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.

April 4, 1980

The Hockey News April 4, 1980

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><p class="dropcap"><span>E</span>aves and Christoff scored sals, and the threesome buzzed around the Montreal net practically every shift it hit the ice. Christoff, stopped on two breakaways, earned No. 1 star honors with his best game since turning pro after helping the United States win the Olympic gold medal.</p><p>&ldquo;I played the left side one or two games before the Olympics because of injuries,&rdquo; Christoff said. &ldquo;They gave me the first star tonight, so I can&rsquo;t knock it. Yes, that was the best I&rsquo;ve played since the Olympics. Things were so hectic after the Olympics. But I felt well-rested tonight.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I only watch our players and Christoff was by far our best player,&rdquo; coach Glen Sonmor said.</p><p>&ldquo;It felt super out there,&rdquo; said Zanussi, who has played with virtually every center on the team this season. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a pleasure to work with Eaves and Steve. We all can go in the corners. No one is immune to passing. We were yel-ling for each other and working the give and go. We did pretty good considering Eaves and I are just coming off injuries and Stevie is getting his confidence.&rdquo;</p><p>The performance gave the Stars confidence that they can recover from a March slump to finish among the top eight teams in the regular season standings so that they can gain the home ice edge for the first round of the playoffs.</p><p>In that Montreal contest, the Stars used eight players who are in their first NHL season: Forwards Eaves, Christoff, Dave Hanson, McCarthy (who played only one shift) and Dan Chicoine and defensemen Curt Giles, Don Jackson and Craig Hartsburg.</p><p>Minnesota&rsquo;s injury update shows defenseman Brad Maxwell out with a knee injury for two weeks, defenseman Gary Sargent out indefinitely with a back injury, center Glen Sharpley out indefinitely with a knee injury and defenseman Paul Shmyr out indefinitely with a broken nose.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

IN THIS ISSUE

North Stars Find 2nd Scoring Unit

<div class="byline">By BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><p>&ldquo;Vervy is doing things you guys (press) may not see on the stat sheets,&rdquo; said Bob Dailey, who was Ververgaert&rsquo;s teammate in Vancouver before preceding his friend&rsquo;s arrival in Philadelphia. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s playing very well defensively. He channels guys well and forechecks well.</p><p>&ldquo;He plays similar to (ex-Flyer) Ross Lonsberry. He may not score as many goals as Ross, but you always know he&rsquo;s gonna be there for you.&rdquo;</p><p>Until Harry Neale signed on as Vancouver&rsquo;s coach, Ververgaert&rsquo;s defensive responsibilities were light. When he played on a line with Andre Boudrias, the idea was: Get Ververgaert the puck and let others backcheck.</p><p>&ldquo;It was hard for me to adjust in Vancouver,&rdquo; said Ververgaert, 26. &ldquo;Turning right over from an offensive hockey player to an all-around player was tough.</p><p>&ldquo;Over there, gradually I changed, but the coaching wasn&rsquo;t as good as it is here. Maybe they weren&rsquo;t getting through to me properly. Pat&rsquo;s very easy to understand.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Defensively,&rdquo; said Quinn, &ldquo;he has improved, whether by application or through learning. He&rsquo;s playing very sound defense.&rdquo;</p><p>But checkers, as they say at the supermarket, are easy to find. What&rsquo;s happened to Ververgaert&rsquo;s goal production? Was it lost, as baggage frequently is, during the trip from Vancouver to Philadelphia?</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what the reason is,&rdquo; said Ververgaert, a first-round 1973 draft choice of the Canucks. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting some good shots. I think my shot is just as hard and just as accurate.</p><p>Dailey thinks one reason Ververgaert&rsquo;s goal production has slipped is the tendency by many teams to fall back defensively.</p><p>&ldquo;Look at Reggie (Leach),&rdquo; said Dailey. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll bet he isn&rsquo;t getting as many long shots as he used to. Besides, Vervy&rsquo;s biggest asset is his quick shot. He has to get into the top of the circle, the dot, and score from there.&rdquo;</p><p>For awhile earlier this season Ververgaert thought he&rsquo;d be taking his assets elsewhere. The Flyers reportedly were close to making a deal-that would send him to Los Angeles for Rick Hampton. Now, it appears Ververgaert can relax, that he&rsquo;ll be remaining in Philadelphia.</p><p>&ldquo;To leave this organization is the worst thing that could possibly happen to a hockey player,&rdquo; said Ververgaert. &ldquo;Being a part of this team, and being a part of the streak (record 35 games without a loss) is probably the second biggest honor in hockey besides the Stanley Cup. For me, it&rsquo;s the biggest thing that&rsquo;s ever happened.&rdquo;</p><p>If Ververgaert is so happy, then why is he playing out his option? Wingers who score under 20 goals aren&rsquo;t exactly in great demand.</p><p>&ldquo;The fact that I&rsquo;m playing out my option has no bearing on me wanting to go somewhere else. I definitely want to stay here. I guess I just wanted to prove to them that I could play.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011259/4713372-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="586" height="768"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Dennis Ververgaert isn&rsquo;t having a great scoring year, but the Flyers like his determined attitude.</i></figcaption></div><p>It doesn&rsquo;t show in the scoring statistics, but Ververgaert is proving his point.</p><p><b>FLYERS&rsquo; FACTS:</b> Andre Dupont was chosen winner of the fourth annual Class Guy Award, presented by the Philadelphia chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. Previous winners were Gary Dornhoefer, Joe Watson, and Bernie Parent&hellip;Dupont wasn&rsquo;t the only Flyers&rsquo; employee picking up a prize. Coach Pat Quinn and his wife, Sandra, were presented a two-week trip to&mdash;where else?&mdash;Ireland by the Flyers Fan Club&hellip;Rookie defenseman Norm Barnes, who played in the All Star game and then disappeared for 17 games with a severe abdominal strain, returned against Toronto but still isn&rsquo;t 100 percent healthy.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Wervergaert Fits Flyers’ Style

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01994/4714016-1-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/f0017-01879/4714009-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="602" height="708"></div><h2>TOP ROOKIE SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02722/4714002-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="592" height="364"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03560/4713995-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="570" height="2867"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-05330/4713988-1-eng-US/f0017-052.jpg" title="f0017-05" width="552" height="782"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b> HOCKEY STICKS</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b> HOCKEY STICKS</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01489/4714432-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="574" height="744"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Fort Wayne general manager Ken Ullyot says the intense competition for playoff spots has caused fights.</i></figcaption></div><p>WINDSOR&mdash;During its formative years the International Hockey League acquired a rather distasteful reputation as a hatchet league. Violence was its best known product. Its bylaws read like the script from the movie <i>Slapshot.</i></p><p>Veteran followers of the oldest minor amateur hockey league in the United States resent the stigma. Even in the early days veterans will tell you the IHL didn&rsquo;t skate stride for stride with violence. The reputation was born out of hearsay, rumor, and plain ignorance.</p><p>The IHL will point out it was the first league to make wearing helmets mandatory. The rule has since been rescinded but at least the IHL made the effort.</p><p>During a recent meeting the IHL board of governors launched a movement which may also set a precedent. The IHL is considering ruling out fights. The seed was planted by the recent nationwide exposure and success of Team U.S.A. in the Winter Olympics, where no fights are allowed.</p><p>Ken Ullyot, general manager of the Fort Wayne Komets, expressed some concern over recent happenings in the IHL. &ldquo;For the most part,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;we&rsquo;ve had a pretty mild season. We haven&rsquo;t had many fights. Violence has been held to a minimum but as the season winds down to the playoffs with terrific competition for positions, we&rsquo;ve had a few problems.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why we discussed the no-fight rule at the meeting,&rdquo; said Ullyot. &ldquo;Early reaction was positive. I really think we can pass the rule and it will be effective next season.&rdquo;</p><p>One of the &lsquo;problems&rsquo; to which Ullyot alluded took place recently in Muskegon. With less than five minutes remaining in a game between the Mohawks and Flint, all hell broke loose. As reported in the Muskegon <i>Chronicle,</i> &ldquo;The war on ice started simmering like an explosive charge on a long fuse, slowly burning from early in the second period until the final fateful detonation.&rdquo;</p><p>A total of 22 players were ejected by referee Jim Nagles as a result of the bench-clearing melee which erupted with 4:32 left to play. All told, Nagles assessed 330 penalty minutes, 191 on Muskegon and 139 on Flint. Each team had to finish the game with just four skaters and a goalie.</p><p>The fuse was a second period fight between Tony Horvath of the Mohawks and Flint&rsquo;s Pierre Giroux. From that point on, some observers felt the game slipped away from Nagles, leading to the ultimate brawl.</p><p>Mike Rufin of Flint and the Mohawks&rsquo; Eric Switzer ignited the final period hostilities. They dropped their gloves at 15:29 and shortly thereafter players from both teams were all over the ice.</p><p>Nagles had no comment after the game. Flint coach Marc Boi-leau, whose team wound up an 8-4 winner, did comment. &ldquo;It was a disgrace,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If this is what hockey is coming to, I want out of it.&rdquo;</p><p>Apparently Boileau&rsquo;s sentiments are shared by the board of governors as well. Fighting may soon be a ghost of the past in the IHL, or maybe that&rsquo;s ghoul of the past.</p><p>Flint&rsquo;s victory was the only one of the week for the Generals and it completed a three-game road trip. Flint holds a solid fourth-place position in the north division and is fifth overall. Total points determine the final two playoff positions as well as starting positions for all eight teams in the post-season party.</p><p>Kalamazoo, <i>a</i> 4-3 winner at Muskegon in its only game, still leads the overall race with 87 points. That&rsquo;s a four-point spread over Saginaw, five up on Port Huron and seven in front of south division leader Fort Wayne.</p><p>Following Flint in the overall point race is Toledo, with 62. Muskegon is next with 58 followed by Grand Rapids at 57 and Dayton and Milwaukee with 54 each. Only four points separate the bottom four teams which will probably keep tempers short for the final three weeks of the season.</p><p>Dayton and Milwaukee enjoyed the most success among the playoff hopefuls. The Gems ran their unbeaten streak to five with a 8-2 win at Milwaukee, and a 4-1 victory over Flint and a 4-4 tie with Fort Wayne in two home games. The loss to Dayton was the only reverse for the Admirals, who took home games from Grand Rapids and Flint by respective scores of 7-5 and 5-3.</p><p>Muskegon shot blanks, losing to Kalamazoo 4-3, and to Flint 8-4. Saginaw picked up three of a possible four points by skating to a 6-6 tie against Fort Wayne at home and nipping the Komets 3-2 on the road. The victory at Fort Wayne was a most welcome birthday present for Saginaw coach Don Perry. Port Huron lost at Toledo, 7-2, but got a point with a 3-3 tie at Grand Rapids.</p><p>Fort Wayne continues to struggle at home after a pair of ties on the road, 6-6 at Saginaw and 4-4 at Dayton. The Komets returned home to drop the 3-2 verdict to Saginaw. Toledo was almost perfect. The Diggers enhanced their second place position in the south with a 7-2 victory over Port Huron, a 5-4 win at Grand Rabids and a 44 tie with the Owls at home. The Owls managed a pair of points during the week, getting a 3-3 tie at Toledo, and a tie against Port Huron at home. Grand Rapids also lost twice at Milwaukee 7-5 both times, and to Toledo 5-4.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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IHL Board Considering Rule To Ban Fighting

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01767/4715980-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce Bernett)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>BRUINS UNLOAD CREIGHTON</b></p><p><b>IMLACH CALLS LEAFS&rsquo; SHOTS</b></p><p><b>RED WINGS DUMP KROMM</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Cover-01

COACH FIRINGS STUN NHL

<div class="byline">FRANK ORR&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011159/4713044-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="336" height="365"></div><h2><b>Late-season rundown</b></h2><p>A FEW NOTES AND observations on a hockey season cornin&rsquo; down.</p><p>&bull; Now that some National Hockey League teams are attempting to restore skating and passing to the game, isn&rsquo;t it unfortunate that the ice surfaces can&rsquo;t be enlarged?</p><p>Players are of a larger size than ever but, often, it seems that there just isn&rsquo;t enough room for them to maneuver properly. Occasionally this season, some of the best moments of hockey have been produced when each team was a man short with penalties and the eight skaters had more room to work.</p><p>&bull; Now that the three new NHL teams in Canada are established as a large success and the league continues to flounder in several U.S. cities, will the league get the message? Any expansion should be to Canadian cities, with Calgary and Hamilton as the best bets.</p><p>And wouldn&rsquo;t a small Canadian city like Regina&mdash;if it had an adequate arena&mdash;be a better bet for NHL gate success than Dallas?</p><p>&bull; Harold&rsquo;s mouth has broken up that old gang of whine! The &ldquo;old guard&rdquo; on the NHL&rsquo;s board of governors seems to have disbanded. They were a group of carryovers from the old six-team days, most of whom stuck together against the upstart expansionists.</p><p>But Harold Ballard, Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; &ldquo;Mouth That Roared&rdquo;, once the packer of a little clout among the oldtimers, now has lost the little support he once had with his ridiculous bad-mouthing of NHL president John Ziegler and other governors.</p><p>&bull; The Colorado Rockies and Winnipeg Jets, the NHL&rsquo;s two worst teams this season, meet on the final night of the season and there&rsquo;s a chance that the game will decide last place in the standings and which team has the first pick in the 1980 entry draft. That&rsquo;s likely to be blue-chip defence prospect Dave Babych, certainly a prize worth a basement finish.</p><p>This isn&rsquo;t a suggestion that either the Rockies or Jets would go in the tank in that concluding game but if the No. 1 draft choice hinges on that match, why doesn&rsquo;t the NHL award that selection to the winner of the game?</p><h2><b>Oldtimers galore</b></h2><p>&bull; WHILE CANADIAN amateur hockey officials try to find answers to the problems of rough play, pressures from the adults involved, and a lack of plain old fun in boys hockey, one group continues to flourish.</p><p>Oldtimers leagues are growing each season, operated for fun and exercise, and very seldom is there any trouble with violence.</p><p>For years, only a small number played the game beyond their teenage years. Now, hockey is booming among the over-35s and the emphasis is on the right things&mdash;passing, stickhandling and skating&mdash;not attempted murder.</p><p>&bull; At the start of the season, a few NHL teams&rsquo; folks chuckled at the devotion to technocracy displayed by the Buffalo Sabres under new boss Scotty Bowman.</p><p>Now some of those clubs are quietly exploring the Sabre approach&mdash;coaching staff, heavy use of videotapes and analysis of them and spotter-bench communication during games.</p><p>&ldquo;Of course, it would help if we had Scotty Bowman behind the bench and Roger Neilson on the other end of the walkie-talkie,&rdquo; one NHL owner said.</p><h2><b>Most injured team</b></h2><p>&bull; IT WOULD HAVE been wise, wouldn&rsquo;t it, for a few NHL team officials to consider the situation carefully before knocking the game officials this season?</p><p>The team hardest hit by injuries this term has been the referee squad. John McCaulay has missed the entire season; so has Ron Wicks. Andy Van Hellemond, Dave Newell and Bruce Hood have missed extended periods with injuries. Those are all top-rated, veteran referees and their absence has taxed the staff severely.</p><p>Considering those problems, the officating has been first-rate.</p><p>&bull; A good suggestion from Mike Nykoluk, assistant coach of the New York Rangers: &ldquo;The NHL should have a group of coaches that is available to work with junior teams, conducting, say, a three-day clinic with every junior club.</p><p>&ldquo;There are plenty of former players with a wealth of knowledge who would love to be involved. It wouldn&rsquo;t cost that much and the results would be good&mdash;an improvement in basic skills and the teaching of them.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<p>VOLUME 33, NUMBER 27 APRIL 4, 1980</p><h2>The NHL</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-02984/4713110-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="561" height="964"></div><h2>The Minors</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03729/4713103-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="562" height="192"></div><h2>The Colleges</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04501/4713096-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="562" height="231"></div><h2>The Amateurs</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05370/4713089-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="558" height="142"></div><h2>Columnists</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06269/4713082-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="563" height="242"></div><h2>Features</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-07179/4713075-1-eng-US/f0002-072.jpg" title="f0002-07" width="572" height="237"></div><h2><b>What&rsquo;s Coming</b></h2><p>Mike Liut, the brilliant young St. Louis Blues&rsquo; goaltender, is a rarity in the National Hockey League because he attended a U.S. college before making the jump to the NHL. The 24-year-old Weston, Ont., native came off the Bowling Green campus to become a star big leaguer, first in the World Hockey Association and now in the NHL with the Blues. Liut is among a handful of young players around whom the Blues are building for the future. Next week in THE HOCKEY NEWS, correspondent Arnold Irish will profile Liut and his rise to the top in St. Louis.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0002-02

Where To Find It…

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011176/4713141-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>&ldquo;Ray is more of a magician than Bobby Orr was,&rdquo; says Brad Park of Bourque, above. &ldquo;I would say he probably handles the puck better in traffic than Bobby did.&rdquo;</i> <span class="photo-credit">(—Photo by Steve Babineau)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><i><span>E</span>ditor&rsquo;s Note: As we went to press with this issue, Fred Creighton was fired as the coach of the Bruins and replaced by general manager Harry Sinden.</i></p><p>The first time he saw Raymond Bourque play hockey with the realization that he was going to be on his team, Fred Creighton, then the coach of the Boston Bruins, said:</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like&hellip;&rdquo;</p><p>That was last September and, since that time, an awful lot of talent has been devoted to translating Creighton&rsquo;s apt and colorful comment into language that can be used in a family newspaper or on airways monitored by the FCC.</p><p>The fact that all have failed does not detract from the accomplishments of Bourque, the 19-year-old wunderkind whom the Boston Bruins are touting for the Calder Trophy as the rookie of the year in the National Hockey League. &lsquo;</p><p>And, since he is on the verge of breaking the two-year-old record for points by a first-year defenseman and the selectors are often overly impressed with statistics, Bourque may well become only the fifth defenseman in 47 years to win the coveted Calder.</p><p>At this writing, Bourque, with 60 points, had already tied the two-year record shared by the New York Rangers&rsquo; Barry Beck and Detroit&rsquo;s Reed Larson.</p><div class="sidebar"><p><b>&ldquo;Two or three years down the road,&rsquo;&rsquo; says Brad Park, &ldquo;and Bourque will be one of the dominant players in the league.&rdquo;</b></p></div><p>Since the Calder Trophy was first awarded way back in 1933, only four defensemen have won it&mdash;Kent Douglas in 1963, Jacques Laperriere in 1964, Bobby Orr in 1967 and Denis Potvin in 1974. More goalies (nine) have taken it home for their trophy rooms than any other position.</p><p>But Bourque, who won&rsquo;t be 20 years old until Dec. 28, does things for the Bruins that don&rsquo;t necessarily show up in the summary.</p><p>In a recent game against the Washington Capitals, he played 25 minutes in a six-man rotation, a little less than the 30 minutes that. Creighton normally allots him. He was on for the beginning and the end of each period and he scored the tying goal with 28 seconds left to play.</p><p>At 3:13 of the second period, when Caps&rsquo; goalie Wayne Stephenson was called for a delay of game penalty, Bourque went out on the power play, not at a point but at right wing with Jean Ratelle and Rick Middleton. It wasn&rsquo;t the first time.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;d thought about it for a while,&rdquo; said Creighton, &ldquo;With Dick Redmond and Brad Park we&rsquo;re pretty well set on the point, and Ray&rsquo;s pretty tough for one man to control.&rdquo;</p><p>He played only six and a half minutes in the first period but he was on the ice for 11 minutes in the second as the Bruins went on the attack to catch up with a 1-0 Washington lead. Twice Bourque played the full two minutes at wing on the power play.</p><p>He was on for seven and a half minutes in the third period, including two and a half of the last four.</p><p>He was on when Peter McNab&rsquo;s goal tied the score at 2-2 at 17:14 and came on again after Paul Mulvey had put the Caps ahead at 18:55.</p><p>There were six Bruins&rsquo; skaters on the ice at 19:32 when Bourque, who was playing sort of a rover&rsquo;s role, fired the puck from the boards and missed the net. The puck rolled around to Park at the point. Park passed to Bourque coming down the slot. Bang, a tie game with 28 seconds left!</p><p>&ldquo;Oh, he&rsquo;s going to be a phenomenal hockey player,&rdquo; said Park after the game.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt in my mind that he&rsquo;s going to make one heck of a mark on the game,&rdquo; Park went on. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the finest rookie defenseman I&rsquo;ve ever seen come into the league.&rdquo;</p><div class="sidebar"><p><b>Bourque may well become only the fifth defenseman in 47 years to win the Calder Trophy.</b></p></div><p>&ldquo;Is he the best defenseman you ever played with?&rdquo; Park was asked, a loaded question, since Park played on defense with Bobby Orr for 10 games in the 1975-76 season.</p><p>&ldquo;Not now,&rdquo; replied Park, &ldquo;but he will be in about two years. I played with Bobby Orr, too, you know. He&rsquo;s probably the best I ever played with.&rdquo;</p><p>Park was asked to compare Bourque and Orr, something the Bruins don&rsquo;t normally like to do. This time he was willing.</p><p>&ldquo;They do so many things differently,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;Bobby was more of a skater. He had about five different speeds. I don&rsquo;t think Ray will ever be the skater that Bobby Orr was.</p><p>&ldquo;But he can do a lot of things in-tight with the puck. He can shoot the puck. He handles it. He moves it well. He&rsquo;s a good passer. He&rsquo;s just an all-around complete hockey player.</p><p>&ldquo;I would say he probably handles the puck better in traffic than Bobby did. Bobby wasn&rsquo;t an in-tight player. Ray can handle the puck in a crowd and beat a guy in the corner. He can do a few more tricks in-tight than Bobby could.</p><p>&ldquo;If you take a four-foot radius of a circle, Ray can do more inside that radius. Bobby relied a little bit more on his skating ability.</p><p>&ldquo;Ray is more of a magician. He can do tricks with the puck. He&rsquo;s learning all the time, too, and he&rsquo;s getting better all the time. Two or three years down the road he&rsquo;ll be one of the dominant players in the league.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s guys in the NHL as big, as strong, who can skate as fast, and shoot as hard. But they just can&rsquo;t think as fast as a guy like Ray Bourque.&rdquo;</p><p>Bourque was taken by the Bruins in the first round, eighth overall, in last August&rsquo;s entry draft. He was one of four defensemen they wanted desperately. Rob Ramage went first, to Colorado. Craig Hartsburg sixth, to Minnesota and Keith Brown seventh, to Chicago. The Bruins now feel they got the prize.</p><p>&ldquo;He was underage,&rdquo; said Bruins&rsquo; chief scout Gary Darling, &ldquo;and I think the clubs drafting ahead of us wanted to be damn sure they got a player who would play this year. They couldn&rsquo;t afford to leave their choice in juniors for another year if he didn&rsquo;t make it right away.</p><p>&ldquo;Near the end of last season at Verdun, Ray played rather poorly. He had a kidney infection that slowed him up, and teams were reluctant to take a boy that high who hadn&rsquo;t been playing that well. I had been watching him for two years. I didn&rsquo;t think we were taking any chance.&rdquo;</p><p>Some of the top drafting clubs may also have been swayed by the fact that the Quebec Major Junior League is not highly regarded in the scouting fraternity. How do you judge the quality of a player when a Jacques Richard can score 169 points in his last junior year and then fall on his face in the NHL?</p><p>And then there was Roderique Lemoyne, dapper owner of the Verdun Black Hawks, who was also serving as Bourque&rsquo;s agent. He was going around saying such things as: &ldquo;Ray is the best defenseman ever to come out of this league. He is a second Bobby Orr. He is even bigger and stronger than Orr.&rdquo; That scared a lot of people in the cost-conscious NHL.</p><p>&ldquo;We thought it would be best to select him and then worry about the contract later on,&rdquo; said Darling, who happened to be in Boston for a college tournament and</p><p>He impressed the Canadie though.</p><div class="sidebar"><p><b>&ldquo;There are very few players as gifted as Bourque,&rdquo; says Boston scout Gary Darling.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

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Impressive Bourque Merits Comparison To Orr

f0003-02

Top Scoring Rookie Defensemen

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011220/4713203-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="259" height="345"></div><h2><b>Golfs Hockey Freak</b></h2><p><b>IT WAS A SPARKLING</b> March Sunday morning in Fort Lauderdale. A great day for golf, which is what Larry Ziegler does for a living.</p><p>But first things first.</p><p>&ldquo;How did the Black Hawks do last night?&rdquo; he required.</p><p>&ldquo;Tie,&rdquo; was the reply.</p><p>&ldquo;And the Blues tied, too,&rdquo; he mused. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s till a nine-point difference between them in the division. Quite a bit, but they have two games left between them before the season ends, right?&rdquo;</p><p>To repeat, Larry Ziegler is a hockey freak.</p><p>&ldquo;And I still keep in touch with a lot of the guys.</p><p>I happen to be playing golf in a city where there&rsquo;s a hockey game at night, I&rsquo;ll go out and catch it. And if the guys are around when I&rsquo;m playing golf, I&rsquo;ll get &lsquo;em passes to come out and watch us knock it around.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>Different Atmosphere</b></h2><p><b>MORE THAN ANYTHING,</b> Larry Ziegler enjoys hockey because it is a release from golf, which is not only a difficult sport, but a lonely one.</p><p>&ldquo;The pro tour is different than almost any other form of athletics,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;you eat alone, you travel alone, you practice alone, you room alone. That&rsquo;s just the way it is. When a tournament ends on a Sunday, everybody is usually headed the same way. Yet, we get there our own different ways.</p><p>&ldquo;When you practice, you go out there and hit balls for four, five hours by yourself. You don&rsquo;t think that can be drudgery? You don&rsquo;t think that can get to you mentally? That&rsquo;s why I enjoy being around the guys on the hockey team. Completely different atmosphere.</p><p>&ldquo;When you walk into, say, the Blues&rsquo; locker room, you see a side of sports that the golfers don&rsquo;t see. The comraderie, the togetherness, the joking, the interrelating. It&rsquo;s really refreshing. The golfers don&rsquo;t know what they&rsquo;re missing. Then again, because of the nature of the sport, it couldn&rsquo;t be that way.</p><p>&ldquo;I have probably as much or more fun on the tour than any of the other golfers. I&rsquo;ll do something like visit the Blues. Or when Whitey Herzog was managing the Kansas City Royals, I went and coached third base for him one day during an exhibition game. It&rsquo;s a release.&rdquo;</p><p>Ziegler has cultivated many hockey friendships, of course, on the links. Sid Salomon HI, former owner of the Blues, was not only a good confrere but a good golfer. And then there is Eddie Johnston, who played goal in the St. Louis for a spell before taking over as coach of the Black Hawks.</p><p>&ldquo;Now there,&rdquo; says Ziegler, &ldquo;is a guy who can hit it.&rdquo;</p><p>Many, many hockey players can, though.</p><h2><b>Similarity In Swing</b></h2><p><b>&ldquo;THAT&rsquo;S TRUE,&rdquo; HE SAYS.</b> &ldquo;Although there&rsquo;s one thing I&rsquo;ve noticed about the hockey players. They can&rsquo;t take the real, full, golf swing, most of them. That doesn&rsquo;t mean they don&rsquo;t play well. What it is, though, is that most of the players are very compact and very muscular in the chest area. As a result, that thickness in there sort of gets in the way when they want to really cut loose. So you see many of them taking almost three-quarter swings.</p><p>&ldquo;But there is a basic similarity between the golf swing and the hockey swing. And those hockey players are fine athletes, so even if they don&rsquo;t take what we call a full swing, they can play and enjoy it. Most of them do, too, because they have the summer off.&rdquo;</p><p>Ziegler turned pro in 1959 and joined the tour in 1968. His career earnings entering 1980 were $540,481.</p><p>&ldquo;Sounds like a lot, but it isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he promises. &ldquo;our sport is unique. You gotta put up several grand each year for expenses, then hope to win it back. And unlike other sports, if you get hurt, you don&rsquo;t get paid. Lots of pressure. Mental pressure. Maybe that&rsquo;s why we keep to ourselves. Anybody who says golfers aren&rsquo;t athletes, I&rsquo;d like to meet him.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0004-01

HOCKEY TALK

<div class="byline">BY PAT DOYLE</div><p>WINNIPEG&mdash;The Winnipeg Jets are one of the most feared teams in the National Hockey League.</p><p>Now, that statement might strike you as a bit odd, even laughable, because the Jets are the NHL&rsquo;s last-place club and they won&rsquo;t be playing any hockey beyond April 6.</p><p>It happens to be true, though, and more than one playoff contender will quickly back up the claim.</p><p>The Buffalo Sabres, for instance, came to Winnipeg expecting to earn two points to stay four in front of the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins in the race for second place over-all. It didn&rsquo;t work out that way, however, because the Jets played the Sabres to a 3-3 stand-off and the result may eventually cost Buffalo a home game advantage in the playoffs.</p><p>&ldquo;You should win these games,&rdquo; said Buffalo coach Scotty Bowman, who was obviously disturbed at the thought of dropping a point to the Jets. &ldquo;But, teams like this win one of every four games&hellip;they&rsquo;ll beat somebody else along the way. I don&rsquo;t know who, but they&rsquo;ll beat somebody.&rdquo;</p><p>The Detroit Red Wings, that&rsquo;s who.</p><p>The Jets played the role of the spoiler to the hilt, when they blitzed the Red Wings 6-1 at the Joe Louis Sports Arena, and Detroit may never recover from that loss.</p><p>The Wings are struggling to gain occupancy of the final playoff berth and a victory over the Jets would have strengthened their hold on 15th. place. Instead, they dropped to 16th because of the loss and, two days later, they were in 17th.</p><p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t expect an automatic two points against them,&rdquo; said then-Detroit coach, Bobby Kromm. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve always got the legs and they work like hell.&rdquo;</p><p>Work. That&rsquo;s what it&rsquo;s all about with the Jets.</p><p>&ldquo;All everybody writes about,&rdquo; says coach Tom McVie, &ldquo;is that we have the worst record in the league. Nobody ever mentions how hard we work or how tough it is for these other clubs to beat us.&rdquo;</p><p>Stan Smyl mentioned it after a recent home-and-home series his Vancouver Canucks had with the Jets. In both games, the Canucks had to come from behind to get a tie, 3-3, and a win, 2-1.</p><p>&ldquo;That club is a lot tougher to play than most people realize,&rdquo; suggested Smyl. &ldquo;They play their positions real well and they can sure skate. Their record isn&rsquo;t that good, but I think they&rsquo;re a better team than the record shows.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Before this season is over,&rdquo; added Vancouver defenseman Kevin McCarthy, &ldquo;they&rsquo;re going to spoil things for somebody. I&rsquo;m just glad it wasn&rsquo;t us.&rdquo;</p><p>The Jets may not be one of the top clubs in the NHL, but it&rsquo;s obvious that they&rsquo;re one of the most respected.</p><p><b>BRIEFLY:</b> The victory in Detroit put the brakes on the longest winless streak in Winnipeg club history, 10&hellip;Center Peter Sullivan recently hit the 200-mark in career assists, plus the 400-mark in points, including playoff games&hellip;. Dave Hoyda has been sent to Tulsa of the Central League. He has been out of action since injuring a knee on Feb. 17 in a game against the Quebec Nordiques&hellip;The Jets will lose money on their 1979-80 operations, which will mean a hike in ticket prices next year&hellip;Jimmy Mann was suspended for two games because of his game misconduct in the match versus Detroit. It was his fourth gamer of the season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021156/4713234-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="590" height="858"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Center Peter Sullivan recently reached milestones for his 200th assist and 400th point as a pro.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0004-02

Jets Becoming Spoilers For Playoff Contenders

<p>DONALD R. WALL <i>Chairman and Publisher</i></p><p>TOM MURRAY <i>Editor In Chief</i></p><p>Advertising and Editorial Offices</p><p>214 King Street West&mdash;Suite 314</p><p>Toronto. Ontario, Canada M5H 1K4</p><p>(416) 598-1753</p><p>Executive Office</p><p>850 Third Ave.</p><p>New York. New York. 10022</p><p>(212) 593-2100</p><p>KENNETH W. McKENZIE <i>President and Founder</i></p><p>1434 St Catherine Street West</p><p>Montreal. Canada H3G 1R7</p><p>EDITORIAL STAFF <i>Charlie Halpin Editorial Director</i></p><p>Mike Dennis, <i>Assistant Editor</i></p><p>Cathy Munro, <i>Copy Editor</i></p><p>Bob Hanley. <i>Editorial Consultant</i></p><p><i>Contributing Editors:</i></p><p>Stan Fischler. Frank Orr. Bob Verdi <i>ADVERTISING SALES OFFICES</i></p><p><b>Toronto:</b></p><p>Donald R. Wall</p><p>214 King Street West&mdash;Suite 314</p><p>Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5H 1K4</p><p>(416) 598-1753</p><p><b>New York:</b></p><p>Donald R. Wall</p><p>850 Third Ave.</p><p>New York, New York 10022</p><p>(212) 593-2100</p><p><b>Chicago:</b></p><p>Hooper, Jones & Associates</p><p>3322 W. Peterson Avenue</p><p>Chicago, Illinois 60659</p><p>(312) 478-5544</p><p><b>Boston:</b></p><p>Steve Ganak&mdash;Steve Ganak Ad Reps</p><p>Statler Office Building</p><p>Boston, Mass. 02116</p><p>(617) 542-6913</p><p>Joanne Hatch</p><p>Advertising Service Manager</p><p>(416) 598-1753</p><p><b>THE HOCKEY NEWS,</b> (ISSN 0018-3016), Is published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd, 214 King Street West-Suite 314, Toronto, Ontario M5H 1K4. (416) S9S-17S3. in U.S. c/o W.C.C. Publishing Corp., MO Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022.</p><p><b>YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES</b> $15.95 in the USA, 315.95 In Canada, 11995 In Foreign Countries, Send all subscription requests to THE HOCKEY NEWS, 214 King St. W., Suite 314, Toronto, Ont., M5HIK4. Please allow 44 weeks tor processing.</p><p>SENO ADDRESS CHANGES TO 1434 ST. CATHERINE STREET WEST. SUITE 217, MONTREAL, Canada H3G 1R7. SecaM Class mad</p><p>Registration No. 1327. Al Inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should be addrawd to Subscription Dept., The Hockey News, 214 King St. W&bdquo; Suite 314, Toronto, Ort M5H 1K4,Canada.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

The Hockey News THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY • FOUNDED 1947

