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 9, 1980

The Hockey News May 9, 1980

As has been our custom during the month of May, THE HOCKEY NEWS will not be published next week so that we can wait to put out our final weekly issue (No. 33) at the conclusion of the Stanley Cup semifinals. That edition, dated May 23, 1980, will wrap up the semifinals and preview whatever the matchup is going to be for the Stanley Cup final, honor the top player, coach and executive in the minor leagues, and announce the United States&rsquo; College Player of the Year for 1980. Don&rsquo;t miss it! &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

Coming Next Week

<div class="byline">BY ARNOLD IRISH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01576/4701406-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Twenty-one-year-old Bernie Federko, shown being checked by Philadelphia&rsquo;s Norm Barnes, already has a couple of years experience with the Blues. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>The Sabres went from 16-43-19 (51 points) in 1971-72, the expansion franchise&rsquo;s second season, to 37-27-14 (88 points) in 1972-73 for a plus-37 score.That season marked the birth of the &ldquo;French Connection&rdquo;&mdash;Gilbert Perreault, Richard Martin and Rene Robert&mdash;as a line that would endure for the better part of a decade.Detroit jumped from 16-55-9 (41 points) in 1976-77 to 32-34-14 (78 points) in 1977-78 for its plus 37 score. Those Wings were to prove flashes-in-the-pan, giving Detroit its only playoff team in the last 10 years.The only other club in NHL history that has made greater strides, point-wise, in one season was Montreal in 1943-44. That season, when teams played a 50-game schedule, the Canadiens climbed from the mediocrity of a war-torn 19-19-12 (50 points) record in 194243 to the memorable 38-5-7 (83 points) record that refunded a plus 33 score and a Stanley Cup.That season, his first with the Canadiens, Bill Durnan was the league&rsquo;s first-team All Star goalie for what was to be the first of four straight years. Perhaps more memorably, it was in 1943-44 that Maurice &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; Richard came back from a broken ankle. Coach Dick Irvin placed the fiery-eyed right wing opposite Elmer Lach on a unit centered by Hector&ldquo;Toe&rdquo; Blake. Voila! The legendary &ldquo;Punch Line&rdquo; was born.That year Montreal won the Cup in nine games, with Richard exploding for a record 12 goals, including five in a 5-1 victory over arch-rival Toronto.To say that the Canadiens, whose tradition was already rich, went on to even greater things is to understate the case. As the current playoffs got underway, Les Habitant won 18 Stanley Cups in the last 36 years.What St. Louis fans want to know, of course, is whether the Blues are themselves on the threshold of top-echelon play, and the most reliable signposts indicate that indeed they may be.Mike Liut, who in his first NHL season (he logged two terms in the old World Hockey Association) led the league in victories with 32 is only 24 years old. He was a key factor in St. Louis&rsquo; ability to reduce its goals-against from last year&rsquo;s 348 (the NHL&rsquo;s worst) to 278.Bernie Federko, the Blues&rsquo; No. 1 gun (94 points this season, 95 a year ago) is only 24. Linemate Brian Sutter, the team&rsquo;s captain and driving force, is 23.Of their other productive forwards, Blake Dunlop (who led the team in power-play goals with eight) and Larry. Patey are the greybeards at 27. Mike Zuke, the team&rsquo;s No. 2 scorer this season, is 26 while Wayne Babych (No. 3) is only 21. Blair Chapman, resurrected from Pittsburgh&rsquo;s scrap heap, is 23, fast-finishing rookie Perry Turnbull 21, Tony Currie 22, Mike Crombeen 23 and penalty-killer extraordinaire Ralph Klassen 24. Currie is a sleeper. He scored 19 goals in just 40 games.Ed Kea, whose savvy was a large factor in the goals-against decline, is the only generation gapper among St. Louis&rsquo; defensemen. He&rsquo;s 32.The other backliners are kids by comparison. Jack Browns-chidle, who set club records for points (44) and assists (32) by a defenseman, is only 24. So are Bryan Maxwell, who won respect with his fists, and playmaking Rick LaPointe. Joe Micheletti, whose ability to control and carry the puck out of danger was sorely missed after he underwent knee surgery, is 25.Emile Francis has assembled the Blues thoughtfully, and the players have been imaginatively coached by Red Berenson. Many learned the sport&rsquo;s fundamentals from Berenson&rsquo;s predecessor. Barclay Plager. It&rsquo;s a team that isn&rsquo;t likely to level off at mediocrity in the 1980s.<div class="sidebar">Assembled thoughtfully and imaginatively coached, the Blues aren&rsquo;t likely to level off at mediocrity. &#9632;</div>

f0022-01

Blues Figure Improvement Will Continue Next Year

<div class="byline">BY JIM MATHESON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02691/4701220-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="606" height="1312"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Low&rsquo;s performances down the stretch for the Oilers made him an important part of their future.</figcaption></div>EDMONTON&mdash;While a good many Oilers were reading about the Stanley Cup playoffs on the beaches of Maui or Waikiki, goalie Ron Low was back on his farm at Foxwarren, Man.He was likely waiting for the phone to ring.On the option year of his NHL contract, the 29-year-old netminder figures highly in the future plans of the young Oilers. With an 8-2-1 record in the last 11 regular-season games and a sterling effort in the playoffs against Philadelphia, Low has earned a healthy contract offer. It&rsquo;ll likely exceed $100,000 and be long-term.After bouncing around from Toronto to Washington, from Detroit to Quebec City, Low appears to have found an employer that values his services greatly. The Oilers were floundering and in danger of missing the playoffs until Oiler coach Glen Sather swung a last-minute deal with the Nordiques to acquire the much-travelled veteran. &ldquo;There must have been a full moon out,&rdquo; laughed Sather, when somebody wondered how he could get such a solid performer at trade time.In Quebec, Low had assumed a relief role behind Michel Dion, playing almost exclusively on the road. He wasn&rsquo;t bad, but he was just a back-up in the eyes of the Nords&rsquo; management. &ldquo;Low played very well for us when he played,&rdquo; admitted Nordiques&rsquo; assistant coach Andre Boudrias. &ldquo;We were just desperate for a center (Robbie Ftorek and Serge Bernier were out indefinitely with injuries) and we liked (Ron) Chipperfield. So when we got a chance we took him. Dion? Well, he&rsquo;s our goalie of the future, a good young guy.&rdquo;Low, who&rsquo;s always played lots of games, figures to get plenty of work next season. The added responsibility doesn&rsquo;t seem to faze him. He&rsquo;s just ecstatic that he&rsquo;s finally found a home. &ldquo;These people showed faith in me and I&rsquo;m glad I did something for them. Of all the other teams I could go to at this time, the Oilers are the closest one to becoming a Stanley Cup winner in the next four years.&rdquo;The Oilers will likely be foraging around for more back-up goalies before next season. Eddie Mio was hurt constantly this season, but showed flashes of excellence. He&rsquo;s the leading contender to relieve Low, but the Oilers would also like to pluck a netminder in the waiver draft, which comes up just before the season begins. They still value Doug Soetaert, who spent most of the past season on the New York Rangers&rsquo; New Haven farm team. He&rsquo;ll surely be left unprotected by the Blueshirts.Whether they get to him first is another matter. Colorado, Washington, Boston and Los Angeles need help in nets, too.ON THE BENCH: Don Murdoch, who was obtained from the Rangers at the same time Low was retrieved from the Nords, is another Oiler on his option year. He had five goals in the last 11 games and two more in the three-game playoff with Philly. &ldquo;I would hope that Donnie would be willing to sit down and talk,&rdquo; said Larry Gordon, who&rsquo;s apparently on his way out as GM, to be an owner of the Oilers&rsquo; Central League farm club in Wichita&hellip;Gordon worked out lease arrangements in Wichita, but it wasn&rsquo;t easy. The building is taken up with various other activities for the first five and a half weeks of the season, so they&rsquo;ll have to open on the road. &#9632;

f0018-02

Oilers’ Low Enjoys Wanted Feeling Again

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-10" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1021/4701988-1-eng-US/f0032-102.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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All-Time Playoff Leaders

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01764/4703526-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div>THE GREAT GRETZKY!THE HOCKEY NEWS PLAYER OF THE YEAR &#9632;

Cover-01

NORTH STARS SHOCK HABS

<div class="byline">FRANK ORR&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011156/4700065-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="344" height="366"></div><h2>Hockey The Right Way</h2>THE STANLEY CUP quarterfinal series between the Montreal Canadiens and the Minnesota North Stars was a beauty, a splendid set of hockey matches in which the good things the game has to offer had center stage tied up all the time.Speed, good passing, creative plays and plenty of hard-hitting within the framework of the rules were the featured items. Bare-knuckle fighting, cheap-shot fouls and whining about the referees seemed beneath the standards these teams have set for themselves.The result was seven games of high-strung, high-speed excellent hockey with some superior goaltending from the North Stars&rsquo; Gilles Meloche and the Canadiens&rsquo; Bunny Larocque.This is not to say that the other playoff series this spring haven&rsquo;t had abundant good hockey and no nonsense. But in some of them, penalty totals were high and fights broke out repeatedly. The Canadiens and North Stars didn&rsquo;t have time for those things. They were too busy playing the game the way it should be played.The series&rsquo; matchup, of course, had some interesting features. The Canadiens are the kings, Stanley Cup champs for the past four years and still the standard against which all National Hockey League clubs are measured even though they did have a troubled, injury-laden season in which they &ldquo;slipped&rdquo; back to third place in the overall standing.The North Stars are a club with a large future, a splendid collection of good, young talent. They made a big jump this season from a playoff also ran status last spring to sixth overall this time. They are trying to build on pure talent, not muscle, and their roster contains a pack of suberb skaters.&ldquo;We feel that the swing in the game is to speed and skill&mdash;and those are the main ingredients that we&rsquo;re trying to use in building this team,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; coach Glen Sonmor.&ldquo;We hope that we have enough players in the &lsquo;tough&rsquo; category to handle the clubs in this league that still want to play that way. But we really want to be able to produce a team that plays on speed and skill, a team that can supply really good hockey entertainment.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s precisely the approach employed by the Canadiens over the years&mdash;speed, skill and enough muscle to put down opponents who try to intimidate them.Add this series to the U.S. Olympic team win, a victory accomplished on speed, talent, desire and good coaching and the case for no-nonsense hockey is stated rather strongly.<h2>A reduced roster</h2>INJURIES TOOK a large toll on the Canadiens&rsquo; roster. Defensemen Serge Savard (used sparingly) and Guy Lapointe, forwards Doug Risebrough, Guy Lafleur and Pierre Mondou (who returned in game five) were absent, taxing even the Canadiens&rsquo; abundant depth to the maximum.Much of the time, the Montreal club worked with 13 players, plus the goalie, employing three forward lines and two defense pairs in short, quick shifts. That&rsquo;s an exhausting workload, especially when the arenas are hot in the spring.&ldquo;Really, though, it can be done with no big dip in your effectiveness,&rdquo; said Canadiens&rsquo; mighty defenseman Larry Robinson.&ldquo;The secret is to stick to the short-shift schedule, to go on the ice, go like hell for 30 or 35 seconds, then get off. That way you&rsquo;re able to preserve your strength and stamina. If you get trapped on a shift or simply stay out too long, then you get over-tired and it takes longer for you to bounce back.&rdquo;As often happens in a great playoff series, the momentum, the upper hand, changed between the teams quickly. The North Stars won the first two matches in Montreal impressively, then the Canadiens bounced back with three victories in which they outscored the Stars, 16-3. But the Minnesota club rebounded with a superb 5-2 triumph to send it all to a decisive seventh game.&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll often see swings like that when clubs can fore-check well,&rdquo; said Canadiens&rsquo; coach Claude Ruel. &ldquo;One night, one team gets on the other in their zone; the next game, the other side does it. It happens when good skating clubs play each other.&rdquo;<h2>The Point Is Made</h2>THIS EXCELLENT SERIES drilled the point home again that fist fighting has about as big a place in good hockey as a chocolate sundae at a diet club. The people who run the NHL continue to mouth the tired old garbage about fighting being the safety valve, the outlet the players need for their emotions and frustrations and if they don&rsquo;t have it, then the players will chop each other to smithereens with their sticks.The Canadiens and North Stars played seven ultra-competitive games with all the emotions and frustrations that such hockey produces&mdash;and they didn&rsquo;t need those dumb outlets for their psyches.There was some fine open-ice body checking, clean, crisp, stand-up, no-foul checks delivered by players with the skill, strength and mobility to execute this almost vanished art. There was little stickwork, very few cheap-shots from behind of the type that make players wary and cautious about turning their backs on a foe.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a treat to play in a series where you don&rsquo;t go home after a game with the backs of your legs covered with bruises from being stabbed and the back of your neck sore from being cross-checked from behind,&rdquo; said one North Star.It was evident in this series that the fans want to see fast, clean, hockey in which skill, not stupid brawling, is the main feature.I followed some fans out of the Met Center in Bloomington and one man summed it up well.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s great stuff when they stick to hockey, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; he said.Right on, buddy, right on! &#9632;

f0002-01

HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-04381/4700141-1-eng-US/f0003-042.jpg" title="f0003-04" width="952" height="1252"></div> &#9632;

f0003-04

NEWS’ AWARDS WINNERS

<div class="byline">BY FRANK ORR </div><div class="byline">BY TOM MURRAY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011173/4700110-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="998" height="1364"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky: Player of the Year</figcaption></div>The man and the boy who abound in someone barely 19 years of age will shape the summer for Wayne Gretzky.First comes a holiday in Hawaii for Gretzky and several of his Edmonton Oiler bachelor teammates, a couple of weeks on the beach to unwind from the rigors of a National Hockey League season.Then Gretzky will spend time in his hometown of Brantford, Ont., where a surgeon will remove the troublesome tonsils that bothered him off and on all season.Scattered among the bikinis and the anesthetic, The Great Gretzky, The Kid, Agent 99, should collect a few awards. The Calder Trophy, which goes each season to the NHL&rsquo;s top rookie, is out because of a ruling that prevents refugees from the World Hockey Association from qualifying for it.But the Hart Trophy, as the Most Valuable Player in the NHL, and the Lady Byng Trophy, as the most gentlemanly and effective worker, are accolades for which Gretzky will receive much support.His first honor, though, is THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; award as the NHL&rsquo;s Player of the Year, a tribute to his achievements during the most remarkable season ever experienced by an NHL player in his first year.The mathematics of Gretzky&rsquo;s exploits, really, tell the story. He scored 51 goals and had 86 assists for 137 points to tie brilliant Marcel Dionne of the Los Angeles Kings for the NHL scoring title. Dionne, however, won the scoring championship because he tallied more goals, 53, than Gretzky.In the second half of the season, Gretzky produced an astounding 79 points in 40 games; in the Oilers&rsquo; superb stretch run&mdash;just one loss in their concluding 11 games, which earned them a Stanley Cup playoff berth&mdash;Gretzky was brilliant against close, strong defensive work by the opposition.The other side of The Kid&rsquo;s marvelous-achievements can&rsquo;t be measured by statistics. In a critical NHL season with expansion to 21 teams, Gretzky became the major attraction the league needed badly, an instantaneous super star whose name sold tickets.He earned reams of publicity for the NHL&mdash;national magazine and television network profiles, feature spreads in most major newspapers&mdash;a task Gretzky handled with considerable ease. It&rsquo;s an interesting sidelight that two refugees from the WHA, the oldest and youngest players in the NHL, Gretzky and the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; Gordie Howe, were the two largest attractions.Through it all, Gretzky retained his composure, his sense of humor with a fine self-deprecating touch, and his openness. In short: Gretzky is a nice kid who happens to play the game of hockey with gifts&mdash;instinct, anticipation and physical dexterity&mdash;that sometimes border on the eerie.&ldquo;I guess &lsquo;special&rsquo; is the only word to describe Gretzky,&rdquo; said Ulf Nilsson, the fine center of the New York Rangers, &ldquo;because the normal words don&rsquo;t really apply to him, do they?&rdquo;Of course, a few cynics have hinted that it would be much better for the NHL if Gretzky played on a team in one of the major market areas, say, New York, or Toronto instead of being struck out in the wilds of Alberta.But the power-base in the NHL is shifting these days. Of course, strong teams in New York and Toronto, where the communications empires in the U.S. and Canada are based, are important to the NHL&rsquo;s welfare. However, the addition of cities such as Edmonton, where more than 16,000 spectators pack Northlands Coliseum for every Oiler game&mdash;and 3,500 more seats will be added&mdash;have been a breath of fresh air to the NHL.Living in Edmonton, a city of 500,000 with a strong economy because of Alberta&rsquo;s oil, suits Gretzky just fine.&ldquo;It was great fun for me to see all the new cities in the NHL and explore them as much as I could on our road trips, places like New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Montreal,&rdquo; Gretzky said.&ldquo;But Edmonton, as a place to live, is perfect, even though it does get a little bit too cold in the winter. It&rsquo;s not so big that it overpowers you, and it&rsquo;s a super sports city where just about everyone follows one or all of the teams very closely. (The Eskimos are champs of the Canadian Football League and the Drillers play in the North American Soccer League.)&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great hockey town,&rdquo; Gretzky went on, &ldquo;and the fans are behind the team so well that it makes you want to produce a winner for them. I think that playing in a town with a real hockey atmosphere is an advantage because it&rsquo;s an inspiration to play well.&ldquo;This season, I played well in the cities where that hockey atmosphere exists because it seems to pump me up,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;I mean places like Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Philadelphia and, of course, Edmonton.&ldquo;When you go to those towns, everyone is talking hockey, the seats are full of fans who love the game and the sport is a really big thing. In some other cities where half the seats are empty and hockey doesn&rsquo;t seem to be big stuff, it&rsquo;s more difficult to really get up for the games. Not that you don&rsquo;t try hard but you just don&rsquo;t get as high.&rdquo;In Edmonton, of course, Gretzky has assumed super-hero status. He was named the town&rsquo;s Pro Athlete of the Year for 1979 because of his Oiler exploits in both the WHA and NHL. The recognition for The Kid and the other Oilers is as high in Edmonton as it is for players in any other hot hockey city.Although he concedes that he has few places to hide in Edmonton without being recognized, Gretzky claims he hasn&rsquo;t been sufficiently hassled to turn into the semi-recluse that athletes of his stature often become.&ldquo;Privacy is a bit tough to get sometimes and that&rsquo;s why when I have a free day, I just like to loaf in my apartment,&rdquo; Gretzky said &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s kind of neat to walk down the street and have someone know who I am and want my autograph. I take some pride in that because it means I&rsquo;ve done something people like.&rdquo;Of course, adulation is nothing new for Gretzky. From the time he was 10 years old and scoring goals by the dozen in pee wee hockey in Brantford, through minor hockey to Major Junior with Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds, Gretzky was a celebrity.At 17, he signed a pro contract with the old Indianapolis Racers of the WHA, then had his contract &ldquo;sold&rdquo; to Oiler owner Peter Pocklington early in the 1978-79 season. When he had his 18th birthday on Jan. 26, 1979, The Kid signed a 21year contract&mdash;nine years plus two six-year options&mdash;that pays him close to $300,000, plus a new Lincoln Continental, per season.Typically, Gretzky has handled his sudden wealth with the same aplomb he&rsquo;s demonstrated in coping with all the other parts of fame. There&rsquo;s none of the playboy youngster in him, the kid who gets the bucks and throws them away, spending his time chasing things other than pucks.He claims that he has no steady girlfriend but dates &ldquo;a bit because hockey doesn&rsquo;t leave much time for it.&rdquo; He dresses conservatively in three-piece suits but prefers jeans or cords, claiming that an elaborate wardrobe doesn&rsquo;t interest him.Gretzky does admit, however, to thinking about purchasing the ultimate young hockey player&rsquo;s toy: An exotic, expensive sports car.&ldquo;Sometimes, I think I&rsquo;d like to have a fancy sports car and then I think: What for?&rdquo; Gretzky laughed. &ldquo;I guess it&rsquo;s just my little fantasy to have some exotic wheels.&rdquo;Gretzky is venturing into the endorsement market, although his agent, Gus Badali of Toronto, claims he&rsquo;s being very selective in considering the products with which The Kid is associated.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want him involved in too many things at this early stage of his career,&rdquo; Badali said. &ldquo;I needle Wayne that I wish he&rsquo;d start shaving regularly so we could get an after-shave endorsement for him.&rdquo;Gretzky has a large say in his fiscal affairs, although the management of his money is left to his agent and accountant.&ldquo;But much of the responsibility is mine,&rdquo; Gretzky said, &ldquo;because Gus feels I should learn how to handle my money now so, later on, I&rsquo;ll be able to do it.&ldquo;I get my check from the team, take out what I need to live on and send the rest to Gus. I talk to him about the investments he&rsquo;s making because I want to learn about those things.&rdquo;In his first pro season, Gretzky boarded with an Edmonton family, but this year he shared an apartment with defenseman Kevin Lowe, the Oilers&rsquo; first pick in the 1979 draft.Lowe is an accomplished cook and he looks after the food. Gretzky does the dishes and supervises the cleaning of the apartment.&ldquo;Kevin is a terrific cook and I&rsquo;m very glad his mother raised him the right way,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good thing, too, because I can&rsquo;t cook anything. The least I can do is the dishes, although I might be the first NHL player to be out of the lineup with dish-pan hands.&rdquo;Sometime, somehow, in the future, Gretzky hopes to work education back into his life. He attended school part-time for two months last fall, taking studies in grade 12, but found the load too much.&ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t work out very well and the school principal advised me to give my full attention to hockey for the season, at least,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;I realized that there would be enough pressure without having school to worry about, too. But I want to continue it when things smooth out a little in my career.&rdquo;Gretzky has two big aims. First, he wants to see the Oilers climb to the front ranks of the NHL and, almost as a secondary consideration, he wants to improve his own game. The two features will likely coincide.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been growing a little and I&rsquo;m up to six feet now,&rdquo; Gretzky added. &ldquo;Now I hope to fill out a little (he weighs 167 pounds) and add a little more muscle and weight, although I don&rsquo;t want it if it affects my speed.&ldquo;I have to improve every part of my game,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;My shot wouldn&rsquo;t break a pane of glass and I have to work on that. I&rsquo;ve always been known as an offensive player and there have been some knocks on my defensive ability. But because I&rsquo;m killing penalties now, there hasn&rsquo;t been much said about it.&ldquo;Our team is very young and we really improved our poise over the season, not getting flustered in tough situations, such as when we were a goal up or a couple behind in the third period.&ldquo;When we got into a really tight situation late in the schedule where we had to win just about every game, we were able to do it and that said a lot about the character of the guys on this team.&ldquo;The fans in Edmonton have been so good to us that all we want to do is to give them a winner. We&rsquo;ll do it, too, because we have a great organization.&rdquo;And Gretzky is the kind of player who will inevitably make the Oilers a winner. Perhaps Mike Nykoluk, the assistant coach of the New York Rangers, sounded the most ominous warning for the NHL.&ldquo;Within two years, Gretzky will be the best player in the NHL,&rdquo; Nykoluk said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how truly gifted he is. Don&rsquo;t forget that he still must reach the point where he knows himself how good he is, especially as a playmaker, and that will make him even better.&ldquo;Sort of frightening, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-02978/4700103-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="956" height="1350"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Quinn: Coach of the Year</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03653/4700096-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="972" height="1342"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith Allen: Executive of the Year</figcaption></div>On January 30, 1979, the Philadelphia Flyers had played 50 games of the 1978-79 season and with a record of 22-17-11, they weren&rsquo;t playing particularly inspiring hockey for coach Bob McCammon: They were in last place in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Patrick Division, trailing the New York Islanders, Atlanta Flames and New York Rangers, and they were in the midst of an eight-game non-winning streak.That&rsquo;s when Flyers&rsquo; general manager Keith Allen decided that a coaching change was in order. Allen relieved McCammon of his coaching duties with the Flyers and sent him to finish out the season with Philadelphia&rsquo;s American Hockey League team, the Maine Mariners, who McCammon had led to a Calder Cup championship in 1977-78.To replace McCammon, Allen promoted John Brian Patrick (Pat) Quinn, 36, who had taken McCammon&rsquo;s job at Maine when McCammon had been appointed the Flyers&rsquo; coach at the beginning of the 1977-78 season. Under Quinn, the Mariners were sporting a 28-14-8 record through the first 50 games of their season.Over the remaining 30 games of the NHL&rsquo;s regular season, Quinn&rsquo;s Flyers quickly snapped out of their losing streak, compiling an 18-8-4 record and finishing in second place in the Patrick Division with the fourth-best record in the league (40-25-15 for 95 points).In last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs, however, the Flyers bowed out early, losing so badly in four out of five quarterfinal games to the New York Rangers that in the minds of many the Flyers were total write-offs for the 1979-80 season.Some write-offs. From Oct. 14, 1979, when they nudged the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3, through Jan. 6, 1980, when they beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-2, the Quinn-led Flyers did not lose one of the 35 games they played in that span as the Flyers set a record for the longest winning streak in professional sports history. (They finally did lose on Jan. 7, 1980, when the Minnesota North Stars bombed the Flyers 7-1.)In the 51 games they played prior to the All Star break in February, the Flyers had lost but three games. And by the time the regular season had ended the Flyers had survived a mild, late-season slump&mdash;they were 13-9-7 in the last 29 games&mdash;and coasted to the NHL&rsquo;s overall points title with a 48-1220 record for 116 points&mdash;21 more than in 1978-79.The Flyers&rsquo; incredible success this season is, of course, due in large part to Quinn. But an awful lot of credit must also go to Keith Allen, the &ldquo;Dean&rdquo; of NHL general managers who has been with the franchise since its inception in 1966.It is Allen who was responsible for drafting players for the Flyers like Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber, Rick MacLeish and Brian Propp. It is Allen who, through shrewd trades, was responsible for acquiring players like Reggie Leach, Phil Myre, Bob Dailey and Ken Linseman. And it is Allen who is responsible for providing the personnel that has won two Calder Cups for the Maine Mariners and five division titles, one regular season championship and two Stanley Cups for the Flyers.And, finally, it is Allen who had the foresight on Jan. 30, 1979 to promote Pat Quinn from Maine to Philadelphia to coach the Flyers. Now, one and a half years later, the Flyers are in the semifinals of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the seventh time in the last eight years and Pat Quinn and Keith Allen are, respectively, THE HOCKEY NEWS&rsquo; Coach and Executive of the Year for 1979-80.Congratulations to both of you gentlemen on a job well done. &#9632;

f0003-01

Gretzky, Quinn, Allen Win Hockey News Awards

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011217/4700172-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="294" height="341"></div><h2>Black Hawks Were Upbeat</h2>IT IS HIGHLY UNORTHODOX in sports to render an upbeat resume on a team that has just been swept out of the playoffs. But in the case of the Chicago Black Hawks, such a report card is not only possible, but necessary.Within the last year, this team has become credible and creditable again. The franchise that once was a country club is now a hockey club. A work ethic has been restored to the locker room, where too many players in too many recent seasons have contributed too little effort. Moreover, these Black Hawks discovered, or in some cases rediscovered, that the greater the perspiration is, the more rewarding the shower. Like any professional team, the Black Hawks of late have liked to win. But this team, it seems, hates to lose. Big difference.Within the next year, the prospectus is glowing. The Black Hawks currently own so many good, young players that it is almost frightening. Only one man on the roster, Tony Esposito, has a whiff of age in him. He merely is the best goalkeeper in hockey, and likely to remain as such for several seasons to come.Down below, laboring in various venues of obscurity, the situation is similary optimistic. Last April at this time, Keith Brown and Darryl Sutter and Doug Lecuyer were as anonymous as are Brian Young and Doug Crossman and Louis Begin. But in time, they figure to be synonymous with a revitalized franchise with a genuine chance of winning something, like maybe a Stanley Cup.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re sitting on something good here,&rdquo; noted general manager-coach Scotty Bowman after his Buffalo Sabres expunged Chicago from the playoffs.Last but not least, the Black Hawks have stockpiled draft choices&mdash;two in this summer&rsquo;s first round, three in the second, two in the third. At least, that should yield one quality player. If they get lucky, watch out.<h2>Snipers Are Primary Need</h2>THERE ARE HOLES to fill, for sure. The Black Hawks probably could use one more defensive defenseman to complement their mobile backline. Snipers, of course, are the primary need. This team needs one or more pure scorers. A Rick Martin type, and he and his 50 goals might be easier to obtain from Buffalo than one thinks.It might not take more than a couple additions to vault the Black Hawks over the hump. They are close now. Closer than it might appear.However, comma, all bets would be off if president Bill Wirtz allows the unconscionable to occur. The Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins, just to name two teams, are interested in Eddie Johnston as a coach. If the Black Hawks do not sign him quickly&mdash;and for long-term security&mdash;it will be criminal. His personality, his knowledge, his viscera led this team out of the closet. Wirtz has said he wants Johnston back. If he fails to retain the man behind the bench, well, you all know the meaning of mutiny.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to come back,&rdquo; said Johnston, the National Hockey League&rsquo;s most underpaid coach. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;d also like to get the right thing for my family. We&rsquo;ll all know soon. First, I&rsquo;ll see what they say here. It won&rsquo;t drag on all summer like it dragged on last summer. That&rsquo;s a guarantee.&rdquo;Wirtz may have no choice concerning assistant coach Keith Magnuson, whom Johnston calls an important part of the overall chemistry. The retired captain may opt for his career-in-waiting and turn to 7-Up, at last. In any case, Wirtz has no choice but to rehire himself.&ldquo;I said I&rsquo;d quit as president if we weren&rsquo;t one of the NHL&rsquo;s top clubs next year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;m a year ahead of schedule.&rdquo;<h2>Newcomers Made Job Easier</h2>THREE NEW PLAYERS especially made Wirtz&rsquo; job easier&mdash;Terry Ruskowski and Rich Preston, the two gems from Winnipeg, and Tom Lysiak, who came to Chicago 14 months ago, confused.Bowman again: &ldquo;When Chicago made that big trade with Atlanta, I had my doubts. But it&rsquo;s clear now that Lysiak has become the dominant player he was always supposed to be.&rdquo;The bottom line was the renewed whir of Stadium turnstiles, though Ruskowski was disappointed with the overall picture.&ldquo;During the recent playoffs,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;1 still didn&rsquo;t feel like the city was caught up in hockey. People weren&rsquo;t talking about us the way they could have. They were talking about baseball. I understand that the fans here might be leery because they&rsquo;ve been disappointed before. But this is a different team.&rdquo;The fans who came and saw for themselves during the closing weeks of the season obviously agreed. They accorded the Black Hawks standing ovations during stoppages in play, before a faceoff, with their heroes down a goal. Amazing.Chicago customers have been teased before, only to be jilted. But the Black Hawks, it appears, are back. Next year, they figure to be the hottest ticket in town. Just like old times. &#9632;

f0004-01

HOCKEY TALK

THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY &bull; FOUNDED 1947DONALD R. WALL&nbsp;Chairman and PublisherTOM MURRAY&nbsp;Editor In ChiefAdvertising and Editorial Offices 214 King Street West&mdash;Suite 314 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5H 1K4 (416) 598-1753Executive Office850 Third Ave.New York. New York, 10022 (212) 593-2100KENNETH W. McKENZIE President and Founder1434 St. Catherine Street WestMontreal. Canada H3G 1R7EDITORIAL STAFFCharlie Halpin Editorial DirectorMike Dennis. Assistant EditorCathy Munro, Copy EditorBob Hanley. Editorial ConsultantContributing Editors:Stan Fischler, Frank Orr, Bob VerdiADVERTISING SALES OFFICESToronto:Donald R. Wall214 King Street West&mdash;Suite 314 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5H IK (416) 598-1753New YorkDonald R. Wall850 Third Ave.New York, New York 10022(212)593-2100Chicago:Hooper, Jones & Associates 3322 W. Peterson AvenueChicago, Illinois 60659(312) 478-5544Boston:Steve Ganak&mdash;Steve Ganak Ad RepsStatler Office BuildingBoston, Mass. 02116 (617) 542-6913Joanne Hatch Advertising Service Manager (416)598-1753THE HOCKEY NEWS, (ISSN 0018-3016), is published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Pubilishing Ltd., 214 Klng Street West-Suite 314, Toronto, Ontario M5H 1K4. (416) 598-I753. In U.S. c/o W.C.C. Publishing Corp., 850 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022.YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $15.05 In the U.S.A, $15.95 In Canada, $10.05 in Foreign Countries. Send all subscription requests to THE HOCKEY NEWS, 214 King St. W., Suite 314, Toronto, Ont., M5H 1K4. Please allow 4-6 weeks for processing.SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO 1434 ST. CATHERME STREET WEST, SUITE 217, MONTREAL, Canada H3G 1R7. Second Class main Registration No. 1327. Al inquires portaining to subscriptions to Should be addressed to subscrittion on Dept. The Hockey News. 214 King St. W. Suite 314. Toronto, Ont. M5H 1k4, Canada. &#9632;

