The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.

March 6, 1981

The Hockey News March 6, 1981

<div class="byline">BY MIKE DENNIS</div>TORONTO&mdash;The Maple Leafs took a few more relatively stable steps along the path towards a playoff berth with a week which saw them earn six points in a four-game span, including three contests on the road.The Leafs split on a New York junket, winning 8-5 on Long Island before losing 8-3 to the Rangers in Madison Square Garden, secured a 5-3 home ice decision over the Minnesota North Stars and then traveled to Chicago the following evening to meet the Black Hawks and come away with a 7-4 victory in which former Hawk Ron Sedlbuer scored two goals for Toronto, righting to maintain a spot in the top 16 of the standings, the Leafs managed to slip past Washington and keep ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who held down the 16th and final playoff spot, followed closely behind by Detroit, Edmonton, Hartford and Colorado. Just one point ahead of the 14th place Leafs were the Rangers and Quebec, with the final quarter of the schedule underway.Toronto managed to continue its steady climb upward despite a total of five roster changes within a six-day span and immediately following injuries to Rene Robert (wrist) and Dan Maloney (back) which removed them from the lineup.Mike Kaszycki was called up from Dallas in the Central League to fill in while Robert&rsquo;s cracked wrist healed and then general manager Punch Imlach went out and obtained left winger Sedlbauer on waivers in a cash deal.Sedlbauer, 26, scored 40 goals for Vancouver two seasons ago, but was traded to Chicago midway through last season and apparently did not fit into coach Keith Magnuson&rsquo;s plans.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to leave Chicago,&rdquo; Sedlbauer said, &ldquo;but I wanted to play and I wasn&rsquo;t going to have the chance there. Fortunately I was able to get away.&ldquo;I only played about 10 games all season,&rdquo; said the 6-3, 200-pound free spirit, known as Space Cadet and Sudsy. &ldquo;Usually I had only four or five shifts a game.&rdquo;In his first game with the Leafs, Sedlbauer saw action on the left wing of the Leafs&rsquo; power play and nearly scored a goal on his first shift in the 5-3 victory over the North Stars. Later in the opening period he did score his first goal as a Leaf, and his 13th of the season, when he deflected a drive by Dave Farrish past Don Beaupre to give Toronto a 2-0 lead. Then Bill Derlago scored his second goal of the night for a 3-0 Leafs&rsquo; lead before the North Stars regrouped and tied the score with single goals in each period, including a 60-foot shot by Tim Young which skipped past Jim Rutherford, who was making his fifth straight start in the Toronto goal.&ldquo;A goal like that in the last minute is a downer,&rdquo; said Leafs&rsquo; captain Darryl Sittler. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough on the team that has it scored against them and it gives the other team a big lift.&rdquo;Things grew worse for the Leafs before they got better when Rutherford injured his thumb stopping a shot in the second period and was forced to leave the game. Jiri Crha played the rest of the way, his first action since just before the All Star break when he played in a 6-6 tie with Colorado. Subsequent x-rays on Rutherford revealed only a bruise, although Curt Ridley was called up from New Brunswick for the Chicago game.The Leafs were also without Rick Vaive, who scored twice in the win over the Islanders but sustained a groin injury and was out of action for the games with the Rangers, Minnesota and Chicago.Terry Martin became a hero for the Leafs when he directed in his 11th goal of the season to snap a 3-3 tie with 6:39 to play, giving Toronto their fourth triumph in four starts against Minnesota this year.Martin fed Sittler in front and when Beaupre saved off the captain, Martin popped in a short shot to provide the win. Wilf Paiement added his 29th of the season for the Leafs into an empty net.In Chicago, the Leafs fell behind 3-0 in the first period until they were revived by Sedlbauer&rsquo;s effort. Big Ron scored a power play in the first period and cut the gap to 3-2 when he scored again in the second period. Pat Hickey and Rocky Saganiuk also scored in the middle period to give the Leafs a 4-3 edge and after the Hawks got back into a tie, Bill Derlago scored his 25th and 26th of the season to put the Leafs back on top and Terry Martin closed out the scoring with his 12th of the season.Crha made 42 saves in the Leafs&rsquo; nets for the victory.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011135/4430940-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="573" height="803"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Sedlbauer scored three goals in his first two games as a Leaf, including a pair against his old team, Chicago.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Big Week Solidifies Leafs’ Playoff Chances

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;Calgary16&mdash;Washington17&mdash;Colorado18&mdash;Edmonton19&mdash;Hartford20&mdash;Quebec21&mdash;Winnipeg<h2>OTHER AFFILIATIONS</h2>22&mdash;Chicago&mdash;Toronto23&mdash;Pittsburgh&mdash;Hartford24&mdash;Boston & independent25&mdash;Minnesota&mdash;Rangers&mdash;Philadelphia26&mdash;Chicago&mdash;Montreal27&mdash;Winnipeg&mdash;Vancouver&mdash;Islanders28&mdash;Edmonton&mdash;Toronto&mdash;Quebec29&mdash;Colorado&mdash;Calgary30&mdash;Buffalo&mdash;Washington&mdash;St Louis31&mdash;Los Angeles&mdash;Boston&mdash;Hartford32&mdash;Quebec&mdash;Buffalo33&mdash;Winnipeg&mdash;Rangers34&mdash;Boston&mdash;Detroit35&mdash;Toronto&mdash;St. Louis &#9632;

Who They’re Affiliated With…

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-01925/4431257-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-01817/4431250-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="587" height="992"></div><h3>GOALTENDING STATISTICS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02683/4431243-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="579" height="2647"></div> &#9632;

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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

<h2>ONTARIO LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 23)<h3>EMMS DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0669/4433164-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="538" height="194"></div><h3>LEYDEN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0765/4433157-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="535" height="197"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Feb. 17Brantford 6 at Toronto 5Ottawa 4 at Kingston 4Kitchener 4 at London 7Thu. Feb. 19Brantford 2 at S. Ste. Marie 6Oshawa 4 at Peterborough 3Ottawa 4 at Windsor 0Fri. Feb. 20Brantford 4 at Sudbury 8Ottawa 4 at Kitchener 3Peterborough 5 at London 2Toronto 2 at Kingston 1Oshawa 5 at Niagara Falls 3Sat. Feb. 21Peterborough 5 at Windsor 2Niagara Falls 4 at Brantford 8Sun. Feb. 22Windsor 2 at Toronto 3Ottawa 6 at S. Ste. Marie 4Niagara Falls 5 at Oshawa 7Kingston 1 at Kitchener 3<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0860/4433150-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="539" height="303"></div><h2>WESTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 24)<h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0954/4433143-1-eng-US/f0036-092.jpg" title="f0036-09" width="534" height="170"></div><h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1051/4433136-1-eng-US/f0036-102.jpg" title="f0036-10" width="533" height="247"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Feb. 17New West 5 at Brandon 1Regina at Saskatoon (ppd)Portland 7 at Medicine Hat 5Spokane 6 at Winnipeg 5Seattle 8 at Billings 7Wed. Feb. 18New West 5 at Regina 6Seattle 3 at Lethbridge 5Portland 7 at Calgary 6Thu. Feb. 19New West 3 at Winnipeg 7Spokane 5 at Brandon 4Fri. Feb. 20New West 3 at Saskatoon 12Spokane 3 at Regina 10Portland 10 at Calgary 5Sat. Feb. 21New West 7 at Medicine Hat 10Sun. Feb. 22New West 2 at Calgary 5Seattle 6 at Regina 8Billings 10 at Lethbridge 6Winnipeg 4 at Brandon 3Spokane 7 at Saskatoon 8<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1148/4433129-1-eng-US/f0036-112.jpg" title="f0036-11" width="540" height="551"></div><h2>QUEBEC MAJOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 23)<h3>LEBEL DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1244/4433122-1-eng-US/f0036-122.jpg" title="f0036-12" width="537" height="168"></div><h3>DILIO DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1341/4433115-1-eng-US/f0036-132.jpg" title="f0036-13" width="538" height="168"></div><h3>GAMESCOMPLETED</h3>Mon. Feb. 16Chicoutimi 8 at Laval 4Tue. Feb. 17Montreal 5 at Cornwall 9Sorel 2 at T-Rivieres 5Wed. Feb. 18T-Rivieres 5 at Chicoutimi 1Sherbrooke 1 at Hull 6Quebec 3 at Shawinigan 6Fri. Feb. 20Cornwall 4 at Laval 3Sorel 4 at Shawinigan 7Montreal 5 at Sherbrooke 6Sun. Feb. 22Sarel 3 at Chicoutimi 9Laval 3 at Cornwall 4Quebec 6 at Hull 3T-Rivieres 8 at Montreal 6Sherbrooke 4 at Shawinigan 3<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1437/4433108-1-eng-US/f0036-142.jpg" title="f0036-14" width="535" height="361"></div><h2>ONTARIO INTERMEDIATE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1537/4433101-1-eng-US/f0036-152.jpg" title="f0036-15" width="540" height="230"></div><h2>ONTARIO SENIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Feb. 13)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1635/4433094-1-eng-US/f0036-162.jpg" title="f0036-16" width="537" height="221"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1732/4433087-1-eng-US/f0036-172.jpg" title="f0036-17" width="538" height="333"></div><h2>UNITED STATES LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 11)<h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1830/4433080-1-eng-US/f0036-182.jpg" title="f0036-18" width="535" height="142"></div><h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-1929/4433073-1-eng-US/f0036-192.jpg" title="f0036-19" width="534" height="144"></div><h2>ALBERTA JUNIOR LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 9)<h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2028/4433066-1-eng-US/f0036-202.jpg" title="f0036-20" width="532" height="140"></div><h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2127/4433059-1-eng-US/f0036-212.jpg" title="f0036-21" width="532" height="139"></div><h2>N.Y. METRO JUNIOR</h2>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 9)<h3>ATLANTIC DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2226/4433052-1-eng-US/f0036-222.jpg" title="f0036-22" width="532" height="140"></div><h3>METROPOLITAN DIVISION NEW JERSEY CONFERENCE</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2325/4433045-1-eng-US/f0036-232.jpg" title="f0036-23" width="533" height="115"></div><h3>NEW YORK CONFERENCE</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2425/4433038-1-eng-US/f0036-242.jpg" title="f0036-24" width="536" height="117"></div><h3>LONG ISLAND CONFERENCE</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2521/4433031-1-eng-US/f0036-252.jpg" title="f0036-25" width="532" height="119"></div> &#9632;

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AMATEUR SCOREBOARD

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover-01723/4433319-1-eng-US/cover-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BERNIE FEDERKO)</figcaption></div>MORE FIREWORKS IN QUEBEC: PETER STASTNY BRANDED AS PUCK HOG BY LINEMATENORTHERN MICHIGAN CLINCHES CCHA TITLEMINNESOTA ASSURED OF TIE FOR WCHA HONORS &#9632;

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BERNIE FEDERKO: SILENT SUPERSTAR FOR SURGING ST. LOUIS

<div class="byline">FRANK ORR&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011099/4430544-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="314" height="365"></div><h2>The Kids Take Over</h2>DURING THE PAST few years, sociologists have discussed frequently the end of the post-World War II &ldquo;baby boom&rdquo; and the fact that, in general, North America&rsquo;s population was growing older.Well, maybe the post-war baby boom is over but the National Hockey League is having one of its own. If any evidence was needed that the league had become &ldquo;brat heaven&rdquo;, the 1981 NHL All Star game provided it.In that splendid show at Los Angeles, not a single player over 29 years of age participated and there were only two men&mdash;Marcel Dionne of the Los Angeles Kings and Rick Kehoe of the Pittsburgh Penguins&mdash;of that ancient vintage.Three other 29s, Borje Salming, Larry Robinson and Bill Hajt, were named to the game but forced to pull out because of injuries or illness.Thus, the bars in L.A. were loaded with kids ordering &ldquo;Scotch and wa-wa&rdquo;. The rumor that one All Star trainer was seen entering the dressing room with a box of disposable diapers wasn&rsquo;t really true, although teething rings were popular.The fact that the NHL is loaded with splendid young players, of course, augurs well for the future. However, some NHL coaches long for the days when they had a few veterans to toss into the match at critical times and to supply a steadying influence on the kids.Alan Eagleson, executive director of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, provided the statistical proof that the days of the golden oldies in the NHL appear to be at an end.Eagleson revealed that the average age of players in the NHL has declined by three years in the past three years to 25 years of age. The length of the average career also is down by three years in that same time span to 5.14 years.&ldquo;Economics!&rdquo; was Eagleson&rsquo;s reply when asked to outline his reason for the youthquake.&ldquo;The NHL is drafting and employing players as young as 18 now and a teenager comes cheaper than a 30-year-old,&rdquo; he added.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking at some things that could give job guarantees to older players. But we can&rsquo;t protect anyone against a lack of ability. If a 19-year-old has more, then he&rsquo;s going to be in the lineup and the guy over 30 will be out.&rdquo;<h2>Defensive Vets Gone</h2>A FEW NHL FOLKS don&rsquo;t agree but the view here is that the lowering of the average age by what really is a sizeable amount is a major reason why the number of goals being scored in the NHL is on the upswing.Teams now have few of the wise, old, experienced defensemen and wingers who excel defensively, who know how to keep the lid on the game and reduce the number of shooting matches. Young players love to attack and to hell with checking tightly.Because most teams lack a few wise veterans in the 30 to 35 age group, it also deprives the youngsters of a large amount of instruction in the subtle arts of the game. Not that many of the children don&rsquo;t have superior hockey skills, but there&rsquo;s little chance for them to learn the game&rsquo;s little tricks by example and osmosis.It won&rsquo;t happen but it would be interesting to see what would happen if a club assembled a roster of older players plus a few kids to add the necessary legs and challenged the NHL with it.Clubs such as the St. Louis Blues of the late 1960s or the 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs come to mind, a batch of old hounds with large amounts of wisdom who made goals by the opposition mighty tough to acquire.<h2>Assorted Problems</h2>THE MOVE TO youth and the subsequent moving out of the older players has caused a rather large problem in hockey. Of course, some hockey executives claim that players now in their 30s made so much money during the game&rsquo;s glory&mdash;for players&mdash;days of the two-league 1970s that they&rsquo;re rich and present a motivation problem.But there is serious concern that the drafting of players as young as 18 under rules that stipulate that any draftee eligible for junior hockey must make the NHL roster or be returned to his junior team is undermining the game&rsquo;s structure.For openers, the teenage draft has caused big problems for junior hockey operators in several areas. The top juniors&mdash;the ones who supplied box-office attractions and helped to improve the overall calibre of the junior product&mdash;are gone.To many juniors, the lure of the draft and wanting to earn as high a position in it as possible was a big motivation. Now, though, a lad is claimed by an NHL team, signed to a pro contract and returned to junior competition.Because NHL teams simply must draft 18 and 19-year-olds or drop behind in the player market, then sign those players and return the majority of them to junior hockey, some clubs are having difficulties staffing their minor pro farm teams.NHL clubs have financial restrictions on the number of players they can have under contract and because several of their chattels are back in junior hockey, they don&rsquo;t have the bodies to staff their minor pro clubs.The NHL is attempting to find the answers to the problems of the juniors and the minor pro leagues. Perhaps an easing in the rules that force the return of underage juniors to that level of hockey will be part of the solution. &#9632;

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HOCKEY VIEWPOINT

<div class="byline">BY ARNOLD IRISH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011108/4430575-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bernie Federko, above, doesn&rsquo;t enjoy the attention that&rsquo;s heaped on some of his teammates, like Mike Liut and Wayne Babych, but he&rsquo;s strong in practically all facets of the game and a major reason why the Blues have made such a rapid climb in the NHL standings.</figcaption></div>He doesn&rsquo;t make an elephant disappear or saw a lady in half. He doesn&rsquo;t tell a stranger how many bills he has in his wallet or pull a rabbit out of his hat.Yet in the realm of prestidigitation there is no more skillful performer&mdash;not Blackstone, not Doug Henning, not the Amazing Kreskin&mdash;than the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; magician, Bernie Federko.The hockey stick is Federko&rsquo;s wand. And when he&rsquo;s inside the blueline, enemy goalies mesmerized by his sleight-of-hand would swear he wears a top hat and tails.And now that the Blues have established themselves as one of the NHL&rsquo;s top teams, Federko&rsquo;s light no longer is hidden under a bushel.&ldquo;Bernie is one of the game&rsquo;s premium, quality centers,&rdquo; Blues&rsquo; coach Red Berenson says.Federko is a typical Jean Ratelle, Jean Beliveau, Stan Mikita type in that he&rsquo;s consistent and always among the league&rsquo;s top 10 scorers.With 80 points (23 goals, 57 assists as of mid-February), Federko seems likely to become the first 100-point scorer in St. Louis history.&ldquo;And he could score a helluva lot more goals&mdash;50 for sure&mdash;if he weren&rsquo;t such a generous centerman,&rdquo; Berenson says. &ldquo;He threads the needle with his passes.&rdquo;&ldquo;An assist is as gratifying to me as a goal, definitely,&rdquo; Federko says.Even when the ratio is two or three assists to one goal, as has been the case this season? Federko nods affirmatively. Even then.&ldquo;It would bother me, at this stage of the season, if I only had five goals,&rdquo; he laughs.Not surprisingly for a magician, Federko&rsquo;s ice skills are deceptive. He doesn&rsquo;t appear to overpower defensemen and park in the slot the way, say, Phil Esposito used to. And he doesn&rsquo;t seem to be a fast skater.&ldquo;Bernie has deceiving speed,&rdquo; Berenson says. &ldquo;He can open up and leave people behind him.&rdquo; Others cite Federko&rsquo;s deceiving strength.&ldquo;For one thing, I weigh 195 pounds,&rdquo; the six-foot Federko says. &ldquo;I think some of the guidebooks still list me at 178. If the defenseman doesn&rsquo;t know who&rsquo;s coming on &rsquo;em, you can give them that little pushoff. I lift a few weights here and there. I don&rsquo;t bulk up, but I&rsquo;m stronger than I think sometimes.&ldquo;As for speed, I don&rsquo;t look like I&rsquo;m going fast but I have quick acceleration. You can be the fastest skater in hockey, but if you can&rsquo;t control yourself, that speed isn&rsquo;t going to do you any good.&rdquo;Although only 24, Federko brought three and a half years of NHL experience into this season. &ldquo;Now I know the ins and outs,&rdquo; Federko says matter-of-factly. &ldquo;After watching players like Jean Ratelle, and the things he does so well, I know ways you can cheat without getting caught.&rdquo;The Blues&rsquo; first-round choice (7th overall) in the 1976 draft, Federko spent the first half of his initial season at Barc Plager&rsquo;s finishing school in Kansas City (Central League). Bernie and his linemates, Brian Sutter and Rick Bourbonnais, were called up to the parent team in February and acquitted themselves admirably.&ldquo;This is the foundation of the team we&rsquo;re going to build,&rdquo; the Blues&rsquo; then-coach, Emile Francis, said as the 1976-77 season ended and he turned his attention solely to front-office matters in an effort to revitalize a sinking franchise.Federko was a disappointment for much of his first full NHL season, 1977-78. &ldquo;I hurt my shoulder and knee at the start of the season, then tried to come back too soon,&rdquo; Bernie remembers.&ldquo;Leo Boivin was our coach, and he was from the old school. You sit and watch before you play. There were three centers ahead of me&mdash;Garry Unger, Red [Berenson] and Larry Patey. When Bare [Plager] took over [with 26 games remaining], he believed in us and we got more ice time.&rdquo; Federko&rsquo;s line finished strong.Wayne Babych was drafted in 1979 and placed opposite Sutter, and suddenly Federko was centering the Blues&rsquo; No. 1 line. &ldquo;We ran into everybody&rsquo;s checking lines the second half of the season,&rdquo; Bernie recalls. Unfortunately, the Blues had little else going for them except Federko&rsquo;s line and finished with a dreadful 18-50-12 record. Federko broke his left wrist with five games left and finished the season five points short of 100.President-general manager Francis&rsquo; rebuilding program began to pay dividends last season.&ldquo;We knew we had the talent and we were learning to work with each other,&rdquo; Federko remembers.&ldquo;Things were starting to go when Barc got sick. Red came in and put things together. We had a good nucleus, our penalty-killing was excellent [84.8 percent efficient, the NHL&rsquo;s best] and we developed some scoring depth.&ldquo;Blair Chapman came in, replacing Babych on our line and clicked early. Mike Zuke and Babych worked well together, and all of a sudden we had two scoring lines instead of one. More depth. If we got checked hard, another line came through.&rdquo;Federko, who finished the 500 season (34-34-12) with 94 points, credits the addition of goalkeeper Mike Liut as being the single most important factor in the Blues&rsquo; renaissance.&ldquo;Liut was the key to the turnaround,&rdquo; Bernie says. &ldquo;Here was a goalie who&rsquo;d come up with the big save. When you work hard and one bad goal goes in, it lets a team down. But Liut makes the game easier because you know you&rsquo;re going to get that big one&mdash;in a close game or a blowout. I&rsquo;ve shot at &rsquo;em all, and Liut is the best.&rdquo;This year St. Louis has ranked near the top of the NHL&rsquo;s overall standings, and nobody more thoroughly appreciates the Blues&rsquo; success than Federko, who was with the club when it was a doormat.&ldquo;I used to go home [to Foam Lake, Sask.] and you didn&rsquo;t want to tell people who you played for,&rdquo; Bernie says. &ldquo;You could finish in the top 10 scorers, but you were only the best of the worst.&ldquo;Now we&rsquo;ve got nine or ten guys who are scoring threats. In two years we&rsquo;ve gone from second worst to second best.&rdquo;Will this be the year Federko finally scores 100 points?&ldquo;I hope so, just to get over the talk about it,&rdquo; Bernie sighs. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think about it. It would be really nice because not many do it, but it isn&rsquo;t something that&rsquo;s on my mind all the time&mdash;only when people ask me about it. If the team continues to play well, it&rsquo;s something that will probably just happen.&rdquo;Off the ice, Federko likes music (&ldquo;nothing heavy, no wild screaming&rdquo;) and wishes he could play an instrument.&ldquo;I played saxophone for seven years in our high school band back home, but you can&rsquo;t play the sax except in a band. I tried the six-string guitar, learned all the chords, but I couldn&rsquo;t move my fingers fast enough to make it sound like music. Finally, I ran out of patience and gave the guitar to my older brother, who picked it right up.&rdquo; Federko says the last book he read was The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth.&ldquo;But in recent weeks,&rdquo; Bernie smiles, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been reading a lot of books about babies and child care.&rdquo; His wife, Bernadette, is to present him with their first child this month.In the clubhouse and in team-related activities, Federko is something of a wise-cracker and has been known to pull a practical joke or two in his day. &ldquo;Sometimes it helps if there&rsquo;s tension in the air,&rdquo; he says.Beneath this facade, though, he takes the game to heart&mdash;especially when things aren&rsquo;t going well&mdash;and he has a tendency to fight the puck if he feels he&rsquo;s letting the team down.&ldquo;In a slump, your mind gets boggled,&rdquo; he admits.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all mental. You can&rsquo;t get down on yourself. You have to remind yourself you&rsquo;re doing the same things you&rsquo;ve always done. You can&rsquo;t lose the confidence to try them any more and your adrenalin turns to lead.&ldquo;Eventually one of your shots will bounce off somebody&rsquo;s skate for a lucky goal and a little beam of light will flash into your brain: You can do it.&ldquo;During a slump, though, you try to stay loose to keep from losing your mind.&rdquo;Berenson thinks Federko is underrated.&ldquo;For a centerman, he&rsquo;s very good with his feet along the boards, digging the puck out,&rdquo; the Blues&rsquo; coach says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a great practice player, but he isn&rsquo;t a floater either. He&rsquo;s not a afraid of hard work and has a good capacity for it.&ldquo;In games, he&rsquo;s effective no matter who his wings are. I can put Chapman, Tony Currie or Babych on his right wing, and they all look at home there. Sutter missed one game, so Jorgen Pettersson played left wing and scored three goals.&rdquo;More than most centers, Federko likes to set up plays from behind the cage.&ldquo;In one game, Edmonton was crowding the front of the net, so I went behind it. It worked well for us, so we kept doing it. It&rsquo;s a tough play for the defense. Having the cage there is like having another guy on your side.&rdquo;Although he&rsquo;s already established himself as a prolific scorer, Federko thinks he&rsquo;s several years away from his peak and hopes to improve his game in the interim.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t need work on just one part,&rdquo; he insists. &ldquo;Overpassing, knowing the exact time to shoot&mdash;the judgment area&mdash;my defensive game, everything. I&rsquo;m a plus on defense, but not as high as I&rsquo;d like to be. I&rsquo;m not bad, but I&rsquo;m not as good as I should or could be.&rdquo;To Federko, as to most of the Blues, winning the Stanley Cup is the paramount objective. But, he&rsquo;s realistic.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re all very inexperienced in the playoffs,&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;Out of 20 guys, we probably don&rsquo;t have 100 playoff games among us.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to be there, and ready this time, but if things don&rsquo;t work out, there&rsquo;s always next year. We&rsquo;re still a team on the way up,&ldquo;The prime age of hockey is 27 to 28, and most of us are several years or more younger than that. We may be two or three years away from our full potential.&ldquo;But if we only come close to the Cup, next year we&rsquo;ll pick up some little things we need in the draft and get better.&ldquo;The Stanley Cup is definitely our goal, even this year, and it&rsquo;s going to take a heckuva team to beat us.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0003-01

Federko’s The Name, Deception His Game

<div class="byline">BY BOB VERDI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011158/4430606-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="316" height="364"></div><h2>Gainfully Unemployed</h2>A YEAR AGO, with an iron hand and a poker face, he was coaching the U.S. Olympic hockey team toward its incredible destiny, a gold medal at Lake Placid.A year later, the incredible is true again. Herb Brooks is out of hockey.&ldquo;You could say I&rsquo;m gainfully unemployed,&rdquo; he chuckles. &ldquo;I have a lot of speaking engagements. I also have a lot of time to update my resume.&rdquo;Brooks always stressed to his players that they must pay the price. Now, in a sense, he is doing that himself. Part of his jobless situation is circumstance. Last April, which is too early for most NHL clubs to make commitments for the upcoming season, Brooks signed to coach in Davos, Switzerland.The good of it was that, in a new environment, &ldquo;I spent more time with my family in six months than I had in the previous six years.&rdquo; The bad of it was that hockey was more of an avocation there than a vocation. Intensity, which is Herb Brooks&rsquo; calling card, was missing.Thus, when Craig Patrick became general manager of the New York Rangers and called the Alps looking for a coach, Brooks was willing. Only after Brooks had resigned did an apologetic Patrick telephone back to say the Ranger opportunity was no more. Brooks returned to his home in suburban Shoreview, Minn., without work but without any bitterness toward his able assistant in Lake Placid.&ldquo;Something will come up,&rdquo; says Brooks. I have mouths to feed, and bills to pay. If I wind up out of hockey, and in business, then that&rsquo;s where I wind up.&rdquo;Where Brooks should wind up is in the NHL, of course. That is the galling part of his situation, perhaps the predictable part. Feel free to assume that more than one professional franchise considered him too hot to handle after witnessing his candor.<h2>Bringing Talent Out</h2>&ldquo;I DON&rsquo;T KNOW for sure if some NHL people are afraid to touch me, but I&rsquo;d have to say maybe that&rsquo;s the case,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;If you agree on everything, though, how do you make progress? I&rsquo;m not willing to concede that our players aren&rsquo;t the best in the world. I&rsquo;d just like to see the game opened up to take full advantage of their abilities. You have to bring talent out in people, not suffocate it.&ldquo;I remember right after the Olympics, [NHL president] John Ziegler saying that fans wouldn&rsquo;t stand for the type of hockey we played. Wouldn&rsquo;t stand for what? Shooting, skating, passing and entertaining hockey? I&rsquo;m not saying the pro game is bad. It just could be better.&rdquo;Suffice it to say, Herb Brooks does it his way. In Lake Placid it was the hard way. As the American hockey players scratched and scraped their way to gold, they oozed personality. But Brooks was as cold as they were warm. His task&mdash;deciding on which 20 players would constitute the team, then molding them into a viable unit-was onerous. Then, he made it even more difficult on himself. He decided he would ask them to win, too. Nobody else in the country would have dared register such a request.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t go up there to be a nice guy,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I worked them hard. I did some subtle things, some crazy things. Our captain, Mike Eruzione, I almost cut from the team. I screamed at him in front of the rest of the guys because I knew he could take it.&rdquo;&ldquo;I remained distant from all the players. Maybe too much an extreme. But I thought better to be safe than sorry. It was a lonely year for me. But it had to be that way. It was like a shotgun marriage. We went to training camp, played 60 exhibitions, went to the Olympics, then split. Did the players like me? I never gave them the chance.<h2>Must Share Credit</h2>&ldquo;IF THEY THOUGHT I was an SOB, hopefully it was an honest SOB. Even the night they won the medal, I was giving them discipline. They all went to a country club for a big party. Beer, champagne, and they deserved it. But I asked Eruzione to cut it short before it got too late. We had to get up at 6 in the morning to meet the President, and I didn&rsquo;t want them going to Washington looking and smelling like bums. There&rsquo;s a fine line between class and no class.&rdquo;Behind his back, the players called Brooks &ldquo;ayatollah.&rdquo; But he must share in the credit for the closeness they exhibited off the ice, and their excellence, on. And now, a year later, the players might be realizing what this ogre was all about. Rob McClanahan, who broke down after one of Brooks&rsquo; Olympic Village tantrums, asked the ayatollah out for a beer the other night.&ldquo;Well probably be better friends, the players and I, as time goes on,&rdquo; says Brooks. &ldquo;If I&rsquo;m out of a job now, if I&rsquo;m being penalized for trying to think, then so be it. If I got ripped in Lake Placid for the way I did things, so be it.&ldquo;It was a great experience, and you saw all the awards for the team for Sportsman of the Year? Not Jim Craig, or Mike Eruzione or Mark Johnson. The team. The whole team. See what I mean?&rdquo;More than ever, Herb Brooks knows now that his way was the only way. &#9632;

f0004-01

HOCKEY TALK

THE INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY WEEKLY &bull; FOUNDED 1947DONALD R. WALLChairman and PublisherTOM MURRAYEditor in ChiefAdvertising and Editorial Offices214 King Street West-Suite 314Toronto. 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 West. Montreal. Canada H3G 1R7.EDITORIAL STAFFCharlie Halpin Editorial DirectorMike Dennis, Assistant EditorBob Hanley, Editorial ConsultantContributing EditorsStan Fischler, Frank Orr, Bob VerdiTom Worsley, Business ManagerADVERTISING SALES OFFICESToronto:Randy Green214 King Street West-Suite 314Toronto. Ontario. Canada M5H 1K4(416)598-1753New York:Bob BassinetteBassinette/White50 East 42nd StreetNew York. N.Y. 10017Tel (2121) 986-6210Chicago:Hooper. Jones & Associates3322 W. Peterson AvenueChicago. Illinois 60659(312)478-5544Boston:Steve Ganak-Steve Ganak Ad RepsStatler Office BuildingBoston. Mass. 02116(617)542-6913Esther Sumka,Advertising Service Manager (416) 598-1753THE HOCKEY NEWS. (ISSN 0018-3016). is published weekly except monthly June through September by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd. 214 King Street West-Suite 314. Toronto. Ontario M5H 1K4. (416) 598-1753. In U.S. c/o W.C.C. Publishing Corp., 850 Third Ave., New York. N.Y. 10022.YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $16.95 in the U.S.A. $16.95 in Canada. $20.95 in Foreign Countries. Send all Canadian and Foreign subscription orders to THE HOCKEY NEWS. P.O. Box 13035. Postal Station &lsquo;A&rsquo; Toronto. Ont. M5W 1V7 U.S. subscription requests should be mailed to Box 112. Martinsville. N.J 08836. Please allow 4-6 weeks tor processing.IN CANADA SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO THE HOCKEY NEWS. Box 112. Martinsville N.J 08836 Second Class mail Registration No. 1327. All inquiries pertaining to subscriptions should be addressed Io Subscription De pl., The Hockey News. 214 King SI, W., Suite 314. Toronto. Ont. M5H IK4. Canada.IN THE UNITED STATES: Second class postage paid at New York. N.Y. and at additional mailing offices.U.S. POSTMASTER send address changes to: The Hockey News. Box 112. Martinsville. N.J. 08836.Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations &#9632;

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">BY PAT THOMPSON</div>BLOOMINGTON-All right, your team has just gone through eight straight games without a victory. It is not scoring and not checking.What do you do? Score and check, right?Easier said than done. That&rsquo;s what confronted the Minnesota North Stars and coach Glen Sonmor midway through February. The Stars were playing their worst hockey of the season while Sonmor sought the answer to a riddle that saw the team fall seven points back of Adams Division leading Buffalo after being tied with the Sabres earlier in the year.So to get out of the scoring slump, Sonmor decided to start out the next few games with his checking line of Jack Carlson, Mike Polich and Tom Younghans.But, how can you get your least scoring forward line to turn around the lack of goals?Somehow, it worked. The Stars swept by Hartford 7-4, Vancouver 7-2 and Colorado 6-2. The Stars are back after their longest winless stretch of the season. During the drought, the Stars dropped from fifth to seventh in the overall standings and from first to seventh in goals-against.&ldquo;The Polich line got us motivated,&rdquo; said winger Tom McCarthy, who has increased his second-year totals to 22 goals and 23 assists. &ldquo;They rolled right down the ice and penetrated. It got everybody on the bench motivated. We started going for the net, looking for the rebounds. Before, all we&rsquo;d been doing was watching someone else shoot and peel back.&rdquo;Polich had one goal disallowed against Hartford, but he scored twice against Vancouver, including one in the first minute to set a quick pace for the other Stars.&ldquo;When you get the chance you have to get out there and hustle.&rdquo; said Polich, who had only two goals before the Star revival. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t expect the coaches to make a habit of this, but if we can come in and lift the team, why not let us.&rdquo;The Stars definitely needed a lift. Even general manager Lou Nanne admitted he was worried how long the slump would go on. &ldquo;We had gotten to the point where I was beginning to wonder,&rdquo; he said.Nanne, after the Hartford victory, appeared on a rapid talk show, and many of the questions directed his way dealt with the team&rsquo;s aggressiveness. Simply, the No. 1 question was: Do you have too many skaters and scorers and not enough guys with lunch pails and hard hats, the physical players needed to give balance?&ldquo;We have the players now,&rdquo; Nanne answered. &ldquo;You can teach a player to check, but you can&rsquo;t teach him to skate. You can teach a player to take the body, but you can&rsquo;t teach him how to score.&rdquo;Sonmor kiddingly had the answer all along. &ldquo;Another great coaching job,&rdquo; he Said after one of the victories. More serious now, he added, &ldquo;For whatever reason, our guys have decided to return to the old skating and forechecking game that got us where we were earlier in the standings.&ldquo;Guess what. It works.&rdquo;A good example of who was doing that was recently recalled right winger Dino Ciccarelli, who is on a line with Bobby Smith and Steve Payne.In the first five games since his recall from Oklahoma City, the 20-year-old Ciccarelli scored five goals. In that span, the North Stars are 2-1-2. Smith apparently is benefitting, too, in reaching the 25-goal figure with 22 games remaining. He scored twice in the Colorado victory.&ldquo;Dino&rsquo;s play has put some life into this club,&rdquo; Nanne said.That, along with the example set by the checking line, apparently has answered Sonmor&rsquo;s riddle.STAR DUST&mdash;Defenseman Don Jackson was called from Oklahoma City. Right winger Ron Zanussi, coming back from a rib injury, was sent to Oke City to play himself back into shape.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021109/4430661-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="598" height="520"><figcaption class="caption-body">The North Stars got a big lift when defensive specialist Mike Polich scored a pair of goals.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0004-02