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>OSTON&mdash;Every now and then after the Bruins had scored a goal, the TV cameras used to take great delight in panning the Boston bench and fixing on an apparently unmoved and unsmiling Coach Fred Creighton.</p><p>It was always good for a laugh, or at least a chuckle, but in the end it may have been an outward manifestation of Creighton&rsquo;s downfall.</p><p>&ldquo;This is the most distasteful thing I ever had to do,&rdquo; said General Manager Harry Sinden, whereupon, he fired Creighton, the Bruins&rsquo; coach for eight months, two weeks and three days, during which time he had piloted them to 93 points&rsquo;, fourth-best in the whole NHL.</p><p>&ldquo;We felt after deliberating the last couple of weeks that our team was not responding in the areas that we have been traditionally strong,&rdquo; said Sinden, &ldquo;the areas that we feel are important to the Bruins.</p><p>&ldquo;The team, I feel, has slipped badly in recent games, maybe the last 15 games, and the areas they&rsquo;re slipping in can be directly attributed to the players&rsquo; attitudes, or their emotional approach to the game.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s not to say it&rsquo;s the fault but if the players think it is&mdash;and I believe they do&mdash;then it might as well be. And there&rsquo;s no way I could replace 20 players, even if I wanted to.&rdquo;</p><p>In spite of the fine season&rsquo;s record, the Bruins had won only one of their last seven games and in three of those games they had to come from behind late in the third period to gain ties with the likes of St. Louis, Vancouver and Washington.</p><p>&ldquo;We had a sense that the team seemed to be floundering,&rdquo; said President Paul Mooney, &ldquo;and part of it certainly was the coaching. We felt that we had to address it and the only answer appeared to be a coaching change. Hopefully, this will put us back on the track.&rdquo;</p><p>There was really no specific reason given for the firing of the quiet, unemotional Creighton, who was hired last July 5 to succeed the flambuoyant Don Cherry, whose coaching stock in trade was motivation. He was a tough, maybe even impossible, act to follow.</p><p>&ldquo;I wish I had a more black and white explanation, for the move,&rdquo; said Sinden. &ldquo;The reasons for it are so intangible that you almost have to be on the scene to understand it.</p><p>&ldquo;If the man didn&rsquo;t work hard or the team was on a 15 or 20 game losing streak, then there&rsquo;d be a reason for doing such a thing. None of those reasons applied with Fred Creighton.</p><p>&ldquo;But there&rsquo;s a feeling that there is little prospect of improvement in the overall attitude of the team. Whoever is to blame, I don&rsquo;t know. But it exists. I can feel it.&rdquo;</p><p>Out in Colorado, where he is trying to shake some life into a moribund Rockies&rsquo; franchise, Don Cherry had some rather subdued comments on his Boston successor&rsquo;s downfall.</p><div class="sidebar"><p><b>&ldquo;We had a sense that the team was floundering,&rdquo; said President Paul Mooney,&rdquo; and part of it certainly was the coach.&rdquo;</b></p></div><p>&ldquo;I feel bad,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I really do. Fred walked into a very tough situation. Whoever it was took over would have had a very tough time.</p><p>&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t that I was such a great coach but the Bruins were honestly like one big family and any time an outsider comes into a family it&rsquo;s not going to be easy.&rdquo;</p><p>Then Cherry had a good word for Sinden, with whom he fought almost constantly during his final year as Boston coach.</p><p>&ldquo;I know Harry pretty good,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and when he thinks something&rsquo;s wrong, he moves. He doesn&rsquo;t hesitate. He goes ahead and does what he feels he has to do. The man&rsquo;s got guts.&rdquo;</p><p>Sinden had guts enough to name himself as coach to succeed Creighton for the rest of the season and through the playoffs, the first time he had been behind the bench in the NHL since May 10, 1970, when he piloted the Bruins to the Stanley Cup.</p><p>Although any change in motivation was undetectable, the Bruins responded to Sinden&rsquo;s touch with a 5-2 victory over the Atlanta Flames, which kept them one point behind Montreal and two behind Buffalo in the jockeying for playoff position. Then they belted Philadelphia 7-2 at home.</p><p>The Bruins players were reluctant to talk about the coaching change.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if it would have worked for anybody,&rdquo; said Mike Milbury. &ldquo;After five years of Don Cherry, after such a close-knit bunch of guys, maybe no one could have been successful.</p><p>&ldquo;Maybe someone had to be the fall guy. But this isn&rsquo;t one man&rsquo;s fault. We all have to bear the burden. We&rsquo;ve just got to look in the mirror and face that.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011078/4713289-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="542" height="1404"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Fred Creighton had the Brui well up in the standings, but the team was floundering the home-stretch.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0005-01

Bruins Fire Creighton In Shocker

<div class="byline">KEN MCKENZIE&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02799/4713341-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="319" height="355"></div><p>&bull; <b>BRUCE NORRIS,</b> owner of the Detroit Red Wings, wasn&rsquo;t fooling when he said that the jobs of GM Ted Lindsay and Coach Bobby Kromm were on the line. Kromm was promptly fired but Lindsay stays on. Norris was bitterly disappointed with the play of the Wings this year. It&rsquo;s not as if the Red Wings weren&rsquo;t paying top salaries, either. They have one of the highest payrolls in hockey&hellip;There&rsquo;s talk among wealthy businessmen in the southern United States about starting a new league with teams located in San Diego, Phoenix, Fort Worth, Houston and Dallas. It sounds like another World Hockey Association. However, it&rsquo;s probably all talk&hellip;Al MacNeil has done an outstanding job coaching the Atlanta Flames in his first season in the city. Despite the club&rsquo;s fine showing on the ice, Atlanta owner Tom Cousins expects to lose at least $2.5 million this season. He&rsquo;s suffered heavy losses every year since the team entered the league and right now he&rsquo;s talking about moving the franchise to another city if certain conditions can be met&hellip;Mike Bossy scored his 50th goal of the season with little fanfare. This marks the third year in a row that the starry Islander passed the 50-goal mark. He scored 53 in his rookie season in 1977-78 and 69 last year. There&rsquo;ve been only 20 50-goal scorers in the league&rsquo;s 63 years and only seven players have accomplished this feat more than once. Bobby Hull, Phil Esposito and Guy Lafleur have each done it five times and Lafleur is on the verge of making it for the sixth season. The number of U.S. players in the NHL has more than doubled in the last six years, from 24 in 1973-74 to 50 in 1979-80&hellip;Wayne Gretzky has played much of this season battling tonsilitis. Imagine what the Edmonton star would do if he was really healthy!&hellip;An excellent Souvenir Album was distributed at the recent NHL Old-Timers game played in Toronto and hockey buffs may secure a copy by sending a cheque for $3.50 to Souvenir Album, Maple Leaf Gardens, Carlton St., Toronto, Ont. M5B 1L1&hellip;The city of Calgary expects to have a brand new hockey arena within two years, which would house a future NHL team (Atlanta?) and also assist them in their bid for the 1988 Winter Olympics&hellip;Ed Snider, believes that the U.S. Olympic team did more for hockey in the U.S. than any other event.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03550/4713334-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="300" height="424"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Mike Bossy</i></figcaption></div><p>&bull; <b>BOBBY SMITH</b> didn&rsquo;t let the sophomore jinx bother him. The brilliant North Star center, who won the Calder Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s best first-year player last season, has been even better this year, despite a broken ankle bone that kept him out of action for 19 games. He has almost as many points this year as he did all of last season (74). If he&rsquo;d been able to play all 80 games for the Stars he might have ended up with 120 points or more. Meanwhile, Smith&rsquo;s wingmen, Al MacAdam and Steve Payne, will become the only North Stars except Bill Goldsworthy to score 40 or more goals in a season. The 21-year-old Smith is being compared to Wayne Gretzky of Edmonton. These two youngsters are the class of the young players in the NHL today. &ldquo;I said before the season started that I expect Bobby Smith to become the best player in the world in a few years and I see no reason to change that opinion,&rdquo; said Glen Sonmor, his coach at Minnesota&hellip;Aggressive Bob Borgen, who works for KABC Radio in Los Angeles as well as looking after the press box at Kings&rsquo; home games, has attended over 350 consecutive Kings&rsquo; games in the Fabulous Forum&hellip;Art Brewster, one of hockey&rsquo;s biggest boosters in the Los Angeles area, is now working fulltime at sports cartooning and painting. Art is one of the best in the business&hellip;If every series played in this year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs ended in the minimum number of games the finals couldn&rsquo;t possibly end prior to May 6, a full month after the start of the baseball season. If the Cup final went the full seven games the last game would be played on May 29&hellip;Another young player to be included in the class with Smith and Gretzky is Boston&rsquo;s Ray Bourque (see page 3 feature). Bruins followers are comparing him to Bobby Orr at the same stage of their development and Bourque is standing up very well in the comparisons. The 19-year-old defenseman had the fourth-best plus-minus record in the league for the first half and he bettered Orr&rsquo;s record for most assists by a Boston rookie defenseman early in the second half&hellip;Former Rockies&rsquo; center Bobby Sheehan tells friends he&rsquo;s on the wagon. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that I drank that much,&rdquo; said the 5-7, 150-pound veteran, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s that I put it into such a small body.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04368/4713327-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="284" height="411"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Bobby Smith</i></figcaption></div><p>&bull; <b>THE AUTO ACCIDENT</b> that killed two people and sidelined Floyd Smith, coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the balance of the season, took place on the Queen Elizabeth Way, near St. Catharines, Ont. less than one mile from where Tim Horton was killed when his auto went out of control back in 1974. Smith, like Horton, was driving back to Buffalo from Toronto&hellip;Max McNab, general manager of the Washington Capitals, was saying the other day that his team had lost a total of 310 players through injuries in 68 games this year. This is believed to be an NHL record. The Caps have been playing over.500 hockey of late and are getting very excited as they look forward to making the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since they entered the league in 1974&hellip;They&rsquo;re still talking in Utica, N.Y. about the night Bob Sunderland, a member of the Eastern Hockey League Mohawks, put on a striptease act on Ladies Night at a local bistro. The 6-2, 195-pound Sutherland left the stage clad only in bikini pants, after picking up quite a few dollars and telephone numbers that were thrown to him by the ladies in attendance during his performance, which they say stole the show. Mohawk officials called his performance shocking but Coach Larry Mickey said that what Sunderland did on his own time was his own business&hellip;Eddie Johnston, who is the 25th coach in the history of the Chicago Black Hawks, holds the distinction of being the last goalkeeper to appear in all of his team&rsquo;s regular season games. He did this with Boston Bruins in 1962-63, when he manned the nets for all 70 games&hellip;Several Canadian colleges will be offering promising young Canadian hockey players scholarships shortly. It&rsquo;s a move to discourage the boys from taking their talents to U.S. colleges&hellip;Stan Obodiac, Toronto Leaf publicist, missed only his third Leaf home game in 22 years recently when he travelled to Regina to be inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame&hellip;Jake Milford, Vancouver general manager, returned from Sweden where he was looking over some future Canuck prospects&hellip;Every NHL club appears to be after Rangers&rsquo; Ron Duguay. The handsome forward is a hot property right now&hellip;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-05245/4713320-1-eng-US/f0005-052.jpg" title="f0005-05" width="284" height="410"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Max McNab</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0005-02

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><p>&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have the players in the lineup that were going to win the game individually. We have to work as a team.</p><p>&ldquo;When Lafleur got hurt, it gave some of the other guys a chance to get into the limelight. Look at Larry Robinson. I can&rsquo;t remember anybody playing as well as he did. He brought Roddy (Langway) along with him and now Rod is playing the same way.&rdquo;</p><p>And the Canadiens are still having some difficulty with the lower-placed teams. They barely hung on to edge Winnipeg 4-3 in the Manitoba capital and blew a 51 lead to Hartford and had to settle for a 5-5 draw.</p><p>&ldquo;Traditionally, we have had trouble with the lower-placed teams,&rdquo; said Shutt. &ldquo;Scotty (Bowman) used to say the difference between the higher-placed teams and the lower-placed teams is not talent but consistency. The lower-place teams don&rsquo;t go out and do it right every night.&rdquo;</p><p>The Canadiens, who were 18-166 at the 40-game mark, were 25-4-3 in their first 32 games of the second half, outscoring their opposition 141-84.</p><p>Some of the Montreal mystique appeared to be returning, but as Shutt properly noted, &ldquo;mystique doesn&rsquo;t win hockey games.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I wonder where that mystique was in the first half. You don&rsquo;t win games with mystique. But I am sure that a lot of teams are looking at the fact we have had all those guys out, yet we are still winning.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;When it&rsquo;s all over and done with, I think this will be the most exciting year I&rsquo;ve ever had.</p><p>&ldquo;This year, there have been so many lows and at other times, there have been so many highs, that it&rsquo;s been fun to play. I&rsquo;d hate to be a coach though.&rdquo;</p><p><b>IN PASSING,</b> Schutt now has four 40-goal efforts in the past five seasons. The only time he missed was the 78-79 campaign when he had 37 goals in a year interrupted by a broken wrist&hellip;</p><p>Guy Lapointe returned to full duty in Hartford and got his fourth goal of the season while Robinson returned from his shoulder injury against the Whalers in Montreal three nights later and scored two goals and set up the tying goal.</p><p>In his last 15 games, Denis Herron had a 13-1-1 record, including the three consecutive victories on the Canadiens&rsquo; swing to the mid-west.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Unpredictable Season Excites Shutt

<div class="byline">BY PAT CALABRIA</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011124/4713427-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>The scoring power of Butch Goring has been a factor in helping the relaxed Islanders regain their confidence and exuberance for the game.</i></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>ONG ISLAND&mdash;Giggling and dancing, the Islanders happily dipped into the barrel of ice and grabbed bottles of beer, which was their unexpected reward. The reward was a little thing, but then little things have been known to grow into bigger things.</p><p>The beer was in the dressing room because coach Al Arbour said it could be and that hardly ever has been the case. Arbour always has had his rules. Now he has his lapses.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good idea,&rdquo; Clark Gillies said &ldquo;You have to have fun, and we&rsquo;re having it.&rdquo;</p><p>A 6-3 victory over the Atlanta Flames helped the Islanders continue to assemble the pieces of their season and they continued to laugh. The whole week has been a laugher.</p><p>The team put together a streak of six victories in eight games&mdash;including four straight by outscoring their opponents 22-7. They managed to surge into a fifth-place tie in the point-standings with the rival Rangers. They&rsquo;ve won easily, but not effortlessly. The season has changed&mdash;for now.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking forward to coming to the rink again,&rdquo; said Mike Bossy, who earlier became the first NHL player to score 50 goals in each of his first three seasons. &ldquo;We used to dread it.&rdquo;</p><p>For example, Bossy had three assists in the first period in the victory over Atlanta&mdash;when the Islanders took a commanding early lead for the third straight game. They kept the Flames without a shot on goal for the first eight minutes, then coasted.</p><p>By the time the game was over, the team had goals from six different players for the second straight game. All three lines regularly produced at least one goal. The power play and penalty killing units each scored a goal. The offense, once top heavy, seems well balanced. The goaltending is another matter.</p><p>Glenn Resch ran his streak to five straight starts&mdash;the longest by an Islander goalie since Resch started all seven playoff games in 1978. Arbour has made it clear he intends to use Resch until he has a reason not to use him.</p><p>Arbour, in fact, is among those who appear caught up in the team&rsquo;s sudden enthusiasm.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking forward to the playoffs,&rdquo; he said &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I would have said that a month ago.&rdquo;</p><div class="sidebar"><p><b>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking forward to coming to the rink again,&rdquo; said 50-goal scorer Mike Bossy. &ldquo;We used to dread it.&rdquo;</b></p></div><p>The players point to the addition of Butch Goring and to the presence of Resch. They also point to their sudden knack for bolting to quick leads.</p><p>&ldquo;I want to think we&rsquo;re for real,&rdquo; Bob Bourne said. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ll see if we are after we have to come from behind. If we can do that when we have to, that will tell us something.&rdquo;</p><p>But the Islanders have not been falling behind. Against the Flames, they scored just 1:26 into the game. When Duane Sutter scored for a 5-0 lead less than seven minutes into the second period, Atlanta yanked U.S. Olympic goalie Jim Craig. As Craig left the ice he received a standing ovation, a gesture which prompted Islander goalie Bill Smith to say, &ldquo;I wish the fans would applaud me like that when I got yanked.</p><p>The Islanders can afford to joke these days. The locker room is loose. Practices are loose. &ldquo;We still don&rsquo;t like practice,&rdquo; Garry Howatt said, &ldquo;but at least we&rsquo;re having fun at them.&rdquo;</p><p>And they&rsquo;re having some luck, too. The goal Anders Kallur scored against Atlanta was a good example. While killing a penalty, Kallur stole the puck and raced the length of the ice for a breakaway against Dan Bouchard. As he approached the goalmouth, Kallur lost control of the puck, but it trickled off the blade of his stick and rolled past Bouchard and into the net anyway.</p><p>&ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t believe it,&rdquo; Kallur said. Neither could Bouchard.</p><p>It was Kallur&rsquo;s fourth shorthanded goal, tying him with Philadelphia&rsquo;s Reggie Leach for the league lead. And it kept the Islanders laughing.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re having a good time,&rdquo; Gillies said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re working any harder in practice because we always worked hard there. In fact, I think sometimes we worked harder in practice than we did in the game.&rdquo;</p><p>Not that the Islanders are convinced they&rsquo;ve managed to twist the season around. For one thing, their place in the point standings may not be decided until their next-to-last game of the season, against the Rangers. And then the team will have to reverse its disappointment in the playoffs.</p><p>For those reasons, Resch is keeping his hands off the locker room beer and his feet on the ground. &ldquo;I believe we&rsquo;re for real,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t think anyone should judge us just yet.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0007-01

Looser Islanders Delight In Getting Jump On Foes

<div class="byline">BY JIM GREGORY</div><p class="dropcap"><i><span>J</span>im Gregory, director of the national Hockey League&rsquo;s Central Scouting, talked to THE HOCKEY NEWS recently about the possibility of NHL teams sponsoring junior clubs, as was the rule in the past, as well as the NHL&rsquo;s approach to its relationship with junior hockey.</i></p><p>I don&rsquo;t know if there&rsquo;s any possible way of working out a formula that would be feasible, or workable with the present situation we have in the National Hockey League for teams to have sponsorship.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011219/4713458-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="298" height="488"></div><p>I think that the National Hockey League is doing everything that it can in working with the juniors. We realize that there are problems in trying to come up with a formula that would keep junior hockey a viable operation and also develop and produce players as best we can through that operation.</p><p>There&rsquo;s an NHL committee that has met several times during the year with the junior operators. On that committee there are people who are very knowledgeable about the junior hockey program in Canada and their problems: Bill Torrey, Cliff Fletcher, Harry Sinden, John Ferguson. Pittsburgh is represented by Paul Martha and also by their general manager Baz Bastien, Quebec by Marcel Aubut and assistant general manager Gilles Leger and Minnesota&rsquo;s Lou Nanne. I sit in on their committee meetings and Brian O&rsquo;Neill (NHL vice president) is the chairman. Those people have been working hard trying to come up with answers that will improve the situation and get the juniors the kind of working agreement they can be comfortable with one that will help both of us.</p><p>At the present time there hasn&rsquo;t been any agreement reached; there&rsquo;s some areas that they&rsquo;re working on but I don&rsquo;t think sponsorship as it worked before has even been discussed. The kind of thing they&rsquo;re looking for is areas where the pros can be of help to the juniors, not only financially, but with expertise, in trying to develop a program for the juniors that would develop the players&rsquo; talents and skills to a higher level.</p><p>That&rsquo;s not a slam against the people running the junior teams because we feel that there&rsquo;s a high competence level with the people running those teams now. But we&rsquo;re looking for areas where we can maybe speed up or improve the process.</p><p>There are some really complex problems with how we&rsquo;re going to do this under the system that we&rsquo;re in now. I don&rsquo;t know if there&rsquo;s any magic to this, but at the present time the juniors are meeting and so is the committee that we have put together and we&rsquo;re all looking for explanations or answers as to how we can improve. But there&rsquo;s been nothing even close to being agreed on yet; it&rsquo;s still in the early working stages.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-01

NHL, Juniors Working To Improve Relationship

<div class="byline">BY LOU LEFAIVE</div><p class="dropcap"><i><span>N</span>ational Hockey League owners supported the United States&rsquo; Olympic team with more than $350,000 in funds from various endeavors such as exhibition games with both the NHL and the Central League as well as a training facility in Minnesota, while the Canadian Olympic team did not receive such a sizeable contribution and played far fewer exhibitions.</i></p><p><i>Lou Lefaive, president of Hockey Canada, the body responsible for organizing the Canadian Olympic team, has these views on the subject:</i></p><p>My reaction to the issue of the NHL supporting the U.S. Olympic team&mdash;which came out in Don Ramsay&rsquo;s story in the Toronto <i>Globe and Mail</i> and which really started in THE HOCKEY NEWS in articles by Bob Verdi and then Bill Wirtz&mdash;is that the NHL doesn&rsquo;t owe us anything.</p><p>My concern was more a U.S. versus Canadian attitude towards what kind of teams could be developed. The U.S. NHL teams gave us some exhibition games and I&rsquo;m not really interested in starting a big deal about what could have been done.</p><p>What the NHL has done in the past is help out with revenues, like in 1976 with the Canada Cup and in 1974 when the World Hockey Association played the Soviets, they helped us financially.</p><p>When I first read the Bill Wirtz article (THE HOCKEY NEWS, March 21), I was concerned because it seemed like the NHL had given the U.S. team cash funds&hellip;but I&rsquo;ve been assured that it wasn&rsquo;t that way.</p><p>I&rsquo;m not ready to take any wild attitude about the NHL. We&rsquo;re going to be meeting with NHL president John Ziegler to try and make progress on the question of working together. I&rsquo;d like to see us do it in a cooperative manner so that we can build a team to represent the country as best as possible, perhaps by helping us in scouting and in picking players.</p><p>The only part of Bill Wirtz&rsquo; article that I&rsquo;m really reacting to is the part where he said that players were made sacred&hellip;that no team could draft them until after the Olympics. Well, the players on the Canadian team weren&rsquo;t so sacred because Laurie Boschman and Paul Reinhart were signed by Toronto and Atlanta right off our club.</p><p>However, John Ziegler said that what some owners did doesn&rsquo;t necessarily represent the league and we&rsquo;ll have to go along with him on that.</p><p>I think that the problems we had weren&rsquo;t financial problems. We had enough money to run our program. Sure, if we had more we might not have had to work so hard in our fund-raising programs, but money wasn&rsquo;t the problem.</p><p>I don&rsquo;t think that having more money, say an extra $400,000, would have changed the outcome on the ice for us one bit.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Money Wasn’t Problem For Canadian Team

<p>The International Hockey Weekly</p><p>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>Who&rsquo;ll be second?</b></h2><p><b>UNLIKE PENNANT RACES</b> in the autumn days of baseball, one of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s most significant spring-time competitions this year is to determine which team will finish second in the overall league standing.</p><p>The Philadelphia Flyers seem secure at the top, leaving the final second-place overall standing to be fought for by the Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins.</p><p>The second spot is important for several reasons; First, because more prestige is attached to a team that finishes in second rather than third. And in a playoff format which pits the strongest against the weakest (first against 16th, second against 15th and so on) these teams are battling to line up against the easiest opponent in the preliminary round of the playoffs.</p><p>One evidence of the importance placed on a second-place overall finish was the decision by Boston general manager Harry Sinden to take over the coaching reins of the Bruins from Freddie Creighton. Sinden thought Creighton&rsquo;s coaching attitude had softened and that the team was lagging both emotionally and phychologically.</p><p>Also aiming at that second spot, Roger Neilson, who is Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s assistant with the Sabres, is in disagreement with the current system for resolving ties at the end of the regular schedule.</p><p>For instance, if two or more teams are tied, the placement would be decided on (a) most games won, (b) most games won against tied team, (c) most goals scored.</p><p>&ldquo;In Buffalo,&rdquo; Neilson said, &ldquo;we have concentrated on keeping down our goals-against. As of last weekend, we had given up only 186 goals while the Canadiens have given up 225. But in the league&rsquo;s system of tie-breaking, our excellent defensive record will be ignored. If the Canadiens and Sabres are tied after 80 games, then the nod will go to the Canadiens because they have scored the most goals. In other words, the league is estimating clubs more on their offensive records than on their defensive records.&rdquo;</p><p>Perhaps, although it hasn&rsquo;t yet been proposed, the best way to resolve the dilemma would be to rely on the plus-minus system&mdash;goals-against substracted from goals-for.</p><h2><b>They serve charity</b></h2><p><b>IN A GENERAL SENSE</b> this is a salute to Old Timer hockey players&mdash;wherever they play and for whatever charities.</p><p>Specifically, it&rsquo;s acknowledgement of the recent successful show by Old Timers representing the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs, a sellout three weeks in advance of the game, and a memorable date in Maple Leaf Gardens, where rental and services were graciously donated.</p><p>The entire proceeds of the sellout went to The Special Olympics for the Retarded, the Princess Margaret Hospital, Ronald McDonald House and The Charlie Conacher Cancer Research Fund.</p><p>It was a tremendously exciting and entertaining day for the fans, with Rocket Richard, Red Storey and Bill Friday appearing as the officials. And what wonderful memories for hockey fans at the spotlight introductions! The Canadien roster sparkled with such names as Beliveau, Worsley, Moore, Pocket Richard, St. Laurent, Tremblay, Lemaire, Larose, Talbot. And from the Leaf side there were such greats as Bower, Ullman, Pilote, Stanowski, Nevin, Howell, Bathgate, Gardner, Duff, Shack, Frank Mahovlich and Baun.</p><p>Perhaps the Old Timers had fun themselves but the magnitude of their fund-raising promotion shouldn&rsquo;t be overlooked. Let&rsquo;s salute Old Timers everywhere, for their community and charitable endeavors!<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>UFFALO&mdash;When the Buffalo Sabres signed four players from the United States Olympic champion hockey team, Mike Ramsey received most of the notice.</p><p>Ramsay was, after all, the Sabres&rsquo; first pick in the 1979 draft, the first U.S.-born player ever to be chosen in the first round of the National Hockey League amature draft.</p><p>Ramsey has proved a valuable addition, playing a regular shift on defense since he joined the Sabres. Rob McClanahan, however, has been a pleasant surprise.</p><p>The first game he played for Buffalo, McClanahan skated on a Makeshift fourth line with Bobby Mongrain, brought up from Rochester of the American League that night, and alternating wingers from other lines.</p><p>The next game, in Winnipeg, Coach Scotty Bowman used the former University of Minnesota star on a line with Mongrain and Rick Dudley. McClanahan scored one of Buffalo&rsquo;s goals in a 3-3 tie.</p><p>The second game of a three-game western trip saw McClanahan teaming with scoring stars Gil Perreault and Rick Martin for several shifts. He assisted on both of Buffalo&rsquo;s goals in a 2-2 deadlock.</p><p>In the third game, the youngster was put on the checking line with Don Luce and Craig Ramsay. He played a great first period before suffering a severe Charley horse.</p><p>He missed the rest of that game but returned to play in the final game of four straight on the road, a 5-1 win in Toronto. Bowman mixed up his forwards in that one and McClanahan had various linemates.</p><p>&ldquo;McClanahan is good with the puck, no question about that,&rdquo; commented Roger Neilson, the Sabres&rsquo; associate coach, who viewed the four road games from the pressbox, communicating with Bowman by wireless.</p><p>Neilson, who directed the Sabres from behind the bench for 19 straight games while Bowman was in the pressbox or absent scouting, went back up above the game before the western trip.</p><p>Bowman returned to the bench the same game in which the two Olympians joined the club (the other two from the U.S. team were sent to Rochester).</p><p>After a long scoring drought, the Sabres erupted in that game for a 9-4 victory over St. Louis.</p><p>The next three games, however, were back to the same old script. All three western games ended in ties. That gave Buffalo seven ties in 15 games.</p><p>Bob Sauve and Don Edwards were retaining their Vezina Trophy lead but the scorers weren&rsquo;t scoring. Vick Martin and Danny gare were doing OK but the others were not.</p><p>Somewhere in February most of the Sabres lost their shooting eyes. From Feb. 7 until last Saturday in Toronto, the only game they won by more than two goals was the one over St. Louis.</p><p>Martin and Gary each scored seven goals during that 11-game stretch but their lines only scored a total of 11 each. The checking line of Don Luce-Craig Ramsay-John Gould didn&rsquo;t score a goal.</p><p>Gould was sent down to Rochester when McClanahan and Ramsay joined the club.</p><p>Gare got three goals on the three-game western trip but Martin didn&rsquo;t score any. Things got better in Toronto, though. Gare and Martin each scored in the 5-1 romp, with Tony McKegney, Derek Smith and Gil Perreault scoring the other goals.</p><p>That was a game heavy with drama. It was the first time Buffalo faced Toronto since Punch Imlach, the former Sabre general manager, named himself coach after Floyd Smith was hurt in an auto accident, and brought up Joe Crozier from New Brunswick of the AHL, as &ldquo;emergency assistant&rdquo; to handle the bench during games.</p><p>Crozier once coached the Sabres, as did Imlach, and was let go by none other than Imlach, after the 1973-74 season. Imlach was fired by the Sabres in December. 1978.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011196/4713537-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="610" height="850"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>U.S. Olympian Rob McClanahan played on several Buffalo lines and impressed the Sabres with his stickhandling.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0009-01

McClanahan Pleasant Sabre Surprise

<p>NEW YORK&mdash;The National Hockey League Stanley Cup playoffs will begin on Tuesday, April 8, with 16 teams participating in preliminary round.</p><p>Those qualifying for the playoffs will include the top team in each of the four divisions and 12 of the remaining teams with the best regular season records, regardless of divisions. In each round, the team with the greatest number of points earned during the regular season will play the team with the least number of points; the team with the second highest point total will play the team with the second lowest point total, etc.</p><p>In case of a tie in total points earned between two or more clubs at the conclusion of the regular season, final standings will be determined according to and in order of the following criteria: (a) the greater number of games won by the club; (b) the higher number of points earned among games played between clubs having equal standing in total points and total wins; (c) the greater number of goals scored by the team among two or more teams having equal standing under the above criteria.</p><p>The preliminary round will be decided by a best-of-five series. All other playoff series will be contested on a best-of-seven basis. Here is the schedule for the 1980 playoffs based on each series extending to a maximum number of games and subject to possible date changes due to building availability:</p><p>Preliminary round: Series &lsquo;A&rsquo;, &lsquo;B&rsquo;, &lsquo;C&rsquo;, &lsquo;D&rsquo;, E&rsquo;, &lsquo;F&rsquo;, &lsquo;G&rsquo;, &lsquo;H&rsquo;.</p><p>Dates: Tues. Apr. 8, Wed. Apr. 9, Fri. Apr. 11, Sat. Apr. 12 and Mon. Apr. 14.</p><p>Quarter-final round: Series &lsquo;I&rsquo;, &lsquo;J&rsquo;, &lsquo;K&rsquo;, L&rsquo;.</p><p>Dates: Wed. Apr. 16, Thurs, Apr. 17, Sat. Apr. 19, Sun. Apr. 20, Tues. Apr. 22, Thurs. Apr. 24, Sat. or Sun. Apr. 26 or Apr. 27.</p><p>Semi-final round: Series &lsquo;M&rsquo;, &lsquo;N&rsquo;.</p><p>Dates: Tues. Apr. 29, Thurs. May 1, Sat. or Sun. May 3 or May <b>4,</b> Tues. May 6, Thurs. May 8, Sat. or Sun. May 10 or May 11, Tues. May 13.</p><p>Final round: Series &lsquo;O&rsquo;.</p><p>Dates: Thurs. May 15, Sat. or Sun. May 17 or May 18, Tues. May 20, Thurs. May 22, Sat. or Sun. May 24 or May 25, Tues. May 27 and Thurs. May 29.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Stanley Cup Playoffs To Open On April 8

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-02924/4713592-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>he following is a revised attendance list of the first 30 home games of each of the 21 NHL teams. THE HOCKEY NEWS regrets that due to miscalculations, notably in the Boston Bruins&rsquo; totals, the crowd figures contained some inaccuracies:</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0009-02

