-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="562" height="731"></div><h2><b>TORONTO 5, PITTSBURGH 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-12104/5106406-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="563" height="681"></div><h2><b>BOSTON 5, DETROIT 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1395/5106399-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="564" height="678"></div><h2><b>CHICAGO 3, VANCOUVER 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1491/5106392-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="553" height="380"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1587/5106385-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="554" height="207"></div><h2><b>MINNESOTA 3, QUEBEC 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1686/5106378-1-eng-US/f0034-162.jpg" title="f0034-16" width="560" height="576"></div><h2><b>Thurs. March 6 ISLANDERS 5, PHILADELPHIA 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1779/5106371-1-eng-US/f0034-172.jpg" title="f0034-17" width="553" height="528"></div><h2><b>EDMONTON 4, MONTREAL 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1875/5106364-1-eng-US/f0034-182.jpg" title="f0034-18" width="549" height="208"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02408/5106357-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="558" height="426"></div><h2><b>HARTFORD 3, BUFFALO 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03324/5106350-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="558" height="574"></div><h2><b>Fri. March 7 ATLANTA 9, VANCOUVER 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04269/5106343-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="559" height="675"></div><h2><b>CHICAGO 4, colorado 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05221/5106336-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="543" height="130"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06201/5106329-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="553" height="475"></div><h2><b>Sat. March 8 RANGERS 2<i>,</i>MONTREAL 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07189/5106322-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="564" height="651"></div><h2><b>BOSTON 5, ISLANDERS 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08168/5106315-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="561" height="599"></div><h2><b>PHILADELPHIA 1, MINNESOTA 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09159/5106308-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="547" height="180"></div><h2><b>HARTFORD 5, WASHINGTON 9</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10138/5106301-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="556" height="451"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-11126/5106294-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="558" height="924"></div><h2><b>EDMONTON 4, PITTSBURGH 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-12110/5106287-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="554" height="601"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1396/5106280-1-eng-US/f0035-132.jpg" title="f0035-13" width="555" height="183"></div><h2><b>DETROIT 2, ST. LOUIS 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1479/5106273-1-eng-US/f0035-142.jpg" title="f0035-14" width="563" height="499"></div><h2><b>CHICAGO 3, LOS ANGELES 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1569/5106266-1-eng-US/f0035-152.jpg" title="f0035-15" width="559" height="587"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC 2, TORONTO 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1663/5106259-1-eng-US/f0035-162.jpg" title="f0035-16" width="561" height="586"></div><h2><b>Sun. March 9 MINNESOTA 2, RANGERS 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1749/5106252-1-eng-US/f0035-172.jpg" title="f0035-17" width="533" height="539"></div><h2><b>ISLANDERS 1, WASHINGTON 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1843/5106245-1-eng-US/f0035-182.jpg" title="f0035-18" width="538" height="531"></div><h2><b>EDMONTON 3, PHILADELPHIA 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1938/5106238-1-eng-US/f0035-192.jpg" title="f0035-19" width="541" height="692"></div><h2><b>ATLANTA 5, WINNIPEG 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01425/5106231-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="566" height="579"></div><h2><b>HARTFORD