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Times-Advocate, 1982-02-03, Page 8Times-Aivecate, February 3, 1982 Sports" Spotlight By Ross Haugh We are back to the same old subject of not only the greatness of Wayne Gretzky, but, the value to his team, the league and the game of hockey in general. There have been many remarks in recent weeks that the great No. 99 of the Edmonton Oilers isn't worth the million dollars a year he will be getting for the next 20 years. The most general statement has been, "Nobody is worth that much money. That may be true, but, if anyone is it has to be Gretzky. It seems as of Gary Carter of the Montreal Expos is close to signing again with his current club for something like two million dollhrs a year. Don't get us - wrong. Carter is certainly valuable to the Expos but, he doesn't have the same appeal and drawing power as Gretiky. Many callers on a recent Sports Call show on CFPL radio said Gretzky or no one was worth a million dollars a year. That may be so, but, the salaries of a number of entertainers would make Gretzky's annual stipened look like peanuts. We heard that same remark from Johnson Spinks, the recently retired publisher of the Sporting News. Spinks said fellows like Frank Sinatra would get $100,000 for each appearance at a Las Vegas night spot and the estate of the late Beatle John Lennon is estimated at well over $400 million. It would take a long time to build up that kind of money at one million per season for any athlete. The attention Gretzky is getting is tremendous and every team in the National Hockey league is benefit- ting: It maybe a good idea to have the other 20 clubs pay a portion of Wayne's salary. A good example of the drawing power of Gretzky was shown in Chicago Stadium this week. Monday night, the Hartford Whalers provided the opposition for the Blaek Hawks and 7,827 fans were in attendance. Two nights later, Gretzky and the Oilers were in town and the crowd was increased to 17,401. The same thing is happening wherever the Edmon- ton club goes and local fans are no exception. Small World Travel had originally intended to provide one bus for Exeter and area fans who wanted to go to the Joe Louis arena in Detroit for the February 21 visit of the Oilers. That has now been updated and three buses will be making the jaunt. - At the time of writing Gretzky is up to 63 goals and 77 assists for 140 points in 53 games. A quick mathematical calculation tells us at this same clip Gretzky would score 95 goals and 116 points for 211 points during the 80 game schedule. Every once and awhile he breaks out with a three or four goal outburst so the 100 goal, mark is a distinct possibility. Until Gretzky came ' along Bill Cowley of the old Boston Bruins held the record for the most points per game in an NHL season. In the 1943-44 season Cowley who was better known as cowboy Bill chalked up 71 points in 36 games for a per game average of 1.97. The closest anyone else had come to that was Phil Esposito with 152 points in.78 games in 1970-71 for an average of 1.95 points a game. Even Gretzky will have trouble beating the_goal per game average record. Joe Malone of the 1917-18 is t s e e 0 e Y e to Y e ed n • Montreal Canadiens scored 44 goals in 22 games. H average was 2.2 per game. For Gretzky to equal tha mark now he would have to score 176 goals in the pre sent schedule of 80 games. Gretzky is sure to shatter all'assistsmarks thi year too. -Before he came along, Bobby Orr held th record with 102 assists in 78 games good for per gam average of 1.31. The 21 year-old from Brantford is cruising along s far this year at an assist clip of 1.46 per game. While checking through the NHL record book w also found some interesting items in the penalt column. Three names come up the most. They wer Red Horner; Gus Morison and Dave Schultz. Horner who was the mainstay of the Toron Maple Leaf defence during the 1930's was the bad bo of the league for eight straight years. His most tim spent in the penalty box was in 1935-36 when he logg 167 minutes in 43 games. Then came Gus Mortson who led the league i penalties four times. Mortson with