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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1961-11-30, Page 6PAVO 4 The Tinlea-AdYocate, November ?0, 1901 COTTON'S .• • • :COMMENTS By BILL BATTEN, Sports Editor $O MUCH FOR. THAT THEORY!. Whenever a team in any sport hits the dot - drums and starts losing games in wholesale qUaU- jities, the management usually tries to solve their woes by firing their coach. This practice usually appears to be ridiculons as far as we are concern; ed, as we don't think a coach can make that lunch difference, especially over a long. haul, We have an idea that there are many other persons who carry this opinion„ and feel that a club just changes coaches to appease their irate fans, who usually slacken their disapproval, for the time being at least, to give the new than •a theme to show his wares. However, things are happening in the NHL that readily disprove our theory and show that per- haps the management knows what they are doing when they replace their coach—at least in one case. The New York Rangers, whose players made the Stanley Cup playoffs via between -period inter- views on TV for the past three years, find them- selves in a most unfamiliar spot these days—on top of the heap in the big time. (At time of writing, anyway.) It is hard to assess their current play as being a direct influence of their new coach, former all-star defenceman with the Montreal Canadiens, Doug Harvey. However, they have much the same lineup they employed last season when they finished far back in the field among the six NHL squads, They have added a couple of young rookies and picked up a couple of other players in the draft, but basically they have the same team. They are still playing in the same spot, Madison Square Garden, and undoubtedly it is much the same crowd they play before, although the numbers are probably up now that they have a winning combination. The Rangers are still pitted against the same teams who readily whipped them last year, and most of these teams have the same lineup as they did last season. So, there isn't really much of an alternative to explain their current situation than to point the finger at their coach and give him most of the credit for their success. A REAL TEAM LEADER While we started out by admitting that our theory might be wrong about coaches not being as much value to a team as some people think, we still feel that Harvey's value to Rangers is Much greater as a player than a coach. There is no doubt that he has picked up many coaching tips and plays from Toe Blake and Dick Irvin, and has implemented them in the attack and defense of the Rangers, but we think his leadership and playing abilities far over -shadow these, ' Harvey has long been an automatic choice for a NHL all-star berth, but many people who watched him in action at the end of last season noted that he appeared to be slowing up consider- . ably and was losing his effectiveness. • This was mainly wishful thinking on the „part of non -Montreal fans and Was due mainly to a serious charley -horse he sustained. At least, he appears to have regained his old accustomed form and is pacing the Ranger attack in many of their wiRS. Harvey's play has often lead to charges of "indifference' and "lackadaisical", but no matter what you think of the guy, sooner or later you have to realize that this is his normally cool, composed and deliberate type of play and it is seldom that you see him make a mistake. His effectiveness on the Ranger defense has - undoubtedly been a big factor in their play, and the confidence, spirit and winning ways that he picked up as a Canadien are showing their effect on the Broadway boys and unless something dras- tic happens, we will have to admit that we went away off the deep end when we picked the Rangers to finish out of the playoffs. THEY CAN THANK MONTREAL • If the Rangers do gain a berth in the play- offs and should even succeed in winning the Stanley 'Cup, we trust that after the shock wears off, they will thank the Montreal Canadiens for their good fortune. As we recall it, it was Frank Selke who of- fered Harvey to the Rangers, rather than the Rangers seeking Harvey. It should also be noted that two other members of the Canadiens in the persons of Junior Langlois and Guy Gendron are now playing with the Rangers and a big asset to that club, This apparent generosity