I, BOSTON 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02305/5106224-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="557" height="254"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03233/5106217-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="566" height="285"></div><h2><b>PITTSBURGH 2, DETROIT 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04194/5106210-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="571" height="679"></div><h2><b>VANCOUVER 4, COLORADO 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05168/5106203-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="501" height="57"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06144/5106196-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="566" height="534"></div><h2><b>ST. LOUIS 4, BUFFALO 9</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07122/5106189-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="563" height="503"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0899/5106182-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="561" height="219"></div><h2><b>TORONTO 4, QUEBEC 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0986/5106175-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="569" height="813"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1079/5106168-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="601" height="982"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MIKE GARTNER&hellip;Six-Goal Week</b></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01513/5106666-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div><p><b>&mdash;C&mdash;Captain</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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NHL TEAM ROSTERS

<h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed., March 12)</b></p><h3><b>Northern Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01487/5106767-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="556" height="153"></div><h3><b>Southern Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02368/5106760-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="554" height="131"></div><p><b>1-Nova Scotia. 4-New Raven. 5-Adirondack. 7-Maine. 14-Rochester. 16-Hershev. 19-Springfield. 22-New Brunswick. 23-Binghamton. 24-Svracuse.</b></p><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Tues. March 4</p><p>Binghamton 4 at New Brunswick 3</p><p>Wed. March 5</p><p>Binghamton 2 at Adirondack 6</p><p>New Haven 5 at Hershey 7</p><p>Springfield 1 at Maine 1</p><p>Thurs. March 6</p><p>Nova Scotia 6 at New Brunswick 5</p><p>Frl. March 7</p><p>New Haven 1 at Binghamton 4</p><p>Adirondack 3 at Nova Scotia 2</p><p>Hershey 4 at Springfield 3</p><p>Sat. March 8</p><p>Syracuse 1 at Hershey 1</p><p>Adirondack 6 at New Brunswick 7</p><p>Maine 2 at Springfield 6</p><p>Sun. March 9</p><p>Hershey 3 at Maine 4</p><p>New Brunswick 1 at Nova Scotia 4</p><p>New Haven 3 at Rochester 3</p><p>Springfield 6 at Syracuse 8</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03293/5106753-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="563" height="530"></div><h3><b>GOALING RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04215/5106746-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="571" height="558"></div><h2><b>CENTRAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue. March 11)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05171/5106739-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="559" height="226"></div><p><b>9-Salt Lake. 10-Oklahoma City. 12-Indianapolis. 13-Dallas. 15-Birmlngham. 17-Fort Worth. 18-Houston. 19-Cincinnati. 21-Tulsa.</b></p><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Wed. March 5</p><p>Fort Worth 7 at Houston 5</p><p>Tulsa 3 at Salt Lake 6</p><p>Thu. March 6</p><p>Houston 4 at Birmingham 4</p><p>Oklahoma City 5 at Indianapolis</p><p>Fri. March 7</p><p>Houston 6 at Birmingham 4</p><p>Fort Worth 5 at Dallas 7</p><p>Tulsa 1 at Salt Lake 6</p><p>Sat. March 8</p><p>Tulsa 1 at Dallas 4</p><p>Oklahoma City 3 at Indianapolis</p><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06149/5106732-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="560" height="281"></div><h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue., Mar. 11)</b></p><h3><b>North Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07141/5106725-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="557" height="153"></div><h3><b>South Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08136/5106718-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="556" height="154"></div><p><b>15-Kalamazoo. 