Toronto in 1946-47 and 1960-51 and with the Chicago Black Hawks in 1953 54 and 1956-57 led in penalty minutes. Dave Schultz with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1974- 75 was in the penalty box for 472 minutes in 76 games and that record still stands. Blue Jays Caravan We were fortunate enough to attend the Toronto Blue Jays caravan when it visited London Friday and talk to a number of the team members. Heading the Blue Jays convoy were new manager Bobby Cox, pitching coach Al Widmar, broadcaster Tom Cheek and players Alvis Woods and Ernie Whitt along with public relations director Howie Starkman. The Jays should have a good shot at getting out of the American league eastern division basement with Cox at the controls. After four years at the helm of the Atlanta Braves Cox brings a lot of enthusiasm and experience to the Toronto team arid an improvement over Roy Hartsfield and Bobby Mattick who were managers at a time when the club was trying to bring along a lot of young players. Cox and Widmar indicatedthey were satisfied with the Blue Jays pitching prosects for this year say- ing Dave Stieb and Jim Clancy should be two of the best in the league. . Cox said he had high hopes for pitcher Nino Espanosa.Headded," Weshouldhavepitchingstrengthfor the first time and out new shortstop prospect 18 year- old Tony Fernandez will surprise a lot of people. We are.ready to spread our wings and get set to fly. Tom Cheek said he will really miss his broadcast sidekick for five years Earley Wynn who has moved to the Chicago White Sox radio team. We enjoyed chatting with Al Widmar and reminiscing about the old St. Louis Browns when Bill Veeck was the owner. Veeck was well known for his publicity stunts which included one armed outfielder Pete Gray and midget Eddie Gaedel. Beat Exeter, Thedford in close games Port Dover wins tical Hawks junior t�ume The Port Dover Sailors won the Exeter Hawks juinor •"D" hockey tourna- ment Saturday. The annual toruney which was delayed January 10 because of stormy weather conditions was completed Saturday at the South Huron Rec. Centre. Port Dover defeated the Thedford Browns 3-1 to win the 8500 prize in the final game. The Sailors reached the championship level by edging the Exeter Hawks 3-2 in the semi-final. Thedford made the final by beating the Thamesford Trojans 7-5 in the other semi-final Saturday mor- ning. Dave Knechtel of Port Dover was named the most valuable player in the tourney and the goalies from the same. team Jim Tiller and Brad Wilson won similar awards as the best netminders. All games Saturday were close from start to finish with the outcome in doubt to the final whistle providing excellent entertainment for a good crowd. In the final contest, Dave Knechtel fired Port Dover's third and insurance goal into an empty net with only eight seconds left. Each team scored one goal in the first period. Brad Pepper registered for Pcrt Dover at 17.40 while . Paul Walker replied for Thedford Tess than two minutes later. The only goal of the mid- dle frame came at 3.35 on a successful shot by Kevin Saunders taking advantage of a Thedford penalty. Brad Wilson faced 23 stops in the Port Dover nets while his mates directed 35 shots at Thedford goalie Brad Milner. In the second sime-final game. Port Dover scored the first two goals against the Exeter Hawks and were never headed. The game was three minutes old when captain Mike Walker of Port Dover completed a three way pass- ing combination with Jamie Nunn and Brian Lampman. Kevin Sauders made the score 2-0 at 13.27 with Doug Brooks of the Hawks in the penalty box for high stick- ing. Brad Pepper and Chuck Butchart assisted. The Hawks hit the scoreboard for the first time at 16.53 of the first period as Paul Johnson beat Jim Tiller in the Port Dover goal. Help- ing set up the score were Tony Underhill and Ed Willis. Early in the second period Steve Hisau upped the Port Dover lead to 3-1 with assists going to Don Erwin and Dave Knechtel. The Hawks -battled back and were rewarded at 3.13 of the third period as Brian Mercer scored on a neat • MOST VALUABLE — Exeter Hawk BiII Glover and Dave