North Stars’ Checking Line Helps Squad Shake Slump

<div class="byline">BY FRANK FONTAINE</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011008/4430692-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Peter Stastny was shocked when linemate Real Cloutier accused him of not passing the puck, saying he doesn&rsquo;t check to see who&rsquo;s there before he passes it.</figcaption></div>QUEBEC&mdash;(Truth is stranger than fiction. The following is not a parody; it is not the fruit of a correspondent&rsquo;s mocking imagination. It is the truth, as reported by Quebec&rsquo;s two dailies, Le Soleil and Le Journal de Quebec.)Real Cloutier has accused Peter Stastny of not wanting to play with him. The Nordiques&rsquo; rightwinger made the astounding accusation following Quebec&rsquo;s recent 4-3 loss at the hands of the Jets, in Winnipeg. Maurice Dumas, of Le Soleil, quotes Cloutier as saying: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy to see. Peter wants to play with his brother Anton and he refuses to pass the puck to Marc [Tardif] and me.&rdquo;According to Albert Ladouceur, of Le Journal de Quebec, Cloutier also said: &ldquo;Peter is not interested in seeing Marc and me pick up points. How can you play hockey when you never get the puck?&rdquo;Dumas relates the following exchange between he and Cloutier: Cloutier: &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you newsmen see what goes on?&rdquo; Dumas: &ldquo;No, I haven&rsquo;t seen anything like that.&rdquo; Cloutier: &ldquo;Then you don&rsquo;t know hockey.&rdquo;According to both newsmen, coach Michel Bergeron tried to dismiss the incident as a mere childish outburst. Then he added: &ldquo;Peter has never told me he didn&rsquo;t want to play with Marc and Real anymore. He&rsquo;s top much of a pro to do that. If anybody passes the puck on this team, it&rsquo;s Peter. But a winger has to skate and get into the open if he wants to get the puck.&rdquo;Cloutier and Tardif had been playing with Peter Stastny for eight games and had collected a total of 30 points between the three of them, during that brief period. However, Bergeron had benched the two wingers in the third period of the Winnipeg game, and had replaced them with Anton Stastny and Robbie Ftorek.Still commenting on Cloutier&rsquo;s out-burst, Bergeron told Ladouceur: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to admit that one has not played well; that one was rotten. It takes a man to do that.&rdquo;As for Stastny, he was badly shaken by Cloutier&rsquo;s remarks. The team&rsquo;s leading scorer and most respected player told Dumas and Ladouceur: &ldquo;I can get mad too. I&rsquo;m surprised and saddened over Real&rsquo;s statements. My job is to carry the puck and to pass it to my wingers. I don&rsquo;t start checking which of my teammates is there.&ldquo;I talk more with Anton on and off the ice, because he&rsquo;s my brother and because we understand each other well,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;This year, I&rsquo;m learning a lot of things; I&rsquo;m observing. Next year, it will be different. People will see I can get mad too.&rdquo;The next day, as the Nordiques prepared for a game in Denver, coach Bergeron had a lengthy meeting with Cloutier. But when it was over, Cloutier still stuck to his opinion, adding only that he could understand Peter preferring to play with his brother. He also said that he did not mind playing with Peter.Peter was still very disturbed. He told Ladouceur: &ldquo;I still can&rsquo;t understand why Real said that. He shouldn&rsquo;t jump to conclusions just because we had one or two bad games, recently. He reached a judgement too quickly.&rdquo;Meanwhile, Bergeron came up with an astounding observation. Ladouceur quoted him as saying that he hoped this affair &ldquo;really comes from him, [Cloutier],&rdquo; meaning that perhaps Cloutier might have been put up to it by another player. According to Ladouceur, Tardif jumped when he was informed of Bergeron&rsquo;s observation.Let columnist Claude Larochelle, of Le Soleil, conclude this sad tale: &ldquo;After having fled the communist nightmare, the unhappy center, [Stastny] must be wondering into what kind of trap he has fallen. Poor Peter, who has been playing his heart out since the start of the season, who shows a very special brand of guts on the road as well as at the Coliseum, is accused of hogging the puck because he wants his little brother in place of Marc Tardif, on left wing.&rdquo;Larochelle continued: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy to understand the Slovakian&rsquo;s flabbergasted look of someone disembarking into a nest of nuts. Peter Stastny, who left his country under gripping circumstances, who broke with his parents and friends while being pursued by KGB agents, would now hide that little black puck in his corner because he&rsquo;s being refused a piece of candy, his brother Anton. Just the type, isn&rsquo;t he!&rdquo;Then Larochelle summed up Cloutier&rsquo;s position: &ldquo;This is a thoughtless accusation born of frustration which does not stand up to a serious examination.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0005-01

Cloutier Brands Stastny As ‘Peter Puck-Hog’

<div class="byline">KEN McKENZIE&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-02770/4430744-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="292" height="345"></div>&bull; THE LOS ANGELES KINGS did a first-rate job in hosting this year&rsquo;s NHL All Star game. It was a well-organized affair and everyone in attendance was of the same opinion. The sellout crowd of 16,005 watched the Campbell Conference win their first All Star tilt in six stars and were treated to one of the finest individual efforts in All Star play by Mike Liut, the goalkeeper of the St. Louis Blues, who made 25 saves in a little over a period and a half. Many of the 25 saves were of the sensational variety and there isn&rsquo;t much doubt that Liut is the premier goalie in the NHL today. Justifiably so, he was selected as the game&rsquo;s No. 1 star&hellip;The All Star dinner, held the previous evening in the swank Century Plaza Hotel, was the best we&rsquo;ve ever attended. The entertainment, headed by George Burns, Harvey Korman, Tim Conway and Gordon Lightfoot, was superb. The Kings&rsquo; management and the National Hockey League can take a bow for an outstanding production. The game itself was one of the better ones in recent years as players on both teams skated all out in an effort to give the fans an exciting show&hellip;NHL president John Ziegler reports that NHL attendance was up two percent at the end of January over the previous year, and it is expected that NHL attendance will hit the 11 million figure for the regular schedule&hellip;Montreal&rsquo;s Brian Engblom has developed into one of the NHL&rsquo;s best defensemen this season. The 26-year-old Winnipeg native has been among the league&rsquo;s top plus-minus leaders all season&hellip;The St. Louis Blues are the toast of the NHL these days. It&rsquo;s the same team Emile Francis, the president-general manager, literally bailed out with money from his own pocket. It&rsquo;s a miraculous turnaround in a short space of time&hellip;The Maine Mariners recently became the first AHL team ever to sweep a four-game series in the Maritimes, with two wins over both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick&hellip;For the first time in NHL history, goalies have a very good chance of winning two major awards. Mike Liut of St. Louis Blues is a favorite to win the Hart Trophy as the league&rsquo;s most valuable player, and Don Beaupre of Minnesota is favored to capture the Calder Trophy as the top rookie in the league.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03527/4430737-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="370" height="473"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Liut</figcaption></div>&bull; WHEN SCOTTY BOWMAN coached the losing Prince of Wales Conference team in this year&rsquo;s All Star game it marked his last appearance as a coach. However, Bowman left the coaching ranks with an outstanding record. In 13 seasons as an NHL coach with St. Louis, Montreal and Buffalo his clubs won 576 games, lost 210 and tied 166 for a winning percentage of .692, the best in NHL history for any coach who lasted more than 500 games. At Montreal he coached five Stanley Cup winners in seven years and four in succession&hellip;The Montreal media is finally realizing what a great loss Ken Dryden has been to the Canadiens. The team has lacked steady goaltending ever since Dryden retired two years ago&hellip;Al MacAdam has played every game for the North Stars this season. He&rsquo;s the only player to do so&hellip;Tony Tanti, Oshawa Generals 17-year-old scoring whiz, shattered Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s 70-goal Ontario Hockey League scoring record for rookies when he tallied his 71st by mid-February. Tanti still hopes to break Peter Lee&rsquo;s overall record of 81 goals in a season. He is the most-talked about player in the Ontario Hockey League&hellip;Vladislav Tretiak, ace Soviet goalie who broke his leg after slipping on ice, will be ready for the world championships in April&hellip;The New York Rangers have played two men short 28 times this season, more than any other team. They also established a National League record when they allowed 15 goals in 5-on-3 manpower situations. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t recall a team having so many 5-on-3&rsquo;s against it,&rdquo; stated Craig Patrick of the Rangers&hellip;Anders Hedberg, the Rangers&rsquo; highly-paid Swede, is in a horrendous scoring slump. He&rsquo;d scored but eight goals in his last 42 games&hellip;Hershey Bears&rsquo; president-general manager Frank Mathers, an astute judge of hockey talent, thinks that Tim Tookey, speedy center on this year&rsquo;s Bears, has an excellent chance of winning American Hockey League Rookie of the Year honors. &ldquo;He has the ability to stickhandle while going full speed and the knack of accelerating while doing things with the puck that you don&rsquo;t find too many players being able to do,&rdquo; Mathers remarked&hellip;Art Teece, who runs the Salt Lake Golden Eagles of the Central League, is rated one of the top operators in minor pro hockey.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04349/4430730-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="375" height="469"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tim Tookey</figcaption></div>&bull; THE NHL is negotiating with one of the major TV networks about airing the Stanley Cup finals&hellip;Hockey fans living in the Los Angeles area who migrated from the northern States and Canada are lavish in their praise for the fine play-by-play calling of Bob Miller, who is the &ldquo;Voice&rdquo; of the Kings and his very able sidekick and color man Pete Weber. Incidentally, Miller and Weber, along with Dan Kelly of St. Louis, will be heard on the new ABC-TV movie Miracle on Ice. This two-hour movie stars Karl Malden and is the story of the United States&rsquo; 1980 Olympic victory. Mike Eruzione, one of the leaders of that team, acted as technical director for the movie&hellip;Charlie Simmer, the Kings&rsquo; scoring whiz, is engaged to Playboy Playmate of the Month Terri Welles. She attends most of the Kings&rsquo; games attired in a &ldquo;Charlie&rsquo;s Angel&rdquo; T-shirt&hellip;Hockey executives and players will miss Adolph Donadeo when they visit Pittsburgh. The popular Adolph died of a heart attack at the age of 57. He was preparing to leave for this year&rsquo;s All Star game when he died. Adolph was manager of the Pittsburgh Press Club and the Igloo Club at the Civic Arena and was a friend to any hockey player who ever played in Pittsburgh&hellip;Butch Bouchard, captain and star defenseman of some powerful Montreal Canadien teams in 1940s and early 50s, recently underwent open heart surgery. His son Pierre plays with the Washington Capitals&hellip;Peter Gilbert, who made a fortune in Pay Television in the Buffalo area, is the new owner of the Colorado Rockies. He plans to make few changes in the front office for the time being&hellip;Brian O&rsquo;Neill, the very capable executive vice-president of the National Hockey League, has one of the toughest jobs in professional sports in meeting out disciplinary action in hockey&rsquo;s major league&hellip;Frank Torpey is in his 11th season as director of security for the NHL&hellip;Michel Dion, the 27-year-old goalkeeper the Winnipeg Jets recently purchased from the Quebec Nordiques, is a former professional baseball prospect who played with the Montreal Expos farm team for two years&hellip;The Minnesota North Stars sold out 13 of their first 26 home games and averaged 14,276 fans per game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-05226/4430723-1-eng-US/f0005-052.jpg" title="f0005-05" width="366" height="477"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michel Dion</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0005-02

PASSING THE PUCK

<div class="byline">BY STEVE WINTER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011190/4430775-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="572" height="871"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Kelly&rsquo;s first career hat trick was secondary, in his eyes, to the point earned in a tie.</figcaption></div>LANDOVER&mdash;Every other week, it seems, this space is filled with tales of woe concerning the Capitals&rsquo; seeming inability to avoid those annoying and crippling injuries.Once again, that same item has reared its ugly head, although surprisingly, the results&mdash;thus far&mdash;have been less than devastating.It all began on the Capitals&rsquo; recent road trip which took them to Vancouver, Calgary, Los Angeles, and then Buffalo and Montreal, after the All Star break. During a 3-3 tie in&rsquo; British Columbia, the Capitals suffered three unusual injuries. First to fall was goalie Mike Palmateer&mdash;again. The 27-year-oId Toronto native, who posted a 3.73 goals-against average and an 11-10-7 record through 30 games, apparently damaged the ligaments in the same left ankle which eventually contributed to his departure last season from the Maple Leafs. In the same game, defensemen Howard Walker and Pat Ribble each injured their spleens, and sat out a handful of contests.And as if that wasn&rsquo;t bad enough, the real cruncher came two nights later in Calgary, when backup goal-tender Dave Parro and center Guy Charron suffered shoulder dislocations and center Rolf Edberg cracked a bone in his upper jaw. With Wayne Stephenson returning to the nets for the first time since early January, the Capitals lost that encounter, 5-2.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unusual that we lost six players in the space of two games,&rdquo; said the Capitals&rsquo; All Star right wing, Mike Gartner, who scored both goals in the loss to the Flames. &ldquo;But this season&rsquo;s not going to end if we have 15 guys out. We have to do the best we can with what we&rsquo;ve got.&rdquo;The Capitals responded as best they could, and produced surprising results in their next contest. With Palmateer&rsquo;s tender ankle heavily taped, and rookies Dwayne Lowder-milk and Jay Johnston patrolling the blueline, the Caps rallied from a 4-2 deficit to tie the powerful L. A. Kings, 4-4, as Bob Kelly recorded his first-ever NHL hat trick.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never had a hat trick in my life,&rdquo; said Kelly, who scored the equalizer at 18:05 of the final period, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;m much more elated because we didn&rsquo;t quit.&ldquo;I was glad to get it, but if we didn&rsquo;t get that point [in the standings], I wouldn&rsquo;t care a bit about it. I&rsquo;d far rather be in the playoffs, than get 25 goals or a dozen hat tricks.&rdquo;Kelly&rsquo;s comments seemingly echo the sentiments of his teammates, who see themselves facing a homestretch which happily reveals that 13 of their final 23 games are scheduled for home ice. And with 52 points and a secure hold on 12th place in the overall NHL standings after 55 games, coach Gary Green&rsquo;s 69-point &ldquo;guaranteed playoff projection&rdquo; is certainly within reach.&ldquo;If we finish the season with 69 points, we should qualify for the playoffs,&rdquo; Green said earlier in the year. &ldquo;Of course, that figure would just about place us in one of the bottom spots. Naturally, we&rsquo;re still looking to finish much higher than both or 16th.&rdquo;But certainly, nothing is assured&hellip;not yet. With most of the walking wounded mending slowly, however, the Capitals should have all their big guns back in time for the stretch run. Even the return of defenseman Paul MacKinnon, out since November with knee surgery, is not totally out of the question.The secret, of course, is to stay healthy. And as past history will concur, that&rsquo;s never easy&mdash;especially when it concerns the Capitals.CAPSHOTS&mdash;Both Edberg and Charron were victims of legal checks thrown by Calgary&rsquo;s Phil Russell. Edberg was hit by a solid shoulder check which cracked his upper jaw bone, meaning it had to be wired. A few minutes earlier, Charron was knocked to the ice by Russell, landing heavily on his shoulder. The shoulder, however, was popped into place, and after a few games&rsquo; rest, the 32-year-old former captain returned to action.Defenseman Rick Green sat out four games&mdash;three on that fateful road trip&mdash;with a pulled groin muscle, but he recently returned to action too. It&rsquo;s been a difficult season for Green, who has played only 41 out of the club&rsquo;s first 55 games due to assorted ailments. &#9632;

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Injuries Part Of Caps’ Flight Plan

<div class="byline">BY JIM MATHESON</div>EDMONTON&mdash;The National Hockey League&rsquo;s Rookie of the Year balloting is pretty much a three-horse race&mdash;Peter Stastny (Quebec), Larry Murphy (LA) and Don Beaupre (Minnesota).It&rsquo;s tough to overlook Stastny, who may be the fastest skater in the league. Or Murphy, who might break Bobby Orr&rsquo;s record for most assists in his rookie season. Or the goalie Beaupre, who&rsquo;s 19 and playing the toughest position in the game.But if you&rsquo;re looking for longshots, try the Oilers&rsquo; Jari Kurri. People may not know how to pronounce his name (it&rsquo;s Yarry Curry), but the 20-year-old Finnish winger has done a splendid job. As of the All Star break, he had 47 points in just 49 games. Included in his 20 goals were three hat tricks.If anybody is going to become a bonafide Finnish-born star in NHL history, Kurri stands the best chance. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the closest in style I&rsquo;ve seen to Guy Lafleur,&rdquo; boasted linemate Wayne Gretzky. &ldquo;And the thing nobody seem to make much of is that he&rsquo;s only 20 years old. He&rsquo;s here in a strange country. He doesn&rsquo;t speak much English. His biggest adjustments have been off the ice, really. When he gets to speak English more like [Oiler] Risto Siltanen and gets to feel more at home, he&rsquo;s going to become really confident and comfortable.&rdquo;Kurri has had his share of ups and downs. He started with a bang, popping nine goals in his first 16 games, including a hat trick against Chicago Nov. 26. But he didn&rsquo;t score again until Jan. 11, going 18 games without a sniff. He finally broke free with another three-goal game vs. Quebec on Jan. 11. He added a third against Montreal in the Oilers&rsquo; 9-1 win Jan. 28.&ldquo;In the first four months,&rdquo; admitted Oiler assistant coach Billy Harris, &ldquo;he didn&rsquo;t know anybody around the league. Now, it&rsquo;s like a second time around for him. He knows the other players better. He&rsquo;s taken some bumping and he&rsquo;s proven to himself that he&rsquo;s not going to be bothered by the bumping.&rdquo;NHL clubs weren&rsquo;t so much worried about that last June when they got down to drafting kids. The consensus was Kurri was an exceptional talent with a large? after his name. They weren&rsquo;t sure whether he was worth the gamble, whether he would come over to North America immediately or not. &ldquo;There was a reason he went so late [fourth round] in the draft,&rdquo; said agent Don Baizley, who also represents the other Finns (Matti Hagman, Siltanen, Markus Mattsson, Pekka Rautakallio) in the league. &ldquo;It had nothing to do with his talent. I just couldn&rsquo;t honestly tell anybody he&rsquo;d come to North America. Jari, I was pretty sure, was going to stay in Finland for another two years so he could play in the &rsquo;82 world championships in his home town, Helsinki.&ldquo;When it got to the fourth-round, [Oiler scout] Barry Fraser couldn&rsquo;t wait any longer. Barry was adamant that the Oilers had to take him at that point.&rdquo;Fraser, one of the best bird-dogs in the NHL, had waited too long on Swedish defenseman Thomas Ericksson in the &rsquo;79 draft. Philly scooped him up minutes before the Oilers were going to grab him. He&rsquo;s now in Maine, destined for the Flyers next season. &ldquo;Jari should have been a first-rounder,&rdquo; said Fraser, who remembers him from the Finnish Olympic team at Lake Placid. &ldquo;I knew he&rsquo;d never see Wichita [Oiler&rsquo;s farm club].&rdquo;Kurri has had trouble adjusting, there&rsquo;s no two ways about it. When he went six weeks without a goal, he was criticized liberally. &ldquo;He was very nervous when he played 18 games without scoring,&rdquo; said Siltanen. &ldquo;He was all the time worried he would be sent down.&rdquo;Baizley, who knows his players better than many agents, knew what Kurri was going through. &ldquo;The things all European players do in Europe, they can do here, but it takes a little while to convince yourself. Jari probably still isn&rsquo;t relaxed. His tools are great. What happens to him from here really depends on how his intensity comes along and how involved he wants to get.&rdquo;Kurri looks like he wants to be more than just a journeyman NHLer. &ldquo;No Finnish players has ever really made it,&rdquo; admits Baizley, who also represented a top shooter Veli-Pekka Ketola in the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; WHA days. &ldquo;On paper it doesn&rsquo;t really make any sense. There aren&rsquo;t that many more good Swedish hockey players than good Finnish ones. But there are 24 Swedes and only five Finns in the NHL.&ldquo;I think a big part of it is that when a Swede comes to North America he has something to shoot for. He can look at Borje Salming or Ulf Nilsson or Anders Hedberg and feel he was in the same company as them in Sweden. But for the Finns, there&rsquo;s been nobody who has really made it. Jari has the potential to break through the barrier. Every European has a confidence problem but it&rsquo;s a little bit bigger battle for a Finnish guy.&rdquo;True, Murphy is only 19 and Beaupre&rsquo;s in the same boat. But Kurri, at 20, is in a strange land watching Happy Days reruns to learn to speak English. His accomplishments rate closely to the above two. &#9632;

Oiler’s Kurri Darkhorse Calder Candidate

<div class="byline">BY PAT CALABRIA</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011057/4430830-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Merrick, one of the few Islanders to play well of late, figured that the team was missing the kind of drive it needs for the playoffs.</figcaption></div>LONG ISLAND&mdash;Even the best of teams go through the worst of games and, suddenly, the Islanders found themselves going through times that were as bad as they could imagine. Wayne Merrick had the word for it. &ldquo;Terrible,&rdquo; he said.A deepening slump left coach Al Arbour in a rage and general manager Bill Torrey in the mood to consider some changes. The apprehension was lightened by an 0-3-2 winless streak and, specifically, shoddy defensive play.The low point was an 8-5 loss to the Maple Leafs at Nassau Coliseum, where the Islanders like to believe they reign supreme. That defeat continued a streak in which the Islanders allowed four goals or more in nine of 11 games. It left the players confused, discouraged and worried.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no method to anything we&rsquo;re doing out there,&rdquo; Clark Gillies said. &ldquo;We have missed assignments. We&rsquo;re out of position. Even our minds aren&rsquo;t working.&rdquo;It did not help the Islanders that Bryan Trottier missed three games with a sprained right knee&mdash;the same injury that kept him out of the All Star game&mdash;and that bruising left wing John Tonelli joined Trottier on the sidelines with a bruised left shoulder.The Islanders allowed 40 shots on goal in the game against Toronto and could not salvage even a tie after knotting the score at 5-5 in the second period. Instead, Toronto went on to re the last three goals in the game spite a change in goaltenders, despite the players&rsquo; concerns about their slump and despite a tongue-lashing from Arbour.Not only did the Islanders fret about losing their hold on first place in the overall standings to St. Louis, but they knew that their grip on second place was being loosened by Philadelphia and Buffalo. With the team wanting to prepare for the playoffs, the slump was hardly a welcome event.&ldquo;We better turn things around quickly,&rdquo; Dave Langevin said. &ldquo;We should be at the top of the league, not anywhere else. Maybe some people think we should settle for second or third place, but that&rsquo;s a copout. We should be in first. We&rsquo;re the best.&rdquo;While the player&rsquo;s worries might be sudden, the slump has not been. The Islanders went through a streak in which they were merely 8-8-2 over 18 games. Neither starting goalie Bill Smith nor replacement Glenn Resch received adequate protection against the Maple Leafs, but then neither hardie has been distinguishing him-either.But instead of recalling goalie Roland Melanson from Indianapolis, as some players believed would happen, Torrey called up right wing Hector Marini and center Billy Carroll. That was an effort to improve the defense among the forwards.Certainly, allowing eight goals on their home turf had to be humiliating. &ldquo;Do you know what allowing eight goals does to Al?&rdquo; Merrick said. &ldquo;It makes him sick. He must be sick to his stomach.&rdquo;Arbour was, indeed, sick. Sick over his team. He bolted from the Coliseum after the Toronto game without a word to the players or the media. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s fuming,&rdquo; Gillies said.The Islanders&rsquo; effort was especially mystifying, considering the team had summoned one of its best performances of the season in a 1-1 tie with St. Louis just three nights earlier. But the players who played best against Toronto were those who have been frozen out of the lineup much of the time this season.Merrick scored his third goal in six games and Garry Howatt was a pesky forechecker on a night when the team had precious little forechecking. Merrick and Howatt were teamed with Bobby Nystrom, who produced two assists.Still, the team has crumbled under even the most mild forechecking and has been unable to sweep the crease clear of rebounds. Small errors are turned into big mistakes and big mistakes are turned into goals.&ldquo;I feel everything has got to start in our own end,&rdquo; Langevin said. &ldquo;We aren&rsquo;t commanding respect in our own zone. We have to get meaner. We have to make teams respect us.&rdquo;Right wing Duane Sutter, who has been sorely missed, is not expected to return to the lineup until the end of the month, at the earliest, so the Islanders know they must assemble their checking and defense soon. It&rsquo;s getting to be that time.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no drive,&rdquo; Merrick said. &ldquo;And if we haven&rsquo;t got drive, we haven&rsquo;t got anything. Drive wins games and when you win games, you win championships. We should remember that.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Isles’ Sloppy Performance Gives Arbour Sick Feeling

<div class="byline">BY TOM HENSHAW</div>BOSTON&mdash;How do the Salem, N.H., Bruins sound to you?If the good burghers of Salem, a border town of 26,000 some 40 miles north of Boston, vote on March 10 to permit dog racing and the New Hampshire legislature follows up with a tax break, then the Bruins are gone from Boston, possibly as early as the 1982-83 season.The move was announced in January and it is only now becoming apparent that it is not just another bluff to squeeze out some tax concessions for Boston Garden, the 50-year-old home of the Bruins, which is showings its age but still is paying more than $1 million a year in property taxes to the city.The plan is this: Delaware North, the parent company of the Bruins, will build a $50 million sports complex, including an 18,000-seat arena, on the site of the burned-out Rockingham Park horse race track in Salem and move the Bruins there.All Delaware North wants in return is a favorable vote to permit dog racing from the people of Salem, who have rejected it thrice in the past, and a tax break from the state of New Hampshire that would mean $125 million over the next 25 years for the company.Now, folks around Boston, where plans for new arenas and stadiums have been announced almost annually for the past 30 years, are inclined to scoff at such grandiose plans but Paul Mooney, president of the Bruins, insists that this is a fait accompli.&ldquo;Delaware North and the New Hampshire Jockey club worked out a plan for old Rockingham Park and they went to the governor and other officials of new Hampshire and it was accepted as a good idea,&rdquo; said Mooney.&ldquo;A corporate commitment was made that if the state of New Hampshire went to the effort to enact the necessary legislation and if the residents of Salem passed a referendum enabling dog racing, then Delaware North will live up to the development project.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the corporation is in a position where it can say, &lsquo;Yeah, we told you that but something else has come up and we can&rsquo;t do it.&rsquo;&ldquo;The only thing that could change it is if the state of New Hampshire does not fulfill what it has indicated is within its ability to do and I very seriously doubt that.&rdquo;The first step in the plan is up to the voters of Salem, which suffered immense economic damage when Rockingham Park burned down, and Mooney says he is confident of a favorable March 10 vote despite the three previous rejections.&ldquo;In light of the racing facility being closed,&rdquo; he said, and very little likelihood that it will open again under any other conditions, I would be very, very surprised if they did not vote it in overwhelmingly.&rdquo;Mooney said he has been trying to get a tax break from the city of Boston for the renovation of Boston Garden ever since the building and the Bruins were purchased by the Jacobs brothers of Buffalo, N.Y., owners of Delaware North, back in 1975.&ldquo;There were many encouraging things right up to the early part of last year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Then I learned that the city was not interest in renovating the Garden. They wanted to put forth another plan for building a new one.&ldquo;As we all know, there have been many plans put forth to build a new Garden. The big problem is that there isn&rsquo;t any money to do it.&rdquo;But the Salem Bruins! Mind-boggling, isn&rsquo;t it?&ldquo;You forget that the New England Patriots are not in Boston either,&rdquo; said Mooney. &ldquo;To see them playing 40 miles outside the city is pretty mindboggling, too.&rdquo;WHAT&rsquo;S BRUIN-The long-predicted deal for Bobby Miller finally came off when the Bruins sent the little-used, 24-year-old centerman to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for Mike Gillis, a little-used, 22-year-old left winger.&ldquo;In some ways I&rsquo;m bitter about it,&rdquo; said Miller, a Boston native who played college hockey at the University of New Hampshire. &ldquo;This is a very close knit team and I thought I was a pretty good part of it. I&rsquo;m going to miss all the guys.&ldquo;But in the long run I think it&rsquo;s going to be better for me. I think I&rsquo;ve proved that I can play in this league and I know I can help Colorado. I couldn&rsquo;t see myself sitting here and going backwards.&rdquo;&ldquo;It was a case of numbers, for sure,&rdquo; said coach Gerry Cheevers. &ldquo;Bobby wanted to play but there wasn&rsquo;t any room for him. All our young players, like Barry Pederson, Tom Fergus, Craig MacTavish and Mike Krushelnyski are centermen too.&rdquo;Actually, despite the fact that he scored 20 goals in his first season with the Bruins (1977-78), Miller&rsquo;s problem was his offense.He was one of the best skaters on a club not noted for skating and he was an excellent checker but his playmaking and scoring left a lot to be desired. &#9632;

Salem Voters Decide Bruins’ Fate

The International Hockey Weekly Founded in 1947Published by W.C.C. Publishing Ltd.214 King St. West, Suite 314, Toronto, Ont. M5H 1K4<h2>Let &rsquo;Em Have Fun</h2>LAST OCTOBER, FOLLOWING A government report which concluded that hockey wasn&rsquo;t as much fun as it once was for youngsters at the lower levels of the game, Canadian Amateur Hockey Association president Murray Costello responded immediately to the government&rsquo;s suggestions by implementing rule changes which affected players aged 10 or younger. Of all the changes Costello made, the most significant was his attempt to alleviate pressure on the youngsters to learn the rules of the game before he (or she) can even skate or get accustomed to carrying the puck, shooting, turning, whatever. Costello essentially threw out the rulebook, reducing the game to its simplest form and basically letting the youngsters play shinny&mdash;&ldquo;just like I did when I was a kid,&rdquo; said Costello.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s important,&rdquo; Costello continued, &ldquo;for the kids to learn how to skate and enjoy the game before they get too bogged down in the fundamentals.&rdquo;While it is safe to assume that Costello didn&rsquo;t have a young lady named Heather Kramble in mind when he made the changes and all those comments about having fun and learning to love the game, his words and actions should be remembered in light of Heather&rsquo;s case, which was recently made known in papers all across Canada.Heather Kramble is an 11-year-old player for Winnipeg&rsquo;s Transcona Pirates and the reason her pretty face was all over Canadian papers last week was because she wants to continue to be a player for the Transcona Pirates. Her coach, Jerry Hartwell, feels the same way. So does Mike Thompson, the team&rsquo;s manager, and so do Heather&rsquo;s teammates, all of whom are male.&ldquo;She&rsquo;s like any one of us boys,&rdquo; said one teammate. &ldquo;If she wants to play, let her play. The rules are stupid.&rdquo;Ah yes, those stupid rules. But wasn&rsquo;t the whole purpose of Costello&rsquo;s decision last fall to remove the stigma of the rules and let the kids simply play the game?Apparently, the greater Winnipeg Minor Hockey Association&mdash;which barred Heather as well as three other Winnipeg girls from participating on boys teams&mdash;doesn&rsquo;t think so. And despite interventions by Lloyd Axworthy, federal minister responsible for the Advisory Council on the Status of Women, and Manitoba attorney general Gerry Mercier, both the Winnipeg and Manitoba Amateur Hockey Associations have remained adamant: The program is for boys only. And they have gone to great lengths to make their point, even suspending Hartwell after he allowed Kramble to play in a game.Before proceeding any further with this item, it should be pointed out that a suggestion is not being made here for the Manitoba hockey officials and their counterparts all over North America to alter their rules to accommodate members of the opposite sex at all levels of the game. That would be preposterous.But the point that definitely is being made is that when boys and girls are very young and their bodies, bones and muscles are years away from developing to their fullest potential, it doesn&rsquo;t really make a heckuva lot of difference if one of the players on a team comprised of 10-year-olds is named Billy or Sue. Ostensibly, all of these kids are going to be on the ice all at once, anyway, playing keep-away and shinny and learning, in Murray Costello&rsquo;s wise words, &ldquo;to have fun with the game.&rdquo;As they grow older and begin to learn the fundamentals of the game, then obviously the little girls are going to fall by the wayside and either give up the sport entirely or pursue it on an all-girls team.But while they are all young, why not throw them all out on the ice at once and let &rsquo;em have fun.After all, when you&rsquo;re 10 or 11 years old, fun is the name of the game&hellip;isn&rsquo;t it? &#9632;

