Norm Ullman ended a scoring drought against the Chicago Black Hawks to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-3 win over the Hawks in Chicago. The Red Wing centre, who had not scored a goal against Chicago in just over a year, fired a pair for the Wings last night. Detroit now leads the best-of-seven semi-final series three games to two.
Along with Ullman’s tallies, Andy Bathgate, Gordie Howe and Val Fonteyne found the range for the Red Wings. Bobby Hull, Doug Mohns and Pat Stapleton replied for the Black Hawks. Stapleton added a pair of assists for a three-point night.
Early Goals Set the Tone
The Red Wings scored early and often to jump in front 2-0 at the end of a first period they dominated. Ullman and Fonteyne had the goals as the Wings outshot the Hawks 12-10 but had many more shots that narrowly missed the Chicago net.
Bathgate put Detroit up 3-0 in the second period’s second minute. Black Hawks battled back on goals by Mohns and Stapleton to narrow the lead to 3-2 after 40 minutes.
Things were tense and close-checking in the final period until Howe made it 4-2 at 11:41. Ullman followed up four minutes later with his second of the night and that put the issue to rest. Hull got one back less than a minute later, but it was too little, too late as the Wings wrapped up the crucial game five.
Chicago coach Billy Reay didn’t have much to say after this loss. He summed up the Hawks’ problems quite succinctly:
“Their big guns are outplaying our big guns. That’s it, pure and simple. Why are they doing it? It looks like our guys are tired out.”
Reay refused to heap blame on superstar Bobby Hull. He praised the slumping superstar, but then added a rather curious comment for a coach of a team fighting to win a playoff series:
“Anyway, I’d take Bobby’s 54 goals and 97 points over the Stanley Cup. Hockey should be sold over a 70-game season, not on the playoffs.”
Hull’s effectiveness has been severely limited by the close checking of Detroit’s super-pest Bryan Watson. Hull has four points in the five games of this series. He admitted he hasn’t been at the top of his game:
“It’s been an awful long season and my bum left knee is really sore.”
Hawks Start Hull at Centre
The Black Hawks attempted to confuse the Red Wings by shifting Hull to centre to start the game, but Reay admitted that the ploy wasn’t at all successful.
“We thought if we started the game with Bobby at centre, they’d take Delvecchio off that line.”
That didn’t happen. Delvecchio moved to right wing, enabling Watson to play opposite Hull at center and continue his shadow job. Hull switched back to his normal left wing slot after that first shift.
Many felt that the turning point in the game came in the first period on Fonteyne’s goal. The Detroit winger is hardly known as a scoring threat, but his goal in the first period gave the Wings a 2-0 lead.
Fonteyne scored when he intercepted a pass that Hull intended for Stapleton. He walked in alone on Chicago goalie Glenn Hall and beat him with a low shot along the ice.
Red Wing coach Sid Abel wasn’t about to get too excited about gaining the lead in the series:
“We still gotta win one more, but they gotta win two in a row. We have them coming home, but they play well on Detroit ice.
“I think now we will be tough to beat.”
North Bay Outclassed by Oshawa
The North Bay Trappers, champions of the Northern Ontario Junior A Hockey League, are no match for the Ontario Hockey Association champion Oshawa Generals. In the first two games of their Ontario final this weekend, the Generals pumped 118 shots at three Trappers’ goalies, winning the games by 11-4 and 11-2 scores. It wasn’t pretty to watch.
The Trappers say they are going to appeal to the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association for some sort of assistance. Regular goalie Andre Lalande has an injured groin and backup Matt Thorpe suffered muscle spasms in game two. Midget goalie Dave Harcourt finished the game after Thorpe left.
The Trappers are going to petition the CAHA to allow them to pick up an emergency replacement. It’s doubtful that any goaltender on the planet can really make a difference in this series, however.
In the first game of the series Bobby Orr was the star for Oshawa. He scored seven points on three goals and four assists. He had five points in the second game on a goal and four assists. Chris Hayes, Wayne Cashman and Bill Heindl had two goals each in game two.
Barons Oust Hornets in Three Straight
The Cleveland Barons eliminated the Pittsburgh Hornets from their Calder Cup playoff series in three straight games. The Barons defeated the Hornets twice on the weekend by scores of 6-2 and 4-2 to claim the best-of-five series.
Bob Courcy’s 2 goals led the way for Cleveland in Friday’s win. Saturday it was two quick goals by Howie Glover and Cecil Hoekstra that turned the tide for the Barons.
Pittsburgh players gave goalie Les Binkley all the credit for the Cleveland victory. His biggest save came with 21 seconds left in the final game when he robbed Pittsburgh’s Bob Cunningham of a sure goal while Hornets goalie George Gardner watched from the bench.
Indians Chase Bears
The Springfield Indians ended the Hershey Bears season by way of a 7-4 win over the Bears last night. The Indians will now go on to face the Cleveland Barons after taking their Calder Cup playoff series in three straight games.
Howie Menard and Brian Kilrea led the Springfield attack with two goals apiece. Gerry Foley, Barclay Plager and Roger Cote also scored for the winners. Roger DeJordy had two goals for the Bears, Myron Stankiewicz and Gene Ubriaco adding singles.
Aces, Amerks Series Tied
The Quebec Aces defeated the Rochester Americans 5-2 to even their Calder Cup playoff series at one game each. Bill Sutherland was the big man for the Aces with two goals. Jean-Guy Gendron, Ed Hoekstra and Cleland Mortson had the other Quebec goals.
Gerry Ehman and Dick Gamble connected for Rochester.
Victoria Leads Seals 2-0
The Victoria Maple Leafs took a 2-0 lead in their Western Hockey League semi-final series with a 3-1 home-ice win. Victoria’s top line of Bob Barlow, Milan Marcetta and Andy Hebenton did all the damage for the Leafs, each scoring a goal. George Swarbrick was the Seals’ marksman.
A crowd of 4,412 took in the game in Victoria.
Parise Leads Blazers
Jean-Paul Parise scored three goals to pace the Oklahoma City Blazers to a 5-2 win over the Tulsa Oilers in the Central Professional Hockey League’s Adams Cup final series. The Blazers now lead the series two games to none.
Ron Buchanan and Brian Bradley also scored for the Blazers. Terry Clancy and Ray Dupont had the Oilers goals.
Smythe Trophy Award Enhanced
This year’s Conn Smythe Trophy winner will have a little extra loot to enjoy. In addition to the $1,000 bonus awarded by the National Hockey League, the winning player will also receive a gold sports car valued at $5,000. It is being donated by the automobile manufacturer that shares sponsorship of the Stanley Cup telecasts.
Retired police detective, involved in hockey at all levels for over 50 years. Member of Society for International Hockey Research and presently a video analyst for the leader in advanced hockey analytics (we work exclusively for 2 NHL clubs, and provide advice on an ad hoc basis to many other clients). Currently the Assistant General Manager for the Pelham Pirates of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. Previously owned the Faceoff computer hockey simulation and also provided all player ratings for the EA Sports series of NHL computer games from the late 90’s into the mid 2000’s.