Knechtel of Port Dover receive their most valuable player awards from Gabby Mol after Saturday's semi-final tournament game. T -A photo Hawks trounce .Tavistock, keep top place hopes alive The Exeter Hawks stayed even with Tavistock for the loop leadership in the nor- thern Junior "D" division this week and the Braves now have only one game in hand over the locals. Exeter thumped Tavistock 8-2 at the rec centre, Wed- nesday, and followed it up with a 5-2 win over Mitchell on Friday to keep their hopes alive for the top spot. The Hawks have six games remaining in their schedule, with four being on the road and two of those in Tavistock. Wednesday night, they travel to Lucan for their final league meeting with the Irish and they host the Thamesford Trojans on Friday before playing in Tavistock on Saturday. The other three ' games constitute postponements over the past couple of weeks and arrangements haven't been finalized for those. Jumptoattack In the head-on clash between the loop's co- --leaderS, Wednesday, the Hawks came out flying and built.up a 5-0 lead in the first period and coasted to their 8- 2 triumph in a hard-hitting affair that saw both teams pick up 16 penalties. Exeter scored on four power play attempts and the Braves clicked on one. Brian Mercer and Bryan Baker paced the attack with two goals each, while adding singles were Ed Willis, Dave Couse, John Kernick and Doug Brooks. . •Pete Tuckey, Couse and Tony Underhill were the top playmakers with three assists each. Adding single assists were Larry Dawson, Kernick, Rick Lindenfield, Willis, Mercer, Preston Dearing and Bill Glover. Rich Fletcher turned aside 21 shots for the Hawks, who peppered 28 at the Tavistock Wit' Rally for win In a contrasting per- formance, the Hawks had to put on a scoring drive in the final period to subdue their namesakes from Mitchell in Friday's action. The teams were tied at one each at the end of the first and Exeter led by a 2-1 margin at the end of two before moving on to record the 5-2 triumph. ' Doug Brooks was a two - goal man for the locals and the singles went to Ed Willis, Brian Mercer and Bill Glo'er. Picking up assists were Tony Underhill, Paul Johnston, John Kernick, Preston Dearing and Dave Couse. Exeter scored twice on the power play and added another while playing short- handed, while Mitchell notched both their tallies with an Exeter player in the penalty box. Rich Fletcher worked between the pipes again and recorded 28 saves as both teams had 30 shots on goal. Each team drew two game misconducts for fighting. Paul Johnston and Rick Lindenfield were banished for Exeter, the latter also drawing a match penalty that will probably result in at least a three -game suspension. House league. atoms unbeaten The Exeter house league atoms continued their un- defeated season streak with a recent 8-0 victory over Zurich. Highlights of the game were some real good saves by goalie Steve Siliery and Glenn Quinn with his first goal of the year. passing play with captain Bill Glover. Jamie Nunn of the Sailors was off for cross checking. The locals went to forwards in the last min of•play but. were unable to six get the equalizer. The shots onoal were fairly close. Rich Fletcher in the Exeter nets made 27 saves while his counterpart for Port Dover Jim Tiller blocked 26 shots. In the other semi-final the Thedford Browns came on strong with three third period goals to edge Thamesford 7-5. Norm Gratton with two third period goals was the only Thedford player to score more than one goal. Scoring in single fashion for the Browns were Ron Livingston, Dave Wight, Steve McKenzie, Steve Mason and captain Ken Vanos. Doug Thornton and Paul McIntyre paced t h e Thamesford scoring with two goals each. Getting the odd marker was Kevin Peck. ■ JR TOURNAMENT. CJ1IMPunN...s WIN HAWKS BANNER — Port Dover captain Mike Walker accepts the championship banner after his team won Satur- day's final game in the Hawks junior tourney. Making the presentation is Hawks Booster club president Gard Kirk.T-A photo Last_ Chance lead The Chance have moved into .an eight point first place lead in the Exeter Legion mixed dart