To say Kent Douglas’ temper got the best of him would be an understatement. The Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman finds himself in hot water with the National Hockey League after a temper tantrum last night in Toronto’s game against the Chicago Black Hawks at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Toronto defeated Chicago 4-2 in one of two scheduled NHL games. Montreal hammered the New York Rangers 6-2 at the Forum in Montreal in the other game.
Big M May Have Saved Douglas’ Bacon
Douglas’ antics almost made the game score secondary to the capacity crowd at The Gardens. He was involved in two incidents that netted him $75 in fines, as well as a spot on the carpet in front of NHL president Clarence Campbell.
Douglas’ first fine came in the opening period. After being assessed a 10-minute misconduct, which carries an automatic $25 fine, the Leaf blueliner went ballistic in the penalty box. He ripped the newly-installed TV monitor from its moorings in the box and rendered it useless. But a much more serious altercation was to follow.
With just over four minutes remaining in the game and Toronto leading 4-2, a fight broke out between Douglas and Chicago’s Doug Mohns. Linesmen John D’Amico and Neil Armstrong moved in to separate the pair. That’s when the problem escalated.
D’Amico is the strongest official in the league and would probably win an arm-wrestling contest over most NHL players. He had Douglas in a vice-like grip from which he couldn’t extricate himself. Armstrong on the other hand, is not known as one of the more powerful linesmen, and he was unable to control Mohns, who is no stranger to fisticuffs.
Mohns broke away and was able to land several solid blows on Douglas. This enraged the Toronto player even more and he redoubled his efforts to escape D’Amico’s grasp. D’Amico somehow got Douglas’ sweater over his head while Mohns pounded away at him.
When Mohns finally left the scene, Douglas got himself out of his sweater and went after linesman D’Amico. He charged the official and fired a flurry of punches, none of which appeared to make solid contact with the linesman.
At this point Leafs’ Frank Mahovlich, who was involved in a scrum just away from the main event, broke away from that group, charged into the fray and tackled Douglas. Mahovlich wrestled his team-mate to the ice and that put a sudden end to the festivities.
At this point referee Frank Udvari, with the help of other Toronto players, banished Douglas to the Toronto dressing room after tagging him with a game misconduct and a fighting major. The game sentence carries with it a $50 fine.
The game itself ended up with Toronto taking it by a score of 4-2. The Leafs had a 3-0 first-period lead and then cruised on for the win. George Armstrong, Mahovlich and Tim Horton scored those first-period markers. The goal for the Big M was his 30th of the season.
The middle frame saw Bob Pulford up the count to 4-0 with his 27th. Red Hay got Chicago on the board to make it 4-1 after 40 minutes.
Ken Wharram wrapped the scoring at the 6:01 mark of the third, a few minutes before all the fireworks began.
The Leafs had a fifth goal called back when Udvari heard some uncomplimentary remarks from the Leafs players and gave the home side a bench penalty at 10:34. Before the play was stopped, Mahovlich had fired the puck past Glenn Hall in the Chicago goal. Udvari earned the wrath of the Leaf players and the crowd by disallowing the goal.
Rousseau, Provost Pace Habs
Bobby Rousseau and Claude Provost each scored two goals to lead the Montreal Canadiens to an easy 6-2 win over the New York Rangers in Montreal. Over 15,300 jammed the Forum to take in the match.
Dick Duff and Claude Larose scored the other Montreal goals. Former Canadien Phil Goyette and Vic Hadfield replied for the Rangers.
Montreal outshot the Rangers 38-24 and held a wide edge in play. The Habs benefitted from some inconsistent goalkeeping by Rangers’ Cesare Maniago. The tall, lanky netminder made a number of spectacular saves, but also allowed a few goals to which an odour was attached.
Kitchener Ousts Niagara Falls
The defending Memorial Cup Champion Niagara Falls Flyers were eliminated from the Ontario Hockey Association Junior A playoffs by the Kitchener Rangers last night. The Rangers and Flyers battled to a 6-6 tie and the single point gave Kitchener a total of eight and the series.
The Rangers will now meet the Toronto Marlboros, who eliminated the first-place Peterborough Petes earlier this week.
A record crowd for Kitchener of 6,948 were packed into the Memorial Auditorium. They saw the Rangers nearly blow a 5-2 lead after two periods. Bob Cook led the way for the Rangers with two goals. Other Kitchener marksmen were Bob Jones, John Beechey, Bill Hway and Walter Tkaczuk. Tkaczuk was a defensive standout all night.
Steve Atkinson led the Niagara Falls attack with a pair of goals.
St. Kitts Edges Generals
Winger Kerry Bond scored three goals to lead the St. Catharines Black Hawks to a 4-3 win over the Oshawa Generals in OHA Junior A play. The series is now tied at three games apiece.
The Hawks jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Bond and Richie Bayes. Bond’s second of the night made it 3-0 earlier in the second. Oshawa stormed back on goals by Bob Orr, Dan O’Shea and Wayne Cashman to send the game to the final frame tied at three.
The Hawks dominated play in the third, but it wasn’t until 17:46 that Bond finally found the range from a scramble in front of the Oshawa goal.
The game saw a wild brawl in the second period that saw four players receive major penalties. St. Catharines defenseman Tom Reid and Oshawa forward Bill White staged a spirited three-minute bout. Jan Popiel of St. Catharines and the Generals’ Barry Wilkins joined in and that prolonged the battle.
Referee Frank Slota awarded fighting majors to Wilkins and Popiel. Reid and White were assessed minors, double majors and misconducts.
Generals Morenz Hospitalized
Forward Brian Morenz of the OHA Junior A Oshawa Generals is in fair condition in a Toronto Hospital today after receiving a head injury in last night’s game against the St. Catharines Black Hawks.
Morenz, 16, was apparently hurt when he fell to the ice and struck his head. He was rushed to hospital and underwent emergency brain surgery. Surgeons drilled holes in his skull to relieve the pressure from a subdural hemorrhage, which is a rupture of blood vessels inside the skull.