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;Those who give considerable credence to biorhythms and the like would have a field day with Gary Bromley.The tiny goaltender for the Vancouver Canucks always seems to play his best around playoff time, the last three years giving him a reputation for being at his best in the early spring.A notoriously slow starter, &ldquo;Bones&rdquo;, as he is appropriately called by his teammates, was beaten out for the back-up job to Glen Hanlon by Curt Ridley. He didn&rsquo;t have a particularly good camp, but he explained when he came back up to the club in February that he didn&rsquo;t expect to have to show his best in camp.&ldquo;I felt that what I had done the previous year would have been enough to let me start the season,&rdquo; said Bromley. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not blaming anybody. I played pretty well in Dallas most of the year.&rdquo;When he did come back just as the Canucks sold Ridley to Toronto, Bromley began to get into the groove he always finds at springtime. He supplanted Hanlon as the top goalie on the team towards the end of the season and was the Canucks&rsquo; starter in three of the four games against Buffalo in the playoffs.He was outstanding in the last part of the year last season, too, particularly in the playoffs against Philadelphia and the year before he led the Winnipeg Jets to the Avco Cup trophy with a tremendous post-season showing.&ldquo;I do enjoy this time of the season because the games mean more and everything is more intense,&rdquo; said Bromley, who is generally pretty quiet round the dressing room. &ldquo;I like the alternating system best because I need rest between games. I always feel it&rsquo;s best for me at least to play every other game.&rdquo;Coach Harry Neale agreed the team would have been in considerable difficulty had Bromley not been able to come in from the Central League and take some of the pressure off Hanlon, who all season had been billed as &ldquo;The Franchise&rdquo;. But the number of games Hanlon was required to play seemed to tire him and he was nowhere near as sharp as he was earlier in the season, leaving the door open for Bromley&rsquo;s return.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d hate to think where we would have been without Bromley,&rdquo; said Neale. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s done a great job in some tough situations. It&rsquo;s certainly great that he plays his best at this time of the year.&rdquo;Meanwhile Hanlon did recover his form quite nicely in the last game of the season and in the playoff action he saw before he separated his shoulder. He was outstanding in Vancouver&rsquo;s 5-3 win over the Kings in Los Angeles on the last day of the season and played the first period when Canucks roared to a 4-1 lead over the Sabres in game three of the playoffs. But he was hurt in a goalmouth scramble just three minutes after he had been hit in the hand under his blocker by a Richard Martin shot and the season was over for the man who has done so much for the team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021155/4700227-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="586" height="708"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gary Bromley came on so well for the Canucks that he entered the playoffs as their top goalie.</figcaption></div>CANUCK CHATTER: The Canucks are hopeful of having some new faces in their lineup next year, the main contender being Art Rutland, center-winger with Brantford of the Ontario Major Junior League who was drafted last year.General manager Jake Milford is also hopeful of signing two players from Sweden, a center and a defenseman. Other things on his plate include the signing of free agents Ivan Boldirev and Per-Olov Brasar and possibly Chris Oddleifson. &#9632;

f0004-02

‘Bones’ At Best In Spring When Games Mean Something

<div class="byline">BY BILL FLEISCHMAN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011075/4700258-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Linseman finished as the Flyers&rsquo; leading scorer&hellip;and emerged as a successor to Bobby Clarke</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;The New York Rangers, like most National Hockey League teams, do not like Ken Linseman. They think he is a little, trouble-making, no-good&hellip;well, you get the idea.However, after the Rangers had been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Flyers, they grudgingly admitted their respect for the nuisance centerman.&ldquo;Linseman&rsquo;s the life of that team,&rdquo; said Rangers&rsquo; Captain Dave Maloney. &ldquo;Deep down, Clarke is still the groundstone. He&rsquo;s probably still the man in the locker room and for 10 minutes of the game. But for 50 of the 60 minutes, it&rsquo;s Linseman.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a little jerk, he&rsquo;s a rat,&rdquo; said Dave&rsquo;s brother, Don. &ldquo;I hate playing against him, but I&rsquo;d love having him with us.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a helluva hockey player,&rdquo; said Barry Beck, who could lift the 5-11, 175-pound Linseman with one finger.Beck should know. The Rangers&rsquo; 6-3, 215-pound defenseman crunched both Linseman and Jimmy Watson during the third game of the series, leaving the availability of both in doubt.Reports filtering through coach Pat Quinn&rsquo;s strictly enforced news ban on Injuries indicated both players were finished for at least the remaining quarterfinal games. Linseman reportedly had suffered separated rib cartilage while Watson had either a bruised shoulder or a hairline fracture of the clavicle.Linseman and Watson sat out the Flyers&rsquo; four-game loss and Watson, perhaps the team&rsquo;s most consistent defenseman, was in the press box for Game 5 at the Spectrum. But guess who was on duty for the opening faceoff? Guess who had six shots on goal for the Flyers? And guess who completed a checking shutdown of dangerous Ulf Nilsson, forcing him into an O-for-the-series scoring shutout?Wearing a flak jacket, Linseman skittered around the ice, tormenting the Rangers and revving up his Rat Patrol Line of Paul Holmgren and Brian Propp.&ldquo;I enjoy watching him, but I don&rsquo;t enjoy playing against him,&rdquo; said losing goaltender John Davidson. &ldquo;He showed great courage tonight.&rdquo;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want a lot of fuss made about tonight, because it was no big deal,&rdquo; said Linesman. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the kind of injury that hurts at times&mdash;like, when I walk&mdash;but before you get excited about that, you have to understanding that skating is easier than walking.&rdquo;The way Linseman skates might be easier than walking. What Linseman has done in Philadelphia is win over the skeptics who watched him a year ago and wondered why the Flyers went to so much trouble springing Linseman from the Birmingham Bulls of the World Hockey Association.This season, Linseman finished as the Flyers&rsquo; leading scorer and has, as the perceptive Dave Maloney said, emerged as a successor to Clarke as the team&rsquo;s leader.Flyers&rsquo; management is also enjoying the irony of Linseman&rsquo;s contribution to the abrupt end of the Rangers&rsquo; season. Linseman, you&rsquo;ll recall, is the draft choice the Flyers received as compensation from the Rangers for their signing Fred Shero as general managercoach.FLYERS FACTS: Pete Peeters compiled a spectacular 1.40 goals-against average in the Rangers&rsquo; series&hellip;Flyers enter the semifinals with the best penalty-killing record, 91.9 percent, which barely edges the Islanders&rsquo; 91.4&hellip;Meanwhile, the Flyers&rsquo; pathetic power play stumbles along. They were an incredible 0-for-20 vs. New York. The Rangers weren&rsquo;t much better, at 2-for-21.The Flyers will be facing Minnesota North Stars in the semifinals. For details on their final victory over the Rangers in the quarterfinals, see page 6.<div class="sidebar">Even tender ribs didn&rsquo;t slow down Ken Linseman, who made life miserable for the Rangers&rsquo; scorers. &#9632;</div>

f0005-01

Ken Linseman King Of Philadelphia’s Rat Patrol

<div class="byline">KEN McKENZIE&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02796/4700310-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="319" height="354"></div>&bull; GUY LAFLEUR may not have played any more hockey this season even if the Canadiens advanced to the semifinals. His closest advisers urged him not to return to action if there was the slightest problem with his knee. The Montreal management felt the same way. He&rsquo;s too valuable a performer to take a chance on rushing back into action too soon and further injuring his knee&hellip;Most hockey fans thought the Bruins and New York Rangers would have made a better showing in the playoff games against, respectively, the Islanders and Flyers&hellip;Montreal&rsquo;s Doug Jarvis is recognized as the best checking forward in the NHL and also the best at taking faceoffs when his team is playing in the defensive zone&hellip;Marcel Dionne of Los Angeles is credited with being the best offensive center at taking faceoffs&hellip;Canada&rsquo;s entry in the five-country Swedish Cup tournament finished in last place which shows that Canada&rsquo;s team needs more than financial support. It also needs hockey players&hellip;Jim Devellano, general manager of the Indianapolis Checkers, is being lauded for the outstanding job he did with the Central Hockey League club. Devellano has held down a number of positions with the New York Islanders prior to taking over the Checkers and he&rsquo;s been a standout in every assignment given him. He would appear deserving of a general manager&rsquo;s job in the National Hockey League. Others who rate consideration as gm&rsquo;s in the NHL are Bill Beagan, commissioner of the Eastern Hockey League who held the same post with the International Hockey League years, and Bill Watters, a long time right-hand man to Alan Eagleson who has scouted and signed as many NHL players as anyone around today. There are other men plying their trade in hockeys minor professional leagues who have the credentials to do a first-rate job in hockey&rsquo;s bigs. All they need is the opportunity, and it&rsquo;s a better than even bet that many of them would do a better job than some of those currently holding down general managers jobs in the NHL right now&hellip;Buffalo&rsquo;s Danny Gare had more game-winning goals than any other player in the NHL during the regular schedule. He scored 11 winners, following by Peter McNab of Boston and Blaine Stoughton of Hartford with nine each.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03547/4700303-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="275" height="310"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jim Devellano</figcaption></div>&bull; INSIDERS BELIEVE Parker MacDonald has a good chance of being named coach of the Boston Bruins&hellip;MacDonald&rsquo;s appointment is expected to be announced shortly. Parker has been extremely successful running the New Haven Nighthawks in the American League the last few years and deserves a coaching opportunity in the NHL&hellip;John Short, the capable public relations director of the Edmonton Oilers, has left the club to run a weekly newspaper in British Columbia. He has been replaced by Bill Tuele, a 10-year sportscasting veteran from Edmonton&hellip;Pierce Gardner of the Washington Capitals is another PR man to leave the scene. Pierce is going into free lance writing&hellip;Al Coates, who had been director of publicity and promotions for the Red Wines was released by the club and succeeded by Al Blade&hellip;Daniel Poulin of the Erie Blades received the Ken McKenzie Cup prior to the start of the recent fourth game of the Eastern Hockey League finals in Baltimore. This is awarded to the Most Valuable Player in the EHL and Poulin is the first winner as the league finished its first season in a most successful manner&hellip;Baltimore, the last city to join the six-team circuit, drew 160,000 people and ended up making money and hockey fans, as the franchise which is controlled by the Minnesota North Stars proved hockey wasn&rsquo;t dead in Baltimore&hellip;Gene Ubriaco, well-known in hockey circles, was coach and general manager of the Clippers. He was ably assisted by Tim Donelli, director of media relations and marketing and his assistant Gary Thomas&hellip;Johnny Mariucci, assistant general manager of the Minnesota North Stars, also attends a number of the Clipper games. His sage advice and years of experience are greatly appreciated by both the North Stars and the Clippers. Johnny says he always tells young hockey coaches: &ldquo;Be sure to buy a mobile home.&rdquo;&hellip;The legendary Vince Leah is retiring from the Winnipeg Tribune sports department after 50 years and among the farewells to Vince is &ldquo;A Night with Uncle Vince&rdquo; at the International Inn on Tuesday, June 3. It&rsquo;s a mixed affair, $25 a person, and Jack Matheson of the Winnipeg Tribune is in charge. Among the hockey players on hand with be Andy Bathgate.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04365/4700296-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="278" height="410"><figcaption class="caption-body">Daniel Poulin</figcaption></div>&bull; CHARLIE SIMMER led all NHL powerplay goal scorers with 21. The Los Angeles star had four more than Marcel Dionne, Steve Shutt, Danny Gare and Darryl Sittler&hellip;Sittler plans to be playing for Toronto Leafs next season. As unhappy as he&rsquo;s been with management he still picks Toronto as the place he wants to play and has told intimates that he&rsquo;ll be around&hellip;Butch Goring is so happy to be with the New York Islanders that he&rsquo;s saying the Isles will win the Stanley Cup. A natural leader, he is setting a good example for the team and he always puts out 100 percent&hellip;The Indianapolis Checkers, operated by the New York Islanders, have been a pleasant surprise to Bill torrey, GM of the Islanders. When the Checkers came to Indy, Bill was quoted as saying: &ldquo;When hockey treats Indianapolis right, Indianapolis will treat hockey right&rdquo;&hellip;The Edmonton Oilers have taken out a new $5 million Lloyds of London policy on the life of superstar Wavne Gretzky&hellip;Philadelphia&rsquo;s Bob Dailey and Bob Kelly, who both refuse to wear helmets, think that wearing headgear encourages high sticking. NHL stats reveal that penalties for high sticking are up 51 percent this season&hellip;Coach Eddie Johnston and general manager Bob Pulford are very cool to each other these days in the Windy City of Chicago&hellip;Max McNab, general manager of the Washington Capitals, is very pleased with the working arrangements with the Hersney Bears of the AHL, which is staffed by the Capitals and is their No. 1 affiliate. It&rsquo;s only a two-hour drive from Washington to Hershey and the Caps can keep a close eye on all of their top prospects&hellip;Bobby Orr, who split with his longtime agent and mentor Alan Eagleson, is now being advised by a Boston attorney. Written into his separation agreement with Eagleson is that Orr cannot take part in any business venture with Bill Watters, Eagleson&rsquo;s associate for five years, now on his own&hellip;John Meredith, a forward with University of Minnesota all season, joined the Baltimore Clippers for the playoffs. He is a son of Dick Meredith, former U.S. amateur star and an original front office employee of the North Stars&hellip;Wild Bill Hagey, who received so much TV exposure rooting for the Baltimore Orioles during the World Series, is a cheerleader for the Clippers during the winter months.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-05242/4700289-1-eng-US/f0005-052.jpg" title="f0005-05" width="293" height="397"><figcaption class="caption-body">Eddie Johnston</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0005-02

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">BY TOM MURRAY</div>As we went to press with this issue, the Stanley Cup semifinals were about to commence, with the Philadelphia Flyers facing the Minnesota North Stars, and the Buffalo Sabres taking on the New York Islanders Here&rsquo;s a summary of all of the games which have taken place since last week&rsquo;s issue:<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011256/4700376-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="167" height="117"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-02933/4700369-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="161" height="142"></div><h2>MONTREAL vs MINNESOTA</h2>Game 5: The Canadiens took a lead in this series for the first time, winning their third consecutive game over the North Stars by a 6-2 score.Steve Shutt got things going for the Canadiens midway through the first period, when he scored his fourth goal of the playoffs. The Stars&rsquo; Steve Christoff countered before Montreal&rsquo;s Pierre Mondou, playing in his first game of the series, again put the Habs in the lead.Shutt scored his second goal of the game in the second period, but Minnesota&rsquo;s Al MacAdam got one too, making the score 3-2 for Montreal and leaving the outcome of the game very much in doubt.But that&rsquo;s when the Canadiens&rsquo; Doug Jarvis got into the act. With teammate Bob Gainey off for a hooking penalty, Jarvis picked up a pass from Rejean Houle and blasted a shot by Stars&rsquo; goalie Gilles Meloche. Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman Brian Engblom added another goal before Steve Shutt scored his third of the night to complete the scoring and send the series back to Minnesota for Game Six.Game 6: Scoring five goals in the second period, the North Stars defeated the Canadiens 5-2 and forced a seventh game in this series, the first time since 1971 that Montreal has had to play a seventh game in the quarterfinals.The Canadiens took a 1-0 lead in the game after a first period goal by Mark Napier, but after his goal at the 5:23 mark eluded Stars&rsquo; goalie Gilles Meloche, it was all Minnesota. Steve Christoff broke the ice at the 5:22 mark of the second stanza to tie up the game. Then Kent-Erik Andersson, Paul Shmyr, Bobby Smith and Glen Sharpley all tallied for Stars, giving them a 5-1 lead at the end of the second period. Defenseman Gaston Gingras got the lone tally for the Canadiens in the third period to close out the scoring for the game.Game 7: Al MacAdam&rsquo;s goal with just 86 seconds remaining in regulation time broke a 2-2 tie and gave the North Stars an incredible 3-2 upset victory over the Canadiens in Montreal. The defeat was the Canadiens&rsquo; earliest exit from the playoffs since 1974 and it marked the first time in 16 years that the Canadiens had lost the seventh game of a series on home ice.The Canadiens had opened the scoring in the game midway through the first period when Mark Napier blasted a shot by Stars&rsquo; goalie Gilles Meloche. But then, at the 14:43 mark of the same period, Canadiens&rsquo; goalie Denis Herron, trying to clear the puck behind his net, instead shot it right out in front&mdash;where the Stars&rsquo; Tom Younghans scored what was probably the easiest goal of his life to knot the score at one apiece.The Stars took a 2-1 lead at the 16:46 mark of the second period on a goal by defenseman Craig Hartsburg and the Canadiens didn&rsquo;t even the score until 5:23 of the third, when Rod Langway slipped a shot by Meloche from a scramble in front of the net.The score remained a 2-2 and overtime seemed inevitable until the 18:34 mark, when the Stars&rsquo; Bobby Smith broke down the left side and flipped a pass in front of the net, where Steve Payne took a shot. Herron stopped it, but the rebound landed right on MacAdam&rsquo;s stick. He poked it by Herron and the Canadiens&rsquo; season&mdash;and dream of a fifth consecutive Stanley Cup&mdash;was history.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03610/4700362-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="175" height="121"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04405/4700355-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="157" height="148"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA vs RANGERS</h2>Game 5: The Rangers&rsquo; attempt to become only the third team in NHL history to win four straight playoff games after being down 31 failed when they lost this game to the Flyers, 3-1, and were eliminated from the playoffs.With just 57 seconds remaining in the first period, Al Hill took a pass from Mel Bridgman and slipped a shot by Ranger goalie John Davidson. At the 5:09 mark of the second session, Behn Wilson beat Davidson with a shot from the point. And at 8:24 of the same period, Paul Holmgren put the icing on the cake when his pass to a teammate bounced off a Ranger defenseman and into the net.Ron Duguay remained hot for the Rangers, scoring a lone New York goal at 5:33 of the third period.<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05330/4700348-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="146" height="143"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06235/4700341-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg" title="f0006-06" width="159" height="153"></div><h2>BOSTON vs ISLANDERS</h2>Game 4: After setting up Rick Middleton&rsquo;s tying goal with just 20 seconds remaining in regulation time, the Boston Bruins&rsquo; Terry O&rsquo;Reilly scored at 17:13 of overtime to give his team a 4-3 win over the Islanders and send the series back to Boston for the fifth time.After rookie defenseman Ray Bourque had given the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 9:21 of the first period, the Islanders&rsquo; Mike Bossy&mdash;playing in his first game after missing five contests with a jammed thumb&mdash;put his team back into the lead with two goals.But at 3:09 of the third period, Peter McNab knotted the score for Boston when he scored his seventh playoff goal and fourth of the series. Clark Gillies gave the Islanders their last lead of the game at the 13:20 mark when he blasted a shot by Gerry Cheevers. That&rsquo;s the way the score remained until Middleton&rsquo;s and O&rsquo;Reilly&rsquo;s heroics, which gave the Bruins their first victory in three overtime games with the Islanders and broke the Isles&rsquo; streak of six consecutive overtime wins.Game 5: The Bruins, fighting for their lives on their home ice, jumped to a 2-0 lead in this game, thanks to goals by Wayne Cashman and Peter McNab. But the Bostonians were playing their eighth game in 11 nights and they simply couldn&rsquo;t sustain the pace throughout the game.They started to crack late in the second period, when Islander defenseman Stefan Persson scored a power play goal while Ray Bourque was in the penalty box for Boston. Then, in the third period, goals by Duane Sutter, Clark Gillies and defenseman Denis Potvin blew the game wide open; the Islanders won, 4-2, eliminated the Bruins, and advanced to the semifinals for the fifth time in the last six years. &#9632;

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Flyers Face Stars; Sabres Vs. Isles In Semis

<h2>MINNESOTA VS PHILADELPHIA</h2>(Best-of-seven series)Tue. April 29 at PhiladelphiaThu. May 1 at PhiladelphiaSat. May 3 at MinnesotaTue. May 6 at MinnesotaThu. May 8 at PhiladelphiaSat. May 10 at MinnesotaTue. May 13 at Philadelphia<h2>ISLANDERS vs. BUFFALO</h2>(Best-of-seven series)Tue. April 29 at BuffaloThu. May 1 at BuffaloSat. May 3 at IslandersTue. May 6 at IslandersThu. May 8 at BuffaloSat. May 10 at IslandersTue. May 13 at Buffalo &#9632;

Playoff Dates For Semifinals

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-15" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1514/4700431-1-eng-US/f0006-152.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The North Stars have counted on their production line of Steve Payne, left, Bobby Smith, in center, and Al MacAdam in the playoffs and the trio has come through. Between them they have scored 12 goals in 10 playoff games.</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;Prior to their exciting upset of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1980 quarterfinal round, the Minnesota North Stars had been living with a. nine-year-old memory.In 1971, the North Stars and Canadiens clashed in what was termed a classic confrontation and provided Minnesota with its biggest playoff thrill in the club&rsquo;s short history.In the 1971 semifinal showdown between the teams, the North Stars lost the first game 7-2 in Montreal, then became the first expansion team ever to win in the playoffs by beating the Canadiens 6-3 in game two, also at Montreal. The teams split the next two at the Met Center with the Canadiens winning 6-3 and then the North Stars replying 5-2 to tie the series again.After Montreal won the fifth game 6-1 at home, it came down to the climactic sixth game in Minnesota. Montreal won 3-2 despite a last-second goal by Ted Hampson that was a just split second too late on the clock and the series went to the Canadiens, four games to two.Diehard Minnesotans have lived with that thrill ever since but to them the 1980 conquest of the mighty Canadiens will surpass anything in the 13-year history of the North Stars. &#9632;

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North Stars’ Win Surpasses 1971 Thriller

<h2>SERIES &lsquo;I&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-07126/4700490-1-eng-US/f0006-072.jpg" title="f0006-07" width="545" height="266"></div><h2>SERIES &lsquo;J&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0869/4700483-1-eng-US/f0006-082.jpg" title="f0006-08" width="562" height="286"></div><h2>SERIES &lsquo;K&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0947/4700476-1-eng-US/f0006-092.jpg" title="f0006-09" width="553" height="214"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1032/4700469-1-eng-US/f0006-102.jpg" title="f0006-10" width="545" height="109"></div><h2>SERIES &lsquo;L&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1130/4700462-1-eng-US/f0006-112.jpg" title="f0006-11" width="560" height="782"></div> &#9632;

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NHL Playoff Picture

Here&rsquo;s how the four semifinal round teams fared over the season:<h2>MINNESOTA VS PHILADELPHIA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1225/4700535-1-eng-US/f0006-122.jpg" title="f0006-12" width="568" height="130"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1319/4700528-1-eng-US/f0006-132.jpg" title="f0006-13" width="552" height="76"></div><h2>ISLANDERS VS BUFFALO</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-1415/4700521-1-eng-US/f0006-142.jpg" title="f0006-14" width="566" height="196"></div> &#9632;

f0006-12

How NHL Teams Compare

TORONTO&mdash;How important is scoring the first goal in a playoff game? Very important, if the results during the first two rounds of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs are an accurate indicator.During the 50 games contested by the 16 teams involved in the 1980 playoffs up to, but not including the semifinals, the team scoring the first goal went on to win 38 of the games, a winning percentage of close to .760.In nearly half of the 12 series played in the preliminary and the quarterfinal rounds, the team scoring the first goal always became the eventual winner. This was the case for Minnesota and Chicago in their three-game sweeps of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the St. Louis Blues, in all four games of Buffalo&rsquo;s triumph over Vancouver and in each of the five games between the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins, a series won by the Bruins, three games to two.The &ldquo;first goal wins&rdquo; hex also occurred once in the quarterfinals, where the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the New York Rangers in five games.Montreal Canadiens were the best front-runner, winning eight of nine games where they scored the first goal, but in the final two games against Minnesota the Canadiens scored first but wound up losing and being eliminated from the playoffs.Buffalo was involved in eight games over the first two rounds, with the winning team scoring first in seven of them, while Philadelphia played eight games over the same period with the first-goal scorer winning five of them. The New York Islanders were involved in nine contests, with the team scoring first winning five of the games.It was the Islanders who were involved in the series where the first goal apparently meant the least, their four games to one quarter-final triumph over the Boston Bruins. The Bruins led in Games One, Three, Four and Five, but were only able to stay ahead on one occasion, the fourth game of the series, and they had to score in the final minute to send the game into overtime before finally winning it.Two other first round series produced situations where the first goal of the game was not an important factor: The Edmonton-Philadelphia series, where the Oilers twice scored the first goal of the game only to lose in three consecutive games, and in the Ranger-Atlanta Flames&rsquo; series where each team scored the game&rsquo;s opening goal, only to eventually lose the contest. &#9632;

First Goal Of Game Winners’ Talisman

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011121/4700566-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al MacAdam was most dangerous whenever he cruised by the Canadiens&lsquo;crease, but never more so than in the final two minutes of the seventh game in Montreal, when he knocked in a rebound by Steve Payne to send the North Stars into the semifinals. (Photo by Ian MacAlpine)</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;The Minnesota North Stars will not long forget the words of advice they received from Montreal&rsquo;s star defenseman, Larry Robinson.Robinson spoke a few words to several of the North Stars as they went through the post-game ritual of congratulatory handshakes in the Montreal Forum.Robinson gave the advice again when he poked his head into the Minnesota team bus outside the Forum and said, &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t just play in it&mdash;win it.&rdquo;For the first time in five springs, Robinson and the Montreal Canadiens will not be going on to try and win the Stanley Cup again.The team with a dream of destiny ended the dynasty with a 3-2 victory in the seventh game of the quarterfinals on Al MacAdam&rsquo;s goal with 86 seconds to play.MacAdam has just about wrapped up Mr. Clutch honors for the young North Stars this spring. It was his overtime goal that gave the Stars a three-game sweep of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round.The goal against Montreal, however, was a shot heard around the National Hockey League, marking the end of Montreal&rsquo;s domination in the playoffs.The goal also put the North Stars into the Stanley Cup semifinals against the regular season champion Philadelphia Flyers, with the Buffalo Sabres and the New York Islanders meeting in the other semifinal, it marks the first time that at least one of the six original NHL teams was not around for the next to last playoff round.The North Stars were jubilant on the ice after the victory but surprisingly calm and businesslike in their dressing room afterwards.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no point in getting overly excited yet,&rdquo; MacAdam said. &ldquo;The people who are getting overly excited are the ones who didn&rsquo;t expect us to win.&rdquo;The North Stars stunned Montreal in the first two games of the series at the Forum, winning 3-0 and 4-1. But the Canadiens, who never did get to use injured Guy Lafleur in the series, came back to win three straight games by lopsided margins&mdash;5-0, 5-1 and 6-2.The series turned back in Minnesota&rsquo;s favor in Game Six in Minnesota. Glen Sharpley, back in the good graces of coach Glen Sonmor after being fined for refusing to complete a practice, sparked the victory with a goal and two assists.Minnesota scored five goals in the second period of the sixth game to take a 5-2 victory and send the series to its thrilling conclusion in Montreal.Robinson called that five-goal outburst the turning point of the series.Minnesota goalie Gilles Meloche played all seven games for the North Stars, and many of the Montreal players credited him as Minnesota&rsquo;s top player through the series.&ldquo;This has been the biggest thrill of my life,&rdquo; Meloche said. &ldquo;The fact that it comes in my hometown makes it that much better.&rdquo;The North Stars started the playoffs this spring with a dozen men who had never played a Stanley Cup game.But coach Glen Sonmor continued to use the words &ldquo;poise and courage&rdquo; in talking about his players.&ldquo;We have a number of intelligent and confident young men who expect to succeed,&rdquo; Sonmor said. &ldquo;They aren&rsquo;t content to say it&rsquo;s been a good year while a lot of other people were saying that to us before the last two games of the series. Our young men found that amusing.&rdquo;STAR DUST: Defenseman Gary Sargent did not play in the last five games of the senes because of a knee injury. Defenseman Curt Giles suffered an injury about his ankle in the seventh game and was listed as doubtful for the semifinals.At one point in the seventh game, Sonmor sent center Tim Young out to play defense after Giles was hurt and Craig Hartsburg blocked a shot on the inside of his foot. Hartsburg returned later in the game to score Minnesota&rsquo;s second goal. Tom Younghans scored the other for Minnesota&rsquo;s only shorthanded goal of the playoffs thus far.MacAdam and Bobby Smith shared the team scoring leadership in 10 playoff games with 13 points each. Steve Payne had 12 and Steve Christoff nine.<div class="sidebar">Montreal defenseman Larry Robinson had this advice for the North Stars&rsquo; coming series: &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t just play in it&mdash;win it.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0007-01

