DECEMBER 29, 1947
VALIANTS WIN SHOWDOWN WITH PACKERS
The top two clubs in the NAHC met Saturday evening in Montreal with the hometown Valiants scoring a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Packers. Despite the victory, Montreal still trails the front-running Packers by 3 points atop the league standings. Saturday's result evens the season series between the two clubs at 3 wins apiece.
Brett Lanceleve was the star of the show for the Vals on this night as the 24-year-old winger scored twice in the first period, including his 12th of the season putting him just 2 shy of his career high. Chicago got one back on a powerplayer marker from rearguard Jerry Finch at the 15:30 mark of the second period but the Vals restored their 2 goal lead late in the stanza when Nicholas Haines lit the lamp. Isaac Finnson beat Chicago netminder Norm Hanson early in the third and while Jeremey MacLean's 5th of the season brought the Packers back to within two goals that was a close as they would get.
Chicago did play the game without their star center Tommy Burns, as the NAHC's leading scorer missed all three of the Packers games last week with a tender elbow suffered in a collision against Toronto last Sunday. Burns did make news despite not being on the ice last week as the Packers announced the 27-year-old two-time McDaniels Trophy winner had agreed to a 3 year contract extension that will pay him $21,500 a season.
Code:
NAHC Standings
TEAM GP W L T PTS GF GA
Chicago 28 17 9 2 36 106 67
Montreal 27 15 9 3 33 90 84
Boston 28 12 13 3 27 83 76
Toronto 29 12 14 3 27 79 97
New York 27 11 15 1 23 78 81
Detroit 27 9 16 2 18 67 98
SCORING LEADERS
NAME GP G A PTS
T Burns, Chi 25 21 15 36
Mahoney, Chi 27 12 23 35
W Burns, Chi 26 10 23 33
Cabbell, NY 26 18 8 26
Lanceleve, Mon 27 12 13 25
Pollack, Tor 27 12 13 25
Chandler, Bos 26 10 15 25
Albers, NY 27 8 17 25
Sauer, Tor 25 11 12 23
Skinner, Mon 27 10 13 23
Gregg, NY 22 10 12 22
Galbraith, Tor 29 10 11 21
Lynch, Mon 22 8 13 21
Haines, Mon 23 8 13 21
GOALIE LEADERS
NAME GP W L T ShO GAA
James, Bos 10 4 5 1 1 2.50
Hanson, Chi 23 12 9 2 2 2.53
Tremblay, NY 18 8 9 0 1 2.73
Brockers, Bos 18 8 8 1 0 2.78
Carter, Det 9 1 4 0 0 2.90
Touhey, Mon 24 14 8 1 1 3.22
Broadway, Tor 23 9 11 2 1 3.22
Sorrell, NY 11 3 6 1 2 3.31
Russell, Tor 8 3 3 1 0 3.48
Chasse, Det 21 8 12 2 1 3.79
LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
TUESDAY DECEMBER 23
New York 1 at 4 Chicago: Despite missing league scoring leader Tommy Burns with an elbow injury, the Packers won for the fifth straight time, dropping the visiting Shamrocks 4-1 despite being outshot 39-28. Norm Hanson had a big game in net for the Packers while Jeremy MacLean paced the Chicago offense with 3 assists.
THURSDAY DECEMBER 25
Chicago 2 at 2 Boston: The Bees and Packers skated to a 2-2 draw at Denny Arena on Christmas Day, extending Boston's winless streak to 4 games while the Packers have not lost since falling to Boston 3-1 just over two weeks ago. David Rankin's second goal of the season, early in the third period secured the tie for the visitors, who outshot the Bees 43-33. Wilbur Chandler had 2 assists for the home side while veteran netminder Tom Brockers had a strong evening with 41 saves. Chandler was hurt late in the game and his status was unsure for Saturday's game in Toronto.
New York 2 at 5 Detroit: The Detroit Motors improved to 2-0-1 since their big trade with Montreal after securing a 5-2 victory at Thompson Palladium over the visiting New Yorkers. Dave Bradley led the way with 2 goals and an assist while rookie Ben Witt had 3 helpers for the Motors.
Toronto 3 at 3 Montreal: The Vals are winless in 4 games but have to be happy to escape with the tie after blowing an early 2-0 lead in a 3-3 draw with Toronto. Max Ducharme scored twice in the first period for Montreal but the Dukes responded with 3 straight goals from Lou Galbraith, Bobbie Sauer and Les Carlson to take the lead only to see Nick Haines tie it for the Vals with just over 2 and a half minutes remaining in the third period. Like Montreal, the Dukes are also winless in their last 4 games.
SATURDAY DECEMBER 27
Chicago 4 at 2 Montreal: Playing without star center Tommy Burns for the third straight game the Chicago Packers came out on the short end of a 4-2 decision at the Montreal Arena. Brett Lanceleve paced the Vals with a pair of first period goals while Millard Touhey made 22 saves for the victory.
Boston 1 at 2 Toronto: Quinton Pollack -last year's top rookie- scored once and assisted on rookie Lou Galbraith's 10th goal of the season to lift Toronto to a 2-1 victory over Boston and for the moment at least, lift the Dukes into sole possession of third place.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 28
Boston 7 at 1 Detroit: Detroit's 3-game unbeaten streak and Boston's 5 game winless skid both came crashing down as the Bees scored four times in the first period and went on to crush the Motors 7-1. Robert Walker had the hot hand for the winners as the 23-year-old rookie notched a hat trick, giving him 10 goals on the season. It was another awful outing for up and down Detroit netminder Henri Chasse, who was pulled early in the third period after surrendering 6 goals on just 27 shots.
Toronto 2 at 5 New York: Orval Cabbell scored twice, and defenseman Sid Quirion had 3 assists to pace the Shamrocks to a 5-2 victory over the visiting Toronto Dukes. The normally reserved Quirion, who had just 6 minutes in penalties a year ago and only 2 this season entering the game, also got into a second period scrap with the Dukes Al Cote, who is one of the loop's more combative personalities.
UPCOMING REGULAR SEASON GAMES
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 31
Chicago at Detroit
Boston at New York
THURSDAY JANUARY 1
New York at Boston
Detroit at Chicago
Montreal at Toronto
SATURDAY JANUARY 3
Boston at Montreal
New York at Toronto
SUNDAY JANUARY 4
Montreal at Detroit
Chicago at New York
OTHER HEADLINES THIS WEEK
- Bobby Barrell of the Philadelphia Keystones, who broke the FABL single season homerun record, was named the first recipient of the TWIFB Sportsman of the Year Award.
- Del Thomas of the Boston Americans was named the most valuable player as the American Football Association handed out its year end awards.
- Despite top ranked St Blane declining to participate, the New Year's Day schedule of college football Classic Games promises to be an exciting one with Detroit City College and CC Los Angeles taking center stage in the East-West Classic in Santa Ana, Ca.
- Two-time collegiate basketball player of the year Long Werth scored 25 points in his first start in the American Basketball Conference, leading the Boston Centurions to a 107-81 win over Richmond.
- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is planning to ask prominent Americans from all walks of life or their opinions on the four-year, $17 billion Marshall Plan for European recovery.
- Just before Christmas, President Truman signed an appropriation bill carrying $522 million emergency aid for France, Italy and Austria after the measure passed in the closing hours of a special session of Congress.
Full national sports coverage is available in this week's edition of
THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL.