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.

May 2, 1980

The Hockey News May 2, 1980

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-17" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-177/4697448-1-eng-US/f0032-172.jpg"></div><h2><b>SUMMARY OF 1979 PLAYOFFS</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></h2>

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IN THIS ISSUE

Stanley CUD Picture

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div><p>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>MILWAUKEE&mdash;A year ago the Milwaukee Admirals bowed out of the International Hockey League play-offs in seven games&mdash;but it was actually eight games.</p><p>Today the Admirals are out after two games&mdash;and maybe out of the league.</p><p>Reacting to what some observers called &lsquo;vicious and brutal&rsquo; attacks against the Milwaukee players by members of the Saginaw Gears in the opening two games of their best-of-seven quarterfinal series, owner Lloyd Pettit withdrew his team from further competition.</p><p>The decision shocked IHL commissioner Jack Riley, as well as other members of the league&rsquo;s board of governors. Riley responded by forfeiting the series to Saginaw but also hinted there could be further disciplinary action against the Gears.</p><p>The incident, which resulted in Pettit&rsquo;s drastic action, involved Gears&rsquo; defenseman John Gibson and the Admirals&rsquo; Carey Haworth. Gibson broke Haworth&rsquo;s cheekbone and gave him a pair of black eyes during a fight late in the game, won by the Gears 5-1. Haworth also required 15 stitches.</p><p>&ldquo;Because of the unprovoked violence and the intent to injure on the part of the Saginaw team, we are withdrawing from any further Turner Cup play,&rdquo; Pettit said in his announcement.</p><p>Pettit added, &ldquo;We are hoping our severe move may have some kind of effect on the wonderful game of hockey.&rdquo;</p><p>Milwaukee accused the Gears of severe roughness in the opening game of the series which Saginaw won 6-4. Both games were played in Saginaw and gams three and four were scheduled for Milwaukee.</p><p>Riley hinted that Milwaukee could lose its franchise because of its withdrawal. &ldquo;Their franchise could be terminated by a two-thirds vote of the league&rsquo;s board of governors.&rdquo; Riley also said he didn&rsquo;t think there was any precedent for the Admirals&rsquo; action.</p><p>&ldquo;I was amazed and shocked that they would pull out,&rdquo; Riley said. He was also upset that Pettit called a press conference to announce his decision before informing the league office.</p><p>&ldquo;I am a little disappointed that they tried to be judge and jury. We know players can be disciplined, but asking somebody to forfeit a playoff series is serious business,&rdquo; added the IHL chief. &ldquo;What they said by that (press conference) is that they didn&rsquo;t have any confidence in the commissioner or his ability to make decisions.&rdquo;</p><p>Saginaw owner Wren Blair said that he may take legal action against Milwaukee. &ldquo;The whole thing is totally shocking and irresponsible and I am appalled by their approach. I want to have proper authorities think this over and give me their opinions as to what our remedies are,&rdquo; Blair said.</p><p>As to the statements attributed to Milwaukee about the Saginaw players, Blair branded them as &ldquo;untrue&rdquo; and a suit could follow unless Milwaukee retracts the accusations, Blair indicated.</p><p>Last year Bill Beagan, the then IHL commissioner, ordered a game between Milwaukee and Grand Rapids in the first round playoff series replayed because Grand Rapids had used an ineligible player. Grand Rapids eventually won the series in the seven games but the seventh game was actually the eighth game because of the replay.</p><p>While there may be far-reaching ramifications for Milwaukee, for the time being Saginaw has advanced to the semifinals and Milwaukee is through for the season. Saginaw&rsquo;s next opponent will be determined after the completion of the other quarterfinal series. The four surviving teams will be paired according to total points based on the regular season. Saginaw finished second overall.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01507/4696967-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="584" height="858"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Greg Hickey of Fort Wayne earned playoff scoring honors by tallying five times in the elimination of Toledo.</i></figcaption></div><p>Meanwhile, on the ice, Fort Wayne became the first team to qualify for the semifinals in a normal manner by eliminating Toledo in four straight games. Veteran Robbie Irons played in all four games and closed off the series with a 3-0 shutout in Toledo. Fort Wayne got balanced scoring from all three of its lines led by swift skating Greg Hickey, who scored five goals, two in the 3-0 triumph.</p><p><i>For more of Lloyd Pettit and Wren Blair&rsquo;s opinions on the Milwaukee-Saginaw controversy, see Some Other Views on page 8.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Milwaukee Could Lose IHL Franchise After Quitting Series With Saginaw

<p>1&mdash;Montreal</p><p>2&mdash;Chicago</p><p>3&mdash;Boston</p><p>4&mdash;Rangers</p><p>5&mdash;Detroit</p><p>6&mdash;Toronto</p><p>7&mdash;Philadelphia</p><p>8&mdash;Los Angeles</p><p>9&mdash;St. Louis</p><p>10&mdash;Minnesota</p><p>11&mdash;Pittsburgh</p><p>12&mdash;Islanders</p><p>13&mdash;Vancouver</p><p>14&mdash;Buffalo</p><p>15&mdash;Atlanta</p><p>16&mdash;Washington</p><p>17&mdash;Colorado</p><p>18&mdash;Edmonton</p><p>19&mdash;Hartford</p><p>20&mdash;Quebec</p><p>21&mdash;Winnipeg</p><h2><b>OTHER AFFILIATIONS</b></h2><p>22&mdash;Chicago&mdash;Toronto</p><p>23&mdash;Boston&mdash;Los Angeles</p><p>24&mdash;Quebec&mdash;Pittsburgh</p><p>25&mdash;Edmonton&mdash;Winnipeg</p><p>26&mdash;Montrea I&mdash;C h icago</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>SERIES &lsquo;D&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-07125/4695648-1-eng-US/f0006-072.jpg" title="f0006-07" width="552" height="328"></div><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;I&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0868/4695641-1-eng-US/f0006-082.jpg" title="f0006-08" width="551" height="253"></div><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;J&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0946/4695634-1-eng-US/f0006-092.jpg" title="f0006-09" width="557" height="283"></div><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;K&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1031/4695627-1-eng-US/f0006-102.jpg" title="f0006-10" width="548" height="250"></div><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;L&rsquo;</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1129/4695620-1-eng-US/f0006-112.jpg" title="f0006-11" width="560" height="681"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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NHL Playoff Picture

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01763/4698499-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"></div><p><b>REGGIE LEACH ENJOYING</b></p><p><b>SECOND LIFE IN PHILLY</b></p><p><b>BLACK HAWKS&rsquo; STAN MIKITA RETIRES AFTER 21 YEARS</b></p><p><b>NEW RECORD SET FOR NHL ATTENDANCE</b></p><p><b>IHL ADMIRALS QUIT PLAYOFFS AFTER BRAWL</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Cover-01

SABRES FIRST TO SEMIS

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011155/4695288-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="302" height="342"></div><h2>Rebirth Of The Blues</h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE ST. LOUIS BLUES</b> are gone, eliminated from the ongoing Stanley Cup playoffs. But what they accomplished this season should not be forgotten.</p><p>They revised and reworked and re-evaluated and, finally, were reborn. They finished with 80 points, up 32 from a year ago. No team in the National Hockey League underwent such a facial. Moreover, the people came back, by the thousands. The Blues, once the proudest of all expansion teams, had returned, loudly.</p><p>Not long ago, the franchise was close to being ash-canned. The Blues were bouncing more checks than they threw. Weeds took over the parking lot of The Arena. Fifteen minutes before a home game one night, the electric company killed the lights. Players in the Blues&rsquo; minor league system were instructed, after engaging in fights, to pick up their opponents&rsquo; sticks and keep them. The cupboard was that bare.</p><p>&ldquo;Once,&rdquo; recalled general manager Emile Francis, &ldquo;Bernie Federko was having a stick autographed by the players to take to a hospital. You know, like they all do. I told him, never mind signing it. You have to use it. So he played with an autographed stick.&rdquo;</p><p>Deterioration was so pronounced that the league, at a summer meeting a couple years back, was prepared to close the doors in St. Louis.</p><p>&ldquo;We were one phone call away from being out of the NHL,&rdquo; recalled Francis. &ldquo;One phone call.&rdquo;</p><p>At the last possible moment, Ralston-Purina of St. Louis purchased the Blues as a civic gesture. As recently as last year, though, the team was dog food.</p><p>But Francis, in his finest hour, wheeled and dealed like an auctioneer, subscribing at all times to a venerable sports theory&mdash;make a thousand changes, and hope at least a hundred work.</p><h2><b>Frustrations Allayed</b></h2><p><b>&ldquo;IT WAS A LOT DIFFERENT</b> than when I was in New York with the Rangers,&rdquo; said The Cat. &ldquo;We built up there, too, but at least we had money to work with. In St. Louis, until the Ralston people took over, we had no funds.&rdquo;</p><p>Alas, when Francis attempted to sign draft choice Scott Campbell at the nadir of the Blues&rsquo; financial woes, he offered a personal check. Campbell said no thanks, and took a Houston Aeros check instead.</p><p>&ldquo;Frustrating,&rdquo; said Francis. &ldquo;It was frustrating.&rdquo;</p><p>Francis&rsquo; frustrations were allayed considerably last summer when he signed Mike Liut, a fameless young goalkeeper who had done absolutely nothing spectacular with the defunct Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association, may it rest in peace.</p><p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t blame anybody for not getting excited when we got him,&rdquo; said Francis. &ldquo;Nobody really knew anything about him. But we had watched him way back when he was in college, and we liked him. He&rsquo;s what allowed us to trade Phil Myre to Philadelphia. We knew we had something in Liut.&rdquo;</p><p>The rest, as they say, is history. Liut, a standup guy, became the winningest goalie in the NHL this season and an iron man of the Tony Esposito ilk. When Liut put his mask on, the Blues were instantly respectable.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no telling how good he could be,&rdquo; said the very veteran defenseman, Terry Harper. &ldquo;He reminds me of what happened with Kenny Dryden and the Canadiens. He just came in that one year from nowhere, and then he was a dominant goalie for the next eight years.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>Infinitely More Balanced</b></h2><p><b>HARPER WAS JUST ONE</b> new/old addition to the Blues&rsquo; roster, which contained but 10 holdover players from last season and&mdash;get this&mdash;ten past No. 1 draft picks. From a one-line team of Brian Sutter, Bernie Federko and Wayne Babych, the Blues materialized into an infinitely more balanced crew, a team. It is said, too often around St. Louis, that the Blues became a team when Garry Unger was shipped to Atlanta. Bolshoi. That is what&rsquo;s called using a crutch. But one of the players Francis got from the Flames, Ed Kea, did anchor the Blues&rsquo; defense.</p><p>When the BIues made Barclay Plager sick to his stomach last December, it hardly seemed likely that Red Berenson would be the answer as coach. The team was tentative, and the button-downed redhead&mdash;described by Federko as &ldquo;black and white and right now&rdquo;&mdash;figured to be perhaps too Spartan for the Blues. Wrong again. Under him, the Blues were seven games above .500.</p><p>&ldquo;I can understand why some people thought we&rsquo;d be bad this year,&rdquo; said Francis. &ldquo;We had so many changes, it was tough to keep track. I can understand.&rdquo;</p><p>Understand that this, ahem, expert selected the Blues for last place in the humorous Smythe Division. Won&rsquo;t happen again.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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HOCKEY TALK

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011172/4695319-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>The responsibility of helping to protect a Flyer lead late in games has been a welcome addition to Reggie Leach&rsquo;s load&mdash;one that has made him a complete player.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>S</span>orry mystery fans, but there is no stunning revelation to explain the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; Reggie Leach&rsquo;s remarkable comeback this season.</p><p>Flyers&rsquo; coach Pat Quinn did not pick Leach up one misty morning and drive him to the faith healer Fred Shero, then the Flyers&rsquo; coach, discovered during the 1975 Stanley Cup finals. Quinn did not introduce Leach to an old Irish philosopher that the Flyers&rsquo; coach found up in the Georgia hills when he played in Atlanta.</p><p>After a thorough investigation, conducted by Inspector Clousseau and his team of quack, er, crack detectives, it has been determined that Leach escaped the land of hockey&rsquo;s lost souls because Quinn simply told him, &ldquo;Go out and play&rdquo;</p><p>And here we thought it takes years of study and experience to be a successful NHL coach&hellip;</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting too much credit for this,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;Here was a guy who was in and out of the lineup, but you could see the flashes of talent. When I took over I was looking for three pairs of penalty killers and just thought I&rsquo;d give Reggie a try. Clarkie (Bobby Clarke) took him under his wing a little, showed him what we were trying to do, and Reggie picked it right up. On top of everything he gives us an offensive threat when we&rsquo;re short-handed.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;He told me to just go out and score goals,&rdquo; Leach said earlier this season.</p><p><b>&ldquo;I always thought of myself as a leader,&rdquo; Leach said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind the pressure of guys looking to me for leadership&rdquo;</b></p><p>Quinn, who is in his first full season as Flyers&rsquo; coach and who guided the team to the NHL&rsquo;s best regular-season record, also told Leach to do other things&mdash;such as help the Flyers maintain leads in close games in the final minutes. If Shero had ever sent Leach onto the ice in the final minutes of a 2-1 game, Leach would have keeled over in amazement.</p><p>Leach, who celebrated (?) his 30th birthday April 23, remembers the first time Quinn relied upon him in a close game. The Flyers had rallied to take a one-goal lead in Los Angeles late last season.</p><p>&ldquo;He called for Clarkie&rsquo;s line and gave me a little push,&rdquo; Leach told Terry Brennan of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. &ldquo;I had to turn around and look at him to make sure he meant it No one had ever put me out in that situation before. Nobody had ever trusted me to be on the ice in the final minute with a old-goal lead. I can&rsquo;t tell you how much that meant to me.&rdquo;</p><p>Leach recovered from his shock to help the Flyers hold the lead and win the game. Presumably, that was the night Reggie Leach, Complete Hockey Player, was born. It wasn&rsquo;t too apparent the rest of last season, but since the beginning of this season Leach clearly has been a new player.</p><p>After he scored 10 goals in Philadelphia&rsquo;s first nine games people suspected the Reggie Leach who terrorized NHL goaltenders just a few years ago was back. When Leach scored the first shorthanded goal of his NHL career on Nov. 29 in a 6-4 victory over Minnesota, Spectrum pressbox skeptics threw up their hands in surrender and said, &ldquo;Take us now, Lord, we&rsquo;ve seen it all.&rdquo;</p><p>Leach finished the season tied with the Islanders&rsquo; Anders Kallur for the league-lead in shorthanded goals, with four apiece.</p><p>Leach also finished the season with 50 goals overall, making him the first Philadelphia player to ever reach the 50-goal milestone twice. Reggie &ldquo;The Revived&rdquo; rocketed past 50 for the first time during the 1975-76 season when he scored 61 in the regular season and added a record 19 in the Stanley Cup playoffs. His total of 80 goals is still an NHL record.</p><p>That was the season Leach also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs&rsquo; Most Valuable Player. The Flyers, attempting to win a third consecutive Stanley Cup, were swept by Montreal in the finals. But the Professional Hockey Writers Association voters decided that a record 19-goal performance by Leach was certainly worthy of the award.</p><p>A year or two later, people&mdash;Leach among them&mdash;were saying that winning the Conn Smythe Trophy might have been the worst thing that ever happened to the curly haired right winger. From 61 regular-season goals, Leach plummeted to 32, then to 24 the following season.</p><p><b>When training camp opened prior to the 1979-80 season, Leach was scuffling for his hockey life.</b></p><p>Even though he rebounded to 34 goals last season, which tied Bill Barber for the Flyers&rsquo; lead, it wasn&rsquo;t good enough. It finally appeared that Leach had outlived his useful days in Philadelphia. The only problem was, general manager Keith Allen couldn&rsquo;t find many takers for Leach. Whispers said if Leach couldn&rsquo;t help a top-caliber team like Philadelphia, how could he lift a bargain basement team toward respectability?</p><p>When training camp began, Leach obviously was scuffling for his hockey life. Many observers doubted Leach had the inner drive to fight off the vultures hovering over his sweat-soaked longjohns. One person who wasn&rsquo;t among the skeptics was Bobby Clarke.</p><p>&ldquo;Most guys 27 or 28 years old don&rsquo;t lose their desire to play,&rdquo; said Clarke. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of peer pressure on this club. A coach or general manager can&rsquo;t force you to play, but guys on the team can.&rdquo;</p><p>Prior to training camp, Clarke was named a playing-assistant coach. But he insists he didn&rsquo;t suggest to Quinn that Leach just be allowed to play.</p><p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t say anything about Reggie,&rdquo; Clarke recalled, &ldquo;but a player with the ability to score 60 goals must have the ability to kill penalties&mdash;if he wants to work at it, and Reggie did.&rdquo;</p><p>Perhaps camouflaged by Leach&rsquo;s awesome shot was an ability to skate as swiftly as almost anyone in the NHL. And, although he is not a fighter, he is a muscular 6-foot, 195-pounder who can rumble into the corners and retrieve the puck better than most of his opponents. It took a long time, and it didn&rsquo;t happen until Pat Quinn stepped behind the Flyer bench, but the man with 306 care goals is finally a two-way hockey player and no one is happier for him than Quinn.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been a helluva player for us this year,&rdquo; said Quinn the night Leach again reached the 50-go mark. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s had a great season and now the stats are there for him, too. It&rsquo;s something he did serves. Combined with the other things he did for us this year, it outstanding.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;He just got the opportunity play,&rdquo; said Bill Barber, a frequeny linemate of Leach&rsquo;s. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough when you&rsquo;re just counted on as goal scorer. When they&rsquo;re not going in, then you&rsquo;re in trouble.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;The big thing,&rdquo; said Kein Allen, &ldquo;is Pat has given him the responsibility of killing penality ties and of playing defense. Under Freddie, if it was a tight situation Reggie would be on the bench. B Pat&rsquo;s changed that all around.</p><p>&ldquo;Reggie&rsquo;s just a different gu He&rsquo;s more out-going as a perso he&rsquo;s laughing and kidding around He feels wanted now.&rdquo;</p><p>Leach knows how it feels not be wanted. He experienced to empty feeling of not belonging Boston, where he was strictly goal-scoring youngster faced with earning a place on a close-e brothers veteran team. Lea knew the feeling of aimlessness Oakland, where he wandered with others as a member of Char Finley&rsquo;s Legion of the Lost.</p><p>&ldquo;Charlie Finley didn&rsquo;t cause about the team there,&rdquo; Leaf recalled. &ldquo;We were out of the playoffs by November. Finl didn&rsquo;t care, so why should we?&rdquo;</p><p><b>&ldquo;Pat Quinn,&rdquo; Leach said, &ldquo;has probably added another five years to my career&rdquo;</b></p><p>If you thought seeing Leach score short-handed goals was the biggest hockey miracle this side of Randy Holt winning the Lady Byn Trophy, brace yourself for this Leach has become one of the Flyers&rsquo; leaders. That&rsquo;s right, the on time wild-and-crazy guy now tried to set a dedicated example for the Flyers&rsquo; younger players.</p><p>&ldquo;I remember in Boston how I&rsquo;come to the rink and look up the guys like Phil Esposito, because they were such great players an they&rsquo;d still go out every day an give their best,&rdquo; Leach said.</p><p>Anyway, Leach doesn&rsquo;t nee Shero now. He has a coach h respects and a team he care about.</p><p>&ldquo;Pat Quinn,&rdquo; Leach said, &ldquo;had probably added on another five years to my career.&rdquo;</p><p>Credit Pat Quinn with one of the biggest hockey saves of the year.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0003-01

Rejuvenated Leach Enjoying Best Season Ever

<p><b>THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY FOUNDED 1947</b></p><p>DONALD R. WALL</p><p><i>Chairman and Publisher</i></p><p><b>TOM MURRAY</b></p><p><i>Editor In Chief</i></p><p>Advertising and Editorial Offices</p><p>214 King Street West&mdash;Suite 314 Toronto. Ontario. Canada M5H 1K4 (415) 598.1753</p><p>Executive Office</p><p>850 Third Ave.</p><p>New York, New York. 10022 (212) 593-2100</p><h2>KENNETH W. McKENZIE</h2><p><b>President and Founder</b></p><p>1434 St Catherine Street West</p><p><b>Montreal. Canada H3G 1R7</b></p><h2>EDITORIAL STAFF</h2><p>Charlie Halpin</p><p><i>Editorial Director</i></p><p><b>Mike Dennis.</b>&nbsp;<i>Assistant Editor</i></p><p><b>Cathy Munro.</b>&nbsp;<i>Copy Editor</i></p><p><b>Bob Hanley.</b>&nbsp;<i>Editorial Consultant</i></p><p><i>Contributing Editors:</i></p><p><b>Stan Fischler. Frank Orr. Bob Verdi</b></p><h2>ADVERTISING SALES OFFICES</h2><p><b>Toronto:</b></p><p>Donald R. Wall</p><p>214 King Street West&mdash;Suite 314 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5H 1K4 (416) 598-1753</p><p><b>New York:</b></p><p>Donald R. Wall 850 Third Ave.</p><p>New York, New York 10022 (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 (617)542-6913</p><p>Joanne Hatch</p><p><b>Advertising Service Manager</b></p><p><b>(416)598-1753</b></p><p><b>THE HOCKEY NEWS, (ISSN 0018-3016), Is published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Publish. Ins Ltd. 214 King Street West-Suite JU, Toronto, Ontario M5H 1K4. (416) 598-1753. In U.S. c/o W.C.C. Publishing Corp., ISO num Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022.</b></p><p><b>VEM.V SUBSCRIPTION RATES $15.25 In the U.SA, $5.25 In Canada, $12.95 In Foreign Countries. Send all subscription requests to THE HOCKEY NEWS, 2U King St. W&bdquo; Suite 314, Toronto, Ont., M5H1K4. Please allow 4-6 weeks for processing.</b></p><p><b>SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO 1444 ST. CATtBOe STREET WEST, SUTE 217, WOHTWEAL, Canada H3G 1R7. Second Class main RegistrationNo. 1327</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY FRED PIETILA</div><p class="dropcap"><span>D</span>ENVER&mdash;Amid the contusion and mystery of the Colorado Rockies&rsquo; situation regarding the status of coach Don Cherry several weeks after the season ended, at least one positive note surfaced.</p><p>Rockies&rsquo; President Armand Pohan and General Manager Roy Miron both seemed pleased with the progress of the Rockies&rsquo; farm team in Fort Worth of the Central Hockey League.</p><p>The team came on well to finish third after a 3-14-2 start and several future Rockies gave both Pohan and Miron hope. A key player the Texans acquired as they started their Adams Cup playoffs was Bobby Crawford, who scored 61 goals for Oshawa in the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League.</p><p>Crawford was acquired by the Rockies as the player to be named later in the controversial Barry Beck trade with the New York Rangers Nov. 2. In that trade, the Rockies received Lucien DeBlois, Mike McEwen, Pat Hickey, Dean Turner and a player to be named later (Crawford) from the Rangers. The Rangers signed Crawford as an underage, but undrafted junior.</p><p>So, the addition of Crawford should take some of the sting out of what is otherwise expected to be a mediocre, at best, draft for the 21st-place team whose first-round pick was swamped with Montreal back in 1976 when the Rockies acquired Ron Andruff from the Canadiens. As it stands, the Rockies will draft 19th and 22nd (first in the second round.</p><p>Crawford&rsquo;s addition should ease the pain.</p><p>&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t look out of place,&rdquo; Pohan said of the 5-8 178-pound Crawford, who can play either wing. &ldquo;He really looks like after (referring to the before-and-after bodybuilding commercial). They can&rsquo;t knock him down and he can really skate.&rdquo;</p><p>Miron is also high on Crawford, whose father, Keith, is employed at South Suburban Ice Arena where the Rockies practice. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s very good. He could help us next year,&rdquo; Miron said.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s gonna have a good shot at it. He&rsquo;s small but he is strong as a horse, hard to knock off his feet and won&rsquo;t back down from anyone. He&rsquo;s a heluva prospect,&rdquo; Miron said.</p><p>Long before Crawford joined the Texans, the Rockies expressed satisfaction with their first full-time working agreement with a minor-league team in four seasons.</p><p>&ldquo;If there&rsquo;s an optimistic sign this season,&rdquo; Miron said, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s what happened at Fort Worth.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got some good prospects down there. Bob Attwell (normally a right winger) is now playing center and playing very well. Peter Sturgeon (a free agent who did not play professionally last season) is back playing after a knee operation. He&rsquo;d have been up with us if he hadn&rsquo;t been hurt. Gary Dillon is the most improved player on the club and one of the most improved players in the league. Merlin Malinowski (a second team AllStar selection) is playing pretty well. And Steve Peters (an under age draft) is starting to play better with Windsor. Jack Hughes is playing very well and will play in the National Hockey League. And Mario Giallonardo is playing well,&rdquo; Miron said of future Rockies.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021154/4695405-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="600" height="894"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Sturdy little Bobby Crawford is one of the Rockies&rsquo; minor league hopefuls for next year.</i></figcaption></div><p>Pohan, too, praised the play of Giallonardo, Hughes, Attwell, Dillon and Malinowski. And both Miron and Pohan are pleased with the coaching job done by Ron Ullyot.</p><p>Meanwhile, as the Stanley Cup playoffs reached the middle of the quarterfinal round, Pohan had still not conversed with Cherry regarding the colorful coach&rsquo;s status with the club. Earlier, Pohan had said one of his considerations after the frustrating season was over, had been to relieve Cherry and possibly Miron from their duties.</p><p>A dissmisal of Cherry, who has one guaranteed year left on his two-year (plus two more if the Rockies wish to keep him), contract would cause an adverse reaction from fans and players. But Pohan insists his primary concern is the long-range viability of the franchise.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0004-02

Productive Farm System Bright Spot For Rockies

<div class="byline">FRANK ORR&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011216/4695350-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="342" height="368"></div><h2>A Little Spring Fever</h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>A</span>H, SPRING</b> And a young hack&rsquo;s fancy turns to thoughts of nonsense, fun things said by hockey folks and this spring&rsquo;s retirement of a great one.</p><p>&bull; The first time I tried to interview Stan Mikita back in the early 1960s, I extended my hand, told him my name and was greeted with this: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s your problem, not mine.&rdquo;</p><p>Mikita walked away, laughing uproariously, to return later and answer all my questions. Those were the days when Mikita was known as &ldquo;that dirty, little, chippy s.o.b.&rdquo; around the National Hockey League.</p><p>He was, too. Mikita was meaner than rent in those days, a small-sized, ultra-talented player with a chip on his shoulder who had his stick in some foe&rsquo;s gizzle much of the time.</p><p>Mikita retired from the Chicago Black Hawks the other day, taking a unique talent away from the NHL.</p><p>Really, in the past two decades, has there been a player in the league as skilled as Mikita, one who possessed his raw natural ability, instinct and intelligence on the ice? Well, name him.</p><p>Mikita was probably the smartest hockey player of his time. What could be better than watching Mikita pick apart an opposing defense with those slick, subtle moves?</p><p>Mikita&rsquo;s transformation from s.o.b. to Mr. Clean really was amazing. He went from 154 minutes in penalties in a season to the Lady Byng Trophy almost overnight, like a sinner who sees the light at an evangelical service.</p><p>But Mikita didn&rsquo;t cut down on his competitive urge. He merely reduced the number of retaliatory fouls he executed on bigger players who did him dirt.</p><p>The sad part of Mikita&rsquo;s retirement, other than the fact that a great player has left the league, is that he won&rsquo;t be associated with the game any longer. Men with his knowledge, style and drive shouldn&rsquo;t be allowed to leave completely.</p><p>&bull; Quote from Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; owner Harold Ballard on the type of players he wants: &ldquo;They have to do what they&rsquo;re told. Everybody in this world has to have a boss and has to take orders from somebody. They have to learn to do it.&rdquo;</p><p>Mmm! Won&rsquo;t Ballard&rsquo;s boss. NHL president John Ziegler, be pleased to learn about Big Hal&rsquo;s attitude toward authority.</p><p>&bull; Amazing, isn&rsquo;t it, how NHL coaches view playoff refereeing? Their view is that the penalties should be even in every playoff game and if their club receives more sentences than the opposition they feel it&rsquo;s some sort of strange plot against them.</p><p>They can&rsquo;t seem to realize that if the fouls are five-to-one, then the penalties should be the same.</p><p>The NHL&rsquo;s playoff arrangements make it extremely difficult for the officials. Because 16 teams are included in the playoffs and top clubs are matched against the bottom teams in the preliminary round, the talent-gap between the teams is often enormous.</p><p>The team from the depths often figures that its only chance is to play tough, physical hockey against the more skilled team. The result is a series of hack-chop fouls. If the officials call them all, then it places the weak team at even more of a disadvantage and leads to the whining and moaning from coaches.</p><h2>Sonmor Brings Humor</h2><p><b>DON CHERRY IS OUT</b> of the playoffs this season and that&rsquo;s a major loss for writers who are seeking a little nonsense to brighten an off-day story. But Grapes has an able replacement in Glen Sonmor, coach of the Minnesota North Stars and a gregarious, funny guy with a great storehouse of anecdotes who seems to enjoy the media sessions. That&rsquo;s a change from some NHL coaches, who grant time to the writers very grudgingly&mdash;as if press conferences were preventing them from doing life-saving surgery.</p><p>&bull; A favorite Sonmor yarn. He coached the Birmingham Bulls in the World Hockey Association in 1977-78, when the Bulls had the Slapshot gang, a collection of brawlers and muggers. The Bulls also had Frank Mahovlich on their roster.</p><p>The Big M wasn&rsquo;t playing very well and Sonmor used him on the Bulls&rsquo; fourth line with Gilles &ldquo;Bad News&rdquo; Bilodeau and Bob Stephenson.</p><p>&ldquo;People in Winnipeg were always up in the air about our team because they had a pack of Europeans on the Jets who we didn&rsquo;t treat too kindly,&rdquo; Sonmor recalled.</p><p>&ldquo;On one trip to the &lsquo;Peg, there was a story in one of the papers about how I was degrading, embarrassing and picking on Frank Mahovlich by playing him with Bilodeau and Stephenson because he was an all-time great.</p><p>&ldquo;The day after the story appeared, the needles were out in our dressing room. The players were kidding me about picking on Big Frank by playing him on such a line.</p><p>&ldquo;Finally, I asked The Big M what he thought about it all and Frank replied: &lsquo;Well, when I played with Gordie and Alex, I was a bit more productive.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>Gordie Howe and Alex Delvecchio were Mahovlich&rsquo;s linemates with the Detroit Red Wings.</p><p>HERE ARE SOME of the subjects likely to become extremely boring before the &lsquo;80 off-season is concluded.</p><p>&mdash;Speculation on which city will be the Altanta Flames new home if the team is moved.</p><p>&mdash;Leaf goalie Mike Palmateer&rsquo;s future as a free agent.</p><p>&mdash;Leaf efforts to trade center Darryl Sittler, a problem to them because of his trade-refusal clause.</p><p>&mdash;The scuffle between the owners and players on a new collective agreement with the free agent rule the key factor.</p><p>&mdash;Re-alignment of the NHL and a schedule change.</p><p>&mdash;The futures of Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0004-01

HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div><p>BOSTON&mdash;Harry Sinden was incensed, outraged.</p><p>His Boston Bruins, exhausted and irritable after playing five crucial games in six nights, had just lost their second in a row in overtime to the New York Islanders and now someone was accusing them of trying to intimidate the New Yorkers.</p><p>As a matter of fact, he pointed out, it had taken a cooperative effort on the part of both teams to set a Stanley Cup playoff record of 248 penalty minutes, 124 for each team, in a single period.</p><p>&ldquo;Every time something like this happens it&rsquo;s the Bruins who went out to intimidate them,&rdquo; growled the Boston GM-coach. &ldquo;We do not play that way. Loo-kit, they were as much at fault as we were.</p><p>&ldquo;We tried some contact. They tried some contact. We wanted to play a good contact hockey game. We do every night. If anybody from the Islanders said we tried to intimidate, it&rsquo;s sickening to hear it.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to listen to anybody from any place in hockey saying that we tried to intimidate somebody.&rdquo;</p><p>Actually, what appeared to have happened was this: The Islanders, rightly or wrongly, have acquired the reputation of going quietly when the playoffs get rough. They feel they have solved the problem. It was tempting to the Bruins to see if they had.</p><p>The subject of intimidation was brought up to Islander coach Al Arbour in a post game interview.</p><p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I thought they tried tonight but our team has changed around in the past year and nobody&rsquo;s going to back down from anybody. We&rsquo;ve got a lot of tough players on our team and they&rsquo;re going to stand up for it.</p><p>&ldquo;If that&rsquo;s the type of hockey teams want to play against us we can play like that, too. We can accommodate any of them any way they want to play.&rdquo;</p><p>Islander Duane Sutter, who started the season at Lethbridge, Sask., in Junior A and wound up trading punches with the Bruins&rsquo; Mike Milbury, was very much aware of what they were saying about the Islanders.</p><p>&ldquo;Yeah, they had that reputation,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why when Milbury started it there was no way I was going to back down. Now they know what to expect from us. They were looking for a fight and we beat them at their own game.&rdquo;</p><p>The fighting started at 2:46 of the first period when Terry O&rsquo;Reilly went with Clark Gillies. Then it was Wayne Cashman and Garry Howatt at 8:05, John Wensink and Bob Nystrom at 15:30, and O&rsquo;Reilly and Gillies again at 19:53. Those were the prelims.</p><p>The main bout began when the siren ended the first period with Milbury and Sutter bumping each other in the corner. One thing led to another and Milbury led with his right. Sutter, like he said, wasn&rsquo;t backing down.</p><p>Then Cashman and Howatt remembered that their differences were not really settled at 8:05 and Al Secord took exception to the way Gord Lane was choking him with his own sweater and Stan Jonathan and Bob Lorimer &hellip; well, no one ever figured out what that one was about.</p><p>All eight of the combatants received majors for fighting, 10 minute misconducts and game misconducts for a statistical total of 200 minutes. Add to that eight previous majors and four minors and it came to a record 248 minutes.</p><p>The previous playoff high was 186 minutes run up by Atlanta and Toronto last spring.</p><p>The contre temps also presented the unusual spectacle of four goaltenders apparently trying to come to grips with each other but actually Gerry Cheevers, Yves Belanger and Chico Resch were only trying to keep fiery Billy Smith out of it.</p><p>&ldquo;I knew somewhere along the line they were going to challenge us,&rdquo; said Bob Bourne, whose goal at 1:24 of the overtime was the game winner. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been berated for so many years now. Luckily, we came out on top.</p><p>&ldquo;I really admire the Bruins. They&rsquo;ve played five games in six nights. I&rsquo;m really tired tonight and this was only our second game in five or six nights. I don&rsquo;t know how they&rsquo;re doing it but they&rsquo;re playing some great hockey.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Tired?&rdquo; said Peter McNab. &ldquo;Not at all, really. The excitement of the playoffs and all that sort of thing. You don&rsquo;t worry about being a little bit tired.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s play hockey, go to bed, wake up and play hockey,&rdquo; said 34-year-old Wayne Cashman. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s great. I love it. It&rsquo;s just the way we did it when we were kids.&rdquo;</p><p>But, by Saturday night, the Bruins had fallen behind the Islanders, three games to none.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011074/4695436-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="508" height="996"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Terry O&rsquo;Reilly was at the center of the series fisticuffs, tangling principally with Clark Gillies.</i></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;It seems to be the Bruins&rsquo; nature,&rdquo; said Cashman, &ldquo;to dig ourselves a hole and then have fun climbing out of it.&rdquo;</p><p>This time the hole seemed to be a little too deep.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0005-01

Battling Bruins Dig Hole Too Deep

<div class="byline">KEN McKENZIE&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02795/4695488-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="323" height="358"></div><p>&bull; <b>TALL JOHN DAVIDSON</b> plays his best goal when the chips are on the line. He did it last year when he kept the opposition from scoring as the Rangers advanced to the Stanley Cup finals, and he did the same thing against Atlanta in this year&rsquo;s preliminary playoff round&hellip; Even though the Flames were in the playoffs the fans stayed away and with less than six minutes to play, in the last game of the series against New York, the fans were bumping into each other as they scurried to leave the arena&hellip; Atlanta appears doomed as a National Hockey League franchise. The best thing that could happen would be for the franchise to be sold to another city, such as Calgary or Dallas&hellip; Toronto&rsquo;s dismal showing against Minnesota in their nlavoff round ended the worst year in the Maple Leafs&rsquo; history. A great deal of house cleaning has to be done within the ranks of this organization between now and the start of next season. Mike Palmateer, the outspoken young goalie of the Leafs, said the reason the Leafs were so poor this season was due &ldquo;to the coaching and the way the players were treated. With Smit-ty, the guys never learned anything at all,&rdquo; Palmateer said, &ldquo;and Joe Crozier is a man you can&rsquo;t talk to&rdquo;&hellip; There are other hockey people who think the parade has passed Punch Imlach by and the best remedy for the future of the Maple Leafs&rsquo; fortunes would be for a brand new ownership to take over&hellip; Roger Doucet, who has made a big name for himself singing national anthems in Canada and the United States prior to the start of hockey games, recently underwent an operation for a brain tumor. His legion of fans are praying for a speedy recovery for the silver-haired tenor&hellip; The Los Angeles Kings played their best in the playoffs against the favored New York Islanders but it just wasn&rsquo;t enough&hellip; The Kings also drew poorly in the playoffs&hellip; The Kings&rsquo; single win over the Islanders was their first playoff victory in eight games&hellip; Ex-Leaf Jack Valiquette is now a free agent. Jack let his contract expire when the Colorado Rockies failed to raise his salary to $100,000 a year&hellip; Glen Sharpley should aid the North Stars greatly when he joins the team. He will wear a brace to support his injured knee&hellip; The Montreal Canadiens have been eager to trade Guy Lapointe but have no takers thus far.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03546/4695481-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="294" height="423"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>John Davidson</i></figcaption></div><p>&bull; <b>THE BALTIMORE CLIPPERS</b> were the Cinderella team of the Eastern Hockey League this season. The last club to join the league, weeks before the season opened, the Clippers finished second in the standings and topped the league in attendance. They are currently involved in the cup finals with the Erie Blades. The Clippers are sponsored by the Minnesota North Stars &hellip; It was quite an accomplishment for Minnesota to blow Toronto out of the playoffs in three straight. The North Stars hadn&rsquo;t won a playoff game since 1973 or a playoff series since 1971&hellip; Ron Duguay of the Rangers is fast becoming the darling of Broadway. The handsome young forward is making all kinds of money modelling in Manhattan. He&rsquo;s also playing some great hockey for New York and he&rsquo;s predicting the Rangers will be in the Stanley Cup finals&hellip; The NHL is being criticized for the manner in which the NHL scoring race was decided, giving the title to Marcel Dionne over Wayne Gretzky because he had more goals but the same number of scoring points. Since a goal and an assist are both worth one point and since there is often a degree of injustice in awarding a goal (a shot that is deflected with the last person touching the puck being given credit for the goal) shouldn&rsquo;t the NHL consider another way of breaking a tie for the scoring crown?&hellip;For instance, Dionne played one more game than Gretzky, and on a points per game average Gretzky is the leader. He finished with a 1.73 points per game average to Dionne&rsquo;s 1.71&hellip; Eddie Johnston, who did such a splendid job coaching Chicago this season, could end up as the coach of the Bruins next year.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04364/4695474-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="263" height="424"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Wayne Cashman</i></figcaption></div><p>He&rsquo;s not completely happy and would love to be back with the team for whom he played goal for so many years, and where he was so popular&hellip; Gilles Gilbert, Boston goalie, is out of the playoffs with a back problem. This puts the veteran Gerry Cheevers very much in the spotlight as he is the only experienced Boston netminder other than Gilbert&hellip; Captain Wayne Cashman has played 120 playoff games for the Bruins, a team record&hellip; Veterans Brad Park and Jean Ratelle of the Bruins have never played for a Stanley Cup winner. Their playing days are numbered and they&rsquo;re both anxious to finish on a Cup champion.</p><p>&bull; <b>GREGORY BRITZ,</b> Henry Kelly and the rest of the American Airlines people are getting excited about the upcoming American Airlines Golf Classic to be played in Oakville, Ont., June 12 through the 15th. Sixty-eight National Hockey League stars, past and present, will compete and each of the 21 teams will be represented by at least two players and in some cases, four. Frank Mahovlich, Bobby Orr, Jean Beliveau and Gump Worsley are among the retired players who will take part. Net proceeds from the tournament will be contributed by American Airlines to the Variety Club of Toronto&hellip; How&rsquo;s this for a nice gesture? At the start of the season, Al MacAdam of the Minnesota North Stars bought a season ticket for a fan who is confined to a wheelchair. Then the North Stars started a policy of half-price tickets for people in wheelchairs, and the ticket manager informed MacAdam he would send him a refund. MacAdam told him not to bother but to buy another season ticket for another person in a wheelchair&hellip; The Hartford Whalers have torn up Don Blackburn&rsquo;s old contract and given him a new one&hellip; Bobby Clarke and Reg Leach have played together for 10 years, four with the Flin Flon Juniors and six with the Philadelphia Flyers. They&rsquo;ve been pals since earliest boyhood. Clarke figures the prolific scoring Leach hasn&rsquo;t received enough credit for his NHL achievements, and Leach thinks there&rsquo;s no one like Clarke. Leach, like most hockey followers, is convinced Clarke will make a tremendous coach when his playing days are over&hellip; Doug Palazzari captured the Central Hockey League&rsquo;s triple crown for the second time in two and a half seasons as a member of the Salt Lake Golden Eagles. The Eveleth, Minn native was also selected Salt Lake&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player. The remarkable &ldquo;Pizza&rdquo; led the CHL in goals (48), assists (61) and points (109)&hellip; Buffalo Sabre fans are waving &ldquo;Horrible Hankies&rdquo; during the playoffs&mdash;just like the Pittsburgh Steelers&rsquo; &ldquo;Terrible Towels&rdquo;&hellip; The Detroit Red Wings organization is not finished making front office changes&hellip; Ray Bourque, Boston&rsquo;s outstanding rookie, was so pleased at seeing his old Quebec Junior League pals in a Danvers, Mass., tournament that he took them all out for a Chinese dinner.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-05241/4695467-1-eng-US/f0005-052.jpg" title="f0005-05" width="332" height="423"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Al MacAdam</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0005-02

PASSING THE PUCK

<p><b>Here&rsquo;s how the eight quarter-final round teams fared over the season.</b></p><h2><b>RANGERS vs. PHILADELPHIA</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1224/4695700-1-eng-US/f0006-122.jpg" title="f0006-12" width="540" height="221"></div><h2><b>CHICAGO vs. BUFFALO</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1318/4695693-1-eng-US/f0006-132.jpg" title="f0006-13" width="534" height="221"></div><h2><b>MINNESOTA VS. MONTREAL</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1414/4695686-1-eng-US/f0006-142.jpg" title="f0006-14" width="536" height="226"></div><h2><b>ISLANDERS VS. BOSTON</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1513/4695679-1-eng-US/f0006-152.jpg" title="f0006-15" width="542" height="226"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0006-12

How NHL Teams Compare

<div class="byline">BY TOM MURRAY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03205/4695533-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>The Islanders&rsquo; Bryan Trottier has scored six times in the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs.</i></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><i><span>A</span>s we went to press with this issue, the Buffalo Sabres were the only team to have qualified for the semifinal round, having swept the Chicago Black Hawks in four straight. Both the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers were on the brink of elimination; the Bruins were down, three games to none to the New York Islanders, while the Rangers were behind the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-1. In the other quarterfinal series, the Montreal Canadians. after losing the first two games to the Minnesota North Stars, rallied to even that series at 2-2. Here are brief summaries of all the quarterfinal games played to date.</i></p><p><b>PHILADELPHIA vs RANGERS</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011255/4695589-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="174" height="118"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02932/4695582-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="145" height="143"></div><p><b>Game 1:</b> The steady play of defenseman Behn Wilson and the stellar goaltending of rookie Pete Peeters provided the Flyers with enough to defeat the Rangers, 2-1 in this quarterfinal opener.</p><p>After the Flyers had taken a 1-0 lead in the game on a goal by Rick MacLeish, Peeters withstood the constant pressure from the Rangers, not letting anything past him until the 3:47 mark of the third period, when Ray Markham scored. But less than two minutes later, at 5:44, Wilson slid the puck into an open net behind Ranger goalie John Davidson&mdash;who was spectacular throughout, facing 42 shots in the game&mdash;and the Flyers held on to win.</p><p><b>Game 2:</b> After a scoreless first period, the Flyers&rsquo; Paul Holmgren scored his third goal of the playoffs at the 10:25 mark of the second period. Just 14 seconds later, Bill Barber tallied for the Flyers, who held that 2-0 edge going into the third period.</p><p>At 14:26 of the final stanza Rick MacLeish lifted a 12-foot backhander behind Davidson to make it 3-0. Just 15 seconds later New York&rsquo;s Ron Duguay finally got his team on the board, but all hopes of a Ranger rally fizzled when the Flyers&rsquo; Reg Leach fired a 90-foot shot into an open net with just 78 seconds remaining in the game.</p><p><b>Game 3:</b> Buoyed by the steady goaltending of rookie Pete Peeters, and fortified by goals by Bob Dailey, Bill Barber and Rick MacLeish, the Flyers defeated the Rangers 3-0 for their third consecutive victory in this series.</p><p>Although the Rangers played much better than they had in the two previous games&mdash;which were at the Philadelphia Spectrum&mdash;they never really came close against the Flyers, who forechecked the Rangers relentlessly and, on those rare occasions when the Rangers did threaten, Peeters, who had 29 saves in the contest, was right there to smother the puck.</p><p><b>Game 4:</b> Ron Duguay, hockey&rsquo;s latest glamor boy, demonstrated that he can be as effective on the ice as he is off it by scoring three goals and leading the Rangers to a 4-2 win over the Flyers, a victory which kept the Rangers alive in the series but still very much behind, three games to one.</p><p>Duguay&rsquo;s goals came within the fifth minute of each period while Phil Esposito, the other Ranger scorer, got his third goal of the playoffs and the 61st of his playoff career at the 9:26 mark of the second session. John Davidson had another sensational night in goal for the Rangers, stopping 32 shots and allowing only Rick MacLeish and Reggie Leach to score.</p><p><b>BUFFALO vs CHICAGO</b></p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03609/4695575-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="141" height="142"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04404/4695568-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="159" height="137"></div><p><b>Game 1:</b> The Sabres failed to score on any of the 15 power play opportunities they had against Chicago during the four games these teams played during the regular season. But the Sabres converted four of six opportunities in this first game, and that was more than enough to propel them to a 5-0 win over the Hawks.</p><p>John Van Boxmeer drew first blood for Buffalo, blasting a shot past Tony Esposito at 12:09 of the first. He was followed, in order, by Gil Perreault, Danny Gare, Bob Mongrain and Rick Dudley, as the Sabres took a 1-0 lead in the series.</p><p><b>Game 2:</b> Chicago got a little bit closer this time, but the end result was still the same: A win for Buffalo by a 6-4 margin.</p><p>The Sabres&rsquo; Danny Gare and Ric Seiling provided Buffalo with most of its offense, with each scoring two goals. Don Luce and Rick Martin were the other Buffalo scorers, while Chicago countered with tallies by Tom Lysiak (two) Doug Lecuyer and Darryl Sutter.</p><p>Game 3: With each game they play against the Sabres the Black Hawks keep getting better and closer to their first win of the series&mdash;but they came up short in this game, losing to the Sabres, 21.</p><p>The Sabres&rsquo; Ric Seiling opened up the scoring at the 3:53 mark of the first period when he intercepted a pass from the Hawks&rsquo; Tim Higgins and scored an unassisted goal on Chicago goaltender Tony Esposito. Less than two minutes later, Rick Dudley picked up a loose puck in the Chicago end and fired it by Esposito for a 2-0 lead.</p><p>The Hawks&rsquo; Darryl Sutter spoiled Buffalo goalie Don Edwards&rsquo; shutout bid at the 14:11 mark of the second period, when he scored his third goal of the playoffs.</p><p>Game 4: The Black Hawks came even closer this time around, actually leading the Sabres 2-0 with less than 30 seconds remaining in the second period, thanks to goals by Bob Murray and Tom Lysiak. But that&rsquo;s when John Van Boxmeer found the net for Buffalo. The Sabres got two more goals in the final period from Rick Martin and Gil Perreault to make the final score 3-2 and give the Sabres a four-game sweep of the Hawks.</p><p><b>MONTREAL vs MINNESOTA</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05329/4695561-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="165" height="115"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06234/4695554-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg" title="f0006-06" width="159" height="139"></div><p><b>Game 1:</b> With Guy Lafleur, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, Pierre Mondou and Doug Riseb-rough out of their lineup, the Montreal Canadiens are a pretty ordinary hockey team&mdash;as the Minnesota North Stars found out in Game One, when they beat the Canadiens 3-0. The shutout was the first time in more than 70 contests since 1967 that the Candiens had ever failed to score a goal in a playoff game.</p><p>Goaltender Gilles Meloche, who grew up just one mile from the Montreal Forum, provided the Stars with spectacular saves and Kent-Erik Andersson, Steve Payne and Al MacAdam provided Minnesota with its goals, all of which came in the third period.</p><p><b>Game 2:</b> The Canadiens pulled out all the stops in this game&mdash;including placing defenseman Larry Robinson at left win&mdash;but nothing worked as the North Stars Larry Robinson at left wing&mdash;but nothing worked as the North Stars once again prevailed, this time by a 4-1 score.</p><p>Steve Payne scored two goals for Minnesota, bringing his playoff total to five, and he assisted on another&mdash;scored by Curt Giles. Tom McCarthy scored the other Minnesota goal, while Yvon Lambert, who had scored six goals in the Habs&rsquo; preliminary series against Hartford, countered for Montreal.</p><p><b>Game 3:</b> Rumors of the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; demise proved to be premature and greatly exaggerated when the Canadiens, still missing Guy Lafleur, rebounded to beat the Stars 5-0 and cut the Stars&rsquo; lead in games in the series to 2-1.</p><p>While Canadiens&rsquo; goaltender Michel Larocque had a pretty easy evening, facing 25 routine shots en route to his shutout, the Canadiens&rsquo; forwards&mdash;especially Doug Jarvis&mdash;had a field day.</p><p>Normand Dupont opened the scoring for &lsquo;Montreal at 12:49 of the first and Jarvis scored his first of the game less than four minutes later.</p><p>In the second period, Jarvis scored his second of the game at 5:43, defenseman Rod Langway followed with his first of the playoffs at 17:39, and Pierre Larouche finally got his first goal of the series at 2:45 of the third to close out the scoring.</p><p><b>Game 4:</b> The North Stars completed their &ldquo;Lost Weekend&rdquo; by dropping this game 5-1 and enabling the Canadiens to tie up the series 2-2 as the action switches to the Montreal Forum.</p><p>The Canadiens were still missing Guy Lafleur, Guy Lapointe, Serge Savard, Doug Risebrough and Pierre Mondou, but others&mdash;especially Rejean Houle in this game&mdash;stepped into the breach and performed admirably. Houle had two goals, one in the first and another in the third, and the Canadiens also got scores from Steve Shutt, Yvon Lambert (his eighth of the playoffs) and Rod Langway. The lone Minnesota tally was by Steve Christoff.</p><p><b>BOSTON vs ISLANDERS</b></p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01402/4695547-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="145" height="145"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02284/4695540-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="159" height="156"></div><p><b>Game 1:</b> Just 62 seconds into sudden death overtime, Islander wing Clark Gillies broke in on Bruins&rsquo; goaltender Gerry Cheevers from the left side, waited until Cheevers went down, and then shot the puck into the net. The goal gave the Islanders a 2-1 victory in the game and a 1-0 lead in the series.</p><p>Up until that point, Cheevers had singlehandedly kept his teammates in the game, stopping 25 shots and allowing only a fluke goal by the Islanders&rsquo; Garry Howatt to elude him. At the other end. Isles&rsquo; goalie Billy Smith was equally spectacular, stopping all 27 shots the Bruins took except one, by Peter McNab.</p><p><b>Game 2:</b> The Bruins won the fights, but the Islanders won the game 5-4, to take a 2-0 lead in the series.</p><p>In their second consecutive overtime game the Islanders struck gold again, when Bob Bourne intercepted an errant pass by Terry O&rsquo;Reilly and blasted it past Cheevers at the 1:24 mark of OT. Other Islander goals were scored by Bryan Trottier, Lome Henning, John Tonelli and Bob Nystrom. The Bruins countered with scores by Rick Smith, Brad McCrimmon, Brad Park and Bob Miller in a game which saw Mike Milbury, Wayne Cashman, Stan Jonathan and Al Secord get thrown out for Boston and Duane Sutter, Garry Howatt, Bob Lorimer and Gord Lane get the thumb for the Isles&mdash;all for fighting.</p><p><b>Game 3:</b> The Islanders continued their domination over the Bruins, defeating Boston 5-3 and taking a 3-0 lead in the series.</p><p>The Islanders&rsquo; Bryan Trottier scored two goals and two assists in the game, including his first-ever power play goal in the playoffs. That particular milestone came at the 17:08 mark of the first period and it gave the Isles a 2-1 lead they never lost.</p><p>Other scorers for the Islanders were John Tonelli, Bob Bourne and Bob Nystrom. The Bruins got goals from Don Marcotte and Peter McNab (two).</p><p><b>BOSTON vs PITTSBURGH</b></p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04156/4695526-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="146" height="145"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05125/4695519-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="167" height="156"></div><p><b>Game 5:</b> The Bruins finally did win this series, the only one of the eight that went the full five games, by beating the Penguins 6-2 in the final game. Ray Bourque, the Bruins&rsquo; spectacular 19-year-old rookie defenseman, set up goals in each period, as the Bruins jumped to a 4-0 lead and then coasted to victory over the Pens.</p><p>Before Pittsburgh could even get on the board, the Bruins&rsquo; Peter McNab, Bob Miller, Dwight Foster and Wayne Cashman had scored for Boston. By the third period, when Pittsburgh finally broke Gerry Cheevers&rsquo; chance for a shutout, the Bruins had already gotten two more goals&mdash;from Terry O&rsquo;Reilly and Brad Park, and the game&mdash;and series&mdash;was out of the Pens&rsquo; reach.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0033-03

Sabres In Semis; Flyers And Islanders On Brink

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011120/4695731-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Ric Seiling has really come into his own this season: 25 goals during the regular season and some outstanding play during the playoffs.</i></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>UFFALO&mdash;The Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; strongest firing line of Gil Perreault, Rick Martin and Ric Seiling gave the Chicago Black Hawks fits as the Sabres took a 3-0 lead in their Stanley Cup quarterfinal series.</p><p>Funny thing, though. It was Ric Seiling, the quiet, hard-working checker and digger of the line, not the spectacular stars, Perreault and Martin, who was the most prominent.</p><p>Seiling, a third-year pro, who scored 25 goals during the regular season, was tied for first with Martin atop the Sabre goal scoring parade after seven playoff games. Each had five goals.</p><p>Ric has been known as the younger brother of former National Hockey League defenseman Rod Seiling and as the player the Sabres picked the round before the New York Islanders took high-scoring Mike Bossy in the 1977 draft. Now he&rsquo;s coming into his own.</p><p>Last season he received the Unsung Hero Award from the Buffalo Sabres Booster Club. He played on the checking line with Craig Ramsay and Don Luce.</p><p>This season Ric has moved around, as have most Buffalo forwards under Scotty Bowman as coach, but he has mostly teamed with Perreault and Martin.</p><p>Ric is often as spectacular as they are.</p><p>In the third game of the Chicago series, won by the Sabres, 2-1, Seiling played a major role.</p><p>He got Buffalo off in front at the 3:53 mark. Ric stole the puck from Tim Higgins in the Chicago zone and let go a shot from close to the left boards almost on the goal line to beat goalie Tony Esposito on the far side.</p><p>&ldquo;I was shooting from my off side,&rdquo; said the right winger, who took the shot from the left boards. &lsquo;&lsquo;The goalie played my body. He didn&rsquo;t realize, I guess, that I was on my off wing and that gave me more room on the far side.&rdquo;</p><p><b>Ric Seiling is often as spectacular as his two famous linemates&mdash;Gil Perreault and Rick Martin.</b></p><p>Later in the game, Seiling played another important part when the Sabres killed a five-minute penalty. This stint was cited by both coaches as the most important segment of the game.</p><p>Luce, who teams with Ramsay as the Sabres&rsquo; most potent penaltykilling forward duo, was given a major penalty for high-sticking.</p><p>This meant the Sabres went shorthanded five minutes without one of their best penalty killers.</p><p>Seiling, Andre Savard and Perreault&mdash;yes, high-scoring Gil&mdash;helped Ramsay up front while Jim Schoenfeld and Bill Hajt did most of the work at defense.</p><p>The Black Hawks got only two shots on goal, plus one weak dribbler off a faceoff, during the five minutes they had the manpower advantage.</p><p>In the first game of the series, neither Seiling nor Martin got a point but Perreault had a goal and an assist in a 5-0 Buffalo romp.</p><p>Gil gave Buffalo a 2-0 lead with a goal in the final two minutes of the opening period. He backhanded the rebound of a shot by Derek Smith from an almost impossible angle past Esposito.</p><p>That was a power play goal. Perreault then set up Danny Gare with a great pass for another power play score to make it 3-0 in the second period and that was the ball game.</p><p>In the second game, won by the Sabres, 6-4, Perreault had four assists to set a club record for a single game in the playoffs.</p><p>Two of his assists came on passes to Seiling for pretty goals. On the first, Seiling skated the puck into the Chicago end, fighting off a defenseman. He tried to pass the puck to Martin from behind the net but the puck was deflected by a Chicago player.</p><p>Perreault knocked it down with his glove and either shot or passed&mdash;he said he passed&mdash;to Seiling, who had made his way to the corner of the net. Seiling tipped it in.</p><p>The same pair gave the Sabres a 4-2 lead in the second period when Perreault stickhandled around both defensemen, then slipped a pass to Seiling, who broke in on Esposito and backhanded the puck high into the corner of the net.</p><p>Buffalo defenseman Mike Ramsey suffered a 10-stitch cut under his left eye and a charley horse in a collision with Ted Bulley to miss a game.</p><p><i>The Sabres went on to win their fourth game with Chicago to sweep the series and advance to the semifinals. For details on that fourth game, see Page 6.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0007-01

Unsung Seiling Hits Peak As All-Around Sabre Star

<p>Published by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd.</p><p>214 King St. West, Suite 314, Toronto, Ont. M5H 1K4</p><h2><b>Canada Cup Fated</b></h2><p><b>THE MAJORITY OF</b> Canadians endorse the position of a boycott on the Moscow Olympics, many of them contending that their own government did not act quickly enough in support of the U.S. position.</p><p>But if the people of track and field and other amateur sports are not to go to Moscow this year, in a rebuke of the Soviets after their invasion of Afghanistan, then what must be the Canadian position in the matter of The Canada Cup, a hockey spectacular devised by Alan Eagleson to spill more gold into the NHL players&rsquo; pension pot?</p><p>Surely, if Canadians in athletics are restrained from competing with the Soviets and others this summer, then the Canadian government must refuse an invitation to the Soviets to play an autumn competition with Canada&rsquo;s hockey professionals.</p><p>In any other posture it would be rather as if Canada were saying to the Soviets&mdash;&rdquo;We can&rsquo;t play ping pong with you this summer, but you&rsquo;re invited to come over and play horseshoes with us in the autumn.&rdquo;</p><p>Certainly, the Canadian inconsistency would be ludicrous if the Soviets appeared in The Canada Cup, scheduled in September for Montreal and Vancouver. And there would be an understandable outcry from men and women in amateur athletics who were denied their trip to the Moscow Olympics, while no restraints were being imposed upon the hockey professionals.</p><p>Alan Eagleson is presently in Sweden, discussing plans for The Canada Cup tourney with the International Ice Hockey Federation. Eagleson has the authority of Hockey Canada to proceed with plans for the tourney, even though the Canadian government might later refuse to endorse them.</p><p>Eagleson acknowledges that the time for setting up the cup competition is growing short, but insists that without government intervention it will likely be held.</p><p>However, a word of common sense has been injected at this time by John Ziegler, president of the NHL. As Ziegler has been quoted&mdash;&rdquo;In view of the American boycott of the Moscow Olympics, I can&rsquo;t for the life of me see a major U.S. industry lending financial sponsorship to a Canada Cup competition which would include the Soviets. No high-profile industry would place itself in a position of going against the government.&rdquo;</p><p>That, probably, would be the position of high-profile Canadian sponsors if approached to underwrite a Canada Cup at this time.</p><p>Alan Eagleson remains hopeful, but the odds this time would seem to be against his venture.</p><h2><b>Swedes Are Anxious</b></h2><p><b>AMONG THE NATIONALS</b> who would be disappointed by the cancellation of a Canada Cup series this fall are the Swedes, who believe they have a good chance of winning.</p><p>Curt Berglund of the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation points to 20 Swedish nationals playing in the NHL&mdash;such as Borje Salming of the Leafs, Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson of the Rangers and Kent Nilsson of the Flames&mdash;an assurance that the Swedish entry would be a strong one.</p><p>Berglund would be disappointed if the series didn&rsquo;t, go on, especially since the Soviets and Czechs are now in the process of changing their lineups and swinging to younger players.</p><p>During Swedish Cup play, recently, the Soviets had left at home such players as Petrov, Balderis, Kapustin, Zhlutkov and vasiliev to test some youthful hopefuls in their places. The Czechs were experimenting, too, leaving at home such as Bubla, Martinec, Hlinka, Marian Stastny and Eberman.</p><p>It would have been interesting to watch such experiments in a Canada Cup in September, but it&rsquo;s now an event that might not come off.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

The Hockey News The International Hockey Weekly Founded in 1947

<div class="byline">By LLOYD PETTIT</div><p class="dropcap"><i><span>H</span>ockey violence was once again in the headlines recently when Lloyd Pettit, the co-owner and president of the Milwaukee Admirals of the International Hockey League, forfeited the remainder of his team&rsquo;s games after a brawl erupted in a preliminary round playoff series between the Admirals and the Saginaw Gears.</i></p><p><i>In this space, Pettit explains why he chose to forfeit the games. And in the column below, Saginaw president Wren Blair gives his side of the story.</i></p><p>With two minutes and 41 seconds remaining in our game with Saginaw, we were losing 5-1 when the Gears went on a physical attack against my team. It was unprovoked violence with deliberate intent to injure, and it put six of my players in the hospital the following morning&mdash;one of them with a broken cheekbone and 15 stitches under his eye.</p><p>I called a meeting of all my partners and associates and after three hours of discussions on the part of our upper management and our regional financial advisor we unanimously agreed that we could not allow our team to go back on the ice against Saginaw&mdash;not unless something was done about strengthening the rules to control that type of activity.</p><p>There were sucker punches, there was cross-checking, there was spearing&hellip;just about everything. It was a kind of intimidation that I had never seen before, brutal and unprecedented in all my years of hockey.</p><p>When we decided not to continue in the playoffs, I thought we&rsquo;d get a lot of flack for the decision, but we&rsquo;ve gotten hundreds of calls into the office and all of them have been supportive. A lot of people in this community saw videotapes of what happened during the game and were sickened by it.</p><p>I keep thinking about the U.S. Olympic team and how they won that gold medal at Lake Placid in February&mdash;without dropping one glove. It was one of the most exciting sporting events I&rsquo;ve ever seen and there wasn&rsquo;t one single fight. Why? Because if one of those fellows got into a fight, he knew that he&rsquo;d be gone&mdash;no questions asked.</p><p>I think that if we can get some stronger rules to eliminate the kind of brutality that was exhibited in that game, hockey will be better overall. Don&rsquo;t get me wrong here. I&rsquo;m not promoting non-violence at all, because hockey is a violent game. Sure, guys are going to drop their gloves and sure, they&rsquo;re going to go at each other. But there&rsquo;s a big difference between that and intentional assault and battery&mdash;which is what took place in that game against us.</p><p>The Board of Governors of the IHL simply <i>has</i> to review this situation, take a long look at the rules of this league and put some new ones in that are a lot more stringent and severe. That was one of my reasons for pulling my team out&mdash;to draw attention to what I think is becoming a very dangerous situation.</p><p>I also pulled out because I don&rsquo;t want to see our players&mdash;or any other player in the IHL, for that matter&mdash;get killed. And at the present time, the potential is there for a player to get killed. No doubt about it.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

“The Potential Is There For A Player To Get Killed”

<div class="byline">By WREN BLAIR</div><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>e&rsquo;re not very happy with the kind of inflammatory words that the Milwaukee people are coming out with and we&rsquo;ve engaged a law firm to deal with what we think they are the libelous things they are saying.</p><p>Because of that, I really can&rsquo;t say too much because we have to maintain a low profile. But I can say that I can&rsquo;t <i>believe</i> all of the furor surrounding that game! My God, it sounded worse than when Hitler invaded Poland! If you&rsquo;re listening only to the reports coming out of Milwaukee, it&rsquo;s like having a trial and letting only one side call witnesses. It&rsquo;s ridiculous.</p><p>Earlier this season, Milwaukee had the most brutal hockey club that we&rsquo;ve had in the IHL in the last five years. I didn&rsquo;t hear Mr. Pettit talking about violence on <i>his</i> club then!</p><p>Jack Riley, the commissioner of the IHL, saw films of the game and said that except for one incident&mdash;which I&rsquo;m looking into&mdash;it was a very normal game. He said that Saginaw played good, tough hockey but found no objection to that.</p><p>There weren&rsquo;t any sticks involved in any of the fights and there was no bench clearing. There were penalties back and forth, sure, but they were pretty even on both clubs. But that always happens, especially in high-pressure playoff games. It&rsquo;s happening in the NHL right now.</p><p>I&rsquo;ve been involved in hockey since I was a kid, and I can&rsquo;t remember when there weren&rsquo;t fights. I just think it&rsquo;s a pipedream to really believe that you can have hockey without the outlet of fighting. As long as I can remember, players have been coming off those boards to protect their rights&mdash;and sometimes they have to do that by fighting. It&rsquo;s the nature of the game. As long as you have boards and sticks and players going as fast as these guys do, there&rsquo;s going to be contact and there&rsquo;s going to be fights. I get mad if someone runs into me in a supermarket with a shopping cart, so I can understand what the reaction is going to be if someone gets lined up and taken out on the boards.</p><p>I don&rsquo;t know how Lloyd Pettit can be saying all the things he is about the game because he wasn&rsquo;t even there. Well I was, and a couple of players were hurt by regular routine checks&mdash;for which there were no penalties. Two years ago, in the last game of the season, I lost four players in that one game&mdash;and not one of them was hurt by a play where I thought there should have been a penalty. But that&rsquo;s hockey. You take a guy out and if he&rsquo;s got his head down&hellip;he&rsquo;s going to get hurt. Well, he shouldn&rsquo;t have had his head down in the first place. So what are we supposed to do, take checking out of hockey?</p><p>The referees called a pretty good game and the only incident that stood out involved John Gibson (of Saginaw) and Carey Howarth (of Milwaukee). Gibson was third man in and I don&rsquo;t condone that. But it happens in hockey all the time and that&rsquo;s what they have the penalty for. He got thrown out of the game&mdash;as he should have been. But what was he supposed to do one he got into it, half-fight, or not fight at all? To his credit, Gibson stopped punching when he saw that Howarth had pretty much had it.</p><p>Those kids are mad when they get involved out there on the ice. I&rsquo;m not saying that it&rsquo;s right or wrong&mdash;but at least it&rsquo;s human. It happens in hockey all of the time and it&rsquo;s been going on for years. But isn&rsquo;t hockey that kind of game?<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

“Hockey Without Fighting Is A Pipedream”

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div><p class="dropcap"><span>C</span>HICAGO&mdash;The Black Hawks got a painful reminder of what life was like without Terry Ruskowski during the first three games of their quarterfinal playoff series with the Buffalo Sabres.</p><p>Life was pretty grim before Ruskowski came here this year as part of the merger manipulations involving the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association.</p><p>And, with Ruskowski out of commission because of injuries, the Hawks found themselves tottering on the brink of elimination going into the fourth game of this best-of-seven series with the Sabres.</p><p>The Sabres won the opener, 5-0, and took the second game, 6-4, on home ice, then travelled to Chicago Stadium to score a 2-1 triumph. They wrapped up the service Sunday with a come-from-behind 3-2 win.</p><p>Ruskowski was hurting before the series even began. In the final game of the opening round encounter with St. Louis, the Hawks&rsquo; captain and leading regular-season point-producer went at it with Bryan Maxwell with just 4:36 elapsed.</p><p>They had to help Ruskowski off the ice. His right knee was badly strained when Maxwell came down on him and Coach Eddie Johnston feared that the Hawks would have to begin the Buffalo series without him.</p><p>But Ruskowski&mdash;also Chicago&rsquo;s leader in penalty minutes&mdash;is an indomitable little man. After keeping the knee in a cast for three days he pronounced himself ready for April 16 opener.</p><p><b>Rookie Rick Paterson and versatile veteran Alain Daigle tried in vain to fill Ruskowski&rsquo;s center spot.</b></p><p>But with Game 1 only 7 minutes 8 seconds old, Ruskowski suffered another injury. Again it stemmed from a fight. Coming to blows with Larry Playfair, a 6-4, 201-pounder, Ruskowski came out on the short end. Ruskowski was pummeled with punches and a blow struck him in the left eye as he was falling to the deck.</p><p>When he came out of the penalty box, Ruskowski saw two pucks when he looked down. &ldquo;He realiy had his bell rung,&rdquo; said Dr. Louis Kolb, the team physician, who pronounced him unfit for further action in the opener.</p><p>Ruskowski was sent back to Chicago and missed Game 2. It was hoped he&rsquo;d be able to play in the third game in Chicago Stadum but alas Terry still was having visual problems and, after warming up, he was scratched.</p><p>Rookie Rick Paterson and versatile veteran Alain Daigle tried in vain to spell Ruskowski at center on the line with left wing Ron Sed-Ibauer and right wing Grant Mulvey.</p><p>Meanwhile, Chicago&rsquo;s other outstanding center, Tom Lysiak, was forced to work overtime while skating with a badly-bruised foot, a vestige of the final game of the regular season in which he was hammered by a slap shot.</p><p>Lysiak gave it a valiant try but was unable to carry the team in Ruskowski&rsquo;s absence.</p><p>Without Ruskowski, the Hawks&rsquo; powerplay also became one dimensional.</p><p>&ldquo;Both Tommy and Terry are great playmakers but, on the powerplay, they set up differently,&rdquo; said Johnston. &ldquo;Terry sets up from behind the net, while Tommy works from the corner. If we&rsquo;d have been able to alternate them we might have been able to confuse Buffalo.&rdquo;</p><p>Penalties also were an important factor behind Chicago&rsquo;s three straight losses.</p><p>In the opener, the Sabres scored four of their five goals on powerplays. The Hawks had only one shot on goalie Don Edwards during the first period and finished with a meager 17.</p><p>It was a game of checks and imbalances. &ldquo;They outnumbered us all over the ice,&rdquo; lamented Hawk defenseman Mike O&rsquo;Connell. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d get the puck in our zone, we&rsquo;d be outnumbered. We&rsquo;d get it in center ice, we&rsquo;d be outnumbered. When we&rsquo;d finally get it in their zone, we&rsquo;d be outnumbered.&rdquo;</p><p>In Game 2, Johnston rested Tony Esposito and started Mike Veisor in goal, who has a history of playing well against Buffalo. Bob Sauve started for the Sabres.</p><p>The Hawks were over-aggressive at the outset and not quite assertive enough in the stretch. Because of penalties to Doug Lecuyer, Sedlbauer, Greg Fox and Mulvey, they spent most of the first period in a defensive posture and weren&rsquo;t able to play catch up after spotting the Sabres a 2-3 lead.</p><p>Danny Gare scored a pair of powerplay goals for Buffalo and Lysiak had two for the Hawks.</p><p>In Game 3, Ric Seiling scored off Esposito at 3:53 and Rick Dudley connected at 5:37. Though the Hawks wound up outshooting the Sabres 39-32, they couldn&rsquo;t sustain a counterattack and dropped their third straight game. Rookie Darryl Sutter accounted for the lone goal off Don. Edwards.</p><p><i>The Black Hawks ultimately were eliminated in that fourth game by the Sabres. For details on Game Four, see page 6.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011193/4695834-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="561" height="1402"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Terry Ruskowski&rsquo;s feisty future got him in trouble when he was injured in fights in bo series.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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Hawks Couldn’t Overcome Loss Of Ruskowski

<p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>HE HOCKEY NEWS Sweepstakes were conducted for the second consecutive season in 1979-80, and we&rsquo;d like to take this opportunity to end the suspense and let the big winners know what prizes they have coming to them.</p><p>The winner of the first prize&mdash;an Advent VideoBeam Color Television and six-foot screen&mdash;is Mr. Dan Moore of Sarnia, Ont. When Mr. Moore was informed by THE HOCKEY NEWS that he had won the coveted No. 1 prize, his reaction was very matter-of-fact, almost blase. But then, about two weeks later, he called back to confirm that he had really won the prize. He went on to explain that his initial reaction hadn&rsquo;t been because he wasn&rsquo;t excited&mdash;he very definitely was&mdash;but because he thought the whole thing was a prank being played on him by his fellow office workers.</p><p>There were two second prizes awarded, and Mr. John J. Collins, of West Hartford, Ct., and K. L. Armour, of Michigan City, Ind., were the lucky recipients of a Magnavox Videocassette Recorder. The winner of the &ldquo;Early Bird&rdquo; prize&mdash;$500 in cash&mdash;was 0. A. Longo, of Haddon Heights, N.J., and the winners of the third prize&mdash;a Brunswick Air Hockey Game&mdash;were J. Michael Han-smann, of Auburn, Ca.; Debby Lukachik, of Trenton, N.J.; Stephen A. Miller, of Columbus, Oh.; J. H. Stevenson, of Lethbridge, Alberta; and G. Dewey Thayer, of Port Clyde, Me.</p><p>Twenty five people won the fourth prize&mdash;an official NHL team jersey&mdash;and 100 winners qualified for the fifth prize&mdash;an official HOCKEY NEWS touque.</p><p>Congratulations, everyone!<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Sweeps Winners Announced By The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY BUDDY O&#x2019;CONNOR</div><p class="dropcap"><span>Q</span>UEBEC CITY&mdash;The winds of change have been hovering constantly over the Quebec Nordiques ever since the disastrous end to their first season in the National Hockey League.</p><p>But where and when, and especially how they will strike, is posing a real quandary here.</p><p>Much has been rumored: Head coach Jacques Demers is on his way out; the club is going to dump guys like young defenseman Paul Baxter, Wally Weir, Bob Fitchner, Curt Brackenbury, Pierre Plante, and a big man on the club, leftwinger Marc Tardif will be traded away.</p><p>Club president lawyer Marcel Aubut, some three weeks before the season ended, gave his top hockey men, general manager Maurice Filion, his assistant Gilles Leger, Demers and his assistant. Andre Boudrias, a complete vote of confidence.</p><p>At that time, Aubut stated clearly that the four men would have three years to bring the Nordiques around and no change would be made during that period.</p><p>Aubut, however, has been mute ever since the season ended with Nordiques out of the playoff picture. The complete turnabout of the club&rsquo;s position&mdash;it was in 11th place overall at the halfway mark&mdash;seems to have taken away the polish and tarnished his hockey men&rsquo;s work.</p><p>Aubut&rsquo;s reticence on the future of his hockey men is being taken here to mean that there will be definite turnovers among personnel.</p><p>Yet, a source very close to the whole operation of the Nordiques has said, &ldquo;This does not mean that the four men will not be with the club next season. There could very well be a realignment of positions.&rdquo;</p><p>There has been controversy surrounding coach Demers, who this season finished the first year of a three-year contract with the club. Demers, when Boom Boom Geoffrion quit the Montreal Canadiens around the halfway mark of the schedule, was being rumored as a possible choice to coach the Habs. He could well become assistant to Claude Ruel in the metropolis next season.</p><p>Demers would not say at the time whether or not he had been approached by the Canadiens. He did say however that, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a Montrealer, a French Canadian, and the coaching position in Montreal is something every coach would really think of.&rdquo;</p><p>The changes in player personnel is still another thorny problem. If the club were to trade away four or five men who played here this past season where would they find replacements?</p><p>Club general manager Maurice Filion himself said that, &ldquo;The four new clubs, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hartford and Quebec, could not even approach the established clubs on trades. They jusy won&rsquo;t talk trades with our people.&rdquo;</p><p>If this present situation was to carry over to next season, the Nordiques could be drastically hit should they trade too many of their present players. They do have a good crop of young players coming along, but as Gilles Leger says, &ldquo;They&rsquo;re still at least a year away from making our club in Quebec.&rdquo;</p><p>As for any hard decisions player-wise, Filion&rsquo;s assistant Leger remarked recently that these would come only around late May. &ldquo;Then, all of us will sit down and start considering our position for next year. It&rsquo;s just too close to last season at this time and we cannot be hasty in taking steps that we would regret later on.&rdquo;</p><p><b>SKATE MARKS:</b> Real &ldquo;Buddy&rdquo; Cloutier picked up a $5,000 check here recently as he won the first O&rsquo;Keefe competition for player of the year award on the Nordiques. Marc Tardif won the March section of the contest. Cloutier received 52 points during the season to take the award.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Rumors Abound In Quebec As Squad Awaits Shuffle

<p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>rottier&rsquo;s first goal came on a power play&mdash;his first career power-play goal in 49 playoff games. That helped put the Islanders on the threshold of the semifinals for the fifth time in the last six years.</p><p>The Islanders had seemingly squashed the Bruins&rsquo; spirit by winning the opening two games at the Boston Garden. In overtime Quickly. And they felt they had absorbed just about all the punishment the Bruins could deliver in a penalty-filled second game and survived quite nicely.</p><p>&ldquo;Maybe we&rsquo;ve had the rep that we could be pushed around,&rdquo; Clark Gillies said. &ldquo;Well, we can&rsquo;t be. Not anymore.</p><p>Gillies was the hero of the first game, ending it after just 62 seconds of overtime. He took a pass from Butch Goring, raced behind the Bruins&rsquo; defense and hoisted a shot over goalie Gerry Cheever&rsquo;s left shoulder for a 2-1 victory.</p><p>Right there, the Islanders thought they had proven they could survive the absence of Bossy, who did not play in any of the first three games because of a jammed right thumb. Without Bossy, the Islanders beat Los Angeles 4-3 and 6-0 to clinch the first-round series, then left Boston in command of the quarterfinals.</p><p>Those who compensated for the absence of Bossy were his replacement, Bobby Nystrom, Garry Howatt, John Tonelli and Lome Henning. Nystrom played hard, Howatt scored three playoff goals, Tonelli checked tirelessly and had two important goals and Henning, replacing the injured Anders Kal-lur, had a shorthanded goal and four assists.</p><p><b>The Islanders had seemingly quashed the Bruins&rsquo; spirit by winning the first two games in Boston.</b></p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting a lot of help from a lot of people,&rdquo; coach Al Arbour said. &ldquo;If we&rsquo;re going to win, that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ll need.&rdquo;</p><p>Perhaps the biggest contribution came from Bob Bourne. He scored four goals in the first six games&mdash;the only three powerplay goals the team had in that time and the goal at 1:24 of overtime that decided the second game and sent the team back to Long Island howling. &ldquo;Aw. it was nothing,&rdquo; Bourne said, shyly.</p><p>That second game boiled over at the end of the first period when a brawl delayed the game for 20 minutes. Four players from each team were given game misconduct penalties and the penalty minutes for the period totaled 248&mdash;a playoff record.</p><p>The Islanders believed that had shown they would not be intimidated. The Bruins said they weren&rsquo;t trying to intimidate anybody. &ldquo;Intimidation?&rdquo; coach and general manager Harry Sinden said, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s silly.&rdquo;</p><p>The game quieted down after that. Although the Islanders let three leads dissolve&mdash;they were ahead 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2&mdash;they fought back. The Bruins scored for a 4-3 lead in the third period, but just 15 seconds later Nystrom scored the goal which sent the game into overtime.</p><p>The Bruins never had a shot and the Islanders ended the game suddenly. Bourne intercepted a clearing pass from Terry O&rsquo;Reilly one stride inside the blue line and cranked it past Cheevers for a 5-4 victory. Bourne shrugged when reminded he had missed a chance to win the game with three minutes left in regulation.</p><p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s nothing new,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I always miss.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011232/4695913-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="608" height="1252"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Bryan Trottier is enjoying his finest playoffs ever and he&rsquo;s had plenty of support from some lesser known mates.</i></figcaption></div><p>The victory extended goalie Bill Smith&rsquo;s unbeaten streak to nine games and gave the Islanders a club record fourth straight playoff win on the road.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Islanders Overpowering Bruins’ MightBY PAT CALABRIA

<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/f0010-02968/4695944-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="584" height="333"></div><h2><b>Cherry-Picking Has To Stop</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>rmand Pohan will be making a big mistake if he lets Don Cherry go. First of all, hockey is a business. Cherry put almost 1,000 more people per game in the building than in 1978-79. Second, Cherry is rebuilding, That takes time. Once the play-jrs get established and really get to know each other and Cherry&rsquo;s style, they will click.</p><p>Furthermore, Don Cherry would never have traded his 1980 No. 1 draft pick to MonTreal in 1976 for two biggies, Ron Andruff and Sean Shana-lan. Remember them?</p><p>Get rid of Cherry and you can kiss pro hockey goodbye in Colorado.</p><p><b>Kevin H. Cushman</b><br><i>Newington, CT</i></p><h2><b>More On Don Cherry</b></h2><p>The headlines of a recent Denver Newspaper proclaimed &ldquo;Cherry&rsquo;s position with the team shaky&rdquo;. The reason for this statement is that team president Armand Pohan said that the &ldquo;team&rsquo;s ownership was re-evaluating the job status of our coach.&rdquo;</p><p>Now, let&rsquo;s face Pohan&rsquo;s facts:</p><p>1: Before and during the 197980 season the team put out the money to obtain Coach Cherry and several good players.</p><p>2: The Rockies finished in last place, 21 out of 21 teams and last year they were in the same position.</p><p>3: The team is expected to lose between one and two million dollars during the 1979-80 season.</p><p>Now, how about some of my facts:</p><p>1: Yes, the team finished last, but we won four more games than last year and you can ask any team in the league about the advances that were made last year compared to the advances this year, and they will all agree that the Rockies were a much better team.</p><p>2: The yearly attendance total for the 79-80 season was up 100,000 over last year&rsquo;s total.</p><p>3: A real interest was generated in hockey mainly because of Cherry&rsquo;s showmanship and &ldquo;tell it like it is&rdquo; attitude.</p><p>Finally, I believe that some investigating should be done to determine the true motive of Pohan&rsquo;s statement and future actions. Could it be that Pohan and his stepfather (the team owner) really don&rsquo;t want hockey to become a No. 1 spectator sport in Colorado? Could it be that they want the team to move to the east coast? I sure hope not, because if that&rsquo;s his intention he&rsquo;ll have 10,000 Rocky hockey fans at his door demanding answers.</p><p><b>Mark C. Fisher</b><br><i>Denver, CO</i></p><h2><b>Poor Defense Leafs&rsquo; Downfall</b></h2><p>Congratulations, Punch Im-lach! You told Toronto fans that you would relieve them of the boring defensive play of Roger Neilson and you succeeded beyond anyone&rsquo;s wildest dreams. The Leafs went from the fourth best defensive record in 1978-79 to 21st (last) in 197980.</p><p>Meanwhile, the poor Buffalo fans had to endure the Roger Neilson defensive style and watch their defensive record rise to first in 1979-80 (and their team rise from seventh to second).</p><p>I doubt if your Toronto fans will ever forgive you.</p><p><b>Pete Tingley</b><br>Sussex <i>Comer, N.B.</i></p><h2><b>Fans Ill-Treated By Rangers&rsquo; Players</b></h2><p>On March 30th, 1980, I attended the New York Ranger open practice at Playland. I would like to make <i>a</i> comment or two on the way a number of fans were treated that day.</p><p>I was standing at the rear parking lot at Playland with some other fans hoping that when the Ranger players drove their cars out we would be able to get a few autographs. As the cars started to come out many of us stood in front and to the side of the cars so they would stop. Some of the players, such as Warren Miller, did stop their cars and signed autographs. Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson stopped their cars and told us they would have loved to sign; however, they were running late and had appointments. This is very understandable since I have been at numerous practice sessions and was always able to obtain signatures.</p><p>When the Ranger captain, Dave Maloney, approached with his car many fans were excited because it seems we are never able to obtain his autograph. A fan closed the gate hoping that he would stop his car. This may have been the wrong way to go about it but no harm was done; however, it did make Mr. Maloney quite angry. Mr. Maloney stopped his car and pointed his finger at me and said &ldquo;You open the goddam gate or I&rsquo;ll throw you through it.&rdquo; I immediately did as he demanded, but I must say many of the fans were horrified at the way he commanded us. He was moving the car slowly&mdash;I am sure he was angry enough to hit one of us. These are the actions of a professional man? No way.</p><p>I am 21 years of age, I do not earn a salary such as Mr. Maloney. However, I have been taught to treat people like human beings.</p><p><b>John Conca,</b>&nbsp;<br><i>Mt. Vernon, NY</i></p><h2><b>Blasts Cherry&rsquo;s Coaching Tactics</b></h2><p>In the early 60s, the Cleveland Barons had a 5-5 player named Guy Rousseau. When the Rochester Americans came to town, big brave Don Cherry constantly ran Rousseau into the boards. As a coach protected by management, Don Cherry grabs his players. Does anybody really believe Cherry has any guts?</p><p>He&rsquo;s the Derek Sanderson of coaches. They both got big contracts upon leaving Boston for big mouths and fancy clothes. The Bruins won before Cherry arrived and after he left. Sanderson self-destructed. Cherry&rsquo;s simple minded, bullying coaching tactics expose him for what he really is.</p><p>And the writers are so quote-starved that they eat up what he says.</p><p><b>Larry Marzec</b><br><i>Lakewood, OH</i></p><h2><b>Parity Impossible With Present Draft</b></h2><p>Again history repeats itself as the top NHL positions exhibit as much variation as a broken phonograph record. Colorado has bestowed Montreal with the No. 1 draft choice which will help maintain the present hierarchy for years to come.</p><p>If the NHL eliminated the liquidity of draft choices and legislated compulsory retention of selections for a one year period, the attainment of parity could at last be conceivable.</p><p><b>Randall C. Moyle</b><br><i>Pickering, Ont.</i></p><h2><b>Bruins&rsquo; Hard Hitting Returns With Sinden</b></h2><p>Glad to see that Tom Henshaw had the opportunity to explain to the entire hockey world THE HOCKEY NEWS, April 11) just why Bruins&rsquo; general manager Harry Sinden made one of the boldest and best moves of his GM career in firing Fred Creighton as Bruins&rsquo; coach. As a Bruin fan since I began following hockey in 1969, I quickly realized&mdash;like Harry Sinden&mdash;that the Bruins must have a hard hitting game.</p><p>Thank God Sinden was able to correct the Bruins before they permanently slipped into a coma. With Sinden behind the bench the hard hitting style of play that is synonymous with the Bruins is back.</p><p>Look out Philiy, Montreal and Islanders&mdash;the Bruins and their game plan are back!</p><p><b>Warren Rosenberg</b><br><i>New York, NY</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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FAN FORUM

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011156/4695982-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"></div><p>&hellip;a concentrated weekend clinic specially tailored for coaches of college, junior college, high school, 14 16-year-old travel teams, and advanced amateurs&hellip;10&frac12; hours of audio-visual lectures and chalk-talks, 4 hours of on-ice workshops!</p><p>As hockey undergoes major changes in style of play and training methods &hellip; as the game of &ldquo;intimidation&rdquo; gives way to skating, finesse, free flow, puck control&hellip;today&rsquo;s hockey <i>coach</i> has more adjustments to make, more things to teach, and more things to <i>learn</i> than ever before. At The Hockey News&rsquo; exclusive CAN/AM Coaches Clinic, you <i>will</i> learn&mdash;from top hockey men such as Herb Brooks (U.S.A.&rsquo;s gold medal-winning Olympic Team Coach and a CAN/AM instructor at the Winnipeg clinic), NHL coaches <i>Pat Quinn, Gary Green, and Dave Dryden, and</i> leading instructors from Europe and the collegiate ranks.</p><p><i>Each CAN/AM clinic will cover:</i></p><p><b>&#9632; THE POSSESSION GAME&mdash;</b>the positive way to play.</p><p><b>&#9632; PROBLEM-SOLVING&mdash;</b>the psychology of hockey, how to communicate and motivate.</p><p><b>&#9632; EUROPEAN FLOW DRILLS&mdash;</b>the key to motion and puck control.</p><p><b>&#9632; SYSTEMS&mdash;</b>an analysis of strengths and weaknesses.</p><p><b>&#9632; GOALTENDING&mdash;</b>making the most effective use of your key man.</p><p><b>&#9632; SPECIAL SITUATIONS</b>-a host of unique plays and strategies in the areas of bench technique, face-offs, power plays and penalty killing.</p><p><b>&#9632; THE PRACTICE&mdash;</b>keeping it interesting and stimulating while achieving overall goals.</p><p><b>&#9632; SKATING STYLES&mdash;</b>analyzing and correcting bad habits.</p><p><i><b>Schedule:</b></i> Program begins Friday evening at 7 p.m. and ends Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. (A detailed timetable will be forwarded to enrollees at a later date).</p><p><i><b>Tuition Fee:</b></i> $120 (U.S. funds)&mdash;Detroit, Buffalo, Boston, Katonah. $130 (Canadian funds)&mdash;Edmonton, Winnipeg.</p><p><i><b>NOTE:</b></i> Further information on accommodation rates, and reservation cards, will be sent with your confirmation of acceptance into the program.</p><p><b>You may attend at any of six locations:</b></p><p><b>BUFFALO, N.Y., June 6, 7, 8:</b> Holiday Twin Rinks: instruction by: Gary Green, coach, Washington Capitals; Alex Andjelic (pro coach, Europe); Dan Farrell (former coach, U. of Michigan); and Mike Kelly (college coach, and CAN/AM&rsquo;S Assistant Director of Operations).</p><p><b>EDMONTON, ALTA., June 6, 7, 8:</b> Glen Allan Rec Centre, Sherwood Park: instruction by: Ron Ivany (pro coach, Europe); Dave Dryden (asst, coach, Edmonton Oilers); Peter Esdale (co-coach, U. of Alberta; John Fischer (Jr. coach, Sherwood Park, and former pro player), and Doug Hearns (CAN/AM Director of Operations).</p><p><b>WINNIPEG, MAN., June 13,14,15:</b> Century Arena (on-ice workshops) and Montcalm Gordon Motor Hotel (lectures); instruction by: Herb Brooks (coach, U.S. Olympic Team); Alex Andjelic (pro coach, Europe); Ron Ivany (pro coach, Europe, and CAN/AM Supervisor); and Gord Tumilson (former pro goaltender, currently Program Supervisor, City of Winnipeg) and Leon Abbott, (former coach of Boston University and St. Lawrence University).</p><p><b>BOSTON, MASS. (Danvers), June 13,14,15:</b> Danvers Twin Rink (onice workshops) and Inn On The Pike (lectures): instruction by: Gary Green (coach, Washington Capitals); Jack Parker (coach, Boston University); Doug Hearns and Mike Kelly.</p><p><b>DETROIT, MICH. (Southfield), June 20, 21, 22:</b> Beech-wood Arena: instruction by: Gary Green (coach, Washington Capitals); Dan Farrell, Alex Andjelic and Ron Ivany.</p><p><b>KATONAH, N.Y., June 20, 21, 22:</b> The Harvey School: instruction by: Pat Quinn (coach, Philadelphia Flyers); Ron Smith (Technical Director of O.H.A., former assistant coach, Toronto Maple Leafs); Jack Parker, Mike Kelly and Leon Abbott.</p><p><b>Room Accommodations:</b> Attendees may secure room accommodations by directly contacting those hotels whose reservation cards, rates, and brochures will be sent along with confirmation of acceptance in the program. The tuition fee does not include lodging.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-02902/4695975-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="1565" height="816"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0011-01

Plan now to attend the Hockey News 2nd Annual CAN/AM Advanced Level Coaches Clinic!

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div><p>MONTREAL&mdash;The frustration was obvious.</p><p>It was in the faces of the MonTeal players and when the members of the Canadiens spoke, they shook their heads at the very mention of Gilles Meloche.</p><p>The Minnesota goaltender pulled off 62 saves in the first two games of the best-of-seven quarterfinal playoff series in Montreal. Only one puck got by him as the North Stars took a 2-0 series lead with 3-0 and 4-1 triumphs on Forum ice.</p><p>Not until Game 3 did the Canadiens solve Meloche&rsquo;s riddle. Playing their best game since beating Philadelphia 5-1 on March 2. Montreal whomped the North Stars 5-1.</p><p>&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t panic,&rdquo; said defenceman Rod Langway. We are too good a team to panic.</p><p>&ldquo;The only thing we have to do is score, but their goaltending won the first two games for them.</p><p>&ldquo;You could see some of our guys coming to the bench with their heads down. The guy was kicking out his skate and the puck would wind up in the stands. One guy had 50 goals during the regular season. He&rsquo;s too good a hockey player to be shutout.&rdquo;</p><p>That one guy was centre Pierre Larouche, who was deprived of regular right wing Guy Lafleur, who missed the first four games of the series with a bruised knee.</p><p>While Larouche had the chances in the first two games in Montreal, he was still goal-less in the playoffs entering Game 3 of the series.</p><p>But at no time did the Canadiens ever give any indication that they were going to roll over and let themselves be eliminated by the speedy North Stars.</p><p><b>At no time did the Canadiens give any indication that they were going to roll over and let themselves be eliminated.</b></p><p>And even though the Montreal fans more or less indicated they had given up on their heros with their booing and jeering in the second game, Montreal appeared to gain a boost from the wildness of the friendly folks in the midwest.</p><p>&ldquo;The team that sticks together will win this,&rdquo; noted Langway, perhaps best summing up the Canadiens&rsquo; attitude after falling behind early.</p><p>The Montreal players had stuck together through thick and thin with coach Claude Ruel since he took over in early December and brought Montreal from the middle of the pack to third place over-all.</p><p>There was no sign of that cohesion coming apart.</p><p><b>IN PASSING&mdash;</b>The Canadiens recalled Yvan Joly from the Voyageurs after the loss in Game 1. Joly, who finished his junior career with Ottawa 67s, was a fifthround draft choice last summer and while he sat out Game 2, he dressed and was used in Game 3.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011205/4696013-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="596" height="1264"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>For further details on Montreal-Minnesota series, see page 6.</i></figcaption></div><p><i>Rod Langway scored the Canadians&rsquo; first power play goal in the crucial third game of the series.</i></p><p>Captain Serge Savard dressed for the second game, his first appearance in the lineup since Feb. 21. He sat on the bench all evening and his sore right foot, in which a broken bone was healing, was too sore for him to even consider dressing for the resumption of the series in Minnesota&hellip;</p><p>Langway&rsquo;s first Stanley Cup playoff goal in Game 3 was the first Montreal power-play effort of the series.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-01

Habs Don’t Panic Despite Shaky Start

<div class="byline">BILL LIBBY&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021024/4696051-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="304" height="362"></div><h2><b>The Reclusive Star</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>HEN PHILADELPHIA FLYERS&rsquo;</b> goaltender Pete Peeters broke into the National Hockey League, his reputation preceded him. He did not consider himself special in any way, but he did not like to be interviewed. He wasn&rsquo;t rude about it, but reserved, as someone wrote. Another writer said that Peeters &ldquo;is as drab as an undertaker&rsquo;s closet.&rdquo; I recently approached Peeters with these facts in mind as he sat in his damp uniform in front of his locker after a Flyers&rsquo; victory over the L.A. Kings. I introduced myself and Peeters nodded, shook my hand and did not say anything. I asked him if I could talk to him.</p><p>&ldquo;In a few minutes,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>Sweat streamed down his face. His chest was heaving and he was just getting his breath back. I realized that when we get to these guys after a game they often have had little time to collect themselves. I wanted to talk to him before the game but that, I discovered, was totally out of the question.</p><p>&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t talk to anyone before a game,&rdquo; one Flyer told me. &ldquo;He won&rsquo;t even talk to his mother before a game,&rdquo; said another. And another added, &ldquo;If you say something to him, he doesn&rsquo;t say anything back. He just shrugs and goes his way.&rdquo;</p><p>As Peeters wearily stood up and started to strip off his soggy underclothes, I asked him about his reputation as a recluse.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03709/4696044-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="282" height="414"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Pete Peeters</i></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;I want to prepare myself properly to play the game,&rdquo; Peeters responded. &ldquo;I want to get my concentration up and I don&rsquo;t want to be distracted.&rdquo;</p><h2><b>Very Private Person</b></h2><p><b>WITH THAT, HE ASKED,</b> &ldquo;Can we do this when I finish undressing?&rdquo; and he shook his head with displeasure and slowly stripped off the rest of his gear. Then he sat down in his skivvies and waited without saying anything.</p><p>&ldquo;Are you ready?&rdquo; I asked</p><p>&ldquo;As ready as I&rsquo;ll ever be,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>I commented that I had heard he did not like to be interviewed. For the first time, he smiled. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not my favorite thing,&rdquo; he admitted.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a very private person,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;Nobody knows me. Nobody. Maybe my wife. Maybe. I just don&rsquo;t like to talk about myself.&rdquo;</p><p>Was his wife, Laurie, as reticent as he? He smiled and said, &ldquo;Yes, but better looking. Like me, she&rsquo;s reclusive and doesn&rsquo;t have a lot to say, but she&rsquo;s not as bad as I am and she says more than I do.&rdquo;</p><p>I then asked Peeters if he wasn&rsquo;t interested in being famous.</p><p>&ldquo;Not especially,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;I want to do a good job in goal. I want my team to win. I want to play in the big leagues a long time. I guess I can take the publicity that goes with it, but I won&rsquo;t seek it. And I won&rsquo;t like it.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s anything special to play hockey for a living,&rdquo; Peeters continued. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a job like anything anybody does. I&rsquo;m just like anybody else. I know people look at professional athletes as special, but I don&rsquo;t see that I&rsquo;m anything special.&rdquo;</p><p>He stopped talking, as though aware he had been rattling on. That slight smile again crossed his face as he shook his head and stared at the rug of the locker room.</p><h2><b>Peeters&rsquo; League Record</b></h2><p><b>PETER PEETERS</b> is a handsome young man, just 22, who was bom in Edmonton, Alta, in August. 1957. When I asked him if his parents thought they were funny, christening him with the same first name as his second, he looked up and admitted, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. As a kid I was ribbed about it a lot, but I never thought to ask my parents about it.&rdquo;</p><p>As a youngster Peeters was a championship swimmer who didn&rsquo;t even start to play junior hockey until he was 18. &ldquo;I like both,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but the time came when I had to choose between them&mdash;and hockey offered the better future.&rdquo; So Peter went to Medicine Hat, where he played until the Flyers picked him as their ninth choice (13th overall) in the 1977 amateur draft.</p><p>As a pro, he came on fast. After a halfseason with Milwaukee in the International League he helped the Maine Mariners to the American League regular season championship and playoff title in both 1978 and 1979. In both those years, Peeters&rsquo; goal-against averages were under three per game.</p><p>As a rookie in the NHL this year he was sensational. The Flyers went 35 games without a defeat while Peeters played in his first 27 games without losing. Both streaks were league records. Peeters&rsquo; winning streak finally came to an end against&mdash;of all teams&mdash;the Colorado Rockies.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m proud of my streak,&rdquo; Peeters said, &ldquo;but I can&rsquo;t explain it. I played well, but I didn&rsquo;t always play <i>that</i> well. The team played very well in front of me, of course, and I got a lot of breaks. When I finally lost, I was relieved. I didn&rsquo;t like the publicity I was beginning to get; it put a lot of pressure on me. I was beginning to get distracted, and I was losing my concentration.&rdquo;</p><p>Peeters is a classic standup goalie who plays in a crouch and seldom goes down. Former Flyer goalie Bernie Parent says, &ldquo;He has no weaknesses,&rdquo; and Marcel Pelletier, another ex-goalie who is now a Flyer aide, says, &ldquo;There are a lot of guys with all the tools who don&rsquo;t improve. He&rsquo;s got everything and he&rsquo;s going to get better because he concentrates and learns from his mistakes.&rdquo;</p><p>Now, Peeters is in the NHL playoffs for the first time and he claims he&rsquo;s not nervous at all.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t go up and down emotionally,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t get excited about anything.&rdquo;</p><p>But just then, Robert Walden, a television star from &ldquo;The Lou Grant Show,&rdquo; came into the locker room and was brought over and introduced to Peeters, who said, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s something, meeting a TV star.</p><p>Suddenly, the hockey star who doesn&rsquo;t get excited about anything seemed very excited.<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/f0013-011147/4696082-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="290" height="358"></div><h2><b>First Place Devaluation</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</b> have been cheated. So were the New York Islanders of 1979, the Montreal Canadiens of 1978 and every other team from the past which finished with the most points at the end of a National Hockey League season.</p><p>The perennial devaluation of first place in relation to the Stanley Cup simply is neither fair to the winner, nor helpful to the NHL in its quest for respect.</p><p>Let&rsquo;s take the Flyers as Exhibit A when it comes to big-league hockey&rsquo;s chronic system of injustice to champions.</p><p>Just a month ago Pat Quinn&rsquo;s sextet relentlessly clambered to the top of Mount NHL with one of the best-ever records in pro hockey, yet everyone seems to have forgotten it already but Quinn and his Philadelphia foot soldiers.</p><p>Why?</p><p>Simply because the NHL overemphasizes the importance of the Stanley Cup playoffs at the expense of regular season matches and the total points champion. As soon as the playoffs start, everyone and his Uncle Dudley develop instant amnesia over the 80 games which have just been completed.</p><p>Pity.</p><p>One of the colossal inequities of contemporary sport is the NHL&rsquo;s failure to adequately honor the troops who slog through a tough campaign, from October through April, and then plant a flag atop hockey&rsquo;s Everest.</p><p>Finishing first in April is every bit as praiseworthy as cruising through 25 games enroute to the Stanley Cup in May.</p><p>But you&rsquo;d never know it by the manner in which the Flyers have been treated this year. Their magnificent pennant conquest has been militantly ignored although they totalled 48 wins and 116 points. Buffalo was second with 110 points.</p><p>When the regular schedule was rolled up and filed in the NHL archives on April 6, the Flyers, in effect, were told, &ldquo;Thanks, boys, the exhibition season is over, now let&rsquo;s get on with the real business of hockey&mdash;winning the Cup.&rdquo;</p><p>Instead, the Flyers should have been deified because they demonstrated what the work ethic is all about and set an example to the other 20 clubs.</p><p>If the NHL bosses hope to imbue the 80-game schedule with the significance it deserves, they will consider the following improvements:</p><p>For starters, winning the pennant (most points) should be interpreted as a feat equivalent to winning the Stanley Cup. A gala, formal on-ice ceremony should be held at the home arena of the first-place winners no later than one or two games after they clinch the pennant and a dinner fete should follow, a la Stanley Cup banquet. Anything less is insulting to the champs.</p><p>This is not to suggest that the Cup winner should be ignored. That will never happen since the playoffs remain a significant, post-season showcase and will never diminish in importance.</p><p>Justice <i>always</i> is done to the cup winner. Justice <i>never</i> is done to the regular season winner. The Flyers&rsquo; grand accomplishment of 1979-80 did not deserve to be forgotten the moment the first playoff puck was dropped.</p><p>But it was, and, therefore, Philadelphia was cheated. Let&rsquo;s hope it doesn&rsquo;t happen again.</p><h2><b>Unger No Wunderkind</b></h2><p><b>NOTES:</b> &ldquo;Bust of the Year&rdquo; award goes to Atlanta&rsquo;s Garry Unger&hellip;Instead of leading the Flames to bigger and better days, the onetime wunderkind finished 10th in Flames&rsquo; scoring with a measly 17 goals and 33 points in 79 games and was a complete zip in the playoffs&hellip;Scribes who were urging the Islanders, among others, to nab Unger last fall have learned a lesson&hellip;Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; assistant coach Frank St. Marseille tells me he&rsquo;s sorry he ever got into a feud with Winnipeg coach Tom McVie&hellip;&rdquo;The remark (that he overworked his club) I made about McVie was meant to be private,&rdquo; says St. Marseille. &ldquo;Unfortunately, I made it in a press box and a reporter overheard me. Next time I&rsquo;ll keep my mouth shut when reporters are around. I like Tom and I&rsquo;ve liked him ever since we played in the International League&rdquo;&hellip;At this time two years ago Madison Square Garden boss Sonny Werblin confided that he would can John Ferguson and follow that by dropping Bill Jennings as president of the Rangers&hellip;Werblin made good on his first vow but he never could give Jennings the hook because dour Bill (in Werblin&rsquo;s eyes) knows too much about the NHL machinery and Werblin knows zip about it&hellip;In fact, Sonny may be getting to like Bill. He recently attended the disco-birthday party for Jeff Jennings, Bill&rsquo;s son&hellip;Most overrated NHL goalie is Toronto&rsquo;s Mike Palmateer. The Maple Leafs should bid him good-riddance and go with Jiri Crha and Curt Ridley. We&rsquo;ll see how good free-agent Palmateer is with the Rockies&hellip;Last fall I told Scotty Bowman he was making a mistake not rehiring the two shrinks, Al (sociologist) Turowetz and Ed (psychologist) Freedberg, who had been on the Sabres&rsquo; payroll. Scotty told me that he and Roger Neilson could handle the problem players themselves, without the help of shrinks. Once again, Bowman was right&hellip;NHL prexy John Ziegler assures me that he will pay heed to the &ldquo;constructive&rdquo; criticism re violence being levelled by such worthies as Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson, Marcel Dionne and Mike Bossy, among others.</p><h2><b>Cherry Needs Free Rein</b></h2><p><b>CHERRY VS. HIMSELF:</b> Don (Grapes) Cherry&rsquo;s biggest hockey problem is that he doesn&rsquo;t have Arthur Imperatore&rsquo;s money. If Grapes were a multi-millionaire, like Imperatore, he could function in the manner in which he should operate: that is, coach, manager, PR man and owner of the hockey club, put together.</p><p>But, alas, Imperatore owns the Rockies and Imperatore&rsquo;s son-in-law, Armand Pohan, is the club president. Therein lies Cherry&rsquo;s demise in Denver. Owners and their sons-in-law, by dint of their checkbook, possess the divine right of running the team, whether they know which end of a hockey puck is the top and which is the side.</p><p>Cherry, who is the best thing to have happened to the media since Frank Boucher, needs nothing less than a free rein to run his team. That means saying and doing as <i>he sees fit.</i> And since Grapes is an up-front guy&mdash;take it or leave it&mdash;he must find an owner and manager with confidence to let Cherry do his thing. So far this has not happened.</p><p>Whatever his faults, Grapes levels with you. In fact, there is something about Grapes that is reminiscent of General George S. Patton. &ldquo;If I wasn&rsquo;t honest,&rdquo; says Cherry, &ldquo;I could have stayed in Boston, but I have to say what I think. Sometimes I&rsquo;m my own worst enemy.&rdquo;</p><p>Pohan is inclined to agree. The former New Jersey (Hudson County) assistant prosecutor, who runs the Rockies for Imperatore, admits that he liked Grapes more as a drinking partner than a coach.</p><p>&ldquo;Don is a good fella,&rdquo; Pohan says, &ldquo;and I love the guy&mdash;in some ways. In other ways, he&rsquo;s a tough guy to have working for you. If you&rsquo;re going to have a last-place club, Don Cherry is the best coach you can get. He&rsquo;s a great one-man-band. But I prefer not to have a last-place club.&rdquo;</p><p>If I were Pohan, I would have given Cherry carte <i>blanche. I</i> believe implicitly in Grapes, his philosophy and style. I believe the Rockies needed him and the NHL still needs him desperately for all he has done for hockey, on and off the ice. I can&rsquo;t see the Rockies drawing without him.</p><p>There is only one problem&mdash;I am not Arthur Imperatore&rsquo;s son-in-law.</p><p><b>MEDIA NOTES:</b> NHL Game Of The Week announcer Scott Wahle raised eyebrows when he suggested on a telecast that Atlanta might lose the Flames to Calgary&hellip;NHL Broadcast Director Joel Nixon tells me he isn&rsquo;t upset with Wahle&hellip;&rdquo;He&rsquo;s there as a reporter, not a league employee,&rdquo; says Nixon. &ldquo;I have no objections to what he said&rdquo;&hellip;Memo to league scribes: The Professional Hockey Writers Association should pass a resolution prohibiting members from labelling any future rookie as &ldquo;another Bobby Orr&rdquo;&hellip;Rocky Mountain <i>News</i> columnist Woody Paige, like myself, figured wrong that Don Cherry would outlast Ray Miron in Denver. &ldquo;When Grapes goes,&rdquo; says Paige, &ldquo;so does hockey in Denver&rdquo;&hellip;Others believe the Rockies can survive, minus Cherry, if they can produce a winner, right away&hellip;Toronto murders Montreal when it comes to hockey coverage in English dailies. One day, after a Canadiens&rsquo; playotf game, The <i>Gazette,</i> Montreal&rsquo;s only English paper, didn&rsquo;t have a single columnist writing on hockey&hellip;That&rsquo;s heresy&hellip;NHL&rsquo;s nev PR director, Rodger Gottlieb, has been a hockey buff since his days at Ohio Wesleyan University &ldquo;When I was at college, I used to drive my car to the top of a large hill,&rdquo; says Gottlieb, &ldquo;to be able to hear the Flyers&rsquo; games on radio. It was murder on my car&rsquo;s battery but worth it.&rdquo;&hellip;Gottlieb&rsquo;s big test will be his ability to erase the NHL&rsquo;s fortress attitude and congenital paranoia toward the press.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0013-01

ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="byline">BY AL SMITH</div><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>TLANTA&mdash;Eight years after the &ldquo;Ice Age Cometh&rdquo; to Atlanta, Flames&rsquo; owner Tom Cousins, in the wake of continuing financial losses, is talking to interested parties who want to buy the only National Hockey League franchise in the South, and relocate it in another city.</p><p>Although the franchise has been losing money since it came into existence, Cousins has been able to offset the losses with revenue from The Omni, which he owns, and the building where the Flames and basketball Hawks play. But this season, the losses have hit an alltime high of a reported $2.8 million. And although Cousins has maintained for the past five seasons that he will do everything in his power to keep the franchise here, the team&rsquo;s sixth elimination in six playoff tries seemed to be the catalyst for its downfall.</p><p>The Flames were beaten three games to one by the New York Rangers in the first round of this year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs and thus have never made it past the first round. Their playoff record is 2-15.</p><p>Cousins, a real estate investor and developer, had said the future of the franchise might depend on how well his team did in the playoffs. Since their recent elimination, Cousins&rsquo; office has been inundated with calls as to the fate of the franchise.</p><p>On April 15, Virginia Sollie, an administrative assistant to Cousins, released this statement to the press.</p><p>&ldquo;Since the Atlanta Flames concluded their season, we have had many inquiries as to the fate of the team in this city. Although we have not made a decision about its future, we are now actively discussing offers involving relocation and sale of the team.</p><p>&ldquo;We have said repeatedly that we do not want to sell the team, but at the same time we cannot justify the major losses. The Flames have received loyal support from a relatively small group of Atlantans, but even if we raised ticket prices $2 a seat and sell out every game for the coming year, we would still be operating at a loss.</p><p>&ldquo;We lack the lucrative television revenue which benefits most of the other franchises in the league. We have been trying for months to obtain these kind of television commitments, but so far none have materialized due to low viewer ratings for hockey in the Southeast.</p><p>&ldquo;We still have not reached a decision but felt we should respond honestly to the inquiries being made. We will make an announcement when a final decision is reached.&rdquo;</p><p>During the season, Cousins talked to prospective buyers in at least four cities. Team president Bob Kent maintains Cousins could sell the Flames immediately and recoup all his losses. And it is thought that one firm offer (ru-mnrpd at $14 million&mdash;has come from the Seamon brothers (Byron Donald, and Darryl) of Calgary Alta.</p><p>&ldquo;The funny thing is&mdash;it&rsquo;s not funny, I guess&mdash;but it&rsquo;s a fact, that the same level of attendance the Flames have had would support most any other enterprise we take on here at The Omni-the circus, wrestling, concerts, basketball, whatever,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;But hockey costs have gone out of sight. Since 1972, when the average salary was $31,000, that figure has tripled. And inflation plays a part.</p><p>Kent said there have been several groups interested in the Flames, including three in the Meadowlands (New Jersey) and another three groups in Calgary.</p><p>&ldquo;The time has come to entertain the offers and see where it goes,&rdquo; Kent said. &ldquo;Prior to this time Tom has refused to discuss relocation and has constantly refused to put a price tag on the team until he has explored every possibility of keeping the team here.&rdquo;</p><p>Cousins and Kent met with the Seamons in Calgary, and at that time the current facility, which seats only 6,400&mdash;far below NHL seating standards&mdash;was inspected. It is felt that if Calgary were to secure a franchise, building a new facility would be no problem. In fact, the city will be soon bidding for the 1988 Winter Olympics, and this would more than justify the building of an arena in the 18,000-seat range.</p><p>A source in Calgary also said owners there could charge as much as $15-$20 a ticket until a new facility is built, and sell out every game.</p><p>Other cities interested in an NHL franchise are Dallas and Houston, cities which already have existing facilities that would meet NHL qualifications. The Meadowlands facility won&rsquo;t be ready until at least the 1981-82 season.</p><p>But it is felt that the most likely place for the Flames to relocate would be Calgary. Anyone moving a team into the Meadowlands would run into territorial infringement problems with the New York Rangers, while the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers both have large cable television audiences in this area.</p><p>The Seamen brothers, who own the oil-gas related Bow Valley Industries, owned a franchise in the now-defunct World Hockey Association, and it is felt they would like to get back hockey on the NHL level.</p><p>Rumors of a possible move by the Flames have increased this season, respecially when the team got off to a poor start and attendance slipped to an all-time low average of about 9,600 per game.</p><p>It now costs more than $5 million a year to run the franchise, and the team realized only $3 million in gate receipts this year. Television and radio revenue brought in only an additional $250,000.</p><p>Cousins and the Seamon brothers were not available for comment, in fact, a source in Calgary said the Seamons had not been available to reporters for two weeks.</p><p>The Flames came into being in 1971 and played their first year in the NHL in the 1972-73 season. While the team was successful&mdash;at the gate and on the ice&mdash;in its first two seasons, it still lost money due to the $6 million league entry fee.</p><p>Cousins was an original stockholder along with Bill Putnam, Paul Duke, John Wilcox, Dillard Munford, Charles Loudermilk, Robert Ledbetter, Herman Russell, and Robert Chambers. The group also owned the Atlanta Hawks, The Omni, and an Omni promotions company. Putnam was the team&rsquo;s first president, and even though he is credited with much of the team&rsquo;s early success at the gate he was fired in July, 1973.</p><p>By 1974, most of the original stockholders had stopped taking an active part in the franchise, and Cousins was left to shoulder the debt alone, even though the others remained on the board of directors.</p><p>Last February, Cousins foreclosed on Atlanta Hockey Inc, and brought the hockey operation under the Omni Promotions company, which he also owns.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Atlanta Flames Likely To Relocate In Calgary

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE HALPIN</div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>ORONTO&mdash;The National Hockey League went over the top this season at the box office to record its greatest season ever in the 63year history of the league.</p><p>Enhanced by the addition of four expansion teams&mdash;the remnants of the disbanded World Hockey Association&mdash;the NHL reached the pinnacle in attendance surpassing the 11,000,000 mark. Overall the league attracted a total of 11,203,913 fans in the 21 cities, well above the 1978-79 figure of 8,800,572 when the NHL was strictly a 17-team operation.</p><p>Expansion to include Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hartford and Quebec in the NHL has proved to be a formidable step for the league. The new NHLers brought in an added 1,971,969 fans giving the NHL its biggest turnstile shot in the arm since the 1974-75 season when the NHL reached a high of 9,521,536&mdash;an official figure furnished by the league.</p><p>Attendance figures compiled by THE HOCKEY NEWS are unofficial, of course, and include crowd figures published from game summaries. The NHL records only-paid attendance figures, which last season were listed as 7,758,053 for the 680 regularly scheduled league games. This year the NHL had projected a crowd figure of 10,400,000 at the Feb. 4 All Star break. A league spokesman said that final attendance figures for the 1979-80 season have revealed that the NHL in fact did reach the 10,500,000 mark.</p><p>At any rate, the final home attendance figures (40 games) as compiled by THE HOCKEY NEWS, showed some encouraging signs for the NHL. Teams like Colorado, St. Louis and Minnesota all reported hefty increases over last season while the four expansion cities showed clearly that once given the chance to watch NHL calibre hockey they would respond at the box office.</p><p>In a mini breakdown of the new teams, Winnipeg drew 182,ll2 more fans this year than it did when the Jets played in the WHA. The Edmonton Oilers quickly established themselves as one of the new box office giants of the league by drawing 166,484 more fans than their WHA years while Hartford was 112,913 ahead of their &lsquo;78-79 figure and Quebec had an increase of 76,120.</p><p>One of the most remarkable crowd success stories has to be the Colorado Rockies, who failed to make the NHL playoffs and finished 21st and last in the final league standings. Nevertheless, the Rockies, under the flamboyant leadership of coach Don Cherry, pushed their home attendance from 242,074 last season to a new high of 391,547 this year, an increase of 149,473 since Cherry took over.</p><p>The league&rsquo;s box office leaders continued to set the turnstile pace. The New York Rangers, who were the best draw in the NHL last season, maintained their role this season by drawing 696,316 fans. The New Yorkers had the best average, 17,400 as they constantly sold out Madison Square Garden.</p><p>Here&rsquo;s how the NHL&rsquo;s top 10 teams ranked in attendance: 1. Rangers, 696,316; 2. Philadelphia 683,080; 3. Montreal 675,642; 4. Toronto 659,221; 5. Buffalo 657,320; 6. Edmonton 616,717; 7. Islanders 604,479; 8. Detroit 604,177; 9. Vancouver 582,081, and 10. Winnipeg 531,388. Rangers, Philadelphia, Montreal, Toronto and Buffalo continued to be the big box office magnets of the NHL with sellouts for every home game again this season.</p><p>Complete NHL attendance figures, though unofficial are provided elsewhere on this page with plus, minus figures and crowd averages as well as last year&rsquo;s attendance figures for all teams.</p><p>In spite of the glowing attendance picture, the NHL still has a few troubled spots, the most glaring of which has to be Atlanta and Pittsburgh, where both teams continue to struggle for spectator patronage.</p><p>The Flames, who are on the verge of changing cities to offset a $2 million dollar operating deficit this season, still pulled in 405,871 fans but it was 53,937 behind last season&rsquo;s mark. Pittsburgh also had a sub-par attendance year with 419,904 fans, 40,350 in arrears of last season. The Boston Bruins were the NHL&rsquo;s third city with a minus box office figure. The Bruins, who have slipped to 12th place in NHL crowd totals, drew 506,622, some 12,437 behind 1978-79.</p><p>While the Colorado Rockies represented the biggest single gain among the old line teams, the NHL reported eight other teams with sizeable increases in attendance. After Colorado, the revitalized St.</p><p>Louis Blues played before 96,559 more fans this season and Minnesota was close behind with a plus 92,309. Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Detroit and the Islanders were all ahead of last season&rsquo;s crowd figures, to contribute to the NHL&rsquo;s best sea-son in its history.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Expansion Helped NHL Hit New Attendance High

f0014-01

Final NHL Attendance

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD FRIEDMAN</div><p class="dropcap"><span>N</span>EW YORK&mdash;It was a task for which the term &ldquo;uphill battle&rdquo; was invented. Down three games to none last Saturday night, the New York Rangers were in an unenviable position; they had to win four straight games from the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup quarterfinals, or their long season would be over.</p><p>On Sunday, they were one quarter of the way there thanks to Ron Duguay&rsquo;s hat-trick and a 4-2 victory at Madison Square Garden, but the puzzling lack of intensity that characterized their play early in the series was not forgotten as they returned to Philadelphia.</p><p>It was a series that began with talk of revenge, got rolling with fierce Flyers, and took on a whole new meaning when the Rangers found their stride on the brink of extinction.</p><p>The Rangers eliminated the Flyers, four games to one in last year&rsquo;s quarterfinals. On January 4th, the Rangers&rsquo; Ed Hospdar broke Ken Linseman&rsquo;s nose in a donnybrook of a game at the Garden and last week, as the teams prepared for battle, Flyers&rsquo; coach Pat Quinn waved the red flag.</p><p>&ldquo;If it has to be a war, we&rsquo;ve got a lot of guns,&rdquo; said Quinn. &ldquo;We intend to finish off our checks.&rdquo;</p><p>That they did as the Flyers outshot the Rangers, 19-7, in the first period of game one. They outshot the Rangers, 42-30, won the game, 2-1 on Behn Wilson&rsquo;s third period goal from the goalmouth, and would have run away with the game were it not for the heroics of Rangers&rsquo; goalie John Davidson.</p><p>Led by their checking&mdash;and scoring&mdash;line of Ken Linseman, Brian Propp and Paul Holmgren, the Flyers shut down the Rangers before they ever got rolling&mdash;just as the Rangers had done to the Atlanta Flames in their three-games-to-one opening round triumph. And the game was costly: Dean Talafous was lost for the series with a fractured rib.</p><p>Game Two on Thursday night was more of the same. The Flyers bumped the Rangers off the puck, exploded from defense to offense, and every time the Rangers turned around the Flyers either had the puck or were in the process of stealing it.</p><p>By the time Ron Duguay scored for the Rangers in the third period, Philadelphia led 3-0 thanks to Holmgren&rsquo;s second period goal&mdash;on a pretty feed by Linsemen and Propp&mdash;and Barber&rsquo;s goal just 14 seconds later. Final score: Flyers 4, Rangers 1.</p><p><b>&ldquo;We figured if we&rsquo;re gonna lose,&rdquo; said Ron Duguay, &ldquo;let&rsquo;s make it hard for them, so we took it to them.&rdquo;</b></p><p>Dave Maloney had put a 50-foot slapshot past Flyers goalie Pete Peeters early in the second period, only to have the goal nullified by an offsides call.</p><p>The teams moved to Madison Square Garden for Game Three, a must-win match for the Rangers. The Flyers had never won a playoff game at Madison Square Garden, but last Saturday they took a three-games-to-none lead in the series with a 3-0 victory.</p><p>The Flyers continued to doubleteam Phil Esposito and Ulf Nilsson in the slot, rendering useless the Rangers wings&rsquo; efforts to feed them the puck. By failing to go to the points on the power plays, the Rangers extended their power-play drought to 15 attempts.</p><p>Bob Dailey opened the scoring for the Flyers with a shorthanded goal after a steal at 8:39 of the first period. Bill Barber and Rick MacLeish scored just 27 seconds apart early in the third period, nullifying the best checking the Rangers had done in the series.</p><p>Rangers G.M. Coach Fred She-ro&rsquo;s explanations for his charges&rsquo; failures were disturbingly similar to what he had said in the last week of the the season, when the Rangers were struggling against a late-season slump.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying but not enough,&rdquo; said Shero last Saturday. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re never really getting in for the rebound shots; we&rsquo;re not getting that second effort.&rdquo;</p><p>Asked why the &ldquo;second effort&rdquo; was missing, Shero chose to explain with yet another symptom, rather that a cause:</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s concentration,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You must think, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ve got to go in. I&rsquo;ve got to go.&rsquo; You&rsquo;ve got to will yourself and say, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ve got to ride. I&rsquo;ve got to ride.&rsquo; If you don&rsquo;t, you get there late.&rdquo;</p><p>The Garden crowd acknowledged Davidson&rsquo;s efforts with its familiar &ldquo;J.D., J.D.&rdquo; cheer, but booed big defenseman Barry Beck in the game&rsquo;s final minutes.</p><p>&ldquo;I guess they want a little more from me,&rdquo; said a dejected Beck later. In their frustration, the crowd was demanding more physical play from the young, highly-touted giant for whom the Rangers had given up five players, including Pat Hickey and Mike McEwen.</p><p>Saturday night provided a measure of vindication for Beck and, as Davidson described it, &ldquo;a glimmer of hope,&rdquo; for the Rangers.</p><p>Ron Duguay scored the Rangers&rsquo; first playoff hat trick since Steve Vickers&rsquo; 1973 effort&mdash;and almost added a fourth, into an open net in the final minute&mdash;as they beat the Flyers, 4-2. All three came from the slot, and two were on the power play.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02958/4696192-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="578" height="899"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Rangers defenseman Barry Beck got an opportunity to do some hitting which silenced the boo-birds.</i></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;Around the net, they kept jumping at Phil, which left Donnie Maloney and me open,&rdquo; said Duguay.</p><p>&ldquo;We were relaxed tonight. We figured, if we&rsquo;re gonna lose, let&rsquo;s make it hard for them, so we took it to them.&rdquo;</p><p>The game was a return to real-live action for Beck.</p><p>&ldquo;It was the first chance I had to hit somebody,&rdquo; said Beck. &ldquo;When I start hitting, it gets me into the game. 1 wanted to try to make up for the fans booing me. I&rsquo;m a better player than that. I&rsquo;m not finished yet.&rdquo;</p><p>Absent that night was Linseman&mdash;and conspicuously so. He was nursing buised ribs, thanks to hard, clean check into the boards by Beck the night before.</p><p>Game Four also featured an uncharacteristic pummeling of Propp by the normally pacifistic Anders Hedberg.</p><p>&ldquo;I cannot win a fight,&rdquo; Hedberg claims, &ldquo;because I never learned to fight while I was growing up.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;But if this is what it takes to win, I&rsquo;ll do it. Why not? I&rsquo;m a part of the team, and that is part of the game.&rdquo;</p><p>Man for man, the Rangers were-more effective than they&rsquo;d been since the quarterfinals opened, but their late awakening had forced them into the most difficult of circumstances: they could not afford to lose another game, and two of the final three games would be played at The Spectrum.</p><p>&ldquo;We were playing our game tonight,&rdquo; said veteran defenseman Carol Vadnais. &ldquo;We played that way against Atlanta and there&rsquo;s no reason why it had to be in our minds that we cannot do it against Philadelphia too.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0014-02

Rangers Hit Stride To Avert Sweep

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><p>BLOOMINGTON&mdash;Gilles Meloche waited nine seasons to make his first Stanley Cup goaltending start.</p><p>And when he did, what a start he made.</p><p>Meloche, a 29-year-old native of Montreal, stoned the defending Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens 3-0 in the opening game of their quarterfinal series at the Forum.</p><p>Meloche came back the next night and frustrated the Canadiens 4-1 in the second game.</p><p>The aroused Montreal team came back and squared the series with 5-0 and 5-1 victories in Minnesota.</p><p>But Meloche and Minnesota fans will not forget his two-game performance on the Montreal ice, where he made 23 saves in a shutout game and 40 in the 4-1 victory.</p><p>&ldquo;In nine years in the league it has always been Gilley&rsquo;s ambition to start a Stanley Cup game,&rdquo; Minnesota coach Glen Sonmor said. &ldquo;To play in his own hometown of Montreal and not only beat the Canadiens but shut them out is like a fairy tale.&rdquo;</p><p>Meloche tended to agree.</p><p>&ldquo;I still find it hard to believe that I shut them out in their own backyard&mdash;my backyard,&rdquo; Meloche said. &ldquo;I was sweating it out all afternoon before the first game. I couldn&rsquo;t sit still thinking about the game. I have never felt like that.&rdquo;</p><p>Meloche was on the bench for the start of the three-game sweep of the Toronto Maple Leafs as Gary Edwards had played sensationally in goal for the North Stars.</p><p>But Edwards went down with a knee injury in the third game of that opening round series. Meloche came in and made 12 saves, 13 shots in a 4-3 overtime victory.</p><p><b>&ldquo;We scored 10 goals but there could have been more,&rdquo; said Claude Ruel. &ldquo;Meloche was still making great saves.&rdquo;</b></p><p>Edwards was still injured when the North Stars journeyed to Montreal to pull the biggest surprise of the Stanley Cup playoffs so far.</p><p>Meloche had predicted the trend of this quarterfinal match-up.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a very exciting series with both teams flying up and down the ice,&rdquo; Meloche said &ldquo;When you have two teams that skate as well as these two, it turns into a goaltender&rsquo;s series. The team with the hot goaltender will win.&rdquo;</p><p>How true. Meloche had the upper hand in Montreal and Michel Larocque turned in a shutout and one-goal game for the Canadiens in Minnesota, where Meloche was the loser in both games.</p><p>&ldquo;We scored 10 goals in those two games but there could have been several more,&rdquo; Montreal coach Claude Ruel said. &ldquo;Meloche was still making great saves.&rdquo;</p><p>Ruel said the difference in the two games was that the Canadiens were scoring on plays that the North Stars had frustrated them on in the first two games.</p><p>A lot was made about Montreal playing without five regulars because of injuries, including superstar Guy Lafleur.</p><p>But the Stars were having their own injury miseries.</p><p>Defenseman Gary Sargent, who was elected to play in the All Star game, suffered a knee injury in the first Montreal game. Edwards still was not available to give Meloche a rest.</p><p>The most damaging blow to all could have been a charleyhorse to Bobby Smith, who was playing but was below his normal mobility.</p><p>Smith, who has 10 assists so far in his first playoffs, suffered the injury in the Toronto series.</p><p>Minnesota also lost right winger Kent Andersson with indigestion for one game after eating a bad pizza. Andersson scored the gamewinning goal in one of the Montreal games.</p><p><b>STARDUST:</b> Center Glen Shar-pley played his first game since suffering a knee injury on Feb. 13. He played in the fourth game, and Sonmor said he was one of the better Minnesota players on the ice. Only a few days before Shar-pley had been fined for refusing to complete a practice in frustration about not playing&hellip;Smith and Al MacAdam shared the team lead in playoff scoring with 10 points each. Leftwinger Steve Payne had five goals, two of them coming in the Stars&rsquo; second victory. The third and fourth games drew sellout audiences in Minnesota, with the Saturday night crowd of 15,820 setting a North Star playoff record.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011128/4696223-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="565" height="1281"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Even though the Canadien evened the quarterfinals, the North Stars&rsquo; Gilles Melochi was playing extremely well.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0015-01

Forum Shutout Worth Meloche’s Wait

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><p>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Hadn&rsquo;t the New York Rangers seen this goaltending act somewhere before?</p><p>Wasn&rsquo;t Pete Peeters giving an almost shot-by-shot imitation of John Davidson&rsquo;s performance against the Flyers the year before?</p><p>After the Flyers had won the first two games of their long-awaited Stanley Cup quarter-final rematch with the Rangers, no New York player would admit Peeters was reminding them of Davidson&rsquo;s memorable work that eventually carried the Rangers to the Stanley Cup finals.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not testing him,&rdquo; said Rangers&rsquo; Captain Dave Maloney. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s doing his job, but we&rsquo;re not on top of him.&rdquo;</p><p>Perhaps only Mike Nykoluk, the Rangers&rsquo; coach-in-waiting, hinted that what Peeters was doing to his club wasn&rsquo;t too surprising.</p><p>&ldquo;This is his first time under this kind of pressure,&rdquo; said Nykoluk. &ldquo;But we know he won two championships for the team in Maine, so we know he can handle pressure.&rdquo;</p><p>It&rsquo;s a long way from Portland, Me., and the AHL to Philadelphia&mdash;even as Delta flies. But two nights later, Peeters removed almost all doubt about him handling Stanley Cup pressure.</p><p>Playing in Madison Square Garden, the NHL&rsquo;s pit, Peeters blanked the bewildered Rangers, 3-0. It was Philadelphia&rsquo;s first shutout playoff victory since 1977 when Wayne Stephenson held Toronto scoreless. Not since the &lsquo;75 Cup clincher in Buffalo had the Flyers won a road shutout in the playoffs.</p><p>One highlight of the rookie goaltender&rsquo;s victory was stopping Eddie Johnstone on a short-handed breakaway with the Flyers clinging to 1-0 lead.</p><p>If Peeters was a puzzle to the Rangers, he has been, in some respects, an Ellery Queen special to the Philadelphia media. Soft-spoken and as flamboyant as plain toast, Peeters reminds some people more of a divinity student than a competitive NHL goaltender.</p><p>However, once he straps on his shot-stopping equipment, he is a fierce competitor. He can also be fierce off the ice, resenting criticism of himself and his team.</p><p>His post-game interviews have turned into dental-school clinics, with the press forced to pull responses from him. When the drilling hits a nerve, look out!</p><p>&ldquo;When reporters come at you suggesting that the goaltenders aren&rsquo;t pulling their weight, then that bothers me very much,&rdquo; said the milk-drinking Edmonton native. &ldquo;In a sense, you&rsquo;re knocking my job, and I resent that.&rdquo;</p><p>No one was knocking Peeters&rsquo; playoff work. He was referring to suspicions about the Flyers&rsquo; goaltending quality prior to the playoffs, when he and partner Phil Myre were swept along in the team&rsquo;s final-month slump.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m the first to admit that I played some bad games, but again, I ask you to go look at the statistics,&rdquo; Peeters said. &ldquo;Look at the entire year, and then I don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;ll be surprised at what&rsquo;s happened here this week.&rdquo;</p><p>That&rsquo;s easy for Peeters to say. Although his regular season stats&mdash;29-5-5 for a record and 2.73 average&mdash;were impressive, neither he nor Myre gave much indication they were ready to crank-up award winning playoff performances.</p><p>Neither did their teammates. But Peeters, the defense and forwards responded to the Rangers&rsquo; challenge in a way that had to exceed even Coach Pat Quinn&rsquo;s expectations. In the first three games, the Flyers rarely made a mistake, leaving Fred Shero and his Rangers to scratch their shampooed scalps.</p><p>&ldquo;They are playing better that I ever thought they could,&rdquo; said Phil Esposito. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re checking us all over the ice. They just won&rsquo;t let me touch the puck.&rdquo;</p><p><b>FLYERS FACTS:</b> Winning was costly to the Flyers&rsquo; good health Barry Beck crunches left Ken Linseman with torn rib cartilege and Jimmy Watson with a damaged shoulder&hellip;Paul Holmgre had points in the first six playoff games and Rick MacLeish had goal in the first three Rangers games.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Flyers’ Peelers Handles Pressure With Aplomb

f0016-01

NHL PLAYOFF SCORING

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div><p class="dropcap"><span>P</span>ITTSBURGH&mdash;The transition from Olympic hero to playing in the National Hockey League hasn&rsquo;t been an easy one for the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; Mark Johnson.</p><p>The 5-9, 160-pound native of Madison, Wis., was the leading scorer on the United States&rsquo; Gold Medal-winning hockey team, scoring five goals and six assists in seven games. Included in Johnson&rsquo;s goal total were two in the 4-3 upset win over the Soviet Union and the winning goals in games against Czechoslovakia and Norway.</p><p>Johnson signed a three-year contract with the Penguins following the Olympics. The pact was estimated at $65,000 per year in addition to a signing bonus.</p><p>In 17 regular season games after joining the Penguins, Johnson scored three goals and added five assists. He tallied his first two in Winnipeg after going scoreless in his first nine NHL games and not dressing the previous game.</p><p>Johnson&rsquo;s other regular season goal was scored at home against Hartford, for which he received a standing ovation from the Civic Arena fans.</p><p>But after reporting to Pittsburgh following the emotional high of the Olympic win, not to mention a loss of weight on his small frame because of the flu, Johnson saved his best game as a professional for the Stanley Cup playoffs.</p><p>Johnson warmed the bench for much of the first period as the Penguins opened the preliminary round in Boston against the Bruins, but on his first shift in the second, he scored the first of two goals when he lifted a rebound under the crossbar on a power Play.</p><p>His second goal turned out to be the game winner, in the Penguins&rsquo; 4-2 upset over the highly favored Bruins. Early in the third period Johnson stole the puck from Boston center Jean Ratelle and fed Rick Kehoe a pass that triggered a two-on-one.</p><p>Kehoe lured defenseman Mike Milbury to him and deftly slid the puck past a lunging goaltender Gerry Cheevers onto Johnson&rsquo;s stick. Mark tapped the puck into the open net to give the Penguins a surprising 3-0 lead.</p><p>&ldquo;I got lucky&rdquo; Johnson said modestly after the game. &ldquo;My game was not my doing&mdash;my teammates accounted for it.&rdquo;</p><p>However, his coach and his teammates felt differently.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good hockey player,&rdquo; said coach Johnny Wilson. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s got a keen sense for the net and he checks.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just coming on and starting to play the way he can,&rdquo; said fellow center Gregg Sheppard. &ldquo;He was physically and emotionally drained after the Olympics and he&rsquo;s just starting to get his strength back.&rdquo;</p><p>Johnson suffered a bruised shoulder in the game, but his reputation as a big game player, acquired in the Olympics was rapidly transformed into one of a money player, now that he has turned professional.</p><p><b>PENGUIN TRACKS:</b> The Penguins had those award winners: Rookie of the Year, Paul Marshall; Unsung Hero, Russ Anderson; Outstanding Defenseman, Ron Stackhouse; Player&rsquo;s Player, Rick Kehoe; Booster Club Three Star Award, George Ferguson, Most Valuable Player, George Ferguson; and Balmer Award (for contributing to hockey in Pittsburgh) Mark Johnson.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Johnson Enhances Reputation As Superb Clutch Player

<p class="dropcap"><b><span>B</span>UFFALO&mdash;Scotty Bowman became the most winningest hockey coach in Stanley Cup playoff history after his Buffalo Sabres won the first two games of their quarterfinal playoff series with the Chicago Black Hawks.</b></p><p>Bowman went into the best-of-seven series against the Hawks with 99 coaching wins in his career, two behind the late Dick Irvin. After the Sabres defeated the Hawks 5-0 and 6-4 it raised Bowman&rsquo;s record to 101, the most in cup history.</p><p>Bowman&rsquo;s playoff record with St. Louis, Montreal and Buffalo stands at 101 wins and 55 losses for a winning percentage of .647, second only to Toe Blake&rsquo;s .689 (among coaches with 65 or more Stanley Cup playoff contests). Bowman has coached five cup winners and has reached the finals eight times in his previous 12 NHL seasons. Blake had eight cup winning teams and recorded 82 playoff wins in a 13-year coaching career. No one has won more cups than Blake.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Sabres have wound up their fifth quarterfinal last six seasons. They were eliminated by the Pittsburgh Penguins in last year&rsquo;s preliminary round. Buffalo has only been in the semifinal round once in the last 10 NHL seasons. They have been ousted four times in quarterfinal play while winning twice&mdash;both times against Chicago in 1975 and 1980. The Sabres reached the semifinal round in 1975 and defeated Montreal in a big upset before losing to Philadelphia in the cup final.</p><p>The Chicago Black Hawks ended a Stanley Cup record losing streak of 16 games when they defeated St. Louis in their preliminary round opener. The victory for Chicago was actually their first since 1975 when they defeated Boston in an opening round series. This was Chicago&rsquo;s 22nd quarterfinal round playoff appearance, leaving the Hawks with a record of 10 wins and 12 losses. They had been beaten in their last four quarterfinal outings prior to meeting Buffalo. They have now lost against Buffalo in 1975 and 1980, Montreal in 1976, Boston in 1978 and the New York Islanders in 1979. Veteran goaltender Tony Esposito was on the &lsquo;75 team and so were five other members of the current Black Hawks&mdash;Grant Mulvey, Cliff Koroll, Alain Daigle, John Marks and J.P. Bordeleau.</p><p>The Philadelphia Flyers are performing in their eighth straight quarterfinal playoff series. With their preliminary round win over Edmonton, the Flyers have been involved in 22 series and have won 14 of them. Their two overtime victories in the Edmonton series brought their overtime record to 14 wins, and eight losses in 22 games. The Flyers have also won four of their last five overtime playoff games since 1977.</p><p>The Flyers also posted their 110th Stanley Cup playoff win when they won the first game of their quarterfinal series against the Rangers. The Flyers have won 57 times and lost 52 in previous quarterfinal series.</p><p>Flyers&rsquo; great center Bobby Clarke also reached a milestone when he played in his 100th playoff game. He went into the series against the Rangers with 86 career points. His overtime goal against Edmonton was also his third playoff game winner in the sudden-death period for the Flyers. The retired Maurice Richard holds the record. The Rocket scored six overtime winners.</p><p>This is the 21st time that the Canadiens have played in a quarterfinal series and ninth straight season. They have a record of 11 victories and nine quarterfinal series defeats, their last loss being against the New York Rangers in 1974. With their 18 goals scored against Hartford, Canadiens have 1,300 goals in Stanley Cup play, 414 goals more than the 886 scored by Boston. Canadiens&rsquo; two home-ice victories in the opening round against Hartford gave them a total of 29 wins in their last 32 home-ice contests, dating back to 1975. Including their season-ending 21-game undefeated streak, Montreal had gone 24 games (18 wins and six ties) without losing, their last defeat being Feb. 19, against the Washington Capitals.</p><p>Minnesota&rsquo;s 3-0 win over the Canadiens in the first game of the quarterfinals stopped the Canadiens&rsquo; long playoff streak.</p><p>This is the sixth consecutive season that the Islanders have been in a quarterfinal series and they are attempting to make the semifinals for the fifth time in the last six seasons. The only time Islanders have been defeated in a quarterfinal round was 1978 when the Toronto Maple Leafs eliminated them in seven games, with the final loss coming in overtime.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01875/4696316-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="536" height="884"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s Buffalo Sabres made him the No. 1 winning coach in Stanley Cup playoff competition when they beat the Black Hawks this past week. Bowman passed the late Dick Irvin with his 101st playoff win.</i></figcaption></div><p>Defenseman Ken Morrow&rsquo;s overtime goal in the third game of the Islanders&rsquo; opening round against Los Angeles brought the team&rsquo;s overtime record to nine wins in 12 games.</p><p>This is Minnesota&rsquo;s first quarterfinal appearance since 1973 when they were defeated by Philadelphia. North Stars were the first post-1967 team to defeat one of the six pre-1967 teams when they defeated Montreal Canadiens twice during their 1971 semifinal series, the only time the teams have met in playoff action. Their three-game playoff winning streak matched a club record set during the 1971 quarterfinals when they defeated St. Louis in six games.</p><p>Including their final five regular-season home contests, the North Stars won six and tied one of their last seven home games. Their overall Stanley Cup record, prior to the quarterfinals, stands at 23 wins and 27 losses in 50 games with 150 goals scored and 153 against.</p><p>Last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup finalists are appearing in their 19th quarterfinal series and have an excellent record of winning 12 of their previous 18 quarterfinal rounds. They defeated Philadelphia last season in a five-game quarterfinal. Rangers moved their all-time Stanley Cup playoff record to 106 wins, 112 losses and five ties by defeating Atlanta Flames in their preliminary round series. Goaltender John Davidson, hero of last year&rsquo;s squad, had an excellent series against Atlanta as he posted a 1.99 goals-against average in the four contests. Center Ulf Nilsson, who missed most of last season&rsquo;s playoffs with an injury, led the Rangers against Atlanta with six assists while Anders Hedberg counted three goals. Center Phil Esposito had two goals in the Atlanta series which increased his career playoff totals to 60 goals and 73 assists for 133 points, fifth on the all-time Stanley Cup scoring list. His 60 goals rank seventh on the all-time list, one fewer than Jacques Lemaire&rsquo;s 61 goals. Bobby Hull ranks fifth with 62 goals while Yvan Cournoyer had 64 goals for fourth place. All this was prior to the quarterfinals for Espo.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01361/4696309-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="598" height="982"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>John Davidson</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0017-01

Bowman Top Playoff Winning Coach In NHL

<div class="byline">BY ARNOLD IRISH</div><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>n their only playoff game on home ice, the Blues were flat. As they had in both games at Chicago, the Black Hawks scored first and generally controlled play. St. Louis didn&rsquo;t spoil Tony Esposito&rsquo;s shutout until Bernie Federko turned on the red light with the hosts down 3-0 and only 4:23 remaining.</p><p><b>The Blues were the NHL&rsquo;s most improved team, climbing from 48 points to 80&mdash;a plus-32 rating.</b></p><p>The goal was the series&rsquo; first point for Federko, who during the regular season tied for 10th place in the National Hockey League scoring race. Bernie&rsquo;s usually prolific linemate, team captain Brian Sutter, was held scoreless in the three-game series. Ironically, Brian&rsquo;s younger brother Darryl scored the winning goal in the series&rsquo; final game.</p><p>It was close-but-no-cigar for the Blues, who lost one goal when a shot by Wayne Babych hit the crossbar and had another nullified by an offside call after Larry Pa-tey took a breakaway pass, put some nice moves on Esposito and beat the Hawks&rsquo; goalie.</p><p>&ldquo;Things just didn&rsquo;t go right,&rdquo; Berenson said. &ldquo;We never got our game together. Babych&rsquo;s shot hit the crossbar and bounced out of the building. A goal on that play would have given us a lift. I thought having (defenseman Bryan) Maxwell back would help, but the team never responded.&rdquo;</p><p>Maxwell, who had missed six games with stretched knee ligaments, gave the Checkerdome crowd one of its few opportunities to cheer early in Game Three when he gave the visitors&rsquo; Terry Ruskowski a short course in street fighting. But it was Mazwell who was off the ice (for interference) when Darryl Sutter scored the goal that stood up as the winner.</p><p>While the Blues were despondent about their hasty exit from the playoffs, they had much to be proud of during the regular season.</p><p>&bull; They were the NHL&rsquo;s most improved team, climbing in a year&rsquo;s time from 48 points to 80 for a plus-32 rating (next in line were Buffalo, plus-22; Philadelphia, plus-21, and Minnesota, plus-20).</p><p>&bull; Liut, in his first NHL season (he&rsquo;d played two years for Cincinnati in the now-defunct World Hockey Association), led the league in victories with 32. One of the brightest newcomers in the NHL, he&rsquo;s only going to get better.</p><p>&bull; Thanks to Liut and veteran defenseman Ed Kea, who proved a steadying influence in the backline, the Blues reduced their goals-against from last season&rsquo;s 348 (worst in the NHL) to 278.</p><p>&bull; Federko scored 94 points, his second straight season with more than 90, and further established himself as one of the NHL&rsquo;s top playmaking centers.</p><p>&bull; Babych defied the sophomore jinx with a big year (61 points), Mike Zuke proved with 64 points that he&rsquo;s definitely NHL calibre and Blair Chapman (51 points) added punch to the offense.</p><p>&bull; Defenseman Jack Brownsc-hidle set club records for points (44) and assists (32) by a backliner.</p><p>&bull; And rookie Perry Turnbull, the Blues&rsquo; No. 1 draft choice, written off as a flop after scoring only four goals in his first 60 games, finished strong with 12 in his last 20.</p><p>Many had guffawed last summer when Brian Sutter predicted the Blues, who a year ago won only 18 games, would win 30. Although his goal production slipped, Sutter was in all ways a leader as they finished 34-34-12.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Playoff ‘Whiff Doesn’t Tarnish Blues’ Success

<h2><b>BRYAN TROTTIER&hellip;N. Y. Islanders</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><b><span>B</span>ryan Trottier hasn&rsquo;t been one of hockey&rsquo;s overly productive scorers in playoff action. In fact, in the past two years the tiny Islander has scored only twice in 17 games. It&rsquo;s a record that no doubt had been haunting Trottier&mdash;until the 1980 playdowns.</b></p><p><b>The Islanders&rsquo; top scoring center has taken definite steps to improve his playoff productivity as he showed this past week in three games against the Boston Bruins. Trottier scored three times and helped set up five other goals for a stellar performance that lifted the Islanders into a commanding 3-0 lead in their quarterfinal playoff series with the Bruins.</b></p><p><b>Trottier&rsquo;s three goals, coupled with three in the preliminary round, raised his output to six in only five games. Prior to this year he had a lifetime record of only five goals and 22 assists in 42 games. If the Islanders go all the way to the Cup finals, Trottier could possibly surpass his career mark in a single playoff season. He already had 12 points to his credit as we went to press.</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

NHL Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01894/4696371-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="560" height="1026"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Eri Crha fashioned a better than .500 record for Toronto&mdash;Despite his unorthodox style.</i></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>ORONTO&mdash;To say that the Toronto Maple Leafs of 1979-80 vintage were offensive is not to imply that Harold Ballard&rsquo;s brigade were without their moments during the 80-game regular season and their rather hasty three-game exit from the playoffs.</p><p>After all, how else do you explain a team which broke two key team records during the course of the regular season? Not only did the Leafs score the most goals in one season by a Toronto club&mdash;304&mdash;but they also allowed the opposition clubs the most goals in team history as well&mdash;327. Now <i>that&rsquo;s</i> offensive.</p><p>What the Leafs were trying to accomplish was to restructure a relatively slow-skating, defensive-minded club into a sprinting offensive machine which could wear down and then pull away from opponents.</p><p>Numerous trades later, the Leafs joined the Hartford Whalers and the Edmonton Oilers as postseason non-winners, but you&rsquo;ll have a hard time convincing general manager Punch Imlach&mdash;and a great many other people who know hockey&mdash;that Toronto isn&rsquo;t at least on the right path with the caliber of players they have added to their rooster.</p><p>But before looking ahead to next season, let&rsquo;s allow for the digestion of the recently completed season with a potpourri of highlights and lowlights. For example:</p><p><b>MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE:</b> Had to be Jiri Crha, who came from nowhere, and that&rsquo;s not a city in Czechoslovakia, to prove himself a capable if unorthodox NHL goalie. In training camp, Crha didn&rsquo;t look like he could stop a beachball, let alone pronounce it. After hanging in limbo for a while he was finally given the chance to play in Moncton at the Leafs&rsquo; farm club and impressed enough to earn a try at the big league job when the Leafs&rsquo; went through four goalies within a few weeks and wound up with three of them injured. Crha, who turned 30 two days after the Leafs&rsquo; season ended with a 4-3 loss in overtime to Minnesota, faced a heavy barrage of shots with the Leafs&rsquo; inconsistent defense in front of him, but did an extremely fine job in winning eight of 15 decisions.</p><p>Defenseman Dave Farrish also deserves a mention for his solid body-checking and all-around defensive abilities. Although the Quebec Nordiques thought he couldn&rsquo;t make their club, he did a standout job for the Leafs until he sprained his ankle near the end of the year.</p><p><b>BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT:</b> Ian Turnbull had an abysmal first half and only showed flashes of brilliance in the second half of a season he&rsquo;d like to forget. The harder he tried the more he seemed to fail and he finished up with far and away the worst plusminus record on the club. Ian even had his restaurant disappear around the corner from Maple Leaf Gardens.</p><p>Mike Palmateer is another who won&rsquo;t count 1979-80 among the treasured memories of his career. Like Turnbull, he too had some bright spots but his 16-14-3 won-lost-tied mark and goals against average of 3.68 were not up to previous standards.</p><p><b>BEST SECOND HALF:</b> Darryl Sittler let nothing get in the way of his on-ice accomplishments as he tallied 27 goals in the final 40 games of the season to reach the 40-goal mark and total 97 points, his third-best season statistically.</p><p><b>PUNCH&rsquo;S TRADES:</b> All told, the Leafs came away about three years younger and quite a bit faster in the various exchanges of players this season. Pat Hickey and Wilf Paiement did outscore Lanny McDonald, who was dispatched to Colorado, along with defenseman Joel Quenneville, who really was the more difficult of the two players to replace. Hickey and Paiement are glad to be back in the thick of hockey action, too, enjoying the tumult in Toronto more than the doldrums in Denver. Rick Vaive and Bill Derlago, obtained from Vancouver for Tiger Williams and Jerry Butler, are both promising, young scorers, and most people agree that the Leafs fared better in that trade. But Imlach&rsquo;s best trade was with Quebec, when he got Farrish and winger Terry Martin&mdash;who was merely the Leafs&rsquo; best playoff performer&mdash;in exchange for Reg Thomas. Both Farrish and Martin should continue to help the Leafs considerably. Imlach&rsquo;s worst deal was sending Pat Boutette to Hartford, where he showed extremely well playing a regular shift, in return for Bob Stephenson, who spent most of the year in the minors. Getting Richard Mulhern and Curt Ridley on waivers were also favorable purchases.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-01

Crha A Pleasant Maple Leaf Surprise

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01850/4696457-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Yvon Lambert of the Montreal Canadiens is a happy man as he throws up his arms and stick after scoring in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The veteran left winger has become the top goal scorer of the 1980 playoffs, with eight.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Ian MacAlpine)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Olympian Breaks Leg</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>R</span>OCHESTER&mdash;Eric Strobel, one of 10 members of the winning U.S. Olympic hockey team who turned professional, found out that playing with the pros has its ups and its downs.</p><p>Strobel suffered a broken leg in the AHL playoffs while playing for the Rochester Americans against New Haven. The fast-skating winger signed a pro tryout contract with the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL along with John Harrington right after the Olympic Games and was assigned to Rochester to gain more experience.</p><h2><b>Nordiques Add Muscle</b></h2><p>QUEBEC CITY&mdash;The Quebec Nordiques, who claim they were accused by many people of being intimidated by other NHL teams, took steps to correct the situation by signing left winger Yves Dandu-rand to a pro contract.</p><p>What makes Dandurand different from other players is the fact he stands 6&rsquo;3&rdquo; and weighs 212 pounds and to prove he can handle himself, the rookie logged 397 penalty minutes in only 52 games. He shared the 1979-80 season between Milwaukee of the IHL and Birmingham of the CHL.</p><p>Birmingham coach John Brophy called Dandurand the &lsquo;meanest player he ever coached&rsquo;. He ran up 116 penalty minutes in 14 games with the bulls in the CHL.</p><h2><b>Canucks Eye Gregory</b></h2><p>VANCOUVER&mdash;Jim Gregory could land a new executive role with the Vancouver Canucks next season after one year of serving as director of scouting for the NHL.</p><p>The former GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs is one of several candidates being considered for a possible new executive post with the Canucks, who are in the process of making some upper level changes in the NHL club.</p><p>Gregory has been approached about becoming assistant to general manager Jake Milford. The Canucks&rsquo; GM said he is looking for an assistant and Gregory is among several people he has talked to about taking the job.</p><p>Gregory, who is now 44, has spent the last year running the NHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau in Toronto. He was GM of the Leafs for 10 years.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02653/4696450-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="1877" height="1486"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Gilbert Perreault of the Buffalo Sabres has jumped into the lead in the Stanley Cup playoff scoring race with 13 points. The speedy Sabre center scored the winning goal as the Sabres beat the Chicago Black Hawks 3-2 to sweep their quarterfinal series.</i> <span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Robert Shaver)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Vachon Wants Trade</b></h2><p>DETROIT&mdash;Goaltender Rogatien Vachon says he wants to be traded by the Detroit Red Wings before next season.</p><p>The 34-year-old netminder asked the Wings to trade him after expressing dissatisfaction with his play the last two years. He had joined Detroit in August, 1978 after becoming a free agent. He signed a five-year contract estimated at $1.9 million but it has been all downhill since he left the Kings to come to Detroit.</p><p>This past season, Vachon&rsquo;s average was better at 3.60 compared to 3.90 in 1978-79 but he has been unhappy with his performance and thinks he would be better off playing somewhere else than in Detroit.</p><h2><b>Cherry Showdown Near</b></h2><p>DENVER&mdash;Don Cherry, the controversial coach of the Colorado Rockies, and team president Armand Pohan are headed for an apparent showdown over Cherry&rsquo;s future with the NHL club.</p><p>The two are expected to meet in Denver, where Pohan had indicated he might consider a coaching change for next season in view of the Rockies&rsquo; last place finish in the NHL this season.</p><p>Denver hockey fans are reported to be squarely in Cherry&rsquo;s corner and are demanding that he be retained as coach. He has become extremely popular with Rockies&rsquo; fans and Pohan may have to reconsider dumping him for a new coach.</p><h2><b>West Midget Champs</b></h2><p>CORNWALL&mdash;The Notre Dame College Hounds are Canada&rsquo;s newest midget champions and they won the national title the hard way&mdash;by defeating last year&rsquo;s titleholders, the Ste. Foy Governors of Quebec, in the deciding game.</p><p>The Wilcox, Sask, team won the Air Canada Cup, emblematic of Canadian midget hockey supremacy, and will represent Canada in the world midget hockey championships in Europe next fall.</p><p>The Saskatchewan representa-ives took the title away from Ste. Foy 5-1 in the championship game after beating Sault Ste. Marie Legion 5-3 to win the &lsquo;A&rsquo; division title. Ste. Foy beat the Nepean Raiders of Ottawa, 5-2 to win the &lsquo;B&rsquo; division and set up the national playoff with Notre Dame.</p><p>Gord Flegel, captain of the Notre Dame team, was chosen Most Valuable Player in the tournament.</p><h2><b>Finns Want Guarantee</b></h2><p>GOTEBORG&mdash;The Finnish Ice Hockey Federation is demanding a better deal from North American pros before allowing their top players to leave the homeland and make their mark in the NHL.</p><p>The FIHF said it is not against their players joining NHL clubs, they just want a better guarantee from the pros.</p><p>Goran Stubb, managing director of the Finnish federation, said, &ldquo;Sure, we&rsquo;re all for our players going to the NHL, but I don&rsquo;t think many more will unless we get some type of guarantee. The NHL signs our players and then sends them to the minors. I believe that we should demand that, if they don&rsquo;t make the NHL, then they should be returned to Finland where the player can benefit our national team program,&rdquo; added Stubb.</p><p>Stubb cites the cases of goalie Hannu Kampurri and winger Kari Makkonen as major reasons for the Finns&rsquo; concern. Both players signed to play with the Edmonton Oilers and ended up being optioned to the minor leagues.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-01

SLAPSHOTS

<p class="dropcap"><span>M</span>ONTREAL&mdash;Ailing Roger Doucet is feeling a lot better after receiving get well wishes from one of his biggest fans&mdash;the president of the United States.</p><p>The 60-year-old Doucet was the recipient of a get well card from Jimmy Carter as he recovered from a nine-hour brain operation to remove a tumor. Doucet said he was thrilled to think Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, remembered him.</p><p>&ldquo;It was a beautiful gesture. President Carter has class,&rdquo; said Doucet, who admitted the get well card gave him a tremendous lift in his recovery. Hospital authorities said Doucet was so pleased that he got out of bed against doctor&rsquo;s orders and gave a mini-concert for the nurses.</p><p>The message from Carter read: &ldquo;Rosalyn and I were sorry to learn of your illness. We hope you will be strengthened knowing that the thoughts and prayers of your family and friends are with you.&rdquo; It was signed simply: &ldquo;Jimmy Carter&rdquo;.</p><p>Doucet&rsquo;s agent, Ben Kaye, said the singer is making such good progress that he could possibly leave hospital in 10 days to two weeks.</p><p>Doucet had only missed one performance signing the national anthems before Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; home games at the Forum in 10 years and that was the result of a sore throat last year. His wife, Geraldine, a trained opera singer, has replaced him at Canadiens&rsquo; recent four playoff games.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Greetings From Carter Cheers Ailins Doucet

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div><p>DETROIT As reported in this space last week, Ted Lindsay is now the coach of the Detroit Red Wings.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a heckuva lot more fun coaching,&rdquo; Lindsay said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be right there, right in the action.&rdquo;</p><p>Owner Bruce Norris&rsquo; post-season re-evaluation of the hockey club resulted in a shake-up of the front office which cost Lindsay his title of general manager. He resurfaced as coach and director of player personnel. Lindsay said it was not a demotion, but a restructuring of the organization.</p><p>Louis J. Risi Jr., appointed executive vice-president by owner Norris, will direct the hockey operations.</p><p>In the new chain of command, Lindsay and Jimmy Skinner, newly-named associate director of player personnel, will answer to Risi. Skinner&rsquo;s new duties will include the coordination of player drafts, supervision of scouting and player movement within the organization and contacts with other clubs.</p><p>In other moves, Robert Cavalie-ri, son of longtime Norris confidante Lincoln Cavalieri, also a Red Wing general manager, will assume the duties of general counsel for the hockey club and will become&mdash;along with Risi&mdash;an alternative governor to the NHL&rsquo;s Board of Governors. Robert Cava-lieri&rsquo;s primary duties will include contract negotiations and assisting Risi in general hockey operations. Cavalieri, 32, moved into the Red Wing front office last May.</p><p>The Wings also announced Marcel Pronovost, hired late in the season, will remain as an assistant coach to Lindsay. Al Blade, formerly general manager of the Johnstown Red Wings of the Eastern Hockey League has been appointed director of marketing and promotions for the club. He replaced the popular and hard-working Al Coates, who was a victim of the shake-up.</p><p>&ldquo;We had talked about the change and discussed it,&rdquo; Lindsay said. &ldquo;I said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll just become coach.&rsquo; There were no objections to it from the board&mdash;the panel of Lou and Mr. Norris. So I was pleased that they accepted it.</p><p>&ldquo;We had talked about it periodically. For instance, the conversation of &lsquo;What would you do under certain circumstances? Would you coach?&rsquo; I love the game. I had no objections.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Everything is the same as before when I was general manager,&rdquo; Lindsay said, &ldquo;except we&rsquo;ve gone into a corporate structure type of thing and I won&rsquo;t be signing players.</p><p>&ldquo;They gave me the title of director of player personnel. Jimmy (Skinner) is my assistant, same as when I was general manager. He&rsquo;ll be involved in more work, although I&rsquo;ll try not to give him too much. After all, he&rsquo;s up there in years. He has great knowledge. When I can&rsquo;t get to a general manager&rsquo;s meeting, that&rsquo;s when he&rsquo;ll go. There will be some meetings I&rsquo;ll miss because I&rsquo;ll be coaching.&rdquo;</p><p>As a player, Lindsay was tough, feisty and mean. And as a coach?</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be very positive, very fair and very firm,&rdquo; Lindsay said. &ldquo;I think I know all the players well.</p><p>&ldquo;I scouted most of them in junior. I&rsquo;m a firm believer that you must be fair, firm and consistent. The players must know what the direction is, what you expect from them. I won&rsquo;t ask the impossible, but I want their best.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02472/4696543-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="614" height="1024"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Ted Lindsay intends to be fair, firm and consistent as coach of the Red Wings.</i></figcaption></div><p>Lindsay said his coaching won&rsquo;t be styled after anyone in particular.</p><p>&ldquo;A man has to be himself,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I will not be anybody else, only myself, as to what I believe hockey should be.</p><p>&ldquo;I believe in forechecking, physical hockey; not goon hockey, but contact. I believe in positional play, not the defenseman rushing down the ice.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-02

Red Wings Take Corporate Approach

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE WARRINER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01688/4696512-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>When the Whalers lost captain Rick Ley before the start of the playoffs, the entire mood of the team changed and they were quickly eliminated by Montreal.</i></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>H</span>ARTFORD&mdash;In four out of seven encounters this year, the Montreal Canadiens were unable to beat the Whalers in regulation time, yet Hartford ended the 197980 season with an 0-4-3 record against the Montreal entry.</p><p>Heading into the Stanley Cup playoff preliminary round the Whalers suffered no delusions of grandeur about beating the defending Cup champions. They had proven, however, that they could at least skate with the Canadiens.</p><p>During the regular season Montreal and Hartford had battled to three ties&mdash;two of them in the Forum. The fourth contest was a 72 thumping administered by the Montrealers at the Springfield Civic Center.</p><p>After losing three straight playoff tilts to the defending champs, the Whalers had only one regret. They had been deprived of an opportunity to show how good a team they were. The series may have been considerably tighter&mdash;and perhaps longer&mdash;if the Hartford crew could have dressed their full complement.</p><p>Thirty three-goal scorer Jordy Douglas had suffered a separated shoulder in the final road game of the season and was, therefore, unavailable for the playoffs. And in the two days between the regular season finale and the first period of Game Number One of the playoffs, the Whalers came up with three more key injuries. First, third line center/left wing Greg Carroll jammed his heel, putting him out for the short series. Carroll&rsquo;s chief value was in taking important faceoffs and killing penalties. As it turned out, the Whalers lost many key faceoffs.</p><p>Next to go was captain Rick Ley. During the morning skate prior to Game One, Ley caught his skate in a rut and wrenched his knee. The team had been loose and seemingly ready for their Stanley Cup debut that night but the mood quickly changed when it was learned that Ley&rsquo;s injury was severe enough to sideline him for the series. His teammates harkened back to an earlier injury that had sidelined their captain for several games. At that time, the team went into a real tailspin.</p><p>The crowning blow came in the last minute of play in the first period of the opener when 56-goal scorer Blaine Stoughton caught a blade as he was being checked. X-rays showed that Stoughton had broken his ankle and would be wearing a cast long after the Stanley Cup final in late May.</p><p>Stoughton&rsquo;s injury broke up the Whalers&rsquo; high-powered line of Stash, Dash, and Bash&mdash;Stoughton, Mike Rogers and Pat Bou-tette. The Hartford team just didn&rsquo;t have enough depth at this stage of their development to fill many gaps, never mind such a gaping hole.</p><p>And so it was that Whaler fans never did get the kind of series matchup they had hoped to see. The first two games at the Forum were wipeouts. But the third&mdash;and what turned out to be the final game of the preliminary series&mdash;was all that they could ask for. Even though the Whalers lost early in the first period of overtime, the faithful went home realizing that they&rsquo;d seen a fine contest&mdash;and a valiant effort by their favorites.</p><p>The only regret&mdash;it would have been nice to see what the Whalers could have done with all their front-line troops in the fray. As it was, the Hartford crew merely became victims in the Canadiens&rsquo; lengthening undefeated string which had run to 24 games when the lights went out at the Hartford Civic Center.</p><p>A curious statistic popped up at season&rsquo;s end. Although the Whalers were the least penalized team in the National Hockey League this year, they were forced to skate shorthanded 33 more times than they were given the man-advantage. They were shorthanded 249 times but had a man-advantage only 216 times.</p><p>Over the last half of the season the Whalers&rsquo; record was 17-14-9, which included a winless stretch of ten games in which they were 0-55. Hartford had the eighth-best record on home ice of all NHL teams, and a 9-5-4 record since returning to the re-roofed Hartford Civic Center on February 6.</p><p>Centerman Mike Rogers finished fifth in the NHL scoring race with 105 points. Never before, in four years in the World Hockey Association, had Mike finished higher than 13th in the scoring race. (Seventy-two points did the trick last year.)</p><p>Both Rogers and Stoughton will be negotiating new contracts with Whalers&rsquo; director of hockey operations Jack Kelley this summer, so they chose good years to hit the century mark in point-scoring.</p><p>Stoughton&rsquo;s negotiating power may be somewhat diminished by the broken ankle he suffered early in the playoffs, but the word from the physician after viewing the X-rays, was that the fracture should in no way inhibit Blaine&rsquo;s play next year.</p><p>Captain Rick Ley was awarded the Budweiser Cup as the Whalers most valuable defenseman, it was the third straight year that Ley copped the award voted by the media.</p><p>The Three-Star Award went to sharpshooter &lsquo;Stash&rsquo; Stoughton. The media&rsquo;s vote for Unsung Hero ended in a tie, so the prize was split between Pat Boutette and Defenseman Larry Giroux. The two joined Hartford just before the halfway mark, but contributed greatly to the Whalers&rsquo; success down the stretch.</p><p>While handing out accolades, Jack Kelley deserves mention for stealing the two unsungs. Boutette came over from Toronto for minor leaguer Bob Stephenson, and Giroux was picked up on waivers from St. Louis.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-01

Major Losses In Personnel Sank Whalers In Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY PAT DOYLE</div><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>INNIPEG&mdash;From September 1977 until late January 1980, Markus Mattsson had been travelling a long and winding road that seemed to be leading to nowhere.</p><p>A native of Finland, Mattsson&rsquo;s first stop in North America was Winnipeg and the World Hockey Association, then Tulsa of the Central League, then Quebec of the WHA, then back to Winnipeg, then off to Tulsa again, then back to Winnipeg&hellip;</p><p>And that&rsquo;s where the road ends: Winnipeg and the National Hockey League.</p><p>The 22-year-old Mattsson has signed a two-year (plus an option year) contract with the Winnipeg Jets, and it&rsquo;s reasonably safe to say he doesn&rsquo;t have to worry about any more trips to the minors. Or any more trades.</p><p>In announcing the signing, Winnipeg general manager John Ferguson called Mattsson his &ldquo;goaltender of the future. The way he played toward the end of this last year, particularly in his last six games. I think it&rsquo;s safe to say that Markus has arrived as a quality NHL goaltender.&rdquo;</p><p>In his final half dozen starts of the 1979-80 season, Mattsson allowed just 13 goals and registered a shutout against the Hartford Whalers. It was the second zero during his 21-game stay in Winnipeg, the first coming at the expense of the New York Islanders on Long Island. Mattsson&rsquo;s strong finish dropped his goals-against average to 3.25 at the end of the year.</p><p>&ldquo;It was a bit disappointing to be sent to Tulsa at the start,&rdquo; admitted Mattsson, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m happy with the way it ended.&rdquo;</p><p>The 1979-80 season actually typified Mattson&rsquo;s three-year professional career, which has been an exercise in patience. He joined the Jets for the 1977-78 WHA season, but he was the third-man in a goaltending triangle which included veterans Joe Daley and Gary Bromley. Rather than have him sit around twiddling his thumbs, Winnipeg management optioned Mattsson to Tulsa that same season, but there was a guy named Glen Hanlon there already so Mattsson was a spectator more than anything else. He probably would have spent the remainder of the term in Tulsa, except the Quebec Nordiques ran out of goaltenders late in the season and they sent out an SOS to Winnipeg. The Jets sold Mattsson to Quebec, but he bombed out there in six games, posting a horrendous 6.77 GA average.</p><p>The following year, Mattsson became the No. 1 goaler in Winnipeg and played in 51 games. Most of those games, however, were prior to the arrival of Gary Smith, who assumed the role as the Jets&rsquo; main man in goal late in the season and played in each of the club&rsquo;s 10 playoffs, with Daley serving in that capacity.</p><p>Which brings us to the 1979-80 term. Mattsson began the season on the Jets&rsquo; farm in Tulsa, where he stood the Central League on its ear with a brilliant 2.81 goals against average. He finally got the call to join the big club in late January and there was no budging him after his arrival.</p><p>Ferguson claims he initially sent Mattsson to Tulsa as a protective measure.</p><p>&ldquo;We knew he would be exposed to a tremendous amount of work in Winnipeg,&rdquo; says Ferguson. &ldquo;We thought he would lose his confidence if he stayed.&rdquo;</p><p>It was a wise precaution, because the Jets&rsquo; goaltending duo of Smith and Pierre Hamel did face an incredible number of shots early in the season. The workload was so heavy, in fact, that not even the veteran Smith could cope with it and he eventually faded away the Central League.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01514/4696574-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="545" height="855"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Markus Mattsson paid his duties in the minors this year and ready to become a Jets&rsquo; main stay.</i></figcaption></div><p>So, Mattsson paid his dues spending half a year in the mino and both he and the Jets are better off for it.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0021-01

Jets’ Mattsson Content To Stay Put

<div class="byline">BY JIM MATHESON</div><p class="dropcap"><span>E</span>DMONTON&mdash;The Oilers&rsquo;-season officially ended April 11 when the team lost a heart-breaking double overtime playoff game to the Philadelphia Flyers. But there&rsquo;s been no rest for the weary.</p><p>Before the team members could split to Hawaii or home to Ontario, where half the club seems to come from, they had to go to the University of Alberta. They didn&rsquo;t need any books. Just a good heart, strong legs and no fat.</p><p>With assistant coach Dave Dryden&rsquo;s prodding, each and every Oiler underwent a rigorous two-hour testing session to determine (a) their heart and lung capacity, (b) whether they had one leg or side stronger than the other, (c) what percentage of body fat they possessed and (d) how powerful their upper body was. In short, they were trying to see what kind of overall shape they were in.</p><p>Obviously, after 80 league games, 11 exhibitions and three playoff contests, they should have been in tip-top condition. Nevertheless the tests were &ldquo;worse than double overtime&rdquo; joked Colin Campbell, who spends his summers tending to his tobacco crop at Tillsonburg and sparring (more like receiving) with lightweight boxing champ Gary Summerhays.</p><p>&ldquo;Basically we wanted to see what the players&rsquo; strengths and weaknesses were right now,&rdquo; said Dryden, who quit playing goal for Oilers last December to concentrate on videotape and teaching duties with the players. &ldquo;The staff at the U of Alberta (headed by Howie Wenger) will give them exercises to work on to try to build up their deficiencies.&rdquo;</p><p>In the fall, when the Oilers return for their second NHL season, they&rsquo;ll be tested again. They&rsquo;ll go back on the stationary bike to look at their heart rate and lung capacity. They&rsquo;ll do strenuous leg workouts. They&rsquo;ll be immersed in the University&rsquo;s watertank to see how the beers and extra grub over a summer increased their body fat.</p><p>Wenger, who also helped test the Philadelphia Flyers at the U of Ottawa in the fall of 1972, said the Oilers were &ldquo;the first club as far as he could remember that was tested immediately after a season, then again at training camp.&rdquo;</p><p>It&rsquo;s not a new set-up for pro hockey squads, however. Apart from the Flyers, the Washington Capitals, Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens all have utilized extensive equipment at various Canadian schools.</p><p>&ldquo;What I found interesting with the Oilers,&rdquo; said Wenger, &ldquo;is their enthusiasm to be tested. There was no prima-donna attitude. They&rsquo;d just gone through a long season, but they were eager to find out some things. I&rsquo;ll tell you one thing: Dave Dryden is like a religious leader to the players. They listen to what he says.&rdquo;</p><p>Dryden, who has teaching papers, was apparently instrumental in getting the players to &ldquo;feel it was for their benefit.&rdquo; Alberta athletic director Ed Zenrau had mentioned to coach Glen Sather that the equipment was at their disposal when the Oilers trained at the school for a week last fall. It wasn&rsquo;t the first time the Oilers had used it, mind you. When they were interested in signing some Portland Winterhawk juniors in 1978, they took Larry Playfair (Buffalo) and Wayne Babych (St. Louis) among others down for a workout. They didn&rsquo;t sign anyone, but at least they got to see the goods before bidding.</p><p>Dryden indicated that individual findings probably wouldn&rsquo;t be made public. But center Wayne Gretzky may have the quickest recovery rate of them all. He had a heart beat of 183 midway through the strenuous bike test and two minutes later it was down to a calm 60. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s fantastic,&rdquo; raved Wenger.</p><p>Brett Callighen, who has a body that&rsquo;s &ldquo;hard as a tabletop&rdquo; undoubtedly had the least body fat. Defenseman Lee Fogolin, who doesn&rsquo;t look like a strongman, might be. He one-handed more forwards into the boards than any other Oiler this season.</p><p>The players will be running long distances, cycling, swimming or playing tennis over the summer as part of the exercise regimen. They might find time to do some skating, too.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Post-Season Tests Check Oilers’ Shape

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01575/4696629-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="557" height="1100"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Doug Halward set a scoring record for Kings&rsquo; defensement with 56 points despite missing 17 games.</i></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>OS ANGELES&mdash;Their effort in the playoffs notwithstanding, the regular season just past was the most disappointing for the Kings in many years. Six games above .500 at mid-season, they sagged to finish six under.</p><p>Following a 19-13-8 first half, they had an 11-23-6 second half to finish at 30-36-14 for 1979-80&mdash;the worst half-season and season they have had in eight years, since the 1971-72 campaign. It was only the second sub-.500 season the Kings have had in seven seasons.</p><p>The Kings record at home, 1813-9, was moderately respectable, but their road record, 12-23-5, was the worst in seven years, since the 1972-73 season.</p><p>Considering that they were coming off a .500 season, had a veteran team, and had added three choices from the first two rounds of the draft for the first time, they had to be considered a disappointment.</p><p>A stretch in which they won only two of 17 games and seven of 31 destroyed their record. Losing only the last two games of their last ten enabled the team to rally a little and the deals that brought Billy Harris, Dave Lewis, and Jerry Korab to the club late in the season tightened the defense drastically.</p><p><b>Considering they were coming off a .500 season and had added three draft choices&hellip;the Kings were disappointing.</b></p><p>The Kings scored 290 goals, but gave up 313. Nine teams scored more goals. Only three gave up more.</p><p>The Kings finished second, far behind Montreal, in their Norris Division, and only 12th among the 21 teams in the league.</p><p>They salvaged some individual honors, but even these were tainted.</p><p>At mid-season, the first line of Marcel Dionne, Charlie Simmer, and Dave Taylor had 101 goals, far ahead of the league-record pace of the Islanders&rsquo; Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, and Clark Gillies when they scored 151 last season.</p><p>But then injuries struck. Dionne wound up playing every game, but Simmer missed 16, Taylor 19. The line wound up with 146 goals, five short of the record.</p><p>Simmer scored two goals on the Kings&rsquo; last night of the season, a Saturday night, to finish with 56. The next night, Danny Gare of Buffalo and Blaine Stoughton of Hartford each scored two to finish in a tie with Simmer for the league lead. But the other two didn&rsquo;t miss the games that Simmer did.</p><p>Wayne Gretzky of Edmonton was finished with 137 points, when Dionne picked up two assists on his last night to tie Gretzky for the league scoring title. Dionne was awarded his first Art Ross Trophy because he had more goals (53).</p><p>Gretzky edged Dionne for the league lead in assists, 86 to 84. Simmer had 45 assists to finish seventh in league scoring with 101 points. Taylor finished with 37-5390. It was a great line, but injuries stopped it from being even greater.</p><p>Mike Murphy, who wound up with 68 points, had 27 goals, Steve Jensen 21. After that there was a tremendous dropoff to Glenn Gol-dup with 10, Steve Carlson nine, Dean Hopkins eight, Andre St. Laurent six, Bert Wilson four and Don Howse and John Paul Kelly two each.</p><p>Before he was traded, Butch Goring had 20 goals, 48 assists, and 68 points. Billy Harris wound up with 19 goals, 18 assists, and 37 points, but only four goals and three assists with the Kings.</p><p>Despite missing 17 games with injuries, defenseman Doug Hal-ward had a dynamite season. He scored 11 goals, assisted on 45 and totalled 56 points. Gary Sargent&rsquo;s team-record 15 goals by a defenseman still stands, but Halward set team records for assists and points by a defenseman.</p><p>Rob Palmer chipped in with four goals and 36 assists for 40 points. Halward finished fourth and Palmer sixth in total points on the team. Clearly, a lot of forwards contributed little offensively.</p><p>On the other hand, the defense did not do a good job until Lewis and Korab arrived.</p><p>Young goaltenders Mario Lessard and Doug Keans played inconsistently, but also with little support. Lessard wound up at 1822-7 with a goals-against average above 3.9. Keans concluded at 3-3-3 and 2.4. The forgotten man, Ron Grahame, finished at 9-11-4, 4.1.</p><p>The writers voted Dionne MVP. The fans voted Dionne most popular, Simmer most inspirational, Taylor most aggressive, Halward best defenseman, Jay Wells best rookie, and Murphy the unsung hero.</p><p>Attendance rose slightly over last season from 399,696 total to 417,747, from an average of 9,932 a game to 10,444. Three times in the mid-70s the attendance averaged well above 12,000 a game and even that wasn&rsquo;t good enough.</p><p>Owner Jerry Buss extended the contracts of manager George Maguire and coach Bob Berry into next season and all three have their work cut out for them to get this team ready for its 14th season.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0022-01

Kings Shone As Individuals Only

<div class="byline">BY STEVE WINTER</div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>hus was not the case, however, &ldquo;spite the league&rsquo;s fifth best record overall (14-9-5) since All Star break; and while many of the players scattered for such faraway destinations as New Westminster, B.C., and Westlock, Alb., coach-Gary Green and general manager Max McNab set out in search of insurance that would prevent the 1979-80 season from ever repeating itself.</p><p>A quick look back on the record books, though, reveals an alarming number of positive accomplishments garnered by the NHL&rsquo;s 17th best team. Most notable, of course, was the club&rsquo;s overall record, 2740-13 for 67 points, which breaks the old mark of 63 established last season under then-coach Danny Belisle.</p><p>Many more positive records were set as well. Below is a listing of both team and individual record accomplishments set by the 1979-80 Washington Capitals, with the previous mark in paranthesis:</p><h2><b>INDIVIDUAL RECORDS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02430/4696688-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="509" height="876"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03338/4696681-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="589" height="869"></div><h2>TEAM RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04251/4696674-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="583" height="564"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05208/4696667-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="608" height="541"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02415/4696660-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="593" height="457"></div><p><b>CAPSHOTS:</b> Five Capitals finished in the &ldquo;black&rdquo; on the plusminus ratings this season. They were Mike Gartner (+ 17), Alan Hangeleben and Pat Ribble (+2), Dennis Maruk and Ryan Walter (+ 1). Only Walter and Bengt Gustafsson played the full 80-game Capitals schedule, while three of last year&rsquo;s 28-goal scorers, Dennis Maruk, Bob Sirois and Guy Charron, missed a total of 131 mangames. On the year, the club was hit with 356 man-games lost to injuries. The 1979-80 Cups set yet another club record with 11 players scoring 10 or more goals.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0022-02

Caps Comforted By Slew Of Records

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div><p>CHICAGO&mdash;He is going into retirement as one of Chicago&rsquo;s alltime great athletes.</p><p>His peers include Ernie Banks, Hack Wilson, Sid Luckman, Gale Sayers, and George Mikan.</p><p>When he made his anticipated retirement official on April 14, his boss-owner Bill Wirtz, said:</p><p>&ldquo;To me Stan Mikita is the greatest player ever to wear a Black Hawk uniform.</p><p>&ldquo;We will have an appropriate ceremony next fall to retire Stan&rsquo;s jersey, No. 21. It will be the first Black Hawk jersey ever retired and that&rsquo;s as it should be. No one can ever replace Stan Mikita.</p><p>&ldquo;All season long we were hoping for a miraculous cure that would solve Stan&rsquo;s terrible back problems. There just wasn&rsquo;t one.</p><p>&ldquo;But Stan didn&rsquo;t give up until he gave it one last try. When Tom Lysiak was injured in the last game of the regular season, Stan went to Eddie Johnston and offered his services for the playoffs.</p><p>&ldquo;He practiced that morning but his back stiffened an hour after he left the ice. There was no way.&rdquo;</p><p>Mikita&rsquo;s last game was Dec. 1 in Los Angeles.</p><p>&ldquo;Believe me, I&rsquo;d have used Stan in the playoffs if he&rsquo;d have been able to play,&rdquo; said coach Johnston. &ldquo;If he could have only taken faceoffs in our end, he&rsquo;d still have been a great asset.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question you&rsquo;ll see Stan instantly in the Hall of Fame come mid-June.&rdquo;</p><p>Mikita started with the Black Hawks in 1958-59, skating in three games at the end of the season.</p><p>When he hung up his skates, he had played in 1,394 regular season games&mdash;scoring 541 goals and assisting on 926 for 1,467 points.</p><p>In 155 Stanley Cup playoff contests, Mikita tallied 59 goals and 91 assists.</p><p>Only two players in the history of the NHL have accumulated more regular season points, Gordie Howe and Phil Esposito, and just two have amassed more playoff points than his total of 150, Jean Beliveau and Gordie Howe.</p><p>Mikita won four Art Ross Trophies as the NHL&rsquo;s leading scorer; two Hart Trophies as Most Valuable Player; and two Lady Byng Trophies for sportsmanship. The Lady Byngs were awarded in 1967 and 1968, the same years that he earned the Hart, an unprecedented accomplishment.</p><p>He made an incredible transformation from irascible ruffian to near-perfect gentleman to win the Byng. He spent 154 minutes in the penalty box in 1964-65 but two years later his penalty time had shriveled to 12 minutes.</p><p>&ldquo;I found out I couldn&rsquo;t fight,&rdquo; reminisced Mikita. &ldquo;And I think I grew up. One day my little daughter said to me: &lsquo;Daddy, why are you always on that bench all alone when all of the other players are sitting together?&rsquo; That kind of got through to me.&rdquo;</p><p>In addition to Wirtz and Johnston, several others paid tribute to Mikita at the retirement luncheon in Chicago Stadium.</p><p>Making a surprise appearance was former Coach Billy Reay, out of hockey since he was unexpectedly let go by the Black Hawks in late December, 1976.</p><p>&ldquo;Stan called and asked if I&rsquo;d be here,&rdquo; said Reay. &ldquo;I said: &lsquo;Stan, I&rsquo;ll come out of retirement for two hours so you can go into retirement. It was my pleasure to have you play for me.&rsquo;</p><p>&ldquo;What a hockey player&hellip;what a hockey player&hellip;what a hockey player! I think he&rsquo;s the greatest centerman ever to play in the NHL.</p><p>&ldquo;When I first came to Chicago, Jim Norris (then the owner) said to me: Who&rsquo;s best, Mikita or Bobby Hull?&rsquo; and I said &lsquo;I&rsquo;m happy to have them both. Let&rsquo;s leave it at that.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;This is the end of an era in the history of the Chicago Black Hawks,&rdquo; said goalie Tony Esposito, himself a prime candidate for the Hall of Fame. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played with a lot of people and I&rsquo;ll probably never play with a better player.</p><p>&ldquo;When he was hurting, I&rsquo;d always be telling him to keep trying. Even if he was playing hurt, he still was one of the best players on the ice.&rdquo;</p><p>Mikita, who will turn 40 on May 20, played in 17 games this season before the back spasms that became increasingly agonizing over the past few years forced him to become a spectator. In his final season he had two goals and five assists.</p><p>After Lou Angotti left his job as color commentator on the Hawks&rsquo; telecasts in March to become the coach of New Brunswick, Mikita moved into the broadcast booth.</p><p>At the retirement press conference Mikita, who&rsquo;ll be a golf professional at Kemper Lakes Country Club, was asked if he also contemplated a TV career.</p><p>Always the jester and everready to laugh at himself, Mikita replied: &ldquo;Putting me on TV is like putting earrings on a pig.&rdquo;</p><p>What was his greatest moment?</p><p>&ldquo;As a player, ask me in five years and maybe I&rsquo;ll be able to tell you. As a human being, seeing my last child being born. That meant a hell of a lot to me.&rdquo;</p><p>Mikita and his wife, Jill, have two sons, Scott and Chris, and two daughters, Meg and Jane. (Meg is the eldest at 16; Chris the youngest at 9.)</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a sad day,&rdquo; concluded the misty-eyed Mikita, whose wife accompanied him to the press conference. &ldquo;I have to thank my bride of almost 17 years for putting up with me.</p><p>&ldquo;And on behalf of Jill and my kids and mostly myself, I&rsquo;d like to say a big thank you to the people of Chicago.&rdquo;</p><p>After the press conference, Chicago <i>Tribune</i> columnist David Condon asked Mikita a question in private: &ldquo;Did you ever feel. the media put you in the shadow of Bobby Hull?&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;It was all fair,&rdquo; replied Mikita. &ldquo;Look, I played hard and got the job done. But I didn&rsquo;t lift fans out of their seats doing it and the other guy did.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01529/4696719-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="576" height="1204"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Back miseries were the only thing that could stop Stan Mikita during his brilliant 20-year career with Chicago.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0023-01

Mikita Called “Greatest Hawk Ever”

f0023-02

The Mikita Years

<p>Oct. 7, 1959&mdash;1st goal vs. Rangers (Gump Worsley).</p><p>Dec. 11, 1963&mdash;100th goal vs. Rangers (Gilles Villemure).</p><p>Jan. 26, 1967&mdash;200th goal vs. Detroit (Roger Crozier).</p><p>Dec. 25, 1969&mdash;300th goal vs. Minnesota (Fern Rivard).</p><p>Mar. 31, 1973&mdash;400th goal vs. Detroit (Roy Edwards).</p><p>Mar. 2, 1977&mdash;500th goal vs. Vancouver (Cesare Maniago).</p><p>Nov. 25, 1979&mdash;541st goal vs. St. Louis (Ed Staniowski).</p><p>Jan. 31, 1962&mdash;1st NHL Hat Trick vs. Boston (Ed Johnston).</p><p>1960-61&mdash;led all players in scoring in Stanley Cup Playoffs as Black Hawks won Stanley Cup.</p><p>1961-62&mdash;1st All Star Team.</p><p>1962-63&mdash;1st All Star Team.</p><p>1963-64&mdash;Won Art Ross Trophy, 1st All Star Team.</p><p>1964-65&mdash;Won Art Ross Trophy, 2nd All Star Team.</p><p>1965-66&mdash;1st All Star Team.</p><p>1966-67&mdash;Won Art Ross, Hart, and Lady Byng trophies, 1st All Star Team.</p><p>1967-68&mdash;Won Art Ross, Hart, Lady Byng trophies, 1st All Star Team.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Highlights Of Stan’s Career

f0023-03

Mikita Sixth On All-Time Scoring List

<div class="byline">BY JIM LEAHY</div><p>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>HALIFAX&mdash;The Nova Scotia Voyageurs staved off elimination in the semi-final round of the Northern Division of the American Hockey League when they scored at 4-2 victory over the Maine Mariners to send the series to a sixth game in Maine.</p><p>Although the Voyageurs trailed three games to one heading into Game Five, the shoe could have been on the other foot were it not for a couple of overtime decisions which fell to the Mariners.</p><p>The only blowout of the series occured in Game Three when the scene switched to Portland and the Mariners, who won 3-2 in overtime in the series opener and then lost by the same score in the second game, blasted the Voyageurs 7-0.</p><p>Game Four, however, returned to the one-goal format and once again, it was the Mariners, twotime defending AHL champions, who came through with a 6-5 decision.</p><p>At the time that the Mariners were hosting Nova Scotia for the sixth game of the series, New Haven was preparing to host the Hershey Bears. Both teams advanced to the division final with four-game sweeps over Rochester and Syracuse, respectively.</p><p>The teams traded 3-2 victories to open the series, but the loss in overtime removed the home-ice advantage from the Voyageurs.</p><p>Barry Dean was the overtime hero for Maine, scoring after 2:31 to give the Mariners the series lead. Paul Evans had knotted the contest for Maine with only 2:11 remaining in the third period.</p><p>In a physical second contest, the Voyageurs drew even, thanks to a late goal by Norm Dube, the AHL&rsquo;s scoring champion. Dube scored in the final two minutes to break a 2-2 tie. Earlier Voyageur goals came from Jerry Byers and Bill Root.</p><p><b>NEW BRUNSWICK:</b> The Hawks met Adirondack in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs. They won the first two games in Moncton easily. The scene then shifted to Glens Falls for Game Three where New Brunswick skated to a 4-2 win and a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.</p><p>The tough New Brunswick defense held the Red Wings to just two goals in the first two games. They won the initial contest 3-1 and then went on to take the second game by a 4-1 margin.</p><p>The Red Wings averted a sweep of the series when they managed to trip the Hawks 5-2 but the win only transferred New Brunswick&rsquo;s victory party to a Maritimes location as the Hawks blasted Adirondack 6-2 in Game Five to wrap up the series.</p><p><b>HERSHEY&mdash;</b>The Bears roared to three 5-3 decisions against Syracuse, plus an 8-1 victory in Game Three to sweep their quarterfinal series and advance to the semifinals against Southern Division champ New Haven.</p><p>Errol Rausse scored twice and Eddy Godin arid Doug Gibson once each to propel the Bears to an early lead and a 5-3 victory in Syracuse in Game two, matching their opening victory at home. Bear goalie Gary Inness made 41 saves in that key contest, which seemed to inspire Hershey.</p><p>They returned to Hersheypark Arena for the third contest and belted the Firebirds 8-1 with Dave Parro in goal to assume a stranglehold on the series. In the fourth game, the Firebirds fell short by two goals once again.</p><p><b>NEW HAVEN:</b> The high-powered Nighthawks were never seriously challenged by Rochester in their quarterfinal series as they marched to four straight wins. Mike Backman scored twice and rookie defenseman Chris Kotsopoulos and sharpshooter Bill Lochead tallied once each to pace the Nighthawks to a 4-1 opening win. Lochead had just rejoined the New Haven squad after a call-up by the New York Rangers. The opening game also featured an altercation between Rochester&rsquo;s Dave Schultz and New Haven defenseman Dan Clark, which was scored a draw.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01558/4696836-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="579" height="894"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Barry Dean of Maine fired the game-winning goal in overtime to lead Mariners past Nova Scotia in game one of the series.</i></figcaption></div><p>In Game Two, Jim Mayer, Lance Nethery, Backman and Kotsopoulos scored for the Nighthawks as they came away with a 4-2 triumph. Back in New Haven for the third match-up, the Nighthawks&mdash;led by Dave Snopek&rsquo;s two goals&mdash;wore down defensemen Bill Stewart and Bill Crowley of Rochester and made life miserable for Amerk goalie Ed Walsh, blasting him 8-4. Doug Soetaert earned his third consecutive win in goal for the Nighthawks.</p><p>Eric Strobel, who later broke his leg, Mike Boland, Paul Crowley and John Harrington had Rochester goals in the third game loss as the Amerk offense showed some zip, but could not hold down New Haven.</p><p>The Nighthawks wrapped things up with a 6-4 decision in Rochester.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-01

Vees Force Sixth Game With Maine; New Haven. Hershey Sweep To Finals

f0025-02

CHL All Star Teams

<p class="dropcap"><span>S</span>ALT LAKE CITY&mdash;Golden Eagles&rsquo; center Doug Palazzari, winner of the CHL&rsquo;s scoring triple crown for the second time in three years, was named the winner of the Tommy Ivan Trophy, as the league&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player during the regular season.</p><p>And right wing Joe Mullen was named CHL Rookie of the Year, giving the regular-season champion Eagles two of the first three CHL trophies announced at the end of the 1979-80 campaign. Previously, Indianapolis goalies Richard Brodeur and Jim Park had received the Terry Sawchuk Trophy. Mullen will receive the Ken McKenzie trophy as top rookie.</p><p>Palazzari, 27-year-old Eveleth, Minn., native who was an AllAmerican for two years at Colorado College, scored 48 goals, 61 assists and 109 points. It was only the second time in 16 seasons for one player to lead all three categories. Doug did it first as a rookie for the Eagles in 1977-78, with 45 goals, 56 assists and 101 points, a feat that won him THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; minor league player of the year award.</p><p>Second-place in the balloting by the eight league coaches went to Indianapolis goalie Brodeur, followed by Dallas center Rob Tudor, Indianapolis center Charlie Skjodt, and Houston center Mike Toal.</p><p>Mullen had 40 goals and 72 points in his first professional season. Runnerup in the coaches&rsquo; voting for rookies was Toal of Houston. Ranked behind the top two were Salt Lake goalie Rick Heinz, Birmingham forward Bobby Gould, Birmingham forward Earl Ingarfield, Fort Worth forward Bob Atwell, Tulsa defenseman Mark Plantery and Fort Worth forward Gary Dillon.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03232/4696936-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="592" height="686"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-04162/4696929-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="597" height="678"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>The Salt Lake Eagles did all right in the post-season CHL awards. Joe Mullen, left, won rookie of the year honors while teammate Doug Palazzari was named the most valuable player.</i></figcaption></div><p>In the All Star voting by the coaches, Indianapolis and Salt Lake each placed two players on the first team. Salt Lake also had two named to the second team to lead in overall picks with four.</p><p>Brodeur was named first-team goaltender, with Affleck and Len Frig of Salt Lake on defense. Palazzari was the All Star center with Alex McKendry of Indianapolis at right wing and Rob Flockhart of Oklahoma City on the left side.</p><p>The second team consisted of Heinz in goal, Mike Hordy of Indianapolis and Gord Smith of Tulsa on defense; Rob Tudor of Tulsa was chosen at center with Merlin Malinowski of Fort Worth at right wing and Mullen on the left.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0025-03

Palazzari, Affleck, Mullen Win Individual CHL Awards

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div><p>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>SALT LAKE CITY&mdash;The regular season champion Eagles returned to the friendly confines of the Salt Palace to post a 9-4 triumph in the third game of their semifinal series with the Houston Apollos to take a 2-1 lead in the series.</p><p>The Eagles were forced to play the first two games of the series at the home of the sixth-place Apollos because of previous commitments for the use of their arena, but were soothed by the fact that the remaining five games of the series, if necessary would be played in Salt Lake City because the Apollos were without the use of their Houston arena throughout the rest of the round due to previous commitments.</p><p>The Eagles broke even in two games at Houston to open their best-of-seven playoff semifinal series. Salt Lake rallied from an early three-goal deficit to trounce the Apollos 7-4, in the opener, sparked by Joe Mullen&rsquo;s hat trick but fell in overtime, 3-2, two nights later.</p><p>Roy Sommer, Larry Brown and Alex Tidey counted for Houston in a span of 1:45 before the first period was half over opening night. Neil Labatte and Mullen put Salt Lake on the scoreboard in the middle period, but Mike Toal made it 4-2 for the Apollos at the 13minute mark.</p><p>A minute later Mullen had his second goal, and the Eagles scored five straight before they were through. Rich Bowness also tallied in the second period. Doug Palazzari got the winning goal at 4:55 of the third, and was followed in the lamplighting parade by Mullen and Bobby Simpson.</p><p>Doug Grant in the Eagle nets posted his 58th victory, one short of the franchise record. Don Cutts was the victim.</p><p>The Apollos broke on top in Game Two with first-period goals by Wayne Bianchin and Owen Lloyd. Red Laurence and Bobby Crawford tied it up for the Eagles in the second period. The teams battled through a scoreless third period and for 16:59 of overtime before Tidey scored out of a scramble to pull the Apollos abreast in the series. Mannu Kamppuri was the winning goalie, as the Apollos outshot the Birds, 48-22.</p><p>Eagle rookie goalie Heinz was injured at 13:39 of the overtime period when he was knocked into a goalpost, and Doug Grant took over. Heinz was rushed to a hospital, where it was determined he had a severe lower back bruise,&rsquo; but no fracture.</p><p>The Eagles, who drew 203,141 fans for the 40-game regular season, were looking forward to big playoff crowds. Their average turnout was 5,079. That put them over the 200,000-mark for the seventh time in the franchise&rsquo;s 11year history (five years in the old Western League). Some time late in the 1980-81 campaign the Eagles will have drawn 2.5 million fans!</p><p>Three amateurs were brought in on tryouts&mdash;goalie Jim Lockhurst from the University of Guelph and a pair of blue-liners, Frank Johnson from Providence College and Kevin Tendler from Saskatoon. Mullen went up to the St. Louis Blues for one game, and returned, along with defenseman Len Frig.</p><p><b>INDIANAPOLIS:</b> The brilliant goaltending which had featured the Checkers&rsquo; great showing in the regular season carried right into the playoffs, as second-place Indianapolis swept three straight games from fifth-place Tulsa to reach the semifinals. Richard Brodeur shut out the Oilers for more than 97 minutes in Market Square Arena to win a 4-0 open game and a 6-1 triumph in Game Two. In the windup at Tulsa the Checkers rallied for a 4-3 decision on Yvon Vautour&rsquo;s goal with 1:43 left in the third period.</p><p>Three power plays backed up Brodeur&rsquo;s perfect netminding in the first game, which saw 82 minutes in penalties handed out&mdash;43 to Indy, 39 to Tulsa.</p><p>Charlie Skjodt scored the only goal Brodeur needed at 13:11 of the first period, while Tulsa was two men short. Kevin Devine got the only even-strength goal of the game, also in the first period. Power scores by Neil Hawryliw in the second period and Dwayne Lowdermilk in the third wound up the scoring. The Checkers scored on three of their seven power plays, while blanking the Oilers on nine chances. Lindsay Middlebrook was in the Tulsa nets.</p><p>Hawryliw scored twice in the Thursday rout. Again Indy broke on top with power play goals&mdash;by Alex McKendry in the first period and Skjodt in the second. That gave Skjodt the winning goal in both games at Market Square Arena. Lowdermilk and Ed Pizuns-ki also counted for the Checkers against Oiler goalie Gary Smith. Tulsa&rsquo;s lone goal came at 17:12 of the middle period on Bill Davis&rsquo; slapshot from the point.</p><p>In the third game before one of Tulsa&rsquo;s smallest crowds in 13 years, the Oilers had a brief 2-1 lead in the first period, and gained a 3-3 tie midway of the second, only to lose it just when it appeared overtime was imminent. McKendry had started the scoring on a power play for Indy, but Dale Yakiwchuk and Pat Daley scored 30 seconds apart to put Tulsa ahead. Kelly Davis tied it up before the first period ended, and Randy Johnston put the Checkers ahead, only to see Glenn Tomalty tie it again on Tulsa&rsquo;s only power play goal of the playoffs.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01485/4696867-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="594" height="904"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>The Checkers have been dynamite on the power play&mdash;especially Alex McKendry, who scored a pair.</i></figcaption></div><p>Jim Park, in the Checker nets, made 24 saves to 19 for Oiler goalie Middlebrook. After the series, McKendry was called up briefly by the New York Islanders.</p><p><b>FORT WORTH:</b> &ldquo;When we lost the opening game at home,&rdquo; said Texans&rsquo; president Cliff Overcash, we were just hoping for one victory in Birmingham, so we could wrap it up in the two games at home. But to win both games down there, that was really terrific.&rdquo;</p><p>Earl Ingarfield had the hat trick, scoring two goals in the second period 36 seconds apart, as fourth-place Birmingham ambushed third-place Fort Worth, 6-4, to open their best-of-five quarterfinals in Will Rogers Coliseum. But the Texans prevailed twice, 8-2 and by 7-4, in Birmingham-Jefferson County Coliseum, then closed the series with a 4-2 triumph in front of the home folks.</p><p>That set up a best-of-five semifinal series between Fort Worth and Indianapolis, opening with two games in Indy. It was anybody&rsquo;s guess as to where Fort Worth would play its &ldquo;home games&rdquo; in the series, as a rodeo had taken over the Will Rogers arena. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking for a neutral rink,&rdquo; said Overcash, &ldquo;rather than play the whole series in Indianapolis, although we had a 2-2 record in Market Square Arena, with three of those games going overtime.&rdquo;</p><p>Peter Marrin, Dave Gorman and Dale Lewis joined Ingarfield in the Bulls&rsquo; scoring in the series opener. Peter Sturgeon and Andy Spruce had given the Texans an early 2-0 lead. Jack Hughes and Bob Atwell wound up the Fort Worth scoring. Tim Bernhardt tended the Birmingham nets, while Bill Oleschuk was the Fort Worth goalie.</p><p>Gary Dillon got the first two Texan goals in the second game, with Dave Watson and Nelson Pyatt also counting, to make it 4-2 for Fort Worth in the first period. Bobby Gould and Ingarfield scored for the Bulls.</p><p>Fort Worth coach Ron Ullyot removed goalie Oleschuk at 13:33 of the first period, after Ingarfield narrowed the margin, and Michel Plasse shut out Birmingham the rest of the way. Reggie Lemelin was the Bulls&rsquo; goalie.</p><p>Rookie right wing Bobby Crawford, just up from the Oshawa Generals, scored for the Texans in the middle period, along with Mario Gialionardo. Spruce and Merlin Malinowski counted in the third.</p><p>Fort Worth took charge from the start in the next game, which saw Merlin Malinowski and Don Saleski each scoring twice, and each getting a shorthanded goal. Malinowski and Dillon provided an early 2-0 lead, before Paul Messier scored for the Bulls. Pyatt made it 3-1 in the first period, then Saleski&rsquo;s two goals and Malinowski&rsquo;s second made it 6-1 in the second. Willie Trognitz got the last Fort Worth tally in the third, while Gould, Messier and Lewis scored in the Bulls&rsquo; futile rally. Plasse was the winning goalie, Bernhardt the loser.</p><p>Goals by rookie Crawford in the first period of the decisive game and Dillon early in the second provided a 2-0 Fort Worth lead. Barry Smith scored for Birmingham, then Pyatt got what proved to be the winning goal, and Rick Adduono tallied the Bulls&rsquo; last one, all in the second period. Malinowski scored into an empty net with two seconds left. Plasse was again the winning goalie, Lemelin the loser.</p><p>The Bulls suspended Yves Dandurand when he left the club in a salary dispute with the Quebec Nordiques. Harvey Bennett returned from the injury list. Paul Terbenche and Marrin were sidelined briefly, with a severe rash and a thigh muscle pull, respectively.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0025-01

Eagles Eagerly Eye Long Playoff Homestand

<div class="byline">BY PATRICK LYON</div><p>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>ERIE&mdash;The firepower of the Erie Blades, who lost only once in their last 27 starts, proved to be too much for the Baltimore Clippers, who were downed four games to one on the Eastern Hockey League playoffs.</p><p>The Clippers were able to avoid a four-game sweep when they won Game Three before their always enthusiastic home audience with a 3-2 triumph, but the Blades took Game Four, 5-4 and made it all academic with a 4-1 victory in the fifth game back in Erie.</p><p>Outscoring the Clippers 28-17, the Blades thus took their second title in as many years after finishing last year on top of the Northeastern League, which this year grew to six-team status as the Eastern League.</p><p>And it was the players who produced all season long for the Blades who proved to be their leaders in the playoffs as well&mdash;such as defensemen Greg Tebbutt and Daniel Poulin as well as forwards Sylvain Cote, Steve Stockman, Brad Rhiness and Stan Gulutzan.</p><p>The routes to the finals were fairly direct for Erie and Baltimore, although the Blades had to continously battle back after falling behind to the Richmond Rifles in each of the first three games.</p><p>The tone for Erie&rsquo;s four-game sweep of Utica Mohawks was established in the semifinal opener when they bombed the Mohawks, 14-1. The Blades entered the series with an 18-game winning streak and proceeded to level Utica with a barrage which produced a 35-11 margin in goals during the series.</p><p>Defenseman Greg Tebbutt paced the Erie attack with five goals and seven assists during the series. He had plenty of help, too, from Steve Stockman with nine points, and Brad Rhiness and Sylvain Cote added eight points. Carrey Walker handled the goaltending assignments with a 2.70 goals against average for the four games.</p><p>Utica led only once during the series, taking a 4-3 lead in Game Four, but the Blades responded with five consecutive goals to close out the Mohawks.</p><p>Meanwhile, Richmond kept jumping out to early leads against the Clippers, but the Baltimore squad battled back to three come-from-behind victories, all with a 43 final tally.</p><p>The first loss was a real heartbreaker for the Rifles, who led 2-0 in the first period and held a 3-2 lead in the final minute in Baltimore&rsquo;s rink.</p><p>Baltimore coach Gene Ubriaco pulled goalie Jim Weaver in the final minute and with just 13 seconds showing on the clock, Henry Taylor brought the Clippers even, sending the game into overtime. Just moments before the Rifles had missed a golden opportunity when they failed to score on a 2-on-1 break with an empty Baltimore net.</p><p>The overtime was quick as the Clippers&rsquo; Wes Coulson, who scored just one regular season goal, scored after 59 seconds of overtime to send home 5,099 fans who were attracted to Baltimore&rsquo;s first-ever playoff game.</p><p>Richmond looked like it might run the Clippers out to sea in the second game in Richmond when they outshot them 19-5 in the first period. But they only produced one goal by Dan McCarthy. The teams swapped goals through the second and third periods before Taylor scored the game-winner for Baltimore, despite the fact that the Rifles outshot them 50-22.</p><p>Another third period rally brought the Clippers from a 3-1 third period deficit to triumph in the third game before 5,752 in Baltimore. Once more it was Taylor leading the charge with a goal which reduced the Rifles&rsquo; lead to 32 at 7:13 of the final period before Tony Thomas and Ron Friest, with his second goal of the night at 18:56, gave the Rifles another 4-3 win.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01486/4696998-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="590" height="1205"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Erie blueliner Greg Tebbutt was the playoff&rsquo;s leading scorer, with 23 points&mdash;including 11 goals.</i></figcaption></div><p>Richmond finally skated to a 4-2 win in the fourth game and the secret was getting Baltimore to take the lead. Mario Feter&rsquo;s third-period goal proved to be the winner after the Clippers had held a 20 edge. But they came back for a 5-3 win in Game Five to reach the finals.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0027-01