Stars Eliminate Canadiens On Clutch Goal By MacAdam

The International Hockey Weekly Founded in 1947Published by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd.214 King St. West, Suite 314, Toronto, Ont. M5H 1K4<h2>The Stars believed</h2>THERE MAY NEVER be a National Hockey League quarterfinal playoff series with a higher caliber of hockey nor more dramatically scripted elements than the one recently concluded between the victorious Minnesota North Stars and Montreal Canadiens&mdash;a veteran team decimated by injuries versus a talented young team which beautifully maintained its poise into the final minutes of the seventh and deciding game.Perhaps the difference (what little difference there was) might have been the goaltending by Gilles Meloche, the coaching of Glen Sonmor or the scouting of Harry Howell. Whatever, it was undoubtedly the shining hour of the North Stars to this date, and there&rsquo;s a long line of people who should be mentioned for the happy things that have happened to that franchise&mdash;among them chairman George Gund III, vice chairman Gordon Gund, president John Karr, vice president Walter Bush, Jr., general manager Lou Nanne, Sonmor, Howell, assistant coach Murray Oliver, assistant general manager Johnny Mariucci, and scouts Gump Worsley, Jack Gordon and George Agar.The Stars have drafted wisely and they have taught well&mdash;their passing game is a reflection of the influx of old hockey styles returning to the NHL. And on the overall roster, there are eight native Americans (including Steve Christoff, the eminent young American Olympian) and two Swedes.As for the Canadiens, do you remember a club that could still finish third in the regular season standings after a slow start, a coaching change, and the loss of two starters from the previous season, Ken Dryden and Jacques Lemaire? And do you remember a hockey club that could go into the quarterfinals missing five of its regulars through injury, working with a roster of only 13 men, and surviving until the final minutes of the seventh game?The two teams provided millions of TV fans with seven nights of superior entertainment. Both are to be applauded and that goes also for both coaches&mdash;Minnesota&rsquo;s Glen Sonmor and Montreal&rsquo;s Claude Ruel.<h2>Just play hockey</h2>THIS IS NEITHER to knock the Philadelphia Flyers, whose play THE HOCKEY NEWS has already commended, nor to intimidate or inhibit them in their semifinal series against Minnesota, which commenced this week.But the trust is that we will see them as the skilled hockey team they have been through the season, rather than as the league&rsquo;s leader in penalties. Let us see a semifinal series that will be noted for the aesthetic qualities of the skills demonstrated, rather than for unnecessary hitting which can lead to brawls.The North Stars&rsquo; quarterfinal series with the Canadiens was the kind of hockey that fans now wish to watch&mdash;with skating, passing, playmaking, scoring. In the first springtime of the decade of the &rsquo;80s, it would be a delight to see more series like that one and to be delivered from all the hassling, fighting and stick-waving, which, in a less enlightened time of NHL history, was thought to appeal to fans.The reading we get right now is that the rough stuff neither sells tickets nor wins hockey games. And from here until the final game of the Stanley Cup playoffs&mdash;let us be talking about skills, talent and tactics, rather than about who clobbered whom. &#9632;

<div class="byline">BY SUSAN NATTRASS</div>Susan Nattrass, a native of Edmonton, Alta., is the five-time world champion in trap shooting, the women&rsquo;s world record holder in trap shooting, and the first and only woman to compete in the sport of trap shooting in the Olympics (1976). She is also one of many Canadian amateur athletes who cannot understand how the upcoming Canada Cup, which will include participation by a Soviet team, can be allowed to go on this fall, only two months after the Olympics&mdash;which she and all of her fellow amateur athletes will be boycotting because of the Soviets&rsquo; invasion of Afghanistan.I think the thing that bothers me and all of the athletes I&rsquo;ve talked to the most is the apparent double standard being exercised by the Canadian government.On the one hand, they&rsquo;re asking us to give up years and years of training to boycott the Olympics in Moscow this summer because of the Soviets&rsquo; invasion of Afghanistan. We are willing to do that because we recognize the seriousness of the Soviets&rsquo; actions.But then, almost right after they&rsquo;ve gotten a commitment from us to boycott, they turn around and say that the Canada Cup will be held this fall and that the Soviets will be allowed to participate. That was really kicking us when we were down, and I just couldn&rsquo;t believe that it was happening.The people at Hockey Canada know how much Canadians love hockey and they also know that there is lots of money to be made by putting on a tournament of this sort: Lots of people will come to all of the games.At the same time, they also realize that a boycott by a bunch of amateur athletes is not going to cost anything but time and years of training on the parts of the athletes involved. And when you put a group of amateur athletes up against a group of pros who can make a lot of money for the country&hellip;it&rsquo;s not hard to see which group is going to prevail.The rationale of the Canadian government seems to be that the only way to really hit Soviets where it hurts is to refuse to participate in an event&mdash;the Olympics&mdash;that is taking place in their country. Our boycott of the Games, they claim, will do just that. But the government officials don&rsquo;t feel that excluding the Soviets from the Canada Cup will have any impact on them because the event is taking place in Canada&mdash;away from Moscow.But we disagree. We feel that the game of hockey&mdash;especially since the U.S. defeated the Soviets at Lake Placid in February&mdash;is a very important sport to the Soviets and that if we really took a stand with them and told them that they couldn&rsquo;t participate in the Canada Cup&hellip;maybe the average Joe over there would realize that we don&rsquo;t approve of what they&rsquo;re doing and start to ask a question or two.Having to boycott the Games was a tough enough pill for all of us athletes to swallow but we did it because the government asked the Canadian Olympic Association (COA) for its support. Now, they want us to accept the Soviets coming over here to play in the Canada Cup almost right after the Olympics are over? What it boils down to is that the pro athletes are doing one thing while we amateurs do another&hellip;and that&rsquo;s sad, very, very sad. &#9632;

Don’t Invite Soviets To The Canada Cup!

<div class="byline">By ALAN EAGLESON</div>Alan Eagleson, executive director of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Players&rsquo; Association and a voting member on the International Ice Hockey Federation for Hockey Canada, had these opinions on the Canada Cup Tournament scheduled for this fall after the Canadian government and the Canadian Olympic Association came out in favor of a boycott of the 1980 Summer Games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011216/4700669-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="272" height="541"></div>It doesn&rsquo;t bother me one way or another whether the Canada Cup Tournament is played this fall.What you have to remember is that the Canada Cup is now a part of the International Ice Hockey Federation cycle&mdash;and it is scheduled to be played every four years, just like the World Championships and the Olympics.Hockey Canada has nothing to do with the tournament except as an organizer. A distinction has to be made, though, between boycotting an Olympic competition and a hockey tournament of this nature.As I&rsquo;ve said many times in the past, I have no use for the Russians. Sometimes we have been able to get along on a group basis, but collectively I have very strong opinions about them. However, my personal opinion has to be submerged in this issue.The differences between the Canada Cup and the Olympics are many and first we have to note that the event is being held in Canada and not in the Soviet Union.The Lake Placid Olympics were a structured event which the Russians attended after the Afghanistan situation began and after the deadline date by the U.S. was set for the removal of Soviet troops.The World Wrestling Championships also took place in the U.S. in late March, I believe, and the Soviets were there. And in October, 1980, a gymnastics meet is scheduled to be held in Maple Leaf Gardens with the Soviets as the main team in contention.When Skate Canada holds their competition, the Russians are always invited to it and it&rsquo;s the same for the world speed skating events.I have asked the government of Canada for their direction and if the government determines that Canada should not be involved in international competition with the Soviets, then that&rsquo;s the way it will be.The Canada Cup tournament involves six countries; four of them&mdash;Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland&mdash;are democratic and two, the U.S.S.R. and Czechoslovakia, are Communist countries.As I say, the decision will be left to the government, but as of this past weekend we had Mark MacGuigan, the minister of external affairs and Gerald Regan, the federal minister of sports, indicating publicly that the government does not intend to prevent Canada and the Soviets from playing.What could prevent the tournament? Well, if the Players&rsquo; Association voted against it in June then it wouldn&rsquo;t be played, but I think the government has to be the leaders. If it&rsquo;s not in the best interests of the country then we won&rsquo;t play.But I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s fair to cancel if Canada, the U.S. and other countries are still interested in playing the Soviets in countries other than the Soviet Union.From my own personal point of view, because of a heavy workload, I wouldn&rsquo;t mind seeing the Canada Cup tournament held off for another year. But I said I would undertake this and I&rsquo;ll live up to it if the government of Canada wants me to. &#9632;

f0008-01

The Decision Will Be Left To The Government

<div class="byline">BY PAT CALABRIA</div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;Somehow the Islanders have hit their stride. Somehow they breezed through the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Somehow they are in the semifinals.&ldquo;Unbelievable,&rdquo; Bob Bourne said, &ldquo;isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo;Bourne recalled the suffering and the aggravation of a team that floundered most of the season. But with a shocking upset of Boston in five games in the quarterfinals&mdash;including a stunning three-game sweep in Boston Garden&mdash;the Islanders advanced to the semifinals for the fifth time in the last six years.And that&rsquo;s where they expect the ease to disappear. They drew as their opponents the Philadelphia Flyers and the update team approached the first game in the Spectrum confidently and eagerly, but not overconfident or over-eager. They expect a tough series.The Islanders are used to tough series. They battled the Bruins in hand-to-hand combat. The Islanders prevailed They clinched the series with a 4-2 victory after losing 4-3 in overtime the night before. And they tumbled over the ice in delight.&ldquo;This makes up for all the aggravation all year long,&rdquo; coach Al Arbour said. &ldquo;Before, they&rsquo;d get behind and they&rsquo;d put their tails between their legs. They thought, &lsquo;What&rsquo;s the use?&rsquo; Now look at them. They think they can do anything.&rdquo;Including beating anyone&mdash;even on the road. Suddenly, after winning three games in Boston, the Islanders believe they can win anywhere.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going to do well in the playoffs, you have to win on the road,&rdquo; goalie Bill Smith said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s that simple.&rdquo;Smith was one of the big reasons the Islanders beat the Bruins. Entering the semifinals, he had allowed just 20 goals in eight playoff appearances. His only loss was to the Bruins in overtime.Beside Smith, the Islanders have several other players streaking. John Tonelli and Wayne Merrick have been among the most consistent players. The Islanders are getting the support from their backup lines.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a big thing,&rdquo; Bryan Trottier said. &ldquo;It takes so much pressure off when everyone is doing well. And now we have so many guys doing well.&rdquo;Guys like Garry Howatt, who already has three playoff goals. Guys like Bobby Nystrom, who has been an outstanding checker, although he suffered a scratched right eyeball which sidelined him for the series-clinching victory over the Bruins.The Islanders will need that support if they are going to continue to win and advance to the finals for the first time. They will also need the outstanding penalty killing they&rsquo;ve gotten so far. With Lorne Henning replacing the injured Anders Kallur and teaming with Bourne, the Islanders have allowed only five power play goals in 65 chances, since the 73rd game of the regular season.And, of course, the players expected to lead the team must continue their effective all-around play. Trottier not only has silenced the doubts about him being a reliable playoff player scorer, but has aided determined defense as well. Bossy scored two goals in his first game against the Bruins after returning from a jammed right thumb.And Clark Gillies, so often criticized for not fighting more, has shown why it&rsquo;s silly to fight for fighting&rsquo;s sake. True, Gillies did battle four times with Boston&rsquo;s Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, but he also scored the go-ahead goal in the clinching game.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t enjoy all the fighting,&rdquo; Gillies said. &ldquo;But I realize I had to do it. The Bruins thought that if they could beat the big fella, they could beat the team. Well I know I&rsquo;m one of the guys this team depends on. I had to show I couldn&rsquo;t be beaten.&rdquo;Now the Islanders like to believe no one will beat them. But they also know the Flyers can bring them back down to earth. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not thinking anything now,&rdquo; Arbour said, &ldquo;except play hard.&rdquo;<div class="sidebar">Suddenly, after winning three games in Boston, the Islanders believe they can win anywhere.</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011194/4700700-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="576" height="1704"><figcaption class="caption-body">The penalty-killing of Bob Bourne (above) and Lorne Henning has sparked the Islanders.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0009-01

Islanders Anticipate Tough Semifinal Round

<div class="byline">BY RICHARD FRIEDMAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;Like offering candy to a baby, the Rangers dangled one last little treat before their fans. It was their 4-2 victory in Game Four of the quarterfinals against the Flyers, and it proved to be the final confection for New York fans.In the end the candy was stale and nobody&mdash;not the fans, nor the Flyers, nor the Rangers&mdash;was buying, and two days later the season was over on Broadway.The Flyers had their sweet revenge from last year&rsquo;s quarterfinal humiliation, and the Rangers had five months to reflect over what a tearful Don Maloney termed &ldquo;a waste&rdquo;&mdash;and to wonder why and what might have been.What went wrong? How could a club that proudly marched all the way to the 1979 Stanley Cup Finals fall to its knees just a year later?For one thing the Flyers were better and angrier. Besides, a human windmill named Ken Linseman tied the Rangers in knots. And Philadelphia&rsquo;s coach, Pat Quinn, had plenty of time to turn the anguish of last season&rsquo;s defeat to this year&rsquo;s triumph, as Linseman pointed out to THE HOCKEY NEWS.&ldquo;We were really prepared for them this time,&rdquo; said Linseman. &ldquo;Last year hurt Pat so much, and he spent all last summer studying films of them. We beat their system.&ldquo;The idea was to get on top of their defense.&rdquo;Most observers pointed out that Linseman&rsquo;s line&mdash;Paul Holmgren, Brian Propp&mdash;had shut down the Rangers&rsquo; Steve Vickers, Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson. Linseman climbed all over Nilsson, and Hedberg finally dropped his gloves and pummeled Propp during Game Four. But stifling the Swedes was not the Flyers&rsquo; prime priority.&ldquo;It was not so much their line,&rdquo; Linseman revealed. Rather, the Rangers&rsquo; most mobile defensemen, Barry Beck and Ron Greschner, were the Flyers&rsquo; primary targets.&ldquo;The idea was to get to Greschner before he made the pass,&rdquo; Linseman added. &ldquo;We broke up their timing by picking up their top man.&rdquo;The Rangers team that wilted under Philadelphia&rsquo;s relentless forechecking was but a ghost of last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup finalists, both on paper and in spirit. Gone in trades was the speed and scoring punch of Mike McEwen, Bobby Sheehan, Pat Hickey and Don Murdoch, and in last spring&rsquo;s draft they lost muscle in Dave Farrish, Pierre Plante and Nick Fotiu&mdash;not to mention the spark Fotiu added to the Rangers&rsquo; dressing room.Meanwhile, the Flyers had solidified while the Rangers were dressing players who would have been in New Haven had the team possessed last year&rsquo;s depth.The man they received in last fall&rsquo;s blockbuster trade with the Colorado Rockies, defenseman Barry Beck, inherited a legacy too weighty for even his broad shoulders.He was too good to pass up, but he came at a high price&mdash;five players&mdash;and the jury is still out on the trade because the Rangers have yet to see what a healthy Beck can do. First, there was a groin injury, and then a hyperextended elbow suffered late in February, and in the final loss to the Flyers he tore a leg muscle on his first shift. And people tend to forget that he is only 22 years old, and still maturing.The frustration of the Madison Square Garden fans&mdash;who have not seen a Stanley Cup since 1940&mdash;was focused on Beck in the closing minutes of Game Three, a 3-0 shutout. A cascade of boos rained down on him despite the fact that he had put both Linseman and Flyers&rsquo; defenseman Jim Watson out of the game with damaging, thunderous clean checks.&ldquo;It was totally unfair,&rdquo; said Linseman, who sat out the Flyers&rsquo; 4-2 loss Sunday night with sore ribs as Ron Duguay scored a hat trick. &ldquo;It was not his fault that his team lost.&rdquo;Linseman spent Game Four in the Garden stands, cheering on his team and verbally abusing the Rangers&mdash;as he had on the ice&mdash;and the official word was that his rib cartilage damage would keep him out &ldquo;indefinitely&rdquo;. But nothing short of handcuffs would have sat him down on Tuesday, and when he appeared on the ice with a makeshift flak jacket protecting his ribcage, that was it for the Rangers. They committed 30 give-aways and allowed the Flyers to ake a 3-0 lead by making mental and physical mistakes.On the first goal, Mel Bridgman Irew both Beck and Greschner to him and passed off to Al Hill, who leaked Rangers goalie John David-on and scored at 19:03 of the first period. Behn Wilson and Paul lolmgren scored just minutes apart in the second, and the Flyers moved into the semifinals with a 3-victory.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t shoot enough,&rdquo; said phil Esposito. &ldquo;We passed too much when we had opportunities of shoot. That hurt us a lot.&rdquo;Rangers&rsquo; coacb-gm&mdash;Fred hero told reporters in his post-same comments that the Rangers &lsquo;need a few more abrasive guys.&rdquo;But the season, and in its own yay the playoffs, demonstrated that the Rangers do have a solid foundation on which to build, providing the team is not dismantled gain as they were in the past 12 months. Duguay has asserted himself as a scorer and a playmaker, Davidson once again hit his stride in the playoffs&mdash;and did not get the support he deserved from his team&mdash;and little Eddie Johnstone is one of the hardest workers in the league. In Don Maloney and a healthy Dean Talafous they have tenacity in the corners and scoring punch, and there is no telling what a healthy Beck&mdash;or a well-coached Greschner&mdash;can do.What the Rangers have to think about is whether they could still be in the playoffs if they had managed to overcome the factionalism and bickering that led to Garden boss Sonny Werblin&rsquo;s visit to their Rye practice rink before the last weekend of the season, when he delivered his &ldquo;Get Your Act Together&rdquo; dictum. There are players on the team who are convinced that the Rangers would still be in the running had they managed to downplay their differences.The beginning of the end came with back-to-back losses to, of all teams, the Edmonton Oilers and the Winnipeg Jets late in March when the Rangers seemed to be gathering strength for the playoffs.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve peaked at just the right time, going into the playoffs,&rdquo; Don Maloney said then. But the Rangers were reduced to a series of false starts the rest of the way.&ldquo;To me, the biggest disappointment was not finishing higher than eighth,&rdquo; said assistant coach Mike Nykoluk. &ldquo;We had fifth, and then we lost it.&rdquo;They finished with 38 wins, two fewer than last year, and with 86 points, a drop-off of five. The question then became whether they could catch fire in the playoffs as they had after their faltering finish last year. Against the Flames, they did. But the Flyers extinguished them just as quickly.Werblin intended to reflect on the season past until early May; his biggest problem is Fred Shero, who Werblin believes lost touch with his players this year. Shero could coach again, and meanwhile assistant coach Mike Nykoluk twists slowly, slowly in the wind after spurning a lucrative, multiyear offer to coach the Toronto Maple Leafs a year ago.Rangers&rsquo; fans, too, would like to know what Shero, Werblin et al are thinking. All they have to look forward to now is Year 41 in the Rangers&rsquo; search for the Stanley Cup. &#9632;

Rangers’ Year Proved Step Backwards

<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/f0010-02969/4700786-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="586" height="330"></div><h2>Flips Out Over Cover Boy Duguay</h2>When I saw Ron Duguay on the cover of THE HOCKEY NEWS, the Bible of hockey, I nearly flipped out. The cover of such an excellent publication should have stars on it, not average hockey players with good looks. Such players like Blaine Stoughton, B. J. MacDonald, Steve Shutt, Bryan Trottier, Don Maloney, Jim Schoenfeld and Bernie Federko are stars, whom, I believe, has not appeared on covers this year. They deserve a spot on the cover due to their great seasons, not because they&rsquo;re male models or anything else.Duguay is NOT a star; in fact, he&rsquo;s the Rangers&rsquo; third string center, behind Phil Esposito (a true star) and Ulfie Nilsson.John A. Gacinski&nbsp; Queens, NY<h2>Goalies Don&rsquo;t Need More Penalty Shots</h2>Many people are calling for rule changes that would increase the number of penalty shots awarded (including a HOCKEY NEWS editorial of April 18). They contend that this would make the game more exciting for the fans, but they fail to take into consideration the players.It may be wise to point out that hockey remains a team sport, not a one-on-one confrontation. Rules infractions that currently warrant penalty shots&mdash;hooking or tripping a man with a breakaway, covering up on the puck in the crease&mdash;are necessary because they illegally impair an excellent scoring opportunity.By increasing the penalty shots by calling them for infractions that do not now warrant them, a much greater strain would be placed on the goaltender. His job is hard enough with five men in front of him. Goals-against averages, and perhaps teams&rsquo; won-loss records, would suffer. Granted, penalty shots provide very exciting moments, but (except for the infractions mentioned above) is it really fair to increase scoring by making the goalie play by himself?Scott Calbeck&nbsp; Ottawa, Ont.<h2>Flyers&rsquo; Holmgren Not Such A &lsquo;Goon&rsquo;</h2>The following are the final statistics for four players for the 1979-1980 NHL season:Terry O&rsquo;Reilly 19 goals, 42 assists, 61 points, 265 PMDave Williams 30 goals, 23 assists, 53 points, 278 PMTerry Ruskowski 15 goals, 55 assists, 70 points, 252 PMPaul Holmgren 30 goals, 35 assists, 65 points, 267 PMThe final statistics of these four players are fairly close as far as total points and total penalty minutes are concerned. Williams has the fewest points of the four but is tied for the most goals. Their penalty minutes are within a 26-minute span.With all this in mind, why is it that O&rsquo;Reilly, Ruskowski, and Williams are hailed as &ldquo;tough players&rdquo; and &ldquo;valuable to their teams&rdquo; while Holmgren is labelled universally throughout other NHL cities as a &lsquo;goon?&rsquo; When the first three are praised for coming to the aid of their teammates, Holmgren is condemned for the same actions.The purpose of this letter is not to belittle the efforts of the first three players mentioned, as I, too, believe them to be valuable to their respective teams, but to point out an obvious display of anti-Philadelphia Flyer sentiment around the league which can only be based on jealousy of the Flyers&rsquo; accomplishments and their fine organization.Sanford W. Wilson HI&nbsp; Philadelphia, PA<h2>Boston No Bonus For Visiting Fan</h2>I have now been in four rinks beside my home town arena, which happens to be the Spectrum. Talk about highs and lows! In March of &rsquo;79 the Atlanta fans were friendly to the point of stopping us in the concourse to thank us for travelling south to see our team play. In November of &rsquo;79 I went to Landover to see the Flyers play the Caps and was treated politely as an out-of-towner. Of course, it&rsquo;s hard to judge fan treatment when the Flyers are in the Capital Centre because then they&rsquo;re so evenly divided in the &ldquo;Spectrum South&rdquo;.In March of &rsquo;80 the Hartford fans were tolerant and at least willing to talk to us. But then we went on to Boston. What a mistake!! The Boston fans were deplorable and for quite a few of them their actions were inexcusable. We were verbally harrassed during the game and even a little physically intimidated afterwards. I hate to think what would have happened if the Flyers had won or the game had been closer.With the Spectrum almost totally sold out with season ticket holders, we don&rsquo;t often have visiting fans. I only hope that they don&rsquo;t have to fear for their safety when they are there.I know when I plan my next trip, my biggest consideration might very well be fan behaviour. I know for sure it won&rsquo;t ever be Boston again!!Judith Bradley&nbsp; Havertown, PA<h2>NHL Learns Nothing From Tragedies</h2>If the executives of the National Hockey League wonder why their league is snickered at, they need look no further than the Tiger Williams-Scotty Bowman incident in Game Three of the Buffalo-Vancouver playoff series.Williams, who had engaged in hooking, slashing, and high-sticking throughout the series, swung his stick at Bowman who was behind the Sabre bench in the first period of the game. Bowman was hit in the head and knocked out. He was revived in the dressing room and later returned to the bench.No penalty was assessed to Williams on the play, and it was not until Bowman himself protested to the league that Brian O&rsquo;Neill gave the Tiger an earth-shattering one-game suspension.It is ludicrous that such conduct is tolerated. Bowman, who has a plate in his head from an injury he suffered in his playing days, could have been killed.It&rsquo;s been 11 years since the Ted Green-Wayne Maki incident, five since the Dave Forbes-Henry Boucha incident, four since the Marc Tardif-Rick Jodzio incident and four since the three Flyers were jailed in Toronto. Hasn&rsquo;t the NHL learned anything from those tragedies? How long before the goons like Williams maim a man for life, or worse?I think it reflects well on the fans of Vancouver that they did not sell out the Pacific Coliseum to see the Canucks&mdash;in one of their infrequent Stanley Cup appeareances&mdash;try to foul the Sabres into submission. Williams and cohorts John Hughes, Harold Snepsts, and Stan Smyl are a disgrace to the NHL and to the fans of Vancouver, who deserve better.Thomas Prohaska&nbsp; St. Bonaventure, NY<h2>Janaszak In Goal A Far-Out Idea</h2>In the Fan Forum section of THE HOCKEY NEWS (4/18/80), Karl Witbeck writes that he wonders what planet Lou Nanne (Minnesota GM) is on. In turn, I&rsquo;d like to know what planet Mr. Witbeck resides on. He certainly can&rsquo;t be much of a hockey fan if he thinks a raw rookie like Steve Janaszak could even come close to being the quality goaltender that Gilles Meloche or Gary Edwards is.After recently watching both Edwards and Meloche in playoff action against Toronto and Montreal, I would dare say that there aren&rsquo;t many better 1-2 combinations in the NHL (excepting Buffalo). I think Mr. Witbeck may have let his emotions get the best of him on this one.Gene Warman&nbsp; Clarkston, MI<h2>Norwood Makes Good In Canadian Juniors</h2>In response to the article by Morris Dalla Costa (April 18) on underagers from the OMJHL turning pro, I find it rather shocking that there is no mention in the article of Lee Norwood from Trenton, Mich. Lee has played for the Oshawa Generals in the OMJHL the last two seasons and last year was drafted in third round by the NHL&rsquo;s Quebec Nordiques as a 19-year-old. He returned to the Generals for his last year of junior but has since signed a contract with Quebec for the 1980-81 season.Norwood is an American player who has held his own in Canadian junior hockey and deserves some recognition.Bruce Antioch&nbsp; Allen Park, MI &#9632;

f0010-02

FAN FORUM

<div class="byline">BY GLENN COLE</div>MONTREAL&mdash;The dressing room on the west side of the Forum was strangely silent.Gone was the blare of disco music and the back slapping and champagne popping of 13 months earlier.Many of the members of the Canadiens sat quietly, pondering their elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs in the seventh game of a gruelling quarterfinal set against the Minnesota North Stars.&ldquo;My players did everything they could,&rdquo; said coach Claude Ruel. &ldquo;As a coach, I could not ask much more from my men than that.&ldquo;I have coached a Stanley Cup winner, but I will tell you this&mdash;it is the best group of players I have ever had.&ldquo;They came to work. They same and gave their best all the me. I am pleased and proud with the way they played. I can&rsquo;t ask my club to work any harder than they did.&rdquo;Ruel, who took over the Canadiens&rsquo; coaching job Dec. 12 when Bernard Geoffrion resigned, declined to say exactly what his future with the team would be. He had indicated earlier that he would probably not return as coach, but after the loss against Minnesota, he was not as definite.&ldquo;I am going to meet with Mr. Grundman,&rdquo; Ruel said upon entering his office followed by Irv Grundman, the Managing Director of the club.&ldquo;We will sit down and weigh all the plusses and minuses and make a decision. I will be the one who decides what I&rsquo;ll do.&rdquo;It was a frustrating season at times for Ruel, who never had his full lineup in the entire 61 games he coached.Against the North Stars on the final night of the ill-fated 1979-80 season, the Canadiens were minus two 50-goal men&mdash;Guy Lafleur and Pierre Larouche&mdash;and people such as Doug Risebrough and Guy Lapointe were dressed, but not ready to go all the way.&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t hang our heads after this,&rdquo; said defenseman Rod Langway, who developed into a solid, bona-fide major league defenseman during the season under Ruel&rsquo;s guidance. &ldquo;We have too good a hockey club for that. You have to give the other team credit. They worked hard and they never stopped.&rdquo;Langway, who will undergo surgery for a broken nose suffered on March 22, also played with a sore ankle, a groin injury and a bruised knee during the Minnesota series.He was one of the many skating wounded that Ruel had perform for him, one of the guys who would have gone through a brick wall for the Montreal coach if the need had arisen.A day later forward Mark Napier could not believe the season had ended so quickly for the Canadiens.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think this has really hit yet,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to realize that, all of a sudden, when you get up in the morning you don&rsquo;t have a game to go to or a practice.&ldquo;It was a little bit different when I was in Birmingham. You almost knew you were going to lose there. My first two years there we didn&rsquo;t make the playoffs. But in my third year we finished fourth.&ldquo;We had to play the first place team so we were not expected to win. But here you&rsquo;re expected to win all the time and I guess that makes it more of a shock.&rdquo;Just what changes the Canadiens will undertake following their earliest exit in post season competition since 1974 will be discussed in the coming weeks by coach Ruel and other members of the management team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011233/4700755-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="586" height="1124"><figcaption class="caption-body">Canadiens&rsquo; coach Claude Ruel said, &ldquo;I could not have asked this club to work any harder.&rdquo;</figcaption></div>Veteran defenseman Guy Lapointe, who was dressed but seldom used in the seventh game against the North Stars, was visibly upset with his lack of activity and wondered aloud what his future would be with Montreal.Gilles Lupien, another defenseman, didn&rsquo;t even dress the majority of playoff games and he will become a free agent. The Canadiens are not expected to make a giant sized effort to resign the 6-6 defenseman.Other players, including right wing Danny Geoffrion, may not be back. And it is likely the Canadiens will seek a Bobby Smith-type forward to bolster their ranks.Doug Wickenheiser of the Regina Pats would appear to be the logical choice for Montreal as the Canadiens&rsquo; own the first pick in the entry draft. &#9632;

f0010-01

Undermanned Habs Fought ’Til End

<div class="byline">By DICK JOHNSTON</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011157/4700817-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rick Dudley points to confidence stemming from the input of the Sabres&rsquo; three-man coaching staff as a reason for why the Sabre are a better club. (Photo by Bruce Bennet)</figcaption></div>BUFFALO&mdash;It has been five years since the Buffalo Sabres went as far in the Stanley Cup playoffs as they have gone this season.The last time, in 1975, they surprised nearly everyone by going all the way to the finals and extending the defending champion Philadelphia Flyers to six games.How does this team compare with that one?John Andersen, assistant general manager, says this edition is a little better. Andersen&rsquo;s assessment carries weight. He is the only man left, among front-office hockey personnel, from the Punch Imlach regime, which was in power when the Sabres made the finals.&ldquo;This team has more experience, overall,&rdquo; Andersen said as the Sabres skated through a full scale, game-type scrimmage while awaiting determination of their opponents in the semifinals.&ldquo;This year&rsquo;s club has more speed,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;and, I think, it is more aggressive.&rdquo;Only eight members of the1975 Sabres are still playing for Buffalo.One complete forward line still is here but doesn&rsquo;t play together. That year Danny Gare played right wing with Don Luce and Craig Ramsay, who now are with Rick Dudley when coach Scotty Bowman uses his regular forward alignments.The French Connection, which was the dominant line in 1975, is missing Rene Robert, now with the Colorado Rockies. Gil Perreault and Rick Martin are usually teamed with Ric Seiling and that line was the big scoring combination through the quarterfinals.Dudley is the only other forward who still is with the Sabres. He spent three and a half seasons in the World Hockey Association before returning to Buffalo midway through the 1978-79 campaign.Pete McNab, who was on Dudley&rsquo;s line back then, now is with the Boston Bruins. The others are out of the National Hockey League.Jim Schoenfeld and Bill Hajt are the only defensemen now with the club who played in 1975 Stanley Cup action. John Van Boxmeer, now a Buffalo regular, was with Montreal then but did not break into the lineup against Buffalo in the 1975 semifinals.He is the only other current Buffalo defenseman, besides Schoenfeld and Hajt, with any Stanley Cup experience before this year and he played only one game for Montreal and two for Colorado.Richie Dunn, playing his first full season with the Sabres, did get into one playoff game two years ago.The other 1975 backliners are on other teams now&mdash;Jerry Korab, Los Angeles; Lee Fogolin, Edmonton; Josh Geuvremont, New York Rangers (in the minors at season&rsquo;s end), and Larry Carriere, Toronto (signed as a free agent late in the season).Dudley, whose checking, muscle and versatility helped him play a major role in both the &rsquo;75 playoffs and this year&rsquo;s to date, agrees with Andersen that this club is better.&ldquo;This club&rsquo;s talent is a little better,&rdquo; Dudley stated, &ldquo;and our confidence is a lot better.&ldquo;The three-man coaching staff definitely gives us better organization. All three coaches have input. We&rsquo;re better prepared for the playoffs this time because we are incredibly well-prepared for every game. This is a confidence booster because we know exactly what each opposing player will do.&ldquo;Our goaltending this season has to be the best it&rsquo;s ever been since the team entered the league, so that means we&rsquo;re better in that department than we were in 1975.&ldquo;Our defense is faster and much more mobile.&rdquo;The fact was mentioned that the defense is inexperienced, in large part.&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; admitted Dudley, &ldquo;the defense is inexperienced. But the club, overall, has a better mixture of experience and youth. The people who are experienced are the kind you want. Guys who give 110 percent and lead by example.&ldquo;And a big thing, we forecheck much better this year.&rdquo;ICE CHIPS: Going into the semifinals, Perreault led the Sabres in playoff scoring with four goals and nine assists for 13 points. Martin was the leading goal scorer with six. The goaltenders, Don Edwards and Bob Sauve, each had a goals-against average of 1.75.The Sabres will be playing Islanders in the semifinals.<div class="sidebar">&ldquo;This club has more speed than the one in 1975,&rdquo; said a Sabre official, &ldquo;and 1 think it&rsquo;s more aggressive.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0011-01