7-Toledo. 20-Mllwaukee. 25-Dayton. 26-Fllnt. 27-Fort Wavne. 28-Grand Rapids. 29-Muskegon. 30-Port Huron. 31-Saginaw.</b></p><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Fri., March 7</p><p>Muskegon 3 at Port Huron 7</p><p>Saginaw 4 at Kalamazoo 7</p><p>Flint 5 at Grand Rapids 5</p><p>Sat., March 8</p><p>Toledo 2 at Muskegon 7.</p><p>Saginaw 2 at Port Huron 7</p><p>Fort Wayne 5 at Kalamazoo 6</p><p>Milwaukee 3 at Grand Rapids 6</p><p>Sun., March 9</p><p>Port Huron 6 at Fort Wavne 4</p><p>Milwaukee 4 at Muskegon 13</p><p>Saginaw 3 at Davton 3</p><p>Toledo 4 at Flint 7</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-09130/5106711-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="563" height="453"></div><h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2><p><b>(Standings on Tue., March 11)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-10127/5106704-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="553" height="179"></div><p><b>4-Richmond. 5-Johnstown. 10-Baltimore. 32-Erie. 33-Hampton. 34-Ufica.</b></p><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Wed., March 5</p><p>ARIchmond 4 at Baltimore 7</p><p>Thu., March 6</p><p>Erie 10 at Hampton 4</p><p>Fri., March 7</p><p>Erie 4 at Baltimore 2</p><p>Johnstown 0 at Utica 10</p><p>Sat., March 8</p><p>Richmond 7 at Hampton 4</p><p>Erie 10 at Johnstown 1</p><p>Utica 4 at Baltimore 5</p><p>Sun., March 9</p><p>Hampton 5 at Utica 6</p><p>Baltimore 7 at Johnstown</p><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-11123/5106697-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="557" height="234"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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MINOR 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;Islanders</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;Edmontoff</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><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2658/5106843-1-eng-US/f0036-262.jpg" title="f0036-26" width="586" height="909"></div><h2><b>CENTRAL LEAGUE</b></h2><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2751/5106836-1-eng-US/f0036-272.jpg" title="f0036-27" width="557" height="928"></div><h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2846/5106829-1-eng-US/f0036-282.jpg" title="f0036-28" width="575" height="827"></div><h2><b>EASTERN LEAGUE</b></h2><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2943/5106822-1-eng-US/f0036-292.jpg" title="f0036-29" width="534" height="681"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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PRO GAMES TO COME…

<h2><b>ONTARIO MAJOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Tues., March 12)</b></p><h3><b>Emms Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-12119/5106965-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="556" height="176"></div><h3><b>Leyden Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-13116/5106958-1-eng-US/f0036-132.jpg" title="f0036-13" width="554" height="152"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Tues. March 4</p><p>Kitchener 3 at Toronto 11</p><p>Sudbury 2 at S.S. Marie 4</p><p>London 5 at Niagara Falls 3</p><p>Kingston 3 at Ottawa 9</p><p>Wed. March 6</p><p>S.S. Marie 2 at Peterborough 7</p><p>Kitchener 3 at Windsor 7</p><p>Niagara Falls 3 at Oshawa 5</p><p>Frl. March 7</p><p>S.S. Marie 3 at Ottawa 9</p><p>Oshawa 6 at London 4</p><p>Brantford 4 at Kingston 6</p><p>Kitchener 7 at Niagara Falls 1</p><p>Sudbury 4 at Toronto 1</p><p>Sat. March 8</p><p>Ottawa 8 at Brantford 3</p><p>Sudbury 5 at Windsor 4</p><p>Kingston 4 at Peterborough 5</p><p>Sun. March 9</p><p>S.S. Marie 2 at Kingston 4</p><p>Sudbury 3 at Oshawa 4</p><p>London 4 at Toronto 7</p><p>Ottawa 7 at Niagara Falls 2</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-14110/5106951-1-eng-US/f0036-142.jpg" title="f0036-14" width="559" height="428"></div><h2><b>WESTERN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon., March 