Saturday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs got a taste of how angry manager-coach Punch Imlach could get when he demoted forward Jim Pappin to the American Hockey League after an ineffective performance in the team’s 4-2 loss at home to the New York Rangers. Imlach also brought fan favourite Eddie Shack back to Toronto, ostensibly hoping Shack’s helter-skelter style of play would inject some enthusiasm and verve into a lineup that has had very little of either so far this season. To say the moves didn’t work last night in Chicago would be an understatement.
Shack Starts Early
Imlach started Shack on the first line and only 36 seconds into the game, he and Stan Mikita of the Black Hawks engaged in a mild high-sticking duel and both were sent off with minors. For the Leafs, it was all down hill from there, as the high-flying Hawks met little resistance on their way to an embarrassingly easy 9-0 win over the Maple Leafs.
Bobby Hull continued his one-man assault on the National Hockey League record book with yet another three-goal performance, giving him 11 on the season. That total happens to be the same as the number of goals the entire Toronto club has scored in their eight games. But by the time Hull started popping goals (his first came at 1:20 of the second stanza), the issue had long since been decided.
Hawks Net Five in First
Chicago scored five times in the opening frame to finish the Leafs off early. Phil Esposito, Eric Nesterenko, Doug Mohns, Chico Maki and Red Hay were the scorers who put the Leaf behind the eight-ball early.
Hull netted a couple of second-period markers, with Mikita adding another to make the score 8-0 going into the third.
The Hawks cruised through the final frame, even allowing the Leafs to out-shoot them 13-9, secure in the knowledge that a Maple Leaf team in disarray posed absolutely no threat. Hull’s third of the night was the only goal in that final 20 minutes. Along with his three assists, Hull’s night provided him with six points in the league scoring race.
Hull Hawks All-time Scorer
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Thanks to last night’s performance, the Golden Jet is now the all-time leading scorer for the Chicago franchise. He now has 554 points, five more than former Hawk hero Bill Mosienko.
In the other two NHL games last night, the New York Rangers made it two out of two on the weekend with a 3-2 win over Detroit, while Montreal rebounded from a Saturday night loss to the Bruins with a 5-2 win in Boston.
Nevin Leads Rangers
Bob Nevin was the hero for the Rangers in their home-ice victory over the Red Wings. He scored twice, once in each of the first two periods, to give the Broadway Blueshirts a 2-0 lead. Don Marshall had the other New York marker, late in the second to put Rangers up by three.
The Red Wings made a spirited comeback in the third, but fell just short. Gordie Howe scored early, to make it 3-1. Ab McDonald narrowed the gap to 3-2 in the final minute of play, but it was too little, too late and the Rangers had their four-point weekend in the books.
Five Share in Habs Scoring
Montreal got goals from five different players en route to their win over the Bruins at Boston Garden. John Ferguson, Bobby Rousseau, Jean Beliveau, Ralph Backstrom and Claude Larose were the Montreal marksmen. Reggie Fleming and John Bucyk replied for the Bruins.
Bernie Parent made his fourth straight appearance in goal for the Bruins and played well once again, despite the loss. His undoing seemed to be Rousseau’s late first-period score. He had made a spectacular save off the Montreal right-winger, but defensemen Ted Green and Don Awrey backed into him and one of the two knocked the puck into the Boston goal.
That goal seemed to spark the Habs, who fired three more in the second period to put the game out of reach.
Gump Worsley had a solid game in goal for Montreal. He was called upon to make 23 saves, but was never under sustained pressure from the Bruins offense.
Montreal coach Toe Blake was happy with how his team responded after a lacklustre performance the night before. He acknowledged that the score would have been much more lop-sided had it not been for Parent’s stellar netminding. Parent made 36 saves on the night.
Amerks Win Again in AHL
The Rochester Americans, looking nothing like the parent Toronto Maple Leafs, ran their American Hockey League winning streak to six games with 4-0 blanking of the Baltimore Clippers last night. Other AHL games saw Hershey whip Buffalo 6-1, Providence edged Cleveland 3-2, and Quebec got by Springfield 1-0.
In Baltimore, rookie goalie Gary Smith earned his first shutout at the expense of the Clippers. Three Junior A Toronto Marlboros were in the Americans lineup for the game. Mike Byers, Doug Dunville and Jim Davidson were brought in to fill out an injury-riddled Rochester lineup. Gerry Ehman, Jim Pappin, Mike Corrigan and Dick Gamble had the Rochester goals.
Gene Ubriaco scored a pair of goals to lead Hershey over the Bisons, who dropped their fifth game in a row at home. Bruce Draper, Gary Dornhoefer, Wayne Rivers, and Jeannot Gilbert had the other goals for the Bears. Alain Caron was the lone Buffalo scorer.
All three Providence goals against Cleveland came within two minutes and 37 seconds. Jim Mikol, Jimmy Bartlett and Ed Kachur did the damage for the Reds. Cleveland goal-getters were Bob Courcy and Ron Atwell.
The Aces made Gord Labossiere’s first-period tally stand up to take the goaltending duel against the Indians. Both Gary Bauman of the Aces and Jacques Caron of Springfield put on a great show. It was Quebec’s sixth straight win.
Victoria First in WHL
Another Toronto farm club is enjoying a great run right now. The Victoria Maple Leafs took two straight games from the Seattle Totems on the weekend to move two points ahead of the Portland Buckaroos in the Western Hockey League standings. Saturday the Leafs won 7-3, while on Sunday the margin was 5-3.
Lou Jankowski and Bob Barlow had two goals each on Saturday. Last night five players shared in the scoring, with Andy Hebenton, Barlow, Gord Redahl, Milan Marcetta and John Sleaver being the marksmen.
In last night’s other WHL game, Portland edged the Vancouver Canucks 2-1. Cliff Schmautz and Bill Saunders scored for Portland, with David Duke getting the Vancouver goal.
Marlies Win Shootout With Petes
The Toronto Marlboros won a wild 8-5 decision over the Peterborough Petes in one of three OHA Junior A matches yesterday. In other games, St. Catharines downed London 6-4 and Montreal and Niagara Falls skated to a 2-2 tie.
At Maple Leaf Gardens, Tom Martin and Terry Caffery each scored twice for Toronto. Jim Davidson, Mike Byers, Jim Keon and Brent Imlach had the others. Drake Jopling, Dale McLeish, Gord Tucker, Andre Lacroix and George Godson connected for the Petes.
Doug Shelton scored three times to lead the Black Hawks over London in St. Catharines. Bob Sicinski, Richie Bayes and Ken Laidlaw had the other St. Kitts markers. Don Buddo, Stan Allen, Moe St. Jacques and Walter McKechnie replied for London.
Don Marcotte and Derek Sanderson scored for Niagara Falls in Montreal. The Baby Habs received goals from Larry Pleau and Norm Ferguson.
Baltimore Applies for NHL Franchise
The National Hockey League will receive a formal application for an expansion franchise from a group representing the city of Baltimore today. Baltimore is one of four cities under consideration for two remaining spots in the new western division of the league. The new teams are slated to begin play in 1967-68.
The application will be submitted by Robert C. Embrey, president of Baltimore Ice Sports, who operate the Baltimore Clippers of the American Hockey League. A non-refundable fee of $10,000 must accompany the application.
The NHL has said it will accept the Baltimore Civic Centre if some needed upgrades are performed on the building. The mayor of the city, Theodore R, McKel, has said he will support the alterations, which are expected to cost $350,000.