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December 9, 1983
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.
HOCKEY VIEWPOINT
To Play In May! THE SCENARIO THATPaul Martha was discussing is exemplified best by the Vancouver Canucks in their surprise advance to the Stanley Cup final in 1982 when they were swept aside in four games by the New York Islanders. Martha is the vice-president, general counsel and representative to the National Hockey League board of governors for the Pittsburgh Penguins and he was talking of the Penguins’ need for some playoff achievement to inject some hockey interest into the sports fans there. The Penguins are losers in winners’ territory. Even though the baseball Pirates and football Steelers have declined in the past couple of years, those clubs have been either champs or contenders for as long as anyone can remember. That sector of Pennsylvania also contains some top college football teams. “Of course,…
HOCKEY CORNER
Sudden-Death Delight OF ALL MY heroes in the record book, one stands out above all the rest. Mel Hill. Maybe you never heard of Mel Hill. He played a long, long time ago. He played for the Boston Brains from 1937-41 and later for the Brooklyn Americans from 194142 and closed out his career with Toronto Maple Leafs from 1942-46. You probably don’t even remember the Brooklyn Americans. They used to be the New York Americans and even though I lived in New York at the time, I can’t remember why they became the Brooklyn Americans. I can’t recall them ever playing their games at Ebbets field. Perhaps Stan Fischler, who is a much older man, can tell us the story about the Brooklyn Americans. Anyway, Mel Hill was my guy when he played…
Ooh, Aah, Warriors On Warpath
WATERLOO—The Warriors find themselves in a rather unfamiliar position—near the top of the heap—after the first few weeks of play in the Ontario Universities Athletic Association. Usually it’s the other way around for the much-improved Warriors, who even trailed Royal Military College Redmen and Ryerson Rams in the standing last year, with only two wins and a tie in 24 games and finished last in the 13-team loop. What a difference a year makes. With a pair of victories in Waterloo over Laurentian Voyageurs—9-2 and 3-1—the Warriors moved into second place ahead of defending champion Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (4-1-2) with a record of 5-3-1. “We’re coming along,” said second-year coach Jack Birch. “We had a long way to go. We were right at the bottom of the pile last year. Our objective…
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Prior to the United States’ victory in the 1980 Olympics, the demand for American hockey players to play in the National Hockey League was minimal. One player, Tommy Williams, knows what it was like for Americans to make the NHL back in the ‘60s and ‘70s. “It was pretty tough,” said Williams, who played on the U.S. team which won a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley. “The biggest knock against Americans was that they didn’t play the hard-hitting type of hockey Canadians did.” Following the Olympics, Williams had a pro contract waiting for him with the Boston Bruins. “Even after I had signed a contract with the Bruins, I wasn’t sure I had made the right decision,” said Williams, who played 17 seasons of pro hockey with the Bruins, California…
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