SEPTEMBER 22, 1947
PACKERS IN MARKET FOR DEFENSEMAN
The Chicago Packers have what many NAHC observers feel is the deepest collection of talent in the league but that has not stopped rumours flowing that the Packers are looking to upgrade their defense. The club, which reached the Challenge Cup finals last season before bowing out to Boston in 6 games, is the only NAHC team never to hoist the famous chalice.
The Packers have specifically targeted the acquistion of a right defenseman which perhaps leads to speculation the club feels rookie Mike Van Tol -their first round draft pick- may need another year of seasoning before he is ready to step in on the Packers blueline. Pete Moreau, Mark Brooks and Matt Jewitt are the holdovers but with the Packers hoping this will be the year they finally win that first Cup, the club is said to be willing to part with a veteran forward such as Ed Delarue, who finished third on the team with 42 points last season, or Marsh Mansfield -a 34 point producer last season- for the missing piece they feel they need on the blueline.
NEIGHBOR A RARE BREED IN BOSTON
Boston Bees defenseman Harry Neighbor is preparing to embark on his third full season with the club and is the proud owner of 2 Challenge Cup rings. The list of players that can boast winning the Challenge Cup is few, but even smaller is the list of Americans who have hoisted the famous trophy. Neighbor, who grew in Saginaw, Michigan, is one just two American born players to play in the NAHC last season.
Neighbor, who leads all American born players in the modern era with 325 NAHC games under his belt, broke into the league with the Chicago Packers in the late 1930s and was a steady defensive-minded rearguard on the Windy City club's blueline until he was dealt to Boston midway through the 1943-44 season. He helped Boston win the league playoff title each of the past two seasons, tallying 12 points during the season a year ago before adding 3 assists in the run to the Challenge Cup.
It is the Chicago Packers that have pioneered the development of American born players as four in total are under contract to NAHC organizations this year and all four have Chicago ties. The only other American-born player last year besides Neighbor to suit up for an NAHC game was Toronto Dukes back-up goaltender Terry Russell. The 30-year-old from Duluth, Mn., got his start with the Packers organization and was a teammate of Neighbor's in Chicago before being dealt to the Dukes prior to the 1945-46 season. Russell had some pretty strong years for the Packers and played 4 games in the 1944-45 playoffs but, unlike Neighbor, has not come close to a Cup win.
There is a chance the ranks of American born players could swell to as many as four next season with two others under contract to a pair of NAHC clubs, and once more both have ties to the Packers. One is under contract to the Packers, a defenseman by the name of Jesse Santoro. The 21-year-old Worcester, Mass., born rearguard spent the past three years in Vancouver of the coast league and is hoping to crack the Chicago Packers line-up.
The final one is 23-year-old winger Mike Navarro, who was born in New York City and has been in the Toronto Dukes system since the Packers traded him in 1944. A third-round pick of the Packers in the 1944 draft after spending a season with the Philadelphia Rascals, Navarro was dealt to Toronto after just 14 games with the Packers in 1944-45. He split the rest of the season between the Dukes and the HAA's Pittsburgh Rovers but did score 6 goals and add 6 assists his rookie season in the NAHC. Like Neighbor, Navarro also has a Cup ring as he played 10 games for the Dukes in their run to the Cup that season. Navarro suited up for 25 games for the Dukes in 1945-46 but spent last year in the minors, although he has hopes of cracking the Toronto roster this fall and joining fellow American Terry Russell on the Dukes.
OTHER HEADLINES THIS WEEK
- Bobby Barrell is the new single season home run king. The Georgia Jolter hit 3 last week to raise his season total to 62, surpassing Max Morris' 1923 record.
- The St Louis Pioneers officially clinched their first Federal Association pennant since 1923. In the Continental Association the Philadelphia Sailors lead on the Cincinnati Cannons is just a half game entering the final week of the season.
- The Pittsburgh Paladins held off the Cincinnati Tigers 21-17 to win the lone game on the opening week slate to kick off the AFA's 28th season.
- Liberty College dumped Spokane State 30-6 in the first big college grid intersectional game of the campaign.
- Oakland's Dan Miller easily won a decision of Fraser Witt in Los Angeles in what will be Miller's final tune-up before he challenges World Heavyweight champ Hector Sawyer at Santa Ana Stadium in January.
- Cabinet officials are recommending voluntary food rationing in this country to help meet the world crisis amidst another week of rising food prices with no relief in sight.
- The growing conflict between the United States and Russia has reached such a critical state that further efforts to reconcile the two view points seem hopeless. That is the conclusion of the French Foreign Minister following a week long gathering of key officials from around the world at the United Nations.
Full national sports coverage is available in this week's edition of
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