10)</b></p><h3><b>Western Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-15109/5106944-1-eng-US/f0036-152.jpg" title="f0036-15" width="551" height="129"></div><h3><b>Eastern Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-16106/5106937-1-eng-US/f0036-162.jpg" title="f0036-16" width="556" height="180"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Mon. March 3</p><p>Portland 10 at Seattle 2</p><p>Tues. March 4</p><p>Saskatoon 3 at Victoria 4</p><p>Medicine Hat 3 at Billings 6 *</p><p>Regina 3 at Brandon 2</p><p>Wed. March 5</p><p>New Westminster 2 at Seattle 8</p><p>Billings 2 at Regina 5</p><p>Thurs. March 6</p><p>Saskatoon 4 at Seattle 9</p><p>Calgary 2 at Medicine Hat 9</p><p>Frl. March 7</p><p>Saskatoon 1 at New Westminster 6</p><p>Brandon 4 at Regina 5</p><p>Calgary 3 at Lethbridge 4</p><p>Sat. March 8</p><p>New Westminster 3 at Victoria 6</p><p>Lethbridge 4 at Billings 5</p><p>Saskatoon 5 at Portland 11</p><p>Regina 3 at Medicine Hat 8</p><p>Sun. March 9</p><p>Portland 1 a Seattle 2</p><p>Victoria 2 at New Westminster 3</p><p>Calgary 4 at Billings 1</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-17100/5106930-1-eng-US/f0036-172.jpg" title="f0036-17" width="552" height="452"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1895/5106923-1-eng-US/f0036-182.jpg" title="f0036-18" width="555" height="456"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon., March 10)</b></p><h3><b>LeBel Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1993/5106916-1-eng-US/f0036-192.jpg" title="f0036-19" width="554" height="152"></div><h3><b>Dllio Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2088/5106909-1-eng-US/f0036-202.jpg" title="f0036-20" width="552" height="129"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Mon. March 3</p><p>Sherbrooke 5 at Laval 5</p><p>Tues. March 4</p><p>Montreal 4 at Trois-Rivieres 9</p><p>Wed. March 5</p><p>Sorel 2 at Hull 5</p><p>Thurs. March 6</p><p>Cornwall 8 at Chicoutimi 6</p><p>Shawinigan 9 at Sorel 4</p><p>Frl. March 7</p><p>Hull 4 at Montreal 9</p><p>Cornwall 3 at Quebec 4</p><p>Laval 1 at Shawinigan 5</p><p>Sun. March 9</p><p>Trois-Rivieres 2 at Chicoutimi 8</p><p>Laval 1 at Hull 16</p><p>Cornwall 3 at Montreal 4</p><p>Shawinigan 1 at Sherbrooke 4</p><p>Quebec 4 at Sorel 2</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2181/5106902-1-eng-US/f0036-212.jpg" title="f0036-21" width="560" height="278"></div><h2><b>CONTINENTAL SENIOR</b></h2><p><b>(Standings On Thurs. Feb. 27)</b></p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2278/5106895-1-eng-US/f0036-222.jpg" title="f0036-22" width="561" height="254"></div><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2372/5106888-1-eng-US/f0036-232.jpg" title="f0036-23" width="565" height="601"></div><h2>GEORGIAN BAY LEAGUE</h2><p><b>(Standings On Fri. March 7)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2465/5106881-1-eng-US/f0036-242.jpg" title="f0036-24" width="557" height="203"></div><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2561/5106874-1-eng-US/f0036-252.jpg" title="f0036-25" width="561" height="430"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0036-12

AMATEUR SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-11" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1164/5106996-1-eng-US/f0037-112.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>PERSONALS AUTOGRAPHS:</b> Want to trade or purchase. Sports, Olympians, Entertainers, Politics, any subject. John J. Smith, 21400 Alaminos Dr., Saugus, CA. 91350.</p><p><b>HOCKEY SCOREBOOKS:</b> The only scorebook designed for the spectator. Includes 50 games, lineups, individual and team summaries, plus more. Send name and address with $4.50 cheque or money order to: SPEC TWENTY, 1048 Alpine N.W., Grand Rapids, Mich. 49504.</p><p><b>WANTED:</b> programs from N.H.L. All-Star Games and Stanley Cup finals prior to 1970; team yearbooks and guides prior to 1965; Hendy Hockey Guides from 1930&rsquo;s; paperback book &ldquo;Detroit&rsquo;s Big Three&rdquo; by Ed Fitkin; old Bee Hive hockey photos. Send prices to: Greg Innis, 19265 Shiawassee #102, Detroit, Mich. 48219. The Hockey Collector, A bimonthly publication for interested NHL-WHA card, puck, uniform and related memorabilia collectors. Subscription $4.50 (U.S.) per year, sample issue $1.00. Also have authentic NHL-WHA uniforms for trade. Larry Pelliccioni, #1-1314 Sherman, Royal Oak, Michigan 48067.</p><p><b>WANTED:</b> Jerseys of old WHA-lndianapolis, Houston, San Diego, Birmingham or Phoenix. Write: Mickey Jenkins, 3213-Braddock Street, Dayton, Ohio 45420.