of the Canadiens doesn't appear to have weakened them too much and bears up the fact that they certainly have the 7strobgest minor setup in the big time. Although they lost the Stanley Cup to Chicago last year, Canadien fans are quick to point out that Red Hay, Earl Balfour, Ab McDonald, Dollard St, Laurent, Eddie Litzenberger and Reg Fleming were all graduates of the Canadiensfarm system. And that, before we get unpardonably mis- taken for a Montreal fan, is the last, nice thing we ' are going to say about them, 'Unless, of eoUrSd, they trade Beliveau and Geoffrion to our Red Wings for Howie Young. BATT'N AROUND—We have been looking forward to returning to the basketball wars, but we fear that trouble is brewing up in the new rec league e'Ven before it opens, While at SHDHS the other day, we dropped into the gym and saw the high school teachers practising. Shame oe you fel- lows—taking advantage of the other teams by get-, ting in shape. However, we don't think anyone will ,,beat the teachers anyway, because we can't even pronounce their team erne (Peripatetic Pada., •gogues) let alone store against them . Area hockey .fans who notice a Similarity between Gorry Odrowskt of the Detroit Bed Wings. and a young puckster who played here once are not imagining things, Odrowski Was a member of BuckMc. Donald's Sundridge Beavers when they ousted the Mohawks from 011A competition back in 1956, When ilia NHL playtr WAS only 17 years old, I retains lead with awks, hevs pos The powerful Lucan-Ilderten. Combines .contietted their will, ping,. ways in the Big Bigot Intermediate Hockey League thJs week,. pasting two vans to extend their win streak to four. They had te come :front be. hind en their home ice, :Sat- lrday, and sore two goals in .overtime astl.e ,.Bxeter Mo- hawks gave them their best run of the season. However, the Combines.took an the undefeated Seaforth Towners, TtleadaY, anti skated away With a .COnvineing 0.3 Mitchell Red. Devils share second :place with the Towners with two wins apiece, The Towners picked up their see - mid win .of the season when they spoiled' the home opener of .the Centralia Golden Hawks in Exeter, Thursday, and Mitch- ell handed the RCAF _crew their second straight loss when they scored a 5.3 win itt Miteb- ell, triumph The Exeter Mohawks made their first appearance in the win column,' Tuesday, when they scored a 5?. win over Philipsburg in their home _open- er. liowever, the Chevs grabbed a 6-2. win in Clinton, .SundaY, in their first league appearance to duplicate the Tribe's two points in the standing, The two RCAF squads are the only ones Who have yet to record a win. -Tiw Clinton prow have lost all three of their tilts while the Golden Hawks have dropped a Pair - Only seven teams An emergency meeting of the league executive and the tean managers was held in Clinten, Sunday, to re -draft the sched. tile after the RC1 Royals were forced to droll from the league., 411 the RCI home games were merely stroked etf the several changes were made as teams were moved up to fill in other team's home dates that were original- ly scheduled for the RCR crew, The schedule was cut down one week in length, with the last league game scheduled fpr February 18. This week's schedule will give several teams a chance to get even with the squads who have whipped them in games so far. The Centralia Golden Hawks get a return engagement with Mitchell in the Exeter arena, Thursday, while the Mohawks will have to face Philipsburg in their home opener in New Hamburg, Friday. The front -running Combines host Clinton on the same ,night, 011ie the 'Mohawks next home date will be on Tuesday against the Seaforth crew. Locals stall Chevs, score win The Exeter Mohawks made their home debut a winning one, Tuesday, handing the Philipsburg Chevs a 5-2 loss in a wide-open hockey game in the Exeter arena, Playing before only a hand- ful of home -town fans, the Tribe whipped in three unan- swered tallies in the middle frame to get their margin of victory. Jim MacDonald and Jim Rus- sell, a pair of hard -shooting forwards, sparked the win as they banged in a pair of goals each. Both players are just up from the junior Hawks, but have played with the Mohawks for several seasons in the fast intermediate ranks. Bob Armstrong, a hard-work- ing member of this year's jun- ior squad, made his first jump into intermediate play an aus- picious