Revised NHL Attendance For First 30 Home Games

<div class="byline">Fan Forum Compiled By CATHY MUNRO</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-02972/4713654-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="582" height="329"></div><h2><b>Columnist Verdi For President!</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>o all those hockey scribes and fans who say that fighting is a part of hockey I wish to say that the recently concluded Olympics has disproved that idea. It was refreshing to watch hockey played by international rules which eliminated fighting.</p><p>Congratulations to the U.S. hockey team with its gold medal performance.</p><p>And, since Bob Verdi has been. an advocate of eliminating fighting from hockey, maybe the NHL should consider him as president of their league!</p><p><b>Mike Steger</b>&nbsp;<br><i>Lancaster, PA</i></p><h2><b>Atlanta Flames Should Stay Put</b></h2><p>I would like to comment on the potential move of the Atlanta Flames&rsquo; franchise from Atlanta to Houston or Calgary.</p><p>The NHL would be making a grave error by moving the Flames out of Georgia. Having watched 12 Flames&rsquo; games on WTBS here in northwestern Ontario, I can easily attest to Atlanta&rsquo;s respectability. They comprise a potential Cup champion, if the league will be more patient with them.</p><p>As for Atlanta&rsquo;s decline in attendance, it&rsquo;s due to the ridiculous balanced schedule. Flames&rsquo; fans want to see the Rangers, Islanders, Philadelphia and Washington&mdash;their divisional rivals&mdash;and not clubs with whom they feel no empathy. Canadian fans are no different from their Atlanta friends; the demand for more Toronto-Montreal games is a universal plea here, yet we&rsquo;re able to see Canadian rivals of the Maple Leafs and Canadiens quite rarely.</p><p><b>Bill Le Grand</b>&nbsp;<br><i>Manitouwadge, Ont.</i></p><h2><b>Support Missing For Canadian Olympians</b></h2><p>It appears as though the objectives of the NHL, headed up by an American, will ensure that Canada will never compete successfully in international hockey. Regardless of what Mr. Wirtz tries to tell the public in his article in THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; March 21 issue (&ldquo;Gold Medal Not Possible Without The NHL&rdquo;) the same type of &ldquo;support&rdquo; is not and never will be provided the Canadian Olympic team as was provided to the Americans.</p><p>What arrangements were made to incorporate the Canadians into a league for much needed competition? A few &ldquo;exhibitions&rdquo; were arranged with NHL teams who saw fit to exclude certain players who might be injured.</p><p>The NHL bleeds our hockey talent to fill the arenas south of the border and submit them to the best competition the world can provide, which is why Canada did not fare as well at the Olympics as they could have. If the NHL owners were as committed to the Canadian Olympic team as they say they are, Canada might have had a better chance at a medal.</p><p><b>Gary James</b>&nbsp;<br><i>Burlington, Ont.</i></p><h2><b>In Praise Of New York Fans</b></h2><p>I am a season ticket holder in Madison Square Garden, and I am sick and tired of reading how Ranger fans are all crazy, or &ldquo;arrogant, selfish hooligans,&rdquo; as Mr. J. Crane Stevens of New York City wrote. I&rsquo;ll admit there are a few idiots who throw things on the ice, and these people should be thrown out. For the most part, Ranger fans are all normal citizens. They don&rsquo;t lock us back up in cages after the game, as some of you have been led to believe.</p><p>Mr. Ray Gravelle of Hamilton, Ont., wrote that we should exhibit more self control. He must be jealous because he doesn&rsquo;t have a class team to root for. Ranger fans, as well as Jet, Giant, Knick, Met, and Yankee fans are special. We make things happen, we inspire our teams. We don&rsquo;t sit on our hands like fans from other cities. New York fans are the best in the world, the most enthusiastic and loyal fans anywhere. Why do you think they held the Challenge Cup here?</p><p><b>Edward J. Stenborg</b>&nbsp;<br><i>Hicksville, NY.</i></p><h2><b>NHL Expansion Mishandled</b></h2><p>I for one am completely in agreement with Jim Kearney&rsquo;s opinion&mdash;in the Vancouver <i>Sun&mdash;</i>that the NHL is hypocritical in its position that on the one hand, Wayne Gretzky is not eligible for the Calder Trophy because he played in a major hockey league (the WHA) last year, while on the other hand, WHA points scored by people like Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull and Gretzky will not count toward career records because the WHA was not a major league. How John Ziegler can say this with a straight face is beyond me.</p><p>For anyone other than Gretzky to get the top rookie award this year would be a joke. But I suppose that&rsquo;s in keeping with the way the NHL runs its shop. Common sense and fairness seem to be dirty words to the &ldquo;businessmen&rdquo; who run this league.</p><p>Actually, this situation just illustrates how poorly the NHL/WHA merger-expansion was handled. The entire arrangement seems to have been organized to make it as disruptive as possible. Rather than follow the examples set by the National Basketball Association and the National Football League in their mergers, and make the amalgamation a positive thing for the benefit of the sport, Ziegler and the league governors seem to have gone out of their way to create even more bad blood than there was before the merger.</p><p>All in all, the question of Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s status really is academic. The WHA may not have been a major league&mdash;but neither is the NHL. I nominate Mickey Mouse for league president.</p><p><b>Fred Dawkins</b>&nbsp;<br><i>North Vancouver, B.C.</i></p><h2><b>Gretzky & Liut For Hart Trophy</b></h2><p>As the season winds down, speculation as to who will win the Hart trophy occurs. As I see it, the two top contenders for the award would appear to be Edmonton center Wayne Gretzky and St. Louis goalie Mike Liut.</p><p>Gretzky has been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise disappointing year for the Oilers. Right now he has 116 points, and he still has nine games to go. This also puts him ahead of Guy Lafleur and Bryan Trottier in the scoring race. Not bad for a 19-year-old kid who was supposed to be too skinny to play in the NHL. Ask the Washington Capitals what kind of playmaker Gretzky is.</p><p>Liut should also be considered as a prime candidate for MVP honors on the basis of his play for the &ldquo;born-again&rdquo; Blues. Liut has given St. Louis the kind of goaltending that Glenn Hall used to give them and the Blues are once again one of the top teams in the league.</p><p>The league has already robbed Gretzky of the Calder by declaring him ineligible on the grounds that he played in the WHA (even though they won&rsquo;t count any of his scoring totals as official). I, along with thousands of other Oiler fans hope that the league will not take away a truly deserved Hart trophy.</p><p><b>Doug Caspar</b>&nbsp;<br><i>Edmonton, Alta.</i></p><h2><b>Punch&rsquo;s Way Is A OK</b></h2><p>After reading Danny Gare&rsquo;s views on Punch Imlach (Mar. 14) I feel much more favorable toward Imlach. In fact, I&rsquo;m guessing that the problem in Buffalo and Toronto is almost entirely with the players.</p><p>Most of our young players in the NHL who are trying so hard to be heroes and men are just immature crybabies. The fact that none can back away from a fight nor keep their filthy mouths shut when they get a well-deserved penalty is certainly evidence that they are not men. We see these disgraceful performances every Saturday night on national TV.</p><p>The fact that players have to sneak beer and wear sweaters and jeans against club rules is proof of how immature and unprofessional they really are. Their philosophy seems to be: &lsquo;All for me, nothing for the club&rsquo;.</p><p>Let the NHLers realize that they are the idols of thousands of youngsters and that the example they set is repeatedly copied. Using drugs, beer, dressing carelessly, breaking rules, trying to deliberately injure an opponent, foulmouthing everything and otherwise acting like children are not exactly ideals to be copied.</p><p><b>Daryl Tucker,</b>&nbsp;<br><i>Estevan, Sask.</i></p><h2><b>A Solution For The &ldquo;Boring&rdquo; NHL</b></h2><p>Tonight I am watching a National Hockey League game on television and continually during the game I have been asking myself, &ldquo;What has happened to professional hockey?&rdquo;</p><p>During the course of play there are fewer and fewer examples of real skill. Passes not on sticks, shots off target, more holding and hooking than skating, few dekes worth mentioning, very little teamwork&mdash;just a total lack of all the qualities which the NHL was founded on. The first question that comes to my mind is, &ldquo;What have the coaches in the sacred halls of junior hockey been teaching in their leagues?&rdquo; Most likely the things which prevail today: Holding, hooking, interference, fighting.</p><p>I have a solution to all of this, though. In order for real hockey to be played once again the plethora of marginal players and hangers-on (those with little or no talent) must not be hired. Okay, so we close some of the weaker teams and those in financial trouble. Pare the league to about eight or 10 teams, then have the league invest in a substantial television network and televise all games. Those teams which are disbanded will be doing their fans a favor by providing more quality players to the smaller league, and the fans can now see real hockey again.</p><p>Hockey for someone who has enjoyed the game for the last 20 years has become boring. With the watered-down talent pool, real hockey is not being played. Expansion was a real shot in the arm, but did the shot contain the vaccine or just an anesthetic?</p><p><b>Ronald Gill</b>&nbsp;<br><i>Ft. Collins, CO</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-02

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>ORONTO&mdash;With the words, &ldquo;All I expect from you bastards is effort and I&rsquo;d better get it,&rdquo; George (Punch) Imlach was officially back as the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs with a bang.</p><p>The bang was the slamming of the dressing room door as the 62-year-old Imlach exited after informing the Leafs who their new coach was. Actually Imlach&rsquo;s first words to the club were in the form of a brief press release and they went something like this: &ldquo;Gentlemen, I&rsquo;d like to inform you that George Imlach, general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, has appointed Punch Imlach as head coach for the rest of the season.&rdquo;</p><p>Imlach&rsquo;s return to the coaching reins was necessitated by the automobile accident which shattered the kneecap of coach Floyd Smith and ended the 44-year-old Smith&rsquo;s stormy first season in Toronto before he had a chance to see what fruits the playoffs might divulge. As is his custom, Imlach picked up the challenge with his usual flair for the dramatic.</p><p>Assistant coach Dick Duff had taken over behind the bench for two games after Smith&rsquo;s March 16 accident, but the club had played listlessly, losing to the Rangers 8-4 and Atlanta 5-1. Then Imlach made his move.</p><p>He informed his players that he would be the head coach at a videotape meeting the day after the loss to Atlanta, but when the Leafs took to the ice to tangle with the last-place Winnipeg Jets the following evening, Imlach was in his familiar position in the press box.</p><p>Summoned to command the troops, as an interim or emergency assistant coach, was New Brunswick mentor Joe Crozier, who goes back about 30 years with Punch. He played under Punch and more recently was Punch&rsquo;s coach at Buffalo with the Sabres, taking over for Imlach when Punch&rsquo;s health restricted him to the general manager&rsquo;s role only.</p><p>A tough disciplinarian, Crozier was Imlach&rsquo;s choice to try and instill some order on the Leafs&rsquo; bench, where assistant coach Duff didn&rsquo;t have the experience to handle the rapid-fire line changes and minor adjustments which have to be made during the course of a game.</p><p>&ldquo;Joe Crozier,&rdquo; wrote Rex MacLeod of the Toronto <i>Star,</i> &ldquo;is like Imlach with hair&hellip;he uses the same direct approach.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re both stubborn,&rdquo; Crozzier told MacLeod, &ldquo;but we think along the same lines.&rdquo;</p><p>The Leafs&rsquo; coaching set-up works like this: Imlach is the head honcho who calls all the shots. He maps out the strategy to be used and meets with Crozier before games as well as after each period.</p><p>Crozier, the most visible member of the coaching trioka, is the man behind the bench, changing the lines. He&rsquo;s also the one who conducts the team practices.</p><p>Duff has been doing his work in the press box as well as helping to run the practices since the arrival of Crozier. He travels down with Punch for conferences between periods.</p><p>Imlach has promised to be a regular visitor to the dressing room now, which was not the case during the first seven-eighths of the schedule, when he made only two or three appearances.</p><p>&ldquo;They said I was running the team before (from the press box) so now there won&rsquo;t be any doubts,&rdquo; Imlach said. &ldquo;Now they won&rsquo;t have any beefs or excuses.&rdquo;</p><p>The Leafs didn&rsquo;t have to worry about making any excuses their first two times out under the Crozier-Imlach combo. They bombed the Winnipeg Jets 9-1 and then marched into the Spectrum in Philadelphia. Showing more discipline than they had all year and bolstered by the goaltending of Mike Palmateer, the Leafs shut out Philly, 3-0, the first time the Flyers had been shutout at home in more than three years.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011236/4713623-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="576" height="596"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Punch Imlach has taken full control of the Leafs&rsquo; coaching duties, but remains in his press box location.</i></figcaption></div><p>The wind left the Leafs&rsquo; sails a bit two nights later at home when they were upended 5-1 by the Buffalo Sabres, but actually they didn&rsquo;t play as badly as the score indicated, outshooting the Sabres 15-6 in a scoreless first period and entering the third period trailing only 2-0. The Sabres, though, took advantage of a couple of Leaf lapses in the final frame to forge a 4-0 lead before Pat Hickey broke up Don Edwards&rsquo; shutout bid with a rebound from a sharp angle.</p><p><b>LOOSE LEAFS:</b> When Darryl Sittler scored a shorthanded goal in the trouncing of Winnipeg with two Leafs in the penalty box, it was the first time that a Leaf has ever scored while his team was at a two-man disadvantage. Sittler couldn&rsquo;t recall ever having scored like that at any level of hockey&hellip;In the same game, Borje Salming, Ian Turnbull and Dave Burrows all scored, the first time that three Leaf defensemen have scored in one game this season. In fact, the last time two Leaf defensemen had scored in the same game was in Montreal just before Christmas when Turnbull and Greg Hotham scored&hellip;Rocky Saganiuk, who tallied seven goals this season in four games against Winnipeg, became the ninth Leaf rookie to score 20 goals.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-01

Imlach Back In Leaf Driver’s Seat

<h2><b>35-PLUS, DIVISION A</b></h2><p>Cornwall, Ont., Hubs</p><p>Midland, Ont., Oldtimers</p><p>Elmira, Ont., Polar Kings</p><p>Woodstock, Ont., Oldtimers</p><p>Hamilton, Ont., Oldtymers</p><p>Yorkton, N.Y., Rotten Apples</p><h2><b>35-PLUS, DIVISION B</b></h2><p>Bancroft, Ont., Pharmacy</p><p>Guelph, Ont., Goodtimers</p><p>Ottawa, Ont., Old Stars</p><p>Bedford, N.Y., Zoo</p><p>Buffalo. N.Y., Old Boys</p><p>Lake Placid, N.Y.</p><p>Moncton, N.B., Arrowmetal Coyotes</p><h2>25-PLUS, DIVISION A, GROUP 1</h2><p>Sherwood Forest, Mich</p><p>Leamington, Ont., Lakers</p><p>Toronto, Ont., Brokers</p><p>Dow Maple Leafs (Sarnia, Ont.)</p><h2>25-PLUS, DIVISION A, GROUP 2</h2><p>Detroit, Mich., Hogans</p><p>Frederiction, N.S., Sutherlands</p><p>Spring Hill, N.S., Snowbirds</p><p>North York, Ont., Firefighters</p><h2>25-PLUS, DIVISION B, GROUP 1</h2><p>Niagara Falls, Ont., Sport Experts</p><p>Ottawa, Ont., Jesters</p><p>Windsor, Ont., Jets</p><p>Lambton, Ont., Bruins</p><h2>25-PLUS. DIVISION B, GROUP 2</h2><p>Port Elgin, Ont., Rourkes</p><p>Allegheny Aces (Irwin, Pa.)</p><p>Toronto, Ont., Nags Head</p><p>White Farms Canucks (Kanata, Ont.)</p><h2>25-PLUS, DIVISION C, GROUP 1</h2><p>Exeter, Ont., Smalltimers</p><p>Valley Forge, Pa., Colonials</p><p>Glen Carin, Ont., Panthers</p><p>Bradford, Ont., Elders</p><h2>25-PLUS, DIVISION C, GROUP 2</h2><p>Toronto, Ont., Select</p><p>Wyoming, Mich., Little Caesars</p><p>Beaver Falls, Pa.</p><p>Rochester, Mich., Jeremiahs Tavern<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Participants In Lake Placid Tournament

<p>The first annual HOCKEY NEWS CAN/AM International Adult Hockey Tournament will be held in Lake Placid, N.Y., on April 3, 4, 5, 6.</p><p>A total of 37 teams will participate in the round-robin tournament, which will be played in the same arena where the U.S. Olympic hockey team won its gold medal just over one month ago.</p><p>The teams will be broken down into five divisions (see sidebar for team listings) and will play within their respective divisions to determine the two top teams. Those two teams will then play each other to determine the overall champion of the division.</p><p>Bob Murch, one of the founders of CAN/AM and the organizer of the tournament, feels very strongly that events of this nature will become more and more prevalent as time goes on.</p><p>&ldquo;Hockey,&rdquo; says Murch, &ldquo;has become a legitimate way to recreate on the adult level. The sport is much better controlled than it was, the equipment is much better and the ruling bodies which govern the game are a lot more stringent than they used to be. As a result, many middle-management-types of people are realizing that the game is not as risky as it once was and they&rsquo;re getting into it.&rdquo;</p><p>The facts seem to bear out Murch&rsquo;s words, for the HOCKEY NEWS-CAN/AM tournament is not the only event of its type going on this spring. The &ldquo;April Classic&rdquo; Tournament will be held in Rhode Island later in the month at the Mt. St. Charles Arena and the Rhode Island Sports Center and the organizers of that event are. just as optimistic about their tournament as Murch is about his. (For details on the Rhode Island tourney, contact Gerry Menard at 401-762-1588).</p><p>&ldquo;The response to this initial tournament has been so fantastic,&rdquo; Murch says, &ldquo;that we can easily forsee holding as many as four tournaments a year.&rdquo;.</p><p>And the places where Murch is talking about holding the tournal ments are exotic enough to compel even the most unenthusiastic exhockey jock to bolt out of his easy chair and go searching through the closet for his old equipment.</p><p>&ldquo;Right now,&rdquo; Murch says, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re thinking in terms of places like St. Petersburg, Sun Valley, Las Vegas, Costa Mesa, Squaw Valley&hellip;even Spain.&rdquo;</p><p>Spain!</p><p>&ldquo;Sure,&rdquo; Murch replies. &ldquo;The most important thing to keep in mind when you&rsquo;re organizing something like this is that these guys want to combine a family vacation with their hockey. So you&rsquo;ve got to provide an environment that&rsquo;s good &bull; for wives and children and also conducive to hockey, and partying and being with the boys&mdash;which hockey players, no matter how old, <i>love.&rdquo;</i></p><p>Starting on April 3, 1980, at the site of perhaps the greatest hockey victory in history, 37 teams will collectively give a whole new meaning to the phrase, &ldquo;Let The Games begain!&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Tournaments Combine Hockey With Vacation

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>is presence makes opposing coaches cringe and enemy defensemen go on collision courses. The longer Mulvey remains in the combat zone the greater the likelihood that he will deflect a shot past the goalie or ram in a rebound.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m never going to split a defense and carry the puck through a team on an end-to-end rush,&rdquo; Mulvey continues. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never have a 150-point season. What I do is cause aggravation for the defensemen and the goalie.&rdquo;</p><p>Never before in his six-year career has Mulvey caused this much aggravation. Through March 22 he had 35 goals and 21 assists.</p><p>Hitherto he was considered the big kid who never reached the potential inherent in his being the Hawks&rsquo; underage No. 1 choice in the 1974 amateur draft. He began the current season with a career total of 61 goals and his previous seasonal high was 19, a figure he reached through a late surge last winter.</p><p>&ldquo;From the time I broke in I knew I could play in the National Hockey League,&rdquo; says Mulvey. &ldquo;Guys I&rsquo;d held my own against in the juniors were in the NHL and if they made it there was no reason I couldn&rsquo;t. I was big and strong and dedicated.&rdquo;</p><p>When Mulvey joined the Black Hawks they were in transition: the team was entering a down-cycle. It wasn&rsquo;t until the last 12 months that radical remodeling was done and this season, under the new coaching regime of Eddie Johnston, Mulvey found himself playing a prominent role right from the start.</p><p>Johnston deployed him on the No. 1 line with center Terry Ruskowski and left wing Rich Preston, the prolific pair pirated from the World Hockey Association. &ldquo;I think Mulvey will get 25 goals,&rdquo; predicted the coach.</p><p>&ldquo;Working with Terry and Rich was the best thing that ever happened to me,&rdquo; says Mulvey. &ldquo;They did more than set up goals for me. They taught me how important it is to be mentally prepared.&rdquo;</p><p>Mulvey suffered no withdrawl symptoms when Preston was moved to Tom Lysiak&rsquo;s line in late January and he continued to score goals during the 10 days in March that Ruskowski was out with an injury. He has matured into a star in his own right.</p><p>Mulvey believes his June bride, Pam, is another reason for his becoming a very important player for the Black Hawks. &ldquo;My marriage has settled me down and given me tremendous incentive,&rdquo; says Mulvey. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re expecting a baby this month. Life has been very good to me in the last year.</p><p>&ldquo;Now, I realize it probably was a blessing in disguise when I cracked a kneecap in last year&rsquo;s first playoff game against the Islanders. I&rsquo;d never been injured before so I was worried about coming back. I never worked so hard during the off-season as I did last summer.&rdquo;</p><p>Grant comes from a close-knit family and he&rsquo;s proud that his behemoth (6-4, 220-pound) &ldquo;baby&rdquo; brother, Paul, has won a regular left wing job with Washington this season after spending a portion of his rookie year in the minors.</p><p>Hawk goalie Tony Esposito and his high-scoring New York Rangers brother, Phil, are still the No. 1 brother act in the NHL. But Grant and Paul Mulvey are starting to make people sit up and take notice.</p><p><b>HAWK TALK:</b> The Hawks got out of a four-game winless rut (0-22) by scoring a 5-2 victory over Quebec in Chicago Stadium. Grant Mulvey snapped a 2-2 tie by scoring with 8:56 left in the game. Later he hit on an empty net to tally the final Chicago goal. From General Manager Bob Pulford&rsquo;s point of view it&rsquo;s important for the Hawks to keep the 19th place Nordiques in the sleasy section of the point standings. Chicago received Quebec&rsquo;s first-round selection in the 1980 draft for relin-guishing the rights to Real Cloutier when the World Hockey Association was absorbed by the NHL&hellip;In their next outing at the Nassau Memorial Coliseum, the Hawks tied the New York Islanders 4-4. Ron Sedlbauer scored the tying goal of a pass from Ruskowski with 5:18 to play.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011209/4713733-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="598" height="1514"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Mulvey, above, says that teammates Terry Ruskowski and Rich Preston taught him the importance of being mentally prepared for every game.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0012-01

Hawks’ Mulvey Smooths Rough Edges

<div class="byline">BILL LIBBY&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021028/4713771-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="317" height="370"></div><h2><b>A King Moves On</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>H</span>E HAS HAIR</b> like straw, which sticks straight out of a helmet he has worn since he was a boy, an old leather helmet that looks like it might have belonged to someone from the Red Grange era. He is short and doesn&rsquo;t wear suspenders when he plays, so his pants hang so low it looks like he has no legs.</p><p>He bounces about on the ice on bowed legs like a confined puppy who has just been turned loose. He is here, there, everywhere, bouncing and churning as he jerks about on choppy strides.</p><p>He has slowed down a little bit from the days when he routinely killed penalties, pestered opponents to death and rarely got a penalty&hellip;but he is still one of the game&rsquo;s fastest skaters. He deserved more awards than he got, but one year he won both the Lady Byng and Bill Mastertom trophies.</p><p>He is Butch Goring, the newest New York Islander, who is 30 years old and in his 11th season in the National Hockey League. All of those years were spent with the Los Angeles Kings until he was traded to the Islanders for two players&mdash;Dave Lewis and Billy Harris&mdash;in mid-March. He was in L.A. longer than any King, played more games, scored more goals, assisted on more and totalled more points.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03711/4713764-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="287" height="450"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Butch Goring</i></figcaption></div><p>In his fifth season in Los Angeles, Marcel Dionne is closing in on Goring&rsquo;s scoring records and in another season or two, if he stays, he will own all the team marks. Dionne is more skilled than Goring, but Butch is still the greatest player in the Kings&rsquo; short history.</p><p>Each of my two young daughters have a Kings&rsquo; jersey she wears to games. Allyson&rsquo;s says VACHON on the back. Laurie&rsquo;s says GORING on the back. These two are the most popular players the team has had in its 13 seasons in Los Angeles and now both are gone&mdash;Vachon leaving for more money in Detroit and Goring being traded away. And my girls do not know what to do with their jerseys. Putting on new names somehow seems disloyal.</p><h2><b>Difficult Decision</b></h2><p><b>THE KINGS NEEDED</b> defense much more than they needed offense and Goring is no longer as good as he was defensively. Harris and Lewis, on the other hand, are sound defensive players. Since Butch was the oldest of the good players the Kings had that other teams wanted, he was the logical guy to go. All of us who cover the Kings pretty much agreed on this fact. Yet now that Butch is gone, I wonder if I could have brought myself to let him go.</p><p>General manager George Maguire was the one who had to make that decision. Although in only his first full season as the Kings&rsquo; owner, Jerry Buss recognized how much Goring meant to hockey tradition in L.A. The only other King who even comes close to being in L.A. as long as Butch was is Mike Murphy, who arrived in 1973&mdash;three years after Goring. Buss even said a couple of weeks before the deal was made that Goring was going to remain in L.A., that he wouldn&rsquo;t be traded. But the team was in a terrible slump when Maguire was driven to deal and Buss reluctantly gave his approval.</p><p>Bob Berry, the current coach, came to the Kings as a player a season after Goring and played with Butch for seven years before going to the minors and then returning as coach. After Berry was told about the deal, he was depressed&mdash;not because he thought it was a bad trade, but because he just didn&rsquo;t want to see Goring go.</p><p>Berry&rsquo;s only comment was: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I better say anything about it.&rdquo;</p><p>Mike Murphy, the team captain who played most of those seven seasons on a line with Butchie, said, &ldquo;I hurt because I&rsquo;ve lost a buddy. We talk about it. We heard a lot of trade talk the last couple years. We knew it could happen. We know it happens in sports. But it hurts.&rdquo;</p><p>The news was given to Goring and the team in the dressing room after a defeat in Montreal. The room became a morgue. &ldquo;We knew it could be Butchie,&rdquo; Murphy said, &ldquo;but we just didn&rsquo;t think it would be. When it actually happened, it caught everyone off guard. We were shocked and upset. It was like a death in the family.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>Couldn&rsquo;t Believe It</b></h2><p><b>BUTCH HAD SAID</b> several times in the preceding weeks that he tried not to listen to trade rumors because most of the time they turned out to be just talk, but he knew his name was being bantered about and his attitude was: If it happened, it happened. He called his wife to tell her and she didn&rsquo;t believe him. They&rsquo;d kidded about it so much, she thought he was joking. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t get her to believe me,&rdquo; Butch said wistfully, &ldquo;so I gave up on it and hung up on her.&rdquo;</p><p>He went around the dressing room, shaking hands with his teammates and saying good-bye. He shook hands with Marcel Dionne and they wished one another well. When Dionne came to the team he stole the spotlight from Goring. There were reports they didn&rdquo;t talk to one another. The reports weren&rsquo;t true. The two weren&rsquo;t friends, but they respected each other. &ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t close friends,&rdquo; Dionne said, &ldquo;and it&rsquo;s a deal that had to be made, but it will be strange not to have Butch around anymore. He was always a team man and he never hurt anyone. When he said, &lsquo;Well, this is it, Marce,&rsquo; I didn&rsquo;t believe him. I thought he was joking. I had to go to the coaches to check before I believed it.&rdquo;</p><p>When Robert Thomas Goring was born, a nurse nicknamed him Butch; the name always fit and it has stuck ever since. He came out of St. Boniface, Manitoba, a country kid who found it hard to talk to the press and wore old clothes until they fell off his back. On one winter trip, he didn&rsquo;t bring a topcoat and borrowed one from Berry. Butch looked lost in it. but he never returned it, and his teammates teased him about it and more of his idiosyncrasies all the time.</p><p>He was married in 1971 and he and his wife Cathy have two young daughters, Shannon and Kellie. He dresses a little better and talks a lot better now&mdash;so much so that prior to the trade he had become one of the biggest spokesmen for the Kings.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to a good team,&rdquo; Butchie said before joining the Islanders, &ldquo;but I hate to go. After almost being traded two years ago, I kind of hoped that I&rsquo;d be able to finish my career with one team&mdash;the Kings. I really felt like I was a part of this team.&rdquo;</p><p>Now, he is no longer a part of the team&mdash;physically&mdash;and that&rsquo;s very hard for me to believe. But I think that there are some players who will always be identified with one team no matter where they are traded.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-02

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/f0013-011151/4713802-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="309" height="361"></div><h2><b>Creighton&rsquo;s Sphinx Act</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he first time Fred Creighton tried to sit in Don (Grapes) Cherry&rsquo;s chair in the room that says &ldquo;Coach, Bruins,&rdquo; there was a message from Cherry who had just moved his decibel machine to Denver.</p><p>&ldquo;If you want to make it with the Bruins,&rdquo; the message said, &ldquo;do two things&mdash;one, don&rsquo;t get too much publicity and, two, do as you&rsquo;re told.&rdquo;</p><p>The advice was considered vital for someone moving into the fortress commanded by General Harry Sinden, and Sergeant Creighton accepted it without question. Fred was willing to accept any advice since he was tiptoeing into the NHL&rsquo;s most difficult spotlight. As even Don Rickles must know, following Don Cherry&rsquo;s act is as easy as a mime walking onstage after Frank Sinatra. Ergo: You don&rsquo;t. But even Cherry was supportive.</p><p>&ldquo;I think Fred Will be a good coach,&rdquo; said Grapes. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good guy and the best choice they could have made with all the jerks running around looking for jobs.&rdquo;</p><p>Now, more than half a year has elapsed since Creighton moved his sphinx act to Boston. Guess what? Minus Cherry, the Bruins have not fallen through the bottom of the NHL. But Creighton has. He was fired on March 22nd in one of the strangest moves in hockey history.</p><p>&ldquo;Maybe I should have thought twice when the Bruins offered me the job,&rdquo; Creighton told me before he got the axe, &ldquo;but I didn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p><p>Creighton&rsquo;s hyper-low-key style did not win unanimous approval. Last December, for example, Bobby Schmautz, a Cherry loyalist to the last, went public with his displeasure over Creighton. Schmautz was rewarded with a ticket to Denver, via Edmonton.</p><p>Apart from Schmautz&rsquo;s mini-rebellion there had been no signs of a palace revolution at Boston Garden. The B&rsquo;s, almost to a man&hellip;accepted Creighton.</p><p>&ldquo;Freddie did the best thing he could possibly do,&rdquo; said the Bruins&rsquo; Peter McNab. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t try to change&mdash;he didn&rsquo;t try to be like Cherry. Freddie is quiet, reserved, introverted. He&rsquo;s different in a lot of ways from Grapes.</p><p>&ldquo;Under Cherry, when we iost a game, he would take the pressure off us and put it on himself. Freddie prepared us to take the responsibility for the games.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Freddie,&rdquo; said Bruins&rsquo; forward Rick Middleton, &ldquo;was more of a strategist than Grapes. Creighton used the blackboard a lot, diagramming plays. He didn&rsquo;t get too excited. Freddie would never publically embarrass a player. He didn&rsquo;t get too excited. Freddie didn&rsquo;t pick on guys right in front of other players.&rdquo;</p><p>Creighton took adversity in stride. He has not hissed and moaned over the Bruins&rsquo; oversized catalogue of significant wounded (Brad Park, Don Marcotte, Gerry Cheevers, and Gilles Gilbert.)</p><p>There are some who believe the Bostonians lacked the bite they had boasted during Cherry&rsquo;s regime. At one point this season g.m. Harry Sinden felt obliged to invade the B&rsquo;s room to read the riot act to Creighton&rsquo;s troops.</p><p>But the remarkable &ldquo;esprit de corps,&rdquo; which had been a Bruins&rsquo; hallmark since the Ted Green-Bobby Orr era (late 1960s-early 1970s) seemed to remain intact under Creighton.</p><p>&ldquo;We still relied on each other,&rdquo; said defenseman Mike Milbury. &ldquo;We feel an obligation to tell each other about mistakes we&rsquo;re making. Sometimes the language gets coarse, but it never causes dissension.&rdquo;</p><p>So, eight months after the deportation of Cherry the Bruins are alive and well but Fred Creighton has gotten the gate. You figure it out; I can&rsquo;t.</p><p><b>THE FLICKERING FLAMES:</b> Now that it has been established that Olympic hero Jim Craig is simply another mortal wearing 30-pound goalie pads, it is inconceivable to expect him to fill Atlanta&rsquo;s Omni as he did in his NHL debut on March 1 against Colorado. As a result, the Flames&rsquo; high command is now actively rethinking the question of transferring the franchise out of Georgia. Such a move will certainly not be thwarted by the two Atlanta newspapers which, unlike the media in other big-league hockey towns, have been indifferent in their coverage of the NHL entry. My guess is that the Flames ultimately will be transferred to Calgary, Alberta.</p><p><b>NOTES:</b> Whalers&rsquo; Nick Fotiu was furious when he read a New York Post story suggesting that the Flyers&rsquo; Behn Wilson was the only undefeated fighter in the NHL. Nick phoned the Post&rsquo;s sports desk. &ldquo;I beat up Wilson,&rdquo; snapped Nicky&hellip;Name the most physical team in the NHL? According to Washington Caps&rsquo; scout Dennis Hextall it&rsquo;s not the Flyers anymore. The Bruins are more aggressive,&rsquo;&rsquo; says Hextall, &ldquo;and definitely more physical than Philadelphia.&rdquo;&hellip;Before the trade deadline several clubs tried to pry Mark Messier from Edmonton but coach Slats Sather said no dice. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re building the team around Messier, Wayne Gretsky and Kevin Lowe,&rdquo; says Sather. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re accenting youth and will continue to develop our team along youthful lines over a two and three-year period.&rdquo;&hellip;Colorado Rockies&rsquo; bosses Arthur Imperatore and his son-in-law, Armand Pohan, were so disturbed over the Mike McEwen-Grapes Cherry encounter they have even considered the option of dumping Grapes, who has a fat, multi-year contract with Colorado. The problem (for Imperatore) is manifold, (1) McEwen was dead wrong in walking out on the club; (2) Cherry is <i>the</i> reason why the Rockies&rsquo; gate is up; (3) Take away Grapes and the franchise might as well fold and (4) The Rockies will never find a better coach&hellip;Blues&rsquo; prexy-GM Emik Francis is another exec on the &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s Bring Back Sudden Death Overtime&rdquo; bandwagon. &ldquo;Too many teams sit on a tie in the last five minutes of a game,&rdquo; says Francis. &ldquo;Without sudden-death over time, we&rsquo;re depriving fans of something special.&rdquo;&hellip;The man makes sense.</p><h2><b>Grabbing&rsquo;s A No-No</b></h2><p><b>ON COACHES GRABBING PLAYERS:</b> Does a coach have the right to grab a player on the bench in full view of his team after said player had committed a blunder and wass insubordinate?</p><p>The question was provoked by Cherry&rsquo;s grabbing of McEwen and the defenseman&rsquo;s subsequent walkout on his teammates. The following are opinions of other hockey people on the matter:</p><p>Harry Neale, coach, Canucks: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid to touch my players; they might beat the s&mdash;out of me. Seriously, a coach has no right to manhandle a player. (Note: Cherry didn&rsquo;t manhandle McEwen). You can&rsquo;t coach through physical fear; it has to be a fear of losing your job. It&rsquo;s never occurred to me to touch a player to get through to him. On the other hand Woody Hayes pushed his guys around for 15 years at Ohio State.&rdquo;</p><p><b>Emile Francis, president, Blues:</b> &ldquo;This goes back to my Army training. I was told you have to do everything you can to gain respect. The very <i>last</i> thing you do is put a hand on someone. This is an unwritten law. If I was Mike McEwen and Cherry grabbed me, he&rsquo;d get grabbed back pretty quick!&rdquo;</p><p><b>Muzz Patrick, former Rangers&rsquo; player, coach, manager:</b> &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen it happen (coach grabbing player) a hundred times and I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s anything wrong with that. Times have changed. When I played (1937-41; 1945-46) this would never have gotten out of the locker room.&rdquo;</p><p><b>Don Blackburn, coach, Whalers: &ldquo;I</b> have my own ways of dealing with such problems but I probably wouldn&rsquo;t grab a player myself, although I just don&rsquo;t know. It&rsquo;s not a premeditated thing. There are 21 coaches in the NHL and each has his own way of dealing with players.&rdquo;</p><p><b>Jacques Demers, coach, Nordiques:</b> &ldquo;A coach has to settle things like this in the dressing room. On TV or in public, it doesn&rsquo;t look well. Cherry is strong emotionally. He&rsquo;s a winner. I have the utmost respect for the man.&rdquo;</p><p><b>MEDIA NOTES:</b> Ed Waldman of The Philadel-phia Journal drops a note criticizing NHL prexy John Ziegler for his failure to punish Rangers&rsquo; brass re Garden fans&rsquo; misbehavior&hellip;&ldquo;Anyone who says that fans are incited to the point of riot by poor officiating is taking out of his a-,&rdquo; writes Waldman&hellip;Manhattan novelist Bob Seidman is considering a fictionalized book, based on former hockey agent Dick Sorkin&hellip;Flyers, as always, play all PR angles right. This year, along with re-leases, they&rsquo;ve been sending news clippings from assorted papers eulogizing Philly players. That&rsquo;s how you win votes for The All Star team&hellip;Two mainstays of the WHA PR office, John Hewig and Frank Polnaszek, are alive and well. Hewig is PR boss for the Ladies&rsquo; Professional Golf Association while Frank is stat man for the Whalers. Frank: Tell Ziegler about your WHA clipping service!<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0013-01

ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="byline">BY ARNOLD IRISH</div><p class="dropcap"><span>S</span>T. LOUIS&mdash;If there is a common bond among the St. Louis Blues, a pervasive quality that touches most if not all of the players on the National Hockey League&rsquo;s second most improved team, it is the I-told-you-so wish&mdash;the motivation to prove something to someone.</p><p>Blake Dunlop has it. The 26-year-old center iceman, Minnesota&rsquo;s first pick (18th overall) in the 1973 draft, spent more time with New Haven than with the North Stars in four years with that organization before Minnesota sent him and an obscure rookie, Gord Salt, off to Philadelphia for Harvey Bennett.</p><p>After another year in the boondocks, with Fort Worth and Maine, Dunlop finally got his chance last season and thought he responded with vigor, scoring 20 goals and 28 assists. But last June the Flyers paired him with defenseman Rick LaPointe and shipped him to the Blues in exchange for Phil Myre, who has shared the Flyer chores with rookie goaltender Pete Peeters this season.</p><p>Each time he laces on his skates, Dunlop wants to prove Minnesota and Philadelphia erred when they let him get away. He got an opportunity to do so recently against Boston. Dunlop scored two goals&mdash;his 14th came on a wristshot that glanced off defenseman Brad Park&rsquo;s chest and past Bruin goalie Gerry Cheevers. His 15th proved to be the go-ahead goal in the third period (the Bruins&rsquo; ultimately salvaged <i>a</i> 3-3 tie and Dunlop also assisted on St. Louis&rsquo; other goal. He hopes the North Stars and Flyers read about his exploits in the newspapers.</p><p>Mike Crombeen can sympathize with Dunlop. The now-defunct Cleveland Barons&rsquo; first pick (fifth overall) in the 1977 amateur draft, Crombeen almost hung up his skates in his initial year of pro hockey.</p><p>Crombeen&rsquo;s long suit was defense, but the Barons were losing money at a record clip and trying to put bodies in their building so they could meet the payroll, and they were looking for offensively minded players. Mike rode the pines until he asked to be farmed out. Trouble was, the Barons&rsquo; farm club had also folded. They sent Crombeen to Binghamton, where his talents weren&rsquo;t appreciated.</p><p>&ldquo;My lawyers were telling me to pack and go home, saying they&rsquo;d try to get me traded,&rdquo; Crombeen remembered. &ldquo;I went back to Cleveland to collect my stuff and was told a spot had been found for me with the Blues&rsquo; farm club in Salt Lake City. That beat going home.&rdquo;</p><p>Crombeen spent last season shuffling between the Blues and Salt Lake, but this year the 22-year-old wing remained with the parent club and impressed all observers as a penalty killer. Physically strong and aggressive, Crombeen has flashed the potential to become a productive scorer. The Blues have confidence in him, and Mike only wants more chances to prove that letting him vegetate was just one of many mistakes the Barons made.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02875/4713833-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="562" height="806"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Mike Crombeen nearly qu hockey in his first professional season, but now his style appreciated by the Blues.</i></figcaption></div><p>Ralph Klassen is another Blues&rsquo; penalty killer whose heart leaps every time the opposition&rsquo;s power play aborts.</p><p>Klassen was California&rsquo;s first selection (third overall) in the 1975 amateur draft, but in four NHL seasons had played himself into anonymity.</p><p>Emile Francis, the Blues&rsquo; president-general manager, had seen some things he liked in the player Hartford claimed last summer in the expansion draft. Traded that same day to the Islanders in exchange for goalie Terry Richardson, Klassen then was picked up by the Blues to complete a deal in which New York had received Richardson and defenseman Barry Gibbs.</p><p>Klassen&rsquo;s penalty killing prowess has exceeded Francis&rsquo; fondest dreams, and now Mike&rsquo;s own dearest wish&mdash;to play regularly in the NHL and fill a vital role&mdash;is being realized.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0013-02

New Blues’ Regulars Proving Worth

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011191/4713864-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>E</span>very hockey buff dreams of one day picking his very own National Hockey League All Star teams. Now THE HOCKEY NEWS is about to give you that chance.</p><p>For this issue only, you have an opportunity to fill out the All Star ballot on this page and choose the players you feel should be on THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; 33rd annual All Star teams.</p><p>The procedure is the same as past years, when you picked two goalies, four defensemen, two centers, two right wings and two left wings. But selecting the All Star teams is only half the job.</p><p>In addition to picking the teams we are requesting you to choose the NHL&rsquo;s most valuable player, outstanding rookie, coach of the year, best defenseman, best forwared, best goaltender and the team you consider the most exciting to watch in the NHL.</p><p>To do this correctly requires a little thinking on your part. Don&rsquo;t forget there are now 21 teams to pick from as compared to 17 last season and over 420 players against 340 last year.</p><p>Simply clip the ballot on this page with your selections printed plainly and mail to All Star Editor, THE HOCKEY NEWS, 214 King St., West, Suite 314, Toronto, Ont. M5H 1K4. Please note: All envelopes must be clearly marked All Star Editor. The players you pick will be announced in the April 25th issue.</p><p>&bull; <i>See NHL team rosters on page 35 to guide you in your selections.</i></p><h2>HOCKEY NEWS &rsquo;80 ALL STAR BALLOT<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></h2>

f0014-01

Fans Get One Chance Only To Pick NHL All Star Teams

<div class="byline">BY STEVE WINTER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02962/4713895-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="572" height="1619"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Rookie Mike Gartner, Washington&rsquo;s leading scorer, recently tallied 11 goals in eight straight games&mdash;a club record.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>ANDOVER&mdash;The Capitals&rsquo; theme song over much of the season has been McFadden and Whitehead&rsquo;s disco-hit, &ldquo;Ain&rsquo;t No Stoppin&rsquo; Us Now,&rdquo; an up-tempo tune which closely epitomizes the club&rsquo;s drive toward the record books and the National Hockey League playoffs.</p><p>But in recent weeks, a number of unique Washington accomplishments may have tempted club officials to change their anthem to Foreigner&rsquo;s &ldquo;Feels Like The First Time.&rdquo;</p><p>After their dramatic 3-1 win over Montreal on Feb. 19, the Capitals broke down their next barrier with an emotional 6-4 win over much-despised Boston. In that game, Swedish rookie Bengt Gustafsson fought off fiesty Stan Johnathan, then added a goal and an assist to beat the Bruins for the first time in 27 tries. Afterwards, general manager Max McNab personally congratulated each and every Washington player on what turned out to be the fourth leg of a seven-game unbeaten streak&mdash;another Washington &ldquo;first.&rdquo;</p><p>But also, there was a 4-1 victory over the Rockies, Washington&rsquo;s first this year, which produced the Caps&rsquo; first win ever over Don Cherry. At the same time, that victory was win number 25 on the year, the most ever achieved by a Washington team.</p><p>There&rsquo;s more still. Mike Gartner, Washington&rsquo;s leading goal producer in his first NHL season, set a new club mark for goals in consecutive games, hitting the net 11 times in eight contests, while the Capitals moved into the NHL&rsquo;s top 16, also for the first time.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve won a lot of firsts for this franchise this year,&rdquo; said coach Gary Green, who assumed control of the Capitals in mid-November and guided them from dead-last in the league to their current standing in a post-season playoff spot.</p><p>&ldquo;We beat the Montreal Canadiens for the first time, and against Boston, we had another first presented to us, which we accomplished by beating the Bruins.</p><p>&ldquo;We want to eliminate everybody in the league that we haven&rsquo;t beaten. We&rsquo;ve got just one more to go, and that&rsquo;s the Philadelphia Flyers (whom the Capitals play twice yet this year, once at home and once on the road).</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a lot of firsts that we wanted to override this year,&rdquo; Green went on &ldquo;and the most important one is making the distinct possibility.</p><p>With 10 games remaining, including six at the Capital Centre, the playoffs, at long last, seem a sure thing.</p><p>&ldquo;We still have to win every game now,&rdquo; said defenseman Pierre Bouchard, whose 50-foot slapshot provided insurance in Washington&rsquo;s recent 5-2 win over Detroit, a close rival in the playoff race. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t let down now, because other teams are fighting for the playoffs just as we are.</p><p>&ldquo;The key is to work hard and win every game; help ourselves and not expect other teams to beat the teams we have to beat.&rdquo;</p><p>Until now, the Capitals have handled that point quiet well.</p><p>During their record unbeaten streak, the Caps knocked off St. Louis, Hartford, the Islanders, the Bruins and the Red Wings, before allowing Boston to pull out a 3-3 tie at the Garden and snap a record-setting five-game winning streak.</p><p>For awhile though, it looked as though the win streak would remain intact as the Capitals found themselves on the verge of yet another first, leading Boston 3-2 on Paul Mulvey&rsquo;s goal with 1:05 to play. But Bruins&rsquo; defenseman Ray Bourque outmanoeu-vered Mike Gartner along the blueline and whistled a 45-footer past Wayne Stephenson to tie the game with 32 seconds remaining.</p><p>&ldquo;That one,&rdquo; Gartner said, &ldquo;was a learning experience for us. It&rsquo;s just a shame it didn&rsquo;t happen earlier in the season.&rdquo;</p><p>So it was one point on the road, instead of two, as the Capitals returned to the comfortable confines of the Capital Centre, where they compiled a 15-3-2 mark in the 20 games since Dec. 15. Back at home, they beat Cherry and the Rockies with two goals in the second and third periods setting additional club records for wins in a season at home (18) and consecutive home wins (six) as well.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been going real well lately,&rdquo; said Dennis Maruk, last year&rsquo;s leading scorer who returned to action on Feb. 28 after an early season knee injury. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got three pretty good lines, all working together, and they&rsquo;re all giving 110 percent. I think that&rsquo;s one of the reasons we&rsquo;ve been so successful.&rdquo;</p><p>Another reason has been the outstanding play of goaltender Wayne Stephenson, who turned in a 13-6-3 performance in a 22-game span.</p><p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t win hockey games unless you have good goaltending,&rdquo; said coach Green, &ldquo;and Stephenson has certainly provided that for us.</p><p>&ldquo;Back in December, Rollie Boutin got things going. Since January 15, Wayne Stephenson has done the job.&rdquo;</p><p>But a quick look around the Capitals&rsquo; locker room reveals a handful of other hearty competitors doing their job just as well.</p><p>&ldquo;Everybody on our hockey team right now plays a big part,&rdquo; said Robert Picard, the Caps&rsquo; leading-scoring defenseman with 47 points after 71 games. &ldquo;Wes Jarvis and (Glen) Kid Currie are killing penalties right now, Stephenson has been playing great for a month and a half, and everybody&rsquo;s doing their share of scoring.</p><p>&ldquo;One night, one guy will get three or four points, and the next night, he&rsquo;ll get nothing, but another guy will get three or four points. That&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s keeping us going.&rdquo;</p><p>As for the playoffs, that means going way past the 15th and 16th positions.</p><p>&ldquo;Right now,&rdquo; said Picard, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re thinking 12th or 13th place. We&rsquo;ve got the personnel here to do it. With everybody playing together the way we have been, there&rsquo;s no way we won&rsquo;t be up there.&rdquo;</p><p>And that&mdash;for Washington&mdash;would be the nicest first of all.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-02

Caps Closing On First-Ever Playoff Appearance

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE WARRINER</div><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>ARTFORD&mdash;The Whalers have really not played like an expansion team in this, their first season in the National Hockey League. Of course they&rsquo;re really not an expansion team by definition. The Whalers have been a major league organization for eight years if you include the seven years of play in the now-defunct World Hockey Association.</p><p>The play of the Whalers this season has been a lot like many other NHL teams: They seem to play only as well as they have to. Against the top clubs, the Hartford entry usually plays with a great deal of intensity. And they&rsquo;ve proven to be quite competitive in almost every instance.</p><p>But against the so-called lesser teams the Whalers have not always looked so good. Sometimes, after jumping out to a good lead, they&rsquo;d seemingly lose interest and end up holding on for the win or even settling for a tie. A recent game in Atlanta is a good example. The Whalers jumped out to a 5-1 lead and then apparently began thinking of other things. Before they knew it they had to hold on for dear life&mdash;barely eking out a win by a 6-5 margin.</p><p>What it boils down to, according to Whalers&rsquo; assistant coach Larry Pleau, is the building of team character. And that takes time. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to have five or six players that are good leaders&mdash;that work every night,&rdquo; says Pleau. He theorized that if a team has that kind of nucleus, &ldquo;the other 10 or 12 guys have to work too, because nobody wants to be the one left out.&rdquo;</p><p>The Whalers have had one player from Day One in the WHA (1972) who they&rsquo;ve felt they could count on to work hard every night&mdash;captain Rick Ley. Three years ago they picked up another 100 percenter when they acquired centerman Dave Keon. But it wasn&rsquo;t until this year that the Hartford team really began to expand that commodity.</p><p>Pleau says that the work of Blaine Stoughton over the last two-thirds of the season has put him in that category. Larry went on to cite the addition of Larry Giroux, Pat Boutette, and Tommy Rowe as others who seem to be fitting into that mold too. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen a big difference in the atmosphere around this hockey club in the last four or five months,&rdquo; says Pleau, emphasizing that because of it the Whalers are beginning to develop that much sought after team character.</p><p>Veteran goaltender Al Smith was patient all year long while his netminding compatriot, John Garrett, sparkled in goal for the Whalers. Smitty was between the pipes for only 16 of Hartford&rsquo;s first 60 games. Coach Don Blackburn used him mainly to give Garrett a breather.</p><p>It was on one of those occasions late in February that Smitty came up with a nifty performance in shutting out St. Louis. Blackie stayed with him. Of the team&rsquo;s next eight games, Al drew the assignment seven times and posted a 2.00 goals against average over that span.</p><p>&ldquo;Smitty&rsquo;s played great,&rdquo; said Blackburn. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what you need. Goaltending is the key to the success of any team and we&rsquo;ve had it all year long&mdash;right from the start to now. John has had a great season and Smitty has played super in the second half&hellip;Smitty&rsquo;s hot now and it doesn&rsquo;t make sense to change at this point.&rdquo;</p><p>The acquisition of the golden Jet, Bobby Hull, is paying off for the Hartford team. In his first six starts Hull averaged a point a game&mdash;two goals and four assists. &ldquo;Bobby Hull has contributed immensely to our success,&rdquo; said Blackburn. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been a big factor off the ice too&mdash;just his presence with our younger players.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;He needs games,&rdquo; said Blackie. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s his timing and a little sharpness here and there. But while he&rsquo;s getting in shape he&rsquo;s been a big plus for us. I can only see an improvement as his condition improves.</p><p>Although the Whalers are playing their home games in the newly constructed Hartford Civic Center they&rsquo;ve been unable to practice on the&rsquo;rink even once during the first five weeks of occupancy. Other events, or finishing touches</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011132/4713926-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="566" height="864"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Used sparingly for 60 games Al Smith patiently waited for his chance in the Hartford goal&mdash;and played in seven straight games.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0015-01

Whaler Atmosphere Breeds Character Through Togetherness Down Stretch

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02844/4713957-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg"></div><p><i>&ldquo;Where readers get together to do business</i></p><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><h2><b>PERSONALS</b></h2><p><b>WANTED:</b> 1978-79 Redwing Yearbook, also 197880 Whalers Yearbook, will pay good price. Write: Ken Minne, Coulter, Manitoba, ROM OGO.</p><p><b>WANTED:</b> California Seals authentic jersey. Will pay good price if in good condition. State condition and amount desired. Pierre Michaud, P.O. Box 32, Nottaway, Que. JOY 2C0.</p><p><b>ROLLER HOCKEY:</b> I would like to find out if there are any roller hockey leagues in the N.Y. metro area during the summertime. Have a team which we would like to enter. Please contact Bill Dorsey, 44 Cleveland Street, Danbury, Conn. 06810 or call (203) 743-7811.</p><p><b>WANTED:</b> game-worn hockey jerseys, buying-tradingselling WHA, NHL, IHL, CHL hockey jerseys. Game worn hockey shirts only. Also interest in used sticks&mdash;bags and skates of hockey stars. Highest prices payed for WHA, NHL championship rings. All Star game jerseys needed. Would like to also hear from pro team hockey trainers and players. Contact Richard Curry, #14 Five Oaks, Saginaw, Michigan U.S. 48603.</p><h2>OPPORTUNITIES</h2><p><b>OPPORTUNITY OFFERED:</b>Edmonton hockey arena, 7 years old, also included 9.74 acres of land for future expansion. Price is $1,145,000 and presently is showing a good net return. Contact Bob Strachan, (403) 489-5565 or (403) 483-6752 or write 16625&mdash;83rd Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Kellough Realty Ltd.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0015-02

The Hockey News CLASSIFIED

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>OS ANGELES&mdash;Bob Berry is hanging on to the Kings&rsquo; coaching job with both hands while other hands are busy rebuilding his team around him.</p><p>The long promised shakeup came after the club had won only five of its last 28 games to sag seven games below.500 and only a few points above the last playoff position. Their No. 1 1982 draft choice went to Buffalo for Jerry Korab and their No. 2 center, Butch Goring, went to the New York Islanders for Dave Lewis and Billy Harris.</p><p>One of the highest-scoring teams in the league all season, the small-sized Kings were being outscored. All three players they acquired are large, defensive specialists.</p><p>Korab and Lewis are defensemen. Korab is 31, 6-3, 218. Lewis is 26, 6-2, 205. Korab has a good shot from the point and averages about 11 goals per season. Lewis seldom scores.</p><p>Like most big guys, Korab has been criticized for not being more aggressive, but he moves opponents from in front of the net. Lewis is solid. Ex-Detroit coach Bobby Kromm, for one, rates him among the three best defensive defensemen in the league.</p><p>The Kings wanted a center to replace Goring, so they might move the left-handed Harris from right wing, where he played most of the time for the Islanders. He checks well at all three forward positions. He is not a good playmaker, but he scores 20 to 25 goals a season and one season had 32. He is 28, 6-2, 195.</p><p>Harris had not missed a game in his eight seasons in the NHL until Al Arbour benched him for one game this season. Since his first season, Lewis has missed only a few games in his seven seasons in the NHL. Both had played only for the Islanders.</p><p>Korab played two seasons for Portland in the old Western League, three seasons with Chicago, and a half-season with Vancouver before spending almost six and a half seasons with Buffalo. He missed only eight games the last three seasons, but has been out a lot this year with a broken collarbone and a blood clot on a lung.</p><p>So the Kings get three big guys, but give up little Goring, who at 30 had spent all of his 11 NHL seasons with the Kings, was the &ldquo;old man&rdquo; of the club, the sparkplug who held team records for games, goals, assists, and points. He was the only one the Kings could afford to trade who would bring good players in return.</p><p>Owner Jerry Buss was. reluctant to trade one of the most popular players the team has ever had and he didn&rsquo;t want to give up a top draft pick, even if it was three years away, but he felt he had to make moves before the team dropped out of sight; thus manager George Maguire had to deal.</p><p>Berry, long-time teammate and buddy of Butch&rsquo;s, was saddened by the move, another in a string of events he has found difficult to endure in coaching. &ldquo;Even if it&rsquo;s best for the team, I hate to see him go,&rdquo; Berry said. &ldquo;I hate to send players out or bench players. It frustrates a coach when players aren&rsquo;t up for games, but Butchie was always up.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;We did need defense and physical strength. I hate to sound like the Kings&rsquo; past coaches, but we have the worst ice and roughest travel schedule in the league and it takes a lot out of a team. I&rsquo;d like to play my best players more, but I have to rest them by using our other players.&rdquo;</p><p>With the additions, Berry now has 25 players on the team and he must bench some and cut others. He has a lot of strength and at 36 looks like he might turn into an excellent coach. His future in L. A. may hinge on his team making the playoffs.</p><p>&ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;ve learned a lot about coaching in my two years.&rdquo; Berry said, &ldquo;After ten years here, this is home and I&rsquo;d like to stay. But I&rsquo;ve talked to my wife about the possibilities and we feel like I&rsquo;ve proven I can coach and if I lose the job here I&rsquo;ll get one somewhere.</p><p>&ldquo;I try not to think about it. I try not to take the games home. But it&rsquo;s hard. Losing is hard, not only on coaches and players, but on their families. I try to think of something I might do to turn the team around, but I feel like I&rsquo;ve tried everything. Maybe we haven&rsquo;t had the right players and new ones will help. I hope so.&rdquo;</p><p>Berry is serious, sensitive, intellectual. More than anyone else, he respects his former teammate and coach, Bob Pulford, and went to him recently for advice. The Chicago general manager, who had to give up his coaching job this season, told Bob every coach goes through these things and he will prove himself if his boss is patient.</p><p>Sons Brad and Brock are too young to know what&rsquo;s going on, but daughters Cori and Gina and wife Lynn give Berry good reasons to be optimistic. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sleeping. I&rsquo;m eating. But not a lot,&rdquo; he sighs. &ldquo;No one&mdash;not the owner, the players, the fans, the writers&mdash;wants to get this team going again more than I do.&rdquo;</p><p><b>KINGS&rsquo; THINGS:</b> They say a true test of a player is how he performs on the road; Marcel Dionne has nine goals in his last 11 games on the road and Charlie Simmer has seven in his last eight&hellip;Dave Taylor, Steve Carlson, and Rick Hampton remain on</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04428/4714047-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="578" height="872"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Recently acquired Billy Harry is a checker who can play a three forward positions.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0017-04

Berry Hopes Kings’ Trades Bring Success In Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><p>&ldquo;It had to be done, I couldn&rsquo;t wait any longer,&rdquo; said Lindsay. &lsquo;This is the toughest thing I have ever had to do in my life,&rdquo; Lindsay commented after putting himself and Pronovost in charge of the bench. Lindsay said the decision was only a temporary one until a new coach is found, but he didn&rsquo;t say when that would be.</p><p>The Wings were 24-36-11 when Kromm was fired, waging a life and death struggle with Washington, Vancouver, Edmonton and Quebec for the last two spots in the 16-team playoff alignment.</p><p>The situation with the club came to a head this past week when team captain Dale McCourt said Kromm no longer had the respect of the players. McCourt said that his efforts to establish a better understanding between Kromm and the players seemed to be making no headway. Kromm had earlier turned down McCourt&rsquo;s suggestion that he hold a team meeting.</p><p>Norris was disappointed by the way the team was performing under Kromm and he called Lindsay from his Miami home and told Ted to &ldquo;straighten it all out.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m certainly disappointed with the way they&rsquo;re playing,&rdquo; said Norris. &ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t particularly care for the criticism of Bobby (Kromm) by the players. Bobby was coach of the year one year. You can&rsquo;t be a bum the next, you know.&rdquo;</p><p>Kromm, who is 51, was hired in 1977 from the Winnipeg Jets, then in the World Hockey Association. He was named NHL Coach of the Year for the 1977-78 season after the Red Wings rallied to finish second in their division and made the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons. But after that Kromm lost his touch and the club ended up last in the Norris Division and missed the playoffs once more. Norris didn&rsquo;t want it to happen again this year and he ordered Lindsay to act.</p><p>The Wings won their first game under Lindsay and Pronovost, a 52 decision over Vancouver, but the Detroiters were back to their old ways the following night, blowing a 5-1 decision to Colorado in Denver, a game they desperately needed to win.</p><p>Meanwhile, here&rsquo;s what else is going on with the Wings:</p><p>&bull; Mike Foligno, the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; rookie sensation, scored his 33rd goal of the season to tie the club record for most goals by a rookie. Foligno&rsquo;s linemate, Dale McCourt, set the record in 1977-78. It was only <i>a</i> matter of time before Foligno surpassed McCourt.</p><p>&bull; Meanwhile, McCourt was just shy of his most productive pro season ever. He needed just a couple more points to better his rookie performance of 33 goals, 39 assists for 72 points.</p><p>&bull; Vaclav Nedomansky, who celebrated his 36th birthday on March 14, is stuck on 30 goals and isn&rsquo;t likely to equal last season&rsquo;s total of 38 the way he&rsquo;s been going.</p><p>&bull; Jim Korn, the first-year pro defenseman from Hopkins, Minn., (and Providence College), is enjoying a very fine rookie season. He admits the decision to join the Wings last summer was very difficult. The alternative was a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. How close did he get to joining the Olympians?</p><p>&ldquo;Very, very close,&rdquo; Korn said. &ldquo;Turning it down was a real tough decision to make. I thought about it for a month. I really wanted to play in the Olympics&mdash;more than I wanted to turn pro at the time. But certain things happened, things that I didn&rsquo;t like. &ldquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01898/4714078-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="608" height="910"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Former NHL player and coach Marcel Pronovost, above, who was the defense coach for the Red Wings, took over behind the bench when Bobby Kromm was fired.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0018-01

Desperate Wings Fire Coach Kromm

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD FRIEDMAN</div><p>NEW YORK&mdash;H-E-L-P!</p><p>Such was the Rangers&rsquo; message to each other and anyone within hearing distance with a sympathetic ear after a lost week that had some concerned but far from panicked.</p><p>It was a week they entered with nine wins in their previous ten games, only to lose three straight; what made the losses so much harder to bear was the fact that each was sealed by a flurry of goals in the third period after 40 minutes of respectable hockey.</p><p>&bull; On Wednesday, March 19 the Rangers began a short Western hop with a 4-2 loss in Edmonton, giving up all four Oilers goals in the third period. In a 42-second burst, Pat Price tied the score and Blair MacDonald scored the winning goal late in the third period.</p><p>&bull; Two days later, the Rangers lost to the Winnipeg Jets&mdash;the team with, by far, the worst record in the league&mdash;by the same score. The Jets scored three of their four goals in the third period.</p><p>&bull; Two days later, the Rangers returned to Madison Square Garden&mdash;where they had won eight straight games&mdash;and were routed by the Montreal Canadiens, 6-1. Montreal scored four goals in the third period.</p><p>The three losses came at a time when the Rangers seemed to be peaking for the playoffs, and left them with the task of rebuilding a momentum that had started in February, only to be broken in the first days of spring.</p><p>&ldquo;We are making it harder for ourselves by not winning,&rdquo; said Ron Duguay.</p><p>&ldquo;We are letting down,&rdquo; Captain Dave Maloney admitted. &ldquo;It takes better play than this to win. We blew the Edmonton game, and were outplayed in Winnipeg and again tonight.&rdquo;</p><p>On the road, the Rangers were up against a club fighting for a playoff spot&mdash;the Oilers&mdash;and a Jets team that is trying to salvage a bit of pride from a disastrous season. Each came up with performances approaching their best of the year.</p><p>&ldquo;We tried like hell on the road,&rdquo; said Rangers GM coach Fred Shero. &ldquo;But we took some cheap penalties; some were deserved; others weren&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p><p>Especially damaging was a bench penalty, for having too many men on the ice, late in the Edmonton game.</p><p>The Rangers played well in the first and second periods of each of the three games. Indeed, the opening period against the Canadiens was one of their best of the year. But by the second period the Rangers were beginning to fade and it was all too clear that they could not skate for 60 minutes with the team that beat them, four games to one, in last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup finals. The Canadiens outshot New York, 43-24.</p><p>&ldquo;They kept us in the game; they challenged us,&rdquo; said Bob Gainey, who scored twice, as did Steve Shutt. &ldquo;We had to play hard to keep up with them.&rdquo;</p><p>Rangers&rsquo; goalie John Davidson&rsquo;s acrobatics kept them in the game in the first two periods. But the Canadiens penetrated the Rangers&rsquo; defense time after time in the third.</p><p>&ldquo;When it was 2-1 it was still anybody&rsquo;s game,&rdquo; said Gainey. &ldquo;The Rangers have the potential to go to the finals like they did last year. Even though they&rsquo;re seventh or eighth in the league, they&rsquo;re always a threat to beat you.&rdquo;</p><p>Such words were of little comfort to Phil Esposito last Sunday.</p><p>&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t anybody in this room who doesn&rsquo;t want to win,&rdquo; said Esposito. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;re mentally tired and that could explain it. Last week&rsquo;s was the worst road trip I&rsquo;ve ever been on and I came back both physically and mentally tired. I have to revitalize myself.&rdquo;</p><p>The Rangers went into last year&rsquo;s playoffs on the tailend of a losing streak and quickly found the winning touch. They would rather not have to do the same this year; for a few weeks, it had looked as if they would end the regular season on a high note.</p><p>&ldquo;Hockey is a game of streaks,&rdquo; said Dean Talafous. &ldquo;We are in a minor one now, and a mark of a winner is to rebound. We have to see if we do.&rdquo;</p><p><b>BLUE CHIPS:</b> The Montreal game&mdash;originally an 8:35 P.M. start, rather than the normal 7:35&mdash;was delayed an additional 31 minutes when the insulation layer between the rink and the Garden&rsquo;s tennis court stuck to the ice and then clogged the Zamboni machine&hellip;Esposito, who scored the only Rangers&rsquo; goal against the Canadiens, had 22 points (8 goals, 14 assists) in 17 games. He and Anders Hedberg are the only Rangers to play who have played in every Rangers game this season&hellip;Since returning from his neck injury, Ulf Nilsson registered 11 points in 8 games&hellip;Ron Duguay had nine goals in 13 games, and Don Maloney was 9-10-19 in 13 games.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Ranger Letdown Erodes Late-Season Momentum

<h2><b>RICK MIDDLETON&hellip;Boston Bruins</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>R</span>ick Middleton is no different from any other National Hockey League player: He wants to score 50 goals in a season. While he may not accomplish that feat this year, chances are excellent that he will before his career is over.</b></p><p><b>Middleton, the right winger the Rangers traded to Boston in 1976 for Ken Hodge, continues to make the swap look like a million bucks for the Bruins. This past week he scored five times to raise his season output to 39, tops on the Boston club, and the most goals Middleton has ever scored in the NHL.</b></p><p><b>With only seven games left on the schedule, Middleton&rsquo;s chances of making it to 50 are slim&mdash;unless the blond Bruin sniper, who scored 38 goals in 71 games last season, has a few more weeks like the one past.</b></p><p><b>Middleton was the big scorer in the NHL this week, tallying in three of Boston&rsquo;s four games, including two in the Bruins&rsquo; 7-2 romp over Philadel-phia.</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/f0019-01854/4714157-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>For the first time in NHL history, a father and son combination formed a line when the Howes played as a unit for the Hartford Whalers on March 12 against the Detroit Red Wings. Father Gordie centered off against Dennis Polonich of the Wings while sons Marty, bottom, and Mark top right, waited for the puck. The occasion was Hartford&rsquo;s last visit of the year to Detroit and a capacity crowd of 19,041 came out for the historic event.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Ray Arnett)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Flames Not For Sale</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>TLANTA&mdash;Atlanta owner Tom Cousins says that while he has met with three Calgary millionares who want to buy the financially troubled NHL team, he hasn&rsquo;t sold the team and has no plans to do so.</p><p>Cousins was commenting on a report that he had already sold the Flames to brothers Darryl, Donald and Byron Seaman, three wealthy Calgary businessmen, for a whop-ping $14 million. The Seaman&rsquo;s would relocate the team in Calgary.</p><p>&ldquo;The team has not been sold,&rdquo; said Cousins, who stands to lose another $2.5 million on this year&rsquo;s NHL operation. The Flames are running nearly 40,000 fans behind last season&rsquo;s attendance.</p><p>Flames&rsquo; president Bob Kent added that there are no real negotiations going on with the Seaman&rsquo;s at this time. &ldquo;We expect to lose $2.5 million this year but we certainly are not prepared to say at this time that we are going to leave Atlanta,&rdquo; said Kent.</p><h2><b>Ballard Wants Team</b></h2><p>TORONTO&mdash;Maple Leafs&rsquo; owner Harold Ballard is adamant he will have his own minor league farm club next season.</p><p>The Leafs currently share the New Brunswick franchise in the American Hockey League with the Chicago Black Hawks, an arrangement Ballard said is highly unsuitable.</p><p>Ballard denied that there was any animosity between the Leafs and Hawks over the dual sponsorship. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just that we want our own club, playing our style, rather than sharing with a team that has a different style of play.&rdquo;</p><p>Ballard said he would like to locate a minor franchise in Canada rather than the U.S. He said he expects to sit down with Chicago owner Bill Wirtz at the end of the season and iron out the problem.</p><h2><b>Hull Must Pay</b></h2><p>WINNIPEG&mdash;This hasn&rsquo;t been the kind of year Bobby Hull will count among his cherished moments. First, he became involved in a contract squabble with the Winnipeg Jets, then he injured a shoulder and finally was traded off to Hartford. Now his estranged wife has managed to get $6,000 out of him for back maintenance payments.</p><p>A Manitoba court judge ruled that the veteran Whaler left winger has until March 28 to pay Mrs. Hull support payments of $3,000 each for the months of February and March. The judge said he would not find Hull in contempt as long as he makes the payment within the deadline.</p><p>Hull reported his net worth as $630,000, a figure that did not include his endorsements, salary from the Whalers or a 700-acre farm in central Manitoba. Hull has requested the maintenance payments be challenged because Mrs. Hull&rsquo;s living expenses had increased to $67,000.</p><h2><b>Ice Bodies Feuding</b></h2><p>TORONTO&mdash;There is a serious split developing between two of Canada&rsquo;s top hockey organizations.</p><p>It seems the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League are on a collision course that could result in the two long-standing associates going their separate ways.</p><p>The CAHA is annoyed because it contends the CMJHL has not forwarded to Canada&rsquo;s thousands of minor hockey teams enough of the money it receives from the NHL for junior players they developed over the years.</p><p>The CAHA also has warned the CMJHL that it will disassociate itself with the major hockey barons if the NHL agrees to accept the CMJHL proposal for a closer affiliation between the pros and the major juniors. Both sides must come to an agreement at an April 1 meeting in Regina but spokesmen for both sides admit a separation is possible.</p><h2><b>Myre Fined $500</b></h2><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Goaltender Phil Myre will think twice before he starts hammering at the glass in front of NHL goal judges.</p><p>The league has lightened Myre&rsquo;s pocketbook by $500 for his actions in a March 12 game at Chicago Stadium, when he swung his stick repeatedly at the glass in front of the goal judge to protest a Chicago score.</p><p>While dealing with the Myre case, the NHL also announced that rookie Mike Foligno of Detroit was not the first player to have left the bench during a Detroit-Winnipeg brawl and would not be suspended for one game. In his place, the suspension was tacked on to Morris Lukowich of Winnipeg, who was detected to be the culprit in a game film the NHL reviewed.</p><h2><b>Giacomin Fired</b></h2><p>NEW YORK&mdash;The New York Rangers have fired Ed Giacomin as their goaltending coach despite a plea by the club&rsquo;s goalies to retain the former puck-stopper for the upcoming playoffs.</p><p>The Rangers hired Giacomin in January to coach their slumping goalies. Since he started the job, John Davidson has reduced his goals-against average from 3.88 to 3.00 a game and won 13 of his 18 starts.</p><p>Now, the Rangers have released Giacomin, whom Davidson and partner Steve Baker insist has been helpful to them and would be beneficial to have around at playoff time. Giacomin said he had been hoping the Rangers would hire him on a permanent basis. No reason was given by the NHL club for letting Giacomin go.</p><h2><b>Ruel Wants Out</b></h2><p>MONTREAL&mdash;Win or lose this spring, Claude Ruel says he won&rsquo;t be back as the coach of the Montreal Canadiens next season.</p><p>Ruel, who assumed the head coaching job with the defending Stanley Cup champions early in the season when Bernard Geoffrion resigned under pressure, said he. would remain with the Habs as assistant coach and director of player development, his job before stepping up to replace Geoffrion.</p><p>There was no announcement from the team about Ruel&rsquo;s status or his possible replacement. Veteran defenseman Serge Savard, who is out for the season with an injury, may be a possible candidate for the job.</p><h2><b>Skater Eyes Hockey</b></h2><h2><b>Gretzky Gaining</b></h2><h2><b>Toronto Oldies Win</b></h2><p>Playing before a capacity crowd of over 15,000 the Toronto NHL Oldtimers defeated the Montreal NHL Oldtimers 8-7 in a fun-filled game that raised $200,000 for the various charity and cancer funds.</p><p>Coached by Punch Imlach, the Toronto Oldtimers appeared to have a slight offensive edge with such &lsquo;modern&rsquo; oldies as Norm Ullman, Mike Pelyk, Frank Mahovlich, Eddie Shack and George Morrison providing the scoring punch. Shack was his usual crowdpleasing self, going to the penalty box six times.</p><p>Mahovlich, the &lsquo;Big M&rsquo;, led the way with two goals for Toronto while Gilles Marotte scored twice for Montreal.</p><p>Among the name players who performed in the game were goaltenders John Bower, Gump Worsley and Marv Edwards, Ullman, Morrison, Pelyk, Keith McCreary, Bob Wall, Andy Bathgate, Pierre Pilotte, Wally Stanowski, Ivan Irwin, Shack, Ken Mosdell, Jean Beliveau, Claude Larose, Jacques Lemaire, who scored a goal for Montreal, Dickie Moore, Dollard St. Laurent, Jean-Guy Gendron, Jean-Guy Talbot, Junior Langlois, Claude Laforge and Claude Provost. Bill Friday and Red Storey were the referees.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-01