<div class="byline">BY DAVE BRANCH</div><h2>NHL-CMJHL Talks At Critical Stage</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011173/4430909-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="366" height="448"></div>A recent story in the Toronto&nbsp;Globe and Mail stated that the National Hockey League and the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League were ready to sign an agreement on a new formula for drafting underage junior players. According to the article, the NHL was ready to pay the CMJHL a lump sum of $1 million in exchange for permission from the CMJHL to draft junior players younger than 20. In addition, the article went on, the CMJHL &ldquo;is reported ready to accept that [lump sum] if the NHL pays $80,000 for each 18-year-old and $60,000 for each 19-year-old drafted and the payment is made within one year of the draft, regardless of whether the player plays or signs with an NHL club&hellip;&rdquo;Dave Branch, the commissioner of the Ontario Hockey League and the executive director of the CMJHL, had these comments on the article and on the current status of negotiations between the CMJHL and the NHL.I don&rsquo;t know where they got the information for that story that appeared in the Globe and Mail&mdash;especially the part concerning the million dollar offer from the NHL. That really is not accurate and neither, for that matter, was the whole story.The subject is a difficult one for me to comment on. We&rsquo;re in the midst of negotiations with the NHL but we&rsquo;re nowhere near&mdash;as I see it, anyway&mdash;a satisfactory arrangement for an agreement. I&rsquo;m not suggesting we&rsquo;re far apart; it&rsquo;s just that we&rsquo;re both feeling each other out. We both have concerns and all we&rsquo;re doing at this stage is passing them back and forth across the table. For that reason, I really don&rsquo;t want to comment on anything until we get a little further down the road in the negotiations.<blockquote class="pullQuote">Before the NHL team takes a player from junior hockey, let&rsquo;s be absolutely certain the player is ready for NHL competition.</blockquote>I will say that there are a couple of key issues that we are currently discussing with the NHL and one of them is the underage junior situation. We are very concerned about the taking of junior aged players and playing them in the NHL and we&rsquo;ve gone on record with the NHL, saying that if a player of junior age is ready to play in the NHL&hellip;that is where he belongs. However, we are a little concerned that if there aren&rsquo;t enough deterrents put in to inhibit the NHL teams from taking these underage juniors, it could have a very damaging affect on junior hockey. We have suggested many deterrents that we hope they&rsquo;ll consider, but the big problem we always get thrown at us by the NHL is that the deterrents are discriminatory, that they violate anti-trust laws, and so on. We still haven&rsquo;t reached a point in our negotiations where there&rsquo;s a satisfactory arrangement that our junior teams could live with comfortably, knowing that there wouldn&rsquo;t be an out and out wholesale taking of junior players.What people have to realize is that junior hockey is in many cases based on the star syndrome. The effect of an outstanding junior player leaving our league is phenomenal&mdash;not only from the standpoint of a team&rsquo;s record and their individual attendance figures, but also the attendance figures right around the league. If we lost all these players, junior hockey will just not be able to survive. And money, unfortunately, just doesn&rsquo;t help us that much. We would rather have a body than the money; you can&rsquo;t put money at center ice for you. And for that reason, we&rsquo;re at a very critical stage in our negotiations with the NHL insofar as reaching an understanding on how junior age players are taken from our ranks.Right now, there are rules and regulations governing the tryouts of players from our league with the NHL teams. And there is no question that at certain times there are hardships which come on the junior team when a player is called up at a critical time.<blockquote class="pullQuote">We are a little concerned that if there aren&rsquo;t enough deterrents put in to inhibit the NHL teams from taking these underage juniors, it could have a damaging effect on junior hockey.</blockquote>On the other hand, I think it&rsquo;s very fair to say that in most cases this year, the NHL teams contacted the junior teams first and if there was a critical point in the schedule for the junior team, the NHL clubs respected that&mdash;for the most part&mdash;and it has worked out reasonably well. Where I have some difficulty and where we have to meet on some common ground in our negotiations on the recall and use of junior players by NHL teams is that point in time when the player is sent back to his junior team.Let&rsquo;s use the Calgary Flames&rsquo; Denis Cyr as an example. If he has spent most of the season in the NHL with the Flames and suddenly they send him back in March to his junior team&mdash;Montreal&mdash;it really creates a situation where Montreal&rsquo;s chances are going to be greatly enhanced to proceed in playoff competition. That could be very unsettling to our league because it could throw out the balance of power that&rsquo;s existed all year and could be very unfair to the other teams in the league.If a date can be set where those final return to junior can be made&mdash;we&rsquo;re suggesting the first of February&mdash;as well as a final decision by the NHL teams on what players they want to keep, call up, whatever, that would be a big step.The 18-year-old draft is a fact of life. If an NHL team drafts a player&mdash;fine. And if that same NHL team wants to sign that player&mdash;fine. But before the NHL team takes that player from junior hockey and puts him on an NHL roster, let&rsquo;s be absolutely certain the player is ready for NHL competition.Our league lost eight players to the NHL prior to this season. In negotiating a new arrangement with the NHL, we feel that if the deterrent is not there for the taking of underage juniors&hellip;that number may be doubled. And if it is doubled, our league would be in serious jeopardy. Survival, that&rsquo;s the key issue here, and that&rsquo;s why these negotiations with the NHL are so very important and critical for us. &#9632;

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SOME OTHER VIEWS

<div class="byline">BY MICHAEL FARBER</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011167/4430971-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Richard Sevigny, unbeaten in 13 starts at home for the Canadiens, says he feels most comfortable when playing in the Forum.</figcaption></div>MONTREAL&mdash;The Montreal Canadiens, who this season have lost more on the road than Napolean, are unbeaten in their past 17 games at the Forum&mdash;which just proves the old saying:&ldquo;Home is anywhere you hang your hat trick.&rdquo;Or something like that.The Candiens beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-2, and the Detroit Red Wings, 4-1, in Montreal for their 14th and 15th victories in the 17-game streak, longest in the National Hockey League this season.But while Montreal has been splendid at home, it has been positively mediocre on the road. Prior to beating the Sabres 4-2 in Buffalo in late February, the Canadiens had won just one of their previous eight away contests.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we play the same style at home and away,&rdquo; said Canadiens&rsquo; center Pierre Larouche. &ldquo;I think we should, but 1 guess the coach [Claude Ruel] thinks differently. Whenever we go on the road, we play tight hockey. I believe that when we go on the road, we should go all out like we do at home. Instead, we play it very close.&ldquo;Hey, the Montreal Canadiens are a dynasty. I remember when I was in Pittsburgh. When the Canadiens used to come to town, I would weird out two days in advance. Everyone would. We used to worry how bad we would get beat. We expected the worst&hellip;and always got it. Now, teams aren&rsquo;t scared of us. At the Forum, maybe, but not in their own buildings.&rdquo;The Canadiens&rsquo; emergence as the biggest homers in hockey coincides with the emergence of second-year man Richard Sevigny as the leading goaltender.Sevigny has never lost in the Forum, having gone undefeated in four matches last year and extending his streak to 11-0-2 this year with his victories over the Sabres and Red Wings. Naturally enough, he has played in six of the past eight Canadiens games.&ldquo;Yes, 1 play well in the Forum,&rdquo; Sevigny said. &ldquo;I feel the most comfortable in this building. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean I can&rsquo;t play on the road. I think I&rsquo;d be just as good away from home.&rdquo;Maybe, but in his two chances this season, he has been awful. Sevigny started in games in Toronto and Edmonton in which the Canadiens were beaten, 6-5, and 9-1, respectively.So with Michel Larocque in the doghouse, Dennis Herron stepped into the role of road goalie.That Herron would step anywhere for Montreal in late December seemed highly unlikely. He was a walking trade rumor, about to be shipped somewhere at least twice a week. But a tie in Edmonton, a win in Colorado and a tie in Philadelphia solidified his&mdash;spot at lest temporarily&mdash;with the team. Meanwhile, Larocque failed to dress for eight consecutive games.&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t measure the difference between home and road hockey,&rdquo; Herron said. &ldquo;At least for us. When we get the home ice, we play better and the other team feels a lot more pressure. We hit more at home, and we just seems to play a little harder.&rdquo;NOTES: Nobody could play harder than the Canadiens did in the first period at home against the Sabres on Thursday. The Canadiens outshot Buffalo, 13-0&hellip;that&rsquo;s right, 13-0&hellip;in the finest display of forechecking you could hope to see in your lifetime. Other than a shot which defenseman Rod Langway went down to block, the Sabres didn&rsquo;t come close.Montreal was almost as impressive against the Red Wings as Guy Lafleur scored two goals and played well enough to have four or five. But the milestone goal belonged to Steve Shutt, Lafleur&rsquo;s former left winger. Shutt, who recently has been playing with Pierre Mondou and Mark Napier, scored his 30th of the season, marking the seventh consecutive year in which he has reached that plateau.Michael Farber, filling in this week for regular correspondent Glenn Cole, is a feature writer for the Montreal Gazette. &#9632;

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Home Ice Provides Canadiens Huge Advantage

<div class="byline">BY BILL LIBBY</div>LOS ANGELES&mdash;The most improved player on the most improved team in the National Hockey League through the first 55 games of the season may have been the Kings&rsquo; Mark Hardy, a 21-year-old, second-year defenseman.General manager George Maguire made Hardy the 30th selection in the 1979 summer draft and he started last season with the Kings, but was sent to Binghamton of the American League in November.Recalled later, he may have been the team&rsquo;s best defenseman in the playoffs. He has been one of the team&rsquo;s better defensemen this season.Maybe that isn&rsquo;t saying a lot, since the defense, injury-struck, has been declining drastically, lately. But Hardy has played well.He is a superb skater and stick-handler, who moves the puck out of his end extremely well. He has a good shot and scored well as a junior, but has been conservative on offense so far.At 5-11 and 195 pounds he has good size, he is not by nature a heavy hitter, but is beginning to use his body effectively. He is beginning to become a complete player. Except for veteran Dave Lewis, no King defenseman gives away the puck less often.&ldquo;He was making a lot of mistakes at the start of last season and needed to mature,&rdquo; Maguire says. &lsquo;The coach at Binghamton |Pat Kelly] didn&rsquo;t like him and didn&rsquo;t play him much. But he&rsquo;s coming now in his second year. We always liked him and think he&rsquo;ll a top pro.&rdquo;Coach Bob Berry says, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve used him regularly because he has a great ability to move the puck and because he is maturing and doesn&rsquo;t make many mistakes now. He belongs in the big leagues now.&rdquo;&ldquo;I try not to make mistakes,&rdquo; said Hardy, &ldquo;like giving the puck away or being caught up ice out of position, and at first it made me tense, it made me make mistakes. But I&rsquo;ve gradually become more comfortable up here and am beginning to feel like I belong and starting to relax and just play. Moving the puck has always been my game and I&rsquo;m skating well and moving well now.&ldquo;Playing in the minors may have helped, but it was a bad experience for me. I didn&rsquo;t play much and I didn&rsquo;t like the life much. It inspired me to make the majors. The minors are second-class, the majors first-class.&ldquo;Young players do get sent down, he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t mind that. But I don&rsquo;t ever want to have to go down again. So I&rsquo;m giving the game everything I&rsquo;ve got. I love the game, but I don&rsquo;t know whether I would continue in the minors. This season has been fun, winning in the majors.&rdquo;Mark is the only Swiss player in the big leagues. He was born in Semanden, Switzerland. His parents met and married in Europe before moving to Montreal.Mark&rsquo;s father, Lea, played hockey in Europe and Quebec. His mother was seventh in figure skating in the 1952 Winter Olympics. Mark started skating at two. A younger brother is now playing junior.Mark played junior four years with Montreal of the Quebec League and was selected the league&rsquo;s outstanding defenseman one season. He helps out in his father&rsquo;s furniture business in Montreal during the off-season, but lives in a Redondo Beach condominium with his fiancee, Adeline Vanderpol, and plans to marry this summer.KINGS THINGS-Trainer John Holmes has followed Hardy, Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor as bachelors announcing their engagements recently. Holmes, a horse racing buff who is apprenticing as a trainer and owner, plans to marry jockey Julie Neumann and do a little family business at Hollywood Park, Santa Anita, etc.Jerry Buss, with the help of Forum aides Claire Rothman, Bob Steiner, John Wolf, Scott Carmichael, etc., did a superb job of hosting and entertaining everyone in town for the several days of the All Star Game, dinner parties and meetings. It was one of the harder-played and better of these games, too, though most of the sellout crowd of 16,005 were disappointed in the Campbell Conference&rsquo;s 4-1 win.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011114/4431002-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="578" height="864"><figcaption class="caption-body">A stint in the minors last year convinced Mark Hardy that the NHL was the only place to play.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Hardy Strutting Big League Stuff

<div class="byline">BY HARVEY ROSEN</div>WINNIPEG&mdash;He stands behind the players&rsquo; bench, close to the corridor, in an inconspicuous fashion. Few, if any, are aware of this medical man on call as the action shifts from one end of the ice to the other.As soon as a player is felled by a bone-crushing check, a high stick, or some other variety of injury, Chuck Badcock, the Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; athletic therapist, swings into action.Employing Chuck is much like buying insurance for your home. You need it, but you&rsquo;re not overly enthusiastic about ever having to file a claim.During the first half of the season it was lucky for Badcock that he wasn&rsquo;t a piece worker. While the 1980-81 campaign has been a downer in so many ways for the Jets, the team couldn&rsquo;t alibi to any great extent that circumstances would have been otherwise had crippling injuries not devastated the ranks.When February arrived the Jets, destined to finish last in the standings, were suddenly discovering that their almost set lineup was being altered by pesky injuries&mdash;the type that unsettle a club when it could use some stability in its attempt to attain some respectability.That the Jets lost their injury prone captain, defenseman Scott Campbell, in a late November contest in Long Island has been well documented. He crashed into the boards with the Islanders&rsquo; Bryan Trottier right behind him and separated his right shoulder. It was the worst kind of separation possible. &ldquo;Scotty&rdquo; is working hard and should his rehabilitation progress continue, he may be back in the lineup in early March.Then Doug Smail, the diminutive left winger who was proving that he belonged in the big leagues, was felled by a broken jaw&hellip;and then by another in the new year.Now, business for Badcock is on the upswing. Rookie rearguard Moe Mantha has been having increasing back problems which have caused him to miss 20 games out of 55. Chuck, a native of St. Johns, Newfoundland, cites that &ldquo;I think the reason for a lot of back problems are that the players are not in a natural position when they&rsquo;re skating and it&rsquo;s a heckuva strain on the lower back.&ldquo;Mantha was hit and there was a twist injury to his lower back earlier on in the season and it has been aggravated three of four times since then. It&rsquo;s just one of those things and you have to wait until the spasms subside.&rdquo;Ron Wilson, who was centering the club&rsquo;s hottest line with Willy Lindstrom on the right side and Norm Dupont on the left, was knocked out of the lineup, too, in early February.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s kind of a mystery,&rdquo; said Badcock. &ldquo;First we thought it was his lower back, now it looks like the lower rib cage area and there is some cartilage separation there.&rdquo;Just prior to the All Star break, right winger Dan Geoffrion, who had just snapped a 22-game scoring drought, suffered a Charley horse in a match at Chicago Stadium when he was sent flying against a goalpost by Ted Bulley. He missed only a few games.The Jets&rsquo; checking line of Tim Trimper, Rick Bowness and Doug Lecuyer was disrupted when Lecuyer went down with a kneee injury on Feb. 12 in a game with the Rangers and was expected to be sidelined for an extended period. Fortunately, it was not the same knee he tore up so badly two years ago that doctors feared his career might be terminated.Goalie Markus Mattsson was out for a few games following a fluke incident. He collided with teammate Richard Mulhern in a pre-game skate and landed on his tailbone.Within a week following his demotion to Tulsa, winger Dave Hoyda was put out for the season with a leg injury.Badcock, who also served in a similar capacity with the Canadian Football League&rsquo;s Winnipeg Blue Bombers for nine years, confirmed that the club was indeed fortunate that they didn&rsquo;t lose as many manpower games as did some other franchises in the early going.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t put my finger on the reason for this,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;other than the fact that the team is in pretty good condition.&rdquo; Perhaps ex-coach Tom McV tought to be given credit for that circumstance.On the brighter side, the injuries may allow the coaching staff to examine the farmhands in Tulsa. Meanwhile, Chuck Badcock attends to his business&mdash;which is as brisk as ever.JETS JABBER-The club has recalled winger Kris Manery from Tulsa. While down in the CHL he made his presence felt, scoring 10 goals and nine assists in 13 games. Joining him and making his NHL debut was defenseman Mark Plantery. Veteran Richard Mulhern and goaltender Pierre Hamel were shipped out to Tulsa. The latter had a devastating pair of games, allowing 10 goals in Edmonton and seven more in Chicago before being yanked. The Jets purchased netminder Michel Dion, a former Nordique who had been seeing sparse action in Indianapolis. Since Wilson&rsquo;s injury, center Peter Sullivan has been restored to the lineup. A favorite, he has been responding was high level of play that ought to keep him out of the press box for some time.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-03694/4431033-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="579" height="1000"><figcaption class="caption-body">Danny Geoffrion had just snapped a long scoring slump, when he suffered a Charley horse. (Photo By Ian MacAlpine)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Jets Provide Badcock With Brisk Business

<div class="byline">BILL LIBBY&#x2019;S</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011140/4431071-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="293" height="346"></div><h2>Esposito Bows Out</h2>HE SAT AT A TABLE in the press room, all alone, studying a sheet of statistics. He had played professionally for 20 years and, suddenly, at 38, he was through, scouting for his club, no longer scoring goals.&ldquo;I did decide to retire suddenly,&rdquo; said Phil Esposito, &ldquo;but I always wanted to retire on my own, before I was told to, and I started to think about it before I went to training-camp this season.&rdquo;&ldquo;Training camp is tough for the older players and I really didn&rsquo;t want to go through that again, but I went and I had one of my best camps ever and that carried me into the season feeling good.&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t going too bad, but I started to see that 1 didn&rsquo;t care how I went. The team was going bad, and that bothered me. A lot of the players around me didn&rsquo;t seem to care, and I didn&rsquo;t want to be one of them.&ldquo;You know, I never had the greatest ability in the world. I&rsquo;ve had a great record because I made the most of what I had and I had the capacity to get up for every game.&ldquo;Lately, I haven&rsquo;t been getting up for games. I got up for the Islanders. For the Flyers. But I went into games with most teams without a thought. We played two games out of four with Quebec and I went into both without a thought. We played Colorado and I just didn&rsquo;t care. We played the Islanders and I cared.&ldquo;When I realized what was happening, I was ashamed of myself. It&rsquo;s easy to get up for the Canadiens, but you have to get up for the bad teams, too, or soon you&rsquo;ll be a bad team, and you won&rsquo;t be able to beat the bad teams. The more I thought about it, the more I thought, suddenly, this is the time to go.&rdquo;He sighed and shook his head. The tough Italian out of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., with the mop of black, curly hair and the nose shaped like an elbow, was wistful as he recalled his last days as an active player.&ldquo;The first full week in January, we had a four-day break in the schedule. Although the team was still practicing, I&rsquo;d arranged to take a trip with my wife, Donna, to St. Martin&rsquo;s. I think the older guys need a few days away at mid-season. But my wife came down with the flu, so I sat in our New York apartment, thinking.<h2>The Right Decision</h2>&ldquo;I WENT TO DONNA and told her I was thinking about retiring and asked her what she thought about it and if it would bother her if I stopped playing. She said, no, she married me, not just a hockey player, and it was my decision to make, and she was sure whatever I decided would be right, and would be all right with her.&ldquo;At some point I just picked up the phone and talked to the team owner, Sonny Werblin. I told him I had something to say and arranged to meet him in midtown Manhattan. There, I told him I wasn&rsquo;t excited about the games anymore and was ready to retire. He seemed surprised. He asked when, and I said right away, he said, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s your decision, but think it over.&rsquo;&ldquo;I called up the coach, Craig Patrick, arranged a meeting in his office after practice, and told him. He said it was up to me, but he wanted me to know I wasn&rsquo;t hurting the team, I was helping the team, and he had planned to play me in every game the rest of the way. He, too, suggested I think it over.&ldquo;I went home and thought about it, but I felt this was it. I called up Sonny. He asked if I was sure. I said, no, I wasn&rsquo;t, but I doubt that I&rsquo;d ever be and I&rsquo;d decided to do it. He said he wanted me to stay in the organization.&ldquo;I called up Craig. He, too, asked me if I was sure. I said I was as sure as I&rsquo;d ever be. He said, all right, but he wanted me to be his assistant coach. I said, all right, but I didn&rsquo;t know if I wanted to coach. I always thought I&rsquo;d have to be my own general manager so I could be free to coach properly. That decision is for the future.&rdquo;Esposito had played four seasons in Chicago, eight seasons in Boston, and six seasons in New York. The marriage he&rsquo;d had in Boston had broken up before he moved to New York and he missed his kids, but he has found he gets to see them a lot. He met and married a woman in New York he says is the best thing that ever happened to him.<h2>His Farewell Game</h2>HE SAYS THE SMARTEST move he ever made was to move from the suburbs to midtown on Werblin&rsquo;s advice. Phil and Donna love the Manhattan melodrama and the marketing agency he represents told him they wanted him whether he was playing or not. He also has other connections and a sporting supplies business that is booming.He has been maligned as a garbage man, but the game is still goals and he still holds the record with 76 goals and 152 points in one season and he is second only to Gordie Howe, with goals and points in his career.Espo admits that he has a lot of pride in his performances and confesses that when he was saying the right things at the press conference called to announce his retirement, he spotted some young Rangers in the audience and thought to himself, &ldquo;I wonder if they&rsquo;re thinking how great it was to play with Phil Esposito for a little while.&rdquo;He admits that he is a ham and says he always dreamed of ending his career not by announcing it but by simply scoring a goal, picking the puck out of the net, waving it and blowing a kiss to the fans and just skating right off the ice.He was tickled when the Rangers suggested he play one more game, a farewell game. But Phil didn&rsquo;t get a goal in the game, against Buffalo; he was stopped late in the contest by a great diving save by a defenseman. Disappointed, he skated off to cheers. The fans stayed and continued to cheer until he came back out. He picked up a puck, skated onto the barren ice, shot it into the empty net, picked it up, waved it aloft, blew a kiss to the crowd, and skated away.That night, Donna threw a party for Phil. His father came. His brother, Tony, flew in on an off-night from Chicago. Other Rangers were there. &ldquo;We had a good time,&rdquo; Phil said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t begin to feel bad until later.&ldquo;It began to hit me the next day, after the others had left,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;After all these years, it was suddenly over. I look forward to doing other things, but I&rsquo;ve been doing this one thing a long time. I told Donna, &lsquo;I feel like going out and getting drunk.&rsquo; She said, &lsquo;Do it.&rsquo;&rdquo;So, he did.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-02972/4431064-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="375" height="431"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phil Esposito</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0012-01

HOCKEY AD LIB

<div class="byline">BY ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div>CALGARY&mdash;The receiving line formed to Danny Labraaten&rsquo;s left, passing in front of poised pencils and around a clutch of hand microphones. Lined up, to offer their congratulations, were Labraaten&rsquo;s new and suitably impressed Calgary Flames teammates.Like a genial groom, Labraaten accepted his well-wishers; a little embarrassed by their attention. As a reborn hockey player, that embarrassment was tempered slightly by atitude.Labraaten joined the club 10 days ago from the Detroit Red Wings, but became a part of the team in a game against the Buffalo Sabres. His three goals, including two in the final four minutes, gave the Flames a well-earned 4-4 draw with the Sabres, the National Hockey League&rsquo;s hottest team.To honor the occasion, Labraaten donned a white stetson, complete with the Flames logo, that had been hidden in his equipment bag and repeated how happy he was to be playing somewhere other than the Motor City.In five games with Calgary, he has scored more goals (four) than he had in 44 games with Detroit (three). The Red Wings, trying to remake their team in the Flyer mould, virtually donated Labraaten to the Flames. The price, minor-leaguer Earl Ingarfield, seems insignificant for a player who may be the league&rsquo;s fastest skater and is an accomplished goal scorer as well.Why, Labraaten was asked, could considerable talents not help the league&rsquo;s 19-place team?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he said, smiling. &ldquo;They try, this season, to become a different team and it&rsquo;s hard for them to find guys to play that way. Here, we have players like Kent Nilsson and Guy Chouinard. Those are the types of centers you need when you&rsquo;re my type of player.&ldquo;Having someone like Ken Houston helps a lot too, because he works so hard in the corner and gets the puck out to you. I&rsquo;ve never played with a guy like that. It makes the game a lot easier.&rdquo;Labraaten victimized rookie defenseman Mike Ramsey for his first goal in the Sabre game, with a perfect example of how to force a break-away and then score the goal. Anticipating Ramsey&rsquo;s attempt to pass the puck to Larry Playfair, Labraaten intercepted it at the Sabre blueline, skated in alone on goaltender Don Edwards and fired a hard wrist shot into the left corner.That goal kept Flames in the game and set the stage for their late rally.&ldquo;Many times it happens that I&rsquo;m in a position to make that play and the defenseman will play the puck to some other guy,&rdquo; said Labraaten. &ldquo;I can go high and do that because 1 know my centerman will pick up my check if they move the puck out of their zone.&rdquo;Labraaten likes the &ldquo;system&rdquo; that his line plays. Instead of playing dump and chase, the two Swedes, Nilsson and Labraaten. like to move the puck over the blueline themselves and orchestrate the play in the center of the ice.&ldquo;We always try to handle the puck and make good passes,&rdquo; said Labraaten.The draw extended two Flames&rsquo; streaks&mdash;15 games without a home-ice loss and unbeaten in five. They were subsequently cooled off by St. Louis, losing 5-2 in the Corral. Still, they have moved into eighth place in the league&rsquo;s overall standings, a crucial place, considering their home/away records in the past two months, which would give them the home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.Edwards, the Buffalo goaltender, overshadowed his Calgary counterpart, Pat Riggin, especially in the second period when the Flames held a marked edge in the play, but allowed the only goal.The Flames had been down to one netminder&mdash;Riggin&mdash;since Rejean Lemelin, the club&rsquo;s No. 1 goaltender, broke his thumb in the warm-up of a game against Edmonton Oilers. But Tim Bernhardt was recalled from the team&rsquo;s minor league affiliate, Birmingham Bulls, to replace Lemelin.Considering that earlier in the season, the Flames goaltending problems stemmed from the fact that they had three, the current situation is rather ironic.The Flames traded Dan Bouchard to the Quebec Nordiques three weeks ago for right winger Jamie Hislop. Since then, Bouchard has been on a tear, winning seven of his first eight games in a Nordiques&rsquo; uniform, at a time when he could help the Flames.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011090/4431102-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="584" height="922"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dan Labraaten was glad to come to the Flames who have two centers&mdash;Kent Nilsson and Guy Chouinard&mdash;who play his style.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Labraaten Lights Up Flames Quickly

<div class="byline">BY TONY GALLAGHER</div>VANCOUVER&mdash;A somewhat less than probing radio man was asking Canucks&rsquo; coach Harry Neale if some of his recent line-juggling to bring the club out of its slump hadn&rsquo;t been Coach of the Year material.Never one to be lost for words, Neale remarked: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not trying to be Coach of the Year, I&rsquo;m trying to be Coach for the Year.&rdquo;The humor was not lost on many, though it was in a less than Shakespearian manner, foreshadowing what Neale was about to do, which was to sign a three-year contract to stay on as coach of the Canucks after this season.The contract extends Neale&rsquo;s commitment to the hockey club through the end of the summer of 1984, though it is anticipated he will take over as general manager when Jake Milford steps down, whenever that is.Milford is making noises that he may yet stay on another season as GM, what with the club basking in somewhat of a revival in fortunes this year.Neale, meanwhile, says money was not really a problem in any of the contract discussions he had with Milford and that they had been talking about the new deal on and off since training camp. Finally, during a recent homestand, he signed the papers.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what will happen if Jake leaves after this season, but I hope he will still be around,&rdquo; said Neale. &ldquo;If he leaves as GM, the management of the Canucks just might get an application from me.&rdquo;The club seems committed to Neale for two reasons, one being that he seems like excellent management material.The second reason is more binding. If Milford retires at age 63 or whatever he really is (there have been estimates as high as 66) the club would have to bring in someone new if they don&rsquo;t go for Neale. That means the new man would want his own coach and there would be very little continuity left with the organization.&ldquo;Right now, I want to coach&mdash;I like coaching. I don&rsquo;t want the the GM job,&rdquo; said Neale. I wouldn&rsquo;t be interested if any GM jobs came up now.&rdquo;Neale is aware that it is possible to actually promote yourself right out of hockey if you climb the ladder too quickly. So right now, while the coaching is going well, he wants to avoid getting caught up in anything resembling the Peter Principle for the moment.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve discussed a new contract since training camp, said Neale. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a pressing issue. Our negotiations were very amiable. We had finished talking about it, so I signed the contract.&ldquo;I like what&rsquo;s happening here and I want to be a part of what&rsquo;s going to happen in the future,&rdquo; Neale continued. &ldquo;I suspect Jake will be around next season and I hope he is. With him I know who my boss is. We have a compatible relationship. He&rsquo;s the man in authority and I&rsquo;m allowed to coach within reason. He doesn&rsquo;t interfere with me, yet 1 know I have to answer to him.&rdquo;The contract mentions nothing about the GMs&rsquo; job in the future, and when Milford does retire or step up to semi-retirement to do the governors jobs, Neale will then sit down with owner Frank Griffiths or indeed Milford again, rip up his present contract, and start again.&ldquo;What they want to do with Harry after I&rsquo;m gone is up to the owners of the hockey club,&rdquo; said Milford. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not up to me to be signing my own replacement.&rdquo;Milford has given absolutely no hint as to what his plans are at the end of the season. When things are going well he feels like being GM until the turn of the century. When the doldrums set in, he&rsquo;s ready to bag it with a minutes&rsquo;s notice.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll worry after this season who&rsquo;s going to be the general manager next year,&rdquo; said Milford. &ldquo;That will be decided in the spring.&rdquo;Meanwhile, with Colin Campbell having recovered from a broken wrist, the Canucks are now carrying seven defensemen, with only six dressing for each game. &#9632;