one, as he scored the other tally, The youngster was a constant .threat every time on the ice, and showed he can play in the higher class, as he traded bump for bump with the husky Chevs. • Start early The Tribe wasted little time in giving their small band of supporters something to cheer about, as J i m MacDonald, scored off the opening faceoff as he worked his way through the Chev defense to beat Fred Currah after only 16 seconds of play. However, the Clievs came right back to get on even terms when Cal Honderick took a pass from Burt Christner to beat Dick McFalls at the 2:30 mark, The teams finished the period without, another tally, as both goalies carne up with several sparkling saves. MacDonald started things off again for the Tribe in the early • in opener minutes of the middle frame when he teamed up with Keith Stephens, who was playing his first game of the season, to push the locals into another one -goal lead. Armstrong upped the count to 3-1 at the 7:22 mark on a neat passing play with Bob Morrissey and then big Jim Russell stole a puck at the Philipsburg blueline to break in on Currah and 'blazed a hard shot into the corner at the mid- way mark, Burt Christner put the Chevs back on the scoresheet again at the 7:12 mark of the final period, as it looked as if the Tribe would revert to the style they followed in their first two games, when they blew big leads. However, Jim Russell finish- ed off a three-way passing play with Bob Morrissey and playing -coach Boom Gravett at the 15:11 mark to give the Tribe another insurance tally. The game was a hard-hitting affair, although only eight pen- alties were called. However, the partisan Exeter crowd let referees Gus Boussey and Archie Hubert know that they missed several Philipsburg in- fractions. Jim MacDonald a n d Cy Blentmaert, both hurt in the Luean-Ilderton game, returned to the lineup, but Blommaert retired early when his shoulder gave him trouble and MacDon- ald had to leave in the final. period when a stiff body check aggravated his charley -horse. Keith Stephens was a wel- come addition for Boom Gra- vett's defense corpsand gave Dick McFalls plenty of pro- tection, although at times, the goalie looked as though he didn't need any at all as he carne up with several big Saves. ,• , , ,, ..t:.•.. • Hockey Scoreboard BIG EIGHT PHA 1,a8t week's scores: Seaforth 6—Cc:Ilya& 3 lAican-Ilnertou 10-4xeter 6 Philipsburg ,6—Clinton 3 6—Centralia .1:xeter 5—.PhIlips4urg3 ,Lucati.1klertott 0--„seatorth standings w 1T Dusan-fide:Ion 4 0 0 Seaforth „,„,„ 5140;011 •-• • Exeter Philipshurg t:'entralla 0 2 Clinton 0 3 0 2 0 1 1 41 6 4 2 0 Games this week: Thursday. Nov. 30 Mitchell at Centralta (Exeter) FrldaY. Per, 1 Clinton AL ,Luean•liderton Exeter at Philipsburg SttlidaV, Dec. 3 Seaforth at Clinton TtiesdaY, Dec, 5 Centralia at Mitchell SeAtorth at Exeter 11 ednesday, Per, 6 Clinton at. PhilinsintrF SHAMROCK JC1811011S Standing§ Hensall,Zitrich Eseter Lambeth. Watford Strathroy Games thiA week; Thursday, Nov. 30 14ensall at StrathrOY Friday, .Uec. 1 Strathroy At Exeter ‘VednesdaYt Der. 43 Exeter at 1.-tenexil Thursday. DOC, 7 Exeter at Strat.hrey PEE WE HOUSE LEAGUE This week's scores; 51ohawks 7, Hawks 1 81.apie Leafs 2, Red Wings 1, ' Rangers 5, Canadiens 1 Standings 1V LTFA , 2 0 J 15 3 2 -0 0 9 2 .\iaple Leas 1 1 ft• 3 5 2 1 1 0 7 10 2 0 2 0 4 11 0 Canadlens 0 - 2 0 3 10 .0 Red 'Wings Future gantest Satnrday, December 2 8:00—Canadiens vs, Mohawks 3:00—Ratigers vs, Red Wings 10A0—fia.wIts vs. Maple Leafs 11:00—Squee Gee Hockey up to 7 years old. 11:30—Squirt hockey BANTAM HOUSE LEAGUE Thisw‘vineaes5 k's, scores:sonlas 0 .1-lawks 5, :Phantoms 1 Standings w L , 9 0 0 4 Hawks 1 1 0 2 1 Bomarcs 21. on 01 Future games: Wednesday, Dec. 6 6.7—fled Wino Va, B. ilawk.s 7-3—Phantoms vs. Bantams Wedneaday,..pec. 136 _0 . '"4.------tictcic"1118,41c;Lvsj$, Phantoms Wednesday, Dee. 20 6 -7 -.