SLAPSHOTS

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01692/4714188-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="595" height="955"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Larry Goodenough&rsquo;s play since his return from Dallas has given a lift to the injury-riddled Canucks.</i></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>V</span>ANCOUVER&mdash;When the schedule of the National Hockey League finally reached its eighth and last 10-game segment, the Vancouver Canucks were poised to make their final run at a playoff spot.</p><p>And very much in their favor down the stretch is that schedule which called for eight games at home sandwiched between road games in Quebec City and Los Angeles.</p><p>But before anyone asks who bribed the schedule-maker to arrange such a comfortable conclusion, it might be well to consider how the Canucks earned so many games at home so late.</p><p>&ldquo;We put in our time for this, we paid for it,&rdquo; said coach Harry Neale after returning from the team&rsquo;s second to last road game of the year, a crucial 3-2 victory over the Quebec Nordiques. &ldquo;We went one stretch where we played 16 of 20 games on the road during December and January and that really put us behind.&rdquo;</p><p>Indeed, as one reviews the Vancouver schedule, there was a point where they were flying high, sixth overall in the standings until the road treks sent them into an absolute tizzy and had them scrambling around 17th or 18th place by the time they regained consciousness.</p><p>Just what happened during that tailspin is still nor clear to many members of the hockey club including the coaching staff, except that they stopped playing physically&mdash;the only way to win games.</p><p>And when they began that crucial eight-game homestand against the Buffalo Sabres, with a 3-3 tie, they were coming off one of their better road trips of the year, six points out of a possible 10, with none more important than the two they gained Quebec.</p><p>Despite falling behind 2-0 to the Nordiques on a couple of first period power play goals, the Canucks crept back into the game with their 29th goal of the year by Stan Smyl before the first period ended. Then Jerry Butler and Darcy Rota finished the scoring in the crucial game, which had an unusual ending, to say the least.</p><p>With Vancouver leading 3-2, Larry Goodenough, called up from Dallas to replace some of Vancouver&rsquo;s walking wounded, drew a hooking penalty.</p><p>Having killed off 79 seconds of the penalty, Neale decided to call a timeout to give his four penalty killers a break as the team had played five games in seven nights.</p><p>But when the timeout was called and goalie Glen Hanlon of Vancouver went to Canucks&rsquo; bench Michel Dion also left his crease to go to the Quebec bench&mdash;a no-no in the rule book.</p><p>Back-up goalie Gary Bromley, perched on the Vancouver bench, noticed.</p><p>&ldquo;I told Darcy Rota to go over and point it out to the referee before Dion got back into his crease,&rdquo; said Bromley. &ldquo;I just remembered the rule for some reason.&rdquo;</p><p>While there seems to be absolutely no reason for such a ludicrous rule, the technicality was the Nordiques&rsquo; undoing. They were penalized and then unable to mount a possible comback bid for a tie.</p><p>The amusing part of the rule, and one that absolves Dion from much criticism, is the fact that it was added to the rule book by way of telex just two weeks after the season began. It wasn&rsquo;t originally in the rule book, and Dion was none the wiser.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Canucks had four regulars out with injuries for the key game: Chris Oddleifson and Dave Logan had been suspended because of game misconduct penalties the previous day in Boston. John Hughes had a badly pulled groin and Jere Gillis had a very stiff neck. Add to that the fact Bob Manno and Rick Blight were also out and Harold Snepsts needed work from a chiropractor just before the game, and the team appeared to be pretty battered up.</p><p>Goodenough, who had been recalled from Dallas for the games in Boston and Quebec, impressed with two very solid games and was kept on by Neale and his assistant Dave Dunn. Goodenough, who once ran the power play from the right point for the Philadelphia Flyers, looked very much like he was on top form, and if he can continue to perform at that level, he will be quite a lift to Canucks down the playoff stretch.</p><p>General manager Jake Milford, meanwhile, has just returned from a trip to Sweden, where he says he hopes to sign a couple of free agents for next season.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-01

Canucks Comforted By Favorable Home Schedule

<div class="byline">BY JIM MATHESON</div><p>&ldquo;There was no way I wanted to give up our future for the present.&rdquo;</p><p>The most sought after kid had to be Messier, the rawboned 19-year-old center who never played Tier One junior or major college before jumping to the pros. While Wayne Gretzky gets most of the Ink around the league for his exploits as a fuzzy-cheeked, 19-year-old scoring machine, Messier goes unnoticed by fans and the media. But not by opposing teams.</p><p>True, his stats aren&rsquo;t anything to write home about. He&rsquo;ll be lucky to score a dozen goals and pop 35 points. But you have to remember, the kid is only two months into his 19th year The fact he&rsquo;s playing regularly is the big thing. For the last two months, he&rsquo;s moved from part-time leftwinger to full-time center on the Oilers&rsquo; third line. He takes most of the important faceoffs, kills some penalties (he scored a beautiful shorthanded goal against Vancouver), and is very aggressive. With half a dozen games to go, he&rsquo;s been in 10 fights and he&rsquo;s racked up 115 penalty minutes.</p><p>On a lineup of Soupys (Campbell), B.J.&rsquo;s (MacDonald), Fogeys (Fogolin), he has the most colorful nickname. His teammates call him Mad Dog and it&rsquo;s appropriate. He charges around the ice at full speed and is always snarling.</p><p>He can sometimes be a little too rambunctious&mdash;he&rsquo;s taken the odd dumb penalty&mdash;but nobody messes with him. He&rsquo;s inherited the same mean streak that possessed his dad, Doug, who had a good career in the old Western Hockey League.</p><p>On Long Island a couple of weeks ago, he got into a pushing and shoving match with ex-Oiler Dave (Bam Bam) Langevin and it was no contest. The 195-pound Messier hit the 215-pound Langevin so hard with a left hook, Langevin&rsquo;s helmet exploded in the air. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t really ready for a southpaw,&rdquo; said Langevin, sheepishly.</p><div class="sidebar"><p><b>&ldquo;Name me one other team that&rsquo;s got a third-rounder playing regularly,&rdquo; Sather said of Messier. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s better than some No. 1 picks.&rdquo;</b></p></div><p>Messier has had two draws with Dennis Ververgaert of Philly and silent-but-deadly Al MacAdam of Minnesota. And just one loss&mdash;to Bert (Long Arms) Wilson of Los Angeles.</p><p>But his pugilistic prowess is just one of his gifts. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s a faster guy on the team,&rdquo; said Sather, who marvels at Messier&rsquo;s long, poweful skating stride. &ldquo;When he&rsquo;s in full flight he just pulls away from guys&hellip;he catches defensemen a little flat-footed by his speed.</p><p>&ldquo;The only thing he really has to do is slow down a little inside the other team&rsquo;s blueline. He tends to go full out all the time. Inside the other team&rsquo;s end he could slow down a little and use his strength.&rdquo;</p><p>Mark&rsquo;s two best games of the season have come against two of the league&rsquo;s top eight clubs&mdash;Minnesota and Chicago. He fired two goals in Bloomington against Gilles Meloche to earn one of his six (star) awards and had three points in a 6-4 win over Chicago in Edmonton a week or so ago. The Chicago game was unusual in that Messier did most of the scoring and Gretzky, who never fights, came up with no points but one scrap with Doug Lecuyer.</p><p>&ldquo;I guess we kind of reversed roles,&rdquo; chuckled Messier, who had nine goals and 29 points as of March 21, almost 100 behind Gretzky.</p><p>The point totals are irrelevant, as far as Sather&rsquo;s concerned, however. He considers Messier the best draft in the NHL pool last summer. &ldquo;Name me one other team that&rsquo;s got a third-rounder playing regularly,&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s better than some No. 1 picks.&rdquo;</p><p>To be truthful, not even Sather expected this much from the kid so soon. Messier mustered only one goal in 52 games in the World Hockey Association last season in a utility role in Cincinnati. &ldquo;We had an advantage, though,&rdquo; said Sather. &ldquo;Bryan Watson (current Oiler assistant coach) played with Mark in Cincinnati. He saw him every day at practice and in games&hellip;we only saw him against us.&rdquo;</p><p>Messier held out for more money and missed the first few days of training camp, which piqued Sather a little. But he made the club right off the bat and only a two-week stay in Houston for disciplinary reasons (he missed a plane ride to St. Louis in late October) has slowed him down. &ldquo;He was far and away the best player in the Central League when he was in Houston. He was too dominant to keep down there,&rdquo; Sather said, when asked why they weren&rsquo;t grooming the kid in the minors.</p><p>You don&rsquo;t hear many raps against the kid nowadays. In five years, he&rsquo;ll be all of 24 and a legit timate star. Right now he&rsquo;s only twinkling&hellip;but he&rsquo;ll be shining soon.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Messier The Nucleus Of Oilers’ Future

<div class="byline">BY BUDDY O&#x2019;CONNOR</div><p class="dropcap"><span>Q</span>UEBEC CITY&mdash;Young, robust and intelligent, 6-1 right winger Michel Goulet, one of the WHA Birmingham Baby Bulls last year, has definitely turned out to be the most pleasant surprise of the Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; first season in the National Hockey League.</p><p>Goulet, 21 on April 21 this year, came to Quebec this season from the disbanded Birmingham club and the 195-pound Peribonka, Quebec native was signed after a startling training camp with the Nordiques.</p><p>However, as the season progressed, coach Jacques Demers was using Goulet mostly with a defensive unit and though playing a regular shift, Goulet was in a position quite new to him, and not getting too many chances to score.</p><p>With the Bulls last year, Goulet scored 28 goals, and picked up 30 assists, a creditable showing for his first season with the pros. Goulet played his junior hockey with, the Quebec Remparts where he was always considered as a high scoring threat.</p><p>When the Nordiques obtained centerman Jacques Richard from the Buffalo Sabres, Demers concocted a line with Goulet on left wing, Richard at center and the pesky Jamie Hislop on right wing.</p><p>Demers could not have come up with a better move. The line clicked perfectly and Demers has been laughing up his sleeve ever since.</p><p>In the second half of the season so far, a near disaster for the Quebec club, Jamie Hislop has the highest goal total on the team, while with eight games to go, Goulet had 21.</p><p>&ldquo;I thought playing defensively, I would possibly get 15, but my hopes are now for 25 goals,&rdquo; Goulet said recently.</p><p>Unfortunately, Richard joined the almost incredible list of injured Nordiques, breaking up the line. However, he should definitely be back for the last crucial days of the season.</p><p>There is another good omen in Quebec. Centerman Ron Chipperfield has come to the Nordiques from the Edmonton Oilers in a trade which sent back-up goalie Ron Low to the western team. Chipperfield has played regularly and consistently. A real tough competitor, he adds strength down the center, sadly lacking since the injuries to Serge Bernier, Robbie Ftorek, and now Richard.</p><p>With Low gone, Swedish net-minder Goran Hogosta was brought back from the Syracuse Firebirds. Though some railbirds were calling Low&rsquo;s departure a crime, Hogosta changed their minds. Called to replace the fatigued No. 1 goalie Michel Dion in a game at Vancouver, Hogosta came up with a splendid effort and turned the Canucks away 6-2 to keep the Nordiques&rsquo; playoff hopes very much alive. His job that night earned him first star honors.</p><p>Another new wrinkle has been added by coach Demers. He has been using his two talented young defensemen, Paul Baxter and Pierre Lacroix, up front. Though shaky at first, both have been filling in their new posts admirably. Both are good skaters and heady stickhandlers, and Baxter is strong enough to take up a slot position. He has done it well, especially when Quebec has a man advantage.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Goulet Surprise Of Nordiques’ First NHL Seaso

<div class="byline">BY AL SMITH</div><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>TLANTA&mdash;After becoming only the 21st (and fourth-youngest) player to score 50 goals in a single National Hockey League season (1978-79), Guy Chouinard&rsquo;s main concern was to prove to people it wasn&rsquo;t a fluke.</p><p>But by Christmas time, 1979, the word fluke was being used to describe Chouinard&rsquo;s previous season. For by the time Santa Claus had come and gone, the Flames&rsquo; talented 23-year-old center had only eight goals to show for his efforts in 32 games.</p><p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t feel I was playing any different,&rdquo; Chouinard said recently. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m probably the only one who might say that. I know the 50 goals weren&rsquo;t a fluke, and I felt I could do it again.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been a slow starter. You can go back over my records and you will find I&rsquo;ve always had trouble in the early part of the season. Last year everything went right for our line (the GEM line of Chouinard, Eric Vail and Bob MacMillan) and myself. Things have to go right if you&rsquo;re going to score 50 goals.&rdquo;</p><p>Recently, the word fluke hasn&rsquo;t been used as much. The day after Christmas he scored his ninth goal and since that time he has set a pace which, without that horrendous start, would have landed him 50 goals.</p><p>During a 30-game span, he scored 18 goals and in 22 of these games he connected for 15.</p><p>&ldquo;When you get off to a slow start you put pressure on yourself,&rdquo; the Quebec City, Que., native said. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t like to skate by myself for conditioning, so I&rsquo;ve bought a bike (exercise bike) and I world out at home and I think that has helped.&rdquo;</p><p>Earlier in the season, Chouinard and his linemates, came under fire because of their lack of shots on goal. Many times instead of taking shots when they were open, they passed off, looking for the picture-perfect, &ldquo;pretty&rdquo; play.</p><p>&ldquo;Maybe we do pass too much at times,&rdquo; Chouinard said. &ldquo;But our line is a finesse line, and that&rsquo;s how we scored so much last year.&rdquo;</p><p>And their finesse was never more evident than it was in the Flames&rsquo; recent 8-4 win over the St. Louis Blues.</p><p>MacMillan, who has struggled more than Chouinard and had only 14 goals 70 games into the season, had his second career hat trick. Vail had two goals, his 26th and 27th, and Chouinard chipped in with three assists.</p><p>So, the line which was second in scoring in the NHL last season, had finally come around in. &lsquo;79-80. And just in time for the playoffs, where the Flames have never gone beyond the first round, winning only one of 13 games.</p><p>&ldquo;This year is a different story,&rdquo; said MacMillan, who like the rest of the Flames has heard and read all the rumors about the team moving or being sold. &ldquo;We have to do well in the playoffs this year if we want to stay in Atlanta&hellip;and we want to stay in Atlanta.&rdquo;</p><p><b>HOT NOTES:</b> The Flames were one of the hottest teams in the league over a 30-game stretch prior to the St. Louis game. They were 17-6-7 in their last 30, 7-2-2 in their last 11, and 3-1-1 in their last five&hellip;Despite rumors that the team will move next season, owner Tom Cousins insists the Flames will be in Atlanta at least through the &lsquo;80-81 season.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Chouinard Shaking First Half Slump

<div class="byline">BY FRED PIETILA</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01579/4714291-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Lanny McDonald&rsquo;s contributions to the Rockies have been enor-mous. despite a hectic off-ice schedule.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce Bernett)</span></figcaption></div><p>Paiement and Pat Hickey.</p><p>In those 37 games, in which the Rockies posted just a 6-22-9 record, McDonald scored the winning goal three times and the tying goal five times. Valuable? You bet.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s done even more than I expected,&rdquo; said Rockies&rsquo; coach Don Cherry. &ldquo;I knew he was great. But he&rsquo;s playing the power play, killing penalties, playing a regular shift. What more can he do? I think he&rsquo;s playing better right now than he did in Toronto, ever.&rdquo;</p><p>The first couple of weeks after a trade are generally the toughest in acclimating yourself with new teammates. For McDonald, the problem was complicated because of bis wife Ardell&rsquo;s pregnancy, eventual Caesarean childbirth and complications after the delivery.</p><p>On virtually every off day during a stretch in January, McDonald was flying back to his home near Toronto from Denver or wherever the Rockies happened to be playing to be with his wife and two daughters.</p><p>All that travel and all that concern about his family should have been enough to hinder his effectiveness on the ice. But, if it did, it wasn&rsquo;t evident.</p><p>&ldquo;I made seven trips to Toronto. But there was no sense feeling sorry for myself,&rdquo; McDonald said. &ldquo;I was happy about the trade and coming to a team like the Rockies, so I didn&rsquo;t have any complaints.&rdquo;</p><p>The month-long ordeal did nag at him, even though he never gave it much more than a passing thought. &ldquo;Well, to tell the truth,&rdquo; McDonald said, I didn&rsquo;t have time to think about it. Toward the end, I was getting tired, both mentally and physically. But it was something that had to be done. My family comes first.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;The thing is,&rdquo; Cherry said, &ldquo;I think he tired himself out a little going back and forth. The mental part outweighed the physical part.&rdquo;</p><p>Watching McDonald in his first six weeks in Denver, one would have never guessed that he was experiencing any off-ice problems. He was outstanding even as the Rockies suffered through nine and 10-game winless streaks. The losses worked more on his mind than the other difficulties.</p><p>&ldquo;Definitely,&rdquo; McDonald said, &ldquo;any time the team&rsquo;s losing, you wonder if it&rsquo;s you that is causing it. You always wonder if it&rsquo;s some-thing you&rsquo;re doing, or is it your fault?</p><p>&ldquo;You always think you can play better. Like for the chances I&rsquo;ve had since I&rsquo;ve been here. I feel I should have scored more goals. I&rsquo;d just like it to continue, hopefully keep scoring and helping the team,&rdquo; McDonald said.</p><p>McDonald is also cautiously optimistic about the future of the Rockies, who have been much more competitive than in past years even though their record isn&rsquo;t that much better.</p><p>&ldquo;Well, I think the whole key is there&rsquo;s a lot of youth on this club,&rdquo; McDonald said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got four defensemen under 23 and a lot of young forwards. We&rsquo;ve got the right kind of guys, very team oriented. Everyone is working for the common goal&mdash;to win hockey games. All the credit there goes to Don Cherry. That&rsquo;s what he instills into our thinking and that is what&rsquo;s most important,&rdquo; McDonald said.</p><p>Having a player like Lanny McDonald is most important, too.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0022-01

McDonald ‘Doing It All’ Through Difficult Times

<div class="byline">BY JIM LEAHY</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b> HOCKEY STICKS</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b> HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>ROCHESTER&mdash;A big 7-5 win over Syracuse, coupled with a 3-3 overtime tie against New Haven, kept the Amerks in the middle of the southern division race. During the week, the Amerks welcomed two members of the U.S. Olympic team, center Eric Strobel and right winger John Harrington, who have signed contracts with the parent Buffalo Sabres. In addition, Rochester inked veteran John Gould. The 30-year-old had two excellent seasons with Vancouver, scoring 30 or more goals.</p><p>Once again, the Sabres have recalled center Bob Mongrain after he scored 49 points in 39 AHL contests. Geordie Robertson is about ready to come back from his broken thumb; when he does, the Amerks will have a full complement of players for the first time since Jan. 18.</p><p>A crowd of 6,009 turned out in Rochester to see the debut of Harrington and Strobel and to watch the Amerks take on New Haven. Earlier in the day, New Haven had clinched the southern division crown when Hershey lost to Maine. Rochester took an early 3-1 lead on goals by Chris Halyk, Harrington and Paul Crowley. The contest featured an altercation between New Haven rookie winger Dave Snopek and Rochester defenseman Mike Breen. Both were given game misconducts for their efforts.</p><p><b>NOVA SCOTIA:</b> A 3-2 loss to Maine dropped the Voyageurs into third place in the still frantic northern division race with the Vees still trailing New Brunswick. They beat the Hawks twice earlier in the week and were about to leap into first place until the Maine Mariners came to town. The first game of the two-game set with New Brunswick was played at the Halifax Metro Center and the Voyageurs raced to a 4-1 victory. Up at Moncton two days later, the Vees edged New Brunswick 6-5.</p><p>One player came back from a brief stint in Montreal. Defenseman Al Luciw was returned to the Voyageurs by the Canadiens after a brief taste of NHL living.</p><p><b>ADIRONDACK:</b> Veterans Dan ny Bolduc and Thommie Bergman have been assigned to Adirondack by the parent Detroit Red Wings. Adirondack is presently making a last-ditch effort to make the northern division playoffs. They also obtained tough left winger Jim Cunningham from the Winnipeg Jets.</p><p>The Wings only had two games on the schedule during the week: Maine came to Glens Falls and skated off with a 4-3 win.</p><p>And a trip down to Hershey ended in a 6-1 loss to the Bears, which prevented the Wings from gaining ground on Springfield since the Indians lost 4-2 against New Haven.</p><p><b>BINGHAMTON:</b> The Dusters will not make the upcoming playoffs unless they are able to come up with a miraculous finish. Unfortunately for the fans in the Binghamton area, their Dusters will probably end up with the worst record in the AHL. Their dual affiliation with Los Angeles and Boston did not work out as planned and Los Angeles is already talking about placing their top development team in the Central Hockey League next season. Of the three teams in the AHL with dual affiliations, only New Brunswick has a winning record.</p><p>Rookie goaltender Marco Baron was brought back from the IHL during the week when Yves Belanger was recalled by the Bruins. Baron was injured in New Haven when he was struck in the throat with a puck and started gasping for air. Quick work by the Duster trainer and the doctor in attendance revived Baron, who was then taken to a hospital by ambulance. He was not seriously injured.</p><p>Gary Burns scored twice in a losing effort in New Haven and the Dusters were blitzed, 8-5, by the Nighthawks. Starting netminder Lorne Molleken was lifted after allowing seven goals in 31 minutes. However, his defensemen were watching Nighthawk skaters roar by them all night. That set the stage for Baron&rsquo;s unfortunate accident.</p><p><b>NEW BRUNSWICK:</b> Ten of the last 12 Hawks&rsquo; regular season games will be on the road. That will make it very difficult for them to win the northern division crown. They did get veteran right winger Hilliard Graves from Winnipeg during the week but they lost three others. Left winger Bob Stephenson and center Paul Gardner were injured while Darryl Sutter was recalled by Chicago.</p><p>The Hawks were winless in four games when they returned home to face Maine in a titanic battle. Earlier in the week, Nova Scotia beat them twice. Springfield held the Hawks to a 2-2 overtime tie and New Haven skated to an exciting 4-3 win in a battle of the division leaders in New Haven. The big game with Maine turned out to be a 4-0 loss to the Mariners. In the New Haven contest, New Brunswick came up with an outstanding effort, only to lose when Frank Beaton scored with 8:22 left. The Hawks had taken a 2-1 lead on goals by Ron Wilson and Rick Patterson. Bob Neely tied it 3-3 midway into the third period and the Hawks were moving until Beaton got the game winner.</p><p><b>SYRACUSE:</b> The line of Louis Sleigher, Roland Cloutier and Bernie Saunders clicked for five goals and eight assists to lead the Firebirds to an 8-6 win over Springfield at the War Memorial. Sleigher picked up a hat trick and two assists. Cloutier had one goal and four assists and Saunders scored once and assisted on two others. In that contest Steve West made his first appearance with Syracuse. West is the former scoring champion of both the AHL and CHL. He had 50 goals during the 1973-74 campaign while with New Haven.</p><p>The Firebirds lost goaltender Goran Hogosta when he was recalled by Quebec after the Nordi-ques traded netminder Ron Low to Edmonton for center Ron Chipper-field. John Smrke, Terry Johnson, and Blair Stewart came back from the Nordiques and leftwinger Jim Hamilton was returned by Pittsburgh. Syracuse was in action four times during the week. They beat Springfield, lost 7-5 in Rochester, beat Hershey 6-4 at home and lost 3-1 in Binghamton.</p><p><b>MAINE:</b> The Mariners could win the northern division title again. As the current AHL campaign winds down, the Mariners are locked in a fierce battle with both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for the divisional title. They won three in a row going into an important contest with New Brunswick in Moncton, and made it four in a row when they blanked the Hawks, 4-0.</p><p><b>HERSHEY:</b> Gary Rissling is once again in Hershey and the Bears will need his spark if they hope to stay in second place in the southern division. Rochester and Syracuse are having quite a battle with the Bears for the runner-up position, and the race could be settled on the final day of the regular season. The Bears lost both of their road games during the week, with a visit up to Portland resulting in a 4-3 loss to Maine. Up at Syracuse it was more of the same, the Firebirds winning, 6-4. Adirondack came to the Hersheypark Arena and were blown out 6-1 by the Bears.</p><p><b>SPRINGFIELD:</b> Tim Sheehy got his second hat trick of the season, but the Tribe was on the short end of an 8-6 contest with Syracuse. Springfield then entertained New Brunswick and skated to a 2-2 overtime tie before meeting New Haven.</p><p>The Tribe lost 4-2 at home to the Nighthawks before 3,063 at the Big E Coliseum. During that contest, Springfield officials announced that the March 30 game with Adirondack will be played at the Coliseum Instead of the Hartford Civic Center. In addition, it was revealed that the Whalers are negotiating to buy the Springfield franchise.</p><p><b>NEW HAVEN:</b> The Nighthawks clinched their second straight southern division crown and are nowlooking to finish with the best overall record in the AHL, which would give them home ice advantage in the Calder Cup playoffs. After skating to a 3-3 overtime tie at Rochester, the Nighthawks moved on to defeat Binghamton, New Brunswick and Springfield.</p><p>Bill Lochead and Tom Colley each scored in the third period in Rochester to wipe out the 3-1 Amerk lead and give New Haven a point-earning tie. Colley&rsquo;s goal was his 200th and earned him a standing ovation from the 5,169 fans in New Haven.</p><p>New Brunswick came to town later in the week and a season-high crowd of 6,375 turned out to see two divisional leaders do battle. They also came to see Olympic hero Dave Silk, who had been as-signed to New Haven by the parent New York Rangers. Silk set up Frank Beaton, who scored the winning goal in a 4-3 New Haven victory over the Hawks. It was easily the best game seen this year in New Haven.</p><p>The Rangers called up Ray Markham for the rest of the season and returned winger Jim Mayer to New Haven. Veteran defenseman Dennis Owchar decided to retire from hockey when he wasn&rsquo;t traded by Colorado. The Nighthawks may call up a defenseman from Richmond to fill the gap left by the unexpected defection of Owchar.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01532/4714346-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="600" height="868"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>New Haven&rsquo;s Tom Colley had his 200th goal as a pro in the Nighthawks&rsquo; 3-3 tie with Ro-chester.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0023-01

Amerks Hang Tough In Southern Race; Vees Miss First-Place Opportunity

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b> HOCKEY STICKS</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b> HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>FORT WORTH&mdash;All good things must come to an end, and the Texans&rsquo; near-record home winning streak was snapped by the archrival Dallas Black Hawks, 5-3, before 5,200 fans&mdash;the second largest crowd at Will Rogers Coliseum this season.</p><p>The Texans started the week with a 3-1 loss in Tulsa. Back home again the next night the streak came perilously close to ending, but Bobby Sheehan&rsquo;s second goal of the night, a power play score with 11 seconds left, pulled out a 5-4 victory over Oklahoma City.</p><p>That made 14 straight wins at home, 15 games without a loss. The Texans (and the big crowd) were hoping they could beat Dallas and tie the CHL record of 15 straight victories at home, set by the Omaha Knights in 1970-71.</p><p>It was a brawling game, with more than the usual controversy. Fort Worth protested that the Hawks were offside on Drew Callander&rsquo;s tying goal at 7:08 of the third period. (Videotape replay later clearly showed Rob Tudor had brought the puck into the attacking zone, the puck had come back across the blueline, and Steve Hazlett took it back in with no whistle from argument after Callander scored, Texan Merlin Malinowski drew a penalty for bumping the official.</p><p>Malinowski had scored the only goal of the first period. Hazlett tied it early in the second, Bob Atwell regained the lead for Fort Worth, but Dave Ross on a Hawk power play made it 2-2 before the middle period ended.</p><p>Dave Watson&rsquo;s power play goal for the Texans made it 3-2, but Callander scored on the disputed play 27 seconds later. Hazlett scored the winning goal for the Hawks with 2:44 left, and Callander scored again into an empty net with 11 seconds on the clock. It was the Texans&rsquo; first home loss in 1980, as their last previous home setback was against Oklahoma City on Dec. 27.</p><p>&ldquo;It had to end some time,&rdquo; Texans&rsquo; president Cliff Overcash shrugged off the loss. &ldquo;Now the pressure&rsquo;s off, we can concentrate on one game at a time.&rdquo;</p><p>Fort Worth was in third place, two points back of Indianapolis and two ahead of Birmingham, going into the last three weeks of the schedule. Trailing 5-7-2 in the Turnpike Series, the Texans needed to win the last two games (one in each city) to break even with Dallas.</p><p>Michel LaChance had opened the scoring in Tulsa, but Oiler goalie Lindsay Middlebrook shut out the Texans for the last 55 and a half minutes, and Tulsa took the lead before the first period was over.</p><p>Against Oklahoma City, Mario Giallonardo and Atwell scored in the first two periods to provide brief leads, but Ken Kuzyk and Tony White answered them. Sheehan and Malinowski provided a 4-2 lead, only to see the Stars rally back with goals by White and Ted Olson, the latter tying the score with 3:12 left. A holding penalty on the Stars with 21 seconds remaining set up the Texans&rsquo; winning power play, and Sheehan won the game 10 seconds later.</p><p><b>INDIANAPOLIS:</b> With Ri chard Brodeur holding a hot hand in the nets, the Checkers ran their winning streak to four games, after losing six in a row. As a result, they climbed back into second place by two points over Fort Worth. First-place Salt Lake was a distant 18 points away, and time was running out on that race, as the Checkers had only 11 games left.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll play him &lsquo;til he loses,&rdquo; coach Al Karlander said of Brodeur, after the 27-year-old goalie from Longueuil, Que., had yielded just three goals in posting three straight victories, winning 4-1 in Birmingham and then posting a pair of 3-1 verdicts at home against Tulsa.</p><p>The Checkers spotted Birmingham the first goal, but Randy Johnston evened the score in 11 seconds, and Billy Carroll got the winner four minutes later.</p><p>In both games with Tulsa the first period was scoreless, and each team scored once in the second. Center Garth MacGuigan, just back from the New York Islanders, scored the winning goal in the third period of each game.</p><p><b>BIRMINGHAM:</b> Four straight losses ran the Bulls winless string to nine game, and they hadn&rsquo;t won at home in seven starts. The latest bad news was all in Jefferson County Coliseum, where they bowed to Indianapolis, 4-1, and lost a pair of close ones to Salt Lake, 4-3 and 5-3.</p><p>Dale Lewis&rsquo; goal, early in the first period, was all the Bulls could do against Indy goaltender Richard Brodeur.</p><p>Birmingham goalie Reggie Lemelin had won four straight games against Salt Lake, but his luck ran out. The Eagles built a 3-0 lead in the first period Friday night, and Lemelin was replaced by Tim Bernhardt. Salt Lake hit again before the Bulls rallied with goals from Peter Marrin, Rick Adduono and Earl Ingarfield, but they couldn&rsquo;t come up with the equalizer.</p><p>The next night the Bulls had a 2-0 lead in the first four and a half minutes, on goals by Mike Perovich and Ingarfield (short handed), but Rich Bowness&rsquo; hat trick featured the Birds&rsquo; winning rally.</p><p><b>OKLAHOMA CITY:</b> The Stars played only one game in nine days (a 5-4 loss in Fort Worth), but they were girding for a hectic schedule finish that had them playing 12 games in 16 nights.</p><p>In seventh place, the Stars were five points behind Tulsa and Houston in the battle for playoff spots, but had three games in hand on the Oilers, one on the Apollos.</p><p>Oklahoma City rallied three times to tie in Fort Worth, where Tony White got two goals, but lost on a power play goal with 11 seconds left.</p><p>The goaltending vacancy was solved when the parent Minnesota North Stars purchased Jim Corsi from the Quebec Nordiques and assigned him to OC. Goalie Louis Levasseur was lost with a fractured collarbone.</p><p>Winger Rob Flockhart came back from Minnesota, but defenseman Don Jackson and left wing Dave Hanson were called up. Former Star left wing Kelly Greenback, who had been playing in Austria, signed an Oklahoma City contract.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01561/4714377-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="582" height="904"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>The Dallas Black Hawks&rsquo; Drew Callander&rsquo;s disputed goal tied Fort Worth and he later added an empty-net score.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0024-01