Neale Extends Coaching Contract

<div class="byline">BY STAN FISCHLER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011121/4431157-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="281" height="345"></div><h2>On The Sonny Side</h2>SONNY WERBLIN.Harold Ballard says the man doesn&rsquo;t know a hockey puck from a vanilla wafer.John Ferguson says you could put Werblin&rsquo;s ice savvy on the head of a pin and still have a little room to spare.Fred Shero says lots of room.A couple of New York writers insist that Werblin built his team upside-down.Alas, even Your&rsquo;s Truly has yet to recommend Sonny to hockey&rsquo;s Hall of Fame.Thus, the time has come for The Fischler Department of Fair Play and Justice For All to open its ears to Werblin.Since we all know that there are three sides to every story&mdash;Their side, Sonny&rsquo;s side and The Truth&mdash;the gentlemanly thing to do is let Werblin speak his piece. To wit:Sonny, you brought in Fred Shero as coach of the Rangers. Are you now prepared to admit it was a mis-take?&ldquo;Certainly not. Shero created a great excitement for New York hockey. He focused a lot of attention on the Rangers and we did reach the Stanley Cup finals with him behind the bench. Unfortunately, Fred surrounded himself with the wrong palace guard. In the end, his own people [Mike Nykoluk and Mickey Keating] didn&rsquo;t get along with each other.&rdquo;Some of your critics say you have no business running the Rangers because you&rsquo;re &ldquo;not a hockey man,&rsquo;&rsquo;&mdash;that you have no background in the game.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had three years of close association with the game. After three years, how much more background do I need?You have been accused of reneging on a promise to have named Mike Nykoluk Rangers&rsquo; coach in 1980.&ldquo;Nykoluk and Shero originally told me that they agreed that when Fred decided to stop coaching Mike would take over. Then, something happened between Mike and Fred that led to ill feeling between them. It was a falling out of two people. Mike and I have no quarrel with each other. In fact he visits me when he comes to town.&rdquo;Your foes charge that you, and not your director of hockey operations, Craig Patrick, make the decisions and control the team.&ldquo;I will not tell him when to trade or when to buy someone. But part of my job is to preserve or create assets for my company. So, Craig knows that he is not to trade anyone I don&rsquo;t know about or buy anyone I don&rsquo;t know about until we talk about it.&rdquo;Sonny, you have been blamed for botching up Herb Brooks&rsquo; chances of moving from his coaching job in Switzerland to coaching the Rangers.&ldquo;We never got the right information as to Brooks&rsquo; status with his employer [in Switzerland], Every day we&rsquo;d get a different answer. Once, we were told that Brooks couldn&rsquo;t get free until December. Another time it was April. We received a series of piecemeal bits of information so we finally let Craig take over.&rdquo;Sonny, you once said you didn&rsquo;t want Craig Patrick, your hockey director, to coach the team.&ldquo;I meant it sincerely. I originally regarded Craig as an interim coach but he has since made himself a good coach. As for the future, in terms of Brooks, it&rsquo;s up to Craig to determine if Brooks is in the picture. Craig can do what he wants about that.&rdquo;One published critique of yourself suggests that Sonny Werblin doesn&rsquo;t really want a strong personality as Rangers&rsquo; general manager or hockey director.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a crock. I try to surround myself with the best people possible. That includes Jack Krumpe and Bill Jennings. We&rsquo;re not running the team but we certainly are qualified to be management. And Bill Jennings, with all his experience with the NHL, certainly is qualified to represent us on the Board of Governors.There have been rumors that the Rangers eventually will leave Madison Square Garden and move into the new Meadowlands (New Jersey) Arena.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we can. It&rsquo;s a very complicated situation. But this much is clear; we need some tax relief here in New York City. If we don&rsquo;t get it, then we&rsquo;ll have to take a look at the situation.&rdquo;Sonny, you have been accused of humiliating goalie John Davidson earlier in the season in relation to his weight and ordering him to stay in New York while the club went on a road trip.&ldquo;The whole incident was blown out of proportion. The truth is that they didn&rsquo;t want to take him on the road for whatever reason.&rdquo;Your critics argue that you have been in error, encouraging your players to become celebrities.&ldquo;Who the hell knows whether they are celebrities or not? What I wanted was for them to become a visible part of New York City. In other years they lived in Long Beach and they got into trouble because they had nothing to do. We have single boys on the team and they go to singles places the same as my 26-year-old son does. But, as far as celebrity places go, I&rsquo;ve never seen my players at Elaine&rsquo;s, Regine&rsquo;s or Le Club, where I go.Sonny, how good&mdash;or bad&mdash;are your Rangers?&ldquo;I wish we could get a goaltender. Dan Bouchard was available [when he was with Calgary] but we didn&rsquo;t want him. Philadelphia has a good young man. We&rsquo;ll see. How far can we go? Well, after seeing the way we played some games in February, I&rsquo;d say we can go a long way.&rdquo;POSTSCRIPT: The sharpest critic of Werblin, the non-hockey man, has been Harold Ballard, who is a hockey man. Ballard, for all his bombast and bucks, has been intimately connected with The Game since the late 1920s. With all that data and dollars, Harold should have a winner, right? Wrong. Ballards&rsquo; club has won no league championships and no Stanley Cups since he became Lord High Executioner of the Leafs. At last look, the Leafs don&rsquo;t appear to be winning anything this year either. So much for PhDs in Puckdom.<h2>Sonmor Likes Nords</h2>NOTES: North Stars&rsquo; coach Glen Sonmor came away from Quebec singing the Nordiques praises. &ldquo;The line of Real Cloutier-Peter Stastny-Marc Tardif reminds me of the Ulf Nilsson-Anders Hedberg-Bobby Hull line when they were in the WHA,&rdquo; says Sonmor. &ldquo;And now that they&rsquo;ve got Dan Bouchard, the Nordiques could be a factor in the playoffs.&rdquo;&hellip;My favorite Nordique is defenseman Wally Weir&hellip;What I&rsquo;d like to know is what the devil has kept Pat Hickey from emerging as a scoring factor for Toronto&hellip;1 can&rsquo;t fathom all those insidious &ldquo;Dump Roger Neilson&rdquo; stories in and out of Buffalo. All Roger has done is keep the Sabres near the top of the NHL pack all season. Is that bad?&hellip;The Edmonton Journal&rsquo;s Ray Turchansky does a neat &ldquo;Down Memory Lane&rdquo; column. He recently wrote about ex-Ranger and Canadien defenseman Lou Fontinato who owns a cattle farm near Guelph, Ont. &ldquo;Farming keeps your weight down,&rdquo; says Louie. &ldquo;And the thing we always say about cattle is &lsquo;wait &lsquo;til next year.&rsquo;It&rsquo;s just like playing for the Rangers!&rdquo;.&hellip;I like the Jimmy Skinner-Wayne Maxner no-B. S. approach to the Red Wings&hellip;The story I&rsquo;d like to get to the bottom of but can&rsquo;t is the Al Eagleson-suing-Bill Watters case&hellip;How come every team in the NHL talks about &ldquo;having a system&rdquo; but nobody can define it?TRIVIA CORNER: Q. Name the journalist who once was back-up goalie for the Montreal Canadiens? Answer below.<h2>Magnuson Changed Man</h2>ABOUT MAGNUSON: I&rsquo;ve saved an article from the New York Post suggesting that Mike Nykoluk would soon succeed Keith Magnuson as coach of the Chicago Black Hawks. It was written a few months ago when Maggie and his troops were in the depths of despond. Keith survived the ordeal and has since led Chicago to a renaissance. I asked Magnuson is he is still the same Magnuson as he was in October. &ldquo;Not quite,&rdquo; was the answer.&ldquo;During the losing streak,&rdquo; he tells me, &ldquo;we all got to know each other a little bit better, including myself. But there were other reasons why we improved. For two things, we got Glen Sharpley and Al Secord.&rdquo;Another factor was a one-to-one meeting with Tony Esposito. The goalie suggested that his coach cool it a bit. Keith responded in kind. Then the goalie did his coach a favor&mdash;he followed through by playing superior goal.&ldquo;Tony,&rdquo; says Magnuson, &ldquo;has been fantastic and so has Cliff [Koroll, the Hawks&rsquo; assistant coach]. I found out how lonely a coach&rsquo;s job can be and I needed a sounding board. Cliff was it.&rdquo;When the media jackals were after his hide, Magnuson turned to his wife for support. &ldquo;She made me more positive than I ever had been,&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;She was the greatest when things were at their worst.&rdquo;What has Magnuson learned in six months of coaching?&ldquo;Communication, for one thing. You gotta make sure your door is open.&rdquo;He&rsquo;s also learned that Mike Nykoluk will not become the Black Hawks&rsquo; coach.TRIVIA ANSWER: When Jacques Beauchamp was a hockey writer for Montreal Matin he also was the Canadiens&rsquo; practice goalie. That meant he regularly faced Rocket Richard, Dickie Moore, Boomer Geoffrion and the other Hab aces. One day Jacques told Terry Sawchuk, then the Red Wings&rsquo; goalie, that he feared Jean Beliveau&rsquo;s shot the most. &ldquo;Whenever Beliveau shoots,&rdquo; said Beauchamp, &ldquo;I just stick out my stick and close my eyes.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got news for you,&rdquo; said Sawchuk, &ldquo;we all do!&rdquo; &#9632;

f0014-01

ON THE CONTRARY

<div class="byline">BY CHUCK MOODY</div>PITTSBURGH&mdash;Being relegated to a part-time role after being a regular for 13 National Hockey League seasons is tough on any player. But Nick Libett goes about his job with the Pittsburgh Penguins issuing few complaints.&ldquo;Eddie [coach Eddie Johnston] and I talked a couple of months ago and I wasn&rsquo;t playing much then,&rdquo; recalled Libett, who has scored 236 goals in nearly 1,000 NHL games. &ldquo;He called me in and I just told him anyway I can help I will help.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough having played all your career and all of a sudden you don&rsquo;t play. Mentally you have to adjust and 1 think 1 have adjusted.&rdquo;At 35, Libett is the oldest Penguin player. He was obtained by Pittsburgh two seasons ago from Detroit in exchange for Pete Mahovlich.&ldquo;I think my role is to help out the younger kids,&rdquo; said Libett. &ldquo;If somebody&rsquo;s having trouble playing left wing and I can help them, I will try to the best 1 can.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never considered myself a team leader. I think the fact that I have played 14 years in the NHL, maybe some of the younger guys do look at that as leadership quality.&ldquo;Here we just have a good team situation regardless if you&rsquo;re 35 or 25. We have a very good bunch of guys on our team. We try to play as a team on the ice and we get along very well off the ice.&rdquo;Libett has been known as a good checker throughout his career, and Johnston has used him against a number of the opposition&rsquo;s top lines.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been known as a defensive player, but I&rsquo;ve got almost 250 goals in the National League which isn&rsquo;t bad for a defensive player,&rdquo; Libett said. &ldquo;I think this year, I&rsquo;ve played a defensive role because I&rsquo;ve checked some of the big lines in the league.&rdquo;The Stratford, Ont., native had played in only 34 of the Penguins first 56 games this season with five goals and six assists. He spent his entire career in the Red Wing organization before coming to Pittsburgh.&ldquo;The major difference when I first broke in is there were few young guys on the team&mdash;most of the guys were late 20s or early 30s,&rdquo; Libett said. &ldquo;Now it&rsquo;s just the opposite&mdash;there are very few older guys, most of the guys are 25 and under.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s almost tougher to play in the National League today for a long period of time then it was when 1 broke in. There are so many guys you played junior with that are the same age, that are as tough as you are, that are constantly testing you. It&rsquo;s tough to play 10 or 15 years in the type of atmosphere.&rdquo;Libett made many friends and business contacts in his 12 seasons in Detroit, and he hopes they will serve him well when his playing days are over.&ldquo;I had 12 good years in Detroit and my friends are there and there are good business opportunities,&rdquo; said Libett, who maintains his off-season home in the Motor City. &ldquo;I have this year and one more on my contract in Pittsburgh.&ldquo;I sell automotive industrial paint in bulk quantities in the Detroit area during the off-season. I&rsquo;ve worked for the company for five years now.&ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t have anything you can get into and you don&rsquo;t watch your money, you only have hockey. I think it&rsquo;s important that you get out and away from the game and set some things up for the future.&rdquo;But for now Libett will play when he&rsquo;s called upon, and issue few complaints when he&rsquo;s not.PENGUIN TRACKS&mdash;Two Penguin junior prospects, Mike Bullard and Doug Shedden, were selected as the Ontario Hockey League Players of the Week in consecutive weeks. &#9632;

Uncomplaining Libett Ready To Aid Penguins

<div class="byline">BY RANDY SMITH</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0015-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011074/4431212-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Warren Miller termed last season as &ldquo;a lost year,&rdquo; but he&rsquo;s proven to be a major asset for the Whalers since he&rsquo;s received regular ice time.</figcaption></div>HARTFORD&mdash;Warren Miller is part of the supporting cast.He toils in limbo, he resides in the show pool.There is no way that he is ever going to win anything or even finish second.Who placed third in the Affirmed-Alydar races?It might have been Miller.&ldquo;I know what my job is,&rdquo; said Miller, a 27-year-old right winger for the Hartford Whalers. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not known as a scorer, but if I get the ice time, I&rsquo;ll get 20 goals or so. Plus I&rsquo;ll do the other things.&rdquo;At the risk of becoming too philosophical, the &ldquo;other things&rdquo; collectively comprise the soul of hockey. While scorers will always command the headlines, where would they be without players like Miller? He skates, he hits, he digs, and he never stops trying. He is the consummate team player.&ldquo;Warren Miller is golden,&rdquo; Whalers&rsquo; coach Don Blackburn said. &ldquo;He can play for me any day. We can always find a spot for a player like him.&rdquo;Unabashed success has eluded Miller, but he is quietly putting together what may be best termed a professional career.He was selected by the New York Rangers in the 1974 NHL amateur draft in the 21st round, the 241st overall selection. He opted to stay at the University of Minnesota, playing on two NCAA championship teams and one runnerup. He joined Calgary of the WHA in the spring of 1976, and then went to Edmonton, Quebec and the Whalers in the ensuing three seasons. The Rangers claimed him in the 1979 reclaim draft, part of the NHL-WHA expansion.Miller appeared in 55 games for the Rangers last year, scoring but seven goals in limited action.&ldquo;I was talking to Freddie Shero one time about Miller,&rdquo; Blackburn said. &ldquo;I told Fred that since he wasn&rsquo;t using him, he might as well give Miller back to us. You know what Freddie said? He said that there were days that he didn&rsquo;t feel like going to practice. The team was down and so was he. But there was one guy he could count on, one guy who would always be going, even in practice. Miller, Freddie said, was the one constant. Just watching him work made Shero&rsquo;s whole day, he said.&rdquo;Miller became the first former WHA player to rejoin his pre-expansion team this year. He played in 48 of Hartford&rsquo;s first 50 games, scoring 13 goals during that span. In the next five games, he scored six goals, raising his total to 19.&ldquo;Last year was really a wasted year for me,&rdquo; Miller said. &ldquo;I was disappointed in my ice time. I&rsquo;d get the odd shift here and there, but that was about it. When you&rsquo;re used like that, people become skeptical.&rdquo;Enter Blackburn, who knew what he was getting in Miller.&ldquo;Blackie has always shown a lot of confidence in me,&rdquo; Miller said. &ldquo;That helps quite a bit. I think that management wanted me to get at least 20 goals. I knew I could if I got to play.&rdquo;Miller has skated on one of the first three lines throughout the season. He&rsquo;s been employed as a penalty-killer and remains an important part of any checking line which the Whalers might use.He is also finding the net, as evidenced by a hat trick against the Flyers in Philadelphia.&ldquo;I found an old pair of gloves at the practice rink,&rdquo; Miller said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re torn and loose, but they feel great. I think that I&rsquo;m handling the puck better, I mean, I can feel the stick in my hands. I know one thing for sure. I&rsquo;ve got more confidence now than at any time this year.&rdquo;There are only small rewards for the honest laborers, like Miller, but what would hockey be without them? &#9632;

f0015-01

Whalers Find Miller’s Handy To Have Around

<div class="byline">BY DICK JOHNSTON</div>BUFFALO&mdash;They keep going on and on, the injuries to Buffalo hockey players. And, oddly, the Sabres keep going on toward high rank in the final National Hockey League standings.The Sabres&rsquo; undefeated streak came to a halt last week but the injuries continued.Coach Roger Neilson&rsquo;s crew visited Montreal with an unbeaten streak of an even dozen games and an injury list that included Gil Perreault, Rick Martin and Alan Haworth. The list had reached 118 man-games lost this season.The Canadiens came out flying and avenged a 5-2 loss to the Sabres on Buffalo&rsquo;s first visit of the season to the Forum by winning by the same score. The Sabres didn&rsquo;t get a shot on goal in the first period, the first time this ever happened to them in a period of hockey in the 11-year history of the club.Gil Hamel, who had missed nine games because of a knee injury, returned to action for a few shifts but Derek Smith, center for the high-scoring Smith-Tony McKegney-Danny Gare line, was added to the casualty list with pulled stomach muscles.,Hamel rejoined the list in the next game, injuring his knee against the Penguins in Pittsburgh, when Smith also was sidelined but Haworth came back after missing seven games because of a bruised shoulder.Haworth returned with a flourish. The rookie right winger stole the puck and scored an unassisted goal and helped set up another as the Sabres erupted for a 6-1 triumph.Goalie Don Edwards extended his personal unbeaten streak against the Penguins to 11 games, five wins and six ties. The last time Don lost in a game against Pittsburgh was March 12, 1977. In two visits to the Civic Center this season Edwards blocked 73 shots as the Sabres won twice.The Sabres suffered another injury in the game. Rookie right winger Steve Patrick, up from Brandon of the Western Hockey League, got a bruised right shoulder in the first period and played no more.Center Rob McClanahan was cut beside the left eye by Pittsburgh defenseman Russ Anderson&rsquo;s stick early in the second period and had to have five stitches but he returned to play in the third.Hamel was back, but not in top shape, and Smith and Patrick were out when the Canadiens repeated with a 4-2 win in Buffalo Sunday night.The loss was Buffalo&rsquo;s first at home in 1981. Their last defeat was Dec. 31 against Los Angeles. Since then they had a 5-0-6 record in Memorial Auditorium going into the Montreal game.It also was Edwards&rsquo; first goaltending loss in his last 10 home starts, and only his second of the season in Memorial Auditorium.ICE CHIPS&mdash;Martin is expected to return to the lineup in another week or so but Perreault is out indefinitely. They both skated last week but did not practice with the club. Going into this week&rsquo;s games, Martin had missed 37 games because of a knee injury that eventually required surgery and Perreault had missed 13 because of broken ribs. Perreault also missed two games earlier in the season because of injury.When John Van Boxmeer scored a goal against the Penguins last Saturday, he tied the club record for goals in a season by a Buffalo defenseman, 14. He shares it with Jerry Korab, now playing for Los Angeles.Scotty Bowman, Buffalo general manager, did not see Sunday&rsquo;s home game against Montreal. He was in Europe, scouting talent.Edwards was a little upset while in Montreal by a report in one of that city&rsquo;s newspapers that he had been offered in a trade to Winnipeg for a first-round draft choice, which would &ldquo;almost certainly be the first pick in the entire draft. The goaltender has been reading rumors of being traded all season, however, so he didn&rsquo;t take it too seriously.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04394/4431295-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="575" height="1448"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alan Haworth celebrated his return to the lineup with a goal and an assist in a victory over Pittsburgh.</figcaption></div><h2>NHL Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03522/4431288-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="525" height="592"></div> &#9632;

f0017-04

Sabres’ Injury Siege Has No Letup

<div class="byline">BY VARTAN KUPELIAN</div>DETROIT&mdash;Dale McCourt is a goal scorer but, oh, that drought.&ldquo;A slump always bothers you,&rdquo; McCourt said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had a lot of chances, but I haven&rsquo;t been putting them in. Either the goalie makes a big save or I hit the post or shoot just wide. When it goes on for so long, you start doing things differently, your actions aren&rsquo;t natural. I classify myself as a goal scorer and they&rsquo;re going to come. I&rsquo;m glad they finally did.&rdquo;Three of them, in fact.McCourt said he had that feeling that goal scorers get before the Red Wing-New York Rangers game at the Joe Louis Arena.&ldquo;I told [trainer] Lefty Wilson before the game I was going to get three,&rdquo; McCourt said. &ldquo;My grandparents were here for the game and I had to get three.&rdquo;McCourt ended a personal drought with a five-point game&mdash;three goals and two assists&mdash;as the Red Wings drubbed the Rangers 7-3.But it wasn&rsquo;t that easy. Brent Peterson, McCourt and Mike Foligno scored goals 27 seconds apart midway through the third period after 50 minutes of hand-to-hand combat. Peterson&rsquo;s third goal of the season at 9:27 snapped a 3-3 tie. McCourt, from Foligno and John Barrett, scored his second goal 17 seconds later before Foligno capped the wild scoring spree at 9:54, just 10 seconds after McCourt&rsquo;s goal.The game ended with another eruption&mdash;this one in the stands&mdash;as eight Ranger players, led by Nick Fotiu, invaded the seats to pursue hecklers who had pelted them with paper cups and beer during the final minute of play.Fotiu said he was &ldquo;bombed with stuff&rdquo; and spotted the instigator but &ldquo;didn&rsquo;t reach him&rdquo; on his foray into the stands. The NHL is investigating the incident.McCourt scored his 17th, 18th and 19th goals and had a pair of assists, including the set-up on John Ogrodnick&rsquo;s 30th goal in the victory. He Scored the third goal for his hat trick with 17 seconds left in the game.Mark Kirton was the other Red Wing marksman. His power-play goal was the 10,000th scored in the 55-year history of the Red Wings.McCourt&rsquo;s grandparents&mdash;Fred and Alice Armstrong of Falconbridge, Ont.&mdash;are no strangers to hockey arenas. Their son, George&mdash;Dale&rsquo;s uncle&mdash;was a Hall of Fame right wing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The family reunion had another element&mdash;Dale&rsquo;s brother Dan, a National Hockey League linesman, worked the game.Maxner has had nothing but praise in recent weeks for McCourt, despite the scoring slump. The coach continually has pointed to McCourt&rsquo;s outstanding all-around performance but, obviously, had his fingers crossed that the drought would end soon.The Wings moved into Montreal for their next game and, despite a solid effort from goalie Gilles Gilbert, lost to the Canadiens 4-1, with Guy Lafleur getting a pair of goals.&ldquo;We made three mistakes,&rdquo; Maxner said. &ldquo;Dale had the puck on two of their goals and Reed Larson on the third. I was pleased with our effort. We skated with them and we checked with them but against Montreal, you can&rsquo;t afford those mistakes.&ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not complaining. We kept working and what more can you expect? We don&rsquo;t have any Lafleurs and Robinsons.&ldquo;Gilly gave us the goaltending and that&rsquo;s what you have to have if you&rsquo;re going to win on the road.&rdquo; &#9632;

Wings’ McCourt Finally Ends Goal-Scoring Drought

The Quebec Nordiques probably weren&rsquo;t aware of what a good thing they were getting into when they lured the Stastny brothers, Peter and Anton, out of Czechoslovakia last September but today they can look back on the move as one of the most astute the team ever made.The Czechoslovakian brothers are virtually tearing up the NHL and their performance this past week in a four-game stretch for Quebec had made them a goaltender&rsquo;s nightmare. Both brothers made NHL history when they became the first rookie brother act to register back-to-back hat tricks in a league game. Between them they collected 29 scoring points in the four games.The two deserved to share NHL Player of the Week honors after their glittering two-night show in which the Nordiques crushed Vancouver 9-3 and Washington 11-7. Peter scored seven times and added six assists in the two games to earn recognition from THE HOCKEY NEWS as Player of the Week. But brother Anton wasn&rsquo;t far behind with six goals and seven assists in the same two games.The Stastnys have now scored a total of 58 goals between them in 62 games as the Nordiques continue to roll upward.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02664/4431381-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="575" height="747"><figcaption class="caption-body">PETER STASTNY Quebec Nordiques</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-02

NHL Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY JAY GREENBERG</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKS<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-01835/4431326-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="573" height="772"><figcaption class="caption-body">Every once in a while, Al Hill plays for the Flyers like he&rsquo;s Guy Lafleur, but it doesn&rsquo;t happen often enough.</figcaption></div>PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Even American Express doesn&rsquo;t know Al Hill. If you can name him, you&rsquo;re the kind of fan who can quote career statistics of every member of the Hartford Whalers. Al Hill can play 80 games a season and people would still ask whatever happened to him.No one had ever heard of him when he scored two goals and five points in his first NHL game in 1977. And no one has heard of him since. At the time of his dazzling debut, it was suggested that Hill might be another Joe Hardy, a guy who sold his soul to the devil for a chance to play for the Flyers. For all we know, AI Hill is really Harold Smith.There have been a few times this season when Flyer performances, both in general and Hill in particular, have left idle press-box minds to think sarcastic thoughts. &ldquo;Who is Al Hill and what is he doing here?&rdquo; was barely out of one wise guy&rsquo;s mouth one night recently when someone in a black and orange uniform, wearing No. 15, carried the puck into the Pittsburgh zone.He deked, put the puck between Russ Anderson&rsquo;s legs, cut around him, and fired the puck into the corner of the net. Who? Al Hill? Al, the Rocket, Hill. Al, The Flower, Hill.Truth is, if Al was a flower, he&rsquo;d be a dandelion. Until, that is, the moon comes out for selected games and the AI Hill we all do not know becomes a revelation. That Penguin game was one of them. It wasn&rsquo;t just the goal, it was the whole game, during which Hill was the best player on the ice.He charged into corners, maneuvering his elbows as deftly as he did the puck on his astonishing goal. He made passes. He was The Greatest Player Who Ever Lived. So before you forget about him again, we thought we&rsquo;d better get in the Flyer locker room and find out everything you never wanted to know about him.We learned that Al Hill has more faces than Eve. His nickname is Whacko. Seeing as we can&rsquo;t get five words out of him, this did not seem quite right, and needed further investigation.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know why we call him that,&rdquo; lied Bobby Clarke.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d better not say,&rdquo; said T.J. Gorence. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s secret stuff there.&rdquo;It remained for one honest man, Paul Holmgren, to come clean. &ldquo;I named him that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There was a friend of [WHA teammate] Bill Butters who they call Whacko, and he reminded me of Al.&rdquo;Every once in a while. Flyer insiders whisper, Hill will let out primal screams in the locker room. Outsiders, too, have noticed him sometimes going beserk in the middle of a quite routine practice.&ldquo;His eyes start rolling around,&rdquo; said Paul. &ldquo;And his elbows start going.&rdquo;Pat Quinn does not particularly find this strange. He just wishes he&rsquo;d see a little more of it during regulation events.&ldquo;On a given night you think this guy is going to be some hockey player because he displays so many talents,&rdquo; said the Flyers&rsquo; coach. &ldquo;On others, for whatever reason, he seems like he&rsquo;s in a vacuum out there, standing and watching.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t profess to know the reason why. It&rsquo;s easy for a coach to say it&rsquo;s a question of concentration. But we don&rsquo;t have the answer yet. When we get it, he&rsquo;ll be a helluva hockey player.&ldquo;I wanted Al on my team two-and-a-half years ago because I saw the good things he can do. You see him do them so well, you just hope he can find the consistency.&rdquo;Perhaps Hill is better described as a deck with 51 cards than as a lock without a key. The Flyers have tried to find this in several ways. Quinn has had a few fatherly talks. The brain trust did not bring up Greg Adams from Maine last month just to light a fire under Hill, but if Al wanted to interpret it that way, it was OK with them.&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to scare anybody in our atmosphere,&rdquo; said Pat. &ldquo;We want a guy to want to play here. But anything which benefits Al benefits me.&rdquo;Hill&rsquo;s eyes had fallen back out of their spiral by the time he stepped forward to meet the press. &ldquo;I guess every once in a while I get a little strange,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m just quiet.&ldquo;I came back from my injury [a broken thumb] and I kind of sat back. But I guess there are some nights when I don&rsquo;t concentrate like I should.&rdquo;Flyers&rsquo; broadcaster Gene Hart then sneaked up and ducked behind Hill. Hart is a little wider than Al, otherwise, we would have been fooled into thinking that this was the real him. &ldquo;Yes, I thought it was one of my finest games of the year,&rdquo; said The Voice. &ldquo;Move your lips, Al.&rdquo;ICEBERGS&mdash;Phil Myre cleared waivers, and has likely played his last game as a Flyer. &ldquo;He took it very well,&rdquo; said Keith Allen. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure he saw it coming.&rdquo; Myre asked for a few days before speaking to the press. A decrease of playing time obviously contributed to Phil&rsquo;s falling behind Pete Peeters, Rick St. Croix and Maine&rsquo;s Pelle Lindbergh in both performance and the Flyers&rsquo; plans, and a fairly hefty salary did not aid Allen&rsquo;s attempts to move him. Keith started off asking only for a middle-round draft choice for Myre, but after the teams needing goaltending help went elsewhere in their acquisitions, Allen could not give Myre away. It&rsquo;s hard to believe that Myre, 31, is through, but he may have to accept a buyout of his contract and then try to catch on in another team&rsquo;s fall training camp. &#9632;

f0018-01

Flyers Try To Unlock Hill’s Hidden Potential

<div class="byline">BY ARNOLD IRISH</div>ST. LOUIS&mdash;There&rsquo;s more to hockey than goals and assists. The Blues&rsquo; Mike Crombeen is proof of the pudding in that respect.His name isn&rsquo;t listed among the National Hockey League&rsquo;s scoring leaders&mdash;or among the Blues&rsquo;&mdash;but few players see more critical ice time for their teams than Crombeen, whose contributions are invaluable to St. Louis&rsquo; program.Crombeen is a cog in the Blues&rsquo; feared penalty-killing unit and a member of their checking line.Last seasop the Blues led the NHL in penalty-killing, with an 84.8 percentage. Currently, they are fourth, with an 80.8 mark. less than a percentage point off the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; pace.Crombeen kills penalties with Larry Patey, and it&rsquo;s not without Mike&rsquo;s help that Patey has scored six shorthanded goals this season.St. Louis&rsquo; checking line features Crombeen and Perry Turnbull with Patey or Mike Zuke. The Blues&rsquo; other penalty-killers are Ralph Klassen, Zuke and Hartland Monahan.Blues&rsquo; president-general manager Emile Francis, the man who built the team, has this thing about first-round draft choices. He collects them the way some men collect antiques, oil paintings or silver.Francis is especially taken with other teams&rsquo; first-round picks. On St. Louis&rsquo; roster at this moment are 10 first-round choices and six were selected originally by other teams.Crombeen, 23. was now-defunct Cleveland&rsquo;s first choice in the 1978 draft, but that season was a nightmare for him.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure what they visualized when they picked me first,&rdquo; Crombeen says in retrospect.&ldquo;I had played pretty well on offense as a junior, and they expected me to score because they were having trouble putting people in the building.&ldquo;When I didn&rsquo;t score, I sat on the bench, then went down to the minors. I never got my feet on the ground.&rdquo;Francis, perhaps on the theory that nobody should give up on a first-round pick after one year, plucked Crombeen off the vine in the Cleveland-Minnesota merger-dispersal draft two years ago.Injured in his first Blues&rsquo; camp. Crombeen spent half the 1978-79 campaign with their Salt Lake City farm, but he made his mark last season.Crombeen is a swift skater and unusually strong for someone only 5-11 and 192 pounds&mdash;probably because he&rsquo;s an avid weight-lifter who has built up his body.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not one of your 6-3 monsters,&rdquo; Crombeen shrugs. Pumping iron seems to him the logical way for an average-sized guy to gain an edge.&ldquo;I can score,&rdquo; Crombeen says confidently. &ldquo;Once I round up my full potential, I&rsquo;ll be good for 20 or 25 goals a season.&ldquo;As it&rsquo;s turned out, my NHL role has been defensive, and I feel comfortable in that role, but I want to score more goals. I&rsquo;ve done mostly defensive things with the Blues, but Red [Blues&rsquo; coach Red Berenson] has encouraged me to play an offensive game as well.&ldquo;Meanwhile, my main concern is to keep the opposition in check&mdash;bottled up in their end.&rdquo;Playing on a checking line and killing penalties, as important as those assignments are to the success of any team, don&rsquo;t attract the attention of, say, Mike Bossy scoring 50 goals in the Islanders&rsquo; first 50 games to tie Rocket Richard&rsquo;s record.Crombeen performs his skills in virtual anonymity.&ldquo;Fans may not know what I&rsquo;m doing out there, but my teammates do,&rdquo; Crombeen says.&ldquo;And so do I.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-01798/4431412-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="584" height="801"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Crombeen is another former first-round draft pick rescued from another team by Emile Francis.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0019-01

Blues’ Crombeen Is Great Watchdog

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-01631/4431443-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers went on a one-man scoring spree in a Feb. 18 game against St. Louis, scoring five goals and assisting on two others in a 9-2 rout of the Blues. It marked the first time any Oiler had scored more than three goals in an NHL game. (Photo by Robert Shaver)</figcaption></div><h2>Blackburn Bounced</h2>HARTFORD&mdash;Don Blackburn of the Hartford Whalers became the sixth coaching casual casualty of the 1980-81 NHL season as the downtrodden Whalers relieved him of his duties and turned the team over to assistant. Larry Pleau for the rest of this season.Blackburn, who was fired by the Whalers for the second time [he was dismissed in 1975 and replaced by Harry Neale], had been unable to get the team up for games in recent weeks as the club had not won in its last 11 games and had managed but two victories in the past 25 games.Whalers&rsquo; director of hockey operations Jack Kelley said the decision to replace Blackburn had to be made to give the team a chance to recoup in its final 20 games and land a playoff spot. Kelley said Blackburn was dismissed because of a &ldquo;lack of success and obvious frustration that has been building up within the club over the past 25 games.&rdquo;Blackburn joins Ted Lindsay of Detroit, Joe Crozier of Toronto, Fred Shero of the Rangers, Bryan Watson of Edmonton and Tommy McVie at Winaipeg as ousted NHL. coaches this season.<h2>Chartraw A King</h2>MONTREAL&mdash;Defenseman Rick Chartraw of the Montreal Canadiens, who spent more time sitting than playing, has been traded to the Los Angeles Kings.The burly Montreal rearguard forward, who had been in and out of hot water the last two seasons with coach Claude Ruel and the team, had been a member of the Canadiens since 1974, when he was chosen in the first round of the amateur draft. Despite his nearly six seasons with the Canadiens, Chartraw had played only sporadically and had been used mainly in spot roles. He had recently roused the ire of Ruel for being late for practice and for being overweight. The 26-year-old Chartraw played in only 14 games this season and had become the forgotten man on the Montreal roster.In two other NHL trades, the Quebec Nordiques recalled goalie Michel Dion from Indianapolis of the CHL and dealt him to the Winnipeg Jets for a future draft pick. The Boston Bruins sent center Bob Miller, who had also seen infrequent ice duty this year, to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for left winger Mike Gillis. The Rockies, with two centers, Walt McKechnie and Merlin Malinowski, on the injury list, were desperate for centermen and grabbed Miller when he became available.<h2>Durbano Charged</h2>BRAMPTON&mdash;Former NHLer Steve Durbano has been ordered to stand trial March 16 on charges of importing cocaine and possession of the drug for the purpose of trafficking.The 30-year-old defenseman, who played for four different NHL teams, was arrested at Toronto International Airport after he arrived in Toronto from Peru. The Toronto native saw NHL service with St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Colorado and the old Kansas City Scouts as well as Birmingham in the CHL. His last NHL season was 1978-79, when he performed in 13 games with St. Louis.<h2>Ice Great Dies</h2>CHICAGO&mdash;One of hockey&rsquo;s all-time great goaltenders, Cecil (Tiny) Thompson has died at the age of 76.The former NHLer, who was a member of Hockey&rsquo;s Hall of Fame, played for the Boston Bruins and the Detroit Red Wings, and won the Vezina Trophy four times during his 10 years with the Bruins.Thompsons&rsquo;s most famous game was in 1933 when he held the Toronto Maple Leafs scoreless for 104 minutes and 46 seconds before losing the game 1-0 to the LeafsFuneral services were held for Thompson in Calgary. He died following a long illness and had been a scout for the Chicago Black Hawks from 1945 to 1977.<h2>Fans Chased</h2>DETROIT&mdash;The New York Rangers, led by fiery Nick Fotiu, decided to take matters into their own hands when they charged into the stands at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit in search of fans who tossed garbage and beer on top of their heads at the end of a game.The exicitement began as the Rangers were leaving the ice following a 7-3 loss to the Red Wings. Fotiu, Tom Laidlaw, Don Maloney, Mike Allison, Barry Beck and Ron Duguay were apparently angered over fans&rsquo; insults and flying cups of beer.Fotiu led the charge after the fans showered the players with beer. Detroit police rushed in to break it up as sticks were being swung and some punches were thrown. The Rangers complained that security at the game was lacking and planned to protest to the league. The NHL is expected to investigate the matter.<h2>Taxman Takes Bite</h2>WASHINGTON&mdash;The United States tax court has ruled against two former professional hockey players from Canada in a decision that will ultimately affect 40 fellow athletes.The court&rsquo;s ruling went against Pete Stemkowski, formerly of the New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings and Detroit Red Wings, and long-time minor leaguer John Hanna, and ended a long battle by the two ex-players in a U.S. tax court to secure tax exemptions on the basis that they were Canadian citizens.Judge William Goffe said the decision against Stemkowski and Hanna would &ldquo;dispose of all the issues&rdquo; in 40 similar tax cases pending before the court.The dispute centered around the players&rsquo; contention that because they are Canadian citizens, income earned outside the United States should not be subject to U.S. taxes. Though each played on U.S. teams, both argued that they should be taxed only on the income they earned while in the States.Since their contracts were for a year duration the two proportioned their income over 12 months and deducted time spent in Canada for the off-season, during training camp and on road trips to play Canadian hockey games.But the U.S. Internal Revenue Service disputed their claim and ruled their salaries covered only the regular hockey season, not the whole year, so they could deduct only the few days spent in Canada on road trips.Judge Goffe agreed that since the players weren&rsquo;t paid for the off-season or training camp and money earned during playoffs was separate from their regular salary, they have to pay taxes on their full wages. &#9632;

f0020-01

SLAPSHOTS

<h2>NATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>BOSTON&mdash;Bob Miller, C, traded to Colorado in exchange for Mike Gillis, LW.BUFFALO&mdash;Mike Moller, RW, an underage draft, recalled from Lethbridge of WHL.CALGARY&mdash;Rejean Lemelin, G, out indefinitely with broken hand. Tim Bernhardt, G, recalled from Birmingham of CHL as replacement.CHICAGO&mdash;Rich Preston, RW, returned from injury list.COLORADO&mdash;Terry Harper, D, and asst, coach, activated as player. Jack Valiquette, C, and Doug Berry, C, recalled from Fort Worth of CHL. Jack Hughes, D, and Bob Attwell, LW, assigned to Fort Worth. Dan Lucas, LW, reassigned to Rochester of AHL.EDMONTON&mdash;Charlie Huddy, D, and Dave Semenko, LW, recalled from Wichita of CHL. Peter Driscoll, LW, returned from injury list.HARTFORD&mdash;Ken Holland, G, Ray Allison, RW, and Rick Meagher, C, all recalled from Binghamton of AHL. Mickey Volcan, D, and Ray Neufeld, RW, assigned to Binghamton. Michael Galarneau, C, an underage draft, returned to Hull of QMJHL. Mike Veisor, G, returned from injury list.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Dave Lewis, D, returned from injury list. Andre St. Laurent, C, recalled from Fort Worth of CHL. John-Paul Kelly, LW, returned to Rochester of AHL.MINNESOTA&mdash;Mike Eaves, C, returned from injury list. Don Jackson, D, recalled from Oklahoma City of CHL.MONTREAL&mdash;Bob Gainey, LW, placed on injury list with pulled hamstring muscle. Rick Chartraw, D, traded to Los Angeles for future considerations.N.Y. ISLANDERS&mdash;Bryan Trottier, C, on injury list. Hector Marini, RW, recalled from Indianapolis of CHL.N.Y. RANGERS&mdash;Lance Nethery, CM and Cam Connor, RW, recalled from New Haven of AHL. Gary Burns, C, returned to New Haven. Carol Vadnais, D, on injury list with stretched hamstring muscle.N.Y. RANGERS&mdash;Lance Nethery, C, recalled from New Haven of AHL. Gary Burns, C, returned to New Haven. Carol Vadnais, D, on injury list with stretched hamstring muscle.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Phil Myre, G, placed on waivers. Ilkka Sinisalo, LW, signed to pro contract from Finland&rsquo;s National team. Thomas Eriksson, D, recalled from Maine of AHL.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Bob Holland, G, recalled from Binghamton of AHL and reassigned to Indianapolis of CHL. Russ Anderson, D, returned from injury list.QUEBEC&mdash;Michel Dion, G, traded to Winnipeg for future draft choice to be determined later. Gaston Therrien, D, and Ron Grahame. G, both assigned to Rochester of AHL.TORONTO&mdash;Ron Sedlbauer, LW, claimed from Chicago on waivers for cash. Paul Marshall, LW, recalled from New Brunswick of AHL. Mike Kaszycki, C, recalled from Dallas of CHL. Rene Robert, RW, out for season with broken wrist. Dan Maloney, LW, placed on injury list with cracked vertebra.VANCOUVER&mdash;Chris Oddleifson, C, returned to Dallas of CHL.WASHINGTON&mdash;Pat Ribble, D, Howard Walker, D, and Guy Charron, C, returned from injury list. Errol Rausse, LW, recalled from Hershey of AHL. Jay Johnston, D, and Dwayne Lowdermilk, D, returned to Hershey. Dave Parro, G, returned to injury list.WINNIPEG&mdash;Mark Plantery, D, and Kris Manery, RW, recalled from Tulsa of CHL. Ron Wilson, RW, returned from injury list. Pierre Hamel, G, Lindsay Middle-brook, G, and Richard Mulhern, D, assigned to Tulsa. Dave Hoyda, LW, returned from Tulsa with leg injury and will be out for rest of season.<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>MAINE&mdash;Mike Simurda, RW, and Gord Salt, RW, both assigned to Toledo of IHL.NOVA SCOTIA&mdash;Wayne Thompson, C, returned to Flint of IHL. Serge Beaudoin, D, secured from Calgary on loan.ROCHESTER&mdash;Cam McGregor, RW, released. Bill Army, D, recalled from Port Huron of IHL. Richard David, LW, Chris Halyk, D, Scott McGeown, D, and Jim Cowell, C, all returned to Erie of EHL.SPRINGFIELD&mdash;Gary Carr, G, secured from Quebec on loan.<h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>FORT WORTH&mdash;Bob Jansch, LW, recalled from Muskegon of IHL.OKLAHOMA CITY&mdash;Jon Fontas, C, and Gerry Ciarcia, D, recalled from Baltimore of EHL.SALT LAKE&mdash;Steve Harrison, D, recalled from Port Huron of IHL.TULSA&mdash;Tom Gibson, RW, recalled from Richmond of EHL.WICHITA&mdash;Paul Messier, C, Gord Stafford, C, and Gord Garbutt, G, all assigned to Milwaukee of IHL. Owen Lloyd, D, and Walt Poddubny, C, recalled from Milwaukee. &#9632;

