It would appear that Toronto Maple Leafs president Stafford Smythe has soured on the idea of building a 20,000 seat coliseum in downtown Vancouver.
Council attaches restrictions
Smythe said yesterday that the proposal he made to build the $8,000,000 arena complex will be taken off the table if the city council continues to insist on placing restrictions on the deal. Council apparently has told Smythe that he cannot build a hotel or any other non-arena related facilities on the two-block parcel of land.
Smythe was quoted by a Vancouver radio station as saying, “We wouldn’t even bother negotiating on those terms.”
Vancouver mayor Bill Rathie, however, says that he spoke to Smythe himself by telephone and that he had been told that the deal still was in place.
Smythe had offered to build the sports arena in downtown Vancouver on a two-acre parcel of land on the condition that the city gift to him the property on which the building would be constructed. The property has been valued at $2,000,000. The city had apparently agreed to these conditions and the proposal was to be voted on by ratepayers in the December 9 civic elections.
Problems arose when this week coucil passed a resolution amending the coliseum bylaw prohibiting the construction on the property of anything not directly related to coliseum facilities.
Vancouver arena would prompt NHL expansion
Smythe has gone on record saying that the construction of such an arena complex in Vancouver would almost certainly force the National Hockey League to expand to the west coast city. NHL president Clarence Campbell, in response to Smythe’s comments, said that the NHL has no plans to expand to Vancouver or anywhere else in the immediate future.
Bomb threat delays Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs were delayed on their trip home Thursday night after their loss in Montreal. The train carrying the team was stopped for over an hour while police investigated a report that a Quebec terrorist organization had planted a bomb on a bridge linking the west end of Montreal island with the mainland. The area was searched, no explosives were found and the train was allowed to continue. The police had received the threat by way of an anonymous telephone call.
OHA: Marlies unbeaten streak snapped by Flyers
There were two games played Friday night in the OHA Junior A Series. The Niagara Falls Flyers ended the Toronto Marlboros’ 10-game unbeaten streak by downing the Marlies 3-1. In the other game, Kitchener and Montreal battled to a 6-6 tie.
Brian Bradley paced the Flyers’ attack against Toronto with a pair of goals. Defenceman John Arbour netted the other. Mike Byers ruined Falls goalie Bernie Parent’s shutout bid.
Billy Hway led the way for Kitchener against the baby Habs with three goals. Tom Miller, Jack McCreary and Bob Jones had the other Ranger markers. Six players shared in the Montreal goal total, with one each going to Lucien Grenier, Don Liesmer, Bob Lemieux, Serge Savard, Guy Dufour and Rene Drolet.
AHL: Amerks rookie Stemkowski hot
Rookie Peter Stemkowski scored his sixth goal in the last four games, with this one coming in overtime to give the Rochester Americans a 4-3 win over the Providence Reds in one of three American Hockey League games last night. In the others, Cleveland finally put an end to their eight-game winless streak with a 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Hornets and Baltimore whipped Springfield 7-4.
In addition to Stemkowski’s game-winner, Stan Smrke, Bronco Horvath and Wally Boyer also found the range for Rochester. Len Ronson had two goals for the Reds, with Jeannot Gilbert adding a single.
Rookie Gordie Wilkie was the star for finally victorious Cleveland with two goals, while Freddie Glover, Doug Senior and Wayne Frietag also scored. Ron Atwell had four assists. Pittsburgh goal-getters were Irv Spencer, Claude Laforge and Murray Hall.
Baltimore got three goals from Sandy MacGregor to down the Indians. Dick Meissner, Dave Creighton, Bryan Hextall and Ted Taylor had one each. Springfield scorers were Dave Amadio with a pair, and Mike Labadie and Gerry Foley with singletons.