Sabres Bring Speedy Club To First Semis Since ’75

<div class="byline">BILL LIBBY&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021025/4700886-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="315" height="367"></div><h2>Opportunity For Heroics</h2>THE MONTREAL CANADIENS&rsquo; Yvon Lambert scored just 20 goals in the 1979-80 regular season, but he scored two goals in each of the three games of the first round of this year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup playoffs, as the Canadiens swept the Hartford Whalers, three games to none.Lambert has averaged just 22 goals a year in his seven seasons with the Canadiens, but he stole the show from Guy Lafleur, Pierre Larouche, Steve Shutt, and other more accomplished Canadiens in the opening round.In fact, it was Lambert&rsquo;s goal, just 29 seconds into overtime, that settled the third and final game. He was positioned in his usual spot&mdash;near the crease&mdash;when linemate Rejean Houle slid him the puck and Yvon drove it into the net.His teammates hailed him as a hero, surrounding him and hugging him happily, and Yvon later said, grinning, &ldquo;I am happy to be a hero.&rdquo;That was understandable, because Lambert is not a hero too often. He is one of the good hockey players on a team that has many great ones and the opportunities to peform heroics are few and far between.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03710/4700879-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="309" height="446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Yvon Lambert</figcaption></div>Not that he can&rsquo;t score goals; he tallied 50 in 52 games one season as an amateur 11 years ago and 52 in 76 games as a minor leaguer eight years back. He has twice scored 32 goals in his NHL career (197475, 1975-76) and he is perhaps best remembered for his overtime goal in the Canadiens&rsquo; seventh game against the Boston Bruins in last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup semifinal. The goal eliminated the Bruins and propelled the Canadiens into the finals and on their way for their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup.<h2>Must Accept Punishment</h2>LAMBERT, HOWEVER, IS not a good skater. He did not even start to skate until he was 14 years old and never developed into an outstanding skater&mdash;which shows when Yvon is matched against most players in the league. He gets most of his goals by planting his six-foot, 195-pound body near the crease and accepting punishment from defenders while waiting for teammates to get him the puck.&ldquo;I am pretty good with the stick in there, but I take a beating,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Sometimes I wonder how much I could score if I could skate like Lafleur. Even so, I don&rsquo;t take the beating Lafleur takes because he gets the puck more and holds it longer.&rdquo;Lambert plays on the Canadiens&rsquo; checking line with Houle and Mario Tremblay. In former coach Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s system, the Canadiens supported their stars strongly with hard-working journeymen and they leaned a lot on a checking line. Current coach Claude Ruel follows Scotty&rsquo;s system and Lambert fits in fine, although he is not the scorer the team thought he might be when he came up in 1972. He may get more scoring opportunities than usual in the playoffs, when opponents devote too much attention to the Lafleur line or the line Lambert is checking devotes too much attention to offense.&ldquo;I am mainly one of the workers now,&rdquo; Lambert says, &ldquo;and I can live with that as long as I can play with the Canadiens. I would not want to play with another team, so I always work hard so I can stay with this team.&ldquo;I know I cannot skate the way people expect the Canadiens to skate and I know skating is the most important part of this sport, but I know other things are important, too, and I have seen that if I do the other things&mdash;work hard defensively, take advantage of the openings offensively, and get the odd goal, I can keep a place for myself here.&rdquo;<h2>Detroit Gave Up On Him</h2>YVON PIERRE LAMBERT, the oldest of eight children, was born in Drummondville, Sue., in May, 1950, so he is almost 30 years d. He was reared on a dairy farm 10 miles outside of the town, where his father worked in the textile mills. Yvon and his mother took care of their cows. The money the father made was spread thin and the farm helped the family survive.&ldquo;We did not have a lot, but we were happy because we were a big family with a lot of love,&rdquo; Lambert says. &ldquo;I used to play street hockey in my boots. I got my first pair of skates when I was a young teenager, but I was tall and awkward and it was too late for me to develop the way others already had.&ldquo;I had practiced shooting the puck and got a lot of goals as an amateur in Drummondville in the Quebec League and at Port Huron in the International League. I turned pro with Detroit, but they didn&rsquo;t think I could skate well enough to make the majors and let me go in the draft to Montreal. By my second year in Nova Scotia in the American League I was ready to move up to the NHL.&ldquo;I am skating better now, but I am also getting older. I have made it on hard work, but I am also getting smarter and playing smarter,&rdquo; he smiles. &ldquo;We have had an up and down season but I have a family to feed&hellip;and that extra playoff money peps me up.&rdquo;Yvon and his wife Sandra have two daughters, Natasha, who is five, and Jennifer, who is almost two. They have a home in Montreal and a summer cottage in Kirkland, Que. Yvon also has a tavern, Chez Pierre, in Drummondville, which his dad runs for him. &ldquo;I am there when I can be,&rdquo; Yvon says. &ldquo;I like to be with the people.&rdquo;Coming into this year&rsquo;s playoffs, the Canadiens had won the Stanley Cup four straight times. Maybe they can&rsquo;t win the precious silver trophy every year, but with hard-working, opportunistic, pressure players like Lambert, they always have a chance.&ldquo;Winning it each time was big biggest thrill,&rdquo; Lambert says. &ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t win the Cup this time&hellip;we will just want to win it more the next time.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-02

HOCKEY AD LIB

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div>BOSTON&mdash;Gerry Cheevers, wearing a yellow-brown terry cloth robe, sat in his corner of the quiet Bruins&rsquo; dressing room. There was a bag of ice tapes to his left knee, a can of Bud in one hand, and a cigarette in the other.&ldquo;It was a nice fantasy,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;lying in bed today and saying, &lsquo;Geez, let&rsquo;s win tonight, get the big one on the Island Thursday and play that seventh game. It was beautiful. But that&rsquo;s a fantasy we&rsquo;re not going to realize.&rdquo;The New York Islanders ended the Bruins&rsquo; fantasy with a 4-2 victory in the fifth game of the quarterfinal series in which they scored three goals in the last period as Boston, playing its eighth game in 11 nights, finally ran out of legs.&ldquo;We tried,&rdquo; said Cheevers. &ldquo;What can I say? I don&rsquo;t think anybody here can say we didn&rsquo;t try. Regardless of the odds, we tried.&rdquo;The odds were pretty steep with the Islanders leading three games to none and only 20 seconds away from a four-game sweep when Rick Middleton scored the tying goal and Terry O&rsquo;Reilly, the most hated Bruin to Islander fans, won it at 17:13 of overtime.It was a high, a fantasy, that lasted less than 24 hours. Then, with scarcely a look back, it was time to talk about next year.&ldquo;I wonder if we haven&rsquo;t seen the last of Gerry Cheevers,&rdquo; Peter McNab was saying, &ldquo;and it&rsquo;s going to be a sad, sad time for all the players.&ldquo;And who else is going to be gone next year? For me that&rsquo;s always the hardest part of the end of the season. There&rsquo;ll be four or five changes. There always are.&rdquo;One of the changes will be a new coach. General manager Harry Sinden, who took over as interim coach when Fred Creighton was fired only seven games from the end of the season, says he does not want to hold both jobs next season.&ldquo;We have no coach in min right at the moment,&rdquo; said Sinden, which only fed the rumor mill as it ground out such names as Tom McVie, Eddie Johnston, Mike Nykoluk, Bobby Kromm, Craig Patrick and&hellip;gasp!&hellip;Don Cherry, the ex-Bruins coach who is said to be in trouble in Colorado.&ldquo;Don Cherry will not coach the Boston Bruins while I am general manager,&rdquo; said Sinden.But Sinden and some of the Bruins&rsquo; veterans were more eager to talk about the good young rookies who played so well in the playoffs. In fact, they appeared to be looking forward to next season with more enthusiasm than in the past three years when they went down to the wire with Montreal Canadiens.There was one time in the fifth game with the Islanders, when the teams were skating three-on-three, that the trio of Bruins on the ice were rookies Ray Bourque, Brad McCrimmon and Craig MacTavish and they were more than holding their own.&ldquo;We played the two rookie defensemen this year and they distinguished themselves,&rdquo; said Sinden. &ldquo;It was a tremendous step forward for us as far as our defense was concerned. And to get a kid like MacTavish coming out of a Division 2 college is a bonus that we didn&rsquo;t expect.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011206/4700848-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="618" height="1446"><figcaption class="caption-body">Gerry Cheevers won&rsquo;t decide until this summer if he&rsquo;s faced his last shot as a Bruin.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a couple of kids who are going to push very hard in the same manner to make this club next year.&rdquo;That would be Larry Melnyk, a defenseman out of New Westminster, and Doug Morrison, a centerman from Lethbridge, both of whom were underage draft choices from last year who were left to play another season in junior hockey.&ldquo;I looked out on the ice tonight and there were three kids out there, MacTavish, McCrimmon and Bourque, who never saw a playoff game before,&rdquo; said Cheevers. &ldquo;Three players are a lot for a transition period. I certainly think the future is bright for the Bruins.&rdquo;Cheevers, who will be 40 years old next December, wasn&rsquo;t sure if he&rsquo;d be a part of that bright future.&ldquo;Right now I&rsquo;d say that&rsquo;s it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had enough chances. Who knows how I&rsquo;ll feel in August. Maybe my legs will be good then. Maybe I&rsquo;ll wake up one day with good knees and want to play again. I&rsquo;ll probably talk with Harry.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking forward to getting healthy and playing next year,&rdquo; said Captain Wayne Cashman, who faces surgery on his left knee during the summer. &ldquo;If there&rsquo;s a chance we can find another Ray Bourque or Brad McCrimmon, I&rsquo;m looking forward to it more than ever.&ldquo;You gotta give credit to our younger players. They did a tremendous job. All of us realize that someday we gotta give way to these younger players and we have to try to help them as much as we can.&ldquo;It really feels good to be able to tell them something and next day in practice, have them come to you and and say, &lsquo;Tell me that again so I can work on it.&rsquo; I had guys help me that way&mdash;Johnny McKenzie, Ted Green, Ron Murphy and a guy who scored a couple of goals&hellip;what&rsquo;s his name, Esposito?&rdquo;Doesn&rsquo;t that sound like a coach talking?&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not ready for coaching yet,&rdquo; Cashman laughed. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t even get my kids up for school in the morning.&rdquo;<div class="sidebar">&ldquo;You gotta give credit to our younger players,&rdquo; said Wayne Cashman. &ldquo;They did a tremendous job.&rdquo; &#9632;</div>

f0012-01

Bruin Fantasy Comes Crashing Down

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011148/4700917-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="300" height="361"></div><h2>Those Mismanaged Rangers</h2>LATE LAST SEPTEMBER, Hall of Famer T.V. broadcaster William Chadwick, who implicitly believes he knows more about the Rangers than most people, assured me that the Broadway Blueshirts were &ldquo;40 percent better than last year.&rdquo;Just six months later, in late March, author Larry (Ratso) Sloman, the Rangers&rsquo; biographer who does know more about the Rangers than anyone, assured me that Ranger coach Fred Shero really had a master plan ready for the playoffs.With these airtight guarantees, I could only assume that by this week the Rangers would be well on their way to their first Stanley Cup since 1940.Instead, America&rsquo;s longest-running non-championship team is well on its way&mdash;to Bimini, Tahiti, Pago Pago, Las Vegas and other spas where the only available ice is found in scotch and water.If nothing else, the annual deep-sixing of the Rangers proves that you can&rsquo;t buy the Stanley Cup, whether you spend a million dollars for a couple of Swedes called Hedberg and Nilsson or whether you guarantee a Meadowlands franchise for a Barry Beck.It also proves that the Blueshirts are the most mismanaged, miscoached collection of athletes since Colonel Frederic McLaughlin of the Chicago Black Hawks fired the coach and put his masseur behind the bench.Alas, the Rangers, a team that came so close to capturing the cup last spring, are now in a state of militant disarray. It must be enough to make even former general manager John Ferguson, now g.m. of the Winnipeg Jets, cringe. Remember, it was Fergie, not Fred Shero, who built the nucleus of the Ranger sextet which marched to the 1979 finals.Since then Shero has done wonders for the franchise. These wonders include the acquisition of such notables as Jocelyn Guevremont, Cam Connor, Bill Lochead, Frank Beaton and Ed Hospodar. (By the way, it was Shero&rsquo;s boss, Sonny Werblin, who produced Beck for the Blueshirts.)The ability of Shero, the manager, is best symbolized by his Guevremont deal in which a draft pick was traded for the corpulent French-Canadian. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good deal for us,&rdquo; said Shero at the time. &ldquo;Guevremont has the ability to step in and become a regular for us. I consider him to be one of the most dangerous point men in the game.&rdquo;He is&mdash;for the New Haven Nighthawks.At this time last spring, the players Ferguson had acquired and developed carried Shero to the Stanley Cup finals. They even won game one in Montreal and took an early lead in game two. The cup was in sight. Then, Scotty Bowman outcoached Shero and it was series-over; still another cup drought at Madison Square Garden.Clearly, the Shero of two Philadelphia Stanley Cups is not the Shero of 1980. He is a different person but one who has managed to mesmerize Werblin into thinking he is Mandrake the Magician or, perhaps, Lamont Cranston, alias The Shadow.One wonders whether Werblin is aware of the Machiavellian behind-the-scenes maneuvering of Shero&rsquo;s high command. According to one reliable report the May, 1980 scenario has Mike Nykoluk victimized in a bizarre upheaval that casts Mickey Keating as g.m., Shero as coach and Phil Esposito as assistant coach next season. Nykoluk, who was promised the coaching job for 1980-81 by Werblin, would be aced out of the picture while Keating becomes the new choreographer. It&rsquo;s just a report but the tipster is usually right.Werblin, whose knowledge of hockey could have been placed on the head of a pin when he took over the Rangers, certainly cannot be blinded by the facts today. Namely, that the Shero-orchestrated Rangers have disintegrated like cube sugar in hot coffee.Where once they were a fleet, spirited, high-scoring unit, they have become a dispirited, low-gear organization riddled with dissension. It is a club whose most gifted young scorer, Don Murdoch, was traded by Shero in return for Cam Connor, who has spent most of his pointless time on Broadway trying to refute his &ldquo;goon&rdquo; image.Werblin, who owns 20-20 vision when it comes to discerning the bottom line, must be aware that in Shero&rsquo;s second year at the helm the Rangers finished worse than they did in 1979 during both the regular season and the playoffs.Even Werblin must be aware of the erosion of superior talent. Defenseman Ron Greschner, who would have been a Norris-Trophy-winner under Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; coach Scotty Bowman, has vegetated under Shero. The coach has done zilch for the behemoth Beck. Hedberg and Nilsson have stagnated and Mario Marois, a wunderkind last year at this time, has regressed, among other disappointments.Werblin accommodated Shero with the vast Gulf and Western megabucks. But as another Rangers&rsquo; boss, William Jennings, learned in earlier years, you can&rsquo;t purchase the cup&mdash;either in Gimbel&rsquo;s basement or Tiffany&rsquo;s window.<h2>Fans Frustrated Again</h2>ALL OF THIS IS TRAGIC news for the endlessly frustrated Ranger fans as well as for the National Hockey League. A vibrant, winning Manhattan sextet automatically creates a bonanza for hockey in general. Who can forget the headlines of last May when the Blueshirts marched to the finals and playoff tickets were $500 a throw? In fact, there are those on Madison Avenue who believe that a Ranger Stanley Cup win is equated with a network TV contract.Last May, the thinking was that only a year was required for the cup to come to the Big Apple. Now, maybe a century would be more realistic.As for the Shero mind, one can only recall his decision this season to forbid his Rangers to wear the commemorative U.S. Olympic patch on their jerseys, although the New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres had agreed to do so.Shero, it was said, insisted that teams wearing commemorative patches always have bad luck.Imagine their luck if the Rangers did wear the patch.<h2>Some Playoff Highlights</h2>NOTES: The real internal story on the Rangers&rsquo; demise has not been explicitly told by any of the New York dailies. Thus, we must wait until Ratso Sloman&rsquo;s book is published by William Morrow next season to get the inside line on dissension at Madison Square Garden and all that jazz&hellip;Hopefully, Ratso will clue us in on a few tidbits in the months to come&rsquo;cause there&rsquo;s some juicy stuff that should cause Sonny Werblin to re-read the manuscript twice&hellip;The still untold story is captain Dave Maloney&rsquo;s relationship with his teammates: Not as nice as Dave&rsquo;s smile&hellip;The Bruins&rsquo; hasty playoff exit will inspire Bs ownership (the Jacobs brothers) to re-evaluate Harry Sinden&rsquo;s GM role but Sinden appears safe for now&hellip;Bruins have been overshadowed by the National Basketball Association Celtics. Some observers believe the Bs can only regain the limelight by bringing Don (Grapes) Cherry back from Denver&hellip;But that would inspire the resignation of Sinden and Bs prexy Paul Mooney. The question is, what does Sinden do about his chronic inability to find the right coach? (He&rsquo;s already gone through Bep Guidolin, Tom Johnson, Fred Creighton, Cherry)&hellip;Would you believe Gerry Cheevers or Eddie Johnston as possibilities?&hellip;Some Boston players want Grapes back&hellip;The Mike Nykoluk-to-Toronto rumor is curious since Toronto G.M. Punch Imlach will pick the next Leafs&rsquo; coach and Mike is not one of Punch&rsquo;s men&hellip;Sonny Werblin wants Shero &ldquo;to do more coaching&rdquo; in 1980-81, claiming that Fred has lost touch with his team. (So what else is new?) But Sonny won&rsquo;t dump Shero. Werblin wouldn&rsquo;t know what to do for a replacement&hellip;Don&rsquo;t quit hockey, Fred Creighton, wherever you are!&hellip;Did you notice that despite his greatness, Tony Esposito couldn&rsquo;t pull Chicago past the quarterfinals&hellip;The folks reasponsible for ruling that Wayne Gretzky and other World Hockey Association alumni are ineligible for the Calder (rookie) Trophy are Clarence Campbell, Brian O&rsquo;Neill and Ron Andrews of the NHL hierarchy&hellip;Precedent was set by them when Pat Hickey and Wayne Dillon moved from the WHA to the NHL in 1975&hellip;&lsquo;Tis rumored that the Colorado Rockies are prepared to move to the Meadowlands in defiance of the NHL and to take the case to court if NHL president John Ziegler makes waves, a la Al Davis (maestro of National Football League&rsquo;s Oakland-L. A. Rams)&hellip;Bruins&rsquo; asst. G.M. Tom Johnson tells me that the Bs had more bite under Sinden than Creighton&hellip;But it was the boisterous Sinden style that, in the end, hurt more than helped the Bruins against the Islanders&hellip;And could Creighton have done any worse than a five-game set with the wallowing Penguins or would a Fredled Bruins have lost all three games of the quarterfinal at home&hellip;After what Bob Verdi said about me in THE HOCKEY NEWS, I will no longer mention his name in this column, until next issue&hellip;Atlanta Flames&rsquo; boss Tom Cousins will not spend another dime on the NHL franchise. The only way Georgia can keep the club would be if the Coca-Cola folks do for the Flames what Ralston-Purina did for the Blues in St. Louis. Otherwise, Calgary is the next stop for Willi Plett and friends.PLAYOFF THRILLS: The following are personal playoff highlights of several NHL personalities: Al Arbour, Islanders Coach&mdash;&ldquo;In 1961 I was with Chicago. The Black Hawks hadn&rsquo;t won the cup in 23 years but we knocked off Montreal in the first round and then beat Detroit in the finals and won it on a snowy April night at the Olympia.&rdquo;Matt Pavelich, former NHL linesman&mdash;&ldquo;My greatest thrill was breaking George Hayes&rsquo; record of officiating in playoff games. Players go for goals; I went for games, and I got the record.&rdquo;Frank St. Marseille, Asst. Coach, L.A. Kings&mdash;&ldquo;I was with St. Louis in 1970 when we played Boston in the finals. The Bruins won the first three games and in the fourth we took them into overtime. Bobby Orr scored the winner but even though it was against us I&rsquo;ll never forget Orr flying through the air after the puck went past our goalie, Glenn Hall.&rdquo;Brad Park, Bruins&mdash;&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t had my greatest thrill yet. That&rsquo;ll come when I play on a Stanley Cup winner.&rdquo;MEDIA NOTES: The usually mild-mannered Lawrie Mifflin (N.Y. Daily News) accused Philly Flyers&rsquo; coach Pat Quinn of lying about an injury to defenseman Jim Watson during Ranger semifinal series&hellip;Philly writers were equally miffed and also protested to GM Keith Allen about Quinn&rsquo;s closed dressing room edict&hellip;Mifflin was also duped by Ken Linseman. She wrote in her early edition that Linseman missed the fifth game of Ranger-Philly series&hellip;Meanwhile Ken was leading Flyers to a quarterfinal win over N.Y&hellip;. Best thing the Toronto Globe and Mail could do is give Scott Young&rsquo;s abdicated column to Dick Beddoes, who is now on the political page&hellip;Joe Gordon of the Quincy (Mass.) Patriot-Ledger did a bang-up job pinch-hitting for &ldquo;color&rdquo; commentator Johnny Peirson on Boston TV during the Bruins-Isles series&hellip;Sorry to hear that nice guy Pierce Gardner left the Washington Caps P.R. job. I hear he was getting the business from promotion types in the Caps&rsquo; hierarchy&hellip;Max McNab, you shouldn&rsquo;t let it happen. &#9632;

f0013-01

ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div>CHICAGO&mdash;&ldquo;In this game and in this series, they were better than us,&rdquo; said Tony Esposito, as undaunted at facing reality as he is at coping with hazardous flying objects identified as hockey pucks.&ldquo;No doubt about it,&rdquo; the Black Hawks&rsquo; goalie continued. &ldquo;But we tried. We worked hard and never gave up. In three of the games, we were in it down to the end. In the final game one more goal when we had them on the run would have been good enough to win it.&ldquo;Experience on their side made a difference. And I think Gilbert Perreault had the best series of his career. Whenever he was on we had to worry about checking him; We couldn&rsquo;t do anything on offense.&rdquo;Perreault set up the game-tying goal and scored the game winner with 3:06 to play, enabling the Buffalo Sabres to edge the Hawks 3-2 and eliminate them from the Stanley Cup playoffs.Making their first appearance in the best-of-seven quarterfinals since 1975&mdash;when they also were beaten by Buffalo&mdash;the Hawks were swept away in four straight games.The Chicago Stadium crowd of 14,770 saw the game the way Esposito did. Instead of chastising the Hawks for squandering a 2-0 lead that endured through 14 minutes and 32 seconds of the middle period, the crowd gave them an ovation at the end.Chicago had gone in front on Bob Murray&rsquo;s shot from the Buffalo blue line in the first period and Tom Lysiak&mdash;set up deftly by Doug Wilson&mdash;stung Bob Sauve for a power play goal midway through the second period.But late in the second period a many-sided altercation flared along the boards to the rear of the Chicago goal. Five players were penalized&mdash;Rick Dudley and Lindy Ruff of the Sabres and Tim Trimper, Keith Brown, and Rick Paterson of the Hawks.Because there were major penalties mixed in with minors, a three-on-three situation arose that proved to be to the Hawks&rsquo; demise.With 28 seconds to play in the second period, John Van Boxmeer scored what Buffalo coach Scotty Bowman called &ldquo;our key goal.&rdquo;&ldquo;That goal unnerved them,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;They knew if we got another one we&rsquo;d be tied and then they could be eliminated on one shot.&rdquo;Rick Martin scored the tying goal at 8:47, assisted by Perreault. Then, as the minutes dwindled down to a precious few, Perreault scored the game-winner with an assist from Martin.Even after the Sabres had the lead and&mdash;as it turned out&mdash;the series, the Hawks kept battling.With Esposito pulled for a sixth attacker and 38 seconds showing on the clock, Murray and Mike O&rsquo;Connell barged in from the backline, trying to overwhelm Sauve. &ldquo;The puck was rolling, and Murray took a whack at it on the backhand,&rdquo; said Sauve. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t hold on and the other guy (O&rsquo;Connell) would have gotten it if Bill Hajt hadn&rsquo;t been there to cover up.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-02872/4700948-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="607" height="863"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chicago&rsquo;s Ron Sedlbauer was bothered by his line&rsquo;s inability to contribute offensively.</figcaption></div>Of the Hawks, Ron Sedlbauer, the left wing who came in the December trade that sent Dave Logan and Harold Phillipoff to Vancouver, seemed to take the loss the hardest.&ldquo;Our line (Sedlbauer, Grant Mulvey, and center Alain Daigle, filling in for the injured Terry Ruskowski) had 17 of our 48 shots on goal but we didn&rsquo;t accomplish anything,&rdquo; said Sedlbauer. &ldquo;Granny had 39 goals this year and I scored 23 and had 40 last year. But in this series neither of us had a single goal.&rdquo;&ldquo;Had Ruskowski been able to play it would have undoubtedly been much, much tougher for us,&rdquo; said Bowman. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a lot of hockey player to lose, especially at a position as important as center ice.&rdquo;The diminutive Ruskowski was seeing double after being punched out by 6-4, 220-pound Larry Playfair early in Game One and didn&rsquo;t play for the remainder of the series. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a fracture of the socket where the bone supports the eye,&rdquo; said Dr. Lou Kolb, the Hawks&rsquo; physician. &ldquo;If the double vision disappears, he won&rsquo;t have to have an operation. If it doesn&rsquo;t, then he will. At this stage we&rsquo;re optimistic.&rdquo;And so were the Hawk players as they contemplated the season just past and the one to come.&ldquo;This year, we didn&rsquo;t have anybody who could scare another team with his scoring ability,&rdquo; said Lysiak. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t have a Mike Bossy or a Bryan Trottier. Maybe next year we will. If we do, watch out.&rdquo;The Hawks wound up the regular season with a 34-27-19 record and 87 points&mdash;14 more than they had last season&mdash;which made them the fifth most improved team in the league. In the playoffs, they terminated a record 16-game losing streak that stretched back to 1975 by sweeping St. Louis in the best-of-three opening round series. &#9632;

f0013-02

Hawks Couldn’t Match Sabres’ Power

<div class="byline">BILL FLEISCHMAN&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-02959/4701010-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="283" height="360"></div><h2>Has Shero Lost It?</h2>IT&rsquo;S PAINFUL WATCHING someone you like and respect drifting and perhaps losing his touch in his profession.I didn&rsquo;t like what I saw and heard of New York Ranger coach Fred Shero during the Rangers&rsquo; Stanley Cup quarterfinal series with the Philadelphia Flyers. That series is over now; the Flyers beat the Rangers in five games. Now the question is: Is Shero&rsquo;s career in New York over?A year ago Shero&rsquo;s Rangers had won the hearts of New York, and much of North America. Even Shero, in one of his midnight doodlings on an airline cocktail napkin, couldn&rsquo;t have written the Rangers&rsquo; script of 1978-79. After leaving Philadelphia, where he had coached the Flyers to consecutive Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975, Shero drove up the Jersey Turnpike, found Manhattan, and turned the downtrodden Rangers into Stanley Cup finalists.This, then, was to be the Rangers&rsquo; big season. Another Stanley Cup final wasn&rsquo;t too much to ask. Hell, a Stanley Cup conquest was even possible, wasn&rsquo;t it?Instead, the Broadway Blues turned into the Broadway Blahs. First, Dave Farrish, Nick Fotiu and Pierre Plante were lost in the expansion draft. Normally, losing these three players wouldn&rsquo;t drive a general manager to the nearest psychiatrist&rsquo;s couch, but these three had supplied the Rangers with much-needed spirit and muscle.<h2>Disrupted The Team</h2>THEN, IN EARLY November, Shero, assistant general manager Mickey Keating, assistant coach Mike Nykoluk and club president Sonny Werblin decided to disrupt the team by trading five players to Colorado for Barry Beck, one of the mini-Rocky Mountains. With a chance to get an outstanding young defenseman like Beck, you evidently risk taking a step backward, which is exactly what the Rangers did this season.Pat Hickey, Mike McEwen and Lucien Deblois&mdash;players with speed and scoring ability&mdash;were sacrificed to get Beck, who, despite his appearance on some All Star teams, wasn&rsquo;t the dominating defenseman the Rangers expected. Later, the Rangers traded Don Murdoch, another player with scoring skill and speed, for Cam Connor, a grinder.Shero was the general manager behind these deals&mdash;or was he? In perpetuating his &ldquo;Freddie the Fog&rdquo; image that was established in Philadelphia, people close to the Rangers wonder if Shero really is the brains behind the operation. Shero has left most of the nuts-ana-bolts work to Keating, a long-time friend who has succeeded in alienating most of the New York press.Perhaps the most stunning comment after the Rangers had been eliminated by the Flyers was from Nvkoluk. &ldquo;We know we have to rebuild,&rdquo; Nykoluk said.Rebuild? A year ago, a basically young team reached the Stanley Cup finals. Now they&rsquo;re rebuilding? What in the name of Sonny Werblin is going on here?&ldquo;Last year we had a different team,&rdquo; said Ron Duguay, one of the few Rangers who produced against the Flyers. &ldquo;Guys like Fotiu and Plante. I&rsquo;m not saying this team wasn&rsquo;t as good, but once you go to the final with a certain bunch of guys, you have something good going as a team and it helps the next year to have the same faces around.&rdquo;<h2>Plenty Of Problems</h2>NYKOLUK, WHO MAY NOT have to worry about rebuilding the Rangers anyway, said there are some good prospects at New Haven. Players such as Doug Sulliman, Lance Nethery and Dave Silk helped the Nighthawks finish first in their division. But none of them is hailed as the NHL&rsquo;s next superstar.Problems, problems. Shortly after the Flyers had avenged last year&rsquo;s quarterfinal embarrassment, Shero reacted like a man without a problem in the world, as nonchalant as he might be after a mid-season loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Talking about the Rangers&rsquo; needs, Shero said they wanted &ldquo;a few more abrasive people, guys who like to fool around.&rdquo;Presumably, Shero meant he needs some players who don&rsquo;t mind barging into the corners pursuing the puck. Among the club&rsquo;s many weaknesses against the Flyers was that they were out-worked in the corners. If Shero meant the rangers needed more goons, then he does have problems.I worry that Shero, who as a coach in Philadelphia was several strides ahead of most rivals, isn&rsquo;t recognizing that the game is heading in the direction he pointed years ago. I worry that Shero really doesn&rsquo;t want to coach any more and he hasn&rsquo;t shown he can be a shrewd NHL general manager.Problems, problems. Shero, and the Rangers, have plenty of them. &#9632;