Controversial Goal Stops Texans’ Record Bid

<p class="dropcap"><span>S</span>ALT LAKE CITY&mdash;In spite of a midweek 3-1 loss in Dallas, Jack Evans&rsquo; Golden Eagles reduced their &ldquo;magic number&rdquo; to two for clinching the Emory Jones Trophy for first place in the regular season. They followed that Dallas loss by winning twice in Birmingham (4-3 and 5-3) to pull 18 points ahead of Indianapolis, the closest pursuer. A single win would give the Eagles the title.</p><p>Bobby Crawford&rsquo;s late goal was the only Eagle tally in Dallas. Rick Bowness had the first goal in the Friday game in Birmingham, and then collected a hat trick in the rematch, as the Birds fought back from two goals down. Earl Ingarfield&rsquo;s shorthanded goal for Birmingham was the sixth yielded by Salt Lake this season, and four of them belonged to the Bulls!</p><p><b>DALLAS:</b> John Muckler&rsquo;s Black Hawks built their winning streak to five games by beating Salt Lake at home 3-1, Fort Worth on the road 5-3, and Houston at home, 5-3. But the streak went down the drain in Tulsa&rsquo;s Assembly Center, when the Oilers scored on six straight shots in the middle period to down the Hawks, 6-3.</p><p>Ken Ellacott started in goal for all three victories, but had to leave with a pulled groin muscle midway in the third period against Houston. Rookie Richard Martens finished that game, suffered the bombardment in Tulsa, and apparently was in for more duty, as it wasn&rsquo;t known how soon Ellacott would be available.</p><p>Defenseman Larry Goodenough and center Rob Tudor, who had just taken over second place in the league scoring race, were recalled by the Vancouver Canucks. Tudor came back after one game.</p><p>Bill Hazlett and Drew Callander scored twice against Fort Worth, as the Hawks clinched at least a tie in the 16-game Turnpike Series. Hazlett got the winning goal at 17:16 of the third period, and Callander an empty-net goal at 19:49.</p><p>In spite of Alex Tidey&rsquo;s hat trick, the Hawks beat Houston, getting two goals (Chuck Arnason and Bill Himmelright) on a five-mjnute power play, when Ron Carter high-sticked Bruce Affleck, cutting him in the eye. One of four scratches on the cornea didn&rsquo;t heal quickly, but Affleck was back in action the next night with a nonprescription contact lens for protection.</p><p><b>TULSA:</b> The Oilers couldn&rsquo;t beat hot goaltending on the road, but they won a pair at home, dis-playing some unusual scoring punch. After giving up the first goal, they downed Fort Worth at home, 3-1, then lost a pair in India-napolis by that same score.</p><p>Back home again they tallied six goals in a span of 6:12 early in the second period to whip Dallas, 6-3. That ran Tulsa&rsquo;s unbeaten home string to six games, although they had lost five straight on the road. They climbed into a fifthplace tie with Houston, five points back of fourth-place Birmingham.</p><p>Left wing Dave Hoyda returned to duty after a long knee iniurv layoff in Winnipeg. But left wing John Bethel was lost for the rest of the season with a shoulder separation, right wing Gerry Rioux had a lower back problem, and defenseman Tim Dunlop an ankle injury. The Oilers brought in left wing Glen Tomalty from Dayton in the International League, but returned him after one game.</p><p>Don MacIver and Dale Yakiw-chuk each scored their second goals of the season in beating Fort Worth, with Pat Daley adding insurance.</p><p>Daley and Jim Wiley got the only Oiler goals against Indy while against Dallas the Oilers had then-third straight scoreless first period. But the quick barrage in the middle period saw rookie Benoit Gosselin score twice, with Tomalty, Wiley, Gordon Smith and Larry Hopkins also getting into the act.</p><p><b>HOUSTON:</b> The Apollos had only one game for the week, but that broke a five-game unbeaten string. They travelled to Dallas and took a 5-3 loss, even though Alex Tidey had an hat trick.</p><p>The Hawks had scored twice before Tidey tallied late in the first period, and it was 3-1 for Dallas after two sessions. Tidey narrowed the gap early in the third, but the Hawks got two power play goals when Ron Carter drew five minutes for highsticking. Alex&rsquo;s third goal came with 2:23 left.</p><p>Finnish-born Hannu Kamppuri was recalled from Baltimore in the Eastern League, and worked in the Houston nets for the loss.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Eagles Reduce Magic Number

<div class="byline">BY PATRICK LYON</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b> HOCKEY STICKS</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b> HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>RICHMOND&mdash;The Rifles shocked the rest of the Eastern Hockey League as the regular season wound down by naming former Hampton Aces&rsquo; coach Muzz MacPherson as their new coach.</p><p>The New York Rangers recalled Richmond coach Ray Clearwater and reassigned him to New Haven, which opened the door for the colorful MacPherson. Making the startling announcement were Rifles&rsquo; vice-president Sandy Reiss and Rangers&rsquo; assistant general manager Mickey Keating.</p><p>&ldquo;Muzz is a top coach and a proven winner,&rdquo; Reiss said. &ldquo;He is very familiar with the league and is very popular with the fans.&rdquo; MacPherson was scheduled to make his Richmond debut against the Hampton Aces, who fired him in the middle of the season, and he&rsquo;ll be hoping to quickly turn around the fortunes of the Rifles who&mdash;after being in first place for virtually all of the season&mdash;were knocked from the top rung by dropping six of their last seven games.</p><p>Laurie Nisker and Mike Clarke ended a five-game losing skein when each scored a pair of goals to top Hampton 7-4, but Erie shot down the Rifles in a 3-2 overtime decision. Richmond attracted 4,400 for the contest with the Blades.</p><p>IHL-tested Dan McCarthy was sent to Richmond by New Haven and the talented center was expected to aid in the goal-scoring department. The 5-10, 185-pounder put on the red light 38 times in Flint.</p><p>Should the Rifles end up in either first or second place they will open the playoffs at the Richmond Coliseum on April 4.</p><p><b>BALTIMORE:</b> The Clippers remained the league&rsquo;s top drawing club as they attracted 7,021 for a game with Erie and 9,758 in a home contest with the Mohawks.</p><p>Dave Herbst sent the Mug Night crowd home happy with a four-goal performance that included the tying and winning goals. Herbst knotted the contest with Utica with 54 seconds remaining and then won it just 33 seconds into the overtime. It was Maryland National Bank Night, with the bankers purchasing some 1,700 tickets.</p><p>With the Clippers ailing due to injuries, they dropped a 10-7 road game in Johnstown. After battling back to within 8-7, two empty net goals by the Red Wings did the Clippers in. Kim Spencer had two lamplighters in the losing cause.</p><p>Back-up Olympic goalie Steve Janaszak was seeing plenty of playing time and was 2-2 after his first four appearances, but then left the team. Janaszak reportedly told the Baltimore management he wasn&rsquo;t sure if he wanted to play hockey on that level and at press time the Clippers were trying to get the shot blocker to rejoin the team.</p><p>Warren Young and Henry Taylor are both occupying spots in the top 10 in scoring with Young third (83 points) and Taylor seventh (72 points).</p><p><b>UTICA:</b> Coach Larry Mickey was pleased as he watched his team put on their biggest offensive performance this year in blasting Johnstown 10-0. Goalie Tom O&rsquo;Toole performed brilliantly in the nets and recorded his third shutout while lowering his goals against average to 3.47.</p><p>Bob Ferguson keyed the triumph with a hat trick and two assists, Dana Decker chipping in two goals and two assists. Greg McPhee, Bob Sunderland and Ed Smith each had three assists with Utica outshooting their foes, 50-23.</p><p>Ferguson, Tom Jacobs, Tom Machowski and Brian Drumm scored in the heartbreaking overtime loss in Baltimore that was marred by a brawl. Of the 210 penalty minutes given out in the fray, 145 went to the Mohawks. Eight game misconducts were also issued. (See sidebar for EHL Commissioner Bill Began&rsquo;s reaction to the brawl.</p><p>Concluding a hectic three games in three nights, Utica rebounded from their overtime setback to post a 6-5 overtime win at the Clinton Arena against the Aces. Machowski had the game winner with Utica wiping out a 3-0 first period Hampton advantage.</p><p>Ferguson is sixth-best in the league scoring statistics with 78 points; Smith joins him in the top 10 with 70 points.</p><p><b>HAMPTON:</b> Problems continue for the last-place Aces as their losing streak was extended to six games. The tough thing for coach Glenn Patrick to swallow was the fact that three of the losses were by the slimmest of margins&mdash;one goal.</p><p>The Aces dropped three home games and two others on the road. Erie bested Hampton twice on the Aces&rsquo; home ice by 10-4 and 4-3 margins and the Rifles had things their way in trumping the Aces 7-4. Hampton also fell in Utica 6-5 in overtime and at Johnstown 8-2.</p><p>Steve Salvucci has 68 points to his credit, ninth-best in the league, while Richard Duguay has collected 49, including 22 goals.</p><p><b>JOHNSTOWN:</b> It&rsquo;s hard to come back after losing two games by a combined score of 20-1, but the Red Wings did just that and proceeded to post a pair of impressive victories after two embarrassing losses.</p><p>Johnstown was shutout in Utica 10-0 and suffered a humiliating 10-1 setback at home against Erie before getting back on the winning trail. With Paul Mancini showing the way, the Red Wings smacked the Clippers 10-7 and beat Hampton 8-2.</p><p><b>ERIE:</b> The Blades are the hottest team in the EHL as they rode their 11-game winning streak to first place. Coach Nick Polano&rsquo;s Blades were in second place much of the season, fell to third and then wrestled the top spot from the Richmond Rifles.</p><p>Erie, now leading the second-place Rifles by six points, won five games, all of them on the road. The red-hot Blades ripped Hampton 10-4, Baltimore 4-2, Johnstown 10-1, Hampton 4-3 and Richmond 32 in overtime.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01511/4714463-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="601" height="760"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Laurie Nisker, Richmond&rsquo;s top scorer, contributed two goals to halt the club&rsquo;s losing streak.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0026-01

MacPherson Hired As Rifles’ Coach In Startling Stretch-Run Measure

<p class="dropcap"><span>V</span>IRGINIA BEACH&mdash;In its first year as a six-team league, the Eastern Hockey League has far outreached all expectations with Commissioner Bill Beagan referring to the fledging circuit as a &ldquo;colossal success.&rdquo;</p><p>In his initial season as the EHL&rsquo;s head man, Beagan built a solid foundation with six franchises and is actively pursuing phase II of his three-phase program which will bring two more clubs into the fold for the 1980-81 campaign.</p><p>Those two teams will probably represent the cities of Salem, Va., and Winston-Salem, N.C., since Beagan has been meeting with interested people from both of those cities. &ldquo;I am as optimistic about acquiring franchises in Salem and Winston-Salem,&rdquo; Beagan said, &ldquo;as I was last August of getting teams in Baltimore and Johnstown.&rdquo;</p><p>Reports have surfaced that the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Washington Capitals are considering becoming involved as general partner in Winston-Salem, but according to Beagan, if things with the Caps fall through there are two other interested NHL teams ready to step right in.</p><p>In other league matters Beagan was forced to take action after a brawl broke out in Baltimore between members of the Utica Mohawks and Clipper fans. A few unruly fans in the Maryland city pelted the Mohawks with debris following Baltimore&rsquo;s 5-4 overtime victory and Utica reacted by attempting to attack the fans.</p><p>The commissioner took strong action by giving indefinite suspensions to four players, Tom O&rsquo;Toole, Bob Sunderland, Ed Smith of Utica and Henry Taylor of Baltimore, and spoke harshly of the incident, which he witnessed first hand, and fighting in general. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re on the dawn of a new era where fighting will be outlawed and players hired because of their pugilistic abilities will be a thing of the past,&rdquo; said Beagan. &ldquo;The exposure of the U.S.A, winning the gold medal was the catalyst we needed in North America to springboard hockey into prominence. With the elimination of fighting you would see an overall more enjoyable spectator sport. I think hockey can sell without the fighting. We&rsquo;re not going to tolerate this type of outburst in our league.&rdquo;</p><p>Beagan had a meeting with the referee at the game, Tom Monahan and Pat Shetler, the referee-in-chief, of the EHL, before making a final ruling on the matter.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Beagan Predicts Two More EHL Teams For Next Season

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div><p class="dropcap"><span>G</span>RAND FORKS&mdash;For only the second time in history, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association will not have two teams in the NCAA hockey championships.</p><p>Northern Michigan saw to that by beating WCHA runner-up Minnesota out of tournament with a 43 victory over the Gophers on the Gophers&rsquo; home ice March 22.</p><p>That victory makes Northern Michigan the winningest team in the nation with a 33-3 record.</p><p>WCHA champion North Dakota, the top-ranked team in the country with its 29-8-1 record, is the No. 1 seed from the West by virtue of its winning the WCHA playoffs to go with its league championship.</p><p>They&rsquo;ll join Eastern representatives Cornell (16-13-0) and Dartmouth (16-10-1) in the four-team tournament to be held in Providence, R.I.</p><p>Minnesota never led Northern Michigan. The Gophers did tie the game at 2-2 and 3-3, but Steve Bozek&rsquo;s third goal of the game was the winner for Northern Michigan 2:09 into the final period.</p><p>Northern Michigan took a 2-0 lead after one on goals by Bill Joyce and Bozek. Minnesota tied it on scores by Aaron Broten and Steve Griffith, only to see Northern Michigan move in front 3-2 after two on Bozek&rsquo;s second goal.</p><p>Minnesota thought it tied the game in the last minute of the period. Broten&rsquo;s 40-foot slap shot appeared to go through the net and the goal judge ruled it did by turning on the goal light. However, the officials overruled the goal judge and disallowed the goal.</p><p>Minnesota did tie it on Kevin Martinelli&rsquo;s goal 1:40 into the last period, only to see Bozek win it for the Wildcats 39 seconds later.</p><p>Steve Weeks, who had a banner season, was a hero again for Northern Michigan with 33 saves to just 20 for Gopher rookie Paul Butters.</p><p>The game was played in Minnesota instead of Northern Michigan because of the bigger seating capacity of Williams Arena. It proved to be a wise decison after over 7,500 fans turned out for the game. Northern Michigan&rsquo;s rink holds about 2,400.</p><p>The only other time the WCHA failed to place two teams into the nationals was in 1976, when Bowling Green of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association eliminated Colorado College at the WCHA in a playoff for the right to go to the nationals.</p><p>North Dakota took advantage of its automatic seeding into the nationals by giving its players a couple of days rest, but the team has returned now in preparation for the nationals.</p><p>&ldquo;Through the course of this season, our team rose to the level of the challenges facing them. And much of what they&rsquo;ve accomplished has been done on personal and team pride. The NCAA tournament is the final step and we&rsquo;re sure our players will give winning the national championship their top effort. They&rsquo;re a tremendous team of young men,&rdquo; said UND head coach Gino Gasparini.</p><p>The nationals, where a single loss spells elimination, is of concern to Gasparini, who has brought back-to-back titles to North Dakota in his two years as head coach.</p><p>&ldquo;Just ask Ray Meyer at De Paul or the Russian Olympic hockey team about one-game shots,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>North Dakota will chase its third national championship and its first since 1963. Northern Michigan, which has had college hockey just four years, is making its first appearance in the nationals.</p><p>Meanwhile the coaches&rsquo; Western All-American hockey team came out and to the surprise of everyone, two players from ninth-place Wisconsin made the eightman team, along with two from league champion North Dakota and one each from Notre Dame, Colorado College, Minnesota and Michigan.</p><p>Goalie Roy Schultz and defenseman Theron Welsh were the selections from Wisconsin, which missed the league playoffs for the first time in Wisconsin history.</p><p>Schultz, a sophmore, finished sixth in the WCHA in goals against average with a 4.57 and a.875 save percentage. He signed a pro conract with the Boston Bruins upon the conclusion of the college season and won&rsquo;t be back at Wisconsin.</p><p>Welsh led the WCHA defensemen in scoring with 49 points on seven goals and 42 assists, but his defensive play was considered suspect by many coaches. He even played forward at times rather than defense, so his selection did surprise a few.</p><p>North Dakota&rsquo;s Taylor, a senior, and Walker, a sophomore, both made the All-America team for the first time. Taylor finished second in league scoring with six points and was considered the best all-around player in the country by many. He teamed with wing Doug Small to give North Dakota the best penalty killing unit in college hockey. Between them they scored 13 shorthanded goals.</p><p>Walker was rated as one of the best open-ice hitters in the league and was a key figure on a team that led the league in allowing the fewest goals for the second straight season. The Sioux allowed 3.0 goals a game while running away with the league title.</p><p>Minnesota placed senior wing Tim Harrer, the leading scorer in the league with 69 points. He shattered Minnesota&rsquo;s scoring records by scoring 53 assists.</p><p>Minnesota&rsquo;s Murray Eaves, a sophomore, made the team despite missing five league games, still collected 51 points in league play and 8 for the season to rank among the national scoring leaders.</p><p>CC defenseman Dave Feameter set a school record for penalty minutes and was the most penalized player in the league with 113 minutes, but he was a main reason why CC surprised the experts by finishing in third place with a late-season spurt. CC was picked for last in the pre-season poll of coaches. Feamster scored 39 points in league play on 15 goals and 24 assists to rank third on the team in scoring.</p><p>The final selection was Notre Dame&rsquo;s Grey Meredith, who tied for eighth in league scoring with 50 points. Meredith set a Notre Dame record for career goals with 103. Meredith, a senior, is the property of the Atlanta Flames and is expected to sign a pro contract with them.</p><p>Meanwhile, two all-WCHA teams came out, too.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01489/4714518-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="604" height="946"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Steve Bozek knocked in three goals to lead Northern Michigan to a 4-3 win over Minnesota and a berth in the NCAA.</i></figcaption></div><p>The Players All Star team, voted on by 20 players from each team, had North Dakota&rsquo;s Mark Taylor, Minnesota&rsquo;s Tim Harrer and Michigan&rsquo;s Murray Eaves as forwards on the first team. CC&rsquo;s Dave Feamster and Wisconsin&rsquo;s Theran Welsh were the defensemen and Wisconsin&rsquo;s Roy Schultz was the goalie.</p><p>The second team had Notre Dame&rsquo;s Greg Meredith, North Dakota&rsquo;s Doug Small and Michigan&rsquo;s Dan Lere as forwards, North Dakota&rsquo;s Howard Walker and Notre Dame&rsquo;s Jeff Brownschidle on defense and Michigan&rsquo;s Paul Flicker in goal. Fricker was also named the Rookie of the Year by the players in the poll conducted by WDAZ-TV of Grand Forks.</p><p>In the 28th annual Denver Post All Star team, voted on by league coaches, team captains, sports information directors and the media, North Dakota headed the team with two first team selections. They were Walker on defense and Taylor at forward. Others named were Wisconsin&rsquo;s Schultz in goal, CC&rsquo;s Feamster on defense and Minnesota&rsquo;s Harrer and Notre Dame&rsquo;s Meredith as forwards.</p><p>The second team had CC&rsquo;s Tom Frame in goal. Wisconsin&rsquo;s Welsh and North Dakoka&rsquo;s Marc Cherney on defense and North Dakota&rsquo;s Small, Michigan&rsquo;s Eaves and Duluth&rsquo;s Dan Lempe as forwards.</p><p>Harrer was named the league MVP. Minnesota&rsquo;s. Aaron Broten was named the Outstanding Rookie and Minnesota&rsquo;s Brad Buetow was named Coach of the Year.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0027-01

Northern Michigan Undermines Gophers To Join North Dakota As Western Rep

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>OSTON&mdash;By the time you read this little polemic, the NCAA Hockey Tournament will be under way in the Providence Civic Center, with Dartmouth playing North Dakota and Northern Michigan playing Cornell and the winners of those two games playing each other for the championship. Since the East grew up in the mid-60s and stopped letting the West pummel them year after year, the NCAA&rsquo;s have usually been a thrilling way to end the college hockey season.</p><p>But let&rsquo;s hope that this is the last year we&rsquo;ll see teams being picked for this tournament the way they were this season. Because the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) has grown up and the ECAC is now as well balanced as the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) ever was, there is no longer any need for the NCAA Ice Hockey Committee to paternalistically decide what&rsquo;s best for college hockey&rsquo;s final event, and then go and juggle teams and playoff game sites to suit their collective fancy. We need a system&mdash;any of several would be acceptable, really, which will spell out clearly, <i>before</i> the season ever starts, just what qualifications have to be met for a team to earn a berth in the NCAA tourney.</p><p>The way the picks are made now is as follows: The Ice Hockey Committee, chaired by Burt Smith, who is also the commissioner of the WCHA, takes recommendations from a panel of coaches in both the East and the West following all of the league&rsquo;s playoffs. The committee automatically designates the winner of the ECAC playoffs as one of the teams to go to the Nationals and then sifts through the various recommendations and names to pick a team from the East to accompany that ECAC winner. The runner-up in the ECAC playoffs is usually the other designated team&mdash;but there have been exceptions. In 1971, for instance, Boston University, which had been 26-2-1 during the regular season, lost to eventual playoff champion Harvard in the ECAC semifinals. But the committee still chose the Terriers to go to the Nationals that year, passing over Clarkson, which had sported a 284-1 record during the season and were runnerup to Harvard in the playoffs.</p><p>In 1978, BU again got another break from the committee: After finishing the regular season at 272, the Terriers lost to Providence, 5-1, in the ECAC semifinals. After Providence (17-14-2 during the regular season) went on to lose the championship game to Boston College, the committee ruled that BU and Providence should play a special game at Providence, the winner of which would join BC at the Nationals. After getting that second breath of life, BU won not only that game against Providence but won the Nationals that year, too.</p><p>Other than those two occasions, the ECAC playoff winner and runnerup have always been chosen as the Eastern representatives. A team that has been eliminated in the quarterfinals has never been given another shot, which explains why Boston College, 25-7-1 and No. 1 in the ECAC before the playoffs, wasn&rsquo;t given another chance after being knocked off by eighth-place Cornell in the quarters.</p><p>But what about 1969-70? What if undefeated Cornell, had somehow lost its quarterfinal game at home against St. Lawrence? Would they have been denied another chance? And in 1978, what would have happened if BU&rsquo;s quarterfinal game against New Hampshire, a 65 overtime win by the Terriers, had gone the other way? Would they too have been denied another shot?</p><p>This season, Boston College coach Len Ceglarski said that an NCAA official told him that the authorities of the Kansas Citybased organization were disappointed that there was no playoff game, which would have given Ceglarski&rsquo;s Eagles another chance. And Providence coach Lou Lamo-riello claimed that an ECAC official told him that it was very important for his team to do well in the consolation game. PC did, coming from behind to defeat Clarkson in overtime, but Lamo-riello heard nothing more from that ECAC official.</p><p>And Ceglarski and Lamoriello aren&rsquo;t the only coaches who are a mite confused&mdash;and irritated&mdash;about the way the NCAA went about doing things this year. Consider the situation out West, where the winner of a quarterfinal playoff game accompanies the highest surviving seed from the WCHA playoffs (this year it was North Dakota) to the NCAA&rsquo;s. Burt Smith&rsquo;s Ice Hockey Committee is supposed to take recommendations from its Western advisory group on which two teams should play each other and where. This year they infuriated Northern Michigan and the rest of the CCHA by telling the 32-5-1 Wildcats that they had to play 26-14 Minnesota&mdash;on the road.</p><p>According to Smith the decision to play the game at Minnesota was made because the Gophers&rsquo; Williams Arena seats about 5,000 more customers than NMU&rsquo;s Lakeview Arena. But Wildcats&rsquo; coach Rick Comley scoffed at that line of reasoning, contending that the WCHA and CCHA had agreed to alternate playoff sites from year to year. Furthermore, Comley said, even if this weren&rsquo;t the case, Northern should have gotten the home ice advantage because of its superior record. (As it turned out, playing away from home didn&rsquo;t seem to hurt NMU; they defeated Minnesota, 4-3 and qualified for the NCAA&rsquo;s anyway.)</p><p>The situation wasn&rsquo;t much better in Division Two: Oswego State, 28-8 and the winner of the ECAC West playoffs after being seeded third, was bypassed for the Division Two games in favor of 24-5-2 Elmira, which had been eliminated from the playoffs by eighth-seeded North Adams. And Lowell, at 22-6 the ECAC Eastern Division pennant winner, was upset in the league playoff final by fifth-seeded Merrimack (22-11-3). Apparently, however, that game had no bearing on the decision of the NCAA because both Merrimack and Lowell were selected for post-season play. Once again, a coach and his team were confused; this time it was Oswego State&rsquo;s Herb-Hammond.</p><p>&ldquo;I was told,&rdquo; Hammond said, &ldquo;that Elmira was advised by the NCAA to keep practicing after they lost to North Adams. When they lost, it was Panic City because they were the host team for the tournament this year.</p><p>&ldquo;I also heard a rumor,&rdquo; Hammond went on, &ldquo;that (Lowell coach) Billy Riley was assured that his team would be taken even if they lost that final East playoff game to Merrimack.</p><p>&ldquo;I really think that the selection committee thought they were doing the right thing,&rdquo; Hammond continued. &ldquo;I can understand the politics of the situation, but what do I tell my kids? They won 14 of their last 15. Nobody from the NCAA saw us beat Plattsburgh on their home ice&mdash;and we did it twice.&rdquo;</p><p>Hammond then went on to say that the Eastern advisors in this case, Williams College coach Bill McCormick and Bowdoin&rsquo;s Sid Watson, couldn&rsquo;t have seen Hammond&rsquo;s team enough times to make an objective judgement. Williams beat Oswego 9-6 back in December, just before Oswego went on their tear. And Bowdoin and Oswego never played each other during the season.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01485/4714549-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="598" height="736"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>New Hampshire coach Charlie Holt has circulated a questionnaire to gauge the opinions of his peers on the current NCAA playoff set-up.</i></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m hurt,&rdquo; Hammond said, &ldquo;but I can handle it. But I&rsquo;m against the whole system of committees. You know, this year is probably one of the few times we&rsquo;ve had a chance to go all the way, too. We don&rsquo;t have any hockey scholarships here, and we&rsquo;re usually just happy to make the ECAC playoffs.&rdquo;</p><p>Hammond and his charges will have to wait until next year for another shot at the playoffs and the championship. In the mean-time, there are some signs that it&rsquo;s beginning to dawn on people that perhaps the present system needs to be improved&mdash;drastically.</p><p>University of New Hampshire coach Charlie Holt, for one, is distributing a questionnaire to his peers in an attempt to resolve the dilemma.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to get a dialogue started so this won&rsquo;t happen again,&rdquo; said Charlie, who is a member of Burt Smith&rsquo;s Ice Hockey Committee. &ldquo;I want to know if coaches and assistant coaches feel that we made the right decisions and if not, what* would be more suitable. There&rsquo;s got to be a better way than we&rsquo;re doing it now.&rdquo;</p><p>Indeed. And the sooner the better. All this waiting and wondering has just got to stop. The Ice Hockey Committee just has to devise a system that clearly spells out <i>beforehand</i> what conditions will call for a playoff game and which teams will be selected.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s true,&rdquo; Burt Smith admitted recently, &ldquo;that things would be a lot easier all around if we had something arranged beforehand.&rdquo;</p><p>Hopefully, by this time next year, whatever that &ldquo;something&rdquo; is will be arranged.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0028-01

New Playoff Format Must Be Established

<div class="byline">BY JIM SCHNEIDER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02341/4714580-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="592" height="548"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>NMU&rsquo;s Steve Weeks became the second goalie in CCHA history to win Player of the Year honors.</i></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>C</span>OLUMBUS&mdash;League champion Northern Michigan dominated the first town in the Coaches All-Central Collegiate Hockey Association team in 1979-80.</p><p>The Wildcats landed five players on the first team with goaltender Steve Weeks also earning the Player of the Year award, while coach Rick Comley gathered in the Coach of the Year prize.</p><p>Seniors Tom Laidlaw and Don Waddell were named to the first team defense unit while leading scorer Bill Joyce and Steve Bozek were named as forwards along with Ferris State&rsquo;s Jim Baker.</p><p>Laidlaw was the lone first team repeat selection from last season, although Waddell and Joyce were first team picks two seasons ago.</p><p>It was the first appearance on the first team for senior Weeks and sophomores Bozek, the only unanimous selection, and Baker.</p><p>Ohio State set a league record with six players on the second team with goalie Steve Jones and forwards Larry Marson and Paul Tilley leading the way. Three buckeye defensemen, Brian Jenks, Greg Kostenko and Rod McNair, tied for the final defense position along with Mike Cotter of Bowling Green and Paul Pickard of Ferris State.</p><p>Other members of the second team were defenseman John Gibb of Bowling Green and forwards Steve Mulholland of Lake Superior and Bob Scurfield of Western Michigan.</p><p>Mulholland was the bright spot of the season for the Soo Lakers as he was named CCHA Rookie of the Year.</p><p>Weeks becomes the second goalie to win the Player of the Year award and the fifth player overall.</p><p>It is interesting to note that Weeks is joining some select company with his Player of the Year award as three of the other five winners are currently in the National Hockey League.</p><p>The first winner of the award was Bowling Green&rsquo;s Mike Liut, now with the St. Louis Blues. The second year the award was split with BG&rsquo;s John Markell, now with the Winnipeg Jets, and NMU&rsquo;s Don Waddell, a first team all star this season as a senior sharing the award.</p><p>The winner last season was U.S. Olympic hero Ken Morrow, now with the New York Islanders.</p><p>Comley earned his first coaching award after collecting his second CCHA title. His first came at Lake Superior before the award existed. Ron Mason, now with Michigan State, has won three coaching awards in the CCHA while Bill Selman, now with Dayton of the International Hockey League, has the other.</p><p>Mulholland&rsquo;s rookie award is the second in CCHA history with the first winner George McPhee of Bowling Green last year.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0028-02

Wildcats Dominate CCHA First Team All Stars

<h2><b>NCAA PLAYOFFS</b></h2><p>Championship Tournament</p><p>At Providence</p><p><b>Thu. March 27</b></p><p>Dartmouth vs North Dakota</p><p><b>Fri. March 28</b></p><p>Northern Mich, vs Cornell</p><p><b>Sat. March 29</b></p><p>Consolation final 2 p.m.</p><p>Championship final 7 p.m.</p><p>Preliminary Round</p><p><b>Sat. March 22</b></p><p>Northern Mich. 4, Minnesota 3</p><p>(Northern Mich. 4, Minnesota 3</p><p>(Northern Michigan wins sudden-death playoff and berth in NCAAs.)</p><h2><b>ECAC CONFERENCE</b></h2><h3>Playoff Games</h3><p>DIVISION I</p><p>Championship</p><p>Cornell 5, Dartmouth 1</p><p>Consolation</p><p>Providence 8, Clarkson 5</p><p>Quarter-Finals</p><p>Cornell 5, Boston College 1</p><p>Providence 8, Colgate 3</p><p>Clarkson 8, Vermont 3</p><p>Dartmouth 8, RPI 0</p><h2><b>WCHA CONFERENCE</b></h2><p>Second Round</p><p>North Dakota 10, Notre Dame 4</p><p>North Dakota 7, Notre Dame 4</p><p>(North Dakota wins two-game total-goal series 17-8 and No. 1 ranking for NCAAs.)</p><p>Minnesota 5, Colorado College 3</p><p>Minnesota 8, Colorado College 1</p><p>(Minnesota wins two-game total-goal series 13-4)</p><p>First Round</p><p>North Dakota 8, Michigan State 5</p><p>North Dakota 5, Michigan State 3</p><p>(North Dakota wins two-game total-goal series 13-8)</p><p>Minnesota 7, Michigan Tech 2</p><p>Minnesota 6, Michigan Tech 3</p><p>(Minnesota wins two-game total-goal series 13-S)</p><p>Notre Dame 8, Michigan 3</p><p>Michigan 4, Notre Dame 3</p><p>(Notre Dame wins two-game total-goal series 11-7)</p><p>Colorado Coll. 4, Minn-Duluth 3</p><p>Colorado Coll. 7, Minn-Duluth 6</p><p>(Colorado College wins two-game total-goal series 11-9)</p><h2><b>CCHA CONFERENCE</b></h2><p>Championship</p><p>Northern Michigan 7, Ferris St. 3</p><p>Northern Michigan 8, Ferris St. 6</p><p>(Northern Michigan wins two-game total-goal series 15-9</p><p>Semi-Finals</p><p>No. Michigan 11, Bowling Green 3</p><p>No. Michigan 3, Bowling Green 3</p><p>(Northern Michigan wins two-game total-goals series 14-6)</p><p>Ferris State 4, Ohio State 4</p><p>Ferris State 8, Ohio State 4</p><p>(Ferris State wins two-game total-goals series 12-8)</p><h2><b>NCAA PLAYOFFS</b></h2><p>DIVISION II</p><p>Championship</p><p>Mankato State 5, Elmira 2</p><p>Consolation</p><p>Lowell 8, Merrimack 7</p><h2><b>ECAC PLAYOFFS</b></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><h3>Division II West</h3><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>CIAU TOURNAMENT</b></h2><p>Championship</p><p>Alberta 7, Regina 3</p><p>Preliminary Games</p><p>Alberta 2, Calgary 0</p><p>Regina 7, Moncton 4</p><p>Regina 5, Guelph 2</p><p>Alberta 5, Concordia 4</p><p>Moncton 6, Guelph 5</p><p>Calgary 5, Concordia 1</p><h2><b>ONTARIO CONFERENCE</b></h2><p>Finals</p><p>McMaster 5, Guelph 3</p><p>Guelph 3, McMaster 1</p><p>Guelph 4, McMaster 3</p><p>Semi-Finals</p><p>(Guelph wins best-of-three series 2-1)</p><p>Semi-Finals</p><p>Toronto 4, Guelph 3</p><p>Guelph 5, Toronto 2</p><p>Guelph 4, Toronto 0</p><p>(Guelph wins best-of-three series 2-1)</p><p>Semi-Finals</p><p>Toronto 4, Guelph 3</p><p>Guelph 5, Toronto 2</p><p>Guelph 4, Toronto 0</p><p>(Guelph wins best-of-three series 2-0)</p><p>McMaster 3, Queen&rsquo;s 2</p><p>McMaster 8, Queen&rsquo;s 1</p><p>(McMaster wins best-of-three series 2-0)</p><p>Quarter-Finals</p><p>Guelph 8, Laurentian 4</p><p>McMaster 4, Waterloo 3</p><p>(Sudden-death games)</p><h2><b>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</b></h2><p>Finals</p><p>Concordia 5, Trois-Rivieres 0</p><p>Concordia 8, Trois-Rivieres 5</p><p>(Concordia wins best-of-three series 2-0)</p><p>Semi-Finals</p><p>Concordia 5, Ottawa 2</p><p>Concordia 3, Ottawa 2</p><p>(Concordia wins best-of-three series 2-0)</p><p>Trois-Rivieres 7, Bishop&rsquo;s 2</p><p>Trois-Rivieres 8, Bishop&rsquo;s 2</p><p>(Trois-Rivieres wins best-of-three series 2-0)</p><h2><b>ATLANTIC CONFERENCE</b></h2><p>Finals</p><p>Moncton 10, Dalhousie 7</p><p>Moncton 4, Dalhousie 0</p><p>(Moncton wins best-of-three series 2-0)</p><p>Semi-Finals</p><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>(Dalhousie wins best-of-three series 2-1)</p><p>St. Mary&rsquo;s 5, Moncton 4</p><p>Moncton 4, St. Mary&rsquo;s 5</p><p>Moncton 5, St. Mary&rsquo;s 4</p><p>(Moncton wins best-of-three series 2-1)</p><p>Quarter-Finals</p><p>St. Mary&rsquo;s 4, Mt. Allison 0</p><p>St. F. Xavier 7, UNB 4</p><p>(Sudden-death games)</p><h2><b>CANADA WEST</b></h2><p>Finals</p><p>Calgary 3, Alberta 1</p><p>Calgary 2, Alberta 0</p><p>(Calgary wins best-of-three series 2-0)</p><h2>GREAT PLAINS</h2><p>Finals</p><p>Brandon 4, Regina 3</p><p>Regina 4, Brandon 5</p><p>Regina 5, Brandon 3</p><p>(Regina wins best-of-three series 2-1)<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Playoff Picture

