JULY 28, 1947
IMPRESSIVE SCORER GALBRAITH TOPS NAHC DRAFT
The North American Hockey Conferderation conducted its annual draft over the weekend and the Toronto Dukes took another step towards restoring the club to the level it was at prior to the terrible collapse last season. The Dukes, armed with a new head coach in former star player Jack Barrell, were gifted with a huge upgrade just a couple of weeks ago when they landed 30-goal scorer Quinton Pollack in the dispersal draft of players from the now defunct Brooklyn Eagles.
The Eagles demise left the loop with six teams and the Dukes, due to their last place finish in the recently completed campaign, were entitled to the first selection in the rookie draft. Toronto opted for more offense in adding Lou Galbraith, a 19-year-old offensive whiz who tallied 19 goals and 34 points while playing for Buffalo in the second best hockey league in the world. That would be the Hockey Association of America, a loop littered with many top prospects and former NAHC regulars -one in which Galbraith looked right at home as a mere teen. That has to sit well with Barrell and give the new coach a lot of hope that his talented rookie may just earn a spot on one of Toronto's three lines next season.
The Dukes could have a pretty impressive offense with the 24-year-old Pollack (30-17-47), veteran Bobbie Sauer (24-22-46) and impressive youngster Trevor Parker (14-15-29) holding down the three pivot spots. It is not hard to image Galbraith earning a spot alongside either Pollack or Sauer next season with veteran Herm Burdette, who missed most of last season with an injury, along with Syl Beam (5-12-17) and 22-year-old Maurice Charette (8-16-24) as his chief competition. 31-year-old Mahlon Klein (8-19-27) is likely the top man on the right side but youngsters Les Carlson (10-11-21) and Mike Navarro (1-3-4) along with rookie Dick Zimmerman, a 21-year-old who had 31 points in the coast league last season may challenge him.
With the second selection in the draft the Montreal Valiants elected to select a hometown kid, drafting Montreal native Francis McKenzie. The center iceman spent this past season with the Vancouver Bears of the Great Western Hockey League and had 10 points in a 14 game trial. There is no doubting McKenzie has talent, but there were some concerns about his ability to fit in on a hockey team, a big factor in the mock draft slotting the 19-year-old as far down as 9th on its pre-draft list.
The New York Shamrocks Jim Macek, a hard-working left winger who hails from Toronto and may endear Bigsby Garden face with his grinding, battling style. Detroit followed up with another forward, selecting British Columbia born centerman Ben Witt. The youngster has an high-offensive ceiling but there may be some concerns about his willingness to go into the dirty areas in order to make plays. Witt spent all of last season with Springfield of the HAA and notched 37 points in 47 games.
The Chicago Packers finally ended the streak of forwards by grabbing the top rated defenseman in the draft. That would be Mike Van Tol, a Windsor, Ontario native who looked very impressive on the back end for Springfield last season. Regarded as more of a skill defender than for his physical play, Van Tol may find himself right at home with some talented forwards in the Windy City to move the puck to. Boston rounded out the first round with the selection of centerman James Smart, a Halifax native who had a tryout with the Portland Ports last season but did not see any HAA action.
OTHER HEADLINES THIS WEEK
- Bobby Barrell of the Philadelphia Keystones enjoyed his third three-homer game of the season, but that was the secondary story on Tuesday as one of those was Barrell's 500th of his career, putting him in exclusive company with only Hall of Famer Max Morris and Cincinnati's Al Wheeler in the 500 homerun club.
- The New York Stars, Chicago Cougars and Philadelphia Sailors all made trades as the deadline approaches and the three clubs jockey for top spot in the Continental Association.
- A crowd in excess of 45,000 is expected at Cougars Park in Chicago as world heavyweight champ Hector Sawyer makes another title defense. His opponent will be Irish Par Harber, and Sawyer is a huge favourite to retain the belt he has held since 1940.
- The House Un-American Activities Committee was told that Communists have infiltrated Army reserve rolls and will prove "dangerous disloyalists" in case of war with Russia.
- The House approved and sent to President Truman the Army-Navy 'unification' bill creating a single Department of Defense with three separate branches for Army, Navy and Air.
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