Blades Never Sharper In EHL Title Defense

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02325/4697036-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="599" height="742"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Daniel Poulin</i></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03214/4697029-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="546" height="753"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Lawrie Nisker</i></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>V</span>IRGINIA BEACH&mdash;Erie&rsquo;s Daniel Poulin and Richmond&rsquo;s Lawrie Nisker were given special awards for their outstanding play during the regular season. Poulin was selected the EHL&rsquo;s best defenseman, while Nisker was voted the top rookie.</p><p>Poulin, who led all defensemen with 99 points, including 33 goals, was the unanimous choice of the league&rsquo;s coaches. The Erie backliner was also a first-team All Star choice.</p><p>Nisker ended with 18 points and edged out the Johnstown Red Wings&rsquo; Dave MacQueen for the top rookie award by one point. Richmond goalie Tom Semenchuk was third with nine points.</p><p>Nisker tallied 46 goals in 55 games and his 15 power play goals were the most in the league. The prolific goal scorer was named on two first place ballots and one second place ballot.</p><p>MacQueen, who led the league in scoring with 110 points for the fifth-place Red Wings, got two first place nominations, two seconds and one third.</p><p>Semenchuk had a 3.19 goals against average and three shutouts in posting a 22-12-1 record.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0027-02

Poulin, Nisker Honored By Special EHL Awards

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BROPHY</div><p>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>WINDSOR&mdash;The Spitfires have certainly had their ups and downs this season.</p><p>Never able to put anything more than a mild win streak together, the Spitfires finished first in the weak Emms Division with a 36-31-1 record for 73 points. That total would have put them in fifth place in the Leyden Division behind the fourth-place Kingston Canadians, who had 77 points.</p><p>Still, it was enough to give them home ice advantage in any playoff series which eventually came in handy.</p><p>After taking a 2-0 lead in games over the Brantford Alexanders in the Emms Division best-of-seven final, the Spitfires went into a tailspin and fell behind, 3-2. Led by young netminder Kevin Hamlin&mdash;a Windsor native&mdash;Brantford looked like they might knock off the Spitfires.</p><p>That wasn&rsquo;t to be.</p><p>When the chips were down, Windsor came back to tie the series with a 10-6 win in Brantford and then wrapped it up at home with over 4,000 fans cheering them to a 7-2 win. The Spitfires now go against the defending Memorial Cup champion Peterborough Petes in the league final. The Petes finished first overall in the league standings with 95 points and beat the Spitfires five out of six games, including all three in Windsor during the regular season.</p><p>While things began to look bad for the Spitfires against Brantford, coach Wayne Maxner said he never pressed the panic button.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you should worry,&rdquo; said Maxner. &ldquo;When you start worrying, you lose sight of your job. I think there were two reasons why we were able to come back. First, we went back to playing our style of hockey which is a disciplined game. For two games we were running around and not playing our positions. The guys weren&rsquo;t checking.</p><p>&ldquo;Also in game six, we came out flying and opened a quick 3-0 lead. I don&rsquo;t think they ever recovered from that.&rdquo;</p><p>The Alexanders, the top scoring team in regular season play with 412 goals, also had to contend with an untimely rash of injuries. Top gunner Kevin LaVallee played with a sore leg as did defenseman Randy Ladoucer, who never fully recovered from a broken ankle he received early in the year. They also played without defenseman Tony Curtale who was lost for the series due to injury.</p><p>Trailing 2-1 in games, Brantford evened the series when LaVallee scored his second goal of the game after 15 seconds of overtime to give them a 5-4 win. Ron Leef scored twice and rookie Mark Hunter added a single.</p><p>In game five, Mike Bullard scored a pair of goals as the Alexanders again won 5-4. Dave Hannan, Scott Vanderburgh, and Chris Kurych scored one goal each for the Alexanders, while Paul Gagne (two), Claude Julien and Gerrard MacIntyre replied for Windsor.</p><p>Windsor turned the tide with a convincig 10-6 win in Brantford to force a seventh game. Jeff Mitchell, Julien, Brent Jarrett and Blair Barnes had two goals for the Spits while Gagne and Ernie God-den had singles. Hannan, Leef, Kurych, Vanderburgh, Art Rutland and Vinci Sebeck scored for Brantford.</p><p>Barnes paced Windsor in the deciding game with two goals as they downed Brantford 7-2. His goals gave him 16 in 12 playoff games. Mitchell, Sean Babcock and J. P. Leroux had the other goals while Bullard scored twice for Brantford.</p><p>In the Leyden division final, the Ottawa 67s, who called themselves the team to beat after finishing 120-1 in the final 13 regular season games were the team that got beat.</p><p>Boasting the top line in the OMJHL, Jim Fox, Yvan Joly and Sean Simpson, as well as a pair of fine defensemen, Bill Kitchen and Doug Crossman, the 67s looked tired and undisciplined in bowing out in four straight games to the defending Memorial Cup Champion Peterborough Petes.</p><p>The Petes, known for their clutch-and-grab defensive style that sometimes put fans to sleep, demonstrated more determination and comeback power than the 67s as they fell behind in the final three games but were able to come back for wins each time.</p><p>Whatever the 67s had going for them (namely a seventh player on the ice at all times named No Mentum) started to disappear in the first series against the injury-riddled and internally plagued Oshawa Generals. The Generals, who were without high scoring defenseman Rick Lanz for most of the series and had sent captain Jim Mellow home after an argument with coach Paul Theriault, managed to push Ottawa to seven games and the 67s looked ragged at times.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01481/4697067-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="599" height="898"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Mike Bullard scored two goals to put Brantford on top against Windsor, but the Alexanders lost the final two games.</i></figcaption></div><p>Against the Petes, Ottawa looked worse. In the final three games, the big guns like Fox, Joly and Simpson didn&rsquo;t come through as they had all season. In fact, Joly was the only member of the high scoring three-some who displayed desire throughout the entire series. Unfortunately he couldn&rsquo;t do it alone.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0028-01

Spitfires Cool Brantford In Seven To Enter Finals Vs. Peterborough

<p>TORONTO Ontario Major Junior League commissioner Dave Branch said the league will expand by two teams in 1981-82.</p><p>Branch said the 12 governors of the OMJHL voted unanimously to expand by the two teams for now and possibly add another two by 1985. He said the league would accept formal applications from cities with proper arenas because club owners feel the league is strong enough now to accommodate new teams. Cities which have shown interest in joining the OMJHL include North Bay, Hamilton (which still doesn&rsquo;t have an adequate arena), Guelph, St. Catharines and Buffalo. N.Y.</p><p>&ldquo;The governors have given me the go ahead to start checking out various centers,&rdquo; said Branch, who has already made one trip to North Bay. &ldquo;We would like to set the league up into four conferences to cut down travel costs. That is one of the largest problems (travel-lig costs) facing junior hockey clubs. Also, by reducing travelling costs, there are other benefits like allowing time for players to go to school and building rivalries.&rdquo;</p><p>Before Guelph could be granted a team, governors from Kitchener and Brantford would have to give permission to infringe on their 80-mile territorial rights.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

OMJHL Will Expand To 12 For 1980-81

<div class="byline">BY GREGG DRINNAN</div><p>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS</p><p>MEDICINE HAT&mdash;There will be a new champion of the Western Hockey League this season.</p><p>The defending champion Brandon Wheat Kings found themselves on the outside looking in following completion of the Eastern Division three-team round robin semifinal series.</p><p>While the Wheat Kings finished with a 1-3 record, the Medicine Hat Tigers (3-1) and Regina Pats (2-2) advanced to the East&rsquo;s best-of-seven division final.</p><p>The Tigers finished off the Wheat Kings with a 7-5 victory in Medicine Hat. The teams were tied 3-3 after one period, but the Tigers exploded for four unanswered second-period goals to put Brandon away.</p><p>Right winger Stewart Robertson paced the Tigers with a pair of goals, while Ken Solheim, Steve Tsujiura, Brad Kempthorne, Kevin Ginnell, and Tom Adams, added one each. Dave Chartier, with a pair, Steve Patrick, Dave Stewart and Darren Halasz replied for the Wheat Kings.</p><p>The game likely marked the end of Brandon head coach Dunc McCallum&rsquo;s career with the Wheat Kings. After compiling a winning percentage of .682 (225-94-41) over five seasons, McCallum is not expected back with last season&rsquo;s Memorial Cup finalists next year. Les Jackson who served as McCallum&rsquo;s assistant, is expected to take over.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Tigers headed for Regina and promptly lost the first two games of the division final, 6-1 and 9-1. Back in The Hat, the Tigers scored a 7-6 overtime victory.</p><p>The Pats grabbed a 3-0 lead in the opener on first-period goals by Bill Ansell and Mike Blaisdell and a second-period score by Jock Callander. The Tigers&rsquo; Tom McGilli-vary got his club on the board early in the third, but Regina&rsquo;s Darren Bobyck countered with a pair of goals eight seconds apart to wrap it up.</p><p>The second game was marred by a third-period brawl that resulted in 208 minutes in penalties. All told, referee Ken Wheler dished out 274 minutes, 167 to the Tigers.</p><p>The Pats, who were leading 8-1 at the time of the donnybrook, got two goals from Mike Rainville and singles from Blaisdell, Ansell, Barry Ziegler, Darren Veitch, Callander and Darren Galley. Ginnell had the Tigers&rsquo; lone goal.</p><p>Fines totalling $2,000 were levied against both clubs and the Tigers&rsquo; Bruce Gordon, the first player off the bench, was suspended for five games. Teammate Gord Gejdos drew a one-game suspension for leaving the penalty box.</p><p>Tsujiura&rsquo;s seventh playoff goal at 3:21 of overtime gave the Tigers the win in Game Three.</p><p>The Tigers&rsquo; led 3-1 after one period and 4-3 after two periods, but the Pats scored three times in a span of 2:50 midway in the third period to grab a 6-4 lead.</p><p>Ginnell got his mates to within one, before Kempthorne, with his second goal of the night, tied it at 19:51.</p><p>In the Western Division, the best-of-seven final turned into the Barry Pederson Show. The Cougars swept the Seattle Breakers in four games, 5-2, 3-0, 4-2 and 3-1&mdash;with Pederson, an 18-year-old center, scoring five times and setting up five others.</p><p>The Cougars opened with a pair of wins in Victoria and Pederson scored four times in the opener&mdash;one in each of the first two periods, and a pair in the third. Bob Jansch had Victoria&rsquo;s other goal, while Wayne Van Dorp and Tom Marsh replied for the Breakers.</p><p>The next night, goaltender Kevin Eastman kicked out 25 shots as the Cougars blanked Seattle 3-0. Greg Adams, Darryl Coldwell, and Bob Smith had the goals, with Pederson setting up the first two.</p><p>Then, when the teams played the third game in Seattle, Pederson scored once and set up two others in the 4-2 Victoria win. Coldwell, Brad Palmer, and Jasch also scored for the winners with Tim Hunter, and Dan Hill countering for the Breakers.</p><p>One night later, Coldwell scored his third and fourth goals of the playoffs to lead the Cougars to the division title. Coldwell opened the scoring at 17:38 of the first period, and Seattles&rsquo; Brian Graves tied it at 6:37 of the middle period.</p><p>Coldwell scored what proved to be the winner ten and a half minutes later and Jansch wrapped it up with an empty netter with seven seconds left in the game.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01415/4697122-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="597" height="712"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Barry Pederson was a force Seattle couldn&rsquo;t handle as he led Victoria to the Western Division title.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0029-01

Tigers Eliminate Defending Champion Wheaties

<p class="dropcap"><span>N</span>EW WESTMINSTER&mdash;Vancouver businessman Nelson Skalbania, formerly an owner of the Indianapolis Racers and Edmonton Oilers of the now defunct-World Hockey Association has purchased the New Westminster Bruins of the Western Hockey League.</p><p>There were reports that the Bruins&rsquo; franchise changed hands for about $300,000, but Bruins&rsquo; coach and co-owner Ernie McLean said the price was &ldquo;higher than that&rdquo; but he refused to mention any figures. Skalbania said he will keep the team in New Westminster, and when asked if McLean would return as coach, the new owner replied &ldquo;Who knows?&rdquo;.</p><p>Bill Shinsky, the club&rsquo;s general manager and with McLean a half-owner will not return to the Bruins&rsquo; organization.</p><p>McLean and Shinsky moved the Bruins to New Westminster from Estevan, Sask, in 1971. Since that time, the team won four consecutive WHL championships and two Memorial Cups.</p><p>Skalbania, 42, reportedly bought and sold $600,000,000 worth of real estate last year. One rumor has Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers, who played for Skalbania at Indianapolis, interested in being involved as an operator of the junior club.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Skalbania Buys Bruins

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02352/4697243-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>25-Plus, Division A Champions NORTH YORK FIREFIGHTERS North York, Ont. Final Score: North York 5 Fredericton 1</b></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>AKE PLACID&mdash;As was reported in the April 4, 1980 edition of THE HOCKEY NEWS, a total of 37 teams participated in the first annual HOCKEY NEWS-CAN/AM International Adult Hockey Tournament in Lake Placid, N.Y., from April 3-6.</p><p>The teams were broken down into five different categories (25-Plus, Division A; 25-Plus, Division B; 25-Plus, Division C; 35-Plus, Division A and 35-Plus, Division B) and the winners in each category, or division, were awarded gold medals, while the runners-up received silver medals. Pictures of each winning team can be found on this page and on page 31. Here&rsquo;s a brief breakdown of how each team won its goal medal:</p><p><b>25-Plus, Division A:</b> This division was won by the North York Firefighters, from North York, Ont. In order to win the gold, North York had to beat the Fredericton (Nova Scotia) Sutherlands in the final game, and they did, 5-1, on two goals by John Jessop, another two by Mike Mazurke-which and a single by Eric Yakiwchuk. Dave Townsend got the lone tally for the Sutherlands.</p><p><b>25-Plus, Division B:</b> A team totally comprised of former players for the University of Toronto won this division by defeating the Port Elgin, Ont. Rourkes, 3-1 in the decisive game.</p><p><b>25-Plus, Division C:</b> The Glen Carin, Ont., Panthers were the lucky winners in this division, beating the Bradford, Ont., Elders, 3-1. Goals for the Panthers were scored by Laurie Lee, Jim Thompson and Earl Lardcque, while Dave Walker was the only player for Bradford who was able to find the net.</p><p><b>35-Plus, Division A:</b> The Cornwall, Ont., Hubs won this division by shutting out the Elmira Ont., Polar Kings 3-0 in the final game. The Hubs got goals from Harvey Provost, Bernie Larve and Ron Quenneville.</p><p><b>35-Plus, Division B:</b> The Lake Placid, N.Y., Roamers were the only team from the U.S. to win any kind of medal in the tournament, but they sure did it decisively, beating the Guelph, Ont. Goodtimers in the final game, 7-0. While complete statistics from that contest aren&rsquo;t available, we do know that the Roamers&rsquo; Jack Duncan had a great game against the Goodtimers, scoring three goals and one assist.</p><p>While the players and teams mentioned above were all winners of either gold or silver medals, it is fair to say that everyone who participated in the games over the weekend came out a winner, enjoying a unique opportunity to combine a long weekend with hockey on the same ice where the U.S. Olympic team won its gold medal. More tournaments like this one are planned for the future in such spots as St. Petersburg, Fla., Sun Valley, Ca., Las Vegas, Nev., Squaw Valley, Ca.,&hellip;and even Spain. We&rsquo;ll be running ads to let you know about each one as it comes up, so keep your eyes peeled and sign up early for a great couple of days of relaxation and hockey with your friends and family!</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03243/4697236-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="1224" height="1286"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>The highlight for each medal winner at the tournament was the awards ceremony, during which each player received his gold or silver medal. Here, Dave Hulme, goaltender for the University of Toronto graduates, receives his gold medal from a lovely young Lake Placid figure skater as Bob Murch, a CAN/AM founder and organizer of the tournament, looks on approvingly.</i></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01431/4697229-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="2534" height="970"><figcaption class="caption-body">25-Plus, Division B Champions UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO Toronto, Ont. Final Score: Toronto 3 Port Elgin 1</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02304/4697222-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="2526" height="964"><figcaption class="caption-body">25-Plus, Division C Champions GLEN CARIN PANTHERS Glen Carin, Ont. Final Score: Glen Carin 3 Bradford 1</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03229/4697215-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="2522" height="968"><figcaption class="caption-body">35-Plus, Division A Champions CORNWALL HUBS Cornwall, Ont. Final Score: Cornwall 3 Elmira 0</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04171/4697208-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="2523" height="964"><figcaption class="caption-body">35-Plus, Division B Champions LAKE PLACID ROAMERS Lake Placid, N.Y. Final Score: Lake Placid 7 Guelph 0</figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0030-02

Medals Awarded At Adult Hockey Tourney

<div class="byline">BY DANNY YOUNG</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01465/4697177-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="594" height="777"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Cornwall&rsquo;s hopes to advance hinged on Guy Charbonneau, above, and the other Chicoutimi sharp shooters.</i></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>C</span>ORNWALL&mdash;The Cornwall Royals are in the finals of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs because they play like a team&mdash;and a well coached one at that.</p><p>During the semifinals, each player knew how his contribution fitted into the team concept, and executed accordingly. The result was the elimination in five games of the powerful Chicoutimi Sague-neens.</p><p>The strategy against Chicoutimi was to stop their three superb scorers, Gilles Hamel, Guy Car-bonneau, and Alain Lemieux, a difficult task that was tried by every team in the league with little or no success. The Royals, however, did remarkably well.</p><p>&ldquo;We knew if we stopped the Carbonneau-Hamel line and the Lemieux line,&rdquo; said coach Doug Carpenter, &ldquo;our other line (with less checking responsibility) would come through for us.&rdquo;</p><p>To put the plan to work, the Cornwall unit of Dan Daoust, Gilles Crepeau, and Rod Willard was asked to leave the scoring to another line and concentrate on defense. The trio of Dale Hawer-chuk, Mike Corrigan, and Mark Crawford was subsequently left with the job of providing the Royals with enough goals to win.</p><p>Both the designated checkers and designated scorers performed exceptionally well. Helped by a solid defense and fine goaltending from Ron Scott, the Daoust unit was able to slow down Hamel and Carbonneau. Meanwhile the Ha-werchuk line provided the Royals with the offense they needed.</p><p>Hawerchuk, a rookie centerman who just turned 17, scared twice in Game Two of the series, added two more Goals along with three assists in Game Four, and assisted on five of Cornwall&rsquo;s seven goals in Game Seven.</p><p>&ldquo;He was unbelievable!&rdquo; exclaimed Carpenter. &ldquo;The class of the rink.&rdquo;</p><p>The key game for the Royals was the fourth game, which was played in Chicoutimi. Coming off a 9-5 loss, Cornwall battled Chicoutimi for three periods and triumphed 5-4 on a goal with two minutes left by who else but Hawerchuk.</p><p>Hawerchuk was an impressive rookie throughout the season, but now he&rsquo;s playing like an established veteran.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s much better now,&rdquo; Carpenter agrees. &ldquo;He was good when he got here, but he had to find himself and get accustomed to a new lifestyle. After Christmas, he found himself. He&rsquo;s a very heady hockey player.&rdquo;</p><p>Hawerchuk can thank linemates Corrigan and Crawford for his tremendous success in the playoffs so far. Those two never stop skating and working.</p><p>Corrigan picked up a hat trick in the series clincher, a 7-3 win over Chicoutimi. In the finals, the Royals will meet the Sherbrooke Beavers, a team with scoring strength on every line. This will force Carpenter to abandon the strategy he used against Chicoutimi.</p><p>&ldquo;With the Sherbrooke team,&rdquo; says Carpenter, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s immaterial who plays against whom. They have awesome scoring power.&rdquo;</p><p>One thing going for the Royals in the finals is team unity. The Royals are playing with the same 20 players they started the season with, and that probably has a lot to do with their success at playing a team game.</p><p>Still, the Beavers, with considerable talent at every position, are favored to take the series and the league championship. This does not bother the Royals at all.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re an underdog,&rdquo; says Carpenter, &ldquo;but who cares?&rdquo;</p><p><b>SHERBROOKE:</b> The Beavers eliminated Montreal in Game Five with a 10-4 win, led by an Alan Haworth hat trick. Sean McKenna had the job of checking Montreal star Denis Savard, and stopped him from producing.</p><p>The Beavers received good news from the league concerning the suspension of defenseman Richard Larocque. Originally suspended for the remainder of the playoffs, the league reduced the sentence to six games. Larocque will be eligible to play in the fifth game of the finals.</p><p>In eight games played against Cornwall this season, the Beavers won four, lost three and tied one. Still serving a suspension is coach Ghislain Delage, who will return behind the bench for the fourth game of the series. His replacement has been team governor George Guilbault, a respected hockey man who has played a big part in the success of the Beavers over the years.</p><p><b>CHICOUTIMI:</b> Everyone involved with the Saguerneens this season must be congratulated. Orval Tessier and the rest of the team brass did a great job in building the club, and the players were inspired throughout the year, and should be commended for rebounding from a bus accident early in the season. As for the fans, they recognized class and gave the Sags the best support of any team in the league.</p><p>Anybody trying to build a junior hockey team should certainly use Chicoutimi as a model.</p><p><b>MONTREAL:</b> Though eliminated from the playoffs, the Juniors were very pleased with their season.</p><p>&ldquo;It was a rebuilding season for us,&rdquo; said GM Roger Poitras. &ldquo;We never expected to get as far as we did.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0030-01

Team Concept Puts Cornwall Into QMJHL Finals

<h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;D&rsquo;</b></h2><h3><b>Mon. April 14 PITTSBURGH 2, BOSTON 6</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01444/4697393-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="574" height="808"></div><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;I&rsquo;</b></h2><h3><b>Wed. April 16 RANGERS 1, PHILADELPHIA 2</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02323/4697386-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="558" height="587"></div><h3><b>Thu. April 17 Rangers 1, Philadelphia 4</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03214/4697379-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="570" height="725"></div><h3><b>Sat. April 19 PHILADELPHIA 3, RANGERS 0</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04124/4697372-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="565" height="639"></div><h3><b>Sun. April 20 PHILADELPHIA 2<i>,</i> RANGERS 4</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0574/4697365-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="574" height="774"></div><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;J&rsquo;</b></h2><h3><b>Wed. April 16 CHICAGO 0, BUFFALO 5</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0651/4697358-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="570" height="658"></div><h3><b>Thu. April 17 Chicago 4, Buffalo 6</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0740/4697351-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="560" height="760"></div><h3><b>Sat. April 19 BUFFALO 2, CHICAGO 1</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0834/4697344-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="580" height="588"></div><h3><b>Sun. April 20 BUFFALO 3, CHICAGO 2</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0924/4697337-1-eng-US/f0032-092.jpg" title="f0032-09" width="568" height="658"></div><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;K&rsquo;</b></h2><h3><b>Wed. April 16 MINNESOTA 3, MONTREAL 0</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1020/4697330-1-eng-US/f0032-102.jpg" title="f0032-10" width="584" height="486"></div><h3><b>Thu. April 17 Minnesota 4. Montreal 1</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1115/4697323-1-eng-US/f0032-112.jpg" title="f0032-11" width="554" height="650"></div><h3><b>Sat. April 19 MONTREAL 5, MINNESOTA 0</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1214/4697316-1-eng-US/f0032-122.jpg" title="f0032-12" width="571" height="587"></div><h3><b>Sun. April 20 MONTREAL 5, MINNESOTA 1</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1311/4697309-1-eng-US/f0032-132.jpg" title="f0032-13" width="580" height="580"></div><h2><b>SERIES &lsquo;L&rsquo;</b></h2><h3><b>Wed. April 16 ISLANDERS 2, BOSTON 1</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-149/4697302-1-eng-US/f0032-142.jpg" title="f0032-14" width="565" height="578"></div><h3><b>Thu. April 17 Islanders 5, Boston 4</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-158/4697295-1-eng-US/f0032-152.jpg" title="f0032-15" width="572" height="915"></div><h3><b>Sat. April 19 BOSTON 3, ISLANDERS 5</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-168/4697288-1-eng-US/f0032-162.jpg" title="f0032-16" width="566" height="772"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-185/4697281-1-eng-US/f0032-182.jpg" title="f0032-18" width="578" height="1770"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Defenseman Larry Robinson has been the big spark for Montreal Canadiens in their comeback against Minnesota.</i></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-193/4697274-1-eng-US/f0032-192.jpg" title="f0032-19" width="586" height="1496"><figcaption class="caption-body"><i>Paul Holmgren has provided offenisive punch for the Flyers in one playoffs. He has three goals and picked up points in Philly&rsquo;s first six series&rsquo; games.</i></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0032-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<p><b>BOSTON</b>&mdash;McNab 3, 4, 5, 6, Park 2, 3, Marcotte 2, Miller 2, 3, Foster 3, Cashman 2, O'Reilly 2, Smith 1, McCrimmon 1.</p><p><b>BUFFALO</b>&mdash;Van Boxmeer 1, 2, Perreault 3, 4, Gare 2, 3, 4, Mongrain 1, Dudley 1, 2, Seiling 3, 4, 5, Luce 2, Martin 5, 6.</p><p><b>CHICAGO</b>&mdash;Lysiak 2, 3, 4, Murray 2, Lecuyer 4, Sutter 2, 3.</p><p><b>MINNESOTA</b>&mdash;Anderson 1, Payne 3, 4, 5, MacAdam 4, McCarthy 3, Giles 2, Christoff 4.</p><p><b>MONTREAL</b>&mdash;Lambert 7, 8, Langway 1, 2, Dupont 1, Larouche 1, Jarvis 2, 3, Houle 3, 4 Shutt 3.</p><p><b>ISLANDERS&mdash;</b>Howatt 3, Trottier 4, 5, 6, Nystrom 2, 3, Gillies 2, Bourne 4, 5, Tonelli 3, 4, Henning 1.</p><p><b>RANGERS</b>&mdash;Markham 1, Duguay 1, 2, 3, 4, Esposito 3.</p><p><b>PHILADELPHIA</b>&mdash;MacLeish 2, 3, 4, 5, Daily 1, Wilson 3, Holmgren 3, Barber 1, 2, Leach 3, 4.</p><p><b>PITTSBURGH</b>&mdash;Stewart 1, Libett 1.</p><p><b>OVERTIME WINNERS</b>&mdash;Gillies (Islanders), Bourne (Islanders).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

PLAYOFF SCORERS THIS WEEK

<h2><b>Quarter-Finals</b></h2><h3><b>SERIES I</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06102/4697556-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="561" height="126"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Wed. April 16</p><p>Rangers 1 at Philadelphia 2</p><p>Thu. April 17</p><p>Rangers 1 at Philadelphia 4</p><p>Sat. April 19</p><p>Philadelphia 3 at Rangers 0</p><p>Sun. April 20</p><p>Philadelphia 2 at Rangers 4</p><h3><b>SERIES J</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0791/4697549-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="565" height="102"></div><h2>GAMES TO COME</h2><p>Tue. April 22</p><p>Rangers at Philadelphia</p><p>Thu. April 24</p><p>Philadelphia at Rangers</p><p>Sun. April 27</p><p>Rangers at Philadelphia</p><h3><b>SERIES K</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0875/4697542-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="574" height="98"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Wed. April 16</p><p>Chicago 0 at Buffalo 5</p><p>Thu. April 17</p><p>Chicago 4 at Buffalo 6</p><p>Sat. April 19</p><p>Buffalo 2 at Chicago 1</p><p>Sun. April 20</p><p>Buffalo 3 at Chicago 2</p><h3><b>SERIES L</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0966/4697535-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="558" height="100"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Wed. April 16</p><p>Minnesota 3 at Montreal 0</p><p>Thu. April 17</p><p>Minnesota 4 at Montreal 1</p><p>Sat. April 19</p><p>Montreal 5 at Minnesota 0</p><p>Sun. April 20</p><p>Montreal 5 at Minnesota 1</p><p><b>GAMES TO COME</b></p><p>Tue. April 22</p><p>Minnesota at Montreal</p><p>Thu. April 24</p><p>Montreal at Minnesota</p><p>Sat.-Sun. Apr. 26-27</p><p>Minnesota at Montreal</p><h2><b>Preliminary Round</b></h2><h3><b>SERIES &lsquo;A&rsquo;</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1061/4697528-1-eng-US/f0033-102.jpg" title="f0033-10" width="584" height="133"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. April 8</b></p><p><b>Edmonton 3 at Philadelphia 4</b></p><p><b>Wed. April 9</b></p><p><b>Edmonton 1 at Philadelphia 5</b></p><p><b>Fri. April 11</b></p><p><b>Philadelphia 3 at Edmonton 2</b></p><h3><b>SERIES &lsquo;B&rsquo;</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1159/4697521-1-eng-US/f0033-112.jpg" title="f0033-11" width="557" height="101"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. April 8</b></p><p><b>Vancouver 1 at Buffalo 2</b></p><p><b>Wed. April 9</b></p><p><b>Vancouver 0 at Buffalo 6</b></p><p><b>Fri. April 11</b></p><p><b>Buffalo 4 at Vancouver 5</b></p><p><b>Sat. April 12</b></p><p><b>Buffalo 3 at Vancouver 1</b></p><h3><b>SERIES &lsquo;C&rsquo;</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1258/4697514-1-eng-US/f0033-122.jpg" title="f0033-12" width="559" height="103"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. April 8</b></p><p><b>Hartford 1 at Montreal 6</b></p><p><b>Wed. April 9</b></p><p><b>Hartford 4 at Montreal 8</b></p><p><b>Fri. April 11</b></p><p><b>Montreal 4 at Hartford 3</b></p><h3><b>SERIES &lsquo;D&rsquo;</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1345/4697507-1-eng-US/f0033-132.jpg" title="f0033-13" width="556" height="102"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. April 8</b></p><p><b>Pittsburgh 4 at Boston 2</b></p><p><b>Thu. April 10</b></p><p><b>Pittsburgh 1 at Boston 4</b></p><p><b>Sat. April 12</b></p><p><b>Boston 1 at Pittsburgh 4</b></p><p><b>Sun. April 13</b></p><p><b>Boston 8 at Pittsburgh 3</b></p><p><b>Mon. April 14</b></p><p><b>Pittsburgh 2 at Boston 6</b></p><h3><b>SERIES &lsquo;E&rsquo;</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1442/4697500-1-eng-US/f0033-142.jpg" title="f0033-14" width="567" height="101"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. April 8</b></p><p><b>Los Angeles 1 at Islanders 8</b></p><p><b>Wed. April 9</b></p><p><b>Los Angeles 6 at Islanders 3</b></p><p><b>Fri. APRIL 11</b></p><p><b>Islanders 4 at Los Angeles 3</b></p><p><b>Sat. April 12</b></p><p><b>Islanders 6 at Los Anoeles 0</b></p><h3><b>SERIES &lsquo;F&rsquo;</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1536/4697493-1-eng-US/f0033-152.jpg" title="f0033-15" width="555" height="104"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. April 8</b></p><p><b>Toronto 3 at Minnesota 6</b></p><p><b>Wed. April 9</b></p><p><b>Toronto 2 at Minnesota 7</b></p><p><b>Fri. April 11</b></p><p><b>Minnesota 4 at Toronto 3</b></p><h3><b>SERIES &lsquo;G&rsquo;</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1631/4697486-1-eng-US/f0033-162.jpg" title="f0033-16" width="557" height="103"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. April 8</b></p><p><b>St. Louis 2 at Chicago 3</b></p><p><b>Wed. April 9</b></p><p><b>St. Louis 1 at Chicago 5</b></p><p><b>Fri. April 11</b></p><p><b>Chicago 4 at St. Louis 1</b></p><h3><b>SERIES &lsquo;H&rsquo;</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1731/4697479-1-eng-US/f0033-172.jpg" title="f0033-17" width="554" height="108"></div><h2><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h2><p><b>Tue. April 8</b></p><p><b>Atlanta 1 at Rangers 2</b></p><p><b>Wed. April 9</b></p><p><b>Atlanta 1 at Rangers 5</b></p><p><b>Fri. April 11</b></p><p><b>Rangers 2 at Atlanta 4</b></p><p><b>Sat. April 12</b></p><p><b>Rangers 5 at Atlanta 2</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0033-06

Stanley Cup Scoreboard

<h2><b>BIRMINGHAM</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2427/4697957-1-eng-US/f0034-242.jpg" title="f0034-24" width="550" height="523"></div><h2><b>FOOT WORTH</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2521/4697950-1-eng-US/f0034-252.jpg" title="f0034-25" width="555" height="499"></div><h2><b>DALLAS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2618/4697943-1-eng-US/f0034-262.jpg" title="f0034-26" width="542" height="512"></div><h2><b>HOUSTON</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2715/4697936-1-eng-US/f0034-272.jpg" title="f0034-27" width="557" height="571"></div><h2><b>OKLAHOMA CITY</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-289/4697929-1-eng-US/f0034-282.jpg" title="f0034-28" width="551" height="550"></div><h2><b>TULSA</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-298/4697922-1-eng-US/f0034-292.jpg" title="f0034-29" width="551" height="529"></div><h2><b>INDIANAPOLIS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-306/4697915-1-eng-US/f0034-302.jpg" title="f0034-30" width="554" height="506"></div><h2><b>SALT LAKE</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-313/4697908-1-eng-US/f0034-312.jpg" title="f0034-31" width="566" height="527"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-24