</p><p><b>AWARDS:</b> Pierce Plastics &mdash; specializing in plastic laminating of team, family pictures, diplomas, certificates mounted on quality wood (Maple, Walnut, etc.) Call: (401) 434-0860; 15 Alexander Ave., East Providence, R.l. 02914.</p><h2>RINK EQUIPMENT</h2><p>Ice Freezing Equipment, 2-Rink Refig. Systems; 1-Hockey; 1-Curling. 360 H.P. Comp. Units &mdash; cooling tower dehumidifier. All necessary pumps and electrical hook-ups. Additional info contact: P. R. Brown, 1717 Pinehill Rd., Spokane, WA 99218.</p><h2>OPPORTUNITIES</h2><p><b>WANTED:</b> Senior calibre hockey players for independent Sr. Team. Will help with housing and jobs. 45 game schedule for 1980-81. Please send playing statistics and work resume to Boise Blades Hockey Club, 1771 Wildwood, Boise, Idaho. 83704.</p><p><b>WANTED:</b> Assistant Manager, 5 thousand seat ice arena, hosts IHL team, high school hockey and other events. Position available immediately. Resumes accepted immediately. Send to: Mr. Phil Simon, 2500 Turner NW., Grand Rapids, Ml 49504. Phone: 364-7017.</p><p><b>PLAYERS WANTED:</b> Players for 1980-81 season new EHL. Must be over 20, 5&rsquo;10&rdquo;, aggressive skater. Write Gaeten Gagne, 247 Rider Avenue, Syracuse, N.Y. 13207.</p><p><b>NON-IMPORT PLAYERS FOR EUROPE:</b> For the 1980-81 season. If you were born in Europe or if your father held European citizenship at the time of your birth (even if you were born elsewhere) you may qualify as a non-import player for the country in question. Good salaries and benefits if you have played for equivalent of junior B&rsquo; or better. An experience of a lifetime. All information will be kept in strictest confidence. Send details of birth records and hockey resume to:<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0037-11

CLASSIFIED

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01498/5107048-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Gordon Chibroski)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Pie in the eye for charity</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><i><span>E</span>ach year, the Maine Mariners hold their &ldquo;Maine Mariner Mates Carnival,&rdquo; in which the entire team participates and all proceeds go to charity. One of the most popular events at this year&rsquo;s carnival, which raised over $11,000 for the Sweester Home for Youth in Saco, Me., was the pie throw. On the receiving end were Mariners Paul Evans (left) and Barry Dean.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02393/5107041-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="1163" height="1945"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Olympian visits Winnipeg</b></h2><p><i>Debbie Brill, the Canadian high jumping champion, was in Winnipeg recently to participate in an indoor track meet. While in town, she was escorted out to center ice by Jets&rsquo; president Michael Gobuty to drop a ceremonial puck before a Jets-Washington Capitals game. Debbie must have liked Winnipeg, because the next night she set a new Canadian high jumping record.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03315/5107034-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="1224" height="1170"></div><h2><b>On the Sly at the Garden</b></h2><p><i>Those New York Rangers keep drawing the celebrities into their games at Madison Square Garden, and our wily photographer keeps recording their appearances for posterity&mdash;whether they like it or not. That&rsquo;s a rather aggravated-looking Sylvester &ldquo;Rocky&rdquo; Stallone hiding behind the goatee in the picture above.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04242/5107027-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="1793" height="1253"></div><h2><b>A jacket for Jackie</b></h2><p><i>Jackie O&rsquo;Callahan, a defenseman with the United States Olympic team, recently stopped by the offices of the Chicago Black Hawks to meet Hawks&rsquo; coach Eddie Johnston and pick up a Hawks&rsquo; hat and jacket at a press conference. O&rsquo;Callahan saw limited action in the Olympics because of an injured knee, which he will rest for the remainder of this year. O&rsquo;Callahan, however, hopes to be in a Hawk uniform by the time next season rolls around.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0038-01

HOCKEY PEOPLE