-Phantoms vs. Red Wings 7-d—Bomares vs. black Hawks MIDGET • JUVENILE Future gHaOmUeSva LEAGUE Monday, Der, 4, 6-7—Cusinuans 'vs, Howard Tuesday, Dec. 5 6 -7 --Fortune vs. Loucks Monday, Dec. 11 6-7Cushman vs, Fortune Tuesday, Dec. 32 6-7—Loucks vs. Howard Monday, Deo. 16 gt-47—l•y,Dec,•aiottr"s.. Fortune Tiecia33 6.7—Loucks. vs. .Cushman 92.41MYRECOMOMFAWAVV.W.Ufkl we L 4 0 9 3 4 (I 1 2 T1 I wins OPEN SEASON—G/C L. H. Randall, commanding officer of RCAF Station Cent talia, is shown above dropping the puck between I3ob Beuttenmiller, left, eaptaic of the Seaforth Towners, and Al Simpson, captain of the Centralia Golden Hawks, 4 at CE's opening game M the Bight Eight played in Exeter, Thursday, The Towners 1 3 spoiled the Centralia debut by whipping the Golden Hawks 6-3, Standing in the background are team manager Guy Lobel and coach Jack Seymour, wearing the hat, 4 Goalie hurt in L-1 win wTaies in final stanza The Lucan-Ilderton Combines stops Golden Hawks The Mitchell Red Devils scored two unanswered tallies in the final period on their home ice, Tuesday, to emerge with a hard-fought 5-3 win over the RCAF Centralia Golden Hawks, It was the second win in a row for Murray Butcher's squad, after dropping their opener by a lop -sided 19-2 count to the Lucan-Ilderton Com- bines, George Coy, ene y, Doug Smith, Izzie Powell, Ernie Ahrens and Brian Cheros each scored a single tally to pace the winners Bill Killen was a standout for the Golden Hawks, firing in all three of his team's goals. Blow lead The RCAF crew started out in high gear as Killen shot them into a 2-0 lead before the period was half over. George Coveney reduced the lead to 2.1 when he beat Trem- bley at the 17:50 mark of the first stanza and then Cheros knotted the count at the 429 mark of the middle stanza. Killen pushed the visitors back into the lead at the 11:17 mark of the same peried, but Sin ith teamed up with Coveney and Line Rolifritsch to even the count at 3-3 less than two min- utes before the teams finished play in the period. They battled on even terms until the mid -way mark., when Powell and Ahrens scored a couple of quickies in less than 25 seconds to wrap up the con- test. It was a cleanly played con- test, with only three penalties being called. LA needs......overtime to edge T The Undefeated Luean-lider- toe Combines had te overcame a Lour -goal lead and score twicein 0)/611,41'1e before they subdued the Exeter Mohawks 10-8 in Linen, Saturday. The Tribe, suffering their second straight loss, played al. Most flawless hockey in the first period as they Jumped iri to a 5.2 lead,but their failure te cover up in Milt Of their Own net in the middle stanza allowed the Combines to bounce back and knot the count at 6-6. Both teams stored a Pair in the final period, but flaying oath Max O'Neil stored the winner at the 1 Mark In overtime and Toth Collings banged in the clincher with less than two minutes remaining, The Combines' first line of Wraith, Storey And 'Pletcher Paced the attack as May each ribe 10-8 banged in a pair of tallita. Sttt O'Neil countered once in the middle frame to give each member of the Collingt-O'Neil line a goat and defenaelnan Terry liodgina accounted for the other one, ' Playing teach Boni Gravett recorded the hat -trick to pace his squad, while Don Wells banged hi a nair. Singletons Wdrg picked lip by Cy Blom - Macri, Red Loader and Jim liogarth. Tribe hot The Exeter entry mile net flying in 06 first period and had a ,litt lead before the period Was even half over. They outsicated the powerful Combines and jumped On them in their own end to take ad- vantage Of Sonic poor clearing Mays to record goals by Gra- ,. Please turn to page 7 ' scored their fourth straight win, Tuesday, whipping the Seaforth Towners 9-3 in Sea - forth, However, the win was a cost- ly one, as the Combines lost the services of their agile net - 'minder, Keith Scarborough. The lanky goalie was hit on the forehead with a hard drive in the early minutes of the game and received a large wound over his eye, Scarborottgh was taken to the hospital in London when it was feared the cut may have affected one of his eyes. Manager Harry Wraith ex- plained that. Scarborough ap- peared to misjudge the shot slightly and didn't get his glove 'up high enough to block it, "It was quite a gash", Wraith stated, Doug Gowdy filled in for the remainder of the game arid came tip with a reditable showing, , allowing only three goals, The Combines lumped into a 3-2 lead in the hitt, period, but Seaforth came back to net the only marker in the second frame to knot the count at 3-8, However, il1g powerful Com- bines hammered in six (matt - HOCKEY AT ITS BEST! Strathroy vs. Exeter Jr. Hawks EXETER ARENA Friday, Dec, 1 1130 Support the Iticht Hawks split contests, fig -Z record fourth win The Exeter junior Hawks took over sole possession of second plaee this week, when