Player Movements

<div class="byline">BY RICH FRIEDMAN</div>NEW YORK&mdash;It took Don Maloney to rescue the Rangers from a bad case of the post-road downs, and he did it in style&mdash;well enough, in fact, for the record-books.His &ldquo;natural hat trick&rdquo;-three consecutive goals in two minutes and 30 seconds&mdash;were the three quickest goals ever scored by a Ranger, and lifted them from a 2-2 tie to, ultimately, a 6-4 victory at Madison Square Garden over the Washington Capitals.Late in the second period, Maloney&rsquo;s first goal came on a power play. Then brother Dave was sent to the penalty box and the Rangers closed ranks, which is something they had not done all that often in recent shorthanded situations.Maloney&rsquo;s next two goals were 34 seconds apart and were the fastest two shorthanded goals by a Rangers player and Ranger team.&ldquo;I was the most surprised person in the place. It was a question of being in the right place at the right time,&rdquo; said Maloney, who missed most of the early season with mononucleosis. &ldquo;But I am feeling physically great and that makes a difference. I can keep going the whole game.&rdquo;Maloney had spent part of the first period with Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson before being re-united with his regular linemates, Mike Allison, who assisted on his power play goal, and Eddie Johnstone, who assisted on the two shorthanded goals and had four assists for the night.&ldquo;I switched Donnie back to Mike and Eddie in the second and things began to move,&rdquo; said coach Craig Patrick. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m never surprised when he does things like that.&rdquo;Maloney&rsquo;s exploits helped to dissipate a cloud that had hung over the Rangers for a week. Six days earlier, they had lost to the St. Louis Blues, 5-4, in a game marked by rancor and frustration.They fell behind that night 4-0 but had closed the gap to 4-3 by the end of the second period before yielding what proved to be the winning goal to Tony Currie early in the third. Then with 3:03 to go, Ulf Nilsson pulled the Rangers within one again, but soon the flood gates opened.It had been a fight-filled game, but the Rangers also had suffered through a series of questionably officiated high-scoring contests with numerous shorthanded situations, giving up three power play goals the night before in a 6-3 loss to the Maple Leafs in Toronto.With 2:35 to go in the St. Louis game, Don Maloney took a tripping penalty, and brother Dave shot the puck into the stands in disgust, drawing a delay of game penalty and putting the Rangers at a five-on-three disadvantage. Then, with 51 seconds to go, Johnstone was called offside and given an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty for protesting, and then the crowd began to vent its rage at referee Bruce Hood.Beer cups, empty and full, rained down on the ice, along with coins. The game was delayed for almost a quarter of an hour, and the Rangers finished on the losing end of a 5-4 score.After the game, Blues&rsquo; broadcaster Gus Kyle voiced an opinion that would carry through to the Rangers&rsquo; return bout, here with the Leafs three days later.&ldquo;They have enough talent to be a good hockey club,&rdquo; said Kyle of the Rangers. &ldquo;But they goon it up and they&rsquo;re undisciplined.&rdquo;The Rangers began the Leafs&rsquo; game with an imposing lineup&mdash;Barry Beck, Ed Hospodar, Nick Fotiu, Chris Kotsopoulos, and Ron Duguay&mdash;and hitting everyone in sight. The intimidation worked: The Rangers won, 8-3 and the game was on the verge of out-and-out warfare all night with Ulf Nilsson and Darryl Sittler the main combatants in the closing minutes.&ldquo;They jumped on us pretty quick. They were ready for us,&rdquo; said Leafs&rsquo; coach Mike Nykoluk. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;ve got those kinds of players, you&rsquo;ve got to use them, but it&rsquo;s not too, classy a move throw them out in the last eight seconds.&rdquo;Patrick, who imported tough guy Cam Connor from New Haven for the Capitals&rsquo; game three days later, was not sympathetic to Nykoluk.&ldquo;I just did it to keep everyone honest,&rdquo; said Patrick. &ldquo;Sittler had gone after Ulfie and I didn&rsquo;t think that showed much class.&rdquo;However, the following night&rsquo;s game, in Detroit, turned into a long day&rsquo;s journey into a longer night. Following the Leafs game, the Rangers flew out by charger but were diverted to Chicago when the Detroit Airport was fogged in.The next day&rsquo;s charter was again re-routed to Cleveland for the same reason and the bedraggled Rangers arrived in Detroit by bus 90 minutes before game-time. They should have stayed home.In a chaotic, penalty-filled game the Red Wings beat the Rangers, 7-3. Goalie Doug Soetaert shattered his stick against the crossbar after Dale McCourt notched a hat-trick with 17 seconds left in the game, the final goal coming after the last of numerous Ranger give-aways. Soetaert heaved the shaft of the stick into the stands.Then came the real fireworks. After the Rangers were pelted with beer in the closing minutes, Nick Fotiu led a charge into the stands with half-dozen of his mates. Police and ushers intervened, but the Rangers came out of the incident waiting to hear from the league office about fines and suspensions.&ldquo;We were getting hit with half-filled beer cups, which made them like little snowballs,&rdquo; said Fotiu. &ldquo;No one was stopping them. What would you do if you got hit?&rdquo;Patrick later spent agonizing days deciding whether to fine his players himself&mdash;and added that he would have to share the responsibility&mdash;&ldquo;because I could not stop them. I tried to get out there but it was too late.&rdquo;Asked how to prevent a repeat performance, Patrick said: &ldquo;You can put glass up to the ceiling and they&rsquo;d still manage to throw what they want. It&rsquo;s that bad.&rdquo; &#9632;

Rangers Live And Die With Roughouse Tactics

NEW HAVEN&mdash;The Nighthawks may be headed towards a confrontation with the New Haven Coliseum Authority over the terms of their lease with the city-owned facility.Although the Nighthawks&rsquo; lease still has three years to run, a clause in the agreement will allow the city to cancel the pact if the hockey team is costing New Haven money. According to figures from former Coliseum director Antonio Tavares, who has since left for a position at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, the Nighthawks supposedly cost the city $200,000 last year and will cost in excess of $350,000 this year and next.The present agreement calls for the Nighthawks to pay 23.5 percent of their gate to the city, plus 11 percent of anything over $450,000&mdash;the highest rental agreement in the American League. However, it is rumored that the Authority may terminate the lease and renegotiate a higher figure with the Nighthawks to help defray the $23-million price tag which the facility carries.One of the major problems involved in the situation is that the Coliseum was built primarily to attract an AHL team. If the Nighthawks decided to go elsewhere&mdash;as has been whispered&mdash;then who will play in the building? And how will the NHCA be able to pay off their mortgage without their biggest revenue producer?Another ironical fact is that Nighthawks&rsquo; owner Joel Schiavone has been trying to take over the rights to lease the entire Coliseum for the past several months. Schiavone proposes to operate and promote the building in a professional manner in an attempt to bring some money and life into the eight-year-old facility.But the NHCA apparently isn&rsquo;t listening.They are too busy trying to find a reason to reject a low bid from a minority-owned cleaning firm in favor of another outfit.How are Nighthawk fans reacting to all of this? One of them now comes to the games with a bag over his head, perhaps to hide the frustration the fans see on the ice as well as the three-ring circus off the ice. &#9632;

Nighthawks Facing Change In Arena Rental Contract

<div class="byline">BY JIM LEAHY</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSPORTLAND&mdash;The Dog Days of February can really get a team down. The holidays are a faint memory and you&rsquo;re back in the groove, except maybe it seems like you&rsquo;ve hardly been away. You&rsquo;re tired; maybe bored and the bus rides seem longer and the high points few and far between.That&rsquo;s probably how the Maine Mariners felt recently when they embarked upon a grueling seven-games-in-nine nights schedule. They had a right to be dead, right? Wrong. The Mariners sailed right through the opposition and chalked up seven consecutive victories, five of them on the road. And with that little task behind them, the Mariners opened up plenty of daylight in the Northern Division race over nearest rival New Brunswick.Following their successful seven game swing, which was sparked by the play of the Paul Evans-Gordie Clark-Wayne Schaab line, which accounted for 17 goals and 23 assists, the Mariners split two contests, defeating New Haven 6-3 on first-period goals by Gary Morrison, Fred Williams and Clark, plus Bruce Crowder&rsquo;s game-winner early in the second period, but then losing 4-3 to Hershey in the battle of division leaders.In player movements, the Mariners welcomed back left winger Greg Adams after a stint in the NHL with the parent Flyers, while right wingers Mike Simurda and Gord Salt were sent to Toledo in the International League.NEW BRUNSWICK&mdash;The streaking Hawks won three and tied one to keep first place Maine within sight in the Northern Division race. They started the week in Springfield for a two-game series where Paul Marshall (since recalled) scored twice and Kim Davis added a solo tally in a 3-3 overtime tie with the Indians. The next afternoon, New Brunswick blasted Springfield 9-6. Davis had two goals as did Bill McCreary, in a game where the explosive Hawks erupted for six goals in the first period.Back home in Moncton about 24 hours later, Nova Scotia visited the Coliseum and fell 7-6 to the high-scoring home team. When the Rochester Americans came in a few nights later, the nature of the game changed and New Brunswick won a tight 3-2 contest to end the week solidly in grip of second place in their division.BINGHAMTON&mdash;Recalls by Hartford continue to hurt the AHL Whalers as they flounder in the Southern Division cellar. During the week, right winger Dave Debol went up to the NHL to join Rick Meagher and Dave Brubaker, two of the best players for Binghamton early in the season. The Whalers (AHL variety) did get rookie defenseman Mickey Volcan from Hartford and acquired veteran goaltender Ron Grahame from Quebec. The 18-year-old Volcan was Hartford&rsquo;s third pick in last year&rsquo;s draft and was sent to Binghamton to get some additional ice time which will aid in his development.On the ice, the Whalers split four games. They beat Rochester 5-2 on Steve Alley&rsquo;s shorthanded goal and solo tallies by Bernie Johnston, Mark Renaud, Vince Magnan and John Smrke; Springfield came to town and suffered a 7-1 bombing at the hands of the Whalers. Ray Allison was the only Binghamton player to score in a 3-2 defeat in New Haven and their 8-4 loss in Adirondack was an unfortunate start for goaltender Grahame, who was seeing his first action after a two-week layoff.NOVA SCOTIA&mdash;Guy Carbonneau and Craig Levie continue to lead the Voyageurs in scoring, but the team has recently fallen back to third place in the Northern Division since both Maine and New Brunswick have been red-hot of late. An important game in New Brunswick ended in a 7-6 defeat, but a game against Rochester at the Halifax Metro Centre a few nights later resulted in a 7-6 win for the Voyageurs.ROCHESTER&mdash;That 7-6 loss in Nova Scotia was the fifth straight for the Amerks and couldn&rsquo;t have come at a worse time since both Adirondack and New Haven are about to overtake Rochester in the battle for second place in the Southern Division. The injury-riddled Amerks had a terrible week. They were blown out 11-4 in Hershey, dropped a 5-2 game on home ice to Binghamton, were edged 3-2 in New Brunswick and suffered that 7-6 defeat in Halifax. Ron Carter, with both goals in the 5-2 loss at home to Binghamton, and 16 goals in 15 games since being recalled from Erie of the EHL and Bob Mongrain, who had five points in five games, were the only bright spots.The club has added defenseman Gaston Therrien, a seventh round draft pick from Quebec who had been playing in Switzerland. Rochester also obtained center Bill Army from the IHL, wingers Cam MacGregor and Brent Gogol and got defenseman Jim Walsh and center Richie Leduc back from the injury list.ADIRONDACK&mdash;According to published reports, the Red Wings may have the services of veteran Peter Mahovlich for nearly three seasons since his exile to Adirondack may be permanent. Detroit will have to pay his $250,000 annual salary and also honor contracts signed with George Lyle and Dennis Polonich, who were also sent to the AHL by ex-Adirondack Red Wings&rsquo; coach Wayne Maxner.Lyle scored in a recent 4-2 loss at home to New Haven and another former Detroit player. Bill Hoga-boam, had a hat trick in an 8-4 win over Binghamton.SPRINGFIELD&mdash;Larry Skinner&rsquo;s 12th goal of the year gave the Indians what turned out to be a 3-3 overtime tie against New Brunswick. Unfortunately, the Tribe fell apart in a 9-6 loss to that same team the next afternoon. They dropped a 5-4 game in Hershey and were blasted 7-1 in Binghamton to fall deeper in the Northern Division cellar.Right winger Doug Morrison was out for a while due to an injury and the club added veteran netminder Gary Carr to back up Roy Schultz. Carr appeared in 45 games last season with the now-defunct Syracuse Firebirds. He had a 4.43 GAA with the Firebirds in 1979-80 and is expected to remain with the Indians until Marco Baron is returned by the Boston Bruins. If Baron stays in Boston, Carr could remain in Springfield or the Indians could keep all three netminders.HERSHEY&mdash;Mark Lofthouse scored four goals as the Bears erupted for nine goals in the second period to destroy Rochester 11-4 before 6,648 frantic fans at the Hersheypark Arena. Darren Veitch, Lee Norwood and Errol Rausse each scored twice in that unbelievable game. Lofthouse also had a solo tally in a 7-4 loss in New Haven the next afternoon, ending the week tied for the AHL scoring lead.NEW HAVEN&mdash;The Nighthawks may be starting to roll. They beat Hershey, Adirondack and Binghamton during the week and have begun to play coach Rod Gilbert&rsquo;s close-checking style of hockey. Rookie netminder Steve Weeks has assumed the role of No. 1 goaltender and won his fifth in a row in New Haven&rsquo;s 3-1 victory over Binghamton.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01522/4431522-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="581" height="755"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pacing the latest Maine surge has been the play of Paul Evans, above, Gordie Clark and Wayne Schaab.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0022-01

Mariners Enjoy Clear Sailing To First Place

<div class="byline">BY TOM LOBAUGH</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSWICHITA&mdash;It began to look like the losing streak would never end, but the Wind finally broke their eight-game skid with a 3-2 victory in Oklahoma City.When Ace Bailey&rsquo;s club opened the season with seven straight losses (all on the road), the team never expected to go through another string like that one. But the late January-early February slump eclipsed the earlier woes, and this time the skein included five games at home.Don Ashby got what proved to be the winning goal just 31 seconds into the third period at Oklahoma City. Don Murdoch and Walt Poddubny had scored in the first, around an OC goal by Warren Young. Joe Contini scored later for the Stars, while the Wind was short two men on penalties.Andy Moog was tremendous in the Wichita nets, especially in the scoreless second period, when he turned back 17 shots. The Wind had to kill four penalties in that session.The last two losses in the eight-game streak included a 6-0 shutout at home by Tulsa&rsquo;s Yves Dechene and a 7-3 licking in Oklahoma City.INDIANAPOLIS&mdash;The surging Checkers rang up their seventh straight victory (a club record) and right wing Hector Marini extended his point-scoring streak to 17 straight games.The latest victories were a pair in Salt Lake, where the Checkers edged the Golden Eagles, 4-3, and came back two nights later for a 5-2 win. Earlier Bert Marshall&rsquo;s men had trounced Fort Worth twice in Market Square Arena, 9-2 and 5-0 (with Roland Melanson posting his second shutout of the season).Dave Cameron got the hat trick in the 9-2 victory, and Garth MacGuigan set a club record with six points (two goals, four assists. Alex Pirus scored twice in the second period of Melanson&rsquo;s shutout victory, giving Alex seven goals in his last seven games.It was Charlie Skjodt scoring a hat trick, all in a span of 12:11 in the first period, in the first victory at the Salt Palace. In the rematch the Checkers again took charge with three goals in the first period&mdash;by Mike Hordy, Billy Carroll and Cameron.Marini&rsquo;s point string was starting to threaten the unofficial CHL record of 21 straight games by Danny Seguin for Seattle in 1974-75 but he was recalled by the Islanders.The Checkers lost goalie Michel Dion when he was traded by Quebec to Winnipeg. As the new week began, Rob Holland was acquired on loan from Pittsburgh to back up Melanson, and Los Angeles returned veteran defenseman Rob Palmer.TULSA&mdash;Winning two out of three on the road, in spite of a personnel shortage, was pleasing to Oiler coach Bobby Guindon. Yves Dechene scored his first professional shutout in a 6-0 victory at Wichita. The Oilers dropped a 5-2 decision in Forth Worth, but bounced back with a 4-2 triumph in Oklahoma City.All six Tulsa goals at Wichita came on power plays&mdash;three of them by Kris Manery for his second hat trick of the season, and 13 goals in 14 Oiler starts. After that game Kris was recalled by the parent Winnipeg Jets, along with defenseman Mark Plantery. Right wing Jimmy Mann, who flew home to Winnipeg to retrieve his car, was held up at the border by U.S. Immigration officials, and missed the games at Wichita and Fort Worth.Defenseman Richard Mulhern and goalie Pierre Hamel were assigned to Tulsa by the Jets, but didn&rsquo;t arrive. Rookie right wing Tom Gibson, recalled from Richmond in the Eastern League, missed a plane connection, and didn&rsquo;t get on the ice until three minutes after the third period started in Fort Worth.To have a bare minimum of players, Guindon inserted himself into the lineup, and got a goal in the losing effort.With Mann on hand at Oklahoma city, Guindon was back in street clothes. The Oilers took charge in the first period, when Murray Eaves and John Bethel each scored his 20th goal, and Gibson his first in the CHL. Ben Gosselin completed the scoring in the second, and Lindsay Middlebrook&rsquo;s goaltending stood out, as the Oilers held off the Stars in the third.DALLAS&mdash;Playing 10 games in 12 nights is a nightmare no coach wants to tackle. But Danny Belisle&rsquo;s Black Hawks did it and came through with an 8-1-1 record!The skein included four wins at home, plus four victories, a loss and a tie on the road. The 4-4 tie in Tulsa opened the grind. The lone loss was a 2-1 squeaker in Fort Worth in the 11th game of the 12.&ldquo;You could see the fatigue in the guys&rsquo; faces,&rdquo; said Belisle that night in Fort Worth. Dave Ross&rsquo; early power play goal was eclipsed when Dave Watson and Bobby Crawford scored for Fort Worth late in the final period.Earlier that week the Hawks had beaten Oklahoma City twice, 9-3 in OC and a 9-0 shutout at home by Paul Harrison (his second of the season).Before and after the losing trip to Fort Worth, the Hawks easily handled Birmingham twice at home, 8-4 and 6-2. Kevin Primeau had two shorthanded goals, Gary Lupul one, for the week. Rick Blight was the CHL&rsquo;s busiest scorer, collecting five goals and seven assists. The Hawks stretched their first-place margin to 13 points over Salt Lake.Center Mike Kaszycki was recalled by the Toronto Maple Leafs.OKLAHOMA CITY&mdash;&ldquo;Guaranteed Win Night&rdquo; didn&rsquo;t turn out that way for the Stars, as they bowed, 4-2, at home against the Tulsa Oilers, giving Tulsa a 6-5 edge in the 17-game Turnpike Series and a 4-2 advantage in the OC Myriad. As a result, the 5,147 fans were offered free admission to a game the following week.Earlier, the Stars had lost twice to Dallas, 9-3 and 8-0, but they broke their seven-game losing streak by beating Wichita at home, 7-3. After the loss to Tulsa, the Stars faced Wichita again at home and lost, 3-2.Goalie Louis Levasseur came back after a six-week injury layoff. He started the first game againt Dallas, but was relieved by Jim Weaver after yielding four goals in the first 11 minutes. Friest had two goals in the runaway victory over Wichita. The Stars broke a tie by scoring four goals in a little more than two minutes, late in the third period.The Stars recalled center Jon Fontas and defenseman Gerry Ciarcia (pronounced &ldquo;Cha-Cha&rdquo;) from Baltimore in the Eastern League.SALT LAKE&mdash;The Golden Eagles dropped three out of four starts in the Salt Palace, where they had been almost unbeatable for much of the season.Birmingham rallied for a 6-5 overtime victory on J. C. Stewart&rsquo;s goal after 4:01 of the extra period. The Eagles squandered an early three-goal lead. But two nights later Doug Grant was invincible in the nets for a 5-0 shutout victory. Then Indianapolis invaded the Palace for 4-3 and 5-2 decisions.Goalie Rick Heinz returned from the St. Louis Blues, after Paul Skidmore broke a hand warming up for a game. Joey Mullen continued to lead CHL scorers, with 84 points. His closest challenger, Oklahoma City&rsquo;s Joe Contini, had 76.Red Laurence had two goals in the loss to Birmingham, Steve Harrison two in the victory over that club. The Eagles lost defenseman Neil Labatte with a shoulder separation, which required surgery.BIRMINGHAM&mdash;High point of the week was a 6-5 overtime win in Salt Lake by John Brophy&rsquo;s Bulls. But that was followed by a 5-0 shutout loss in the same city, then 8-4 and 6-2 losses in Dallas.The Bulls had fought back from a three-goal deficit to beat Salt Lake. Bobby Gould and Mike Dwyer scored 25 seconds apart in the third period to tie it up, and John C. Stewart won it after 4:01 of overtime.But the Bulls couldn&rsquo;t beat Doug Grant in the rematch. Brad Smith and Gould provided a quick 2-0 lead in the first game at Dallas, but then the roof caved in.Goalie Tim Bernhardt, stung for three goals in the first eight minutes of the first game in Salt Lake, was relieved by Jim (Seaweed) Pettie. Pettie then became the Bulls&rsquo; only goaltender, as Bernhardt was recalled by the Calgary Flames.FORT WORTH&mdash;Dave Watson had a goal in each period for a hat trick that keyed the Texans&rsquo; 5-2 home victory over Tulsa, snapping a five-game winless string. Coach Ron Ullyot&rsquo;s club followed that win with a 2-1 upset of league-leading Dallas. Earlier, however, the Texans had lost twice in Indianapolis, 9-2 and 5-0 (with Roland Melanson getting the shutout).Goalie Bill Oleschuk worked most of the victory over Dallas, but had to leave after eight minutes of action, when a Rick Blight slapshot broke a blade of the goalie&rsquo;s skates. The blade went into the net, but Oleschuk made sure the puck didn&rsquo;t. He returned for the last two periods, as Watson and Bobby Crawford scored the tying and winning goals.Bob Attwell returned from the Colorado Rockies, and Bob Jansch was recalled from Muskegon in the International League. But the Rockies recalled center Jack Valiquette, Los Angeles summoned center Andre St. Laurent, and forward Dan Lucas was reassigned to Rochester in the American League.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01489/4431577-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="577" height="785"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Ashby&rsquo;s goal early in the third period enabled the Wind to end their winless streak at eight games.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0023-01

Wichita Uncovers Winning Formula; Checkers’ Streak Sets Club Record

<div class="byline">BY BUD GALLMEIER</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSMILWAUKEE&mdash;Maybe the third time will prove the charm for Phil Wittliff and the Milwaukee Admirals. But, then again, the odds don&rsquo;t say so.Wittliff is again the Admiral coach, marking the second time in as many seasons he has been called upon to save a sinking ship. It didn&rsquo;t work last season. In fact, the Admirals have changed coaches five times and have yet to achieve the ultimate.Wittliff, who doubles as general manager, was named to replace Nellie LeClair, under whom the Admirals had skated to an 18-27-9 record. The most damaging evidence against LeClair was a seven-game losing streak. All the losses came on the road.The coaching change wasn&rsquo;t all that much of a surprise. The timing and manner in which those involved were informed, however, was.Following a 6-3 win over Flint which snapped the seven-game losing streak, Lloyd Pettit, who along with his wife, Jane, own the Admirals, visited the team dressing room and congratulated the players on the win and gave the team his support. Nothing was said to the players&mdash;or LeClair&mdash;about a coaching change. The game was on Wednesday night. The decision to make a change apparently was made on Thursday but LeClair wasn&rsquo;t informed until Friday morning; the team was alerted on Friday night.LeClair was quite upset about the sequence of events. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to bad-mouth the owners. But the way it was handled was very bad on their part. If they&rsquo;d called me after we lost those seven straight I could have understood that. But we come back and win and after the game the owner asks me if he can talk to the players. He made a nice speech and the players applauded him. They felt great about it. And so did I.&ldquo;Then the next day I&rsquo;m gone. We win and then they pull the carpet on me. After that speech, hey, this surprised me. I had no idea it was coming. I can&rsquo;t say it&rsquo;s fair not letting me finish the season, then judge how I did.&rdquo;The Admirals won their first game under Wittliff, 5-3 at home over Kalamazoo, but the players didn&rsquo;t think the new coach was the difference.&ldquo;It [the change] didn&rsquo;t make any difference tonight,&rdquo; said Fred Berry. &ldquo;It might in the long run. But Phil only talked to us for 10 minutes. What can a guy do in 10 minutes? You can&rsquo;t make a Turner Cup team in 10 minutes.&ldquo;I feel sorry for Nellie. Everybody liked him. Everybody respected him. But I guess we just goofed off too much for him.&ldquo;The schedule favors us with all the home games coming up. You would think that they would have given him a chance at least for a few home games. We were the ones playing terrible,&rdquo; Berry added.Milwaukee had played 33 road games and just 25 at home. After the two-game winning streak at home, the Admirals went on the road again and lost (under Wittliff) at Toledo, 9-1, before bouncing back at home against Kalamazoo, 7-3, for a 3-1 week. The Admirals are third in the West Division and tied for fifth overall.Elsewhere in the IHLFORT WAYNE&mdash;The Komets lost the services of defenseman Pete Crawford for at least four weeks because of a knee injury suffered in a 3-3 tie at Saginaw. Crawford, who is fourth on the Komets scoring list with 50 points (15 goals), suffered partially torn ligaments.The Komets temporarily maintained their four-point lead over Kalamazoo in the West Division race with a victory at home against Saginaw, 5-1, and a pair of ties in a three-game road trip. The K&rsquo;s lost at Toledo, 6-5, but tied Port Huron, 4-4, and Saginaw, 3-3. Barry Scully continued his goal-scoring spree and now has 51 goals in 56 games. Scully led the IHL last season with 61 goals.KALAMAZOO&mdash;The K-Wings snapped a modest losing streak with a 4-3 win over Muskegon at home, but the Wings weren&rsquo;t as successful on the road. They dropped a pair, 5-3 at Milwaukee and 3-0 in Muskegon. The shutout was the second straight for the Wings in Muskegon.MUSKEGON&mdash;The Mohawks were 1-2 for the week and still trail the rest of the league. Muskegon trails third-place Milwaukee in the West Division and is neck and neck with Toledo, which is last in the East Division.The lone victory was the 3-0 shutout of Kalamazoo. The losses came on the road, 5-2 at Toledo and 4-3 in Kalamazoo.SAGINAW&mdash;The Gears had two chances to close in on the overall lead during the week but came away with just one point. The Komets whipped the Gears, 5-1, in Fort Wayne and then held on for a 3-3 tie in the Gear Box. Saginaw has defeated the Komets just once so far this season&mdash;and that was in Fort Wayne.In the other start, the Gears took a high-scoring duel from Flint, 9-7. Saginaw leads the East Division by a comfortable margin ahead of Flint, but they&rsquo;re third in the overall race.FLINT&mdash;The Generals picked up two points on a three-game road trip, the only win coming at Port Huron, 7-3. Losses came at Milwaukee, 6-3, and Saginaw, 9-7. The Generals have a five-point lead over Port Huron for second place in the East and are fourth overall.PORT HURON&mdash;The Flags almost suffered a totally lost week at home. They got just one point out of four, tying Fort Wayne, 4-4, and losing to Flint, 7-3. The tie with Fort Wayne was the fourth between the two clubs. Port Huron has lost just once to the power-ful Komets in six games, winning one and playing the four ties.TOLEDO&mdash;The Diggers had the best week of any of the East Division clubs, matching the 3-1 performance of Milwaukee. Three of the games were at home where the Diggers were successful over Muskegon, 5-2; Fort Wayne, 6-5; and Milwaukee, 9-1. The streak ended on the road at Milwaukee, 7-3.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01508/4431608-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="584" height="873"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nellie LeClair was upset with the timing of his firing by Milwaukee&mdash;a day after a slump-ending victory against Flint.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0024-01

Wittliff Coaching Admirals Again As LeClair Forced To Walk Plank

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01443/4431639-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg"></div>ENTER Hockey News SWEEPSTAKES NOW&hellip;You may win BIG PRIZES&hellip;AND A YEAR&rsquo;S SUBSCRIPTION will save more than 50c a week from the newsstand price<h2>GRAND PRIZE: Sony Color Pojection TV System & 50&rdquo; Screen!</h2>The ultimate in home viewing&hellip;your &ldquo;box seat&rdquo; to a world of exciting, king-size TV action.(Value: $3,200)<h2>2nd PRIZE (2 winners): Sony Betamax!</h2>For television viewers who can&rsquo;t always watch what they want and when.(Value: $1,350 each)<h2>3rd PRIZE (5 winners): Brunswick Air Hockey Games!</h2>Challenge your family and friends to a battle of offensive and defensive skills.(Value: $350 each)<h2>4th PRIZE (10 winners): Official NHL Team Jerseys!</h2>&hellip;with the winner&rsquo;s name imprinted across the back of the team jersey of his or her choice. (Value: $100 each)<h2>5th PRIZE (25 winners): Head-to-Head Electronic Hockey Game!</h2>Capture all the speed and excitement of ice hockey in your own home. (Value: $45 each)<h2>6th PRIZE (1OO winners): The Hockey News Toques!</h2>A warm way of saying we&rsquo;d like you to have us on your mind from time to time! (Value: $5 each)<h2>OFFICIAL RULES&hellip;No Purchase Necessary</h2>Here&rsquo;s how the Sweepstakes work:I. Winners will be selected in random drawings conducted under the supervision of the D.L. Blair Corporation, an independent judging organization whose decisions are final Special drawings will be conducted to award the &ldquo;Early Bird Bonus&rdquo;. Prizes. Prizes will be awarded to entries which are returned in accordance with the directions published in this offer.2. Entries must be received by December 31, 1981, the final closing date for the sweepstakes. One prize to a family, with the exception of the the &ldquo;Early Bird Bonus&rdquo; Prize! Winners will be notified by mail. No substitution for prizes. Tax on any prize is the sole responsibility of the winner. Value of all prizes is in U.S. currency.3. Sweepstakes open to residents of the United States and Canada, except employees of The Hockey News, its affiliates, agencies, and their respective families. Sweepstakes is void wherever prohibited by law and in the U.S. is subject to all Federal, State, and local laws and regulations; in Canada to all Federal, Provincial and Municipal laws and regulations. The odds of winning depend upon the number of entries received.4. In order to win a prize, residents of Canada will be required to correctly answer within 30 days of notification a time-limited arithmetical skill-testing question.5. A total of 146 prizes will be awarded. The prizes and their approximate values as of August 1,1980 are: Grand Prize: Projection TV system, value: $3,200; 2 Second Prizes: Video-cassette recorder, value: $1,350 each; 5 Third Prizes: Air Hockey game. value:$350 each; 10 Fourth Prizes: NHL team jersey, value: $100 each; 25 Fifth Prizes: Electronic Hockey Game, value: $45 each; 100 Sixth Prices: Toque, value $5 each; 3 Early Bird Bonus Prizes:cash, value $500 each.6. Winners of major prizes will be obligated to sign and return an Affidavit of Eligibility within 30 days of notification. In the event of non-compliance within this time period, alternative winners will be selected. Prizes or prize notifications returned to the sponsor or to D. L. Blair Corporation as undeliverable will be awarded to alternative winners.7. For a list of winners send a separate, stamped, self-addressed envelope to: Hockey News &ldquo;Fans Players &rsquo;81 Sweepstakes Winners List. 850 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022.All prizes will be awarded &#9632;

f0025-01

Be a hockey winner…and a hockey saver!