<div class="byline">BY JIM MATHESON</div><p>EDMONTON&mdash;It seemed harmless at the time. The puck was just inside the Boston Bruins&rsquo; blueline and it squirted to the boards.</p><p>Edmonton Oiler winger Brett Callighen charged after it with Bruin rookie Brad McCrimmon just behind. All of a sudden, Callighen went down like a shot.</p><p>&ldquo;It happened so quickly I didn&rsquo;t know if it was a puck or a stick that hit me,&rdquo; said Callighen of the Feb. 24 incident. &ldquo;They tell me it was a stick (McCrimmon&rsquo;s).</p><p>&ldquo;I was scared to death. I couldn&rsquo;t see.&rdquo;</p><p>Callighen stumbled a couple of steps, then put his hand up to his bleeding left eye. &ldquo;He was screaming&hellip;it was a frightening thing,&rdquo; said Bruin goalie Gerry Cheevers, who was at the end of the bench about 10 feet away when Callighen fell. &ldquo;I thought I might get sick to my stomach.&rdquo;</p><p>The Oiler forward was rushed to hospital, spent five days in the dark with patches over both eyes and is only now starting to get some sight back. &ldquo;Hospital was like a prison,&rdquo; said Callighen, who had to lay flat on his back the whole time.</p><p>In the hospital, Callighen did leg exercises with weights and squeezed hand-grips to keep from going bonkers. Doctors finally let him go home a week after the incident, but they still haven&rsquo;t been able to examine the eye closely. &ldquo;There is still blood behind the eye&hellip;it&rsquo;s slowly going away,&rdquo; said Callighen, who had been having a strong season, with 57 points in 58 games prior to the fluke accident.</p><p>Callighen could make out colors and images of people a week after the incident, but &ldquo;it was like I had a film over my eye.&rdquo;</p><p>Oiler defenseman Al Hamilton knows exactly how Callighen felt. Two years to the day, Hamilton went down when the Houston Aeros&rsquo; John Gray hit him in the left eye with a slapshot. Hamilton missed the last 21 games and all the playoffs. His eyesight, while good enough to play, isn&rsquo;t 100 per cent today. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a terrible feeling&hellip;sitting in darkness and not knowing when your sight&rsquo;s going to come back. Or if it is at all,&rdquo; said the rearguard, who spent three weeks in hospital waiting for the blood to evaporate behind his eye.</p><p>It&rsquo;s doubtful Callighen will get back this season. While the injury doesn&rsquo;t appear to be as serious as Hamilton&rsquo;s, you can&rsquo;t fool around with eye problems. Brett&rsquo;s taking it slow and sure, not rushing. The Oilers would dearly love to have him back for the stretch run to the playoffs, but they&rsquo;re not holding out great hopes.</p><p>&ldquo;Losing Brett is a terrible blow,&rdquo; admitted Oiler coach Glen Sather, who put Callighen with phenom Wayne Gretzky and sharpshooting rightwing Blair MacDonald in Feb. 1979. They&rsquo;ve been together, the GMC line, almost exclusively since Gretzky missed a couple of games with tonsilitis early this season and Callighen was out with a bruised tailbone, but basically the line has stayed intact.</p><p>&ldquo;Brett really makes the team go,&rdquo; said Sather, who&rsquo;s always liked Callighen&rsquo;s enthusiasm in the corners. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never bought the theory that Gretzky has made Callighen.&rdquo;</p><p>While it&rsquo;s true that Callighen is fortunate to be playing on the same line as the next great superstar in Gretzky, he&rsquo;s not without skills of his own. He doesn&rsquo;t have a great touch around the net, but he would have hit for 30 goals if he hadn&rsquo;t got hurt. This is a 26-year-old who never played Junior A, Tier II junior or even big-time college yet he&rsquo;s in the NHL through sheer hard work.</p><p>The other Oilers, and particularly Gretzky and MacDonald, miss Callighen&rsquo;s knack of getting out of tough traffic with the puck and his ability to freewheel and freelance on the ice. It took Sather three or four games and various auditions before he finally put recently acquired Don Ashby in Callighen&rsquo;s spot.</p><p>Ashby, once a No. 1 draft choice of Toronto in 1975, is big enough, strong enough and smart enough to play with Gretzky and MacDonald. In his first full game with the two he flopped two goals (his first pair of the year) and added an assist.</p><p>&ldquo;Ashby means to be able to complement the other two,&rdquo; said Sather, who picked up the former Calgary Centennial in a trade for Bobby Schmautz.</p><p>But, as Carly Simon would say: Nobody does it better than Callighen.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01468/5107079-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="586" height="1088"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Recent acquisition Don Ashby has been used by Sather alongside Gretzky and MacDonald.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Steve Babineau)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0039-01