<h2><b>ECAC CONFERENCE</b></h2><p>(Final Standings)</p><p><b>DIVISION 1</b></p><h3><b>EAST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01419/4714747-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="580" height="178"></div><h3><b>WEST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02299/4714740-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="577" height="157"></div><h3><b>IVY DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03194/4714733-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="571" height="181"></div><h2><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04132/4714726-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="568" height="672"></div><h2><b>GOALTENDING LEADERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-05115/4714719-1-eng-US/f0029-052.jpg" title="f0029-05" width="563" height="222"></div><h2><b>WCHA CONFERENCE (Final Standings)</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0693/4714712-1-eng-US/f0029-062.jpg" title="f0029-06" width="555" height="278"></div><h2><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0776/4714705-1-eng-US/f0029-072.jpg" title="f0029-07" width="574" height="657"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0868/4714698-1-eng-US/f0029-082.jpg" title="f0029-08" width="586" height="2340"></div><h2><b>GOALTENDING LEADERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0963/4714691-1-eng-US/f0029-092.jpg" title="f0029-09" width="576" height="360"></div><h2><b>CCHA CONFERENCE</b></h2><p>Final Standings</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1055/4714684-1-eng-US/f0029-102.jpg" title="f0029-10" width="568" height="181"></div><h2><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1150/4714677-1-eng-US/f0029-112.jpg" title="f0029-11" width="565" height="632"></div><h2><b>ONTARIO CONFERENCE</b></h2><p>Final Standings</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1246/4714670-1-eng-US/f0029-122.jpg" title="f0029-12" width="561" height="341"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</b></h2><p>Final Standings</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1339/4714663-1-eng-US/f0029-132.jpg" title="f0029-13" width="562" height="221"></div><h2><b>ATLANTIC CONFERENCE</b></h2><h3><b>EAST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1436/4714656-1-eng-US/f0029-142.jpg" title="f0029-14" width="576" height="132"></div><h3><b>WEST DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1532/4714649-1-eng-US/f0029-152.jpg" title="f0029-15" width="566" height="160"></div><h2><b>CANADA WEST</b></h2><p>Final Standings</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1630/4714642-1-eng-US/f0029-162.jpg" title="f0029-16" width="580" height="132"></div><h3><b>GREAT PLAINS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1728/4714635-1-eng-US/f0029-172.jpg" title="f0029-17" width="560" height="154"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0029-01

How They Stand

<div class="byline">BY MIKE MURRAY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01469/4714778-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Winning the Canadian college hockey championship is becoming old hat for the Alberta Golden Bears. Here&rsquo;s team captain Larry Riggin, right, holding the trophy after the Bears upset Regina in the CIAU final after gaining a playoff berth through a wild card selection. It was Alberta&rsquo;s third straight title win. Chris Helland is the happy and bearded Bear on the left clutching his award as the MVP of the championship tournament.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Don Healy)</span></figcaption></div><p>REGINA&mdash;Both Vince Friyia and Dave King had to pinch themselves to make sure what they heard was for real.</p><p>The two were deserving winners of Canada&rsquo;s highest university hockey awards. Friyia, the third-year center from the Lake-head University Nor&rsquo;westers, was selected as the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union&rsquo;s Player of the year. King, who guided the University of Saskatchewan, was voted by his counterparts as the CIAU&rsquo;s coach of the year.</p><p>Friyia and King were genuinely surprised recipients because each came from clubs that didn&rsquo;t even make the playoffs in their respec-tive conferences. In fact Friyia&rsquo;s team won only five games all season long. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m thrilled and surprised,&rsquo;&rsquo; said King. &ldquo;There were teams in the National championship tournament which all had excellent coaches. Here I am with a club that finished below.500 and I&rsquo;m coach of the year. I&rsquo;m really surprised.&rdquo;</p><p>Friyia was the Great Plains&rsquo; Conference&rsquo;s top scorer with 14 goals and 27 assists in 19 games despite the fact the Nor&rsquo;westers finished the year at 5-15. The selectors picked him as the best player and voted him to the AllCanadian team, which has a lot of new faces this year. Friyia and defenseman Blair Davidson of Manitoba were the two players from the GPAC Conference. Coming out of the Canada West Conference was defenseman Rick Williams of the Calgary Dinosaurs while the only repeating member was Alberta goaltender Ted Poplawski.</p><p>The Quebec Conference placed only their leading scorer, Doug Feasby of the Concordia Stingers, while Ontario put three men on the 12-player dream team!</p><p>Rick Mastroluisi from McMaster, who was the highest scoring defenseman in Canadian college ranks, Paul Stothart of Queen&rsquo;s and Don Langlois of Waterloo were the Ontario picks.</p><p>The Maritimes placed four, the most of any member conference. The country&rsquo;s No. 1 scorer, Francois Bessette of Moncton, was chosen along with Ross Yates of Mount Allison, Mark Locken, the St. Mary&rsquo;s goaltender, and John Saunders, a defenseman from Acadia.</p><p>The newly-crowned Canadian champion Alberta Bears, ironically, placed only one, Poplawski, but the starry 25-year-old net-minder was a key performer in his team&rsquo;s win in the national playdowns. &ldquo;Last year everyone expected us to win. We were happy to have won, but the feeling didn&rsquo;t last as long as this one will,&rdquo; said the Alberta goalie after beating Regina.</p><p>Alberta coach Bill Moore said that most of the teams around the country didn&rsquo;t think his Bears had a chance because of so many new faces in the lineup. But Moore said they jelled in their first season and after a brief let-down in the conference playoffs with Calgary, got it all together again when the CIAU selected them on a wild card playoff berth.</p><p>Moore said after beating Regina in the final, &ldquo;Actually we were a less experienced team than Regina, but the Cougars had no one who had been in a national final before and that may have been a difficult situation for them. It was our veterans who really came through for us.&rdquo;</p><p>The Bears&rsquo; experience showed throughout the tournament and won them a king-sized portion of the awards. Chris Helland, their 5&rsquo;6&rdquo;, 160 pound driving force, was chosen the tournament MVP and won an All Star berth as well. He almost singlehandedly put the Bears in the final, scoring the winning goal against Calgary and setting up the insurance marker in a preliminary game. In the Bears&rsquo; next outing against Concordia, Helland scored twice more, including another game winner.</p><p>Others on the all-tournament All Stars included Calgary&rsquo;s Ron Fischer and the Bears&rsquo; Larry Riggin on defense, and Mark Piller and Mitch Bozak of Regina and of course, Helland, on the forward line.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0030-01

Top Canadian Collegians Surprised by Awards

<div class="byline">BY MORRIS DALLA COSTA</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b> HOCKEY STICKS</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b> HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>SUDBURY&mdash;The Wolves were the darkhorse team going into the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League playoffs because nobody knew what to expect from them.</p><p>Now, maybe, they&rsquo;re getting the idea that the Wolves are hot. The Kingston Canadians were rudely awakened when Sudbury, fifth-place finishers in the Leyden Division, stunned fourth-place Kingston 5-1 in the series opener, right in Kingston. Two nights later, the Wolves posted a 5-2 triumph back home in Sudbury to take a commanding two-game lead in the best-of-five series.</p><p>Randy Hillier, Bruce Kilgore, Mike Hickey, Norm Stefan and Wayne Groleau all scored for Sudbury in the first game, with John Matthews notching the lone Kingston goal against the Wolves&rsquo; Don Beaupre, who stopped 33 shots.</p><p>In the third period, 10 players were ejected for fighting and 103 minutes in penalties were assessed.</p><p>Back in Sudbury, Mike Allison led the way to a 5-2 win for the Wolves with two goals.</p><p>The other best-of-five series matched the Leyden Division combatants, the Niagara Falls Flyers and London Knights, with each team claiming a home ice victory to open the set. Niagara Falls&rsquo; Joe Jackson had three goals while Daryl Evans and Steve Larmer scored singles in the Flyers&rsquo; 5-2 victory to start the series. Wayne Thompson had both the London goals.</p><p>An overtime goal by Joe Paterson spelled the difference in London&rsquo;s 4-3 decision in the second game. Other London goals were by Dave Simpson, Pat Crombeen and Dino Ciccarelli, while Kevin McLellan, Brian Carroll and Evans tallied for Niagara Falls.</p><p>Another opening-round upset occurred in the best-of-seven confrontation between the Toronto Marlies and the Brantford Alexanders when the Alexanders skated into Maple Leaf Gardens and came out with a 5-3 win.</p><p>Greg Terrion and Kevin Laval-lee each scored two goals for Brantford with Mike Bullard adding the other as the Alexanders recovered from a 1-0 deficit with five straight goals. Brian Gualazzi had two for Toronto and Wayne Crawford also scored.</p><p>Division champions Peterborough and Windsor have a bye until the second round.</p><p>Here&rsquo;s how the regular season closed out:</p><p>The Brantford Alexanders finished the season with an 11-3 win over the Kitchener Rangers, their first win in six games. Kevin Lavallee led the Alexanders with two goals, while Greg Terrion, Mark Hunter, Mike Bullard, Ron Leef, Bryant Seaton, Arthur Rutland, Mark Botell, Tom Della Maestra and Scott Vanderburgh were the other goal scorers.</p><p>Earlier in the week the Generals had defeated the Alexanders 63. Bob Crawford, Jim Mellon, Peter Horachek, Dave Kobryn, Dan Lane and Greg Gravel did the damage for Oshawa while Rutland, Vanderburgh and Lavalee had the Brantford goals.</p><p>Toronto was stung twice in the final week of the season, losing to Ottawa, 9-4 and Niagara Falls, 8-5. Never a high-scoring team, those goals against totals have to come down if the Marlies want to be successful in the playoffs.</p><p>Ottawa, which has been playing exceptional hockey down the stretch, got goals from Jim Fox, who hit for three, and Doug Smith, with a pair. Moe Lemay, Dan Fascinato, Yvan Joly and Sean Simpson had singles.</p><p>Jim Peplinski, Mike Kelly, Wayne Crawford, Glen Duncan and Todd Bidner scored for the Marlies.</p><p>Toronto then travelled to Niagara Falls and the Flyers promptly won their first game in seven, which seemed to give them mo-mentum in the playoffs.</p><p>Tom Gibson was the ace for Flyers, connecting for two goals and three assists. Mark Osborne, Todd Kwiecen, Pat Graham, Emilio lovio, Evans and Jackson scored the other Niagara goals.</p><p>Jerome Dupont, Dan Barber, Stuart Gavin, Scott McGeown and Bart Wilson scored for Toronto. Of the nine goals the Marlies scored, all of them were single markers.</p><p>Although Windsor was rewarded with a first-round bye for finishing first in the Emms Division, it wasn&rsquo;t easy: They fought off pressure from Toronto and wound up clinching first place with an 8-5 win over the Leyden Division-winning Peterborough Petes. Ernie Godden and Frank Janicek scored a pair of goals each for Spitfires while Paul Gagne, J. P. Leroux, Steve Peters and Scott Defoe had singles.</p><p>Jim Weimer had a pair for Peterborough and Dave Beckon, Carmen Cirella and Stuart Smith got the singles.</p><p>Peterborough clinched first spot with a 6-3 win over the London Knights. It was Peterborough&rsquo;s 47th win of the season, a new club record.</p><p>Peterborough went up 4-0 on goals by Wiemer, Beckon, Cirella and Mark Reeds in the first period. John Beukeboom made it 5-0 before Wayne Thompson, Joe Paterson and Dave Simpson scored to make it close before Andre Hindi notched his 30th goal to make it comfortable for Peterborough.</p><p>Among the non-contenders, Kitchener finished off with a pair of losses, while Sault Ste. Marie won a couple.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01434/4714809-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="584" height="696"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Ottawa&rsquo;s Jim Fox recovered from an injury to win the league scoring crown&mdash;with 156 points.</i></figcaption></div><p>Kitchener lost an 11-3 decision to Brantford and then a 6-4 count to the Greyhounds.</p><p>In Sault Ste. Marie, the Rang ers felt they got the &ldquo;short end of the stick&rdquo; when the referee re fused to measure Greyhound Douge Shedden&rsquo;s stick. Shedden scored shortly after the incident.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0031-01

Wolves Draw Notice With Fast Playoff Start

<p class="dropcap"><span>O</span>TTAWA&mdash;The Ottawa 67s&mdash;Oshawa Generals&rsquo; best-of-seven series could be the highlight of the opening round because it&rsquo;s a classic meeting between the free-wheeling, high-scoring Ottawa skaters and the defensive expertise of the Generals.</p><p>Ottawa is hot going into the series, with two wins and a tie in their final three starts and they&rsquo;ve got scoring champion Jim Fox back in the groove. Fox, who totalled 156 points, including 101 assists to edge out teammate Yvan Joly by three for the scoring title (Joly was 60-93-15), picked up 10 goals in a five-game stretch after returning from an injury. With the added ice time that some of the other 67s received in Fox&rsquo;s absence, they may well be a better team than before he was hurt.</p><p>Meanwhile, Oshawa finished its season with a 31-3 record at home. Their biggest disadvantage, of course, is that Ottawa has the extra home game by virtue of their better record.</p><p>Their series may also feature the best power play unit in the league against the best penaltykilling combinaton. The Generals though, will be hard-pressed to cool the firepower of Fox, Joly Sean Simpson (fourth in league scoring), Doug Crossman and Dar Fascinato or Bill Kitchen.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Potent Offense Meets Stingy Defense

<div class="byline">BY GREGG DRINNAN</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b> HOCKEY STICKS</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b> HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>MEDICINE HAT&mdash;Prior to the beginning of the 1979-80 Western Hockey League season, the so-called experts were busy making their predictions and almost all of them said the Medicine Hat Tigers would finish seventh in what was then an eight-team Eastern Division. Only the now-defunct Great Falls Americans were picked to finish below the Tigers.</p><p>After all, the Tigers had the worst record (15 wins, 50 losses and seven ties) last season and they gave up an astronomical 479 goals.</p><p>Well, the Tigers have proved the experts wrong again.</p><p>Because, as the 11 WHL teams turned into the regular season&rsquo;s final two weeks, coach Pat Ginnell had his Tigers quite firmly embedded in third place in the Eastern division. And had the first-place Regina Pats and the second-place Calgary Wranglers not gotten off to such solid starts, the Tigers could well be in the heat of the pennant battle.</p><p>The Tigers&rsquo; season, though, hasn&rsquo;t been a complete bed of roses.</p><p>Back in mid-November, the Tigers were only flirting with the.500-mark. But. that&rsquo;s about when Ginnell started to put together what has turned out to be a legitimate contender.</p><p>His first move was to swing a five-player deal with the Brandon Wheat Kings. Ginnell grabbed two 19-year-olds, center Brad Kem-ithoroe and left winger Brant Kiessig from the Wheat Kings in exchange for two 18-year-olds, eenter Mike Winther and left winger Ken Schneider and 16-year-old defenseman Dan Torwalt.</p><p>It turned into quite a deal for the Tigers, as Kempthorne and Kiessig have developed into real leaders. Suddenly the Tigers are seven games over 500, with 34 wins, 27 losses and five ties.</p><p>Kempthorne, a lanky center who was an under-age draft of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Atlanta Plames, is the Tigers&rsquo; second-leading scorer, behind only 18-year-old Steve Tsujiura. When Kempthorne left Brandon he had 11 goals and right assists. The change of scenery definitely helped because now le&rsquo;s up to 33 goals and 47 assists.</p><p>Kiessig, meanwhile, has turned into a real gem. Always a hard worker and an excellent penalty killer and defensive player, Kiessig has discovered the knack of scoring important goals.</p><p>Take a recent night, when the Tigers erased a 4-1 deficit and beat Calgary 5-4. It was late in the third period and the teams were tied 4-4, but Calgary had its power play unit on the ice. Kiessig, put killing the penalty, foiled the Wranglers&rsquo; plans by scoring a shorthanded goal that turned into:he winner.</p><p>The leader on the club, though, has to be Tsujiura, a 5-5, 150-pound center who is in his third year in the league and has just turned 18 one of the WHL&rsquo;s most exciting players, Tsujiura is a tireless worker at both ends of the ice and he is the club&rsquo;s leading point-getter with 89 points and 68 assists.</p><p><b>REGINA:</b> Brian Varga&rsquo;s 36th goal of the year, at 7.10 of overtime, gave the Pats a 5-4 victory over the visiting Brandon Wheat Kings. Doug Wickenheiser, the WHL&rsquo;s leading scorer, picked up three assists to give him 154 points. That broke the Pats&rsquo; all-time club record of 153, set by Fran Huck in 1963-64. Mike Blaisdell scored his 60th goal for the Pats, while Ron Flockhart got his 49th and 50th. The Pats then set a club record for victories, winning their 44th of the year, 8-3 over the Saskatoon Blades. Blaisdell had three goals and Wickenheiser scored twice and added four assists. Goaltender Bart Hunter earned his 11th assist of the year in the win, which moved the Eastern Division-leading Pats eight points up on the second-place Calgary Wranglers with each club having six games to play.</p><p><b>CALGARY:</b> Glen Merkosky scored his 43rd and 44th goals of the year, leading the visiting Wranglers to a 4-1 victory over the Billings Bighorns. Calgary scored twice while Billings&rsquo; Pat Rabbitt was serving a third-period major penalty to wrap it up.</p><p><b>BILLINGS:</b> In the space of three nights, the Bighorns scored a pair of 5-4 overtime victories over the Lethbridge Broncos. Marcel Frere&rsquo;s 20th goal, at 8.06 of overtime, gave the Bighorns a 5-4 home-ice win over the Broncos. Gord Stafford reached 101 points, with his 48th goal and an assist. Three nights later, Lindsay Carson&rsquo;s 37th goal, at 3.47 of overtime, gave Billings the victory. Defenseman Murray Brumwell led the way with two goals.</p><p><b>BRANDON:</b> The Wheat Kings, hit hard by injuries, got two goals from both Steve Patrick and Darren Halasz, who also had three assists, to score a 7-4 home-ice win over the Saskatoon Blades. That all but wrapped up fifth place in the Eastern Division, as the Wheat Kings moved six points up on the Blades and the Lethbridge Broncos. Defenseman Don Dietrich (groin) could be finished until the playoffs, while right winger Kelly McCrimmon (arm) could be out for the rest of the season. Center Mike Winther (ankle) and defenseman Bo Fistric (chicken pox) were sidelined for a week. Brandon brought right winger Brad Wells up from the Manitoba Junior League&rsquo;s Brandon Travellers and he responded with two assists in his debut. Also in the Brandon lineup were left winger Ken Schneider and defenseman Dean Kennedy, both from the Weybum Red Wings of the Saskatchewan Junior League. And, defenseman Tony Camazzola was on his way from Bellingham Blazers of the British Columbia Junior League</p><p><b>SASKATOON:</b> The Blades&rsquo; losing streak hit six as they lost four times on a West Coast road swing and then were beaten 7-4 by the Wheat Kings in Brandon and 8-3 by the Pats in Regina. It all left the Blades tied with the Lethbridge Broncos for the Eastern Division&rsquo;s sixth and final playoff spot.</p><p><b>LETHBRIDGE:</b> The Broncos snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 4-3 home-ice victory over the Calgary Wranglers. Doug Morrison&rsquo;s 57th goal, at 18:01 of the second period, turned into the winner. The Broncos, though, had won just once in their last 13 games and the team that at one time was favored to win it all was mired 11 games under.500 with just four games left to play.</p><p><b>PORTLAND:</b> The Winter Hawks spotted the visiting Saskatoon Blades a 2-0 lead and then buried them 11-5 for their sixth consecutive victory. Center Tim Tookey sparked the Hawks with a goal and five assists, giving him 130 points. Jim Dobson also hit the 130-point mark with his 64th goal and one assist. Florent Robidoux had three goals, giving him 41. The game was played before 9,079 fans, the second largest crowd in Portland this season and the second largest in the Winter Hawks&rsquo; four-year history. The Winter Hawks moved seven points ahead of Victoria in the battle for first place in the Western Division with a 3-2 win over the hometown Cougars. Ed Cooper scored all three Portland goafs, giving him 32 on the year, to erase a 2-0 Victoria lead.</p><p><b>VICTORIA:</b> The Cougars boosted their home record to 28 wins and three losses with a 6-3 victory over the New Westminster Bruins. But their chances of finishing first in the West suffered a severe blow when they dropped a 3-2 home-ice decision to Seattle.</p><p><b>SEATTLE:</b> The Breakers scored a 2-1 home-ice victory over Portland Winter Hawks, with Brian Graves getting his 31st goal and adding an assist. Seattle then beat the Cougars 3-2 in Victoria, as goaltender Jeff Lastiwka kicked out 40 shots and John Neeld scored the winner at 6:03 of the third period.</p><p><b>NEW WESTMINSTER:</b> Anthony McMurchy scored four times, giving him 41, as the Bruins whipped the visiting Saskatoon Blades 6-1. It was the Bruins&rsquo; ninth win of the season and they&rsquo;ve won four of their last five home games. The Bruins then lost 6-3 to the Cougars in Victoria and established a WHL record for most losses in a season. That was the Bruins&rsquo; 56th loss, breaking the mark of 55 set by the now-defunct Vancouver Nats in 1972-73.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01448/4714864-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="597" height="986"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Medicine Hat receives strong leadership from diminutive center Steve Tsujiura, a veteran at age 18.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0032-01

Trades Help Transform Medicine Hat From Also-Ran To Strong Contender

<div class="byline">BY DANNY YOUNG</div><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b> HOCKEY STICKS</p><p><b>LOUISVILLE</b> HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>MONTREAL&mdash;The Quebec Major Junior League&rsquo;s regular season ended with lots of excitement. Going into the final day of the season, five playoff positions had not yet been decided and each of the five games played on that day had an effect on the eventual outcome.</p><p>During the final week, fans throughout the province were examining newspapers for game results and figuring out the mathe-matical possibilities that become a part of any tight pennant race. In addition, everyone was keeping an eye on the three-way scoring race that had developed between Trois-Rivieres&rsquo; Jean-Francois Sauve, Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Guy Carbonneau and Denis Savard of Montreal.</p><p>With Sherbrooke clinching first a week before, attention focused on the teams fighting for the second through sixth positions. In a seesawing battle for second place, Cornwall edged out Chicoutimi by one point, finishing with a record of 41-25-6, while Chicoutimi was 4227-3.</p><p>The race for fourth place between Montreal, Trois-Rivieres, and Quebec lasted for several weeks. When the season ended, a point differential could not determine the winner because each team finished with 81 points. The end result was determined by the win column and Montreal took fourth place with 39 wins, Quebec was fifth with 38 wins, and Trois-Rivieres was in sixth with 36 wins.</p><p>As a consolation for Trois-Rivieres, Sauve won the scoring championship on the strength of an eight-point game against Shawinigan. Sauve scored 63 goals and 124 assists for 187 points, five ahead of Carbonneau, six ahead of Savard, and seven ahead of Sherbrooke&rsquo;s Norm Aubin. Sauve also won the 1978-79 scoring championship, with 65 goals and 111 assists.</p><p>The final results effect the opening round of the playoffs as follows: First-place Sherbrooke plays eighth-place Hull, second-place Cornwall plays seventh-place Shawinigan, third-place Chicoutimi plays sixth-place Trois-Rivieres, and fourth-place Montreal plays fifth-place Quebec.</p><p>Here is a rundown on how each team performed during the final week of the season:</p><p><b>SHERBROOKE:</b> Settled into first place, the Beavers played the role of spoilers. Norm Aubin scored twice in a 5-5 tie with Hull. Then against Trois-Rivieres, Bernard Gallant, Sean McKenna, and Lewis Begin each scored twice in a 7-3 win. Then Gallant picked up a hat trick in a 5-3 win over Quebec as Sherbrooke finished the season with an exceptional home record of 31 wins and five losses.</p><p><b>CORNWALL:</b> Ten Royals&rsquo; scorers contributed in a 10-2 win over Sorel, while in the season finale, Gilles Crepeau scored twice as the Lebei division champions squeaked out a 3-3 tie and the second playoff position.</p><p><b>CHICOUTIMI:</b> Gilles Hamel and Gilbert Delorme scored two apiece in an 8-4 win over Montreal which made things look very good for the Sagueneens. However, the Sags lost their next two games allowing Cornwall to nose them out for second. The Sags dropped a 6-2 final to Quebec, and a 6-1 game to Shawinigan. Though they were the second-best team at home this season, the Sags were only fifth-best on the road, which is understandable considering that they travel the furthest.</p><p><b>MONTREAL:</b> The Juniors had the luxury of playing a weak Sorel team in their last two games and made the most of it. After losing to Chicoutimi, 8-4, they blasted Sorel 12-3 and 11-3. In the last game, Savard had three goals and three assists to finish with totals of 63 goals and 118 assists. Linemate Denis Cyr scored 70 goals and 76 assists.</p><p><b>QUEBEC:</b> The Remparts, led by Stephane Lessard&rsquo;s three goals, dumped Laval 12-4. Then Norm Rochefort scored twice in a 6-2 win over Chicoutimi. In their final game, the Remparts needed at least a tie with Sherbrooke, but they didn&rsquo;t get it, losing 5-3.</p><p><b>TROIS-RIVIERES:</b> The Draveurs&rsquo; chances for fourth were also spoiled by Sherbrooke, who beat them 7-3. The Draveurs had defeated Shawiniean 12-1 and Lavai 8-7. Pierre Aubry finished the season with 85 goals.</p><p><b>SHAWINIGAN:</b> After an embarrassing 12-1 loss to Trois-Rivieres, the Cataractes went into the playoffs on a high note by upsetting Chicoutimi, 6-1.</p><p><b>HULL:</b> The Olympics had an excellent week, but it was not enough to catch Shawinigan. They tied Sherbrooke 5-5 with Michel Galarneau scoring twice. Then Galarneau scored two more along with Jean Poulin for a 4-2 win over Sorel. Finally, the Olympics came back from a 3-0 deficit to tie Cornwall 3-3. Though eight games over.500 at home this season, Hull won only six games on the road.</p><p><b>SOREL:</b> The Hawks&rsquo; final week was a painful conclusion to a very difficult season. The Hawks lost all four games by the combined score of 37-10. Captain Steve Kasper, who finished with impressive totals of 57 goals and 63 assists, is more optimistic about next season.</p><p>&ldquo;We have a lot of good young hockey players,&rdquo; said Kasper. &ldquo;Ron Lapointe is a very good coach. If he&rsquo;s with us at the begin-ning of the year, we&rsquo;ll be all right.</p><p><b>LAVAL:</b> After losing to Quebec 12-4, the Voisins gave Trois-Rivieres a tough time before losing 8-7. Mark Panasuk scored three goals.</p><p>Players will be selected from the two teams not participating in the playoffs, Sorel and Laval, to play a mini-series against a high school All Star team in Boston, Mass.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01406/4714902-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="594" height="784"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02287/4714895-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="558" height="596"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Chicoutimi&rsquo;s Guy Carbonneau, top, made a strong bid for the scoring title, finishing second, while Sherbrooke&rsquo;s Normand Aubin was the goal king with 91.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0033-01

QMJHL Scramble Went To Wire

<h2><b>MARCH</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1758/4715209-1-eng-US/f0034-172.jpg" title="f0034-17" width="604" height="920"></div><h2><b>APRIL</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1854/4715202-1-eng-US/f0034-182.jpg" title="f0034-18" width="594" height="882"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-17

WHERE NHL TEAMS PLAY

<p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span>TLANTA: Unger 17, Henderson 5, 6, Lever 28, 29, Pronovost 20, 21, 22, Nilsson 33, 34, 35, MacMillan 15, 16, 17, Vail 26, 27, Lever 30, 31, Plett 10, Chouinard 31.</b></p><p><b>BOSTON: Redmond 13, MacTavish 8, 9, 10, Foster 10, Jonathan 21, Middleton 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, Secord 21, 22, McNab 34, 35, Lalonde 7, 8, O&rsquo;Reilly 18, Milbury 10.</b></p><p><b>BUFFALO: Seiling 22, 23, Gare 47, 48, Perreault 34, McKegnev 17, Martin 43, Smith 23, Schoenfeld 8.</b></p><p><b>CHICAGO: O&rsquo;Connell 4, Preston 29, 30, Fox 3, Mulvey 35, 36, 37, Wilson 10, Bulley 11, 12, Sedlbauer 20, 21.</b></p><p><b>COLORADO: McDonald 39, 40, Deblols 22, Valiquette 23, Schmautz 20, 21, Atwell 1, Robert 26, Berry 6.</b></p><p><b>DETROIT: Larson 20, Hogaboam 3, Ogrodnick 7, Nedomansky 31, 32, McCourt 27, Lyle 9, Foligno 34, Thompson 29.</b></p><p><b>EDMONTON: Ashby 4, 5, 6, Price 10, 11, MacDonald 42, Hunter 10, 11, Campbell 2, Semenko 6, Gretzky 43, 44, 45.</b></p><p><b>HARTFORD Douglas 28, 29, 30, 31, Mark Howe 22, 23, Stoughton 46, 47, 48, 49, Rogers 39, 40, Fotlu 9, Neufeld 1, Carroll 11.</b></p><p><b>LOS ANGELES: Taylor 35, 36, 37, Simmer 50, Harris 16, Dionne 52, Murphy 25, Jensen 21.</b></p><p><b>MINNESOTA: Payne 39, 40, Andersson 7, 8, 9. Christoff 4, 5, 6, Hartsburg 14, G. Smith 5, MacAdam 40, 41, Young 26, 27, 28, Eaves 16, 17, 18, Zanussi 12, McCarthy 14, Giles 2, B. Smith 23.</b></p><p><b>MONTREAL: Shutt 40, 41, 42, 43, Langway 6, Lapointe 4, 5, Tremblay 14, Lafleur 48, Gingras 1, Robinson 12, 13, 14, Jarvis 10, Gainey 13, 14.</b></p><p><b>ISLANDERS: Persson 4, D. Potvin 7, Bourne 12, Trottier 36, 37, Sutter 14, Kallur 19, 20, 21, Goring 22, Nvstrom 18.</b></p><p><b>RANGERS: Duguay 25, Markham 1, Talafous 7, Esposito 31, 32.</b></p><p><b>PHILADELPHIA: Linseman 20, Leach 46, Propp 30, 31, MacLeish 30, Holmgren 26, Kelly 15.</b></p><p><b>PITTSBURGH: Schutt 15, Kehoe 25, Anderson 4, Carlyle 8, Hughes 16, 17&bdquo; Johnson 1, 2, McAdam 19.</b></p><p><b>QUEBEC. Hislop 14, 15, 16, Goulet 19, 20, 21, Weir 3, Baxter 5, Cote 4, Fitchner 9, 10, 11, Stewart 1, Chipperfield 19, Tardif 25.</b></p><p><b>ST. LOUIS: Turnbull 10, 11, 12 Dunlop 14, 15, 16, Zuke 21, Babych 22, 23, Patey 14, Currie 16, Brownschldle 11, 12.</b></p><p><b>TORONTO: Kaszvcki 13, Sittier 37, 38, 39, Saganiuk 20, Salming 19, Turnbull 9, Anderson 22, Burrows 3, Derlago 16, Valve 19, Paiement 27, Martin 3, Hickey</b></p><p><b>VANCOUVER: Boldirev 26, Smyl 30, 31, Ashton 5, Gradin 27, Williams 27, Rota 14.</b></p><p><b>WASHINGTON: Lofthouse 15, Gartner 34, Hangsleben 7, Maruk 9, Walter 21, 22, Edberg 19, Bouchard 5, Gustafsson 19.</b></p><p><b>WINNIPEGL Lukowich 32, 33, Sullivan 24, Lindstrom 23, Campbell 3, Wilson 20, Moffat 8.</b></p><h2>The Point Race</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1952/4715240-1-eng-US/f0034-192.jpg" title="f0034-19" width="584" height="1050"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-19

NHL’S SCORERS THIS WEEK

<p><b>(Standings on Mon., March 24)</b></p><h2><b>NORRIS DIVISION</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2045/4715292-1-eng-US/f0034-202.jpg" title="f0034-20" width="577" height="157"></div><h2><b>ADAMS DIVISION</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2137/4715285-1-eng-US/f0034-212.jpg" title="f0034-21" width="582" height="125"></div><h2><b>PATRICK DIVISION</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2233/4715278-1-eng-US/f0034-222.jpg" title="f0034-22" width="577" height="129"></div><h2><b>SMYTHE DIVISION</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2331/4715271-1-eng-US/f0034-232.jpg" title="f0034-23" width="586" height="152"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Mon., Mar. 17</b></p><p>Atlanta 5 at Toronto 1</p><p><b>Tues., Mar. 18</b></p><p>Atlanta 3 at Islanders 6</p><p>Colorado 1 at Washington 4</p><p>Pittsburgh 3 at Minnesota 4</p><p>Boston 3 at St. Louis 3</p><p><b>Wed., March 19</b></p><p>Rangers 2 at Edmonton 4</p><p>Montreal 5 at Harftford 5</p><p>Detroit 3 at Los Angeles 4</p><p>Buffalo 3 at Vancouver 3</p><p>Quebec 2 at Chicago 5</p><p>Winnipeg 1 at Toronto 9</p><p>Boston 4 at Minnesota 7</p><p><b>Thurs., Mar. 20</b></p><p>Toronto 3 at Philadelphia 0</p><p>St. Louis 4 at Atlanta 8</p><p>Quebec 6 at Colorado 2</p><p><b>Fri., Mar. 21</b></p><p>Rangers 2 at Winnipeg 4</p><p>Philadelphia 5 at Hartford 5</p><p>Minnesota 4 at Washington 3</p><p>Pittsburgh 2 at Edmonton 9</p><p>Detroit 5 at Vancouver 2</p><p><b>Sat., Mar. 22</b></p><p>Chicago 4 at Islanders 4</p><p>Boston 5 at Atlanta 2</p><p>Washington 2 at St. Louis 6</p><p>Hartford 5 at Montreal 5</p><p>Detroit 1 at Colorado 5</p><p>Quebec 1 at Los Angeles 4</p><p>Buffalo 5 at Toronto 1</p><p><b>Sun., Mar. 23</b></p><p>Montreal 6 at Rangers 1</p><p>Islanders 1 at Buffalo 1</p><p>Philadelphia 2 at Boston 7</p><p>Atlanta 2 at Chicago 4</p><p>Pittsburgh 4 at Winnipeg 2</p><p>Quebec 6 at Vancouver 2</p><p>Colorado 1 at Minnesota 7<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0034-20