<div class="byline">BY PATRICK LYON</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSSALEM&mdash;A change in captains has brought about a big change in the Raiders and Pat Kelly&rsquo;s charges are breathing down the necks of second place Richmond.With the Raiders struggling a few weeks ago and falling back to fourth place behind Baltimore, the Salem players decided to elect a new captain. The result was Bruce Greig and Ed Starkey being named co-captains in a vote among the club&rsquo;s players.&ldquo;Bruce Greig and Ed Starkey are really helping to lead the team now,&rdquo; revealed Kelly. &ldquo;They thought a change should be made and so they took the vote. [Former captain] Bob Ferguson has been having a tough year, but the change took the pressure off him and now he&rsquo;s playing better than he has all season.&rdquo;The Raiders were on a six-game winning streak and moved within four points of Richmond when this issue went to press. &ldquo;Our goal right now is to move into second place and I think we can do it,&rdquo; Kelly noted. &ldquo;For a while we were concentrating on trying to keep third place from Baltimore, but now we&rsquo;re setting our sights on the Rifles.&rdquo;Salem isn&rsquo;t noted for a big offensive attack so they rely on their defense and there has been none better in the last six outings. Raider foes managed just 11 goals in six games and Kelly was quick to extol his forwards as well as defensemen and goaltenders. &ldquo;Our whole defensive play has improved and the forwards are even helping out by dropping back faster.&rdquo;Kelly praised his goalies, Jim Stewart and Gilles Moffet, for their recent outstanding play. Moffet&rsquo;s 6-0 shutout victory over Richmond was his third whitewash, making him the EHL leader. Overall, Moffet was 10-12-3 and 3.70 while Stewart checked in at 4-1-1 with a goals-against mark of 3.91.Greig had two goals and Starkey one in a 3-1 conquest in Hampton, then Starkey netted a pair in the blanking of Richmond which was played before 2,500. Claude LaFontaine, Jim Toomey, Greig and Pierre LaGace collected the other scores and the steady Moffet had 35 saves.ERIE&mdash;It was trainer Mike Caron to the rescue of the-injury riddled Blades. With regular goalies Carey Walker and Rick Knickle both injured in the same game, Caron was named as a back-up goal tender for the following night&rsquo;s contest with Richmond.Erie coach Nick Polano put in an emergency call to Rochester and was told that Mike Parker would be dispatched immediately to Erie. Enroute to Erie, Parker&rsquo;s car broke down and Caron was forced to play the entire 60 minutes.The Blade trainer had never played in a professional game and it was his first performance in the nets since he played for Lewiston (Maine) high school in 1972. Caron made some spectacular saves and knocked away 30 Richmond shots, but the Rifles won 5-3. The substitute netminder was awarded the game&rsquo;s first star and lost ten pounds during the long contest.Polano searched for another goaltender and landed Jim Bales from Hampton. Bales showed a 1-10-1 record and 6.74 goals-against average coming to Erie, but he won his first game in an Erie uniform in a 5-4 decision in Baltimore. It was Bales&rsquo; first win between the pipes since December 27. Chris Halyk had two goals including the game-winner.Erie lost Knickle for ten days with a sprained thumb and Walker for three weeks with a strained knee. Joining them on the injured list were Louis Sleigher (back spasms) and Richard David (infected elbow).The Blades also blasted the Rifles 10-5 with Halyk getting the hat trick. Scott McGeown had a goal and three assists; Ron Hanais also had three assists.HAMPTON&mdash;Larry Mickey added goalie Bob Dupuis to the roster after selling Jim Bales to Erie. Dupuis played in three Olympic games with Canada and most recently competed in Milwaukee where he was 3-11-1 in 17 games with a 4.88 goals-against average.Mickey felt that Bales was struggling and needed a change of scenery.The Aces ended a five-game winless streak with their 7-3 home victory over the Clippers. Dave Walter thrilled the crowd of 2,600 with a first period hat trick. Walter is third in the EHL in scoring with 56 points.Hampton also fell at home to Salem 3-1 with Steve Salvucci scoring the lone Aces&rsquo; tally; the Virginia crew then suffered a 5-3 loss on the road in Baltimore. Salvucci, Walter and Rich Kramp had the Hampton goals with player-coach Mickey passing off for three assists.BALTIMORE&mdash;The Clippers were trying to get back on the right track following five setbacks in six games. Baltimore topped Hampton 5-3, but then lost to the Aces 7-3 and Erie 5-4.Jon Fontas tallied two goals and one assist in the triumph and Dave Tracy had a pair in the loss to the Aces. The Clippers were quickly out of the 7-3 contest with Hampton racing to a 5-0 advantage.Tracy came back with another two-goal performance as Baltimore lost their fourth game on home ice to Erie this season.Fred Ahern, who left the club to seek out a job prospect, decided to return to the club for the remainder of the year.It seems apparent that Pete Hayek, John Meredith and Wes Coulson will remain in Oklahoma City for the remainder of the campaign. Norm Stefan returned from a wrist injury to the Clipper lineup.RICHMOND&mdash;The Rifles continued to slip with a 2-5-1 mark in eight games and their second-place standing was threatened for the first time.Andre Beaulieu&rsquo;s club split two weekend games in Erie as they were bombed 10-5, but rebounded for a 5-3 decision.The Rifles then yielded valuable ground when they lost two games on the road in Salem and in the process scored only two goals.Just after removing a protective facial shield, high scoring Tom Mullen was re-injured in Erie and carried from the ice on a stretcher. Mullen was fourth in scoring with 54 points in 33 games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01456/4431670-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="577" height="906"><figcaption class="caption-body">Center Pierre Lagace has joined Bruce Greig and Bob Ferguson on Salem&rsquo;s most potent line.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0026-01

Raiders Appoint New Co-Captains But Defense Reason Behind Surge

<div class="byline">BY VIRG FOSS</div>MINNEAPOLIS&mdash;For the first time since 1975, the MacNaughton Cup, symbolic of Western Collegiate Hockey Association supremacy, appears headed for the University of Minnesota.Coach Brad Buetow&rsquo;s Gophers clinched a tie for the title by handling state rival Minnesota-Duluth 5-2 and 9-1 to be assured of going into the final weekend of play with at least a piece of the championship.Minnesota needs just a win or a tie in its final two-game series at Denver to win it outright. Denver and Wisconsin are the two teams left with a mathematical chance at pulling out a tie, but Denver would have to sweep the Gophers and Wisconsin would have to win twice at Notre Dame at the same time for a three-way deadlock to result.Minnesota&rsquo;s sweep over Duluth wasn&rsquo;t without a sad moment. Neal Broten, the only member of the 1980 gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic hockey team to return to college hockey, dislocated his left elbow in the first 40 seconds of the first game and could be lost for the season.It could be a telling blow for the Gophers, alredy playing without ace goaltender Jim Jetland, out with a pulled hamstring. Broten went into the weekend ranked third in league scoring with 52 points, one behind brother Aaron and two behind team-mate Steve Ulseth. Neal, who set a Minnesota school record with 52 assists in 33 games this season, will be sorely missed on the power play, which has accounted for 71 of Minnesota&rsquo;s 192 goals this season.The Gophers didn&rsquo;t need Neal against Duluth, which ran its losing streak to six and has 10 losses in its last 11 league games. Aaron Broten&rsquo;s two goals sparked the Gophers in the opener, then Ulseth&rsquo;s third hat trick of the season carried the Gophers to the romp the second night. Aaron Broten picked up two more goals, his 37th and 38th of the year, to become Minnesota&rsquo;s all-time single season scoring leader with 83 points, topping the mark of 82 set by Tim Harrer last year.Michigan, now in a three-way deadlock for fourth place with defending champion North Dakota and Michigan Tech, continues to play the best hockey in the WCHA right now.The Wolverines put a severe crimp in Denver&rsquo;s title aspirations by pounding the Pioneers 9-4 and 7-5 in Michigan, running Michigan&rsquo;s winning streak to seven games. In those seven games, the Wolverines have scored an amazing 57 goals, an average of better than eight goals per game.Roger Bourne snapped a 5-5 tie at 4:41 of the third period to give Michigan the victory in the second game and Jeff Mars chipped in with two goals, after Michigan had rolled to an easy 9-4 win in the series opener.Wisconsin kept its title hopes alive by salvaging one win out of a two-game series at home against cellard welling Michigan State, which took a 4-19-1 record into the series.Freshman goaltender Ron Scott stoned the Badgers in the opener, making 51 saves, 20 of them in the third period when the Badgers were pressuring for the tie. Mark Hamway&rsquo;s hat trick sparked Michigan State in the opener, won 5-3 by the Spartans. Ken Paraskevin had the other Michigan State goals.In the second game, the Badgers rallied from a 4-3 deficit in the third period after Paraskevin and Hamway had put State into the lead. Pete Johnson, the son of Wisconsin coach Bob Johnson, got the winning goal at 12:14 of the third period, his second goal of the game. That left the Badgers in a deadlock for second with Denver, both with 32 points, four points behind Minnesota and just two ahead of North Dakota, Michigan and Michigan Tech.In Grand Forks, defensive hockey was the byword both nights as the Sioux were mathematically eliminated from repeating as WCHA champs, a title they&rsquo;ve held the last two years.Darren Jensen had 32 saves and Troy Murray, Cary Eades, Phil Sykes and Dusty Carroll each scored one goal as the Sioux won the opener 4-2. Jensen held the Sioux close in the first period, when Tech put 15 shots on goal to just seven for the Sioux.But Tech salvaged a split by winning 5-3 in the second game as freshman center Ron Zuke had two goals and set up a third. North Dakota nearly pulled it out, but Eades had a goal disallowed with just over two minutes left, 15 seconds before teammate Murray popped one in that counted. But Al Michalick cut off the Sioux comeback with a clinching goal at 18:26.Meanwhile, Colorado College locked up seventh place by sweeping Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, dropping Notre Dame&rsquo;s WCHA home record to 1-10-1 this season.Colorado College won the opener 4-3, then took a 5-2 victory in the second game to put Notre Dame on the brink of elimination from league playoffs.WCHA NOTES&mdash;Notre Dame has lost defenseman Scott Cameron for the year with a shoulder injury&hellip;Duluth goalie Bill Perkl, who has been out of the lineup for nine games, could return for the final series against North Dakota&hellip;Michigan Tech is playing without scoring leader Rick Boehm, sidelined with an ankle injury. &#9632;

Minnesota Assured Of Tie For WCHA Honors

<div class="byline">BY MIKE MURRAY</div>KINGSTON&mdash;Amidst all the turmoil surrounding the Ontario Universities Athletic Association&rsquo;s regular season schedule with protests over facemasks, forfeited games and a suspended game which took three months to complete, the Queen&rsquo;s Golden Gaels very quietly captured first place and a bye into the semifinal playoff round.While Guelph, Toronto and Western were often commanding the headlines, Queen&rsquo;s continued to play the type of solid hockey which saw them cruise through the final three months of the schedule unbeaten. Following an 8-2 setback at the hands of the Laurier Golden Hawks on November 23, coach Fred O&rsquo;Donnell&rsquo;s crew gradually rose to the top of the league. &ldquo;We never really thought about the streak that much,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Donnell said. &ldquo;We were involved in such a tight race that the only thing we knew was that we couldn&rsquo;t afford a loss.&rdquo;Ironically, a victory over Laurier gave Queen&rsquo;s a 14-3-5 mark for 33 points and a one-point edge over Western to clinch first-place honors, but the playoff picture couldn&rsquo;t be ascertained until York and Toronto completed the final 12 and a half minutes of a game that had been suspended as a 4-4 tie on Nov. 21. York protested that the tying goal, scored on a delayed penalty call when a Toronto player hit the stick of a York skater and the puck went into the vacated net, should be disallowed. It was&mdash;and the two teams replayed the game from that point on with York holding a 4-3 lead. This time, each team scored a goal to give York a 5-4 win and fifth place in the standings, while Toronto slipped to third and missed an automatic bye which the first and second-place teams were awarded.Leading the way for Queen&rsquo;s has been Paul Stothart, a third-year student who led the OUAA in scoring with 30 goals and 28 assists and must be considered a leading candidate for Player of the Year honors.But there&rsquo;s also another player whom O&rsquo;Donnell feels deserves a great deal of credit&mdash;goaltender Andy Chisholm. &ldquo;Chisholm was our back-up for the past three years,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Donnell said, &ldquo;but he waited patiently and when he got his turn he was superb.&rdquo;Chisholm was the big man for Queen&rsquo;s when the playoffs started, blanking York 8-0 and then handling them 6-2 to send Queen&rsquo;s into the finals against the Toronto-Western winner.CWUAA&mdash;Who would ever have believed that by mid-February that the defending national champion Alberta Golden Bears would have eliminated themselves from the Canada West Conference playoffs? But that&rsquo;s precisely what happened when Alberta dropped three crucial games in a row.Alberta was deadlocked with Saskatchewan with 20 points entering a weekend series. However Saskatchewan goalie Steve Amiss stole the show for the Huskies as he held the Golden Bears to a single goal over six periods. On Friday night, the Huskies jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and won easily, 6-1. The following night, Amiss turned in his first shutout of the year before a capacity crowd in a 2-0 Huskie victory. The win moved them four points ahead in the standings and ended any hopes Alberta had of making it four straight national championships.After dropping the two games to Saskatchewan, the Golden Bears were forced to face the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds the following evening and were losers in a triple overtime game which put the final nail in their coffin.Earlier in the season, the Golden Bears were unsuccessful in a similar three-games-in-three-nights format and that, plus a trip to the World Student Games in Spain, may have been a little too much in the tough CWUAA schedule which demands a lot of traveling.The first-place Calgary Dinosaurs must have heaved a sigh of relief about not having to face Alberta in the playoffs after last year&rsquo;s experience of winning the conference title, only to lose to Alberta, which entered the national finals as a wild card. Of course, the Dinosaurs should be leery of Saskatchewan, who could do the same thing this year.QUAA&mdash;Ottawa coach Norm Chouinard may be still shaking his head. His Gee Gees humiliated the Chicoutimi Inuks with a 16-1 whipping in the first half of a weekend doubleheader, but the following day when the final score came across the wire service, everyone must have done a double take&mdash;the Inuks came out on top of a 7-6 score.&ldquo;We showed a lack of discipline,&rdquo; Chouinard said in perhaps the understatement of the year. &ldquo;After clinching second place our guys went into the contest a bit relaxed.&rdquo;Ottawa&rsquo;s Rolly Hedges has virtually assured himself of the national scoring title by collecting another basketful of points in the two-game set. In the 16-1 opener, Hedges had five goals and five assists and he accounted for half of his team&rsquo;s six goals in the rematch. His 71 points gave him an eight-point bulge over Mount Allison&rsquo;s Ross Yates for the No. 1 spot.Elsewhere in the Quebec Universities Athletic Association, the Concordia Stingers downed the McGill Redmen 5-1 to mark the 400th lifetime win for coach Paul Arsenault. Over a span of 17 seasons, Arsenault has twice been voted by his colleagues as Coach of the Year in Canada, first in 1971-72 as the coach of Sir George Williams University and again in 1975-76 while he was handling the Stingers.Arsenault has accumulated a lifetime record of 400 wins, 164 losses and 59 ties, with his teams capturing the QUAA championship a total of 13 times.GPAC&mdash;What more can be said about the nation&rsquo;s No. 1 ranked team, the Brandon Bobcats, who recently ran their regular season record to 19-1? Faced with four games in a six-night stretch, the Bobcats completely overwhelmed their opposition, 48-11, to capture first place in the Great Plains Athletic Conference for the second year in a row.Led by Michigan transfer John Oliver&rsquo;s four goals in the opener, the Bobcats thrashed the Winnipeg Wesmen, 17-1 (tying a school mark for most goals) and 13-3. Oliver&rsquo;s linemate. Scott McLeod tied a GPAC record in the second game, collecting two goals and eight assists.Second-place Manitoba came in to Brandon on the heels of the Wesmen and had about the same luck, dropping 11-3 and 7-4 decisions.Brandon coach Andy Murray commented that &ldquo;one of the reasons for our success is the fact that we do not have to count on a single line to carry us offensively.&rdquo; Indeed the Bobcats received 23 points from McLeod in four games, another 16 from captain Gary Kaluzniak and have John Swan among the leaders in the scoring race. All three Brandon players are on separate lines. &#9632;

Quiet Queen’s Tops OUAA; Champs Can’t Defend Title

<div class="byline">BY TOM BURKE</div>BOSTON&mdash;The playoff picture is slowly shaping up in ECAC Division One, and as it does it has brought to light the only flaw in the conference&rsquo;s balanced and interlocking schedule format.Colgate and Boston College joined Clarkson and Northeastern in clinching at least a road-ice berth in the March 10 quarterfinals. New Hampshire and Providence continued to improve, making themselves virtual certainties for the top eight and threats for the top four as well.Maine and RP1 slipped a bit but still remained in contention, and they both kept ahead of the Ivy Division&rsquo;s scrambling members, Cornell, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and even Dartmouth.The flaw in the thing is that one of these Ivy teams is slated to be given a home ice berth in the playoffs. With just two weeks to go in the schedule, it seems likely that this provision will vault the Ivy survivor several notches in the seedings, from a ninth or tenth spot to a prescribed third. The team with the fourth best percentage will then drop to fifth and be forced to play on the road, while an eighth place outfit might possibly be passed over.Editorial note: While this looks quite unfair, that&rsquo;s just the breaks. The current format is better than in the old days, when teams could pick and choose who they would play and skip league members at will. In addition, at least the provision had been set out in writing beforehand, and no one can cry &ldquo;dirty pool&rdquo; at a star chamber seeding committee.Colgate had an impressive weekend at home in Hamilton, bouncing third-place Boston College to fourth-place Maine back to back nights. The wins vaulted the Red Raiders all the way to fourth themselves. Against BC, two goals in each period earned Terry Slater&rsquo;s crew their first win ever in a series dating back to 1954-55 and 16 contests. Freshman Mike Walsh had a pair of goals in the first period. The Eagles tied the score in the second frame before Jim Wallace and Denis Lapensee put Colgate ahead to stay.Against Maine, the fired-up Raiders put things away early with five consecutive first period goals. Danny Fridgen and Mike Houle each tallied twice in the game.Maine dropped a home ice decision to BC earlier in the week, so the twin losses put them at 10-8 and in danger of elimination from the top eight because three tough games remained against UNH, Providence, and Northeastern. The win was a critical one for the slumping Eagles, who had dropped three straight. Junior center Bill O&rsquo;Dwyer netted the hat trick and BC limited Maine to 25 shots on goal.Following their defeat at Colgate, BC bounced back with a 4-1 win at RPI and dampened the &ldquo;Big Red Freakout&rdquo; celebration in Houston Field House. Sophomore goalie Bob O&rsquo;Connor was much busier in this one, stopping 44 Engineer shots. It was 1-1 well into the third period when Mike O&rsquo;Neil scored the winner and Lee Blossom and Robin Monleson added insurance tallies.The loss was RPI&rsquo;s only game of the week and their fifth defeat in the last seven outings, dropping their record to 8-8 and crimping playoff hopes because two games with front running Clarkson remain on the schedule.Clarkson widened its first place edge with a pair of home ice wins, thumping Princeton 10-3 and Cornell 5-2. Steve Cruickshank broke a little personal slump with a hat trick against the Tigers. The Cornell game was tougher when Brian Hayward turned aside 46 shots and the Knights only held an edge of 3-2 after two periods. Bruce McDonough got the insurance goal with just under eight minutes to play.Cornell had lost to scrappy St. Lawrence the night before. Gary Lasloski, back from injury woes, nearly had a shutout that was spoiled by Brock Tredway with 2:52 remaining. George Goulakos had a pair of scores against the Ithacans, and he added another goal in the 5-1 Larrie victory over Princeton the next night. Ron Dennis was forced to make 39 saves for Princeton, a team that led the Ivy Division just two weeks ago.New Hampshire is still on fire. The Wildcats moved to a close fifth in the league by drubbing Vermont 9-2 and Brown 8-1 in Durham. Don Reeve, George White, and Andy Brickley all potted two goals against the luckless Catamounts, who are struggling through a disastrous campaign. Against Brown, freshman Paul Barton netted a pair and showed he&rsquo;s fully recovered from an early season injury. UNH needed four third period goals to put the Bruins away.Providence kept pace with UNH, slugging out two road victories to move into sixth spot ahead of Maine. Cross town rival Brown was an easy 9-2 victim. Fine freshman Gates Orlando scored twice at Meehan Auditorium. The game at snake-bitten Northeastern was hairier as the Friars took a 3-0 lead, yielded five straight goals to the hosts, then rallied on scores by Steve Evangelista, Dan Miele, and John Sullivan. PC added a pair of insurance goals in the third period, the only one that was relatively penaltyfree.NU had failed to hold onto a 5-3 lead in the second period of their other loss for the week, a 7-5 defeat by Yale. Randy Bucyk&rsquo;s score at 4:21 of the second period had given the Huskies that two-goal edge, but it didn&rsquo;t last long as George Minowada brought the tenacious Elis to within one at 6:01 and set the stage for Mark Crear&rsquo;s equalizer and Dave Williams&rsquo;, clincher.Yale salvaged a 5-5 tie in a rematch with favorite foe Harvard a few nights later. Williams, Jim Steiner, and Dan Pelisiani had combined to put the Elis in front late in the game, but defenseman Mark Pusco knotted the count with 3:16 to play. The teams battled through the extra session without scoring. Harvard captain Tom Murray assisted on all five of his team&rsquo;s goals.Harvard had won five straight before the tie, so they ended the week at 7-9-1 in league play, deadlocked with Cornell and St. Lawrence and just a shade behind Yale&rsquo;s 7-8-1 and a step ahead of Princeton at 7-10. As mentioned above, one of those teams will get home ice in the playoffs.Boston University looked ready to kiss mathematical chances goodbye in Burlington, Vermont as they fell behind the Catamounts 4-1 after two periods. But it took less than nine minutes in the third stanza to erase that deficit as goals by Todd Johnson, Mark Fidler, Tom O&rsquo;Regan, and Bill Whelton tied the score. Whelton&rsquo;s marker came at 8:34, and the teams battled from then to 9:10 of overtime when Daryl MacLeod scored unassisted on Sylvain Turcotte to keep the Terriers alive at 8-10 in league play with four games to go.Turcotte had made 47 saves for UVM, whose overall record plummeted to 8-19-2. They did win a shootout at Dartmouth earlier in the week, 10-7, with six goals coming in the final period.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01424/4431749-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="577" height="644"><figcaption class="caption-body">Colgate freshman Mike Walsh collected two goals to lead his team to the first win ever over Boston College.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0028-01

Playoff Set-Up Helps Ivy Division

<div class="byline">BY B. L. ELFRING</div>LOWELL&mdash;It all started in October with 31 teams seeking one of 16 elusive spots in this season&rsquo;s ECAC Division Two playoffs. Now, five months and over 700 games later, the ECAC Division Two playoff picture is set.Meeting in Boston, the ECAC&rsquo;s Division Two tournament committee picked the 16 teams for this year&rsquo;s tournaments. In the east, the University of Lowell, with an 18-3 record, was selected as the top team, followed by Merrimack College, Salem State College and Bowdoin College. These four teams will have home ice for the quarterfinals.The surprise team of the east, New England College, was seeded fifth and will travel to Bowdoin. Babson College, with a big finish, will meet Salem State, while Holy Cross will journey to Merrimack. Lowell will host the other surprise team in the east, Colby College.Out west, there were no real surprises as defending western region champion Oswego State picked up the No. 1 spot, followed by arch-rival Plattsburgh State. Elmira College and Norwich University. The Great Lakers, under first-year head coach Don Unger, finished with the best record in Division Two, 19-2-1.Hamilton College gets the unenviable task of traveling to Oswego in the opening round. Westfield State will take a trip north to battle Plattsburgh State, while North Adams State goes west to play Elmira. Norwich will host Williams College, the big surprise team in the western region this year.In the east, Lowell had a tough time getting by Colby in the only regular season meeting between the two squads. Bill Riley&rsquo;s Chiefs have been a February team over the past five seasons, compiling a 34-1-1 record. Mickey Goulet&rsquo;s Mules were having a great season until some tough luck hit late in the season and dropped them from a higher possible seeding.It will be a battle of contrasting styles, as Colby&rsquo;s controlled, European style gave Lowell fits the first time around. A slow-paced game would be to Colby&rsquo;s benefit. The Mules will need another big game from goaltender Paul Maier, one of the top-rated netminders in the east.Colby must be wary of Lowell&rsquo;s outstanding penalty killing units. The Chiefs have outscored their opponents, 17-16, while shorthanded over the last 20 games. Riley&rsquo;s troops will have to take the play to Colby and not allow the Mules to slow the pace.Merrimack split a pair of games with Holy Cross during the regular season, with the home team winning by identical 4-2 scores. Head coach Bruce Parker&rsquo;s team lost its bid for the No. 1 spot when it lost its second game in two weeks to Lowell. February 15, but clinched the second spot with wins over Bowdoin and Salem State.Holy Cross slipped into the playoffs by virtue of its big wins over Colby, New England College, Salem State, Norwich, and Merrimack. Peter Van Buskirk&rsquo;s Crusaders had their ups and downs this season, but had enough big wins to capture the seventh seed.The Crusaders upset Salem in last year&rsquo;s playoffs, but will need an outstanding game from the defense and goalie Frank Usseglio to duplicate last year&rsquo;s success. Merrimack has ridden the success of the high-scoring line of All American Tom Lawler, the east&rsquo;s top scorer; Mickey Rego, a 25-goal scorer; and John Vivieros. Goaltender Frank Bonaventure has proven more than capable since taking over the No. 1 job.Two very similar clubs will meet at O&rsquo;Keefe Arena when Salem hosts Babson. Salem will be trying to send departing coach Mike Gilligan off with the big prize, but must be on the lookout for the Beavers. Steve Stirling&rsquo;s team would love to avenge an early season 5-4 loss at the hands of the Vikings.Neither club is very big physically, and have depended on strong skating forwards and sound defensive play. Both teams have very capable goaltenders&mdash;Charlie Barbour for Salem and All American Cary Whear or junior Rick Cohen for Babson.Babson needed a big stretch run to make the playoffs, and has beaten Holy Cross, Norwich, Connecticut, and Colby to make the-post-season tourney. Salem had a six-game winning streak snapped in its season finale at Merrimack.Head coach Bill Beaney&rsquo;s New England College Pilgrims are making their first appearance in the playoffs, and have the unenviable task of playing perennial playoff power Bowdoin. The Pilgrims had a very sound year, and would like nothing more than to upset the Polar Bears in their own rink to gain a measure of respect.Bowdoin must guard against overlooking the Pilgrims. New England&rsquo;s schedule is not the most impressive, but they still won 14 of 20 league games. Sid Watson&rsquo;s team has the best record in post-season competition in the east, and has won four titles in nine tries. Watson also has Bill Provencher, the goaltender many feel is the best in Division Two.Everyone in the west is looking forward to a possible rematch of last year&rsquo;s final between Oswego State and Plattsburgh State, the two best teams in the west. The Great Lakers have drawn Hamilton in the first round, and will have the same problem as Bowdoin to guard against. The Continentals were only 6-10-3 in league play, but tied Oswego at home late in the year.The Great Lakers have the edge in every department, but in a single-elimination tournament, anything can happen. They have the offense in Bo Ellis and Kevin Flynn, both seniors, and junior Rick Pratt and sophomore Dave Lair, the west&rsquo;s top scorer. Goalie Ed Layton has been at or near the top of the goalie rankings all season.Along Lake Champlain, Herb Hammond&rsquo;s team faces Westfield State, a young team that has qualified for the Division Two tournament every year since moving up from Division Three. Plattsburgh has the horses to go all the way, but must avoid any slip-ups similar to the one two years ago when Norwich upset them in the semifinals.Hammond&rsquo;s Cardinals have a big edge where it counts the most in a tournament like this. Goaltender Rick Strack has been outstanding all season. Forwards Gaetan D&rsquo;Anjou and Pierre Brunet have carried the scoring load for Plattsburgh.In a rematch of last year&rsquo;s biggest tournament upset, Elmira hosts North Adams State. Barry Smith&rsquo;s Soaring Eagles will remember last year&rsquo;s 7-5 loss when they were the top-ranked team in the west. Smith does not have a Jeff Christina this year, but the Eagles are getting better balance in their offense. Goaltenders Jim Boyden and Mike MacDermott are both among the top five.Norwich had an excellent year, but must contend with Williams College, a team that beat the Cadets early in the year. Norwich knocked off Merrimack and Lowell on back-to-back weekends in January, but hit the skids with a three-game losing streak before going 4-1-1 in its last six outings.Williams owns an 8-5 win (at Northfield, Vt) over the Cadets, but a strong finish and the playoff experience edge is with the Cadets. &#9632;