Callighen Eye Injury Halts GMC Line

<p>Following are the latest player movements in hockey:</p><h2><b>NATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p>ATLANTA&mdash;Curt Bennett, LW, returned from injury list and assigned to Birmingham of CHL. Brad Smith, LW, sent to Dallas of CHL.</p><p>BUFFALO&mdash;Mike Ramsey, D, and Rob McClanahan, LW, signed to pro tryouts from U.S. Olympic team.</p><p>CHICAGO&mdash;Doug Lecuyer, LW, recalled from New Brunswick of AHL.</p><p>COLORADO&mdash;Steve Parker, C, returned to Windsor of OMJHL after pro tryout. Nick Beverley, D, Mike Dwyer, LW, and Dave Watson, LW, recalled from Fort Worth of CHL. Rene Robert, C, placed on disabled list for rest of season with groin injury.</p><p>DETROIT&mdash;Bill Hogaboam, C, recalled from Adirondack of AHL. Alex Pirus, LW, and Brent Peterson, C, returned to Adirondack.</p><p>EDMONTON&mdash;Brett Callighen, LW, placed on disabled list with eye injury. Ed Mio, G, returned to lineup from injury list.</p><p>HARTFORD&mdash;Marc Renaud, D, returned to Springfield of AHL.</p><p>MINNESOTA&mdash;Lou Levasseur, G, Tony White, LW, and Jon Fontas, C, returned to Okalhoma City of CHL. Robbie Laird, LW, recalled from Oklahoma City. Tom McCarthy, LW, and Mike Eaves, C, returned to lineup from injury list.</p><p>MONTREAL&mdash;Bill Baker, D, signed to pro contract from U.S. Olympic team and assigned to Nova Scotia of AHL. Allan Luciw, D, and Chris Nilan, C, recalled from Nova Scotia. Bob Gainey, LW, Guy Lafleur, RW, Brian Engblom, D, and Guy Lapointe, D, returned to lineup from injury list. Larry Robinson, D, placed on disabled list with shoulder separation and Pierre Mondou, C, on injury list with knee problem.</p><p>N.Y. ISLANDERS&mdash;Garth MacGuigan, LW, recalled from Indianapolis of CHL.</p><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Dave Gardner, C, recalled from Maine of AHL. Frank Bathe, D, returned to lineup from injury list.</p><p>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Orest Kindrachuk, C, returned to lineup from injury list.</p><p>QUEBEC&mdash;Pierre Plante, LW, and John Smrke, LW, returned to Syracuse of AHL and later recalled along with Terry Johnson, D. Curt Brackenbury, LW, returned to lineup from injury list. Roland Cloutier, C, and Louis Sleigher, RW, returned to Syracuse. Barry Legge, D, assigned to Syracuse, refused to report and was placed on suspended list.</p><p>ST. LOUIS&mdash;Joe Micheletti, D, placed on injury list.</p><p>TORONTO&mdash;Bob Stephenson, RW, recalled from New Brunswick of AHL. Walt McKechnie, C, traded to Colorado in return for third round draft choice in 1980.</p><p>VANCOUVER&mdash;Kris Manery, RW, traded to Winnipeg for future considerations. Brant Ashton, LW, returned to lineup from injury list.</p><p>WASHINGTON&mdash;Bob Sirois, RW, and Dennis Maruk, C, returned to lineup from injury list.</p><p>WINNIPEG&mdash;Lorne Stamler, LW, and Bill Lesuk, LW, recalled from Tulsa of CHL. Larry Giroux, D, Dave Hoyda, LW, John Bethel, C, Gerry Rioux, RW, Don MacIver, D, and Larry Hopkins, LW, returned to Tulsa. Scott Campbell, D, returned to lineup from injury list. Yves Dechene and Michel Blais, both underage drafts, called up from QMHL for pro tryouts.</p><h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p>Binghamton&mdash;Marco Baron, G, recalled from Grand Rapids of IHL. Jim Stewart, G, returned to Utica of EHL. Keith Crowder, RW, returned to Grand Rapids.</p><p>MAINE&mdash;Sam St. Laurent, G, and Greg Natale, D, returned to Toledo of IHL. Dave Faulkenberg, LW, recalled from Toledo. Dave Faulkner, C, returned to Dayton of IHL.</p><p>NEW HAVEN&mdash;Rick Slawson, D, returned to Richmond of EHL.</p><h2><b>INTL. LEAGUE</b></h2><p>DAYTON&mdash;Glenn Tomalty, C, returned by Winnipeg.</p><p>FLINT&mdash;Paul Tantardini, LW, traded to Toledo of IHL.</p><p>FORT WAYNE&mdash;Bob Janecyk, G, returned by Indianapolis of CHL.</p><p>MILWAUKEE&mdash;Yves Danurand, G, recalled by Quebec. Sylvain Locas, RW, added to roster.</p><p>MUSKEGON&mdash;Joey Girardin, D, released.</p><p>TOLEDO&mdash;Paul Tantardini, LW, traded to Muskegon.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Player Movements