f0014-02

HOCKEY WORLD

<div class="byline">BY STEVE WINTER</div>LANDOVER&mdash;While Captain Ryan Walter headed west in pursuit of wild trout and defenseman Pierre Bouchard returned north to cooler climates and the restaurant business, coach Gary Green set out in search of a few fresh new faces, who would guarantee no repetition of the season recently concluded for his Washington Capitals.Victoria, Medicine Hat and Peterborough were the first stops for the 26-year-oId Green, who apparently won&rsquo;t find time until July to relax with his wife Sharon and three-month-old daughter, Jennifer. In these Canadian towns, Green scouted the teams headed for the Memorial Cup playoffs, eyeballing possible prospects for the upcoming June NHL amateur draft.&ldquo;Our top priority right now is the draft,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;The Capitals will have the fifth choice, and I feel it&rsquo;s my responsibility to see who (general manager) Roger Crozier, (director of player recruitment) Jack Button and our scouting staff have already seen and what they&rsquo;re suggesting. I want to know first-hand about the players I will be coaching next year.&rdquo;Green said that although he has the top amateur prospects labelled and his priorities laid out, he&rsquo;ll still go after the best available player.&ldquo;For example, if the four team ahead of us in the draft each choose a defenseman, and there&rsquo;s not a fifth-major-league caliber defenseman available, we&rsquo;ll draft the best player, no matter what position he plays, even if we need a defenseman.&rdquo;The Capitals, Green said, are lucky. Of the five NHL teams who did not qualify for the playoffs, three have traded off their first round PicksAnother priority for the club is the signing of a former No. 1 draft choice who still belongs to the Capitals&mdash;defenseman Rick Green.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve told (gm) Max McNab what I think about Rick Green,&rdquo; said Gary Green. &ldquo;I need him. I need him badly.&rdquo;Rick Green was Washington&rsquo;s steadiest defenseman during the season, scoring four goals and 20 assists while emerging as a team leader and stonewall on defense. Green played out his option this year, after unsuccessfully seeking a renegotiated $150,000 contract last summer, which would have made him the club&rsquo;s highest-paid player.&ldquo;Rick Green and his agent Norm Caplan, will be very pleased with the offer we&rsquo;re prepared to make him this year,&rdquo; said Caps&rsquo; legal counsel Peter F. O&rsquo;Malley.Another goal on the not-too-distant horizon is aimed toward developing the club&rsquo;s defensive structure. &ldquo;We have to have nine NHL defensemen,&rdquo; McNab said, &ldquo;six solid ones and three very close.&ldquo;Then, we have to examine the total goaltending picture. Wayne Stephenson did a magnificent job, but we must think about the future and develop some young goalies. We have fewer holes now than in the past, and our nucleus is all young players.&rdquo;McNab hinted that the club may opt to select an &ldquo;underage&rdquo; junior high in the draft, as opposed to someone who would start right away.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all a matter of a policy decision by (owner) Abe Pollin, as to whether we plan to go for immediate help or the best future prospect,&rdquo; McNab said. &ldquo;In our position, we need somebody right away, but maybe an 18 or 19-year-old would be best for the franchise.&rdquo; &#9632;

No Rest For Green Until Draft’s Over

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011188/4700979-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="600" height="936"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Murphy&rsquo;s shorthanded goal got the Kings rolling to their only win in the preliminary round.</figcaption></div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;There are those who think the Kings turned a hopeful Stanley Cup playoff situation into a hopeless one in the last game of the regular season when they allowed a 3-0 lead over the Vancouver Canucks to slip away and end up as a 5-3 loss.Going into the game, the Kings knew a win would send them into the opening round of the playoffs against Chicago Black Hawks or Minnesota North Stars. Both of these clubs closed the season playing well and, in fact, went on to win their preliminary round matchups, but the Kings had not lost to either Chicago or Minnesota all season and were confident they could beat either team.Going into the last game, however, everyone on the club seemed more concerned about insuring that Marcel Dionne win the league scoring title and that Charlie Simmer win the league goal-scoring honors. Although the Kings had lost in Vancouver a night earlier, everyone took the Canucks lightly.Once Simmer got his two goals, both on assists from Dionne, the Kings seemed to let down. The Canucks came from behind to win and the Kings lost all their bounce. General manager George Maguire, coach Bob Berry, and all of the players didn&rsquo;t have to say it; it was clear the Kings realized they&rsquo;d let a big one get away.Suddenly, the Kings had to enter the playoffs against the New York Islanders. Although they had beaten the Islanders once and tied them once in four meetings this season, none of the Kings thought they would defeat them in the playoffs.Instead of playing Minnesota, which would have been the case had they beaten Vancouver, the Kings went to Long Island. They went with their heads down and were destroyed in the first game, 8-1, the worst loss in their playoff history.After taking a 2-0 first-period lead, the Islanders fired five more past the floundering Kings in the second session and ran the score to 8-0 early in the third before easing off Kings&rsquo; goalie Doug Keans and his replacement Mario Lessard. Rob Palmer spoiled Billy Smith&rsquo;s shutout in the last minute.The following night the Islanders may have taken the second game too lightly. Or, the Kings&rsquo; pride had. been so stung that they were ready to shoot the works. A shorthanded goal by Mike Murphy carried the Kings to an early lead. And another by Andre St. Laurent capped a 4-0 first-period shocker.Dave Taylor scored two goals and Glenn Goldup and Steve Carlson one each as the Kines were un 6-0 midway in the game before letting down. Smith replaced Chico Resch in the Islander nets to tighten up things there. And Lessard, who had been sensational, loosened up a little as the Kings held on to win. 6-3.Encouraged, the Kings came home for Game Three and held their own with the Islanders physically while building a 3-1 lead in the first two periods on one goal by Mark Hardy (an 80-footer) and two by Simmer.After two games and two periods, the Kings had won one game in Long Island, were even in games in the series, were leading by two goals on home ice in the third game, and had the home ice ahead of them for the fourth game.They were that close to an upset in the opening round. But they didn&rsquo;t score another goal for the rest of the series. They played like a team that was waiting for the roof to fall in on them. And like teams that do this&hellip;they were buried.When the Islanders scored in the fourth minute of the third period, you could almost see the Kings saying, &ldquo;Here it comes.&rdquo; And when old buddy Butch Goring got the goal that tied it, it was only a matter of waiting for the inevitable.In the seventh minute of overtime, St. Laurent tried to clear the puck and it landed on Islander defenseman Ken Morrow&rsquo;s stick. Morrow shot and the puck deflected off St. Laurent&rsquo;s skate into the net and, suddenly, it was all over.The Kings had nothing left for Game Four. They held the Islanders to 2-0 for two periods, but instead of coming back as the Islanders had, the Kings just went through the motions and the Islanders fired in four goals to leave the Kings as embarrassed in the end, 6-0, as they had been in the beginning, 8-1.The Kings drew disappointing turnouts of 11,690 and 11,089 for the two playoff games and the second crowd was ridiculing and booing the team before the end and left early.What is most bothersome is the inevitability of it all: You know they won&rsquo;t win and they don&rsquo;t. They never fool you.The Kings have made the playoffs seven straight seasons now, but have lost in the first round five times, including the last three in a row.The game they won this year was their only victory in the last three first rounds in which they have played. Super-scorer Marcel Dionne does not have a goal in these three first rounds.In the last three years the Kings have lost preliminary round playoff games by 8-1, 7-1, 7-3, 6-0, and 4-0. They have been embarrassed badly, but they will tell you they showed signs of turning it around this time. In the end, the script was the same and the Kings went home with their heads down. &#9632;

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Kings Pulled Annual Playoff Flop

<h2>HART</h2>1. Wayne Gretzky2. Marcel Dionne3. Tony Esposito4. Mike Liut5. Larry Robinson<h2>NORRIS</h2>1. Larry Robinson2. Borje Salming3. Bill Hajt4. Jim Schoenfeld5. Dave Maloney<h2>CALDER</h2>1. Ray Bourque2. Pete Peeters3. Brian Propp4. Mike Foligno5. Paul Reinhart<h2>BYNG</h2>1. Wayne Gretzky2. Marcel Dionne3. Al MacAdam4. Guy Lafleur5. Mike Bossy<h2>SELKE</h2>1. Craig Ramsay2. Bob Gainey3. Terry Ruskowski4. Bobby Clarke5. Mike Polich<h2>ADAMS</h2>1. Pat Quinn2. Eddie Johnston3. Glen Sonmor4. Red Berenson5. Claude Ruel &#9632;

Top Contenders

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011129/4701072-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marcel Dionne may have edged out Wayne Gretzky for the scoring title and the Art Ross Trophy, but he&rsquo;ll have a tough time sweeping the Hart and Lady Byng Trophies away.</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;Just as veteran center Marcel Dionne of the Los Angeles Kings and 19-year-old sensation Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers waged a furious battle for the Art Ross Trophy for the scoring championship of the National Hockey League, so too may the duo rank 1-2 when votes are cast by the Professional Hockey Writers&rsquo; Association for several of the NHL&rsquo;s end of the year honors.PHWA ballots will determine the winners of the Hart, Norris, Calder, Selke, Byng and Masterton Trophies, awarded each year to honor outstanding performances in the NHL. And Dionne, who edged out Gretzky for the Ross by virtue of having scored two more goals, after they had tied at 137 points, will be one of the leading contenders for the coveted Hart Trophy as the league&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player, as well as a favorite in the Lady Byng Trophy race. Gretzky is also a strong candidate in both those categories.Virtually all of the awards races this season are going to be close for a variety of&rsquo; reasons. Players like Guy Lafleur, Bobby Clarke, Bryan Trottier, Denis Potvin and Brad Park are likely to be missing from the list of award winners this year, bringing to the forefront a new crop of stars. Some players also were at their best down the home-stretch of the season, such as Montreal&rsquo;s Larry Robinson, who despite a shoulder injury had a great second half to possibly overshadow Toronto&rsquo;s Borje Salming in the voting as the NHL&rsquo;s top defenseman.The following then is a category by category look at the awards and their top contenders:HART TROPHY: For the players &ldquo;ajudged to be the most valuable to his team.&rdquo; $1,500 prize: $750 to runnerup. In a break with tradition, this year&rsquo;s winner will likely not come from a team that went as far as the playoff semifinals. The top three candidates are Dionne, Gretzky and Chicago&rsquo;s Tony Esposito. All three have impressive credentials and the bottom line is this: Take any one of these players away from their respective teams and where would the teams have finished? Gretzky&rsquo;s Oilers certainly wouldn&rsquo;t have made the playoffs; Esposito&rsquo;s Black Hawks probably would not have made it past the first round and the Kings, without Dionne, would also have been hard-pressed to qualify for the playoffs.While Dionne and Gretzky took care of the scoring, Esposito was the league-leader in shutouts with six and was the NHL&rsquo;s workhorse with over 4,100 minutes played. Without him, Chicago, which ranked 19th in scoring out of 21 teams, would never have been close to the seventh place finish that they managed.Meanwhile, Dionne and Gretzky performed the scoring wizardry and playmaking which continually lifted their entire teams.Predicted Winner: Wayne Gretzky; Dionne second.NORRIS TROPHY: For the defensive player &ldquo;demonstrating the greatest all-around ability in the position.&rdquo; $1,500 prize; $750 for the runnerup. Robinson is the only player other than Denis Potvin and Bobby Orr to have won the Norris in the past 12 years and he and Salming are this year&rsquo;s favorites. After them there&rsquo;s a slew of performers at a slightly lower level, including Bill Hajt and Jim Schoenfeld of the Buffalo Sabres, Dave Maloney and Barry Beck of the New York Rangers, and even Boston Bruins&rsquo; rookie Ray Bourque.Robinson led the defensemen in points (14 goals, 61 assists for 75) a criteria that some observers feel is too big a factor in selecting the best defenseman. Salming was second with 71, while Beck and Bourque each had 65.Robinson, of course, has long been a major ingredient in the notable success of the Canadiens and for the most part this year carried a larger than normal role due to the absence of Guy Lapointe and Serge Savard, a couple of defensemen who could make life easier for anybody.Salming labored under an unsettled regime in Toronto and was even more drastically affected by troublesome sinuses which hampered his breathing and sapped his strength. His second-half performance was considerably less effective than his play over the first 40 games.Buffalo&rsquo;s Hajt is rapidly emerging as one of the top defensive defensemen while his Sabres&rsquo; teammate Schoenfeld made it through the year healthy (a first for him) while maintaining a high standard of leadership and ability. However, Robinson&rsquo;s and Salming&rsquo;s all-around abilities will draw more support.Predicted winner: Larry Robinson; Salming second.CALDER TROPHY: For the player selected as the &ldquo;most proficient in his first year of competition in the NHL.&rdquo; $1,500 prize, $750 to runner-up. With Wayne Gretzky and the other World Hockey Association &ldquo;veterans&rdquo; ineligible for the Calder, there was still a dandy race between a couple of forwards, a defenseman and a goalie. That would be Philadelphia&rsquo;s Brian Propp and Mike Foligno of Detroit up front, Boston&rsquo;s Bourque at the blueline and Philly netminder Pete Peeters, who ran up a 27-game unbeaten streak this year, the second longest in NHL history.Propp, who led rookie scorers with 75 points, and Foligno, the first-year goal king with 36, shared the inside track for the Calder through the first half of the season. Peeters drew support when he went through 27 games (22-0-5) without a loss and finished with a commendable 2.72 goals-against average. Bourque, only 19, broke the NHL record for points by a rookie defenseman, established by Detroit&rsquo;s Reed Larson and Beck, then with Colorado, two years ago at 60. Bourque, whose coolness under pressure and considerable other talents remind observers of Bobby Orr, tallied 65 points, including 17 goals.Bourque is seeking to become only the fifth defenseman to win the Calder Trophy while Peeters is in the same boat with four goaltenders winning previously the last one being Montreal&rsquo;s Ken Dryden in 1972. No Philadelphia player has ever won the award, while the last winner from Detroit was goalie Roger Crozier in 1965. Derek Sanderson was the last Boston player to win the Calder in 1968, the year after Orr won it.Predicted winner: Ray Bourque; Peeters runner-up.LADY BYNG TROPHY: For the player &ldquo;ajudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.&rdquo; Prize $1,500; $750 to runner-up. Dionne has won the award twice (1977 and 1975) and could make it a hat trick depending upon whether or not voters split their ballots between him and Gretzky. In other words, voting Dionne first in either the Hart or the Byng and choosing Gretzky first for the award for which they chose Dionne second. Dionne had 32 penalty minutes, higher than his usual, while Gretzky had 21. Minnesota&rsquo;s Al MacAdam, who fashioned his best season ever with 42-goals and 92-points, also only drew 24 penalty minutes. Guy Lafleur, third with 125 points, had 12 minutes in penalties, the same as the Islanders&rsquo; Mike Bossy, who scored 51 goals and 92 points.Predicted winner: Wayne Gretzky; Dionne second.SELKE TROPHY: For &ldquo;the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game.&rdquo; Prize $1,500; $750 to runner-up. Craig Ramsay of Buffalo has been second and third in the two years of the Frank Selke Trophy&rsquo;s existence. Perhaps this will be his year. The only player to have won it is, of course, Montreal&rsquo;s Bob Gainey and it&rsquo;s for certain that he won&rsquo;t give it up easily. Don Marcotte of Boston has shared the bridesmaid&rsquo;s role with Ramsay, but he won&rsquo;t be in the running this year because he missed much of the season with knee surgery.Buffalo had by far the best defensive club in the NHL, allowing just over 2.5 goals per game and Ramsay has long been one of the principles involved in keeping the opposition off the scoresheet. While Gainey (Montreal was a not-too-shabby third in team defense) blankets his adversaries by either outmuscling or simply outskating them, Ramsay kind of pecks away with a persistence that tends to frustrate. He seems to be all over the ice, stealing a pass, lifting a stick, coming out of a scramble with the puck and he contributed 21 goals and 60 points to the Sabres&rsquo; attack as well.There are other good ones around the league, too, like Chicago captain Terry Ruskowski, Min nesota&rsquo;s nifty Mike Polich, Vancouver&rsquo;s Jerry Butler, and of course the indomitable Bobby Clarke.Predicted winner: Craig Ramsay; Gainey runner-up.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02841/4701065-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="1256" height="1180"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ray Bourque played like the second coming of Bobby Orr for the Bruins this season and he&rsquo;s favored to become the fifth defenseman to win the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year.</figcaption></div>MASTERTON TROPHY: For &ldquo;the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.&rdquo; Prize $1,000. This award is somewhat different in that each chapter of the PHWA nominates a player from their city for the Masterton and then the list of 21 is narrowed to five finalists. The five finalists&rsquo; names, however, are not divulged to the public.Last year, Serge Savard of the Montreal Canadiens was the winner, while Rejean Houle was the Canadiens&rsquo; nominee this time around. The Canadiens have won the award the most times, three, with Henri Richard in 1974 and Claude Provost, the award&rsquo;s first recipient in 1968, completing the winners. The New York Rangers are the only other team to have won the award more than once with Jean Ratelle (1971) and Rod Gilbert (1976) earning the honor for the Blueshirts.The JACK ADAMS AWARD is voted on by the NHL Broadcasters&rsquo; Association for the coach &ldquo;ajudged to have contributed the most to his team&rsquo;s success&rdquo; has several strong candidates. They include Pat Quinn of Philadelphia, Eddie Johnston of Chicago, Glen Sonmor of Minnesota, St. Louis Blues&rsquo; Red Berenson and Claude Ruel of Montreal. Each of these coaches brought their team considerable improvement under their direction: Quinn, with a 35-game unbeaten streak; Berenson, as the Blues&rsquo; bettered last year&rsquo;s record by 32 points; Ruel, as the Canadiens sported the best record in the second-half; Sonmor, with a club record 88 points, and Johnston with a respectability the Hawks have been missing for years.One word of caution! Of the six past winners of the award, only one Al Arbour, last year&rsquo;s winner, is still employed by the same team.Predicted winner: Pat Quinn; Johnston second. &#9632;

f0015-01

Dionne, Gretzky Favored For Hart Trophy

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01991/4701127-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chicago&rsquo;s Tony Esposito</figcaption></div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS &#9632;

f0016-01

NHL PLAYOFF SCORING

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE HALPIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0017-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01876/4701158-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken Dryden, the best of the modem goaltenders, left his mark in Stanley Cup play during his career. He won the Smythe Trophy as MVP in 1971 and played on sir Cup-winning teams.</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;With the Stanley Cup playoffs now launched into a new decade, a look back at the 1970&rsquo;s reveals that what the playoffs lacked in excitement they more than made up for it with the odd things that happened during them.There was, for instance, the strange occurrence of the Montreal Canadiens not appearing in the Cup finals in both 1974 and 1975; the time a player called his coach totally incompetent during the course of a Cup final; there was the great fog struggle at Buffalo in 1975 during which temperatures outside surpassed 90 degrees and made playing hockey inside almost intolerable; and then there was last season, when an NHL coach was so intent on watching the final minute of a playoff game that he allowed too many players on the ice and drew a penalty, which led to his team&rsquo;s elimination from the playoffs.It was a decade primarily dominated by the Montreal Canadiens as they won six cups in 10 years and qualified as one of the greatest hockey teams of all time, capturing five of those six playoff championships in their opponent&rsquo;s rink.There were many highlights of the 1970-79 playoff era. Hockey fans will never forget how the Canadiens brought in a rookie goalie by the name of Ken Dryden for the playoffs in 1971 and how Dryden shut down the best offensive team of the year, the Boston Bruins. The Canadiens outlasted the Bruins in a seven-game series that was one of the biggest upsets of modern day playoffs. The Bruins were top dog after their Cup win of 1970 and the Canadiens had only been able to finish third in the final standing. But Dryden was the difference as the Canadiens went on to ultimately win the Cup. Dryden was also awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, as the outstanding player of the playoffs.Here&rsquo;s a brief year-by-year summary of the playoff highlights of the 1970s:Starting in 1970, the Bruins, under coach Harry Sinden, ended a 29-year championship drought by sweeping the St. Louis Blues four straight in the Cup final. The shocker of that season was that the Canadiens did not make the playoffs. The Habs were faced with the predicament of winning their final game of the schedule against Chicago while hoping the Rangers would be beaten by Detroit. The Rangers won, 9-5 and the Hawks bombed Montreal 10-2, allowing the New Yorkers to gain the final playoff berth on a better goals-for average.After relinquishing the Cup to the Bruins for one season, the Canadiens came back to prominence in 1971 as coach Al MacNeil was ridiculed by team captain Henri Richard as &ldquo;the worst coach I ever played for in my whole career. He&rsquo;s incompetent and doesn&rsquo;t know how to run the team.&rdquo; Richard made those comments after Chicago had stung the Habs 2-0 in the fifth game of the finals.MacNeil shrugged off the criticism and the Habs went on to win the Cup with the brilliant Richard scoring the series-winning goal. The outcome provided a change of heart for the Canadiens&rsquo; captain, who threw his arms around MacNeil and hugged him, declaring &ldquo;we are a proud team and we are winners.&rdquo;But in 1972 MacNeil was gone from the Montreal coaching scene and the Canadiens were eliminated in the quarterfinal round as the Boston Bruins bounced back on top of the NHL.The Bruins won the cup for the second time in three years, beating the Rangers in a six-game final led by the incredible Bobby Orr.In 1973, the Canadiens got their act together once more, finishing as the best team in the NHL and capturing the Cup in six games from Chicago. The Canadiens lost only 10 games that epic season but found the playoff competition more challenging than what they had handled over the 76-game regular schedule. The Habs had to outlast the Buffalo Sabres in a rugged quarterfinal series before disposing of Philadelphia in a five-game semifinal. In the Cup showdown with Chicago, the Hawks won one game of the finals 8-7 and another 7-4 before Montreal prevailed and won it all.The Montreal domination of the NHL was temporarily put on the back burner for the next two years as the Philadelphia Flyers emerged with their &ldquo;Broad Street Bullies&rdquo; image and won the cup in &rsquo;74 and &rsquo;75.In 1974, Fred Shero&rsquo;s Flyers became the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup when they defeated Boston in a six-game final. The next season the brawling Flyers did it one more time, defeating Buffalo in another six-game confrontation for the Cup. The series was marked by unusually high temperatures and excessive humidity and the Sabres had to bring skaters out on the ice waving white sheets to cut down the fog in order to allow the Cup final to go on. It was a long, humid night as the Flyers won the Cup in the Buffalo&rsquo;s Aud. Goaltender Bernie Parent led the Flyers to a 2-0 victory in that game as the Flyers won two consecutive Cups and Parent two consecutive Smythe Trophies.After the Flyers faded from prominence, the Canadiens returned to dominate the playoffs for the next four seasons, winning the Cup every year while posting an impressive 16-3 record in four Stanley Cup final series. Three of the Montreal Cup conquests were achieved on the road with coach Scotty Bowman at the helm of the Canadiens.Even Philadelphia&rsquo;s Reggie Leach&rsquo;s fantastic 80-goal year in 1976 failed to save the Flyers from relinquishing their hold on the Cup. Leach had a 61-goal season and tallied another 19 in the playoffs as he singlehandedly tried to keep the Flyers&rsquo; two-year hold on the championship intact. But the Canadiens swept the final four straight.Flyer great Bobby Clarke paid high tribute to the Canadiens when he said, &ldquo;whatever we tried to do, they did it better,&rdquo; said Clarke. &ldquo;We have nothing to be ashamed of. And they can be as proud as hell.&rdquo;The Canadiens went on to defeat the Bruins in 1977 with a four-game final sweep as Guy Lafleur became the playoff hero and won the Smythe Trophy as the best player in the post-season round. The Canadiens did it again in &rsquo;78 with the Bruins once more their unwilling victims.Last season, the Canadiens collected their 21st Stanley Cup by beating the Bruins in a classic semifinal series in which coach Don Cherry was victimized on a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty. The Canadiens ultimately won that clinching game and skated into the finals against the New York Rangers.The Cinderalla Rangers had nothing left for the Canadiens in the Cup finals after pulling out all stops to overcome Philadelphia and the Islanders in the quarterfinal and semifinal series. The Canadiens won the series handily in Dryden&rsquo;s last year as the NHL&rsquo;s best netminder. Bob Gainey was awarded the Smythe Trophy as MVP and the Canadiens saw the last of Dryden, Jacques Lemaire and Yvan Coumoyer, three great stars of their Cup-winning years. All three left the NHL and the Canadiens this season launched into a new decade.If it turns out to be anything like the one past, the rest of the NHL had better start manning its defenses right now. &#9632;

f0017-01

The Stanley Cup 70’s: They Had Everything

<h2>AL MacADAM&hellip;Minnesota North Stars</h2>The Minnesota North Stars are in the Stanley Cup semifinal round thanks to the scoring exploits of veteran Al MacAdam.The 28-year-old right winger, who had been in only one previous NHL playoff game in his seven-year big league career, has suddenly become the man with the magic touch. MacAdam scored the game and series winner with less than two minutes to play to defeat the Montreal Canadiens in Game Seven of their quarterfinal series 3-2. The win dumped the mighty Habs on the sidelines for the first time in five years.MacAdam&rsquo;s game winner was his second of the 1980 playoffs as he was the shooter who ended the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; hopes with a sudden-death overtime goal in the preliminary round.The North Stars&rsquo; high scoring winger, who finished the season with a career-high total of 42 goals, can also add his playoff scoring totals to his list of lifetime highs. He already has a career-high six goals in the first two playoff series. &#9632;

NHL Player Of The Week

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01895/4701189-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Frick and his &ldquo;Save Our Flames&rdquo; Committee are hoping that both Phil Russell, left, and Kent Nilsson will still be wearing Atlanta logos on their jerseys next season. (Photo by Bruce Bennett)</figcaption></div>ATLANTA&mdash;&lsquo;Save Our Flames&rsquo;, a committee of more than 1,100 volunteers, has been formed in Atlanta to try and keep the eight-year-old franchise alive in the southern city.The committee was formed after Flames&rsquo; owner Thomas Cousins announced that the team would be put up for sale after incurring losses that will approach $2 million for this past season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re an organization formed because we&rsquo;re concerned about the situation,&rdquo; said Larry Frick, the president of Iceland Corporation, which owns the hockey arena where the Flames practice. &ldquo;We intend to work out some kind of purchase to try and keep the Flames in Atlanta.&ldquo;We have a good nucleus of people and our momentum is beginning to build,&rdquo; Frick said. &ldquo;We had a rally last Tuesday of over 1,500 at Iceland after only two days of advertising in the papers and on the radio. And of the people there, about 1,100 volunteered their services in some way.&ldquo;Our &lsquo;Save The Flames&rsquo; committee has a hot line and a five-man executive committee which is made up of a steering committee and four sub-committees, including finance, marketing, ticket sales and public relations.&rdquo;The committee has already received wide North American exposure with a television segment which was aired on Hockey Night in Canada at the end of the quarterfinals.&ldquo;Our committee met with Tom Cousins and told him what we wanted to do, Frick said. &ldquo;And we asked him, &lsquo;How long do we have?&rsquo; His answer was: &lsquo;No more than three weeks.&rsquo;&rdquo;Frick told THE HOCKEY NEWS that his group would be meeting with Cousins again within four to five days after the committee&rsquo;s accountants and lawyers decide upon a presentation.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re pursuing one major company at this time,&rdquo; Frick related. &ldquo;And we have had several smaller local companies express an interest in what we are trying to do. We also have the option of trying to put together many different investors or perhaps syndication, but of course we haven&rsquo;t much time.&ldquo;We feel that if the marketing was handled differently, that the Flames could be a viable business,&rdquo; Frick said. &ldquo;We might not make money the first year, but we don&rsquo;t feel that we need to lose money.&rdquo;The &lsquo;Save Our Flames&rsquo; committee believes that an average attendance of 12,000 per game would be the break-even point and that they could make the game more attractive for local fans.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s never been any bus service provided for the games and we think it is necessary,&rdquo; said Frick. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to see other things going on at the arena to bring the people in and for some businesses to underwrite some of the costs.&ldquo;Having the players getting involved in the community would also help,&rdquo; Frick suggested. &ldquo;The Atlanta players have not circulated in the past and we feel that they should get the game going on a grass-roots level; get a working knowledge of the game going in the schools.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think hockey&rsquo;s that difficult to understand,&rdquo; Frick said.&ldquo;But it would help if the fans knew the players.&ldquo;Atlanta is becoming an international city,&rdquo; concluded Frick. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the major hub of the south and as far as amateur hockey goes here&hellip;our minor league hockey programs are all full, so the interest is definitely there.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-01