Lowell, Oswego State Top Seeds For ECAC II

<h2>How They Stand</h2><h3>ECAC CONFERENCE</h3>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 26)DIVISION IEast Region<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01373/4431972-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="535" height="169"></div>West Region<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02278/4431965-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="531" height="167"></div>Ivy Region<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03177/4431958-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="534" height="166"></div>Independent<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04120/4431951-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="533" height="110"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Providence 3, Boston Univ. 2Boston College 4, Maine 1Yale 7, Northeastern 5N. Hampshire 9, Vermont 1Providence 9, Brown 2Vermont 10. Dartmouth 7Colgate 6, Boston College 3St. Lawrence 4, Cornell 1Clarkson 10. Princeton 3Boston College 4, RPI 1Boston Univ. 5. Vermont 4N. Hampshire 6. Brown 1Clarkson 5, Cornell 2Harvard 5, Yale 5Colgate 9. Maine 4St. Lawrence 5, Princeton 1Providence 8, Northeastern 5Army 10, RMC 5Bentley 6, Fitchburg St. 2AIC 6, Holy Cross 5St. Anselm&rsquo;s 8, Boston St. 3Lowell 6, Middlebury 3Wesleyan 6, Trinity 2<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-05104/4431944-1-eng-US/f0029-052.jpg" title="f0029-05" width="529" height="273"></div><h3>DIVISION II</h3>Playoff Quarter-FinalsEAST REGIONSat. Feb. 28Holy Cross at MerrimackBabson at Salem StateNE College at BowdoinSun. March 1Colby at LowellWEST REGIONSat. Feb. 28Hamilton at Oswego StateWestfield St. at Plattsburgh St.No. Adams St. at ElmiraWilliams at Norwich(All games sudden-death)<h2>WCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Feb. 27)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0682/4431937-1-eng-US/f0029-062.jpg" title="f0029-06" width="531" height="300"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Colorado C. 4, Notre Dame 3Colorado C. 5, Notre Dame 2Michigan 9, Denver 4Michigan 7, Denver 5Mich. State 5, Wisconsin 3Wisconsin 5, Mich. State 4No. Dakota 4, Mich. Tech 2Mich. Tech 5, No. Dakota 3Minnesota 5, UMD 2Minnesota 9, UMD 1<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0765/4431930-1-eng-US/f0029-072.jpg" title="f0029-07" width="536" height="414"></div><h2>CCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 24)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0857/4431923-1-eng-US/f0029-082.jpg" title="f0029-08" width="532" height="249"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Ohio State 7, Miami 6Ohio State 4, W. Michigan 3Ohio State 5, W. Michigan 5Ferris St. 6. Bowling Green 2Ferris St. 5, Bowling Green 3N. Michigan 5, Lake Superior 3N. Michigan 10, L. Superior 4Miami 15, Lake Forest 3Miami 11, Lake Forest 4<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-0952/4431916-1-eng-US/f0029-092.jpg" title="f0029-09" width="537" height="385"></div><h2>SCHA CONFERENCE</h2>(Standings on Fri. Feb. 20)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1044/4431909-1-eng-US/f0029-102.jpg" title="f0029-10" width="533" height="221"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Alabama 10, Georgia Tech 1Alabama 11, Georgia Tech 0Tennessee 14, Emory 3Tennessee 14, Emory 5<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1139/4431902-1-eng-US/f0029-112.jpg" title="f0029-11" width="533" height="247"></div><h2>ONTARIO CONFERENCE</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1235/4431895-1-eng-US/f0029-122.jpg" title="f0029-12" width="537" height="362"></div><h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1328/4431888-1-eng-US/f0029-132.jpg" title="f0029-13" width="535" height="303"></div><h2>QUEBEC CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1425/4431881-1-eng-US/f0029-142.jpg" title="f0029-14" width="535" height="224"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1521/4431874-1-eng-US/f0029-152.jpg" title="f0029-15" width="533" height="245"></div><h2>ATLANTIC CONFERENCE</h2><h3>KELLY DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1619/4431867-1-eng-US/f0029-162.jpg" title="f0029-16" width="533" height="168"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1717/4431860-1-eng-US/f0029-172.jpg" title="f0029-17" width="534" height="194"></div><h2>MacADAM DIVISION</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1817/4431853-1-eng-US/f0029-182.jpg" title="f0029-18" width="531" height="169"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-1912/4431846-1-eng-US/f0029-192.jpg" title="f0029-19" width="534" height="192"></div><h2>GPAC CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-2010/4431839-1-eng-US/f0029-202.jpg" title="f0029-20" width="529" height="166"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-277/4431832-1-eng-US/f0029-272.jpg" title="f0029-27" width="534" height="167"></div><h2>CANADA WEST CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-287/4431825-1-eng-US/f0029-282.jpg" title="f0029-28" width="532" height="139"></div><h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-297/4431818-1-eng-US/f0029-292.jpg" title="f0029-29" width="536" height="167"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>ONTARIO CONFERENCEYork 5, Toronto 4(Completion of Nov. 21 game)PLAYOFFSQuarter-FinalsYork 5, Guelph 4Toronto 8, McMaster 4(Sudden-death games)Semi-FinalsQueen&rsquo;s 8, York 0Queen&rsquo;s 6, York 2Queen&rsquo;s wins best-of-three series 2-0)QUEBEC CONFERENCEConcordia 5, McGill 1Laval 6. McGill 5Concordia 10, T-Rivieres 5Ottawa 16, Chicoutimi 1Laval 7, T-Rivieres 4Chicoutimi 7, Ottawa 6McGill 10, Bishop&rsquo;s 3ATLANTIC CONFERENCEUNB 8, St. Thomas 1Dalhousie 7, Acadia 4Dalhousie 7, St. Mary&rsquo;s 4St. F. Xavier 8, Moncton 6Mt. Allison 13, St. Thomas 4UNB 9. UPEI 2St. Thomas 11, UPEI 3Dalhousie 5. St. F. Xavier 3Moncton 9, St. Mary&rsquo;s 2UNB 5. Mt. Allison 5CANADA WEST CONFERENCECalgary 11, UBC 4Calgary 5, UBC 3Saskatchewan 6, Alberta 1Saskatchewan 2, Alberta0UBC 9, Alberta 8GPAC CONFERENCEBrandon 17, Winnipeg 1Brandon 13, Winnipeg 3Brandon 11, Manitoba 3Brandon 7, Manitoba 4<h2>ONTARIO COLLEGES</h2>(Final Standings)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-307/4431811-1-eng-US/f0029-302.jpg" title="f0029-30" width="538" height="282"></div><h3>FINAL SCORING LEADERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-316/4431804-1-eng-US/f0029-312.jpg" title="f0029-31" width="534" height="410"></div><h3>PLAYOFFS</h3>Quarter-FinalsSeneca 7, Fanshawe 4Seneca 4, Fanshawe 3(Seneca wins beat-of-three series 2-0)Conestoga 5, St. Clair 4St. Clair 7, Conestoga 3(Best-of-three series tied 1-1)Humber 5, Canadore 3(First of best-of-three series) &#9632;

f0029-01

College Scoreboard

<h2>ECAC CONFERENCE</h2><h3>FEBRUARY</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-2110/4432038-1-eng-US/f0029-212.jpg" title="f0029-21" width="560" height="444"></div><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-2210/4432031-1-eng-US/f0029-222.jpg" title="f0029-22" width="562" height="576"></div><h2>WCHA CONFERENCE</h2><h3>FEBRUARY</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-239/4432024-1-eng-US/f0029-232.jpg" title="f0029-23" width="551" height="263"></div><h3>PLAYOFFS MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-249/4432017-1-eng-US/f0029-242.jpg" title="f0029-24" width="532" height="132"></div><h2>CCHA CONFERENCE</h2><h3>FEBRUARY</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-258/4432010-1-eng-US/f0029-252.jpg" title="f0029-25" width="555" height="307"></div><h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-267/4432003-1-eng-US/f0029-262.jpg" title="f0029-26" width="508" height="64"></div> &#9632;

f0029-21

Games To Come

<div class="byline">BY JIM SCHNEIDER</div>MARQUETTE&mdash;Junior forwards Jeff Pyle and Steve Bozek paced Northern Michigan to a sweep of Lake Superior that clinched the second straight Central Collegiate Hockey Association regular season championship for the Wildcats.In other CCHA action three of the four playoff spots were decided on the weekend as Ferris State swept Bowling Green, 6-2 and 5-3, while Ohio State and Western Michigan played a pair of overtime games, with OSU winning the opener 4-3; the second game ended in a 5-5 tie. In a nonleague series Miami blasted Lake Forest for the second straight weekend, 15-3 and 11-4. OSU earned second and FSC third.In a mid-week game that counted in the standings, Ohio State edged Miami 7-6.NMU&rsquo;s All-America candidates Pyle and Bozek led the Wildcats to the 5-3, 10-4 win over Lake Superior (14-19-1; 6-13-1 CCHA).Bozek collected nine points in the series to earn CCHA Player of the Week honors while Pyle, the leading scorer in the CCHA, collected four goals in the second game and finished the weekend with seven points.Northern Michigan (23-10-1; 17-3 CCHA), tied for third in the weekly national rankings with Michigan, used a three-goal second period to ice the opener after Dave Ikkala had scored the lone goal of the first period.Kevin Collar tied the game for LSSC at 26 seconds of the second period, but Bozek scored goals at 5:31 and 6:21 for a 3-1 edge and Bruce Martin added the winning goal at 12:57 of the middle period.Pyle owned the second game, scoring power play goals at 8:52 and 12:54 of the first period for a 2-1 NMU lead, and he completed his hat trick with a power play goal at 11:52 of the second period. His fourth goal made the score 5-1 at 14:35 of the second frame.Bozek scored twice in the third period, including his ninth career shorthanded goal, as he extended his own NMU record. Pyle assisted on two third period goals for his six-point game.Pat Ansell made 75 saves in the series for Lake Superior and collected an assist in the opener. Collar had two Laker goals in the first game, while Steve Sherman added two goals in the second game.Ferris State 19-12-1; 12-8 CCHA) clinched third place with the sweep of Bowling Green and the power play was the key weapon in the opener as the Bulldogs scored four man-advantage goals to build a 5-0 lead against the Falcons (11-22-1; 8-11 CCHA).Tom Rudrud and Jim Baker gave FSC a 2-0 edge after one period and in the second period BG&rsquo;s Barry Mills was given a five-minute major penalty and Steve Banonis, Perry Zoldak and George Harrison each scored power play goals during that five-minute span.George McPhee and Nick Bandescu scored goals late in the second period for BG, but it was too little.Paul Cook scored two first period goals in the second game as FSC took a 4-2 lead. Wayne Wilson&rsquo;s power play cut FSC&rsquo;s lead to 3-2 at 19:07 of the first period, but Steve Banonis scored a key Bulldog goal at 19:47.Brian Hills netted the lone second period goal to cut the lead to 4-3, but Jim Baker&rsquo;s shorthanded goal from Larry Pedrie and Harrison clinched the win for Ferris State.Ohio State (22-10-1; 14-5-1 CCHA) clinched second place and home ice in the first round of the playoffs with two wins and a tie during the week, but had to play overtime each night at Western Michigan (12-19-2; 6-13-1 CCHA).Andy Browne&rsquo;s goal at 7:08 of the overtime period in the opener capped OSU&rsquo;s 4-3 comeback win over the host Western Michigan Broncos.WMU had taken a 2-0 lead on goals by Terry Olson and Dave Berthelsen in the first period, but goals by Dave Cosgrove and Steve Amoruso in the second period for the Buckeyes tied the game.WMU led 3-2 on Bob Scurfield&rsquo;s goal at 4:46 of the third period, but Larry Marson&rsquo;s power play tally for OSU at 11:19 sent the game into overtime.Steve Abbott made 46 saves for WMU in the opener, in his first start in three weeks and he had 27 in the 5-5 tie.OSU took command early in the second game, with Don Stoltzner, Tracy Stewart and Dan Mandich making the score 3-0. Paul Pooley pushed the lead to 4-1 in the second period before WMU scored four straight by Kelly Mitchell, Jim Olson, Rob Reid and Phil Partlan for a 5-4 lead after two periods. Pooley&rsquo;s second goal of the game tied the score just 22 seconds into the third period.OSU&rsquo;s Mike Blake made 46 saves in the tie and robbed Reid with 30 seconds left in regulation and OSU&rsquo;s Marson hit the post in overtime after beating WMU&rsquo;s Abbott.Dave Kobryn&rsquo;s goal at 8:56 of the third period snapped a 5-5 tie. allowing Ohio State to beat Miami 7-6. Miami led 3-0 and 4-2 before goals by Mandich and Perry Pooley tied the game 4-4 after two frames.OSU led 5-4 and 6-5 before Kobryn&rsquo;s winner.Miami (14-16-2; 0-10-1 CCHA) swept Lake Forest to earn 11 wins in 13 games heading into the final game of the year at Bowling Green.Rick Kuraly was the story in the sweep over Lake Forest as he scored five goals in the 15-3 opener and bounced back with his fourth hat trick of the season in the second game for an eight-goal series.Miami scored six goals in the first period each night and coasted to the wins.Bowling Green needed a win or a tie against Miami to wrap up the final playoff spot. The final weekend of the season finds league champ NMU at Bowling Green and Ferris State at Ohio State-in potential playoff previews, while Western Michigan finishes up at Lake Superior.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01418/4432076-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="564" height="855"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeff Pyle&rsquo;s four goals in the second game helped Northern Michigan sweep to its second consecutive CCHA title.</figcaption></div><h2>Leading U.S. College Teams</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02323/4432069-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="528" height="392"></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

Northern Michigan Cops CCHA Flag; Buckeyes, Bulldogs Make Playoffs

<div class="byline">BY MIKE BROPHY</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSKITCHENER&mdash;The struggle is over.For most of the first half of the Ontario Hockey League season, the Kitchener Rangers couldn&rsquo;t make up their minds if they were winners or losers. A couple of impressive wins were usually followed by a few pathetic losses. They would look great one night; brutal the next.But new life has crept into the Rangers.In the second half of the OHL season, they are among the strongest and most consistent teams. It&rsquo;s a pleasant change for the faithful Kitchener fans who have struggled through a few painful seasons of woe.The main difference is attitude; the Rangers truly believe they are winners.Take a week ago, when they travelled to Oshawa to play the Generals, one of the toughest home teams in the league. A full house was out to see rookie sensation Tony Tanti try to break the record for most goals in a season by a rookie. He needed two to get 71.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t give two hoots and a holler if he got the two goals,&rdquo; said Rangers&rsquo; Jeff Larmer. &ldquo;As long as we got the two points.&rdquo; Tanti got his two goals that night&mdash;and Kitchener got their two points with a 5-4 victory. Larmer had the. winning goal in overtime.The next night it was off to Peterborough to visit the defending champions. Kitchener has never had much luck against the Petes. That night they rolled to an easy 8-3 win.&ldquo;The difference is, we know we can win,&rdquo; said Kitchener&rsquo;s Kevin Casey. &ldquo;We have good enough players to control the game, rather than always playing the other team&rsquo;s game.&rdquo;Pacing the Rangers in the scoring department are rookie Brian Bellows, a midget who will have four years of junior eligibility but likely will make the pros before then, and Larmer.Bellows, the team captain, had 39 goals and 53 assists in his first 52 games while Larmer, a sophomore, was next with 42 goals and 46 assists.The defense is anchored by veteran Joe McDonnel, a last year junior who gets stronger each game out.&ldquo;In other years, the Kitchener Rangers have always been good at home but terrible on the road,&rdquo; said Larmer. &ldquo;Now we&rsquo;re a road team. We&rsquo;re pulling together as a team and it&rsquo;s helped a lot.&rdquo;SAULT STE. MARIE-Steve Gatzos had three goals as the Greyhounds tied Windsor 5-5. The Hounds also skated to a 9-6 win over their northern rivals, the Sudbury Wolves.OTTAWA&mdash;Randy Boyd demonstrated his loyalty to the 67&rsquo;s when he turned down an offer to join the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League. The 67&rsquo;s captain, who was drafted by Pittsburgh last year, said he feels that Ottawa has a good chance of winning the OHL title and representing their league in the Memorial Cup. He also feels that he isn&rsquo;t &ldquo;the answer to the Penguins&rsquo; problems&rdquo; and that he would probably get more ice time if he stayed in Ottawa.Mario Cerri and Rany Cunneyworth had two goals each in Ottawa&rsquo;s 7-2 win over Kitchener, John Linseman, Moe Lemay and defenseman Ali Butorac scored the other goals.Ottawa also knocked off the Niagara Falls Flyers 3-1 with goals by Linseman, Cerri and Dan Fascinato.KINGSTON&mdash;Center Bernie Nicholls collected his 50th goal and 200th career point in Kingston&rsquo;s 7-3 win over the London Knights. Nicholls had a scoring streak of at least one point in 26 consecutive games. In that streak, he scored 67 points.OSHAWA&mdash;Tony Tanti finally got his record. His two goals against Kitchener gave him 71, one more than Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s record of 70 goals in a season by a rookie. Now Tanti, with the help of his Generals&rsquo; teammates, is chasing the league mark for goals in a season, 81, set by Peter Lee.PETERBOROUGH&mdash;The good news is, Petes&rsquo; defenseman John Beukeboom only bruised his knee in a collision with a Kitchener Ranger player. It looked for a while like it might have been worse. The bad news is, a five-game losing streak that keeps them cemented in fifth place.SUDBURY&mdash;Rob Motz, Chris Kontos, Emilio lovio and Steve Pareigis scored singles as the Wolves downed Toronto 4-1.NIAGARA FALLS&mdash;The Flyers had a tough time with teams in the Leyden Division, losing 6-5 to Kingston and 3-1 to Ottawa. Tom Thornbury had the lone Flyers&rsquo; goal against the 67&rsquo;s.WINDSOR&mdash;The race is on between the Spitfires&rsquo; Ernie Godden and Oshawa&rsquo;s Tanti to see who will be the first to break the league mark for most goals in a season. Godden led the race at this writing with 72 goals, one more than Tanti. The little center had two goals in Windsor&rsquo;s 5-5 tie with the Hounds.BRANTFORD&mdash;Mike Bullard has moved into the scoring race despite only playing in 30 games. Easily the best player in the league, Bullard had 34 goals and 50 assists for 84 points.Bullard had three goals while teammates Len Hachborn and Daryl Evans had two each in the Alexanders&rsquo; 9-8 win over Toronto.TORONTO&mdash;The Marlies have been dropping close games lately. They lost 9-8 to Brantford and then were edged 6-5 by the same Alexanders. Mario Simioni had two goals in the 9-8 loss. Goalie Bruce Dowie had a strong game in the 6-5 loss, stopping 44 of 50 shots.LONDON&mdash;Peter Reed had two goals for the Knights in their 7-3 loss to Kingston.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01383/4432107-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="567" height="899"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kitchener&rsquo;s Kevin Casey says his team can control a game and doesn&rsquo;t have to play the other team&rsquo;s style.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0031-01

Winning Attitude Lends Rangers Consistency

By the time veteran Tony Esposito of the Chicago Black Hawks is ready to step out of the NHL goalkeeping picture young Jim Ralph of the Ottawa 67s could be ready to move up with the big league team.The 18-year-old Ralph, who was selected by Chicago in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft, is the hot net-minder of the 67s who has been coming up with some exciting netminding performances to keep Ottawa within striking distance of the leading Sault Greyhounds in the Leyden Division race.The third-year goalie leads the league in wins with 31 and boasts the second best goals-against average, 3.76, which is excellent in the wide-open style of play which is prevalent in the Ontario Hockey League this season. Ralph captured OHL Player of the Week honors with some spectacular goalkeeping for the 67s.In two recent victories over Niagara Falls and Kitchener, Ralph was chosen first star of the game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02281/4432138-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="548" height="776"><figcaption class="caption-body">JIM RALPH Ottawa 67s</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0031-02

OHL Player Of The Week

<div class="byline">BY GREGG DRINNAN</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSPORTLAND&mdash;Never, in the history of the Western Hockey League, has a defenseman won the scoring title.And, never in the history of the WHL, has a 17-year-old topped the league in scoring.Well, the Portland Winter Hawks&rsquo; Jim Benning is a 17-year-old and he&rsquo;s a defenseman. And, he&rsquo;s taking a real run at winning the points derby.As the league headed into its stretch run. meaning teams had less than 20 regular season games remaining, Benning was in a dead-heat with Brian Varga, the Regina Pats&rsquo; fine 19-year-old center. Both had 110 points, with Benning also leading the league with 84 assists.Needless to say, Benning&rsquo;s name is bound to come up early when the 21 National Hockey League teams gather in Montreal this summer for their annual draft of junior talent.In fact, Benning, who will turn 18 on Aug. 29, just may be the first WHL player drafted this time around. He&rsquo;s got all the tools. He stands an even six feet tall and tips the scales at 185 pounds, so obviously the size is there. He&rsquo;s not at all leery of playing a physical game and his stats tell the story of the offensive side of this youngster&rsquo;s game.But, what other WHL players are liable to go early in the NHL&rsquo;s 1981 draft?Victoria Cougars&rsquo; goaltender Grant Fuhr is the obvious choice. If he doesn&rsquo;t go ahead of Benning, he&rsquo;ll be selected right behind him. Fuhr, whose 19th birthday falls on Sept. 28, is far and away the best netminder in the WHL. His goals-against average has been under 3.00 all season and in this day of high-powered junior hockey, that&rsquo;s incredible.Benning and Fuhr are the most outstanding players in this crop, but there are others who could be taken early. They include:&bull; Brian Varga, mentioned earlier as being tied for the scoring lead. His size&mdash;5-7 and 175 pounds&mdash;is questionable, but his offensive numbers speak for themselves. And, he&rsquo;s not one to shy away.&bull; Medicine Hat Tigers&rsquo; center Steve Tsujiura, at 5-5 and 160 pounds, had 40 goals and 96 points. Tsujiura, despite being small in stature, is the heart of the Tigers. He turns 19 on Feb. 28.&bull; Regina&rsquo;s Jock Callander is a husky 6-1 and 175 pounds. He&rsquo;s surprised a lot of people with his 101-point performance thus far. He&rsquo;ll turn 20 on April 23.&bull; Dave Michayluk, another member of the Pats, is the WHL&rsquo;s highest-scoring rookie. He&rsquo;s 5-11 and 180 pounds and is having quite a season, with 44 goals and 94 points. And, he won&rsquo;t celebrate his 19th birthday until May 18.&bull; Portland&rsquo;s Gary Yaremchuk, a 5-10, 185-pounder, had 40 goals and 97 points. He&rsquo;ll hit the ripe old age of 20 on Sept. 15 and appears to have a solid future in the pro game.&bull; Rookie Mark Sochatsky, with 31 goals and 84 points, is having a superb season with the Spokane Flyers, a team that was having more than its share of troubles trying to put things together.Two of the league&rsquo;s more promising players, though, are not eligible for the 1981 draft.Portland&rsquo;s Ken Yaremchuk, Gary&rsquo;s younger brother, turned 17 on Jan. 1, so is one year away. A fine skater with great puck sense, Ken is a 5-10, 175-pounder with all the skills, and he has 77 points, including 52 assists.&bull; And, big Gord Kluzak, at 6-3 and 200 pounds, looks like a sure-fire NHL defenseman of the future. After just over four months in the league, he was named to the WHL&rsquo;s All Star team, played in the mid-season classic and was looking more and more comfortable every time out. He celebrates his 17th birthday on March 4.BILLINGS&mdash;Jim McGeough, a rookie center, scored his 29th and 30th goals and Monty Trottier had a goal and four assists as the hometown Bighorns got past the Saskatoon Blades 6-4. The next night, McGeough scored twice, including the winner at 5:02 of overtime, as the Bighorns downed the Blades 5-4, after trailing 4-1 at one point.BRANDON-The Wheat Kings&rsquo; playoff hopes weren&rsquo;t helped when right winger Steve Patrick&rsquo;s stay with the National League&rsquo;s Buffalo Sabres dragged on. Rookie Kelly Glowa got his 30th goal in a 5-3 loss to the Winter Hawks in Portland. Glowa added two goals in a 6-3 loss in Victoria and then scored two more in a 7-4 setback to Seattle. The Wheat Kings won their first game in five on the West Coast, pounding the New Westminster Bruins 12-4 in Kamloops. Dave Chartier had three goals&mdash;giving him 41&mdash;and four assists, Kelly Carson scored once and set up four others and Gary Slezak had two goals and two assists.CALGARY&mdash;Bruno Baseotto pumped in four goals, giving him 44, and Don Hobbins&mdash;the Eastern Division&rsquo;s player of the Week&mdash;added two goals and three assists, as the Wranglers bounced the visiting Saskatoon Blades 9-4. Baseotto and Hobbins added two goals each as the hometown Wranglers dropped Lethbridge Broncos 4-3.LETHBRIDGE&mdash;Troy Loney, with his eighth and ninth goals, and Mike Moller, with his 28th and 29th, sparked the hometown Broncos to a 7-3 victory over the Spokane Flyers. Rich Sutter&rsquo;s 15th goal turned out to be the winner as the Broncos defeated the Tigers 5-3 in Medicine Hat. The Broncos kept on winning, as Loney, Brent Sutter and Doug Rigler each scored twice in a 7-2 home-ice win over Billings. Sutter lifted his total to 38 goals, while Rigler hit 30. Moller was called up by the NHL&rsquo;s Buffalo Sabres.REGINA&mdash;Rookie Dave Michayluk scored three times, upping his total to 42, as the Pats whipped the visiting Winnipeg Warriors 11-4. Darren Bobyck picked up two goals, giving him 31. Jock Callander reached 101 points with two goals and an assist, leading the hometown Pats to a 5-3 win over Billings.WINNIPEG&mdash;Defenseman Dave Fisher was lost for the season, thanks to a knee injury, while Bobby Hull Jr. was still sidelined with a shoulder problem. The Warriors scored three unanswered third-period goals to surprise visiting Regina 6-5. Dan Sylvester had two goals, including a shorthanded score. The winner, at 17:03 of the third period, was credited to Mark Fenez, his third goal of the season, but he said it should have gone to defenseman Cam Baldwin.NEW WESTMINSTER&mdash;Center Mike Winther scored his 30th and 31st goals and defenseman Chuck Taylor got his seventh and eighth as the Bruins dropped the Flyers 5-2 in Spokane. The Bruins released John Neeld, with 36 goals and 50 assists, the club&rsquo;s leading scorer. &ldquo;John Neeld is a class hockey player and, with his ability in hockey, it&rsquo;s too bad he does not have the attitude off the ice to go along with his ability on the ice,&rdquo; said general manager, Tracy Pratt. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a 20-year-old hockey player and sometimes he could not get along with the younger players. He&rsquo;s outgrown his junior days.&rdquo;PORTLAND&mdash;Brian Shaw&rsquo;s 36th goal at 16:31 of the third period was the winner as the Winter Hawks got past visiting Brandon 5-3. Shaw was selected as the West&rsquo;s player of the Week. Kelly Rissling struck for five goals, giving him 19, as the Winter Hawks pounded New Westminster 13-4 in Trail, B.C. Gary Yaremchuk hit for Nos. 39 and 40 in that win, while Jim Benning got his 25th and Kevin Griffin hit for his 20th.SEATTLE&mdash;Alan Graves scored his 34th and 35th goals, and goaltender Ken Hodge blocked 54 shots, as the Breakers got past visiting Brandon 7-4.SPOKANE&mdash;Mark Sochatsky reached the 30-goal barrier and Oren Koules got his 20th, but the Flyers lost their 21st consecutive road game, 7-3 in Lethbridge. That streak finally ended, though, as the Flyers beat New Westminster 5-4, with Koules scoring twice. The game, played in Bellingham; Wash., was moved from New Westminster because of a labor dispute.VICTORIA&mdash;Defenseman Tony Fel-trin scored twice, giving him three goals on the season, as the Cougars blasted the Breakers 9-1 in Seattle. Grant Rezansoff added his 27th and 28th goals, while Brad Palmer picked up his 25th. Rookie goaltender Wade Jenson, getting a rare start, turned in a strong 26-save performance as the hometown Cougars dumped Brandon 6-3. Torrie Robertson got his 30th goal in that win. Barry Pederson scored twice and set up two more as the Cougars doubled visiting Spokane 8-4. The points pushed Pederson&rsquo;s career total to 326, breaking the team record of 323 established by Curt Fraser, now with the Vancouver Canucks of the NHL. Pederson added two more goals as the Cougars won 6-5 in Portland, before 5,678 fans. That gave him 41 goals, while Rich Chernomaz scored once to reach 40.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01395/4432169-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="569" height="873"><figcaption class="caption-body">Regina&rsquo;s Brian Varga could be a great pro, despite his small (5-7, 175 pounds) stature.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Benning, Varga Vie For Points Title; Promising Corps Of WHL Prospects

The Brandon Wheat Kings could conceivably miss the Western Hockey Leage&rsquo;s playoffs this season but if they do it will be through no fault of their 19-year-old center, Dave Chartier.The 1980 draft choice of the Winnipeg Jets has been hotter than a pistol in recent weeks for the Wheat Kings as they struggle with Winnipeg and Billings for possession of fifth place in the East Division race. Chartier has been so prolific for Brandon, scoring 16 points in a five-game stretch, that he was easily the pick as the WHL&rsquo;s Player of the Week.Chartier, who stands 5-10 and weighs in at 170, has picked up 87 scoring points this season for the Wheat Kings, including 45 goals and 32 assists.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02299/4432200-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="576" height="710"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVE CHARTIER Brandon Wheat Kings</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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WHL Player Of The Week

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01362/4432255-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"></div>&ldquo;Where readers get together to do business&rdquo;RINK EQUIPMENTPERSONALSFAN CLUBSOPPORTUNITIESPOSITIONS WANTEDPLAYER EQUIPMENT<h2>PERSONALS</h2>AVAILABLE: The 1980-81 media guide for the Indianapolis Checkers of the CHL&mdash;top affiliate of the Stanley Cup Champion New York Islanders. Send $3.75 to: Checker Media Guide, 211 North Delaware Street, Indianapolis, Ind. 46204. Great collectors item.WANTED: Players who performed with teams in the old Maritime Big Six (Saint John, Halifax, Sydney, Glace Bay, Moncton, Charlottetown) and the Maritime Big Four (Halifax, Sydney, Glace Bay, Charlottetown) between 1946-55, write: Al Josey, 38 Jordon Rd., Greenwood, Nova Scotia, BOP 1N0. History of leagues being compiled. All letters will be answered.WANTED: Crested hockey pucks&mdash;all leagues. Will buy or trade. Write Bill Chalmers, 106 Wigle St. Leamington, Ont., Canada, N8H 2T2.WANTED: WHA defunct teams hockey jerseys, unworn, fine condition. Please indicate team, price, condition to, Hockey News, Box No. 23, 214 King St West, Suite 314, Toronto, Ont. M5H 1K4.WANTED: Gentleman looking for general manager&rsquo;s position in Ontario Junior League or Western Canada Junior League. Will relocate. Please call Steve at the office, 961-6666 ext. 29 between the hours of 8:00 am & 4:00 pm., Mon to Fri or at home after 4:00 pm at 752-2157.AVAILABLE: Selling copies of THE HOCKEY NEWS 1966 and up Sell all or none and older magazines. P. Giesbrecht, 1131 Sidney E., Swift Current, Sask.WANTED: NHL, WHA hockey jerseys. Also football, baseball and basketball jerseys. Will buy trade and sell. I&rsquo;ll trade my super stars (all sports) for my collection needs. Russell Vincent, Box 490344, College Park, Georgia, 30349.WANTED: Collector wishes to buy crested hockey pucks from NHL WHA teams. Contact Ray Turner, 48097 Willow, Apt. 7212, Wixom, Michigan, 48096WANTED: Game-worn NHLWHA sweaters. Buy-trade-sell. Send letter listing your collection and interests to THE HOCKEY NEWS, 24 King Street West, Suite 314, Toronto, Ont., M5H 1K4.WANTED: St Louis Blues memorabilia especially books, magazines, yearbooks, press guides. Send particulars including price to: Garry Oswald, 1470 Simcoe Street North, Oshawa, Ont. L1G 4 &times; 5 or phone (416) 579-4607.A FAN CLUB is being formed for Perry Turnbull of the St. Louis Blues. Write to: Perry Turnbull Fan Club, 12 Clermont Lane, St. Louis, Mo, 63124.WANTED: Game worn WHANHL hockey jerseys. Buying, selling, trading. Would like to hear from collectors-trainers and players. Also interested in mint hockey cards from the mid fifties to the late sixties. Top prices paid for quality items. Write: Richard Curry, 14 Five Oaks, Saginaw, Mich, 48603.<h2>FOR SALE</h2>AVAILABLE: Color 8 &times; 10 photos Detroit players past & present and NHL stars. $3.50. or free list write: Dwayne Labakas, 33133 Crestwell, Sterling Hts, Michigan 48077WANTED FOR EUROPE: Non-Import players for the 1981-82 season. If you were born in Europe or if your father held European citizenship at the time of your birth (even if you were born elsewhere) you may qualify as a non-import player for the country in question.Good salaries and benefits if you have played for equivalent of junior B&rsquo; or better. An experience of a lifetime. All information will be kept in strictest confidence. Send details of birth records and hockey resume to:<h2>TOURNAMENTS</h2>WANTED: Team located in Fort Lauderdale. Florida is looking for teams to challenge them to a series of games. Glorious opportunity for a fun filled weekend or a week of hockey. Fort Lauderdale night life scene and beach hotel accommodations can be obtained through the team. Write: Rosaire Paiement, Coral Plaza Motel, 2701 N. Federal Hwy, Ft. Lauderdale. Fla., 33306. Phone (305) 565-6658 &#9632;

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Hockey News CLASSIFIED

<div class="byline">BY HERB ZURKOWSKY</div>LOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSLOUISVILLE HOCKEY STICKSMONTREAL&mdash;It appears as though the Montreal Juniors will play their playoff series at the Laval Sports Centre.On Monday, Feb. 16, Juniors&rsquo; general manager Eric Taylor advised the Olympic Installations Board (O1B), which oversees operation of the Paul Sauve Sports Centre, the Juniors&rsquo; home arena, that their offer was unacceptable.In last week&rsquo;s issue of THE HOCKEY NEWS, we reported that Taylor was faced with the task of finding a home for the Juniors because the team only booked 36 dates plus four standby dates for rescheduled games that already have been used at their Rosemont area arena. The trouble resulted after Taylor was advised by Sauve management that the arena had been rented for the beginning of April. Montreal was faced with the same problem last year when the ice was removed from Sauve in early April. The Juniors shifted their games to the Forum, which, at one time, had been their regular home.Taylor would not say what the OIB&rsquo;s offer was, but told THE HOCKEY NEWS the Juniors would play their last game of the 1980-81 season at Sauve on March 13 against the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. The Juniors close out the season with a return match in Chicoutimi March 15 and travel to Shawinigan March 17.Taylor must now advise the OIB in writing of the Juniors&rsquo; decision. Once this formality has been completed, the Juniors have a free hand to go wherever they choose and it appears as though that place will be the Laval arena, home of the Voisins.And it will be that arena whether it pleases the Voisins or not!On the same night Taylor was advising the OIB of his decision, he and his coach, Pierre Creamer, also met with Robert Hardy, manager of the Laval arena. An earlier meeting had been held three nights before.Taylor reported the offer of the Laval Sports Centre to be more than interesting. He added all that&rsquo;s left to negotiate are questions of practice times and the availability of dressing rooms since it is virtually certain the Voisins will not meet Montreal in the playoffs.Hardy is enthusiastic about welcoming the Juniors because for the third consecutive season it appears as though the Voisins are not going to qualify for post-season action. At this writing Laval was 10th and dead last in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 40 points off a record of 19 wins, 40 losses and two ties. That leaves the Voisins 18 points behind the Quebec Remparts, who hold down the eighth and final playoff berth. The Voisins only have 11 games left, giving them a chance for 22 possible points.&ldquo;I had carte-blanche from the Forum,&rdquo; Taylor said. &ldquo;I consulted with [Canadiens&rsquo; managing director] Irving Grundman and [Juniors&rsquo; advisor] Roger Poitras in this affair and they were in accordance with what I did.&rdquo;Taylor said when all remaining details have been finalized he will make a formal announcement.Thoughts are being given to renting buses which would shuttle between Sauve and the Laval arena approximately 10 miles) on game nights to accomodate Montreal fans.What remains to be seen is how many of the Voisins&rsquo; faithful will attend the Juniors&rsquo; games and how boisterously they will support them.The Ontario Major Junior Hockey League (OMJHL) has told the Cornwall Royals to withdraw from the QMJHL and join its league or lose the right to draft players from Ontario, Royals&rsquo; coach Bob Kilger told THE HOCKEY NEWS.The Royals, defending Memorial Cup champions and a member of the QMJHL since the league&rsquo;s birth in 1969, have participated in the OMJHL&rsquo;s draft for the last six seasons.It was at the OMJHL&rsquo;s annual All Star extravaganza at Kingston that the OMJHL&rsquo;s expansion committee confronted Royals&rsquo; owner Paul Emard about the possibility of changing leagues.Last week in THE HOCKEY NEWS, Emard. presently on vacation, reported it was still too early to say what the final result would be. The prior week. QMJHL president Marcel Robert told THE HOCKEY NEWS, the Quebec league will not stand in the Royals&rsquo; way.Kilger said in a telephone interview he hasn&rsquo;t been involved in negotiations between Emard and the OMJHL &ldquo;but, as I understand it, yes, we&rsquo;ve been told we won&rsquo;t be able to draft out of Ontario this May unless we join their league.&rdquo;On Feb. 18, Guy Fournier of the Shawinigan Cataracts became the first player in that team&rsquo;s history to reach the 100-point plateau. Fournier went into the home game against the Quebec Remparts with 99 points off 47 goals and 52 assists. &#9632;