<div class="image-hero"><img title="C0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-01180/5107141-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Charlie Simmer of the Kings tops the NHL in power play goals, with 17. He had only eight all of last season.</i></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>ORONTO&mdash;The Los Angeles Kings have been getting maximum production from their Triple Crown Line of Marcel Dionne, Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor&mdash;particularly when they have the man advantage on the power play.</p><p>The Kings, in fact, are the No. 1 power play team in the NHL this season with 72 goals scored in their first 66 games, and the reason for their prolific offense has been the systematic play of Dionne, Simmer and Taylor.</p><p>Simmer, who has to rank as the most surprising player of the entire NHL season, leads the league in power play goals with 17, more than double his production for the entire 197879 season. Dionne has put the puck in the net 15 times with the man advantage and Taylor has scored 10 times crediting the Kings&rsquo; TCL unit with 42 of the team&rsquo;s 72 power play goals.</p><p>The Kings have become masters of the extra man offense this season showing up such NHL powers as Philadelphia, Montreal and the Islanders. Last season it was a different story. Los Angeles only rated third behind the Islanders and Detroit and the current edition of the Kings is a cinch to eclipse last year&rsquo;s power play high of 81 goals scored by the Islanders.</p><p>In the individual power play scoring race, Simmer is No. 1 with Dionne and Montreal&rsquo;s Steve Shutt tied with 15. Guy Lafleur of the Canadiens, Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier, both of the Islanders, are next with 14 each. Darryl Sittler of Toronto, Boston&rsquo;s Jean Ratelle, Greg Mulvey of Chicago and Minnesota&rsquo;s Steve Payne follow with 13 goals apiece.</p><p>It now appears that Bossy, who was the undisputed power play scoring leader last season with 27 goals, will finish the year well off his league setting mark. Scorers like Simmer, Dionne, Trottier and Lafleur will all finish ahead of their &lsquo;78-79 pace.</p><p>On the team level, Los Angeles enjoys the distinction of scoring the most power play goals with the Canadiens hot in pursuit with 66. But beyond the Kings and Canadiens, you might wonder what&rsquo;s happened to the NHL&rsquo;s so-called power clubs like Philadelphia, Boston, Islanders and Buffalo? They are presently all running behind last season in production with the surprising Minnesota North Stars and Rangers tied for third with 64 goals each. The North Stars, who are a vastly improved hockey club this season, totalled only 63 all last year.</p><p>The Rangers, who hit for 75 last season, are well behind their pace. So are the Islanders, who ranked as the NHL&rsquo;s No. 1 power play scoring team last year with 81 goals. This season they have only 50. The Red Wings are also operating below par with 51 goals, 27 in arrears of last year.</p><p>For the benefit of the figure filberts, here are the NHL&rsquo;s top 10 power play team totals: Los Angeles, 72; Montreal, 66; Minnesota, 64; Rangers, 64; Chicago, 54; Edmonton, 52; Buffalo, 52; Toronto, 51; Detroit, 51; Islanders, 50; Quebec, 49; Boston, 48; Winnipeg, 46; Colorado, 44; Atlanta, 42; Vancouver, 39; Washington, 38; St. Louis, 36; Pittsburgh, 36; Hartford, 35; and the biggest surprise of all, Philadelphia, with only 35.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-02110/5107134-1-eng-US/c0004-022.jpg" title="C0004-02" width="590" height="896"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Little Marcel Dionne is the man who makes it all happen for the Kings on the power play. Not only is he a capable goal scorer, but he also leads the NHL in assists and is the key man on the ice when L.A. has the man advantage.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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March 21, 1980

Sittler’s Climbing Value Cools Leafs’ Trade Talk

HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

FAN FORUM

The Point Race…