Atlanta Committee Formed To Keep Flames In South

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01851/4701282-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Philadelphia Flyers entered the NHL&rsquo;s semifinal playoff round against the Minnesota North Stars without high scoring defenseman Jimmy Watson, who was knocked out of the playoffs by the New York Rangers&rsquo; Barry Beck during the quarterfinals. Watson suffered a shoulder separation after taking a stiff check from the Rangers&rsquo; rearguard. He&rsquo;ll be missed by the Flyers. (Photo by Ian MacAlpine)</figcaption></div><h2>OHA Revamps Brass</h2>TORONTO&mdash;The Ontario Hockey Association has revamped its upper echelon by introducing a new structural system so that the organization will have both a president and a chairman at the same time.Bill Ruddock has been elected as OHA chairman while Brent Ladds will become the new president.The changes at the top were proposed at the annual OHA meeting in late April and won approval from the delegates. Outgoing president Larry Belisle saw the move as a positive one for his group. &ldquo;The presidency will be recognized as an internal position,&rdquo; Belisle said. &ldquo;We can recognize the people on our executive and they can step up into the position. We will be choosing people not because they have the time but because they have the ability. What we need to keep a good executive is a fulltime president.&rdquo;Belisle said it is imperative that the OHA launch a restructuring program because of the fact the association&rsquo;s role has grown more complex. Belisle sees Ruddock as the man at the top who will run the show while Ladds will control fund raising, public relations and become the OHA&rsquo;s technical coordinator.Belisle cited an example of how the OHA&rsquo;s role is changing by announcing that the executive committee will enter negotiations with the Ontario Women&rsquo;s Hockey Association, which has applied to become an affiliated body next season.<h2>Soviets Win Cup</h2>GOTEBORG&mdash;The Soviet Union regained some of the hockey composure it lost at the Olympic Games by winning the Sweden Cup in a five-nation round-robin tournament that did not include the United States.The Soviets finished on top with a perfect 4-0 record, winning the title in their final game by defeating Czechoslovakia 2-1.While the Soviets ended up as the No. 1 team, Sweden and Czechoslovakia both finished tied for second place with identical 2-2 records but the Swedes got the nod with a superior goals for record, outscoring the Czechs 16-15.Finland placed fourth with a 12-1 record while Canada ended in the basement without a win in four games. The best the Canadian Olympic squad could do was earn a 4-4 tie with Finland. The Canadians scored only eight goals in the four games as all three world hockey powers beat them in the tournament. Goaltender Wayne Stephenson of the Washington Caps was added to the Canadian team for the game with the Finns.The Swedes were aided by the scoring performance of two NHL players, Dan Labraaten of the Detroit Red Wings and the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; Willy Lindstrom, who both returned to their native Sweden after the NHL schedule closed.<h2>Swedes Staying Home</h2>GOTEBORG&mdash;Three of Sweden&rsquo;s top National team players will bypass offers from National Hockey League teams to play at Feast another season in Sweden.Matts Naslund, a 20-year-old winger, who was claimed by the Montreal Canadiens in last year&rsquo;s entry draft, said he will sign an NHL contract with Montreal but will remain in Sweden in order to compete in the 1981 world hockey championships at Stockholm. Naslund was recently named Player of the Year in the Swedish Hockey League.Two other Swedes, goaltender Pelle Lindbergh, who is the property of the Philadelphia Flyers, and Tomas Jonsson, picked by the Islanders last year, have also indicated they will sign with the pros but will stay home for one more year.<h2>Soviet Stars Move Out</h2>GOTEBORG&mdash;Two of the Soviet Union&rsquo;s all-time hockey players will perform next season in Austria.Left winger Alexandr Yakushev and right winger Valeri Kharlamov, both veterans of world hockey play, have agreed to join the Feldkirch team, a First Division club, after being dropped from the Soviet Union national team.Kharlamov, the 32-year-old captain of the Soviets, competed in the recent Sweden Cup tournament, his final major appearance with the Russians. Yakushev, who is 33, did not play for the Soviets this year. He has been with Spartak, a First Division Soviet club team, this past season. Both players were dropped by the Soviets to make way for a youth movement on the national team.<h2>Canada Cup Gets OK</h2>TORONTO&mdash;The Canada Cup tournament will go on as planned this fall after the International Ice Hockey Federation gave their official approval to stage the six-country event in Canadian cities.Alan Eagleson, executive director of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, confirmed after meeting with IIHF president Gunther Sabetski in Gothenburg, Swe., that the tournament will definitely take place Sept. 3 to Sept. 18 in Montreal, Quebec City and Vancouver. It is unlikely any games will be played in Toronto since Maple Leaf Gardens&rsquo; president Harold Ballard has repeatedly said there is no way he will permit the Soviet Union to play in his rink.Eagleson said the Canadian Governent&rsquo;s Olympic boycott will have no bearing on the tournament. He said Montreal will be the prime location for games. He also said the games will be televised exclusively on CTV.Each of the six competing nations will receive a basic $125,000 for taking part in the tournament. The winner will receive an additional $125,000 with the runner-up team pocketing at least $100,000. The four other countries will receive payments totaling $75,000, $60,000, $50,000 and $40,000 based on where their national team finishes in the final standings.Canada, the U.S., the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and Finland will participate in the Canada Cup event, the first since 1976, when Team Canada won the championship in a spectacular showdown with the Czechs. There has been no inter-country cup competition since then. The Soviets won the Challenge Cup series from the NHL in February of 1979 and the Olympic Games had preference this past year with the U.S. winning the gold medal.<h2>Forum Wants Soviets</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;Maple Leaf Gardens boss Harold Ballard may be down on the Soviet Union but officials of the Montreal Forum say they will welcome the Russians for Canada Cup games in September.Irving Grundman, general manager of the Canadiens, said the Forum&rsquo;s policy on international games would remain unchanged unless the Federal Government entered the picture. The Government has already placed a boycott on Canada appearing at the summer Olympic Games in Moscow this year.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had Canada Cup games before involving the Soviet Union and our policy remains the same,&rdquo; said Grundman. He added that if the Canadian External Affairs&rsquo; department blocks the games then the Forum would support the decision.Alan Eagleson, executive director of the Canada Cup tournament, has already declared that the event is an IIHF affair and has no relation to the Olympic Games or the boycott.Ballard said Eagleson already knows how he feels about the Soviets playing in Toronto, which means Toronto hockey fans won&rsquo;t see any live action in that city. Games are slated for Vancouver, Quebec City and Montreal.<h2>Caps&rsquo; PR Man Resigns</h2>WASHINGTON&mdash;Pierce Gardner, director of press relations for the Washington Caps of the NHL, has resigned his position to pursue a career as a freelance writer.Gardner said he will leave the Caps around May 15 and will set up office in Washington with a partner. Several applications have been received for his Caps&rsquo; job including one from Al Coates, who was recently dropped by the Detroit Red Wings in a reshuffling of the Detroit front office. Coates held down a public relations job.The 28-year-old Gardner succeeded Chip Campbell in 1976 as director of public relations.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02654/4701275-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="1828" height="1378"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Younghans is one of Minnesota&rsquo;s top penalty killers but when the North chance to put the puck in the net he didn&rsquo;t miss. Younghans received his big chance when Montreal goaltender Denis Herron inadvertently cleared the puck off his own goal-post, directing it out front where the North Star winger jammed it into the unguarded net. Herron was embarrassed and Younghans had his first and only playoff goal in the windup game of the quarter finals. (Photo by lan MacAlpine)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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SLAPSHOTS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01689/4701320-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Toronto&rsquo;s Borje Salming won his second consecutive Molson Cup, and fourth overall, after finishing just ahead of Darryl Sittler in the Maple Leafs&rsquo; portion of the Molson Cup competition.</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;Organizers of the Molson Cup competition must wish they could capture the suspense involved in the Oscar, Genie, Juno and all those other awards shows. But as long as there are consistently great players such as Guy Lafleur, Borje Salming and Glen Hanlon around, they don&rsquo;t need those envelopes to announce the winners because the names are already engraved on the Molson Cup trophies.For the sixth consecutive season, the Canadiens&rsquo; Lafleur was the winner in Montreal, while the Leafs&rsquo; Salming took his second straight title in Toronto and fourth overall, and Vancouver&rsquo;s Glen Hanlon made it two in a row by finishing as the top Canuck. National Hockey League newcomers Edmonton and Winnipeg produced the only new winners in, respectively, Wayne Gretzky and Morris Lukowich.Each Molson Cup winner receives $1,000 plus a similar amount for the charity or sports organization of his choice for winning the overall competition, which was divided into five segments. The segments covered the periods of Oct, Nov., December, January, February and March-April. The runners-up for the overall competition as well as each segment runner-up received $500.Lafleur didn&rsquo;t even have to win the final segment to capture the overall prize. He was chosen one of the game&rsquo;s three stars (each selection is worth five points) on 19 occasions to finish with 95 points. Larry Robinson was the runner-up to Lafleur, totalling 80 points, and was the winner of the fifth segment with 25 points, the same number as Rod Langway. However, Robinson was named the winner by virtue of more &ldquo;first star&rdquo; selections. Langway was third overall on the season with 70-points.After Montreal goalies Wayne Thomas and then Ken Dryden won the Molson Cup the first two years of the competition, Lafleur has made it a personal possession with victories in six succeeding seasons.In Toronto, Salming took a narrow victory over Darryl Sittler, the only other player to have won the Molson Cup in Toronto, by a margin of 70 points to 65. Wilf Paiement was the fifth segment winner, edging Sittler&mdash;who made a late challenge to Salming&rsquo;s overall total&mdash;20 points to 15.In Vancouver, Hanlon continued the dominance of goaltenders with the West Coast Molson Cup by defending his title. The first two years of the competition in Vancouver, the award was won by goalie Cesare Maniago. Hanlon finished with 95 points, with sophomore Stan Smyl second at 80 points.Goaltender Gary Bromley got into the act by winning the fifth Vancouver segment with 25 points, followed by newcomer Ivan Boldirev with 20.Gretzky was the hottest player anywhere coming down the home stretch so it was no surprise that he should win the fifth segment in Edmonton with a whopping 40 points, twice as many as second-place Ron Low, the goaltender who had a lot to do with the Oilers reaching the playoffs. Overall, Gretzky amassed an amazing 135 points, which meant that he was named a star in just over one-third of the games. Linemate Blair MacDonald finished as the overall runner-up with a commendable 70 points.That was the same total as Lukowich earned in becoming the first Winnipeg Molson Cup champion. Second place went to Peter Sullivan, who garnered 60 points. In the fifth segment, goalie Markus Mattsson and rookie Dave Christian each finished with 20 points, with Mattsson finishing first because of a greater number of the first star ratings.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02473/4701313-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="1234" height="1296"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky captured the first of many honors as a National Hockey League player when he received the Molson Cup as the top Edmonton Oiler from Molson Alberta Brewery representative Dennis Hendricks.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Consistency Name Of Molson Cup Winners’ Game

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;&ldquo;My main concern right now,&rdquo; said Ted Lindsay, shortly after he found out that he&rsquo;d be coaching the Detroit Red Wings next season, &ldquo;is to see as much of the juniors as I can so that we draft well.&rdquo;And as soon as the &ldquo;restructuring&rdquo; of the Red Wings&rsquo; front office was completed, Lindsay was off on scouting trips. The new coach and director of player personnel for the Red Wings knows he can&rsquo;t afford to make any mistakes in the draft.The Wings&rsquo; top pick in the first round&mdash;fourth overall&mdash;belongs to Los Angeles (as compensation for Rogie Vachon). However, Detroit has Toronto&rsquo;s first-round pick. In exchange, the Wings must send their second round choice to the Maple Leafs.&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ll probably see if there&rsquo;s a centerman around, certainly someone for the right side,&rdquo; Lindsay said of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s entry draft. Lindsay also must make some trades if the Wings are going to improve next season.Lindsay also said that the Red Wings will return to Detroit for their training camp activities in September. For the past 15 years, the Wings have trained in Port Huron, Kalamazoo, Hartland and Sault Ste. Marie. Lindsay said training camp will open Sept. 17.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll train at Cobo Arena (in downtown, adjacent to the Joe Louis Arena),&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re doing it for a specific reason. It&rsquo;ll minimize travel for a lot of guys. And we have guys with school-age kids. This way, they&rsquo;ll be able to settle in on Labor Day and have the kids ready for school the first day, instead of getting settled when the season opens in October.&rdquo;And when the season does open next fall, there&rsquo;s a very good chance that the Detroit Junior Red Wings will no longer be around, a victim of budget cuts and overall &ldquo;streamlining.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s been no official announcement, but unless Wings&rsquo; owner Bruce Norris and his advisers have a change of heart, the Junior A level Jr. Wings will become history after a decade of providing the Detroit area with outstanding amateur hockey and the United States with five star players for the last three Olympics.The-Wings already have eliminated Johnstown of the Eastern Hockey League from their list of minor league affiliates and the Jr. Wings and IHL Kalamazoo K-Wings are next in line to feel the budget pinch.The Detroit hockey club, with the highest annual payroll in hockey at $5 million, has decided it can&rsquo;t afford $35,000 a year to sponsor a Junior A team.&ldquo;Really, it hasn&rsquo;t been decided at all,&rdquo; said Jimmy Skinner, whose new title is associate director of player personnel. &ldquo;We discussed terminating sponsorship at the last meeting we had. They are no good to us. They cost us too much money. The decision is up to Bruce, but I&rsquo;ll be honest,&rdquo; Skinner concluded, &ldquo;it was my recommendation that we drop it.&rdquo; &#9632;

Picking New Wings Lindsay’s Top Job

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div>TORONTO&mdash;While Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; general manager Punch Imlach may not have seen his fill of playoff hockey just yet, Toronto&rsquo;s head hockey honcho may come away from all the playoff games he&rsquo;s been watching with a better idea of how he&rsquo;d like his team to play next year&mdash;and who will be doing the playing.The Leafs&rsquo; celebrated shift from a defensive style to a freewheeling goal-scoring offense and the transition from plodding, grinding checkers to swift, agile attackers carried the club only as far as an 11th place finish and a first-round elimination in the playoffs, which didn&rsquo;t even measure up to the team&rsquo;s ninth place standing (out of 17 teams) and advancement to the quarterfinals last year.One of the Leafs&rsquo; major offseason concerns will be gaining exclusive control of a minor league farm team. This year the Leafs assigned their chattels to share the New Brunswick facilities with several players from the Chicago Black Hawks&rsquo; organization and though they produced a first-place squad, Imlach has been busy building up the roster enough so that the Leafs can supply a team by themselves.The task now facing Imlach and his battery of assistants&mdash;Joe Crozier, Dick Duff and Floyd Smith, who had recovered from his automobile accident to attend the Leafs&rsquo; playoff games&mdash;is to determine which players on the present club will stay, which minor leaguers are ready to step up to the bigs and where their underage players fit into the picture. Then it&rsquo;s a matter of drafting the type of players who can deliver the Imlach style in the near future.Here is a position-by-position breakdown of the current roster:GOALTENDERS: Mike Palmateer becomes a free agent and will bid good-bye to the Leafs, so that leaves 30-year-old Jiri Crha as the club&rsquo;s top puckstopper. Curt Ridley will get a chance to prove if he can be a reliable back-up for the Leafs, with the brightest prospect appearing to be Vincent Tremblay, the 18-year-old underage pick who finished up the year in New Brunswick. Paul Harrison, who backed up Palmateer for a year and a half, was sent to Moncton and now backs up Murray Bannerman. He&rsquo;s rated about number four in the Leafs&rsquo; scheme of things.DEFENSEMEN: Getting Borje Salming signed now that he&rsquo;s on the brink of his option year will allow him and a whole bunch of people to breathe easier, Salming&rsquo;s summer sinus operation notwithstanding. Ian Turnbull&rsquo;s name hasn&rsquo;t drawn too much praise in Leaf circles for awhile, so it&rsquo;s too early to tell if he&rsquo;ll be around to contribute next year. Dave Burrows, shoulder firmly in place (it popped out several times during the season) should be back in fine form, and you can add the name of Dave Farrish, who put a lot of sock into the Leafs&rsquo; lineup with his jarring hits. Imlach is looking for more like him. Richard Mulhern acquitted himself well after coming from L.A. on waivers and may respond to a show of confidence by management. Ron Wilson, though he played primarily as a winger in the minors with Moncton last year, brings his considerable stick-handling abilities to the Leafs&rsquo; blueline corps and may have made the club at that position last training camp had it not been for a knee injury. Greg Hotham also finished the campaign at Moncton last year but spent more than half a season with the Leafs and was one of the better defensemen on the team. He&rsquo;s earned a long look and a fair shot at sticking with the Leafs next time around.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01515/4701351-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="541" height="1060"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Kaszycki should play big role next year for the Leafs, who hope he&rsquo;ll record ture his scoring form.</figcaption></div>CENTERS: Darryl Sittler wants to remain in Toronto, where he&rsquo;s been the hub of the Leafs&rsquo; attack for nearly a decade, but the rift between him and management may cause them to arrange for him to play elsewhere. Laurie Boschman played with poise at 19 and should be a super soph for the Leafs, while Bill Derlago adds considerable depth to the pivot position as well and he&rsquo;ll only be 22 in the coming season. Next in line is Mike Kaszycki, who has also inherited a leading role as a penalty-killer with his excellent speed. The Leafs would like to see Kaszycki recapture the offensive prowess of his junior days, when he set an Ontario Major Junior record for scoring. Given ample duty on a consistent line, he could be just the type of player they&rsquo;re looking for. Bruce Boudreau has certainly proved he can score in the minors and has to be happy to see the Leafs thinking offensively. Mark Kirton, who also played in New Brunswick, is another all-around talent who can do a number of things to help the club.LEFT WING: Pat Hickey established himself rather quickly as the Leafs&rsquo; top man on the left side with a 30-goal-plus season and at 27, he should be a leader for quite some time. John Anderson, the fastest Leaf, had enough chances for 50 goals, but he&rsquo;ll likely hit for 35 before too long. Terry Martin didn&rsquo;t score many goals but he opened up some room for his linemates with his speed and he can check and play a robust style. Not likely to be involved in the future is hard-rock Dan Maloney, who will probably be sacrificed to complete the changeover to a sprinting style. Benoit Laporte was an underage player who stayed in junior this year but he may not be that far away from making the club.RIGHT WING: The exciting Rocky Saganiuk and deadly Wilf Paiement headline the Leafs&rsquo; right side brigade, and along with Rick Vaive, a diamond in the rough, who turns just 21 this summer, the trio averaged better than 25 goals apiece. They all can skate and shoot the puck, especially Paiement, who proved to be one of the few opportunistic players on the squad. Ron Ellis may decide over the summer that he&rsquo;d rather be retired than go through another year like the last one. He wound up as one of the team&rsquo;s penalty killers but prefers much more action on a regular basis. Brightest hope for the future is Normand Aubin of the Quebec Major Junior League who carries a &ldquo;Can Score, Can&rsquo;t Skate&rdquo; tag after a 91-goal campaign with Sherbrooke. An underage choice, he&rsquo;ll be given a long look as the Leafs try and come up with the nucleus for a highly efficient offensive machine.OUTLOOK: If the Leafs had a few years to develop their program, they&rsquo;d very likely have a strong unit in that period of time. However, an 11th place finish and first-round playoff loss don&rsquo;t exactly placate the desire for a rapid turnabout. Trades are the quickest way to building or rebuilding a team, and as Imlach has ably demonstrated in the past, it is a tactic which he will not hesitate to employ. By the end of training camp next year, look for Toronto to really have a new look. &#9632;

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More Changes Expected In Toronto

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div>&ldquo;The fourth game probably finished us,&rdquo; said Penguin coach Johnny Wilson. &ldquo;We had the opportunity to end it right there and we didn&rsquo;t. Then we came back to Boston and got behind in the first period. It&rsquo;s tough to come back when you get behind in this building.&rdquo;Pittsburgh had taken the third game of the series at home, 4-1, and could have won it all with a victory at home the next night. However, Boston scored five first period goals and the Penguins were never really in the contest, losing 8-3.&ldquo;Our plan was to get the puck out of our end just as quickly as possible and then keep them from getting anything in close on us,&rdquo; said Millen. &ldquo;But in the last couple of games they were clogging up the front of the net and they kept plugging up the right side on me.&ldquo;I thought Sinden did a great coaching job against us. He corrected everything we did to beat them those two times and just took them away from us the last two nights.&rdquo;In the end, the Bruins&rsquo; physical style of play may have been the deciding factor. Defenseman Kim Clackson tried to singlehandedly* take on the Bruins, but was no match for almost the entire Boston club.&ldquo;It was a physical series, but you have to expect that from Boston,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re as solid a hitting team as there is in hockey.&rdquo;Sinden, who probably took the Penguins too lightly before the series began, had praise for them after it was over.&ldquo;Pittsburgh was a much tougher club than we expected them to be,&rdquo; Sinden said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt we underestimated them coming into this series.&rdquo;PENGUIN TRACKS: The Professional Hockey Writers Association filed a protest to the league office following the last game of the series against Wilson and the team for violating the 10-minute rule about opening the locker room after a game. Wilson and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette hockey writer Bob Whitley, the President of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Hockey Writers, had gotten into an argument after the series&rsquo; fourth game about the dressing room door remaining locked after the 10-minute time limit. &#9632;

Penguins Flubbed Golden Opportunity

<div class="byline">BY PAT DOYLE</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;It has been a year since Rich Preston played his last game as a member of the Winnipeg Jets, but the club is still seeking compensation for the loss of the right winger.The National Hockey League club has sent a letter of appeal to the league arbitrator in Ottawa in an attempt to receive compensation from the Chicago Black Hawks, for whom Preston played during the 1979-80 season.As equalization, the Jets have asked for a first-round draft choice or Chicago captain Terry Ruskowski, who was a teammate of Preston&rsquo;s with the Jets in 1978-79.Preston played just the one season in Winnipeg, while the club was a member of the now-defunct World Hockey Association, and the Jets feel they are entitled to compensation because any WHA contract which expired following the 1978-79 season made the player subject to compensation if he signed as a free agent with any other NHL team.The Jets had Preston on their player reserve list as an unsigned free agent at the time of their acceptance into the NHL last June.Long before that, however, Preston had signed a futures contract with the Black Hawks. It didn&rsquo;t take effect until Oct. 1, 1979, though, and Preston remained on the Winnipeg reserve list until midnight of Sept. 30.&ldquo;He was our player for half of June and all of July, August and September,&rdquo; says Jets&rsquo; governor Barry Shenkarow, &ldquo;then all of a sudden he&rsquo;s with Chicago.&rdquo;Preston wasn&rsquo;t allowed to join the Chicago club until he was legally freed of all obligations to Winnipeg. He couldn&rsquo;t report to the Black Hawks&rsquo; training camp until Oct. 1.Once he joined Chicago, the Jets asked the NHL for independent arbitration to settle the dispute over compensation but league president John Ziegler ruled there was no dispute between the Winnipet and Chicago clubs.&ldquo;We were told the Preston situation was resolved during the expansion talks,&rdquo; explains Shenkarow. &ldquo;Well, nowhere does the name Rich Preston show in the minutes of any meetings. It was as if he didn&rsquo;t exist.&rdquo;Should the Jets fail in this latest attempt for compensation, their next plan of attack may be to take the matter before the courts.Certainly, Winnipeg&rsquo;s desire to secure compensation for the loss of Preston is understandable. In his year with the Jets, Preston was the club&rsquo;s premier right winger and was voted the Most Valuable Player in the 1979 WHA playoffs in leading Jets to their third championship.With the Black Hawks, the 27-year-old Preston scored 31 goals and added 30 assists in his first NHL season. &#9632;

Jets Still Seeking Preston’s Compensation

<div class="byline">BY WAYNE WARRINER</div>HARTFORD&mdash;During its seven-year existence, the World Hockey Association took a lot of grief from the National Hockey League and its fans. As &ldquo;the other league,&rdquo; the WHA was hardly worth a mention when the subject was &ldquo;major league hockey&rdquo;.But in Hartford, hockey fans didn&rsquo;t really care how NHL people felt about the incoming teams. They were just happy that the Whalers would be playing in the NHL, the pinnacle of the hockey world&mdash;or so they had been led to believe.Of course Hartford fans were disappointed when the senior league set up the stringent conditions for joining. Not only did WHA survivors have to accompany their applications with mega-bucks, but they also had to expose most of their top-line players to a reclamation draft by the established teams.Then there was the expansion draft&mdash;a chance to rebuild the roster. Each entering team had to choose 17 players from the lists of players made available by member teams. Although some talent was available, there were several teams who exposed only high-priced non-producers. And, in the last few rounds of the draft, each of the entering clubs was forced to pick up its share. The cost was great, thereby putting a big dent in operating budgets for the new teams.Oh well, it would all be worth it in the long run, thought Hartford fans. The quality of hockey will be better. That&rsquo;s what everyone said, anyway.Indeed, it was an exciting first year in the National Hockey League for Whaler fans. Although predicted to finish last in the league, the Whalers ended up in 14th position, and even had a chance to finish as high as tenth&mdash;until they became mired in a 10-game slump in the final three weeks of the season.Looking back, however, fans had to admit that the old World Hockey Association wasn&rsquo;t so bad after all. Former WHA&rsquo;ers all over the NHL had excelled!In Chicago, Winnipeg&rsquo;s Terry Ruskowski and Richie Preston were getting credit for turning the Black Hawks around&hellip;Paul Shmyr, drafted from Edmonton, was captaining theyoung Minnesota North Stars to a fine season&hellip;The Atlanta Flames&rsquo; top scorer, Kent Nilsson, was last seen in Hartford with the Winnipeg team&hellip;Goaltender Mike Liut was being touted as candidate for the Hart Trophy for yeoman work with St. Louis. Liut had played many a WHA game in Hartford&hellip;Four former WHA&rsquo;ers were listed among the NHL&rsquo;s top ten scorers. Wayne Gretzky, Mike Rogers, Blaine Stoughton, and Blair MacDonald&mdash;each registered his own career high in 1979-80&hellip;Practically every NHL team that visited Hartford this past winter had at least one player who had played in the WHA last year. And most of them were an integral part of their new club, too&hellip;In the NHL Showdown Series, another former WHA&rsquo;er came up big, defeating the established NHL stars in the individual competition. Whaler fans had marveled at the talents of Robbie Ftorek for years so, understandably, they were proud of the fact that Robbie, now with Quebec, gained that kind of recognition&hellip;So, to Hartford fans, it was clear that the hockey they had been watching for the previous five years or more was not as inferior as they had been led to believe.As a matter of fact, there were a lot of things that the WHA seemed to do better than did the senior league:After just a few games it became apparent that the NHL had a different standard for enforcing the rules. The referees seemed to be giving less talented players an advantage by allowing an awful lot of holding, grabbing, and hooking. Interference seemed to be a way of life on NHL ice. It wasn&rsquo;t that way in the WHA. That tended to diminish the quality of hockey, but it was something Hartford fans would get used to.And there were more brawls in the NHL&mdash;fights that blossomed into biggger altercations because other players dropped their gloves and ultimately went at it. In the WHA, they assessed a 10-minute misconduct against everyone who dropped his gloves. Sure, there were fights, but seldom did they get out of hand&hellip;During the summer, everyone had talked about how much more physical the play would be in the NHL. Well, from what Hartford fans saw this year, that was just another fallacious bit of propaganda&hellip;The Whalers ended up in more tie games than they had in their eight-year history. Oftentimes, the third stanza was the best period for the Whalers. Fans wished that the WHA rule of playing a ten-minute sudden death overtime had been adopted by the NHL. Perhaps it would have put a few more wins on the board for their favorites. With NHL teams ending up with 142 ties out of 840 games, the need for such a rule change seems obvious&hellip;More than a few Whaler fans wondered how their favorites could be the least penalized team in the NHL and yet have to skate short handed 15 percent more often than they were on the power play.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01530/4701461-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="521" height="884"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Rogers, above, and Blaine Stoughton were two former WHA players who had their best pro seasons in the NHL.</figcaption></div>At times it almost seemed as though the former WHA teams were being treated as second class citizens. One night, director of hockey operations Jack Kelley complained bitterly about a call made by the referee. Sitting behind him in the press box was NHL supervisor of officials Frank Udvari.The two &ldquo;shared a few thoughts&rdquo; rather heatedly and then Udvari punctuated his remarks by saying, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re in the big leagues now, Jack!&rdquo;&mdash;the message seemed quite clear.All things considered, however, the Hartford Whalers are quite satisfied with their initial season in the National Hockey League. They are happy with the organization that they&rsquo;ve begun to develop and are looking forward to continued improvement in 1980-81. &#9632;

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Whalers Pleased By Showing In NHL

<div class="byline">BY JIM LEAHY</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSThe club allowed the fewest goals in the regular season for the second year in a row and thereby retained the coveted Hap Holmes Goaltending Trophy. Rick St. Croix and Moore will share that award.New Brunswick was the next foe in the Calder Cup playoffs. The Mariners traveled to Moncton for Game One and lost a thrill-packed contest by a score of 3-2 in overtime.HERSHEY: Player-coach Doug Gibson tied an AHL playoff record by scoring four goals to give his Hershey Bears a 7-3 win over new Haven. Some 3,220 at the Hershey-park Arena saw the Bears rack up their tenth straight victory and a 2-0 lead over New Haven in their semifinal series.Lou Franceschetti, Bob Girard and Bob Bilodeau also scored, giving goaltender Gary Inness another playoff victory. Hershey broke open a tight 3-1 contest by scoring three third period goals in less than two minutes.In Game One, Tony Cassolato scored in the third period, giving the Bears an upset 5-3 win in New Haven. Goaltender Dave Parro was sensational in the nets, holding the high scoring Nighthawks at bay. Errol Rausse gave Hershey a 1-0 first period lead on a power play when his shot beat Doug Soe-taert. Gary Rissling and Cassolato added second period goals with Rissling&rsquo;s shorthanded tally giving Hershey a 3-2 lead going into the final period. After New Haven&rsquo;s Jim Mayer tied it at 3-3, Cassolato beat Soetaert from 40 feet out. Rissling got an empty net goal with 48 seconds left, while New Haven defenseman Chris Kotsopoulos frantically chased the puck in vain.Just prior to the series with New Haven, veteran leftwinger Brian Spencer was released by the Bears, apparently ending his AHL career.NOVA SCOTIA: A 4-2 loss in Portland to the Maine Mariners sunk the Voyageurs. The defending AHL champions eliminated Nova Scotia with that victory and ended the hockey season in Halifax. The Vees won 3-2 and 4-2 in two of the contests played at the Metro Center, but Maine won all three games played in Portland and upset the Voyageurs 3-2 in overtime in the opening contest at Halifax.NEW BRUNSWICK: After disposing of Adirondack in five games, the Hawks moved on to meet Maine in the semifinal round of the Calder Cup playoffs. The series opened in Moncton, where the Hawks skated to a 3-2 win in overtime against Maine.Prior to the start of the series with the Mariners, three key players were returned to New Brunwick by the co-parent Chicago Black Hawks. One of them, Doug Lecuyer, only played in five AHL contests. However, the other two were big guns in the New Brunswick offense this season: Rightwinger Rick Patterson had 22 goals and 30 assists while leftwinger Darryl Sutter had 36 goals and 30 assists during their AHL tenure.NEW HAVEN: Goalie Jim Pettie got the nod from coach Parker MacDonald and started Game Two against Hershey. Unfortunately, he was bombed by the red-hot Bears and the Nighthawks were on the short end of a 7-3 contest. The loss gave Hershey a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.Bill Lochead tied it at 1-1 in the first period but then the Bears rattled off five straight goals against Pettie. New Haven&rsquo;s Dave Snopek and Chris Kotsopoulos scored in the third period, but the game had already been decided by then. The Nighthawks were bolstered by the return of Pat Conacher and Ed Hospodar, who were returned to New Haven by the parent New York Rangers after the Rangers bowed out of the Stanley Cup playoffs.New Haven lost Game One 5-3, which was their first loss of the year at the Coliseum to the Bears. Jeff McDill&rsquo;s powerplay goal in the first period made it 1-1 and Bill Lochead scored early in the second, giving New Haven a 2-1 lead. Jim Mayer tied the contest at 3-3 early in the third frame, but Hershey pulled away and skated to an upset win and the first game of their semifinal series.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01559/4701516-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="604" height="1052"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hershey&rsquo;s player-coach Doug Gibson tied an AHL record with a four-goal burst against New Haven.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Maine Earns Shot At New Brunswick; Bears Prove Tough For Nighthawks