Juniors Find New Home At Laval Sports Centre

<h2>FEBRUARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1730/4432709-1-eng-US/f0034-172.jpg" title="f0034-17" width="562" height="770"></div><h2>MARCH</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1827/4432702-1-eng-US/f0034-182.jpg" title="f0034-18" width="533" height="141"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1926/4432695-1-eng-US/f0034-192.jpg" title="f0034-19" width="561" height="937"></div> &#9632;

f0034-17

WHERE NHL TEAMS PLAY

BOSTON-Park 13. 14. Crowder 7, Redmond 13, Jonathan 11. McNab 27, 28, McCrimmon 9, Middleton 32, Marcotte 4. Ratelle 9, Cashman 21, Bourque 20. Kasper 18.BUFFALO&mdash;Seiling 21, 22, 23. McKegney 25, 26. 27, Savard 21, Haworth 10, Van Boxmeer 3, J. F. Sauve 3.CALGARY&mdash;Lever 20, Houston 9, Rauta-kallio 6, 7, Chouinard 21,22, 23, 24. Peplinski 10, 11, 12, Nilsson 29, 30, Reinhart 12, MacMillan 18, Vail 22, 23, Hislop 21, Plett 30.CHICAGO&mdash;Secord 10, Bulley 13, 14, Sharpley 17, 18, 19, Savard 22, Sutter 31, Brown 5, Kerr 26, Ruskowski 6.COLORADO-McDonald 29, DeBlois 19, Gagne 16, Quenneville 8, 9, Berry 3, Vautour 13,14, Malinowski 19, Valiquette 2.DETROIT&mdash;Huber 7, Korn 3, 4, Kirton 10, 11, 12, Foligno 24, 25, McCourt 17, 18, 19, Ogrodnick 30, Peterson 3, Nedomansky 9.EDMONTON&mdash;Callighen 18, Kurri 21, Gretzky 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, Messier 11, Coffey 6, Anderson 11, 12, 13, 14, MacDonald 17, Siltanen 12.HARTFORD-Nachbaur 8, Meagher 2. Barnes 1, Sims 14, Allison 1. Keon 9, Howe 15, Boutette 23, Lupien 1, 2, Stoughton 29.LOS ANGELES&mdash;Harris 16, Korab 7, Simmer 54.MINNESOTA&mdash;B. Smith 24, 25, Hartsburg 10, Young 18,19,20, Christoff 19, 20, Cicarelli 6, Roberts 6, Payne 23, 24, MacAdam 16,17.MONTREAL&mdash;Lambert 16, 17, Jarvis 12, Shutt 29, 30, Mondou 13, Lafleur 17, 18, 19, Houle 23, Gainey 19, Napier 23, 24.N. Y. ISLANDERS&mdash;Lorimer 1. Merrick 7, 8 D. Potvin 16,17, Bossy 55, 56, Lane 2. Morrow 2, Bourne 25, Gillies 26.N. Y. RANGERS&mdash;Duguay 8, 9, Greschner 19,20, Nethery 4, 5,6, Don Maloney 21,22,23, 24, 25. Nilsson 9, 10, Silk 14, Johnstone 25, 26, 27, Dave Maloney 10, Allison 19, Fotiu 8, Connor 1.PHILADELPHIA&mdash;Clarke 17, Gorence 19, Hill 8, Holmgren 14, Kerr 16, Leach 28, Propp 17,18, Linseman 7, Eriksson 1, MacLeish 28.PITTSBURGH&mdash;Gardner 22, 23, 24, 25, Thompson 16, Ferguson 19, 20, Kehoe 41,42, 43, Lonsberry 15, Lee 18, 19, 20, Carlyle 8, 9, Schutt 21.QUEBEC&mdash;Tardif 14, P. Stastny 22, 23, 24, 25,26,27,28,29. Cloutier 5, Cote 8, Ftorek 15, 16, Richard 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, Goulet 25, 26, 27, Hunter 14, A. Stastny 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, Lacroix 4.ST. LOUIS&mdash;Sutter 25. Chapman 13,14,15, Federko 22, 23, Dunlop 15, 16, Babych 42, Pettersson 27, Patey 18.TORONTO&mdash;Picard 6. Derlago 22. 23, 24, 25, 26, Valve 24, 25, Boudreau 6, 7, Sittler 32, 33, Paiement 28, 29, Saganiuk 9, 10, 11, Sedlbauer 13,14,15, Martin 11,12, Hickey 14.VANCOUVER&mdash;Williams 25, Schmautz 21, 22, Fraser 23, Boldirev 22, 23, 24. Gradin 10, Lindgren 3, Rota 20. Lanz 6.WASHINGTON&mdash;Walter 19, 20, 21. Maruk 36. 37, Gustafsson 18, 19, 20, Pronovost 17, 18, Currie 1, Smith 5, Kelly 20, Ververgaert 11. Green 5, 6.WINNIPEG&mdash;Dupont 22, 23, Christian 24, 25, Lukowich 24,25, Wilson 16, Dudley 12,13, Long 6, Lindstrom 16.Five-goal games&mdash;Gretzky, Edmonton. Four-goal games&mdash;P. Stastny, Quebec.Hat Tricks&mdash;A. Stastny, Quebec, 2, McCourt, Detroit, Anderson, Edmonton, Don Maloney, Rangers, P. Stastny, Quebec, and Richard, Quebec, 1 each. &#9632;

NHL’S SCORERS THIS WEEK

<h2>Sun. Feb. 15 QUEBEC 3, WINNIPEG 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01394/4432664-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="535" height="823"></div><h2>HARTFORD 4, CHICAGO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02322/4432657-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="543" height="766"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 5, RANGERS 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03234/4432650-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="538" height="415"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04150/4432643-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="543" height="684"></div><h2>MONTREAL 5, PHILADELPHIA 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05109/4432636-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="537" height="444"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0683/4432629-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="539" height="311"></div><h2>VANCOUVER 2, MINNESOTA 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0774/4432622-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="545" height="1117"></div><h2>BUFFALO 2, EDMONTON 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0867/4432615-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="534" height="597"></div><h2>Tue. Feb. 17 TORONTO 8, ISLANDERS 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-0957/4432608-1-eng-US/f0034-092.jpg" title="f0034-09" width="535" height="278"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1054/4432601-1-eng-US/f0034-102.jpg" title="f0034-10" width="545" height="743"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH 1, PHILADELPHIA 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1149/4432594-1-eng-US/f0034-112.jpg" title="f0034-11" width="534" height="576"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 5, CALGARY 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1247/4432587-1-eng-US/f0034-122.jpg" title="f0034-12" width="534" height="762"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 4, DETROIT 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1340/4432580-1-eng-US/f0034-132.jpg" title="f0034-13" width="546" height="769"></div><h2>QUEBEC 6, COLORADO 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1437/4432573-1-eng-US/f0034-142.jpg" title="f0034-14" width="532" height="466"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1536/4432566-1-eng-US/f0034-152.jpg" title="f0034-15" width="537" height="277"></div><h2>Wed. Feb. 18 TORONTO 3, RANGERS 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-1636/4432559-1-eng-US/f0034-162.jpg" title="f0034-16" width="532" height="84"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02299/4432552-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="546" height="933"></div><h2>CHICAGO 5, WASHINGTON 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03227/4432545-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="539" height="794"></div><h2>WINNIPEG 3, HARTFORD 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04182/4432538-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="509" height="93"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05142/4432531-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="541" height="663"></div><h2>QUEBEC 4, LOS ANGELES 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06123/4432524-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="531" height="119"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-07114/4432517-1-eng-US/f0035-072.jpg" title="f0035-07" width="536" height="490"></div><h2>BOSTON 7, VANCOUVER 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0895/4432510-1-eng-US/f0035-082.jpg" title="f0035-08" width="550" height="1173"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS 2, EDMONTON 9</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-0991/4432503-1-eng-US/f0035-092.jpg" title="f0035-09" width="531" height="249"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1081/4432496-1-eng-US/f0035-102.jpg" title="f0035-10" width="541" height="658"></div><h2>COLORADO 2, MINNESOTA 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1176/4432489-1-eng-US/f0035-112.jpg" title="f0035-11" width="535" height="413"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1266/4432482-1-eng-US/f0035-122.jpg" title="f0035-12" width="532" height="221"></div><h2>Thu. Feb. 19 RANGERS 3, DETROIT 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1358/4432475-1-eng-US/f0035-132.jpg" title="f0035-13" width="538" height="437"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01309/4432468-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="542" height="470"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 4, CALGARY 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02213/4432461-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="543" height="738"></div><h2>BUFFALO 2, MONTREAL 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03153/4432454-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="539" height="708"></div><h2>HARTFORD 2, PITTSBURGH 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04122/4432447-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="545" height="887"></div><h2>Fri. Feb. 20 QUEBEC 9, VANCOUVER 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05101/4432440-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="539" height="654"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0681/4432433-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="540" height="258"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 5, WINNIPEG 3</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0763/4432426-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="542" height="797"></div><h2>BOSTON 5, EDMONTON 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0856/4432419-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="538" height="731"></div><h2>Sat. Feb. 21 WASHINGTON 4, RANGERS 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-0946/4432412-1-eng-US/f0037-092.jpg" title="f0037-09" width="541" height="953"></div><h2>CHICAGO 3, ISLANDERS 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1040/4432405-1-eng-US/f0037-102.jpg" title="f0037-10" width="539" height="816"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA 3, L. ANGELES 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1129/4432398-1-eng-US/f0037-112.jpg" title="f0037-11" width="549" height="1039"></div><h2>BOSTON 2, CALGARY 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1225/4432391-1-eng-US/f0037-122.jpg" title="f0037-12" width="550" height="901"></div><h2>DETROIT 1, MONTREAL 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1323/4432384-1-eng-US/f0037-132.jpg" title="f0037-13" width="541" height="625"></div><h2>BUFFALO 6, PITTSBURGH 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1423/4432377-1-eng-US/f0037-142.jpg" title="f0037-14" width="542" height="793"></div><h2>EDMONTON 5, WINNIPEG 1</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1522/4432370-1-eng-US/f0037-152.jpg" title="f0037-15" width="523" height="140"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1619/4432363-1-eng-US/f0037-162.jpg" title="f0037-16" width="537" height="575"></div><h2>COLORADO 1, ST. LOUIS 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1716/4432356-1-eng-US/f0037-172.jpg" title="f0037-17" width="544" height="738"></div><h2>MINNESOTA 3, TORONTO 5</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1816/4432349-1-eng-US/f0037-182.jpg" title="f0037-18" width="544" height="923"></div><h2>Sun. Feb. 22 TORONTO 7, CHICAGO 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-1912/4432342-1-eng-US/f0037-192.jpg" title="f0037-19" width="535" height="405"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2012/4432335-1-eng-US/f0037-202.jpg" title="f0037-20" width="539" height="473"></div><h2>QUEBEC 11, WASHINGTON 7</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2112/4432328-1-eng-US/f0037-212.jpg" title="f0037-21" width="548" height="1691"></div><h2>MONTREAL 4, BUFFALO 2</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-2212/4432321-1-eng-US/f0037-222.jpg" title="f0037-22" width="544" height="636"></div><h2>THE NHL&rsquo;S POINT RACE</h2>(Including Sun. Dec. 14)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2025/4432314-1-eng-US/f0034-202.jpg" title="f0034-20" width="573" height="787"></div><h2>NHL SCOREBOARD</h2>(Standings on Mon. Feb. 23)<h3>Adams Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2124/4432307-1-eng-US/f0034-212.jpg" title="f0034-21" width="537" height="168"></div><h3>Norris Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2222/4432300-1-eng-US/f0034-222.jpg" title="f0034-22" width="538" height="168"></div><h3>Patrick Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2321/4432293-1-eng-US/f0034-232.jpg" title="f0034-23" width="540" height="168"></div><h3>Smythe Division</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-2419/4432286-1-eng-US/f0034-242.jpg" title="f0034-24" width="536" height="195"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Feb. 17Toronto 8 at Islanders 5Pittsburgh 1 at Philadelphia 4SL Louis 5 at Calgary 2Winnipeg 4 at Detroit 6Quebec 6 at Colorado 3Wed. Feb. 18Toronto 3 at Rangers 8Chicago 5 at Washington 5Winnipeg 3 at Hartford 3Quebec 4 at Los Angeles 2Boston 7 at Vancouver 5SL Louis 2 at Edmonton 9Colorado 2 at Minnesota 6Thu. Feb. 19Rangers 3 at Detroit 7Philadelphia 4 at Calgary 5Buffalo 2 at Montreal 5Hartford 2 at Pittsburgh 6Fri. Feb. 20Quebec 9 at Vancouver 3Minnesota 5 at Winnipeg 3Boston 5 at Edmonton 1Sat. Feb. 21Washington 4 at Rangers 6Chicago 3 at Islanders 6Philadelphia 3 at Los Angeles 1Boston 2 at Calgary 7Detroit 1 at Montreal 4Buffalo 6 at Pittsburgh 1Edmonton 5 at Winnipeg 1Colorado 1 at St. Louis 4Minnesota 3 at Toronto 5Sun. Feb. 22Toronto 7 at Chicago 4Rangers 5 at Hartford 6Calgary 5 at Vancouver 3Quebec 11 at Washington 7Montreal 4 at Buffalo 2Colorado 4 at Pittsburgh 9 &#9632;

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NATIONAL LEAGUE SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01372/4432764-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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Starting Rosters For NHL Teams

<h2>FEBRUARY</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1447/4432802-1-eng-US/f0035-142.jpg" title="f0035-14" width="540" height="336"></div><h2>MARCH</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-1543/4432795-1-eng-US/f0035-152.jpg" title="f0035-15" width="538" height="316"></div> &#9632;

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NHL, COLLEGES ON U.S. TV

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 25)<h3>NORTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01352/4432896-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="535" height="142"></div><h3>SOUTHERN DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02260/4432889-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="536" height="171"></div>1-Nova Scotia 4-New Haven S-Adirondack 7-Mame 14-Rochester. 16-Hershey. 22-New Brunswick 23-Binghamton 24-Springfield.<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Feb. 16Springfield 3 at Maine 5Tue. Feb. 17N. Brunswick 4 at Nova Scotia 3Wed. Feb. 18Maine 5 at Adirondack 0Rochester 3 at Binghamton 4Hershey 4 at N. Brunswick 2Springfield 4 at New Haven 2Fri. Feb. 20Hershey 6 at Nova Scotia 5Binghamton 3 at Springfield 4New Haven 5 at Rochester 4Sat. Feb. 21Rochester 2 at Adirondack 6Maine 5 at N. Brunswick 9New Haven 4 at Springfield 6Sun. Feb. 22New Haven 2 at Binghamton 6Hershey 4 at N. Brunswick 2Maine 2 at Nova Scotia 6<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03193/4432882-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="543" height="607"></div><h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 24)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04123/4432875-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="539" height="257"></div>9-Salt Lake 10-Oklahoma City. 12-Indianapolis. 13-Dallas. 15-Birmingham. 17-Fort Worth. 18-Wichita. 21-Tulsa.<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Mon. Feb. 16Indianapolis 6 at Salt Lake 2Tue. Feb. 17Fort Worth 1 at Indianapolis 3Birmingham 1 at Okla. City 7Wed. Feb. 18Birmingham 3 at Tulsa 5Okla. City 2 at Wichita 3Thu. Feb. 19Salt Lake 4 at Birmingham 1Fort Worth 1 at Indianapolis 6Fri. Feb. 20Salt Lake 5 at Birmingham 2Fort Worth 0 at Dallas 6Sat. Feb. 21Fort Worth 2 at Dallas 3Okla. City 2 at Tulsa 5Indianapolis 3 at Wichita 2Sun. Feb. 22Indianapolis 4 at Tulsa 3<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-0588/4432868-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="541" height="472"></div><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Wed. Feb. 25)<h3>EAST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2619/4432861-1-eng-US/f0036-262.jpg" title="f0036-26" width="537" height="140"></div><h3>WEST DIVISION</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2718/4432854-1-eng-US/f0036-272.jpg" title="f0036-27" width="540" height="144"></div>5-Kalamazoo 25-Toledo 26-Flint. 27-Fort Wayne. 28-Milwaukee 29-Muskegon 30-Port Huron 31-Saginaw<h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Wed. Feb. 18Kalamazoo 2 at Muskegon 2Port Huron 3 at Fort Wayne 8Fri. Feb. 20Kalamazoo 5 at Port Huron 1Flint 1 at Muskegon 5Sat. Feb. 21Saginaw 5 at Port Huron 4Flint 6 at Fort Wayne 8Toledo 2 at Kalamazoo 6Milwaukee 4 at Muskegon 4Sun. Feb. 22Fort Wayne 1 at Saginaw 4<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2818/4432847-1-eng-US/f0036-282.jpg" title="f0036-28" width="534" height="442"></div><h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2>(Standings on Tue. Feb. 24)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-2917/4432840-1-eng-US/f0036-292.jpg" title="f0036-29" width="538" height="174"></div><h3>GAMES COMPLETED</h3>Tue. Feb. 17Hampton 2 at Salem 7Wed. Feb. 18Salem 1 at Baltimore 4Richmond 6 at Erie 3Fri. Feb. 20Hampton 4 at Baltimore 7Salem 6 at Erie 5Sat. Feb. 21Baltimore 8 at Richmond 4Salem 2 at Erie 6Sun. Feb. 22Hampton 3 at Richmond 7<h3>LEADING SCORERS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-3016/4432833-1-eng-US/f0036-302.jpg" title="f0036-30" width="540" height="307"></div> &#9632;

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MINOR SCOREBOARD

<h2>AMERICAN LEAGUE</h2><h3>FEBRUARY</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-3115/4433000-1-eng-US/f0036-312.jpg" title="f0036-31" width="545" height="261"></div><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-3214/4432993-1-eng-US/f0036-322.jpg" title="f0036-32" width="560" height="513"></div><h2>CENTRAL LEAGUE</h2><h3>FEBRUARY</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-3312/4432986-1-eng-US/f0036-332.jpg" title="f0036-33" width="533" height="362"></div><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-3410/4432979-1-eng-US/f0036-342.jpg" title="f0036-34" width="547" height="306"></div><h2>INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE</h2><h3>FEBRUARY</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-355/4432972-1-eng-US/f0036-352.jpg" title="f0036-35" width="536" height="256"></div><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-365/4432965-1-eng-US/f0036-362.jpg" title="f0036-36" width="545" height="661"></div><h2>EASTERN LEAGUE</h2><h3>FEBRUARY</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-373/4432958-1-eng-US/f0036-372.jpg" title="f0036-37" width="529" height="157"></div><h3>MARCH</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-382/4432951-1-eng-US/f0036-382.jpg" title="f0036-38" width="526" height="281"></div> &#9632;

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PRO GAMES TO COME

<div class="byline">BY NEIL MILBERT</div>CHICAGO&mdash;If one were ghost-writing the autobiography of John Marks of the Chicago Black Hawks it wouldn&rsquo;t be entitled My Brilliant Career.The most goals Marks ever scored in his nine years in the National Hockey League is 21 and he never has won the Selke Award that goes to the league&rsquo;s best defensive forward.But it has been a distinguished career characterized by stability and dependability.Next to goalie Tony Esposito, Marks has the most seniority of the Black Hawks and sometimes he considers it curious.&ldquo;You see a really fine player like Ivan Boldirev, who has been with four teams in his career, and you wonder: &lsquo;Why him and not me? When I came up I never thought I&rsquo;d play more than five years. About the fourth year I realized that I was getting better and getting smarter. I realized I had a future in hockey.&rdquo;Now, the man who will turn 33 on March 22, in a sense is back to where he was when he came out of the University of North Dakota and went to the Hawks&rsquo; farm team in Dallas. Because of the broken finger suffered by Dave Hutchison in mid-March, coach Keith Magnuson is using him as a defenseman.&ldquo;You hate to see any player get injured, especially a nice guy like Hutch,&rdquo; said Marks. &ldquo;But if I play well as a defenseman I might possibly be able to play there for the next couple of years.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always wished I&rsquo;d have stayed a defenseman because I think I&rsquo;d have wound up being considered a better hockey player.&ldquo;I feel I can be a good defenseman. But if Keith doesn&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m doing as good a job as Hutch was, so be it. If that&rsquo;s the case, then when he comes back, I&rsquo;ll go back to killing penalties and taking a shift at left wing here and there. I&rsquo;m not about to pout.&ldquo;In my first year we went to the Stanley Cup finals and lost in six games. This club has more balance and depth. There&rsquo;s more competition than since any time I&rsquo;ve been here. I&rsquo;m not going to be the bad apple to spoil the barrel.&rdquo;Before Hutchison was hurt, Marks was specializing in penalty-killing since coming off the disabled list himself in late January after a three month stay because of a broken ankle, the first serious injury of his career.Not by coincidence, Chicago&rsquo;s penalty-killing unit suddenly improved dramatically. In their last 50 shorthanded situations, the Hawks have surrendered but eight goals.&ldquo;John is a tremendous penalty-killer,&rdquo; said Esposito. &ldquo;Nobody knows it better than me.&rdquo;&ldquo;Rick Paterson [the rookie forward who also serves as a penalty-killing specialist] has been making it easy for me,&rdquo; said Marks. &ldquo;Rick communicates very well, he&rsquo;s a good, strong skater, and he beats me in to forecheck. Because of him we&rsquo;re get-ting opportunities for goals.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s so smart for a rookie. I wasn&rsquo;t that way&mdash;maybe because I played college hockey instead of Junior hockey where they play so many more games.Perhaps I&rsquo;d have developed a little sooner as a player as a Junior. But my four years in college were the best years of my life so how can I have any regrets?&rdquo;It was when Marks was playing for North Dakota that he met Magnuson and long-time linemate Cliff Koroll, who now is the Hawks&rsquo; assistant coach. Magnuson and Koroll were starring for Denver, a rival of North Dakota&rsquo;s in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.&ldquo;The year we went to the NCAA finals we lost to Denver,&rdquo; said Marks. &ldquo;I was our captain and Keith was their captain. I always was aware of his presence and I&rsquo;m sure there was some added rivalry on his part, too. Deep down, I guess each of us wanted to prove that he was the All-American who was the better defenseman.&rdquo;Ex-Coach Billy Reay converted Marks to left wing during the playoffs of his rookie season. That&rsquo;s where he has spent virtually all of his time in the NHL&mdash;except for a period of about 30 games five years ago when interim coach Bill White sent him back to the rearguard to help repair a shoddy defense.As years went by durability and defensive skill became Marks&rsquo; fortes. He played in a team-record 509 consecutive games before last season&rsquo;s coach Eddie Johnston decided to end the streak by sitting him out one January night. Thereafter, his role became limited and Marks wondered if his days in Chicago were numbered.Then, Johnston was ousted in what turned out to be a bitter battle over a new contract. Magnuson and Koroll became the new honchos and Marks was given a shot at a job at training camp. He won a job then, and did it again in January when he came back from the ankle surgery. &#9632;

Mr. Dependable’s Career Comes Full Circle

<div class="byline">LARRY SKINNER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01344/4433219-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="340" height="337"></div><h2>Changing The System</h2>UNLESS A LOT of things change, Canadians can&rsquo;t expect our junior representatives to be competitive at the world level.That&rsquo;s the feeling of Dennis McDonald, technical director of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, who says it will take some time and some major changes to turn things around.The Cornwall Royals&rsquo; seventh-place finish in a field of eight at this year&rsquo;s World Junior Hockey Tournament in Munich was probably a lot less than most people expected of last year&rsquo;s Memorial Cup champions.They were better than their finish showed. They had a win and a tie in the three games they played in the &ldquo;A&rdquo; category, and were dropped to the &ldquo;B&rdquo; division on a goals-for-and-against basis.&ldquo;At that point the best they had to shoot for was fifth,&rdquo; McDonald said, &ldquo;and maybe that isn&rsquo;t supposed to happen, but I think it took the heart out of them.&rdquo;Still, McDonald says the odds were stacked against the Royals. And, he contends, in the present state of world junior hockey, they&rsquo;ll be stacked against any Canadian team unless some changes come about in the selection system used to determine Canada&rsquo;s national representative.&ldquo;For the last three tournaments,&rdquo; said McDonald, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s worked out that the leagues have sent the Memorial Cup winner from the previous year. It doesn&rsquo;t necessarily follow that the team we send under those circumstances is as good as it was when it won the championship the previous season.<h2>Best Players Unavailable</h2>&ldquo;IT&rsquo;S USUALLY THE CASE that a Memorial Cup team loses so many players to the age limit that it&rsquo;s a lot weaker the next season. Even if they&rsquo;re bolstered by a half dozen players from other teams, it often doesn&rsquo;t make up for it.&rdquo;What a lot of Canadian hockey fans also tend to overlook, he says, is that the best 18 junior-age players in the country are in the NHL and unavailable for the national junior team.&ldquo;That doesn&rsquo;t happen in Europe,&rdquo; says McDonald. &ldquo;Their best juniors might be playing in the top senior elite league in the country, but they&rsquo;re always released to play in the junior world championship.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s obvious, he says, that a junior team sent from Canada that included the Doug Wickenheisers or Wayne Gretzkys now playing pro would come a lot closer to showing the world how good the best junior-age talent in Canada really is.Amending the situation wouldn&rsquo;t exactly be a snap. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a total dreamer,&rdquo; says McDonald, &ldquo;but it can be done.&ldquo;The first thing needed would be some fantastic cooperation between major junior hockey, the NHL and CAHA, to ensure that the best calibre of players are made available. Anything halfway is not likely to achieve what we want. I&rsquo;m not sure that a team of selected major players alone&mdash;without those juniors in the NHL&mdash;would make us competitive today.&rdquo;Assuming the above were possible, McDonald says the next element needed would be a training camp for selection of the team, probably in late August. Although the tournament always takes place over Christmas, such contact would help build familiarity among the players.&ldquo;About a third of the European teams are made up of 19-year-olds, and the rest are younger. What that does for them is give them some continuity from one year to the next, and that should be one of our considerations, too.&rdquo;Then, he says, there should be at least a five-day training camp prior to the team&rsquo;s departure for the world event.<h2>Larger Rinks Needed</h2>ONE OF THE OTHER problems which Canadian players must adjust to in the world event is the larger European ice surface of 61m &times; 30m (about 200 &times; 100 ft.).&ldquo;We need more rinks of that size in Canada,&rdquo; says McDonald. &ldquo;For instance, if you remember when most Canadian swimmers were competing in the 25-yard pools, all we were developing were the best turners in the world. They needed those 50-metre Olympic pools to develop their speed. Various government programs helped the pools get built.&ldquo;Now, if it were a requirement for the Canada Winter Games that the hockey rink had to be the larger size, and the government assisted cities in getting those built, it wouldn&rsquo;t be very long before we had quite a few.&rdquo;Last but by no means least, McDonald says a team of coaches would be needed to look after the world team if the &ldquo;cure&rdquo; is going to work.&ldquo;They&rsquo;d have to be free to scout the juniors for team selection, and they&rsquo;d have to become expert in international play. We&rsquo;d have to build a core of such leaders who knew the international game.&rdquo;McDonald is enough of a realist to indicate that all of this is not likely to happen overnight.&ldquo;It can be done, though. And it should be,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;if we care about the image of our junior hockey.&rdquo; &#9632;

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CANADIAN AMATEUR SCENE

<div class="byline">BY FRED PIETILA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02249/4433250-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="569" height="1409"><figcaption class="caption-body">Assistant coach Terry Harper shed one suit, above, to get back into uniform for the Rockies.</figcaption></div>DENVER&mdash;Just another typical week for the Colorado Rockies&mdash;on and off the ice.The week of the All Star Game, Friday the 13th and St. Valentine&rsquo;s Day. Take your pick. Anything was liable to happen.So, the week started with defenseman Rob Ramage playing fairly well alongside the Islanders&rsquo; Denis Potvin in the Campbells&rsquo; 4-1 win over the Wales in Inglewood, Calif.That same day, the National Hockey League&rsquo;s Board of Governors approved the sale of the Rockies&rsquo; franchise from APA Sports Inc., headed by New Jersey trucking executives Arthur Imperatore and Armand Pohan to Buffalo cable television executive Peter Gilbert and Denver politician and businessman Mark Hogan.In the meantime. Rockies&rsquo; coach Billy MacMillan reactivated Assistant Coach Terry Harper, a 16-year NHL veteran defenseman, in an effort to solidify a young defense down what looked like a dismal stretch run.The sale of the team was finalized in Buffalo a couple of days after the All Star Game. Meanwhile, Hogan, the former lieutenant governor of Colorado, insisted that no imminent changes were expected within the organization&mdash;at least not until the end of the season.Changes, including the rumor at the general manager level involving current GM Ray Miron, have been speculated and some thought they might happen as soon as the new regime assumed command. No way, says Hogan.&ldquo;Nobody&rsquo;s job is imminently endangered,&rdquo; Hogan said. &ldquo;In effect, there will be absolutely no imminent changes. We&rsquo;ve got everything to learn and we want to work together.&ldquo;We want to put everybody at ease. We are starting new. Everybody has a chance to succeed and work with us,&rdquo; Hogan said.&ldquo;We want to wrap up the season as best we can and then start working on next season. And those who really want to be part of the organization have the first crack at it.&rdquo;Asked about Miron, Hogan insisted his job was safe, for the time being at least. &lsquo;That&rsquo;s been more created by other people,&rdquo; Hogan said of rumors involving Miron, who has been with the Rockies since their transfer from Kansas City in August of 1976 and who is currently on the second year of a three-year contract.On the ice. the Rockies played five solid periods of hockey in two games against Boston and Chicago and came away with a single point as their playoff hopes slip away. They tied the Bruins 3-3 in one of their better-played games of the season at McNichols Sports Arena and then fell behind Chicago 3-0 in the first 20 minutes before dropping a 4-3 decision to the streaking Black Hawks.Harper, who turned 41 in late January, played in both the Boston and Chicago games. He staged a brief comeback late last season with the St. Louis Blues before joining the Rockies as Billy MacMillan&rsquo;s assistant coach during the off-season.Though a bit wobbly, Harper did not look too much out of place, particularly around the net, where he cleared opponents out from in front of the goalie effectively&mdash;something other Rocky defensemen haven&rsquo;t been able to do this season.The Rockies&rsquo; lack of depth, especially at center, continued to plague them down the stretch. Walter McKechnie was doing the best he could and Merlin Malinowski was coming into his own, but it was the wingers who suffered the most&mdash;for lack of enough good centers. &#9632;

f0039-02

Rockies Are Avalanche Of Activity

<div class="byline">BY CHARLIE HALPIN</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="C0004-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-0290/4433288-1-eng-US/c0004-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Barber of the Philadelphia Flyers is moving rapidly up the all-time NHL scoring list. He has jumped from 39th to 34th place since the present season began.</figcaption></div>TORONTO&mdash;The National Hockey League&rsquo;s all-time top 10 elite scorers had been virtually untouchable in recent years but it is evident now that their once solid hold may be starting to slip a little.The arrival of the league&rsquo;s &lsquo;new breed&rsquo; of goal scorers in the past 10 years is starting to take its toll on the all-time goalgetting list and some of the retired leading 20 scorers are beginning to relinquish their places.Names like Marcel Dionne, Guy Lafleur, Jean Pronovost, Garry Unger, Gilbert Perreault, Bill Barber, Darryl Sittler, Steve Shutt, Rick MacLeish, Reg Leach, Butch Goring, and Bobby Clarke are rapidly becoming more prominent in the all-time race for goal-scoring recognition.Dionne, the dynamic little center of the Los Angeles Kings, is making the biggest strides in the all-time race and will end the 1980-81 season holding down 12th place ahead of retired Yvan Cournoyer. The former Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; captain left the game after scoring 428 goals. Dionne had 427 after his first 59 games this season.Barber, the hard-shooting left winger of the Philadelphia Flyers, has come from nowhere in the all-time race in recent years and is now pushing the 325-goal plateau, which will enable him to catapult ahead of such NHL greats as the late Nels Stewart, Pit Martin and Vic Hadfield on the all-time list. With 320 lifetime goals after his first 58 games this season, Barber is a cinch to make it in the next few weeks.Another new NHLer to climb the all-time list is Maple Leafs&rsquo; captain Sittler, who has notched 359 career goals through his first 57 games of this season to move ahead of such illustrioys big time goal scoring stars as Henri Richard, Andy Bathgate, Ron Ellis and Ken Hodge.The only shooter among the NHL&rsquo;s all-time top 10 scorers who is still active is veteran center Jean Ratelle of the Boston Bruins. The 40-year-old Ratelle has been bothered by injuries this season and Boston hockey fans are keeping their fingers crossed for the likeable Bruin center in his bid to make it to the 500-goal plateau before he retires. With eight goals this season in only 32 games. Ratelle needs three more to pass Norm Ullman to move into ninth place on the all-time list. He is 12 short of a goal-scorer&rsquo;s dream of 500 and because of a recurring back problem, he could become a victim of time.Lafleur, who began the 1980-81 season as the NHL&rsquo;s 14th highest goal scorer, has been hampered by a series of injuries as well and has managed only 16 goals while missing 22 games. As a result he is stalled in 14th place having already been passed by the prolific Dionne. Lafleur has 421 career goals.The &lsquo;arrival&rsquo; of goal snipers like Barber, Shutt, Sittler, Leach and Rick MacLeish has shunted such formidable NHL names as Bob Nevin, Dennis Hull and George Armstrong into the background and dropped them down the all-time list, which can be found elsewhere on this page.The escalating productivity of Dionne again raises the question, &ldquo;can anyone overtake Gordie Howe&rsquo;s all-time record of 801 career goals?&ldquo;For many years, there was speculation that Phil Esposito, with seasons of 76, 68, 66 and 61 goals, might be the one to overtake Howe. But the veteran center, who retired earlier this season with a career total of 717 goals, slackened his goal-scoring pace the past few years and ended up 84 goals short of Howe&rsquo;s mark.Now hockey observers are starting to take a long hard look at Dionne, who has an uncanny scoring touch for a little man. Dionne has enjoyed three 50-plus scoring seasons in the last four years and is certain to make it four in the last five again this season, which would put him on the road to ultimately surpassing Howe.If comparisons are significant, then Dionne is on the right track. He is 29 years old and playing his 10th NHL season. Having scored 427 goals he is ahead of Howe, who finished his 12th NHL year at age 29 with a total of 386 goals.<h2>All Time Goal Leaders</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0004-01143/4433281-1-eng-US/c0004-012.jpg" title="C0004-01" width="541" height="1151"></div> &#9632;

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March 6, 1981

Big Week Solidifies Leafs’ Playoff Chances

Who They’re Affiliated With…

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE SCORING

AMATEUR SCOREBOARD