NHL SCOREBOARD

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01459/4715171-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="264" height="389"></div><h2><b>Mon. March 17 ATLANTA 5, TORONTO 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02373/4715164-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="559" height="581"></div><h2><b>Tues., March 18 ATLANTA 3, ISLANDERS 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03279/4715157-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="561" height="678"></div><h2><b>COLORADO 1, WASHINGTON 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04192/4715150-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="556" height="578"></div><h2><b>PITTSBURGH 3, MINNESOTA 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05147/4715143-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="588" height="642"></div><h2><b>BOSTON 3, ST. LOUIS 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06121/4715136-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="580" height="611"></div><h2><b>Wed., March 19 RANGERS 2, EDMONTON 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07111/4715129-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="583" height="648"></div><h2><b>MONTREAL 5, HARTFORD 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08103/4715122-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="571" height="656"></div><h2><b>DETROIT 3, LOS ANGELES 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0993/4715115-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="568" height="630"></div><h2><b>BUFFALO 3, VANCOUVER 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1090/4715108-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="577" height="599"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC 2, CHICAGO 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1183/4715101-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="588" height="580"></div><h2><b>WINNIPEG 1, TORONTO 9</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1280/4715094-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="582" height="725"></div><h2><b>BOSTON 4, MINNESOTA 7</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1371/4715087-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="587" height="760"></div><h2><b>Thur. March 20 TORONTO 3, PHILADELPHIA 0</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1467/4715080-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="571" height="524"></div><h2><b>ST. LOUIS 4, ATLANTA 8</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1564/4715073-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="584" height="748"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC 6, COLORADO 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1664/4715066-1-eng-US/f0034-162.jpg" title="f0034-16" width="584" height="777"></div><h2><b>Fri. March 21 RANGERS 2, WINNIPEG 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02344/4715059-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="569" height="659"></div><h2><b>PHILADELPHIA 5, HARTFORD 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03268/4715052-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="568" height="700"></div><h2><b>MINNESOTA 4, WASHINGTON 3</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04220/4715045-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="604" height="597"></div><h2><b>PITTSBURGH 2, EDMONTON 9</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05175/4715038-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="576" height="728"></div><h2><b>DETROIT 5, VANCOUVER 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06156/4715031-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="581" height="531"></div><h2><b>Sat. March 22 CHICAGO 4, ISLANDERS 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07147/4715024-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="584" height="564"></div><h2><b>BOSTON 5, ATLANTA 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08128/4715017-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="584" height="579"></div><h2><b>WASHINGTON 2, ST. LOUIS 6</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09122/4715010-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="578" height="628"></div><h2><b>HARTFORD 5, MONTREAL 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10107/4715003-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="586" height="710"></div><h2><b>DETROIT 1, COLORADO 5</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1199/4714996-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="604" height="506"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC 1, LOS ANGELES 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1287/4714989-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="588" height="610"></div><h2><b>BUFFALO 5, TORONTO!</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1376/4714982-1-eng-US/f0035-132.jpg" title="f0035-13" width="576" height="562"></div><h2><b>Sun March 23 MONTREAL 6, RANGERS 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1462/4714975-1-eng-US/f0035-142.jpg" title="f0035-14" width="602" height="643"></div><h2><b>ISLANDERS 1, BUFFALO 1</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1572/4714968-1-eng-US/f0036-152.jpg" title="f0036-15" width="574" height="473"></div><h2><b>PHILADELPHIA 2, BOSTON 7</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1670/4714961-1-eng-US/f0036-162.jpg" title="f0036-16" width="617" height="732"></div><h2><b>ATLANTA 2, CHICAGO 4</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1764/4714954-1-eng-US/f0036-172.jpg" title="f0036-17" width="574" height="650"></div><h2><b>PITTSBURGH 4, WINNIPEG 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1860/4714947-1-eng-US/f0036-182.jpg" title="f0036-18" width="593" height="607"></div><h2><b>QUEBEC 6, VANCOUVER 2</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1959/4714940-1-eng-US/f0036-192.jpg" title="f0036-19" width="592" height="665"></div><h2><b>COLORADO 1, MINNESOTA 7</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2058/4714933-1-eng-US/f0036-202.jpg" title="f0036-20" width="593" height="554"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

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NHL TEAM ROSTERS

<h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed. March 26)</b></p><h3><b>NORTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01415/4715445-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="577" height="151"></div><h3><b>SOUTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02310/4715438-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="577" height="305"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Mon., Mar. 17</b></p><p>Adirondack 5 at Binghamton 2</p><p><b>Wed., Mar. 19</b></p><p>Syracuse 4 at Adirondack 5</p><p>New Brunswick 3 at Binghamton 2</p><p>Springfield 3 at Hershey 4</p><p>Nova Scotia 3 at Maine 2</p><p>New Haven 12 at Rochester 4</p><p><b>Fri., Mar. 21</b></p><p>Hershey 0 at New Haven 5</p><p>Springfield 11 at Syracuse 5</p><p>New Brunswick 11 at Syracuse 5</p><p><b>Sat., Mar. 22</b></p><p>New Brunswick 4 at Adirondack 3</p><p>Binghamton 1 at Hershey 7</p><p>Rochester 4 at Maine 9</p><p>Nova Scotia 7 at Springfield 4</p><p>New Haven 3 at Syracuse 1</p><p><b>Sun., March 23</b></p><p>Maine 4 at New Haven 3</p><p>New Brunswick at Nova Scotia (ppd)</p><p>Binghamton 2 at Rochester 6</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03238/4715431-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="561" height="908"></div><h2><b>CENTRAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Mon., Mar. 24)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04165/4715424-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="571" height="353"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Mon., Mar. 17</b></p><p>Salt Lake 5 at Houston 4</p><p><b>Tues., Mar. 18</b></p><p>Birmingham 2 at Indianapolis 7</p><p>Dallas 1 at Oklahoma City 3</p><p>Salt Lake 1 at Fort Worth 4</p><p>Indianapolis 2 at Houston 4</p><p><b>Fri., Mar. 21</b></p><p>Salt Lake 1 at Birmingham 3</p><p>Indianapolis 2 at Dallas 3</p><p>Houston 1 at Fort Worth 4</p><p>Tulsa 2 at Oklahoma City 7</p><p><b>Sat., Mar. 22</b></p><p>Indianapolis 5 at Fort Worth 2</p><p>Birmingham 2 at Oklahoma City 4</p><p>Dallas 4 at Salt Lake 2</p><p>Houston 1 at Tulsa 5</p><p>Oklahoma City 1 at Houston 2</p><p><b>Sun., Mar. 23</b></p><p>Birmingham 3 at Tulsa 6</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05128/4715417-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="589" height="291"></div><h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p>(Standings on Tue. Mar. 25)</p><h3><b>North Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06108/4715410-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="576" height="151"></div><h3><b>South Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07102/4715403-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="569" height="270"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. Mar. 18</b></p><p>Toledo 5 at Milwaukee 5</p><p><b>Wed. Mar. 19</b></p><p>Grand Rapids 2 at Fort Wayne 5</p><p>Muskegon 1 at Dayton 4</p><p>Kalamazoo 1 at Saginaw 5</p><p>Port Huron 8 at Milwaukee 10</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 21</b></p><p>Fort Wayne 2 at Muskegon 4</p><p>Grand Rapids 5 at Dayton 4</p><p>Milwaukee 5 at Flint 4</p><p>Port Huron 5 at Kalamazoo 2</p><p>Saginaw 4 at Toledo 3</p><p><b>Sat. Mar. 22</b></p><p>Grand Rapids 4 at Muskegon 4</p><p>Toledo 2 at Port Huron 2</p><p>Flint 1 at Saginaw 2</p><p>Dayton 1 at Kalamazoo 5</p><p>Fort Wayne 4 at Milwaukee 5</p><p><b>Sun. Mar. 23</b></p><p>Saginaw 2 at Fort Wayne 2</p><p>Port Huron 2 at Flint 0</p><p>Muskegon 2 at Toledo 2</p><p>Dayton 7 at Milwaukee 4</p><p>Kalamazoo 2 at Grand Rapids 4</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0897/4715396-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="593" height="407"></div><h3><b>GOALTENDING RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0991/4715389-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="545" height="557"></div><h2><b>EASTERN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Wed. March 26)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1088/4715382-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="579" height="292"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Wed. Mar. 19</b></p><p>Baltimore 4 at Utica 4</p><p>Hampton 0 at Richmond 8</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 21</b></p><p>Hampton 4 at Johnstown 13</p><p>Richmond 3 at Erie 9</p><p><b>Sat. Mar. 22</b></p><p>Erie 8 at Hampton 4</p><p>Utica 3 at Richmond 5</p><p>Baltimore 5 at Johnstown 4</p><p><b>Sun. Mar. 23</b></p><p>Johnstown 5 at Hampton 9</p><p>Baltimore at Richmond (ppd.)</p><p>Utica 3 at Erie 8</p><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1185/4715375-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="582" height="284"></div><h2><b>CONTINENTAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1281/4715368-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="573" height="270"></div><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1378/4715361-1-eng-US/f0036-132.jpg" title="f0036-13" width="543" height="419"></div><h3><b>GOALTENDING RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1472/4715354-1-eng-US/f0036-142.jpg" title="f0036-14" width="550" height="336"></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>H&mdash;Buffalo</p><p>15&mdash;Atlanta</p><p>16&mdash;Washington</p><p>17&mdash;Colorado</p><p>18&mdash;Edmonton</p><p>19&mdash;Hartford</p><p>20&mdash;Quebec</p><p>21&mdash;Winnipeg</p><h2>OTHER AFFILIATIONS</h2><p>22&mdash;Chicago&mdash;T oronto</p><p>23&mdash;Boston&mdash;Los Angeles</p><p>24&mdash;Quebec&mdash;P ittsburgh</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><b>MARCH</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2254/4715549-1-eng-US/f0036-222.jpg" title="f0036-22" width="568" height="334"></div><h3><b>APRIL</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2351/4715542-1-eng-US/f0036-232.jpg" title="f0036-23" width="580" height="463"></div><p><b>End of schedule</b></p><h2><b>CENTRAL LEAGUE</b></h2><h3><b>MARCH</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2449/4715535-1-eng-US/f0036-242.jpg" title="f0036-24" width="556" height="416"></div><h3><b>APRIL</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2545/4715528-1-eng-US/f0036-252.jpg" title="f0036-25" width="557" height="305"></div><p><b>End of schedule</b></p><h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><h3><b>MARCH</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2642/4715521-1-eng-US/f0036-262.jpg" title="f0036-26" width="574" height="455"></div><h3><b>APRIL</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2738/4715514-1-eng-US/f0036-272.jpg" title="f0036-27" width="572" height="447"></div><p><b>End of schedule</b></p><h2><b>EASTERN LEAGUE</b></h2><h3><b>MARCH</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2836/4715507-1-eng-US/f0036-282.jpg" title="f0036-28" width="547" height="213"></div><p><b>End of schedule</b></p><h2>TOP NHL SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2155/4715500-1-eng-US/f0036-212.jpg" title="f0036-21" width="558" height="377"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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PRO GAMES TO COME…

<h2><b>DAYTON</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01365/4715643-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="586" height="464"></div><h2><b>FLINT</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02254/4715636-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="578" height="432"></div><h2><b>FORT WAYNE</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03189/4715629-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="574" height="438"></div><h2><b>GRAND RAPIDS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04152/4715622-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="576" height="460"></div><h2><b>KALAMAZOO</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05129/4715615-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="586" height="460"></div><h2><b>MILWAUKEE</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06106/4715608-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="582" height="488"></div><h2><b>MUSKEGON</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0788/4715601-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="578" height="470"></div><h2><b>PORT HURON</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0879/4715594-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="574" height="460"></div><h2><b>SAGINAW</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0967/4715587-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="572" height="464"></div><h2><b>TOLEDO</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1061/4715580-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="572" height="414"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE TEAM SCORING

<h2><b>ONTARIO MAJOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><h3><b>Leyden Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1149/4715842-1-eng-US/f0037-112.jpg" title="f0037-11" width="574" height="181"></div><h3><b>EMMS DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1242/4715835-1-eng-US/f0037-122.jpg" title="f0037-12" width="564" height="160"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tues., March 11</b></p><p>Kitchener 7 at Sudbury 8</p><p>London 5 at Ottawa 5</p><p>Toronto 5 at Niagara Falls 8</p><p>Peterborough 5 at Windsor 8</p><p><b>Wed., March 12</b></p><p>Kitchener 4 at Sault Ste. Marie 6</p><p><b>Thurs., March 13</b></p><p>Brantford 3 at Oshawa 6</p><p>London 3 at Peterborough 6</p><p>Niagara Falls 3 at Sudbury 6</p><p><b>Fri., March 14</b></p><p>Toronto 5 at Ottawa 9</p><p>Niagara Falls 4 at Sault Ste. Marie 6</p><p>Kitchener 3 at Brantford 11</p><p><b>(End of schedule)</b></p><h3><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1337/4715828-1-eng-US/f0037-132.jpg" title="f0037-13" width="571" height="403"></div><h2><b>PLAYOFF GAMES</b></h2><h3>Preliminary Round</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1435/4715821-1-eng-US/f0037-142.jpg" title="f0037-14" width="584" height="125"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Sun. March 16</b></p><p>Sudury 5 at Kingston 1</p><p><b>Tue. March 18</b></p><p>Kingston 2 at Sudbury 5</p><p><b>Thurs. March 20</b></p><p>Sudbury 7 at Kingston 5</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1533/4715814-1-eng-US/f0037-152.jpg" title="f0037-15" width="586" height="133"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p><b>Sun. March 16</b></p><p>London 2 at Niagara Falls 5</p><p><b>Tue. March 18</b></p><p>Niagara Falls 3 at London 4</p><p><b>Frl. March 21</b></p><p>London 2 at Niagara Falls 7</p><p><b>Sat. March 22</b></p><p>Niagara Falls 2 at London 3</p><p><b>Sun. March 23</b></p><p>London 4 at Niagara Falls 8</p><h2>Quarter-Finals</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1628/4715807-1-eng-US/f0037-162.jpg" title="f0037-16" width="589" height="102"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Fri. March 21</b></p><p>Oshawa 2 at Ottawa 7</p><p><b>Sun. March 23</b></p><p>Ottawa 5 at Oshawa 2</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Fri. March 28</b></p><p>Oshawa at Ottawa</p><p><b>Sun. March 30</b></p><p>Ottawa at Oshawa</p><p><b>Tue. April 1</b></p><p>Oshawa at Ottawa</p><p><b>Thurs. April 3</b></p><p>Ottawa at Oshawa</p><p><b>Fri. April 4</b></p><p>Oshawa at Ottawa</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1724/4715800-1-eng-US/f0037-172.jpg" title="f0037-17" width="588" height="129"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. March 18</b></p><p>Brantford 5 at Toronto 3</p><p><b>Fri. March 21</b></p><p>Toronto 1 at Brantford 6</p><p><b>Sun. March 23</b></p><p>Brantford 5 at Toronto 4</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Tue. March 25</b></p><p>Toronto at Brantford</p><p><b>Sun. March 30</b></p><p>Brantford at Toronto</p><p><b>Tue. April 1</b></p><p>Toronto at Brantord</p><p><b>Fri. April 4</b></p><p>Brantford at Toronto</p><h2><b>WESTERN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Standings On Mon. March 24)</b></p><h3><b>Western Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1823/4715793-1-eng-US/f0037-182.jpg" title="f0037-18" width="572" height="127"></div><h3><b>Eastern Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1919/4715786-1-eng-US/f0037-192.jpg" title="f0037-19" width="568" height="229"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue Mar. 18</b></p><p>Medicine hat 4 at Victoria 7</p><p>Calgary 5 at Brandon 3</p><p>Regina 6 at Saskatoon 5</p><p><b>Wed. Mar. 19</b></p><p>Billings 2 at Seattle 4</p><p>Calgary 9 at Regina 15</p><p>Victoria 2 at Portland 5</p><p><b>Thu. Mar. 20</b></p><p>Medicine Hat 7 at New Westminster 3</p><p>Victoria 5 at Seattle 2</p><p>Calgary 6 at Brandon 4</p><p><b>Fri. Mar. 21</b></p><p>Brandon 4 at Regina 3</p><p>Lethbridge 5 at Saskatoon 5</p><p>Medicine Ha AT Seattle 4</p><p><b>Sat. Mar. 22</b></p><p>New Westminster 2 at Victoria 7</p><p>Medicine Hat 2 at Portland 6</p><p>Saskatoon 4 at Billings 6</p><p><b>Sun. mar. 23</b></p><p>Regina 3 at Lethbridge 4</p><p>Medicine hat 8 at New Westminster 3</p><p>Saskatoon 4 at Billings 7</p><p>Victoria 1 at Seattle 6</p><h3>Leading Scorers</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2019/4715779-1-eng-US/f0037-202.jpg" title="f0037-20" width="571" height="451"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2119/4715772-1-eng-US/f0037-212.jpg" title="f0037-21" width="583" height="505"></div><h3>Leading Goalers</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2218/4715765-1-eng-US/f0037-222.jpg" title="f0037-22" width="586" height="176"></div><h2><b>PLAYOFF GAMES</b></h2><h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><p>BRANDON VS. CALGARY</p><p><b>Wed., March 26</b></p><p>Brandon at Calgary</p><p><b>Thu., March 27</b></p><p>Brandon at Calgary</p><p><b>Sat., March 29</b></p><p>Calgary at Brandon</p><p><b>Sun., March 30</b></p><p>Calgary at Brandon</p><p><b>(Other dates undecided)</b></p><h2><b>BILLINGS vs. MEDICINE</b></h2><h3>HAT</h3><p><b>Wed., March 26</b></p><p>Billings at Medicine Hat</p><p><b>Thu., March 27</b></p><p>Billings at Medicine Hat</p><p><b>Sat., March 29</b></p><p>Medicine Hat at Billings</p><p><b>Sun., March 30</b></p><p>Medicine Hat at Billings</p><p><b>Mon., March 31</b></p><p>Billings at Medicine Hat</p><p><b>Wed., April 2</b></p><p>Medicine Hat at Billings</p><p><b>ThurApril 3</b></p><p>Billings at Medicine Hat</p><h2><b>LETHBRIDGE vs. REGINA</b></h2><p><b>(No dates available)</b></p><p>WEST DIVISION</p><p>(Double Round Robin)</p><p><b>Wed., March 26</b></p><p>Seattle at Portland</p><p><b>Fri., March 28</b></p><p>Portland at Seattle</p><p><b>Sat., March 29</b></p><p>Portland at Victoria</p><p><b>Mon., March 31</b></p><p>Seattle at Victoria</p><p><b>Tues., April 1</b></p><p>Portland at Seattle</p><p><b>Wed., April 2</b></p><p>Victoria at Portland</p><p><b>Fri., April 4</b></p><p>Seattle at Victoria</p><p><b>Sat., April 5</b></p><p>Victoria at Portland</p><p><b>Sun., April 6</b></p><p>Victoria at Seattle</p><p><b>Mon., April 7</b></p><p>Seattle at Portland</p><p><b>Tues., April 8</b></p><p>Portland at Victoria</p><p><b>Thurs., April 10</b></p><p>Victoria at Seattle</p><p><b>Apr. 11-22</b></p><p>Best-of-seven winners meet.</p><p><b>Apr. 23-May 2</b></p><p>East vs. West for championship.</p><h2><b>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</b></h2><p>(Final Standings</p><h3><b>LEBEL DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2317/4715758-1-eng-US/f0037-232.jpg" title="f0037-23" width="562" height="153"></div><h3><b>DILIO DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2416/4715751-1-eng-US/f0037-242.jpg" title="f0037-24" width="557" height="154"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Sat. March 15</b></p><p>Chicoutimi 6 at Quebec 2</p><p>Montreal 12 at Sorel 3</p><p><b>Sun. March 16</b></p><p>Hull 3 at Cornwall 3</p><p>Sorel 3 at Montreal 11</p><p>Sherbrooke 5 at Quebec 3</p><p>Chicoutimi 1 at Shawinigan 6</p><p>Laval 7 at Trois-Rivieres 8</p><p><b>(End of Schedule)</b></p><h2><b>FINAL LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2515/4715744-1-eng-US/f0037-252.jpg" title="f0037-25" width="569" height="297"></div><h2><b>PLAYOFF GAMES</b></h2><h3>Quarter-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2613/4715737-1-eng-US/f0037-262.jpg" title="f0037-26" width="574" height="152"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Fri. March 21</b></p><p>Hull 6 at Sherbrooke 11</p><p><b>Sun. March 23</b></p><p>Sherbrooke 7 at Hull 3</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Tue. March 25</b></p><p>Hull at Sherbrooke</p><p><b>Thurs. March 27</b></p><p>Sherbrooke at Hull</p><p><b>Sun. March 30</b></p><p>Hull at Sherbrooke</p><p><b>Tue. April 1</b></p><p>Sherbrooke at Hull</p><p><b>Wed. April 2</b></p><p>Hull at Sherbrooke</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2710/4715730-1-eng-US/f0037-272.jpg" title="f0037-27" width="580" height="126"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Thurs. March 20</b></p><p>Shawinigan 3 at Cornwall 6</p><p><b>Sun. March 23</b></p><p>Cornwall 2 at Shawinigan 5</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Wed. March 26</b></p><p>Shawinigan at Cornwall</p><p><b>Fri. March 28</b></p><p>Cornwall at Shawinigan</p><p><b>Sun. March 30</b></p><p>Shawinigan at Cornwall</p><p><b>Tue. April 1</b></p><p>Cornwall at Shawinigan</p><p><b>Thurs. April 3</b></p><p>Shawinigan at Cornwall</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-288/4715723-1-eng-US/f0037-282.jpg" title="f0037-28" width="560" height="131"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. March 25</b></p><p>Trois-Rivieres at Chicoutimi</p><p><b>Fri. March 28</b></p><p>Chicoutimi at Trois Rivieres</p><p><b>Sun. March 30</b></p><p>Trois-Rivieres at Chicoutimi</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-297/4715716-1-eng-US/f0037-292.jpg" title="f0037-29" width="587" height="135"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Fri. March 21</b></p><p>Quebec 4 at Montreal 6</p><p>Sun. March 23</p><p>Quebec 3 at Montreal 8</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p><b>Tue. March 25</b></p><p>Montreal at Quebec</p><p><b>Fri. March 28</b></p><p>Montreal at Quebec</p><p><b>Sun. March 30</b></p><p>Quebec at Montreal</p><p><b>Mon. March 31</b></p><p>Montreal at Quebec</p><p><b>Wed. April 2</b></p><p>Quebec at Montreal</p><h2><b>NATIONAL JUNIOR</b></h2><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-307/4715709-1-eng-US/f0037-302.jpg" title="f0037-30" width="568" height="159"></div><h3><b>FINAL LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-316/4715702-1-eng-US/f0037-312.jpg" title="f0037-31" width="589" height="775"></div><h3><b>GOALTENDING RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-325/4715695-1-eng-US/f0037-322.jpg" title="f0037-32" width="574" height="287"></div><h2><b>ATLANTIC-METRO JUNIOR</b></h2><p><b>(Standings on Thurs. March 13)</b></p><h3><b>ATLANTIC CONFERENCE</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-335/4715688-1-eng-US/f0037-332.jpg" title="f0037-33" width="565" height="111"></div><h3><b>NEW YORK CONFERENCE</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-345/4715681-1-eng-US/f0037-342.jpg" title="f0037-34" width="564" height="106"></div><h3><b>NEW JERSEY CONFERENCE</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-355/4715674-1-eng-US/f0037-352.jpg" title="f0037-35" width="559" height="84"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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AMATEUR SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01425/4715894-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(Photos by Bruce Bennett)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Winning hockey acclaim</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><i><span>T</span>he annual Lester Patrick Awards Dinner was recently held in New York City&rsquo;s Plaza Hotel to honor those individuals who have contributed the most to hockey in the United States in the past year. The recipients this year were Ed Snider, Fred Shero and Bobby Clarke. That&rsquo;s Snider, wearing the glasses in the picture above, receiving his award from Chicago Black Hawks &lsquo;president Bill Wirtz, left, and New York Rangers&rsquo; president Bill Jennings. In the photo at right, Clarke, now a playing coach with the Philadelphia Flyers, accepts his award from Alan Eagleson, the executive director of the NHL Planers Association.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02336/4715887-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="1234" height="2101"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03261/4715880-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="1228" height="1636"></div><h2><b>Ice boss honored</b></h2><p><i>Fred Shero, the coach and general manager of the New York Rangers, stands beside the original Patrick Trophy after being honored at the dinner.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04196/4715873-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="1872" height="1536"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Olympians still in spotlight</b></h2><p><i>Walter Bush, right, the vice president of the Minnesota North Stars, presents a special Patrick award to Herb Brooks, the coach of the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic Team, as team captain Mike Eruzione looks on approvingly. The entire Olympic Team was honored at the dinner, marking the first time in the history of the awards that a whole team was recognized for its contributions to hockey in the U.S.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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HOCKEY PEOPLE

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div><p>PITTSBURGH&mdash;It was quite a week for Nick Ricci.</p><p>First the 20-year-old Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; rookie goaltender played two weekend games for the Grand Rapids Owls of the International Hockey League. Ricci backstopped Grand Rapids to a 5-5 tie on Friday night against Flint and a 6-3 win over Milwaukee on Saturday night. He picks up the story.</p><p>&ldquo;After the Milwaukee game I got a telephone call from (Penguin general manager) Baz Bastien telling me to report to the Penguins in Detroit,&rdquo; Ricci said. &ldquo;He told me that I would be playing Sunday night against the Red Wings. I was very surprised I was called up because this is my first year in professional hockey and I&rsquo;m only 20 years old. The goalies up here (Greg Millen and Rob Holland) were doing a good job and I was surprised they did call me up.&rdquo;</p><p>Ricci played that game in Detroit and may have considered consulting an attorney and filing suit for lack of support. He faced 40 shots, many from point blank range, and the Penguins lost 6-2. However, he still was impressive enough to earn another shot, this time at home two nights later against the Philadelphia Flyers.</p><p>The Penguin defense played much better that game, but Philadelphia still managed 35 shots at Ricci and they came away with a 4-3 victory. But once again the Niagara Falls, Ont., native had played well and received his third consecutive start&mdash;against the Los Angeles Kings the following night at the Civic Arena.</p><p>That game the Penguins&rsquo; penalty killing, which had been a main source of problems all season, returned to the form of last year and Ricci came away with his first National Hockey League victory, 4-2.</p><p>&ldquo;As you go you get more confidence,&rdquo; Ricci said. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s going to take some games to get on the track and finally realize that I&rsquo;m playing hero and to learn all the tricks and the game of the NHL.&rdquo;</p><p>Ricci was a fifth-round selection in last summer&rsquo;s entry draft from Niagara Falls of the Ontario Major League. Last season he had a 3.49 goals-against-average in 52 games and recorded three shutouts. In 26 games at Grand Rapids he registered a 4.14 goals-against-average.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy that they called me up because it shows they have confidence in me,&rdquo; Ricci said. &ldquo;It shows they feel I can do the job. It was good that they brought me up so I can get a little experience&mdash;maybe for next year.</p><p>&ldquo;I have a lot to learn. I have to work hard and there&rsquo;s really no better place than here to practice with the team and to sharpen your skills. I still have really a lot to learn right now. I have to stand up more and to work on my angles.&rdquo;</p><p>Whether Ricci continues to play with the Penguins or returns to the minors for more seasoning, it&rsquo;s doubtful if he&rsquo;ll ever forget his first week in the NHL.</p><p><b>PENGUIN TRACKS:</b> Defenseman Randy Carlyle returned to the lineup after missing six games with a bruised heel. Peter Lee and his wife, Judy, became the parents of their first child, Christopher Justin. With the recall of Ricci, Millen and Holland took turns watching the games from the press box.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01400/4715925-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="586" height="1129"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Rookie goaltender Nick Ricci found himself jumping from Grand Rapids in the IHL to the majors with Pittsburgh in quick time.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0039-01

Pens’ Ricci Gets On-The-Job Training In Majors

<h2><b>NATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p>ATLANTA&mdash;Curt Bennett, LW, recalled from Birmingham of CHL.</p><p>BOSTON&mdash;Roy Schultz, G, signed to pro contract from Wisconsin Univ, and assigned to Binghamton of AHL.</p><p>CHICAGO&mdash;Murray Bannerman, G, recalled from New Brunswick of AHL and returned..</p><p>COLORADO&mdash;Rene Robert, C, returned to lineup from injury list. Nick Beverley, D, removed from suspended list and restored to lineup. Dennis Owchar, D, returned from New Haven of AHL and placed on suspended list for leaving AHL team. Barry Smith, C, assigned to Birmingham of CHL. Bob Atwell, LW, recalled from Fort Worth of CHL.</p><p>DETROIT&mdash;George Lyle, LW, and Rick Vasko, D, recalled from Adirondack of AHL. Thommie Bergman, D, and Dan Bolduc, RW, sent to Adirondack. Bruce Howes, D, signed as underage draft from New Westminster of WHL and sent to Kalamazoo of IHL.</p><p>EDMONTON&mdash;Bob Dupuis, G, and Don Cutts, G, assigned to Houston of CHL. Mike McCann, D, recalled from Dayton of IHL and reassigned to Houston on pro tryout.</p><p>HARTFORD&mdash;Al Sims, D, placed on injury list. Ray Neufeld, LW, and Steve Alley, LW, recalled from Springfield of AHL.</p><p>LOS ANGELES&mdash;Syl Apps, C, placed on suspended list for refusing to report to Springfield of AHL. Steve Carlson, LW, placed on injury list.</p><p>MINNESOTA&mdash;Don Jackson, D, and Dave Hanson, LW, recalled from Oklahoma City of CHL. Ron Zanussi, RW, returned to lineup from injury list. Rob Flockhart, RW, Robbie Laird, LW, Joe Contini, C, and Ken Kuzyk, RW, returned to Oklahoma City.</p><p>MONTREAL&mdash;Larry Robinson, D, returned to lineup from injury list. Gilles Lupien, D, placed on injury list with pulled groin.</p><p>ISLANDERS&mdash;Garth Mac-Guigan, C, returned to Indianapolis of CHL.</p><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Dave Gardner, C, returned to Maine of AHL.</p><p>QUEBEC&mdash;Gilles Bilodeau, LW, recalled from Syracuse of AHL. Terry Johnson, D, John Smrke, LW, and Blair Stewart, LW, all returned to Syracuse. Lee Norwood, D, third amateur draft choice signed to pro contract. Norwood remains with Oshawa of OMJHL. Garry Carr, G, signed to NHL contract. Canremains with Syracuse of AHL.</p><p>TORONTO&mdash;Curt Ridley, G, returned to lineup from injury list.</p><p>VANCOUVER&mdash;Larry Goodenough, D, and Rob Tudor, C, recalled from Dallas of CHL. Tudor later returned. Harold Phillipoff, LW, and Drew Callander, RW, returned from injury list and assigned to Dallas of CHL.</p><p>WASHINGTON&mdash;Gary Rissling, LW, returned to Hershey of AHL and later called back up.</p><h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p>ADIRONDACK&mdash;Larry Elson, LW, returned to Kalamazoo of IHL. Dennis Sobchuk, C, back from injury list.</p><p>BINGHAMTON&mdash;Marco Baron, G, recalled from Grand Rapids of IHL and returned.</p><p>MAINE&mdash;Bruce Crowder, LW, returned from injury list. Blake Wesley, D, placed on injury list.</p><p>NEW BRUNSWICK&mdash;Paul Harrison, G, back from injury list. Vincent Tremblay, G, and Paul Gardner, C, placed on injury list. Gord Gallant, LW, added to roster. Tom O&rsquo;Toole, G, and Bob Gardiner, RW, signed to pro trials. Bob Warner, LW, and Greg Vaydik, C, removed from roster.</p><p>NEW HAVEN&mdash;Dan McCarthy, LW, reassigned to Richmond of EHL. Wayne Thomas, G, back from injury list. Jim Pettie, G, placed on injury list.</p><p>NOVA SCOTIA&mdash;Richard Grenier, RW, signed to pro contract after playing in Austria. Jim Lawson, RW, sigmed to pro contract from Brown University. Bill Root, D, back from injury list.</p><p>SYRACUSE&mdash;Clay Hebenton, G, assigned by Edmonton on loan. Mike Parker, G, signed to pro tryout and later released.</p><h2><b>CENTRAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p>OKLAHOMA CITY&mdash;Kelly Greenbank, LW, signed to pro contract after playing in Austria.</p><p>TULSA&mdash;John Bethel, LW, out for season with shoulder separation.</p><h2><b>INTL. LEAGUE</b></h2><p>FLINT&mdash;Paul Miller, LW, added to roster.</p><p>MUSKEGON&mdash;Dennis Desrosiers, RW, traded to Saginaw in return for Steve Coates, LW. Paul Tantardini, LW, added to roster. Ron Griffin, D, added to roster.</p><h2><b>COACHING CHANGES</b></h2><p>BOSTON&mdash;Fred Creighton fired as coach and replaced by Harry Sinden, GM.</p><p>DETROIT&mdash;Bobby Kromm fired as coach and replaced by Marcel Pronovost, defensive coach, and Ted Lindsay, GM.</p><p>TORONTO&mdash;Floyd Smith disabled for rest of season by car accident, replaced by Punch Imlach, GM, and Joe Crozier, who was brought up from New Brunswick of AHL.</p><p>SYRACUSE&mdash;Steve Coates removed from active roster and named assistant coach.</p><p>NEW BRUNSWICK&mdash;Lou Angotti named coach replacing Joe Crozier.</p><p>SALT LAKE CITY&mdash;Al Rollins removed as coach and replaced by Ace Bailey. Rollins stays on as GM.</p><p>RICHMOND&mdash;Ray Clearwater removed as coach by Rangers and returned to New Haven on AHL. Clearwater replaced by Muzz MacPherson as coach.</p><p>MICHIGAN&mdash;Dan FarreU resigned as coach of WCHA Wolverines to enter private business.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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April 4, 1980

North Stars Find 2nd Scoring Unit

Wervergaert Fits Flyers’ Style

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

IHL Board Considering Rule To Ban Fighting