SPRINGFIELD&mdash;Missing the playoffs and other such disappointments often bring about a number of changes, and the off-season for several American Hockey League teams promises to be a busy one.In Springfield, it is all but certain that the Hartford Whalers will be moving their farm club out of that area to Binghamton, N.Y. The Whalers were unable to come to terms with the Springfield people and view Binghamton as an attractive location for their minor league operation.Binghamton was supplied by both the Los Angeles Kings and the Boston Bruins this past season, but both have indicated they are not likely to be back leaving owner Andre Veilleux with an opportunity to do business with the Whalers. Boston is said to be interested in running their own farm club instead of sharing one and may have plans for Springfield or possibly even Worcester, Mass, for next season.Where does that leave Springfield, a city with a long history of successful AHL clubs? Hopefully not out in the cold; there are still other clubs in the league who wish to operate on their own, hoping to reap successes similar to those achieved by the Maine Mariners and the New Haven Nighthawks, run, respectively, by the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers.The Toronto Maple Leafs, who supplied 12 of the 21 players with the New Brunswick Hawks (the Chicago Black Hawks supplied the others), are also in the market for purchasing a franchise they alone will control, so Springfield fans, who have suffered with last-place clubs in the past two years, may have something to look forward to next season.Meanwhile, the news is bad even for some teams which did qualify for the playoffs&mdash;like Rochester, where popular Billy Inglis coached a club whose performance did not enamor him or his players to the parent Buffalo Sabres.Rumor has it that Inglis, who had a starry career in the AHL, will not be back next season at the helm of the Americans. Battling injuries all season and equipped with an inexperienced and often porous defense, Inglis led the team to a fourth-place finish in the Southern Division before being eliminated in four games by the pennant-winning New Haven Nighthawks.There is a possibility, though, that Inglis may become an assistant coach with the Sabres next year, when Roger Neilson becomes head coach, Jimmy Roberts the associate coach, and Scotty Bowman the full time general manager. &#9632;

Franchise Moves Likely For Several AHL Clubs

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSSALT LAKE CITY&mdash;The Golden Eagles advanced to the Adams Cup playoff finals for the second straight year, the third time in six years of CHL membership, and the third straight time under coach Jack (Tex) Evans by downing Houston in the semi-finals. Evans guided the Big Birds to the Adams Cup&rsquo; in 1974-75, then moved up to the National Hockey League, but returned last season when Salt Lake was runnerup to Dallas for the Cup.Advancing to the finals by eliminating the sixth-place Houston Apollos, four games to two, wasn&rsquo;t as easy as some thought it would be. The Apollos won two games in overtime (one in the Salt Palace) before bowing out.As Eagle forward Rick Bowness aptly stated, &ldquo;If the Apollos had played like that for 80 games in the regular season, they wouldn&rsquo;t have been in sixth place.&rdquo;After splitting the first two games of the series in Houston, the Eagles were assured of playing the rest of the series on home ice, although Game Six was to be considered a home game for Houston.Five goals in the opening period launched Salt Lake to a 9-4 victory in Game Three. But the series was all square again when Charlie Huddy&rsquo;s goal after 2:26 of overtime in Game Four gave the Apollos a 4-3 verdict. The Eagles wrapped up the series by winning the next two, 6-3 and 4-2.Goalie Doug Grant worked all three victories and became the winningest netminder in franchise history, with a total of 61 victories in regular-season and playoff action. Ray Martyniuk had held the old mark of 59.Right winger Joe Mullen, just named CHL Rookie of the Year, paced the Eagle attack with six goals and four assists. Alex Tidey was the Apollos&rsquo; star of the series, with five goals and four assists.The Eagles were without defenseman Neil Labatte, but his injury was expected to be healed in time for the finals against The Fort Worth Texans. Forwards Ron Carter and Owen Lloyd of the Apollos were sidelined for the final game.In eight regular-season meetings, Houston scored the first goal of the game against Salt Lake only once. But the Apollos did it five times in six playoff meetings.The only exception was Game Three, when Bobby Simpson opened the scoring for the Eagles. After Tom Roulston tied it up, the Birds got seven straight goals to turn the game into a rout. Simpson, Mullen and Red Laurence each collected two goals.Mullen and Floyd Thomson both scored first-period shorthanded goals, while Ken Richardson was serving a tripping penalty. Laurence got his first goal, and Thomson his second, before the first period ended.When Richie Hansen and Laurence made it 7-1 at 6:29 of the middle period, Houston coach Ace Bailey removed goalie Hannu Kamppuri and inserted Don Cutts. Dean Magee, and Roy Sommer scored 20 seconds apart for Houston to make it 7-3 after two periods. Mike Kouwenhoven scored for the Apollos in the third, between Eagle goals by Simpson and Mullen.But it was a different story the next night. Wayne Bianchin and Tidey gave the Apollos a 2-1 first-period lead. Steve Harrison got Salt Lake on the scoreboard, but another Tidey goal made it 3-1 for the Apollos after two periods.Mullen scored early in the third, but the Eagles had to lift rookie goalie Rick Heinz to get Doug Palazzari&rsquo;s tying goal out of a scramble with 1:03 left in regulation time.Huddy&rsquo;s winning goal in overtime was an incredible shot from just inside the blue line. The puck rebounded from the top mesh so quickly, many doubted it had gone in. The goal judge did not turn the red light on. But referee Terry Gregson said the puck had gone in and the press box concurred, although the Eagles protested vigorously.Carter put the Apollos in front first in Game Five with the first of his two power play scores. But Hansen and Laurence gave the Eagles the lead late in the first period. Laurence&rsquo;s power play goal broke a string of 16 straight Salt Lake power plays that had failed to produce.Kevin Willison padded the Salt Lake lead in the second period, but Carter and Tidey evened the game. Harrison&rsquo;s goal on a deflection with 48 seconds left in the middle period proved to be the winner. Late in the third Simpson scored on a rebound, and Brian Ogilvie hit the empty net with two seconds left.In Game Six Magee opened the scoring for Houston. Ogilvie&rsquo;s power play goal tied it in the second period. In the third, Hansen scored on another power play. Bowness padded the lead, and Ogilvie got a shorthanded empty-net goal with 17 seconds to play. It was the Eagles&rsquo; third shorthanded goal of the series, and Ogilvie&rsquo;s second empty-netter in two nights.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01486/4701571-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="584" height="1088"><figcaption class="caption-body">Salt Lake&rsquo;s Doug Grant set of new mark for victories by any Eagles&rsquo; goaltender&mdash;61.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Houston Makes Eagles’ Flight To Finals Rough

WICHITA&mdash;Larry Gordon, vice-president and general manager of the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Edmonton Oilers, announced his team&rsquo;s farm club in the CHL would move from Houston to Wichita next season, playing in the big new Kansas Coliseum. Gordon said Edmonton would schedule an October exhibition game in Wichita.Al Rollins, Houston&rsquo;s general manager, had announced earlier that the Apollos would be looking for a new NHL affiliation. Rumors have the Chicago Black Hawks putting a farm club in Houston next fall. &#9632;

Wichita New Oiler Farm

DALLAS&mdash;Nelson Pyatt&rsquo;s goal at 18:01 of the third period proved to be the game-winner which propelled the Fort Worth Texans past the Indianapolis Checkers and into the Central Hockey League finals against the regular season champion Salt lake Golden Eagles.Pyatt&rsquo;s goal broke a 1-1 tie and the Texans went on to add an empty-net goal by Merlin Malinowski for a 3-1 victory which gave them the best-of-five semifinal by a three games to one count.Forth Worth swept the final three games of the set after the Checkers had opened with a 5-4 victory at home. Texan goaltender Michel Plasse allowed only three goals in the final three games.Indianapolis&rsquo; Kelly Davis had the only goal of the opening period in the deciding game before Dave Watson drew the Texans even in the middle frame.Playing in their home-away-from-home&mdash;Dallas&mdash;the Texans moved to within a game of clinching a berth in the finals when they shut out the Checkers, 2-0, in Game Three. With Fort Worth&rsquo;s Will Rogers Coliseum occupied by a rodeo, the Texans had set up shop at Fair Park Coliseum in Dallas for the third and fourth games of the series.Michel Plasse earned his fifth career shutout in the playoffs (three in the American League, one in the National League with Pittsburgh) to stop the Checkers.The Texans outplayed the Checkers much of the way in the first two games of their series at Indy&rsquo;s Market Square Arena, but had to settle for a split. Ed Pizunski&rsquo;s goal after 2:18 of overtime gave the Checkers a 5-4 Tuesday night decision, but the Texans took the Thursday tilt, 4-2.A risky gamble by coach Bert Marshall paid off with a 54 overtime victory over Fort Worth to open their best-of-five playoff semifinals after three power play goals&mdash;by Neil Hawryliw, Yvon Vautour and Hector Marini&mdash;provided a lead that didn&rsquo;t last.Trailing 4-3, Marshall lifted goalie Richard Brodeur in the final minute of the third period, and kept him on the bench despite a penalty to Kelly Davis which left the Checkers shorthanded, and with a face-off in their own end. They gained control of the puck, though, and Garth MacGuigan was set up in front and put in his own rebound to tie the game at 19:37. Pizunski then won it in overtime on a wrist shot from the slot.Plasse played brilliantly in the Texans&rsquo; nets in both games, facing 37 and 32 shots, respectively.The first six goals in Game One came on power plays. Gary Dillon narrowed the Texans&rsquo; deficit to 2-1 in the first period, while Bob Atwell and Andy Spruce gained a 3-3 tie in the second. Rookie Bobby Crawford put Fort Worth ahead midway through the third, but the Checkers staged their late rally.In Game Two, Don Saleski&rsquo;s first-period power goal for Fort Worth was answered. But Atwell and Merlin Malinowski put the Texans ahead for keeps in the second, and Spruce added another power play tally in the third. The Texans scored on three of six power chances in the first game, two of four in the second. Fort Worth&rsquo;s penalty-killers blanked the Checkers on eight of nine power play opportunities in the second contest. &#9632;

Texans At Home In Dallas Winning Way Into Finals

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSWINDSOR&mdash;When the International Hockey League finally closes the book on the 1979-80 season, it may skate right into the courtroom. At least that&rsquo;s more than a remote possibility in the wake of the incidents involving Saginaw and Milwaukee players and their aborted two-game quarterfinal series.The Milwaukee Admirals, losers of the first two games played in Saginaw, withdrew from further competition after charging Saginaw with rough and vicious play. Several Admiral players were injured, the most serious being Carey Haworth, who suffered a broken cheekbone, among other things, in a fight with John Gibson.Haworth, along with teammate Michel Bergeron, has already filed suit against four Saginaw players, coach Don Perry, and the Saginaw management. The suit filed in Saginaw county circuit court accuses the Saginaw players of assault and battery and seeks $2 million in damages.The league, meanwhile, through commissioner Jack Riley, forfeited the series to Saginaw and then suspended Gibson for the first two games of Saginaw&rsquo;s semifinal series against Fort Wayne.Riley said he would not take any additional disciplinary action until after the playoffs are completed, but he hinted further action is forthcoming.The other survivors of quarterfinal competition are Port Huron and defending Turner Cup champion Kalamazoo. The K-Wings are also regular season champs and will have the home ice advantage for as long as they remain in contention.Saginaw, which finished second overall, carries the home ice advantage in the series with Fort Wayne. The Komets finished third overall and are champions of the league&rsquo;s South Division.Fort Wayne advanced with a four-game blitz over Toledo and Port Huron took out Flint in five games. Kalamazoo did the same to Muskegon. But while Port Huron won in five, it was a tough series. The Flags had to go into overtime in two games, both at home, to survive.Brian Kinsella wrapped up the series for the Flags with a goal 13 seconds into the overtime of game five. The goal, on a rebound of a shot by Larry Gould, gave Port Huron a 3-2 victory. Flint led at one time, 2-1.Muskegon&rsquo;s only victory in its series with Kalamazoo came at home in overtime. The K-Wings closed out the Hawks with an 8-0 romp in the fourth game at Muskegon and sewed it up with a 4-2 win at home in game five.The Kalamazoo-Port Huron match-up features two strong-skating teams. Kalamazoo should be favored on the strength of the season series. The K-Wings did not lose a game at Port Huron, skating at a 3-0-2 clip. Port Huron split in Kalamazoo, 2-2-1, giving the K-Wings a 5-2-3 edge overall.The Fort Wayne-Saginaw series matches two explosive offensive teams. Both teams have strong forwards. Fort Wayne won the season series, 3-2-3.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01508/4701650-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="594" height="1008"><figcaption class="caption-body">Milwaukee&rsquo;s Michel Bergeron, above, along with teammate Carey Haworth, are suing the players and management of the Saginaw Gears after being injured in a playoff game.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

Two Admirals Launch $2 Million Suit On Gears

SAGINAW&mdash;Saginaw police have launched an investigation into a fight during an International Hockey League playoff game that compelled the Milwaukee Admirals to pull out of the playoff series because of rough play on the part of their opponents, the Saginaw Gears.Two Milwaukee players were seriously hurt in the fight, which prompted Milwaukee team owner Lloyd Pettit to pull his Admirals out of the playoffs.The Admirals, who forfeited the series to Saginaw, have launched a suit against four of the Gears, Saginaw coach Don Perry, and the team&rsquo;s management.Saginaw police chief Charles Campbell said that investigators will interview players, fans and officials and pass on their findings to the Saginaw County prosecutor for a decision on whether there will be criminal charges.IHL commissioner Jack Riley suspended Saginaw defenseman John Gibson for the first two games of the club&rsquo;s semifinal playoff series against Fort Wayne for his part in the fracas. Gibson has been named in the court suit launched by the players along with Mel Hewitt, Jim Branton and Marcel Comeau of the Gears. &#9632;

Police Probe IHL Brawl

<div class="byline">BY PATRICK LYON</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSERIE&mdash;For the second consecutive season the Erie Blades reign over the Eastern Hockey League.The Blades completed a banner year by laying claim to the EHL&rsquo;s John Mitchell Cup, symbol of playoff supremacy, defeating the Baltimore Clippers four games to one in the best of seven final series.The second time around was even sweeter for coach Nick Pola-no than the first championship his Blades earned against the Hampton Aces during the 1978-79 campaign, when Erie rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win. Both years saw the Blades capture the regular season and playoff titles.Drenched from a champagne bath following the title-clinching 54 victory at the Erie County Fieldhouse, the elated Polano said, &ldquo;It feels better this year than last year because it was tougher. This title means a lot more. I didn&rsquo;t think our club played well in the final game, but they played well enough to win the biggest one of the year.&rdquo;The league championship also meant a lot to Polano since he was bypassed for Coach of the Year honors in the voting among the league mentors. &ldquo;Winning the championship makes me feel good,&rdquo; explained the coach. &ldquo;They (the other coaches) made the voting a popularity contest. They didn&rsquo;t like me because I stuck up for my team&rsquo;s rights and I beat those guys all year. They couldn&rsquo;t win against me and there was a lot of jealousy in the league amongst the coaches. If they&rsquo;ve looked at the record, with first place and now the championship, then I&rsquo;m sure they&rsquo;re feeling sorry.&rdquo;It was a season that saw the Blades win a record 24 straight games while coming from third place to wrestle the title away from the Clippers and Richmond Rifles. Erie finished by winning 26 of their last 27 outings and averaged close to 3,000 at home games, a marked improvement in their attendance.There were several similarities in the Blades winning back-to-back titles. Erie claimed both crowns on Saturday nights at the Erie County Fieldhouse before sell-out audiences and even more distinctly, the Blades had comfortable leads in both games only to see the opposition rally in the closing minutes for a dramatic finish.The rugged Clippers almost pulled off a Cinderella finish because they made it to the finals in their first year back in professional hockey. With their franchise solidified last October 15, the club had but two weeks to prepare for the start of the season.In their initial campaign the Clippers drew an average of 4,150 fans per game, which was tops in the league, and averaged 5,500 for the final 13 home games, 6,500 for their last seven home contests. Among those totals were a sellout of 10,200 and another turnout of 9,800.&ldquo;I think we let the series get away from us,&rdquo; said Clipper coach Gene Ubriaco. &ldquo;We were just mentally and physically not ready for Erie because of the tough series we had with Richmond. We didn&rsquo;t play well at all in the first two games against the Blades, but the last three games were more like the way we played all season long. All in all, it was a remarkable year for us.&rdquo;Holding a two games to one lead, the Blades got a big lift when they surprised Baltimore by beating the Clippers 4-2 in Game 4, played in front of 5,159 at the Baltimore Civic Center. It was another battle of the goalies with Erie&rsquo;s Carey Walker and Baltimore&rsquo;s Jim Weaver matching saves.Erie&rsquo;s Sylvain Cote and Clipper Ron Friest exchanged first period goals before defenseman Greg Tebbutt and Ron Hansis scored to put Erie on top 3-1 in the second period. Warren Young&rsquo;s goal with 3:14 remaining in the contest made it a one goal difference and Weaver was pulled from the nets in the final minute. The Clippers, known for their last period rallies, were denied this time as Hansis silenced the Clippers with his empty net tally.Playing before 4,152 in Game 5 at the Erie County Fieldhouse, Jim Cowell got the Blades off to a fast start with a lamplighter just 11 seconds into the clash. High scoring Clipper winger Henry Taylor tied the game at 9:01, but Hansis ripped one past Weaver at 9:13 to push the Blades back in front.A power play strike by Brad Rhiness increased the margin to 31, Dave Herbst answering with a Clipper goal at 3:31. Tebbutt and Clark Hamilton red lighters gave the Blades a seemingly comfortable 5-2 advantage, setting the stage for the final period.Young got the Clippers back in the thick of things with his power play goal at 1:29 and Paul Pacific&rsquo;s score at 16:50 made it 5-4. Jay O&rsquo;Connor, subbing in the nets for Weaver, was pulled from his perch but Erie was able to hang on to register the decision and get the Mitchell Cup again.One of the important keys to Erie winning the championship was their playoff prowess, which saw them score on 17 of 35 power plays. The Erie penalty killers were also amazing in turning away 51 of 57 shorthanded attempts during nine playoff games.Tebbutt emerged as the leading scorer in the playoffs with 11 goals and 12 assists for 23 points. Other members of the championship team were Steve Stockman, Daniel Poulin, Sylvain Cote. Bruce Lind, Stan Gulutzan, Ron Hansis, Brad Rhiness, Paul Sheard, Clark Hamilton, Jim Cowell, Dave Dornseif, Dave Lundeen, Val James, Dave Robson, Carey Walker and Mark Evans. Walker was 8-1 in the playoffs.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01487/4701705-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="570" height="814"><figcaption class="caption-body">&ldquo;It feels better this year that last because it was tougher, said Erie&rsquo;s coach Nick Polar about the EHL title.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Erie’s Second Mitchell Cup Sweeter; Clippers Set EHL’s Attendance Pace

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BROPHY</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSPeterborough veteran defenseman Stewart Smith, who has already played four games with the Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League, felt that Peterborough&rsquo;s experience was a determining factor in taking their third straight J. Ross Robertson Cup.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t realize how valuable experience is if you don&rsquo;t have it,&rdquo; said Smith, who logged 39 minutes of ice time in the final game. &ldquo;Even in the third period (of the last game) we were still playing it like it was just another game. I feel this year&rsquo;s team is better than last year&rsquo;s.&rdquo;The Petes have 13 players who played on last year&rsquo;s Memorial Cup championship team.As usual, the Petes&rsquo; defense has been their outstanding feature. With Smith, captain Dave Fenyves and All Star Larry Murphy back from last year, along with John Beukeboom, who splits between right wing and defense, Peterborough added only one rookie blueliner&mdash;Andy Schliebener.Schliebener, who likes to rush with the puck and has a cannon like slapshot from the point, was outstanding in the final series, playing with all the poise of a veteran. Twice in the four game series he was selected first star of the game.Another major change for the Petes this year was in the coaching department. Gary Green led the Petes to the Memorial Cup final in the past two years, winning once and losing once, but has since moved on to become the youngest coach in the NHL (26) with the Washington Capitals. He was replaced by Mike Keenan.Keenan has been tough with the players who were used to Green and that was the reason for their sometimes sporadic showing during the regular season and at the start of the playoffs. In the end, however, the players and coach got on a similar wavelength and have become one solid unit.&ldquo;I think our biggest problem at the start of the year was getting used to Mike,&rdquo; said veteran Carmen Cirella, &ldquo;also Mike getting used to us. We have pulled together in the end, though. I think we understand each other better now.&ldquo;I knew in the back of my mind that we could do it.&rdquo; Cirella concluded, &ldquo;We all knew we could do it.&rdquo;The first three games of the series were similar in that Windsor relied on their ability to hit and muscle the opposition while the Petes were able to score clutch goals and then fall back and play their typical defensive style&mdash;the type of game that has taken them to a Memorial Cup the past two years.The Petes took Game One, 5-2 as Andre Hidi opened the scoring only to have Windsor&rsquo;s J. P. Leroux, their mini-defenseman (who stands only 5-4) tie the contest with a blast from the point.Blair Barnes gave Windsor a 2-1 lead early in the second period but Petes&rsquo; rookie defenseman Andy Schliebener replied with two straight goals to put Peterborough ahead to stay. Wayne Fortune and Bill Gardner tallied for the Petes in the final period. In Windsor for Game Two, Peterborough jumped into a 3-0 lead on two goals by Gardner and a single from Larry Murphy. Glen Cutting and Steve Peters scored for the Spitfires in the second period to narrow the margin but the Petes were able to hold off a volley of Spitfires&rsquo; scoring attempts in the final period to win 3-2.Peterborough again used strong, tight defense in Game Three as they took a 2-0 lead and hung on for a 3-1 win. Netminder Rick LaFerriere was outstanding as he turned aside 36 shots in recording his tenth straight playoff victory. His average in 13 playoff games was down to 2.62 following Game Three.Gardner, Jim Wiemer and Terry Bovair scored for Peterborough while Leroux, again his team&rsquo;s best player, tallied for Windsor.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01482/4701736-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="606" height="1002"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peterborough&rsquo;s Rick Laferriere was a standout in the playoffs, especially against Windsor.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Petes Sweep To Third Straight Championship

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01416/4701767-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg"></div>For the past several years, the National Hockey League&rsquo;s longstanding formula for determining who should get the Vezina Trophy&mdash;awarded each season to the NHL&rsquo;s top goaltender or goaltending duo&mdash;has come under severe criticism. What the NHL does is simply divide the number of goals allowed by the number of games played. This year, for instance, the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; goaltending team of Don Edwards and Bob Sauve combined to allow just 201 goals in 80 games. Their combined 2.51 average was tops in the NHL and, as a result, they won this year&rsquo;s Vezina Trophy.But many people feel that a much more accurate reading on a goaltender&rsquo;s prowess can be taken if the shots he handles each game play a more significant role in the calculations. One of these people, Vincent DeMarco of New York City, is so convinced that shots are a vital part of the formula that he has been keeping records on shots handled by all the goalies in the NHL for the past decade. His figures below, the final goaltending &ldquo;Fielding Averages&rsquo;&rsquo; for the 197980 regular season, show that if Vincent DeMarco had his druthers, the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; Denis Herron&mdash;and not Don Edwards and Bob Sauve&mdash;would be the winner of this year&rsquo;s Vezina.Starting next season, DeMarco will be filing his figures to THE HOCKEY NEWS after each quarter (20 games). In the meantime, here&rsquo;s how the &ldquo;De Marco System&rdquo; works:Using Denis Herron as an example and reading across the column from left to right, the figures show that he played in 32 games for the Canadiens, a total of 1909 minutes, won 25, lost three and tied three. While Herron was in goal, the Canadiens took 1004 shots on opposing goalies and scored 143 goals. While they were doing that, Herron was allowing just 80 goals on 854 shots taken by the opposition for a league-leading .9063 percentage. The last four columns show that Herron recorded no shutouts and had one open net goal charged against him. While he was in the nets the Canadiens averaged a league-leading 4.52 goals scored per game and Herron allowed the opposition an average of only 2.53 goals per game.One Other note of interest: The Boston Bruins&rsquo; and Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; goalies had the least amount of shots against them&mdash;1918 for each team. The Toronto Maple Leafs, who allowed the most goals during the regular season, also allowed the opposition to take the most shots, 2656, on their beleaguered goalies.<h2>DEMARCO&rsquo;S GOALTENDING STATISTICS FOR 1979-80 SEASON &#9632;</h2>

f0029-01

NHL Goaltenders’ Fielding Averages

<div class="byline">BY GREGG DRINNAN</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSREGINA&mdash;After three games of the Western Hockey League&rsquo;s best-of-seven final, the Regina Pats found themselves with the upper hand.The Pats won the first and third games of the series in Victoria against the host Cougars and then headed for the Regina Agridome for the next three games. Only two were necessary.Regina scored 7-1 and 5-4 wins over Victoria before the Agridome faithful to give the local fans a preview of the team that will be carrying the banner as the Western League representative in the Memorial Cup championship later this month. It was a four-to-one series triumph and the Pats did it with a home game to spare. If the series went the limit to seven games, Victoria would have been the host for the final match.Now Regina fans can sit back and wait for the Memorial Cup, which will be staged in Brandon, Man. for the first three games, with the series switching to the Agridome for the final four encounters.The main architect in the Pats&rsquo; road success in the series, and again at home, was defenseman Darren Veitch, who is expected to go quickly in the National Hockey League&rsquo;s June draft. In the first three games, Veitch figured in eight of Regina&rsquo;s 12 goals, scoring three and setting up five others.The Pats won the opening game, 6-4, dropped the second, 7-2, and bounced back with a 4-3 victory in Game Three.Veitch, a first team All Star, scored twice and set up a pair as the Pats erased 2-0 and 4-2. Victoria leads in the opener.Bob Smith and Brad Palmer sent the Cougars out to a 2-0 first period lead, but Veitch and WHL scoring king Doug Wickenheiser tied it early in the second 20 minutes. Greg Adams and Grant Rezansoff quickly restored the Cougars&rsquo; two-goal lead, only to have the Pats tie it on goals by Mike Blaisdell and Veitch.Then, the Pats won it in the third on goals by Ron Flockhart, who was sent in alone by Veitch, and Darren Galley.The next night, Regina built a 2-1 first period lead, but watched as the Cougars exploded for five unanswered second period goals and another in the third.Wickenheiser had both Regina goals, his tenth and 11th in the playoffs, and both were set up by Veitch. Palmer and Bob Jansch, with two each, and Adams, Mark Morrison and Barry Pederson replied for the Cougars.In Game Three, the club&rsquo;s third game in as many nights, the Cougars again skated to a 2-0 first period lead, thanks to goals from Adams and Randy Zinn.Flockhart scored the only goal of the middle period and the Pats&rsquo; Jock Callander tied it early in the third.Pederson then gave Victoria a 3-2 lead, only to have Darren Bobyck tie it at 11:44 and Veitch then won it with a booming slapshot from the Cougars&rsquo; blueline at 12:59.Wickenheiser, with 25 assists and 36 points, is the leading postseason point getter. He is five assists and nine points away from the WHL playoff record.Earlier, the Pats won their first division title in six years when they downed the Medicine Hat Tigers 6-3 in the fifth game of the best-of-seven Eastern Division final.The last time the Pats won a division title was in 1973-74 and that year, led by center Dennis Sobchuk and goaltender Ed Staniowski, Regina went on to win the Memorial Cup.Playing at Regina in front of 5,141 fans, Blaisdell, a second team all Star, scored his 13th and 14th post-season goals to spark the Pats to victory.The teams were tied 2-2 after one period and the Tigers led 3-2, on Steve Tsujiura&rsquo;s goal, heading into the third. Veitch then scored two goals, before Bill Answell and Bobyck, with an empty net goal, wrapped up the win.The Pats won the fourth game, 5-2 in Medicine Hat as Blaisdell scored three times, all on passes from Wickenheiser.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01466/4701798-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="586" height="726"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Darren Veitch has been the keystone of Regina&rsquo;s playoff success thus far.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

Pats Wrap Up WHL Title In Agridome After Performing Strongly On Road

WINNIPEG&mdash;It appears that major junior hockey will return to Winnipeg for the 1980-81 season.The Western Hockey League has awarded an expansion franchise to a group of Winnipeg businessmen. And, the Winnipegers have until June 1 to decide whether or not they will accept the offer. But, it appears almost certain that their answer will be yes.Fran Huck, now a lawyer and one of the greatest players in the history of Canadian junior hockey while with the Regina Pats, will coach the club, while Harry Buekert will serve as general manager. Others in the group are Marsden Fenwick, Albert DeFehr and Jerrold Gunn.The group originally was involved in negotiations to purchase the New Westminster Bruins. But, when the Bruins were sold to Vancouver businessman Nelson Skalbania, the Winnipeg people began thinking about the expansion club. &#9632;

Winnipeg Returns to WHL?