league. The leaders have 64 points while the Itchy Niters are second with 56 points, the Shiphunters and CP's., are next with 54 points apiece and the Rowdy Ones are in fifth, spot with a 53 point total. This week's scores were: Sassenachs 5 Canscotts 0 CP's 5 Evil Eyes 0 Crusaders 4 Itchy Niters 1 CB'ers 4 .Winkers 1 Last Chance 3 All( in the Family 2 Shiphunters 3 Out of Space 2 Jaams 3 Rowdy Ones 2 Outlaws 3 Scotties 2 Friday's schedule is as follows: 8 p.m. Last Rowdy Ones vs Scotties Outlaws vs All in the Family Crusaders vs Winkers CB'ers vs Sassenachs t:30 p.m. Last Chance vs Evil Eyes CP's vs Jaams Out of Space vs Itchy Niters Canscotts vs Shiphunters r S.C..PEARSON Insurance Brokerage Inc. 33 Huron St. E. Exeter D111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111! HOCKEY= ..at its best SOUTH HURON REC CENTRE OHA Junior 'D' Fri., Feb. 5 8:30 p.m. Thamesford, vs Exeter Hawks Sponsored by Hawks Booster Club uonnunuurm innnuunnnununuununuununt. SUSAN Representing Numerous companies to insure your - Auto - Home - Business - Farm Call 235-1455 For your personalized appointment NO LOOSE PUCKS The Port Dover net minder came up with several good saves when the Exeter Hawks enjoyed a two-man advantage in Saturday's action at the rec centre. There were no rebounds on the play for the Hawks to bat into the cage. Host Hawks tonight Irish get even break in Junior 'D' The Lucan Irish could do no better than an even split in two Ontario' hockey Association Junior "D" games this week. Wednesday, the Irish downed the Thamesford Trojans 5-2 on home ice and in Tavistock Friday night dropped a 7-4 decision to the Braves. This week the Irish will be at home to the Exeter Hawks tonight, Wednesday and Friday they will be on the road to tangle with the Mitchell Hawks. In the Wednesday win over Thamesford, three first period goals were enough. Jamie Shipley fired the first two goals in a space of 30 seconds early in the game. The first"score came on a power play effort on a pass from captain Paul Wraith and on the second Wraith and Doug Latta assisted. Again in the first period Wraith hit the Tavistock net on a pass from Keith Hart - wick. The only Lucan goal of the middle frame came from the stick of Steve Glenn with Kevin Hartwick and Dave Egan assisting. The final Irish score at 12.22 of the final session was again as the result of a power play. Doug Latta registered with passing help from Keith and Kevin Hartwick. Scoring one goal each for Thamesford were Jeff McKay and John Denomy. In Friday's loss in Tavistock, John Medd came up with two third period goals, but, they were not enough to threaten the lead the Braves had built up. Geoff Edwards notched the first goal of the game for the Irish at 8.54 of the second period on a play started by Art Gregory and Dean Scott. Near the -15 minute mark, Randy Turner fired the • second Lucan marker with Steve Glenn and Dave Egan contributing assists. In the l'hird period John Medd converted a pass from Steve Glenn at 1.42 and three minutes later hit the mark again on an unassisted ef- fort. Ted Gladding was the top marksman for Tavistock with a two goal effort. Getting one goal apiece were Tim Bean, Paul Albrecht, Terry Ross, Larry Albrecht and captain Terry Quehl. Scott's Leather & Tack Shop 120 Sanders St. W Exeter Ph. 235-0694 RUNNERUP MEDAL Exeter native Larry Willert, coach of the Thedford Browns receives a runnerup medal from Hawks manager Fred Mommersteeg. T -A photo 30% OFF All Western Clothes & Hats 20% OFF Remaining Stock Special 1/2 Price Rack IL The Exeter lions Club acknowledges the assistance rendered by the following "Good Corporate Citizens" who donated more than $225.00 each towards the financial success of our EIGHTH ANNUAL Sportsmen's Dinfler A & H Superior Markets Ward Mallette Pfaff Electric Canadian Canners Ltd. Custom Trailers Limited Dashwood Industries Exeter Pharmacy Exeter Roofing & Sheet Metal Co.Ltd. Frayne Chev-Olds South Huron Jr. Farmers Mather: Motors Exeter Produce & Storage Co. Ltd. South Huron Students Council Times -Advocate The Junction Tuckey Beverages Ltd. Anonymous "All Proceeds For Crippled Children"