they whipped the Lambeth juniors to break their two-way tie. However, the league -leading Zurich-Hensall Combines main- tained their margin as they skated to their fourth straight win with a verdict over Strath- roy. The northern entry have yet to be beaten, and the only game they failed to win was a 5-5 draw with the Hawks in their league debut, Watford moved out of the cellar of the league by whip- ping the Hawks 7-6 on their home ice, Saturday. Atoms' late rally sinks Hawks 7-6 The Watford Atoms handed the Exeter Hawks their second loss of the season, Saturday, when they banged in three goals in the final period to eke out a 1-6 win on their home • ice. The teams entered the final period tied at 4-4, but a two - goal outburst by Lyle Moffat sparked the Atoms to their hard- fought win over the Exe- ter crew, playing the second game in as many nights. Moffat was the scoring lead- er fOr the Watford entry, bang- ing in three goals against Leslie HoWard, who was forced to play with a face mask after being cut in Exeter, Friday. The young goalie had difficulty clearing the puck away from his feet due to the mask. Torn Rainford and Pete Sis- ler provided the rest ' of the scoring punch for the winners, banging in a pair of tallies each. Hard-working Bob Armstrong was the top goal getter for the Hawks, blinking the light three times for the hat trick. Bob Jones, Bev Irvine arid Tom Sinclair notched the others. Sinclair's goal came at the 17:35 :nark of the final period to pull the locals within one goal of Watford, but they couldn't beat. Keith Matthews in the final two and a half minutes to get the equalizer, Whip Lambeth with starry play The Exeter Hawks came up with their best effort of the season in Exeter, Friday, to completely subdue the Lam- beth juniors 14.5, The locals outplayed the Lon- don entry in all departments and had them completely off- balance with their exhibition of wide-open skating and accurate passing. Frank Boyle and Lloyd Moore paced the onslaught as they each banged in three goals. Bob Jones, Fred Lamb and Tom Sinclair added a pair each,. while Bev Irvine and Jean Guy 1\larchilton added singles. Bob Uptigrove and Ted Min- hinniek counted twice for the outclassed Lambeth crew and Mcrt Moris scored the other one. The Hawks wasted little time in showing over 200 fans that they were in ,for a high scoring tilt, as Bob Jones banged in the first marker at the 345 mark and Fred Lamb cane right back a minute later to get the team's second. They led 5-1 at the end of the first stanza, and after being held to a slim 3-2 , margin in the middle frame, came back to rap in six goals in the final 20 minutes, while holding Lam- beth to a single. Goalie injured Alternate goalie, Leslie How- ard, was forced out of the Hawk lineup mid -way through the second frame when he was hit for a nasty gash on his face. However, Ted Sanders took over the netminding duties and _ Please turn to page 8 Arena Schedule THURSDAY, NOV, ' 30 9:oo--mItchei1 vs. RCAF Centralia Golden Hawks FRIDAY, DEC. 1 8:30--scrathroy vs. Exeter , Junior Hawks swercd tallies in the final frame SATURDAY, DEC. 2 to get the win. • 1:30.3:30-0tIblic Skating Don Fletcher paced the al. sioe-unOo—Public Skating tock with the hat -trick, while Max and Stu O'Neil contributed SUNDAY, DEC, 3 a pair cath, Doii Urbshott, 2100•4:00—Publio Skating who played a stellar game on defense in front • of Gowdy, TUESDAY, DEC. 5 Added a sinpe, as did manager 8:30_so1,forth vs, Exeter Harry Wraith. Mohawks ottlistettitutanuntuttlitatimuituistutimmutittounitionitannitasuntinuitaiattnuituatantutir OHA INTERMEDIATE Hockey Action! . 5 Tues., Dec . • 1, •-• ili 8.:36 ..•00* r EXETER ARENA Seaforth Towners VS, Exeter Mohawks SUPPORT THE MOHAWKS BY ATTENDING ALL HOME GAMES' I me prf %In ime See our Selection of Quality Used Cars '61 Chevrolet BISCAYNE 4 DOOR SEDAN Green with matching inter- ior, back-up lights, 11,000 actual miles, new car con- dition. '60 Envoy SPECIAL 4 DOOR SEDAN' Windshield washers, a low mileage, one -owner car. '58 Chevrolet BEL AIR 4 DOOR SEDAN Two-tone gold finish, a low mileage, one -owner car, '57 Ford CUSTOMLINE 2 DOOR Radio, washers, black and White two-tone finish, a one - owner car. '56 Chevrol2t DELUXE 4 DOOR SEDAN Special two-tone finish, '55 Dodge 2 DOOR HARDTOP Special twO-tone finish, GET OUR PRICE. BEFORE YOU' BUY Snell they: Olds- PHONE. W. EXETER