FINAL CENTRAL LEAGUE SCORING

<h2><b>AMERICAN LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><h3><b>NORTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01456/4697853-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="563" height="151"></div><h3><b>SOUTHERN DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02370/4697846-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="568" height="354"></div><h3><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03276/4697839-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="545" height="620"></div><h3><b>GOALTENDING RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04189/4697832-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="544" height="856"></div><h2><b>PLAYOFF GAMES</b></h2><h3>Semi-Finals</h3><p>(Best-of-seven series)</p><p>HERSHEY VS NEW HAVEN</p><p>Mon. April 21</p><p>Hershey at New Haven</p><p>Wed. April 23</p><p>Haven at Hershey</p><p>Fri. April 25</p><p>Hershey at New Haven</p><p>Sat. April 26</p><p>Haven at Herslley</p><p>Sun. April 27</p><p>Hershey at New Haven</p><p>Wed. April 30</p><p>Haven at Hershey</p><p>Fri. May 2</p><p>Hershey at New Haven</p><p>Quarter-Finals</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05145/4697825-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="560" height="123"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tue. April 8</b></p><p><b>Adirondack 1 at New Brunswick 3</b></p><p><b>Wed. April 9</b></p><p><b>Adirondack 1 at New Brunswick 4</b></p><p><b>Fri. April 11</b></p><p><b>New Brunswick 4 at Adirondack 2</b></p><p><b>Sun. April 13</b></p><p><b>New Brunswick 2 at Adirondack 5</b></p><p><b>Tue. April 15</b></p><p><b>Adirondack 2 at New Brunswick 6</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06119/4697818-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="562" height="103"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Thurs. April 10</b></p><p><b>Maine 3 at Nova Scotia 2</b></p><p><b>Sat. April 12</b></p><p><b>Maine 2 at Nova Scotia 3</b></p><p><b>Tue. April 15</b></p><p><b>Nova Scotia 0 at Maine 7</b></p><p><b>Thu. April 17</b></p><p><b>Nova Scotia 5 at Maine 6</b></p><p><b>Sat. April 19</b></p><p><b>Maine 2 at Nova Scotia 4</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07109/4697811-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="563" height="110"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tue. April 8</b></p><p><b>Syracuse 3 at Hershey 5</b></p><p><b>Wed. April 9</b></p><p><b>Hershey S at Syracuse 3</b></p><p><b>Sat. April 12</b></p><p><b>Syracuse 0 at Hershey 8 Tue.</b></p><p><b>April 15</b></p><p><b>Hershey 5 at Syracuse 3</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08101/4697804-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="552" height="128"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p><b>Tue. April 8</b></p><p><b>Rochester 1 at New Haven 4</b></p><p><b>Thurs. April 10</b></p><p><b>New Haven 4 at Rochester 2</b></p><p><b>Sat. April 12</b></p><p><b>Rochester 4 at New Haven 8</b></p><p><b>Tue. April 15</b></p><p><b>New Haven 6 at Rochester 4</b></p><h2><b>CENTRAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0991/4697797-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="554" height="349"></div><h3><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1088/4697790-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="552" height="307"></div><h3><b>GOALTENDING RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1181/4697783-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="539" height="571"></div><h3><b>PLAYOFF GAMES</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1278/4697776-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="555" height="102"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p>Tue. April 18</p><p>Salt Lake 7 at Houston 4</p><p>Thu. April 10</p><p>Salt Lake 2 at Houston 3</p><p>Tue. April 15</p><p>Houston 4 at Salt Lake 9</p><p>Wed. April 16</p><p>Houston 4 at Salt Lake 3</p><p>Fri. April 18</p><p>Houston 3 at Salt Lake 6</p><p>Sat. April 19</p><p>Houston 2 at Salt Lake 4</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1369/4697769-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="559" height="98"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Tue. April 15</p><p>Fort Worth 4 at Indianapolis 5</p><p>Thu. April 17</p><p>Fort Worth 4 at Indianapolis 2</p><h3><b>GAMES TO COME</b></h3><p>Tue. April 22</p><p>Fort Worth vs Indianapolis (At Dallas)</p><p>Wed. April 23</p><p>Fort Worth vs Indianapolis (At Dallas)</p><p>Thu. April 24</p><p>Fort Worth at Indianapolis</p><h3><b>Quarter-Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1465/4697762-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="583" height="125"></div><p>GAMES COMPLETED</p><p>Mon. April 7</p><p>Tulsa 0 at Indianapolis 4</p><p>Wed. April 9</p><p>Tulsa 1 at Indianapolis 6</p><p>Thu. April 10</p><p>Indianapolis 4 at Tulsa 3</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1562/4697755-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="569" height="101"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Tue. April 8</p><p>Birmingham 6 at Fort Worth 4</p><p>Wed. April 9</p><p>Fort Worth 8 at Birmingham 2</p><p>Thu. April 10</p><p>Fort Worth 7 at Birmingham 4</p><p>Sat. April 12</p><p>Birmingham 2 at Fort Worth 4</p><h3><b>LEADING PLAYOFF SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1662/4697748-1-eng-US/f0034-162.jpg" title="f0034-16" width="558" height="406"></div><h2><b>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</b></h2><p><b>FINAL STANDINGS</b></p><h3><b>NORTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1756/4697741-1-eng-US/f0034-172.jpg" title="f0034-17" width="562" height="133"></div><h3><b>SOUTH DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1852/4697734-1-eng-US/f0034-182.jpg" title="f0034-18" width="573" height="291"></div><h3><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1950/4697727-1-eng-US/f0034-192.jpg" title="f0034-19" width="564" height="201"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2043/4697720-1-eng-US/f0034-202.jpg" title="f0034-20" width="566" height="212"></div><h2><b>GOALTENDERS&rsquo; RECORDS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2135/4697713-1-eng-US/f0034-212.jpg" title="f0034-21" width="536" height="684"></div><h2><b>PLAYOFF GAMES</b></h2><p>Semi-Finals</p><p>(Best-of-seven series)</p><h2>PT. HURON vs KALAMAZOO</h2><p>Fri. April 25</p><p>Port Huron at Kalamazoo</p><p>Sat. April 26</p><p>Kalamazoo at Port Huron</p><p>Sun. April 27</p><p>Port Huron at Kalamazoo</p><p>Wed. April 30</p><p>Kalamazoo at Port Huron</p><p>Fri. May 2</p><p>Port Huron at Kalamazoo</p><p>Sat. May 3</p><p>Kalamazoo at Port Huron</p><p>Tue. May 6</p><p>Port Huron at Kalamazoo</p><h2>FT. WAYNE vs SAGINAW</h2><p>Wed. April 23</p><p>Fort Wayne at Saginaw</p><p>Sat. April 26</p><p>Fort Wayne at Saginaw</p><p>Wed. April 30</p><p>Saginaw at Fort Wayne</p><p>Sat. May 3</p><p>Saginaw at Fort Wayne</p><p>Sun. May 4</p><p>Fort Wayne at Saginaw</p><p>Tue. May 6</p><p>Saginaw at Fort Wayne</p><p>Wed. May 7</p><p>Fort Wavne at Saginaw</p><h3>Quarter-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2231/4697706-1-eng-US/f0034-222.jpg" title="f0034-22" width="548" height="130"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Fri. April 11</p><p>Musgegon 2 at Kalamazoo 7</p><p>Sat. April 36</p><p>Kalamazoo 4 at Musgegon 5</p><p>Sun. April 13</p><p>Muskegon 2 at Kalamazoo 6</p><p>Thu. April 17</p><p>Kalamazoo 8 at Muskegon 0</p><p>Fri. April 18</p><p>Muskegon 2 at Kalamazoo 4</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2329/4697699-1-eng-US/f0034-232.jpg" title="f0034-23" width="558" height="127"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Wed. April 9</p><p>Toledo 2 at Fort Wavne 5</p><p>Sat. April 36</p><p>Toledo 1 at Fort Wavne 10</p><p>Wed. April 16</p><p>Fort Wayne 7 at Toledo 4</p><p>Thu. April 17</p><p>Fort Wayne 3 at Toledo 0</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01411/4697692-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="559" height="136"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Sat. April 36</p><p>Flint 3 at Port Huron i</p><p>Sun. April 13</p><p>Port Huron 3 at Flint 8</p><p>Wed. April 14</p><p>Flint 3 at Port Huron 4</p><p>Fri. April 18</p><p>Port Huron 3 at Flint 2</p><p>Sat. April 19</p><p>Flint 2 at Port Huron 3</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02307/4697685-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="559" height="133"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Sat. April 36</p><p>Milwaukee 4 at Saginaw 4</p><p>Sun. April 13</p><p>Milwaukee 1 at Saginaw 5</p><h3><b>LEADING PLAYOFF SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03235/4697678-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="565" height="334"></div><h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2><p><b>(Final Standings)</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04162/4697671-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="556" height="243"></div><h3><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05125/4697664-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="562" height="286"></div><h3><b>GOALTENDING RECORDS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06105/4697657-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="545" height="336"></div><h2>PLAYOFF GAMES</h2><h3><b>Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0799/4697650-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="570" height="102"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Sun. April 13</p><p>Baltimore 5 at Erie 9</p><p>Mon. April 14</p><p>Baltimore 3 at Erie 8</p><p>Wed. April 14</p><p>Erie 2 at Baltimore 3</p><p>Thu. April 17</p><p>Erie 4 at Baltimore 2</p><p>Sat. April 19</p><p>Baltimore 4 at Erie 5</p><h3><b>Semi-Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0894/4697643-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="570" height="128"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Wed., April 2</p><p>Utica 1 at Erie 14</p><p>Fri., April 4</p><p>Erie 4 at Utica 1</p><p>Sat., April 5</p><p>Utica 4 at Erle</p><p>Tues., April 8</p><p>Erie 8 at Utica 5</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0988/4697636-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="564" height="149"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Fri., April 4</p><p>Richmond 3 at Baltimore 4</p><p>Sat., April 5</p><p>Baltimore 4 at Richmond 3</p><p>Tues., April 8</p><p>Richmond 3 at Baltimore 4</p><p>Thurs., April 10</p><p>Baltimore 2 at Richmond 4</p><p>Fri., April 11</p><p>Richmond 3 at Baltimore 5</p><h2>NEW ENGLAND JUNIOR</h2><h3><b>Semi-Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1085/4697629-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="566" height="136"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>South Shore 36, Tyngsboro 4</p><p>South Shore 16, Tyngsboro 4</p><p>South Shore 7, Tyngsboro 4</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1182/4697622-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="560" height="122"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Fitchburg 8, New York 2</p><p>Fitchburg 5, New York 1</p><p>Fitchburg 5, New York 4</p><h2>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</h2><h3><b>Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1278/4697615-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="564" height="106"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Hennepin 9, Waterloo 7</p><p>Hennepin 3, Waterloo 3</p><p>Hennepin 5, Waterloo 5</p><h3><b>Semi-Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1375/4697608-1-eng-US/f0036-132.jpg" title="f0036-13" width="538" height="103"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Hennepin 5, Green Bay 2</p><p>Hennepin 4, Green Bay 4</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1469/4697601-1-eng-US/f0036-142.jpg" title="f0036-14" width="574" height="114"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Bloomington 7, Waterloo</p><p>Waterloo 7, Bloomington 3</p><p>Bloomington 6, Waterloo 3</p><p>Waterloo 5, Bloomington 3</p><p>Waterloo 3, Bloomington 2</p><h3><b>Quarter-Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1569/4697594-1-eng-US/f0036-152.jpg" title="f0036-15" width="570" height="104"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Waterloo 4, Sioux City 3</p><p>Sioux City 8, Waterloo 2</p><p>Waterloo 7, Sioux City 5</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1667/4697587-1-eng-US/f0036-162.jpg" title="f0036-16" width="562" height="140"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Green Bay 4, Austin 2</p><p>Green Bay 8, Austin 0<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0034-01

MINOR SCOREBOARD

<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/f0035-01431/4698261-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="560" height="176"></div><h3><b>EMMS DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02341/4698254-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="566" height="158"></div><h3><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03265/4698247-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="556" height="388"></div><h2><b>PLAYOFF GAMES</b></h2><h3><b>Quarter-Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04217/4698240-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="560" height="105"></div><h3><b>GAMES COMPLETED</b></h3><p>Fri. March 21</p><p>Oshawa 2 at Ottawa 7</p><p>Sun. March 23</p><p>Ottawa 5 at Oshawa 2</p><p>Fri. March 28</p><p>Oshawa 2 at Ottawa 1</p><p>Sun. March 30</p><p>Ottawa 3 at Oshawa 6</p><p>Tue. April 1</p><p>Oshawa 3 at Ottawa 5</p><p>Thu. April 13</p><p>Ottawa 6 at Oshawa 8</p><p>Fri. April 4</p><p>Oshawa 4 at Ottawa 5</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05172/4698233-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="569" height="130"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Tue. March 18</p><p>Brantford 5 at Toronto 3</p><p>Fri. March 21</p><p>Toronto 1 at Brantford 6</p><p>Sun. March 23</p><p>Brantford 5 at Toronto 4</p><p>Tue. March 25</p><p>Toronto 2 at Brantford 4</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06153/4698226-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="561" height="130"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Thu. March 27</p><p>Sudbury 4 at Peterborough 3</p><p>Fri. March 29</p><p>Peterborough 6 at Sudbury 2</p><p>Sun. March 30</p><p>Sudbury 6 at Peterborough 5</p><p>Tue. April 1</p><p>Peterborough 5 at Sudbury 4</p><p>Thu. April 13</p><p>Sudbury 4 at Peterborough 9</p><p>Fri. April 4</p><p>Peterborough 5 at Sudbury 3</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07144/4698219-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="563" height="108"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Tue. March 25</p><p>Niagara Falls 3 at Windsor 5</p><p>Fri. March 28</p><p>Windsor 3 at Niagara Falls 5</p><p>Sun. March 30</p><p>Niagara Falls 6 at Windsor 9</p><p>Tue. April 1</p><p>Windsor 6 at Niagara Falls 1</p><p>Thu. April 3</p><p>Niagara Falls 4 at Windsor 5</p><h3>Semi-Finals</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-08125/4698212-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="560" height="105"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Sun. April 6</p><p>Brantford 3 at Windsor 4</p><p>Tue. April 8</p><p>Windsor 7 at Brantford 3</p><p>Thurs. April 10</p><p>Brantford 5 at Windsor 4</p><p>Sun. April 13</p><p>Windsor 4 at Brantford 5</p><p>Tue. April 15</p><p>Brantford 5 at Windsor 4</p><p>Thu. April 17</p><p>Windsor 10 at Brantford 6</p><p>Fri. April 18</p><p>Brantford 2 at Windsor 6</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-09119/4698205-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="563" height="128"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Sun. April 6</p><p>Ottawa 1 at Peterborough 4</p><p>Tue. April 8</p><p>Peterborough 2 at Ottawa 1</p><p>Thurs. April 10</p><p>Ottawa 4 at Peterborough 5</p><p>Fri. April 11</p><p>Peterborough 6 at Ottawa 4</p><h3><b>Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-10104/4698198-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="550" height="132"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Sun. April 20</p><p>Windsor 2 at Peterborough 5</p><h3>GAMES TO COME</h3><p>Tue. April 22</p><p>Peterborough at Windsor</p><p>Thu. April 24</p><p>Windsor at Peterborough</p><p>Sat. April 26</p><p>Peterborough at Windsor</p><p>Mon. April 28</p><p>Windsor at Peterborough</p><p>Wed. April 30</p><p>Peterborough at Windsor</p><p>Fri. May 2</p><p>Windsor at Peterborough</p><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2><p>(Final Standings</p><h3><b>Western Division</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1196/4698191-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="553" height="124"></div><h3>Eastern Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1284/4698184-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="558" height="227"></div><h2>PLAYOFF GAMES</h2><p><b>EAST DIVISION</b></p><h3><b>Quarter-Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1373/4698177-1-eng-US/f0035-132.jpg" title="f0035-13" width="572" height="216"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><h2><b>Semi-Finals</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1459/4698170-1-eng-US/f0035-142.jpg" title="f0035-14" width="563" height="101"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Wed. March 26</p><p>Billings 4 at Medicine Hat 1</p><p>Thu. March 27</p><p>Billings 3 at Medicine Hat 4</p><p>Sat. March 29</p><p>Medicine Hat 3 at Billings 2</p><p>Sun. March 30</p><p>Medicine Hat 3 at Billings 4</p><p>Mon. March 31</p><p>Billings 1 at Medicine Hat 4</p><p>Wed. April 2</p><p>Medicine Hat 3 at Billings 4</p><p>Thu. April 3</p><p>Billings 2 at Medicine Hat 3</p><h2>EAST DIVISION</h2><h3>Semi-Finals</h3><p><b>SIX-GAME ROUND-ROBIN</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1550/4698163-1-eng-US/f0035-152.jpg" title="f0035-15" width="563" height="151"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Fri. April 4</p><p>Brandon 3 at Regina 6</p><p>Sat. April 5</p><p>Medicine Hat 7 at Regina 6</p><p>Fri. April 11</p><p>Regina 3 at Medicine Hat 1</p><p>Sat. April 12</p><p>Brandon 5 at Medicine Hat 7</p><p>Finals</p><h2>MEDICINE HAT vs REGINA</h2><p>(Best-of-seven series)</p><p>Mon. April 14</p><p>Medicine Hat at Regina</p><p>Tue. April 15</p><p>Medicine Hat at Regina</p><p>Thu. April 17</p><p>Regina at Medicine Hat</p><p>Fri. April 18</p><p>Regina at Medicine Hat</p><p>Sun. April 20</p><p>Medicine Hat at Regina</p><p>Mon. April 21</p><p>Regina at Medicine Hat</p><p>Tue. April 22</p><p>Medicine Hat at Regina</p><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><p>Semi-Finals</p><p><b>DOUBLE ROUND-ROBIN</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1644/4698156-1-eng-US/f0035-162.jpg" title="f0035-16" width="565" height="156"></div><h2>GAMES COMPLETED</h2><p>Wed. March 26</p><p>Seattle 4 at Portland 2</p><p>Fri. March 28</p><p>Portland 7 at Seattle 3</p><p>Sat. March 29</p><p>Portland 1 at Victoria 3</p><p>Mon. March 31</p><p>Seattle 1 at Victoria 2</p><p>Tue. April 1</p><p>Portland 4 at Seattle 5</p><p>Wed. April 2</p><p>Victoria 4 at Portland 2</p><p>Fri. April 4</p><p>Seattle 2 at Victoria 5</p><p>Sat. April 5</p><p>Victoria 2 at Portland 3</p><p>Sun. April 6</p><p>Victoria 3 at Seattle 5</p><p>Mon. April 7</p><p>Seattle 2 at Portland 3</p><p>Tue. April 8</p><p>Portland 2 at Victoria 8</p><p>Thu. April 10</p><p>Victoria 6 at Seattle 5</p><h3><b>Semi-Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1733/4698149-1-eng-US/f0035-172.jpg" title="f0035-17" width="560" height="101"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Mon. April 14</p><p>Medicine Hat 1 at Regina 9</p><p>Tue. April 15</p><p>Medicine Hat 1 at Regina 6</p><p>Thu. April 17</p><p>Regina 6 at Medicine Hat 7</p><p>Fri. April 18</p><p>Regina 5 at Medicine Hat 2</p><p>Sun. April 20</p><p>Medicine Hat 3 at Regina 6</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1830/4698142-1-eng-US/f0035-182.jpg" title="f0035-18" width="560" height="103"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Sat. April 12</p><p>Seattle 2 at Victoria 5</p><p>Sun. April 13</p><p>Seattle 0 at Victoria 3</p><p>Tue. April 15</p><p>Victoria 4 at Seattle 2</p><p>Wed. April 16</p><p>Victoria 3 at Seattle 1</p><h2>Finals</h2><p>(Best-of-seven series)</p><h3>REGINA VS VICTORIA</h3><p>Tues., April 22</p><p>Regina at Victoria</p><p>Wed., April 23</p><p>Regina at Victoria</p><p>Sat., April 26</p><p>Victoria at Regina</p><p>Sun., April 27</p><p>Victoria at Regina</p><p>Tues., April 29</p><p>Victoria at Regina</p><p>Thurs., May 1</p><p>Regina at Victoria</p><p>(Other date undecided)</p><h2>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</h2><p>(Final Standings)</p><h3>LEBEL DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1926/4698135-1-eng-US/f0035-192.jpg" title="f0035-19" width="567" height="149"></div><h3><b>DILIO DIVISION</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2025/4698128-1-eng-US/f0035-202.jpg" title="f0035-20" width="558" height="151"></div><h3><b>FINAL LEADING SCORERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2119/4698121-1-eng-US/f0035-212.jpg" title="f0035-21" width="558" height="291"></div><h2>PLAYOFF GAMES</h2><h3><b>Quarter-Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2215/4698114-1-eng-US/f0035-222.jpg" title="f0035-22" width="557" height="127"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Fri. March 21</p><p>Hull 6 at Sherbrooke 11</p><p>Sun. March 23</p><p>Sherbrooke 7 at Hull 3</p><p>Tue. March 25</p><p>Hull 4 at Sherbrooke 6</p><p>Thurs. March 27</p><p>Sherbrooke 7 at Hull 2</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2315/4698107-1-eng-US/f0035-232.jpg" title="f0035-23" width="556" height="102"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Thurs. March 20</p><p>Shawinigan 3 at Cornwall 6</p><p>Sun. March 23</p><p>Cornwall at Shawinigan 5</p><p>Wed. March 26</p><p>Shawinigan 9 at Cornwall 3</p><p>Fri. March 28</p><p>Cornwall 2 at Shawinigan 2</p><p>Sun. March 30</p><p>Shawinigan 5 at Cornwall 6</p><p>Tue. April 1</p><p>Cornwall 2 at Shawinigan 4</p><p>Thu. April 3</p><p>Shawinigan 0 at Cornwall 7</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2413/4698100-1-eng-US/f0035-242.jpg" title="f0035-24" width="555" height="130"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Fri. March 21</p><p>Trois-Rivieres 2 at Chicoutimi 7</p><p>Sun. March 23</p><p>Chicoutimi 2 at Trois-Rivteres 4</p><p>Tue. March 25</p><p>Trois-Rivieres 2 at Chicoutimi 3</p><p>Fri. March 28</p><p>Chicoutimi 6 at Trois-Rivieres 11</p><p>Sun. March 30</p><p>Trois-Rivieres 4 at Chicoutimi 5</p><p>Tue. April 1</p><p>Chicoutimi 2 at Trois-Rivieres 7</p><p>Wed. April 2</p><p>Troi5-Rivieres 4 at Chicoutimi 8</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2513/4698093-1-eng-US/f0035-252.jpg" title="f0035-25" width="566" height="125"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Fri. March 21</p><p>Quebec 4 at Montreal 6</p><p>Sun. March 23</p><p>Quebec 3 at Montreal 8</p><p>Tue. March 25</p><p>Montreal 5 at Quebec 4</p><p>Fri. March 28</p><p>Montreal 4 at Quebec 7</p><p>Sun. March 30</p><p>Quebec 2 at Montreal 7</p><h3><b>Semi-Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2612/4698086-1-eng-US/f0035-262.jpg" title="f0035-26" width="570" height="127"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Fri. April 4</p><p>Montreal 3 at Sherbrooke 8</p><p>Sun. April 6</p><p>Sherbrooke 3 at Montreal 4</p><p>Tue. April 8</p><p>Montreat 1 at Sherbrooke 11</p><p>Thurs. April 10</p><p>Sherbrooke 10 at Montreal 5</p><p>Fri. April 11</p><p>Montreal 4 at Sherbrooke 10</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2710/4698079-1-eng-US/f0035-272.jpg" title="f0035-27" width="575" height="104"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Sat. April 5</p><p>Chicoutimi 4 at Cornwall 5</p><p>Mon. April 7</p><p>Chicoutimi 2 at Cornwall 8</p><p>Wed. April 9</p><p>Cornwall 5 at Chicoutimi 9</p><p>Fri. April 11</p><p>Cornwall 5 at Chicoutimi 4</p><p>Sun. April 13</p><p>Chicoutimi 3 at Cornwall 7</p><h3><b>Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2810/4698072-1-eng-US/f0035-282.jpg" title="f0035-28" width="565" height="99"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Fri. April 18</p><p>Cornwall 5 at Sherbrooke 4</p><p>Sun. April 20</p><p>Sherbrooke 2 at Cornwall 3</p><h3>GAMES TO COME</h3><p>Wed. April 23</p><p>Cornwall at Sherbrooke</p><p>Fri. April 25</p><p>Sherbrooke at Cornwall</p><p>Sun. April 27</p><p>Cornwall at Sherbrooke</p><p>Tue. April 29</p><p>Sherbrooke at Cornwall</p><p>Thu. May 1</p><p>Cornwall at Sherbrooke</p><h2><b>LEADING PLAYOFF SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-2910/4698065-1-eng-US/f0035-292.jpg" title="f0035-29" width="572" height="328"></div><h2>ALLAN CUP</h2><h3><b>Eastern Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-3010/4698058-1-eng-US/f0035-302.jpg" title="f0035-30" width="557" height="122"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Cambridge 7, Thunder Bay 4</p><p>Thunder Bay 4, Cambridge 0</p><p>Cambridge 5, Thunder Bay 3</p><h3><b>Western Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-3110/4698051-1-eng-US/f0035-312.jpg" title="f0035-31" width="566" height="102"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Spokane 11, St. Boniface 3</p><p>Spokane 4, St. Boniface 0</p><h2>CENTENNIAL CUP</h2><h3><b>Central Canada Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-329/4698044-1-eng-US/f0035-322.jpg" title="f0035-32" width="569" height="126"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Joliette 8, North York 5</p><p>North York 5, Joliette 3</p><p>Jiliette 4, North York 2</p><p>North York 6, Joliette 2</p><p>North York 8, Joliette 3</p><p>Atlantic Canada Finals</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-339/4698037-1-eng-US/f0035-332.jpg" title="f0035-33" width="560" height="127"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Sherwood-Parkdale 4, Cole Harbour</p><p><b>Western Canada Finals</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-348/4698030-1-eng-US/f0035-342.jpg" title="f0035-34" width="560" height="126"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Red Deer 4, Prince Albert 2</p><p>Prince Albert 5, Red Deer 1</p><p>HARDY CUP</p><p><b>Eastern Canada Finals</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-357/4698023-1-eng-US/f0035-352.jpg" title="f0035-35" width="563" height="124"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Fredericton 5, Charlottetown 2</p><p>Charlottetown 5, Fredericton 3</p><p><b>Western Canada Finals</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-367/4698016-1-eng-US/f0035-362.jpg" title="f0035-36" width="565" height="101"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Burnaby 5, Asquith 3</p><p>Asquith 4, Burnaby 2</p><h2>CENTRAL SENIOR</h2><h3><b>Finals</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-376/4698009-1-eng-US/f0035-372.jpg" title="f0035-37" width="558" height="131"></div><h2>AIR CANADA MIDGET</h2><p>(Final Standings)</p><p>Round-Robin</p><h3><b>Division A</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-385/4698002-1-eng-US/f0035-382.jpg" title="f0035-38" width="562" height="175"></div><h3><b>Division B</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-394/4697995-1-eng-US/f0035-392.jpg" title="f0035-39" width="549" height="150"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3><p>Tue. April 15</p><p>Quebec 11, Newfoundland 1</p><p>Nova Scotia 3, Ottawa 2</p><p>B.C. 9, Manitoba 1</p><p>Saskatchewan 9, No. Ontario 3</p><p>New Brunswick 6, P.E.I. 3</p><p>Ontario 5, Alberta 2</p><p>Wed. April 16</p><p>B.C. 7, Thunder Bay 1</p><p>Nova Scotia 3, New Brunswick 1</p><p>Saskatchewan 7, Alberta 2</p><p>Ontario 4, Manitoba 2</p><p>Quebec 12, P.E.I. 2</p><p>Ottawa 9, Newfoundland 2</p><p>Thu. April 7</p><p>Alberta 3, Manitoba 0</p><p>Ottawa 5, Thunder Bay 0</p><p>Nova Scotia 5, Newfoundland 2</p><p>Saskatchewan 6, B.C. 4</p><p>Quebec 5, New Brunswick 2</p><p>Ottawa 10, P.E.I. 3</p><p>Fri. April 18</p><p>Quebec 4, Nova Scotia 1</p><p>Newfoundland 4, P.E.I. 3</p><p>Alberta 12, Thunder Bay 1</p><p>Saskatchewan 4, Manitoba 2</p><p>Ottawa 6, New Brunswick 2</p><p>B.C. 6, Ontario 2</p><p>Sat. April 19</p><p>New Brunswick 6, Newfoundland 0</p><p>Alberta 3, B.C. 0</p><p>Nova Scotia 9, P.E.I. 2</p><p>Manitoba 7, Thunder Bay 3</p><p>Quebec 5, Ottawa 2</p><p>Saskatchewan 5, Ontario 3</p><p>Sun. April 20</p><p>Championship</p><p>Saskatchewan 5, Quebec 1</p><p>Consolation</p><p>B.C. 5, Nova Scotia 1</p><h3><b>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</b></h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-403/4697988-1-eng-US/f0035-402.jpg" title="f0035-40" width="570" height="226"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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AMATEUR SCOREBOARD

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Final NHL Penalty Statistics

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03188/4698323-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg"></div><p><i>&ldquo;Where readers get together to do business&rdquo;</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>PERSONALS</h2><p><b>WANTED:</b> Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Gordie Howe, and Alex Levinsky&hellip;I need old hockey & baseball cards&hellip;Need World Wide Gum, Goudey, Neilsons, Willards,</p><p>O.P.C., Parkhurst, Ice Kings, Etc. Also want old Bee Hive and Quaker Oats photos. Need early hockey team press guides from the 40s, 50s, 70s, incl.: Hendy Guides, early Boston and</p><p>New York guides, plus NHL/WHA All Star game programs. Good prices paid&hellip;Write to: Robert Wimmer, 1744 Walnut, Dearborn, Mich. 48124. Phone (313) 336-3577.</p><p><b>AVAILABLE:</b> The 1980 edition of &ldquo;The Comprehensive Directory of Sports Addresses&rdquo; is now available to collectors, fans, administrators & players for the low price of $9.95. The directory includes Major, Minor, Junior hockey, baseball, basketball, football & soccer; Softball, volleyball, foreign leagues; HOF&rsquo;s; sports organizations & more. Send check or M.O. in U.S. Funds only. Ed Kobak Jr., Box 93-S3, Ludlow, Vermont 05149.</p><h2>OPPORTUNITIES</h2><p><b>SENIOR &ldquo;A&rdquo; CALIBER TEAM:</b> Located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is looking for teams to challenge them to a series of games. Glorious opportunity for a fun-filled weekend or week of hockey. Fort Launderdale nightlife, sun, and beach. Hotel accommodations can be obtained through the team. Write or call: Rosaire Paiement, Coral Plaza Motel, 2701 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale, Fl. 33306. Tel: (305) 5656658.</p><p><b>WANTED:</b> Hockey players to play Prov. &ldquo;A&rdquo; Tier II. Write to: Larry Bone, 345 Millard Avenue, Newmarket, Ontario. L3Y 1Z6.</p><p><b>CAMP DIRECTOR, FAMILY CAMP CO-ORDINATOR: In</b>structors, four week summer hockey camp, 75 miles northwest Toronto. Contact John Thompson, Huronia Hockey Camp, Box #103, Waterloo, Ontario, N2J 3Z6.</p><p><b>HOCKEY MANAGER:</b> Looking for full time job as manager of Junior &ldquo;A&rdquo; major anywhere in Ontario. Have been in Hockey for 15 years, and put five players in NHL. Also scouted for a major Jr. &ldquo;A&rdquo; team for three years. Please contact Mr. Steve Brown, 1840 Victoria Pk. Avenue, #715 Scarborough, Ont., (416) 9616666 Ext. 29-Office (416) 752-2157-home.</p><h2>PLAYER EQUIPMENT</h2><p><b>FOR SALE:</b> Goalie Equipment: Kenesky pads, 32 inch. Cooper GM-12 gloves. Excellent condition. Best offer. Gary Goldblatt, 932B East Stewart Street, Dayton, Ohio 45410 (513) 256-4931.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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The Hockey News CLASSIFIED

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01421/4698375-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Jerry Liebman)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Ball chief becomes a fan</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><i><span>B</span>aseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn took time out from his busy schedule and his dealings with a possible players&rsquo; strike, to attend a New York Rangers&rsquo; playoff game. Kuhn, at left, and his stepson Paul Degener were among the usual sellout crowd who watched the Rangers knock off the Atlanta Flames in the first round of the Stanleu Cup playoffs.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02332/4698368-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="1822" height="1720"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Jerry Hobbs)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Hockey ref crosses over</b></h2><p><i>Vem Buffey, left, a longtime top NHL referee who took his share of flack from big league hockey coaches, has now become a coach. Buffey and his assistant, Nick Harbaruk, former member of the St. Louis Blues, helped coach Seneca College of Toronto to the Ontario collegiate championship this season. Buffey, who is both hockey director and coach at Seneca, led his team to a 30-11-2 record this season and a trip to the Canadian college championships at Red Deer, Alta. Seneca finished third and won a bronze medal in the tournament.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03257/4698361-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="1536" height="1528"></div><h2><b>The name game</b></h2><p><i>It isn&rsquo;t very often a person gets to meet his namesake but it happened for John Marks of the Chicago Black Hawks, right, and John Marks of the New York Islanders. The Islanders&rsquo; hockey aide met the Hawks&rsquo; left winger after a closing-season game at the Nassau County Coliseum. The two are not related.</i></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04192/4698354-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="1530" height="1492"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(Photo by Bruce Bennett)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Is it really the end?</b></h2><p><i>Hockey observers were wondering whether or not this meeting oetween Bobby Hull, left, and Gordie Howe, would mark the last time the two would pose as teammates. The 52-year-old Howe will make a decision on his future in a few weeks and speculation is he will hang up his skates for good. Hull, who is 41, hasn&rsquo;t made any commitment for 1980-81 but will likely play another season for the Hartford Whalers, who acquired him from Winnipeg late in the season.</i><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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May 2, 1980

Stanley CUD Picture

Milwaukee Could Lose IHL Franchise After Quitting Series With Saginaw

Who They’re Affiliated With…

NHL Playoff Picture