CALGARY&mdash;Center Doug Wickenheiser of the Regina Pats is the Western Hockey League&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player for 1979-80.Wickenheiser, who won the league scoring title with 170 points, including a league leading 89 goals, is only the third MVP in the league&rsquo;s 14-year history to still have a year&rsquo;s eligibility remaining.Other 18-year-old players receiving the honor were Calgary Centennial&rsquo;s goaltender John Davidson in 1971-72 and the Pats&rsquo; Dennis Sobchuk in 1972-73.Meanwhile, Victoria Cougars&rsquo; netminder Grant Fuhr was named Rookie of the year, David Babych of The Portland Winter Hawks was chosen the outstanding defenseman, and Medicine Hat Tigers&rsquo; center Steve Tsujiura was named the league&rsquo;s most gentlemanly player.Victoria&rsquo;s Kevin Eastman was the WHL&rsquo;s top goaltender through the regular season and Doug Sauter was named coach of the year for his role in taking the Calgary Wranglers to a second place finish in the league&rsquo;s Eastern Division. &#9632;

Wickenheiser Named MVP

<div class="byline">BY DANNY YOUNG</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSCORNWALL&mdash;If the Sherbrooke Beavers were supposed to glide to the Quebec championship, someone forgot to tell the Cornwall Royals. Led by their incomparable rookie Dale Hawerchuk, the Royals had a three games to two edge on the Beavers as we went to press and were one game away from a trip to the Memorial Cup.The Royals knew they had to win at least one game in Sherbrooke, so they figured it might as well be the first. Hawerchuk&rsquo;s second goal of the series opener gave Cornwall a 5-4 win in front of 5,498 fans at the Sherbrooke Sports Palace.Before a packed house in Cornwall for Game Two, the Royals played equally well, enjoying a territorial advantage for most of the game. Hawerchuk set up point ace Dave Ezard for two goals in the first period, and Scott Arniel scored in the second to give Cornwall a 3-0 lead going into the final session. Sherbrooke staged a comeback but it was not enough. The Royals won 3-2.That put Sherbrooke into a must win situation for game three. The Beavers responded remarkably well to the pressure. Encouraged in part by a telegram sent to the team from Guy Lafleur, the Beavers unleashed their explosives. Two goals within 11 seconds at the close of the first period sent them on their way to a 10-3 rout.Sean McKenna, Alan Haworth, Norma Aubin, and Brian Johnson all scored twice for the Beavers.This demolition might have taken the air out of the Royals&rsquo; balloon, but it didn&rsquo;t!Sparked by an electric crowd at the Cornwall Civic Complex, the Royals forechecked the Beavers silly and won easily 7-2, despite a head-hunting effort by Sherbrooke.&ldquo;You can bottle them up in their end,&rdquo; says Cornwall coach Doug Carpenter. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re forechecking well and we&rsquo;re capitalizing on our chances. We have good puck possession in their end.&rdquo;Most of the damage was done by Hawerchuk, who scored a hat trick for the Royals and set up two others. The 17-year-old center now has an amazing 17 goals and 24 assists in post-season action, putting him fourth on the league&rsquo;s all time playoff scoring list, one point behind Andre Savard, two behind Guy Lafleur, and 10 short of Jacques Locas, who scored 51 points for Quebec in 1974.Hawerchuk is often compared to Wayne Gretzky, and it&rsquo;s easy to see why. He&rsquo;s not the best skater or shooter on the ice, but he sure knows what to do with the puck when he gets it.During the playoffs, Hawerchuk has been shooting more than he had been during the season and it&rsquo;s paying off big.&ldquo;During the season I was passing too much,&rdquo; says Hawerchuk &ldquo;My dad told me &lsquo;when you get it in the high slot, let it go.&rsquo; I don&rsquo;t have a hard shot so I try to surprise the goalie.&rdquo;Hawerchuk&rsquo;s quickness in shooting and passing is outstanding, and his elusive moves continually frustrate checkers and defenders.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not as quick as Denis Savard,&rdquo; says Sherbrooke defensive specialist Francois James, &ldquo;but he&rsquo;s always moving. If you go to hit him, he moves a shoulder, then a hip, and he&rsquo;s by you. The defensemen have to step back and get help from the backcheckers.&rdquo;&ldquo;They take runs at you,&rdquo; says Hawerchuk, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s hard to hit me. I put the shift on them and they can&rsquo;t get to me.&rdquo;Hawerchuk sayd he&rsquo;s not trying to &ldquo;steal the show&rdquo;, but that&rsquo;s exactly what he&rsquo;s doing. After every goal, he dances on one leg and waves his stick in the air. The routine makes crowds delirious and may someday be the trademark of a superstar in the NHL.With their backs against the wall, the Beavers stormed Hawerchuk and the Royals in game five. Sherbrooke fired over 60 shots at the Cornwall net and 10 of those went in as the Beavers crushed the Royals 10-1. Bernard Gallant, known to his teammates as the Flying Nun because of his fancy skating, led Sherbrooke with three goals.Sherbrooke&rsquo;s performance in the finals is tough to figure out. The club possesses some of the best skaters and scorers in the league, yet they&rsquo;re relying on a physical game to defeat the Royals.What this does is put the game in the hands of the referee. If he calls it close, the penalty box fills up with Beavers and the Sherbrooke net fills up with Cornwall goals. If he calls it loose, the Beavers are able to intimidate the Royals with tough and often dirty tactics.When the Beavers are at home, the referees have been easy on them and this played a big part in their 10-3 and 10-1 victories.In Cornwall, however, the Beavers were getting called for their high sticks and slashes and the Royals were capitalizing.&ldquo;We have to play a physical game without taking stupid penalties,&rdquo; says Sherbrooke coach Ghislain Delage. &ldquo;We have to check them and accept it when they check back.The leader or No. 1 bad guy of Sherbrooke&rsquo;s physical game has been Johnson. Johnson can be very effective when he uses the body, but during the series, he&rsquo;s used his stick as a weapon on several occasions.&ldquo;I have to play more disciplined,&rdquo; said Johnson, &ldquo;I want to win so badly that I get carried away.&rdquo; &#9632;

Cornwall Poised For Upset Over Sherbrooke

<h2>SERIES &lsquo;I&rsquo;</h2><h3>Sun. April 20 PHILADELPHIA 2 RANGERS 4</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01445/4701957-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="574" height="782"></div><h2>SERIES &lsquo;J&rsquo;</h2><h3>Sat. April 19 BUFFALO 2, CHICAGO 1</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02324/4701950-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="574" height="590"></div><h3>Sun. April 20 BUFFALO 3, CHICAGO 2</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03215/4701943-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="576" height="662"></div><h2>SERIES &lsquo;K&rsquo;</h2><h3>TUES. APRIL 22 MINNESOTA 2, MONTREAL 6</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04125/4701936-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="574" height="691"></div><h3>Thu. April 24 MONTREAL 2, MINNESOTA 5</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0575/4701929-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="616" height="630"></div><h3>Sun. April 27 MINNESOTA 3, MONTREAL 2</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0652/4701922-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="572" height="632"></div><h2>SERIES &lsquo;L&rsquo;</h2><h3>Sat. April 19 BOSTON 3, ISLANDERS 5</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0741/4701915-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="597" height="798"></div><h3>MON. APRIL 21 BOSTON 4, ISLANDERS 3</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0835/4701908-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="584" height="760"></div><h3>TUES. APRIL 22 ISLANDERS 4, BOSTON 2</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-0925/4701901-1-eng-US/f0032-092.jpg" title="f0032-09" width="576" height="696"></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<h2>POINT LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1116/4702089-1-eng-US/f0032-112.jpg" title="f0032-11" width="572" height="380"></div><h2>MOST GOALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1215/4702082-1-eng-US/f0032-122.jpg" title="f0032-12" width="576" height="346"></div><h2>MOST ASSISTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1312/4702075-1-eng-US/f0032-132.jpg" title="f0032-13" width="570" height="376"></div><h2>POWER PLAY GOALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-1410/4702068-1-eng-US/f0032-142.jpg" title="f0032-14" width="566" height="280"></div><h2>SHORTHANDEO GOALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-159/4702061-1-eng-US/f0032-152.jpg" title="f0032-15" width="564" height="248"></div><h2>GAME WINNING GOALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-169/4702054-1-eng-US/f0032-162.jpg" title="f0032-16" width="568" height="182"></div><h2>MOST PENALTIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-178/4702047-1-eng-US/f0032-172.jpg" title="f0032-17" width="566" height="368"></div><h2>TOP ROOKIE SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-186/4702040-1-eng-US/f0032-182.jpg" title="f0032-18" width="584" height="276"></div><h2>TOP GOALTENDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-194/4702033-1-eng-US/f0032-192.jpg" title="f0032-19" width="572" height="306"></div><h2>MOST GOALING WINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-203/4702026-1-eng-US/f0032-202.jpg" title="f0032-20" width="564" height="206"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-213/4702019-1-eng-US/f0032-212.jpg" title="f0032-21" width="1226" height="1282"><figcaption class="caption-body">Minnesota goalie Gilles Meloche, flanked by Bobby Smith, left, and Tom McCarthy, was the key figure for the North Stars in their quarterfinal upset of the Canadiens. The netminder. in the playoffs for the first time in his NHL career, played all seven games against Montreal and was brilliant. (Photo by Ian MacAlpine)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0032-11

NHL Leaders For 1979-80

BOSTON&mdash;Bourne 2, McNab 7, 8, O&rsquo;Reilly 3, Middleton 4, Cashman 3.BUFFALO&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.CHICAGO&mdash;Lysiak 2, 3, 4, Murray 2, Lecuver 4, Sutter 2, 3.MINNESOTA&mdash;Christoff 5, 6, MacAdam 5, 6, B. Smith 1, Sharplev 1, Andersson 2, Shmyr 1, Younghans 1, Hartsburg 2.MONTREAL&mdash;Shutt 4, 5, i. Napier 1, 2, Mondou 1, Jarvis 4, Engblom 2, Chartraw 2, Langwav 3.ISLANDERS&mdash;Bossy, 2, 3, Persson, 2, Gillies, 3, 4, Sutter 1, D. Potvin 1.RANGERS&mdash;Duguay 5.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Hill 1, Wilson 4, Holoren 4.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Stewart 1, Llbett 1.OVERTIME WINNERS&mdash;O&rsquo;Reilly (Boston). &#9632;

PLAYOFF SCORERS THIS WEEK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01403/4702144-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Minnesota center Bobby Smith is a happy young man after finally hitting for his first playoff goal in the series with Montreal. Smith had racked up 12 straight assists before scoring.</figcaption></div>HARTFORD&mdash;The Hartford Whalers, who set more first year records than any other NHL expansion team, also did all right at the box office.The Whalers, who were eliminated in the first round by the Montreal Canadiens, concluded a highly successful year at the box office by averaging 13,000 for their final 18 home games at the Hartford Civic Center.The Whalers attracted an unofficial 394,162 fans to their 40 home games this season but most of their crowds were restricted to their temporary home ice at Springfield, where the team moved after the Hartford center rink collapsed in 1978. The Whalers&rsquo; average at Springfield was 7,625. When the team moved back into the reconstructed Hartford Center, the team&rsquo;s average jumped to 13,000. The team sold 6,400 season tickets when it was playing in Springfield and expects a substantial increase over the summer towards the 1980-81 season.Whaler publicist Bob Casey pointed out that the club drew over 240,000 fans once the team got back to Hartford Feb. 9.The Whalers, for the record, set NHL marks for most goals by a first year team, 303; most tied games by an expansion team, 19, most 100-point scorers on a first-year team, two (Mike Rogers and Blaine Stoughton); best home record by an expansion team, 22 wins and 50 points; and they tied a league record for most points by an expansion team, 19; a season total of 73 points, equalling the mark set by the 1967-68 Philadelphia Flyers. &#9632;

f0033-01

Whalers Average 13,000 In Final 18 NHL Games

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02285/4702175-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg"></div>SUMMARY OF 1979 PLAYOFFS &#9632;

f0033-02

Stanley Cup Picture

Preliminary Round<h2>SERIES &lsquo;A&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03206/4702290-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="565" height="127"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 8Edmonton 3 at Philadelphia 4Wed. April 9Edmonton 1 at Philadelphia 5Fri. April 11Philadelphia 3 at Edmonton 2<h2>SERIES &lsquo;B&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04157/4702283-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="570" height="99"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 8Vancouver 1 at Buffalo 2Wed. April 9Vancouver 0 at Buffalo 6Fri. April 11Buffalo 4 at Vancouver 5Sat. April 12Buffalo 3 at Vancouver 1<h2>SERIES &lsquo;C&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05126/4702276-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="564" height="101"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 8Hartford 1 at Montreal 6Wed. April 9Hartford 4 at Montreal 8Fri. April 11Montreal 4 at Hartford 3<h2>SERIES &lsquo;D&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06103/4702269-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="586" height="102"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 8Pittsburgh 4 at Boston 2Thu. April 10Pittsburgh 1 at Boston 4Sat. April 12Boston 1 at Pittsburgh 4Sun. April 13Boston 8 at Pittsburgh 3Mon. April 14Pittsburgh 2 at Boston 6<h2>SERIES &lsquo;E&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0792/4702262-1-eng-US/f0033-072.jpg" title="f0033-07" width="556" height="106"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 8Los Angeles 1 at Islanders 8Wed. April 9Los Angeles 6 at Islanders 3Fri. APRIL 11Islanders 4 at Los Angeles 3Sat. April 12Islanders 6 at Los Angeles 0<h2>SERIES &lsquo;F&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0876/4702255-1-eng-US/f0033-082.jpg" title="f0033-08" width="562" height="103"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 8Toronto 3 at Minnesota 6Wed. April 9Toronto 2 at Minnesota 7Fri. April 11Minnesota 4 at Toronto 3<h2>SERIES &lsquo;G&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-0967/4702248-1-eng-US/f0033-092.jpg" title="f0033-09" width="563" height="104"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 8St. Louis 2 at Chicago 3Wed. April 9St. Louis 1 at Chicago 5Fri. April 11Chicago 4 at St. Louis 1<h2>SERIES &lsquo;H&rsquo;</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1062/4702241-1-eng-US/f0033-102.jpg" title="f0033-10" width="565" height="102"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 8Atlanta 1 at Rangers 2Wed. April 9Atlanta 1 at Rangers 5Fri. April 11Rangers 2 at Atlanta 4Sat. April 12Rangers 5 at Atlanta 2<h2>Quarter-Finals</h2>SERIES I<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1160/4702234-1-eng-US/f0033-112.jpg" title="f0033-11" width="570" height="128"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. April 16Rangers 1 at Philadelphia 2Thu. April 17Rangers 1 at Philadelphia 4Sat. April 19Philadelphia 3 at Rangers 0Sun. April 20Philadelphia 2 at Rangers 4Tue. April 22Rangers 1 at Philadelphia 3<h2>SERIES J</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1259/4702227-1-eng-US/f0033-122.jpg" title="f0033-12" width="573" height="103"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. April 16Chicago 0 at Buffalo 5Thu. April 17Chicago 4 at Buffalo 6Sat. April 19Buffalo 2 at Chicago 1Sun. April 20Buffalo 3 at Chicago 2<h2>SERIES K</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1346/4702220-1-eng-US/f0033-132.jpg" title="f0033-13" width="562" height="136"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. April 16Minnesota 3 at Montreal 0Thu. April 17Minnesota 4 at Montreal 1Sat. April 19Montreal 5 at Minnesota 0Sun. April 20Montreal 5 at Minnesota 1Tue. April 22Minnesota 2 at Montreal 6Thu. April 24Montreal 2 at Minnesota 5Sun. April 27Minnesota 3 at Montreal 2<h2>SERIES L</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1443/4702213-1-eng-US/f0033-142.jpg" title="f0033-14" width="563" height="115"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. April 16Islanders 2 at Boston 1Thu. April 17Islanders 5 at Boston 4Sat. April 19Boston 3 at Islanders 5Mon. April 21Boston 4 at Islanders 3Tue. April 22Islanders 4 at Boston 2<h2>Top Playoff Goal Scorers</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-1537/4702206-1-eng-US/f0033-152.jpg" title="f0033-15" width="565" height="1066"></div> &#9632;

f0033-03

Stanley Cup Scoreboard

1&mdash;Montreal2&mdash;Chicago3&mdash;Boston4&mdash;Rangers5&mdash;Detroit6&mdash;Toronto7&mdash;Philadelphia8&mdash;Los Angeles9&mdash;St. Louis10&mdash;Minnesota11&mdash;Pittsburgh12&mdash;Islanders13&mdash;Vancouver14&mdash;Buffalo15&mdash;Atlanta16&mdash;Washington17&mdash;Colorado18&mdash;Edmonton19&mdash;Hartford20&mdash;Quebec21&mdash;Winnipeg<h2>OTHER AFFILIATIONS</h2>22&mdash;Chicago&mdash;Toronto23&mdash;Boston&mdash;Los Angeles24&mdash;Quebec&mdash;Pittsburgh25&mdash;Edmonton&mdash;Winnipeg26&mdash;Montreal&mdash;Chicago27&mdash;Vancouver&mdash;Islanders28&mdash;Boston&mdash;Pittsburgh29&mdash;Atlanta&mdash;Colorado30&mdash;Washington&mdash;St. Louis31&mdash;Los Angeles&mdash;Hartford32&mdash;Que.&mdash;Islanders&mdash;Buff.33&mdash;St. Louis&mdash;Philadelphia34&mdash;Boston&mdash;Hartford &#9632;

Who They’re Affiliated With…

<h2>ADIRONDACK</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2428/4702768-1-eng-US/f0034-242.jpg" title="f0034-24" width="568" height="576"></div><h2>BINGHAMTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2522/4702761-1-eng-US/f0034-252.jpg" title="f0034-25" width="572" height="600"></div><h2>HERSHEY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2619/4702754-1-eng-US/f0034-262.jpg" title="f0034-26" width="570" height="564"></div><h2>MAINE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2716/4702747-1-eng-US/f0034-272.jpg" title="f0034-27" width="574" height="556"></div><h2>NEW BRUNSWICK</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2810/4702740-1-eng-US/f0034-282.jpg" title="f0034-28" width="568" height="602"></div><h2>NEW HAVEN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-299/4702733-1-eng-US/f0034-292.jpg" title="f0034-29" width="568" height="582"></div><h2>NOVA SCOTIA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-307/4702726-1-eng-US/f0034-302.jpg" title="f0034-30" width="572" height="610"></div><h2>ROCHESTER</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-314/4702719-1-eng-US/f0034-312.jpg" title="f0034-31" width="580" height="552"></div><h2>SPRINGFIELD</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-323/4702712-1-eng-US/f0034-322.jpg" title="f0034-32" width="572" height="586"></div><h2>SYRACUSE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-332/4702705-1-eng-US/f0034-332.jpg" title="f0034-33" width="568" height="556"></div> &#9632;

f0034-24

FINAL AMERICAN LEAGUE TEAM SCORING

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01457/4702650-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="574" height="154"></div><h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02371/4702643-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="562" height="359"></div><h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03277/4702636-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="552" height="629"></div><h3>GOALTENDING RECORDS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04190/4702629-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="556" height="863"></div><h2>PLAYOFF GAMES</h2>Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05146/4702622-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="566" height="107"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. April 21Hershey 5 at New Haven 3Wed. April 23New Haven 3 at Hershey 7Fri. April 25Hershey 3 at New Haven 9Sat. April 26New Haven 3 at Hershey 1Sun. April 27Hershey 5 at New Haven 4<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. April 29New Haven at HersheyFri. May 2Hershey at New Haven<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06120/4702615-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="563" height="129"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. April 23Maine 2 at New Brunswick 3<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Mon. April 28New Brunswick at MaineWed. April 30Maine at New BrunswickSat. May 3New Brunswick at MaineSun. May 4Maine at New BrunswickTue. May 6New Brunswick at MaineThu. May 8Maine at New Brunswick<h2>Quarter-Finals</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07110/4702608-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="573" height="105"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Thurs. April 10Maine 3 at Nova Scotia 2Sat. April 12Maine 2 at Nova Scotia 3Tue. April 15Nova Scotia 0 at Maine 7Thu. April 17Nova Scotia 5 at Maine 6Sat. April 19Maine 2 at Nova Scotia 4Mon. April 21Nova Scotia 3 at Maine 7<h2>Quarter-Finals</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08102/4702601-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="566" height="127"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 8Adirondack 1 at New Brunswick 3Wed. April 9Adirondack 1 at New Brunswick 4Fri. April 11New Brunswick 4 at Adirondack 2Sun. April 13New Brunswick 2 at Adirondack 5Tue. April 15Adirondack 2 at New Brunswick 6<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0992/4702594-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="563" height="107"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 8Syracuse 3 at Hershey 5Wed. April 9Hershey 5 at Syracuse 3Sat. April 12Syracuse 0 at Hershey 8Tue. April 15Hershey 5 at Syracuse 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1089/4702587-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="568" height="127"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 8Rochester 1 at New Haven 4Thurs. April 10New Haven 4 at Rochester 2Sat. April 12Rochester 4 at New Haven 8Tue. April 15New Haven 6 at Rochester 4<h3>LEADING PLAYOFF SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1182/4702580-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="569" height="361"></div><h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1279/4702573-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="571" height="361"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1370/4702566-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="565" height="302"></div><h3>GOALTENDING RECORDS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1466/4702559-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="552" height="306"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1563/4702552-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="554" height="224"></div><h2>PLAYOFF GAMES</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1663/4702545-1-eng-US/f0034-162.jpg" title="f0034-16" width="562" height="140"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. April 25Fort Worth 4 at Salt Lake 6Sat. April 26Fort Worth 3 at Salt Lake 5<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed., April 30Salt Lake at Fort WorthFri., May 2Salt Lake at Fort WorthSat., May 3Fort Worth at Salt LakeWed. May 7Salt Lake at Fort WorthThu. May 8Fort Worth at Salt Lake<h2>Semi-Finals</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1757/4702538-1-eng-US/f0034-172.jpg" title="f0034-17" width="552" height="132"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 15Fort Worth 4 at Indianapolis 5Thu. April 17Fort Worth 4 at Indianapolis 2Tues., April 22Indianopolis 0 vs Fort Worth 2Wed., April 23Indianopolis 1 vs. Fort Worth 3 (Both games played at Dallas)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1853/4702531-1-eng-US/f0034-182.jpg" title="f0034-18" width="566" height="102"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 18Salt Lake 7 at Houston 4Thu. April 10Salt Lake 2 at Houston 3Tue. April 15Houston 4 at Salt Lake 9Wed. April 16Houston 4 at Salt Lake 3Fri. April 18Houston 3 at Salt Lake 6Sat. April 19Houston 2 at Salt Lake 4<h2>Quarter-Finals</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1951/4702524-1-eng-US/f0034-192.jpg" title="f0034-19" width="577" height="124"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. April 7Tulsa 0 at Indianapolis 4Wed. April 9Tulsa 1 at Indianapolis 6Thu. April 10Indianapolis 4 at Tulsa 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2044/4702517-1-eng-US/f0034-202.jpg" title="f0034-20" width="561" height="104"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. April 8Birmingham 6 at Fort Worth 4Wed. April 9Fort Worth 8 at Birmingham 2Thu. April 10Fort Worth 7 at Birmingham 4Sat. April 12Birmingham 2 at Fort Worth 4<h3>LEADING PLAYOFF SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2136/4702510-1-eng-US/f0034-212.jpg" title="f0034-21" width="564" height="277"></div><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>FINAL STANDINGS<h3>NORTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2232/4702503-1-eng-US/f0034-222.jpg" title="f0034-22" width="563" height="134"></div><h3>SOUTH DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2330/4702496-1-eng-US/f0034-232.jpg" title="f0034-23" width="569" height="283"></div><h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01412/4702489-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="581" height="404"></div><h3>GOALTENDERS&rsquo; RECORDS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02308/4702482-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="559" height="564"></div><h2>PLAYOFF GAMES</h2>Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03236/4702475-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="565" height="130"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri. April 25Port Huron 2 at Kalamazoo 3Sat. April 26Kalamazoo 4 at Port Huron 5Sun. April 27Port Huron 3 at Kalamazoo 4<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. April 30Kalamazoo at Port HuronFri. May 2Port Huron at KalamazooSat. May 3Kalamazoo at Port HuronTue. May 6Port Huron at Kalamazoo<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04163/4702468-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="562" height="111"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. April 23Fort Wayne 4 at Saginaw 3Sat. April 26Fort Wayne 1 at Saginaw 4<h3>GAMES TO COME</h3>Wed. April 30Saginaw at Fort WayneSat. May 3Saginaw at Fort WayneSun. May 4Fort Wayne at SaginawTue. May 6Saginaw at Fort WayneWed. May 7Fort Wayne at Saginaw<h2>QUARTER FINALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05126/4702461-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="563" height="135"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. April 12Flint 3 at Port Huron 6Sun. April 13Port Huron 3 at Flint 0Wed. April 16Flint 3 at Port Huron 4Fri. April 18Port Huron 3 at Flint 2Sat. April 19Flint 2 at Port Huron 3<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06106/4702454-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="556" height="128"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sat. April 12Milwaukee 4 at Saginaw 6Sun. April 13Milwaukee 1 at Saginaw 5<h3>LEADING PLAYOFF SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07100/4702447-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="566" height="306"></div><h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0895/4702440-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="564" height="241"></div><h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0989/4702433-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="570" height="283"></div><h3>GOALTENDING RECORDS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1086/4702426-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="543" height="335"></div><h2>PLAYOFF GAMES</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1183/4702419-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="565" height="101"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Sun. April 13Baltimore 5 at Erie 9Mon. April 14Baltimore 3 at Erie 8Wed. April 16Erie 2 at Baltimore 3Thu. April 17Erie 4 at Baltimore 2Sat. April 19Baltimore 4 at Erie 5<h2>Semi-Finals</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1279/4702412-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="576" height="133"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed., April 2Utica 1 at Erie 14Fri., April 4Erie 4 at Utica 1Sat., April 5Utica 4 at ErieTues., April 8Erie 8 at Utica 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1470/4702405-1-eng-US/f0036-142.jpg" title="f0036-14" width="574" height="155"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fri., April 4Richmond 3 at Baltimore 4Sat., April 5Baltimore 4 at Richmond 3Tues., April 8Richmond 3 at Baltimore 4Thurs., April 10Baltimore 2 at Richmond 4Fri., April 11Richmond 3 at Baltimore 5<h3>FINAL PLAYOFF LEADER</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1570/4702398-1-eng-US/f0036-152.jpg" title="f0036-15" width="545" height="300"></div><h2>SWEDEN CUP</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1668/4702391-1-eng-US/f0036-162.jpg" title="f0036-16" width="559" height="163"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Czechoslovakia 4, Canada 1Soviet Union 4, Canada 1Czechoslovakia 5, Finland 2Soviet Union 7, Sweden 2Sweden 4, Czechoslovakia 3Canada 4, Finland 4Finland 4, Sweden 4Sweden 6, Canada 2Soviet Union 4, Finland 3Soviet Union 2, Czechoslovakia 1<h2>GREAT LAKES JUNIOR</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1762/4702384-1-eng-US/f0036-172.jpg" title="f0036-17" width="563" height="155"></div><h2>PLAYOFF GAMES</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1858/4702377-1-eng-US/f0036-182.jpg" title="f0036-18" width="576" height="148"></div><h2>NEW ENGLAND JUNIOR Finals</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1957/4702370-1-eng-US/f0036-192.jpg" title="f0036-19" width="562" height="111"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>South Shore 7, Fitchburg 3South Shore 9, Fitchburg 5Fitchburg 8, South Shore 7Fitchburg 4, South Shore 3<h2>NEW ENGLAND JUNIOR</h2>Semi-Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2056/4702363-1-eng-US/f0036-202.jpg" title="f0036-20" width="568" height="128"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>South Shore 12, Tyngsboro 4South Shore 14, Tyngsboro 4South Shore 7, Tyngsboro 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2153/4702356-1-eng-US/f0036-212.jpg" title="f0036-21" width="562" height="118"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Fitchburg 8, New York 2Fitchburg 5, New York 1Fitchburg 5, New York 4<h2>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</h2>Finals<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2252/4702349-1-eng-US/f0036-222.jpg" title="f0036-22" width="565" height="109"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Hennepin 9, Waterloo 7Hennepin 3, Waterloo 3Hennepin 5, Waterloo 5<h2>Semi-Finals</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2349/4702342-1-eng-US/f0036-232.jpg" title="f0036-23" width="564" height="105"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Hennepin 5, Green Bay 2Hennepin 4, Green Bay 4<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2447/4702335-1-eng-US/f0036-242.jpg" title="f0036-24" width="560" height="107"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Bloomington 7, Waterloo 4Waterloo 7, Bloomington 3Bloomington 4, Waterloo 3Waterloo 5, Bloomington 3Waterloo 3, Bloomington 2<h2>Quarter-Finals</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2543/4702328-1-eng-US/f0036-252.jpg" title="f0036-25" width="564" height="105"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Waterloo 4, Sioux City 3Sioux City 8, Waterloo 2Waterloo 7, Sioux City 5<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2640/4702321-1-eng-US/f0036-262.jpg" title="f0036-26" width="554" height="128"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Green Bay 4, Austin 2Green Bay 8, Austin 0 &#9632;

f0034-01

MINOR SCOREBOARD

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AMATEUR SCOREBOARD

<h2>BALTIMORE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2736/4703187-1-eng-US/f0036-272.jpg" title="f0036-27" width="566" height="454"></div><h2>ERIE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2835/4703180-1-eng-US/f0036-282.jpg" title="f0036-28" width="572" height="458"></div><h2>HAMPTON</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2933/4703173-1-eng-US/f0036-292.jpg" title="f0036-29" width="564" height="454"></div><h2>JOHNSTOWN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-3032/4703166-1-eng-US/f0036-302.jpg" title="f0036-30" width="568" height="456"></div><h2>RICHMOND</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-3131/4703159-1-eng-US/f0036-312.jpg" title="f0036-31" width="564" height="460"></div><h2>UTICA</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-3228/4703152-1-eng-US/f0036-322.jpg" title="f0036-32" width="558" height="458"></div> &#9632;

f0036-27

FINAL EASTERN LEAGUE SCORING

WINNIPEG&mdash;Former hockey player Bill Heindl is $75,000 richer today after former friends and teammates of the paralyzed Winnipeg native tossed a benefit game for him that attracted a sellout crowd of 15,000 at the Winnipeg Arena.Heindl is the 34-year-old former pro hockey player who toiled for 12 years in the minors and in the World Hockey Association before his luck ran out. He became an alcoholic after a series of business deals went bad, his father died, and his wife left him. Heindl decided there was no way out but suicide. He jumped off a bridge on the outskirts of Winnipeg and ended up in a hospital, paralyzed from the waist down. Heindl will be confined to the wheelchair for the rest of his life.Some of Heindl&rsquo;s former teammates, notably Bobby Orr, arranged a benefit exhibition game for him at the Winnipeg Arena and sold out the place. Wayne Gretzky, Gump Worsley, Harry Howell and Orr were among the mostly retired 40-odd players who showed up to play in the game.<h2>Swiss Sum Brooks</h2>DAVOS&mdash;U.S. Olympic coach Herb Brooks has laid to rest reports that he&rsquo;ll be stepping into an NHL job next season by signing a 20-month contract to coach the Davos Hockey Club in Switzerland&rsquo;s First Division beginning Aug. 1.Brooks, who guided the U.S. to the Olympic hockey gold medal at Lake Placid, N.Y., in February, had been rumored to be on the verge of taking several NHL coaching and managerial jobs since the 1980 Games ended. But NHL teams have cooled towards the 42-year-old former college coach. And at least two of them publicly declared they were not interested in him.Brooks replaces Paul-Andre Cadieux as coach of the Davos team. Cadieux left to take over a second division team. &#9632;

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May 9, 1980

Coming Next Week

Blues Figure Improvement Will Continue Next Year

Oilers’ Low Enjoys Wanted Feeling Again

All-Time Playoff Leaders