JANUARY 5, 1948
INJURIES TAKING THEIR TOLL
Bees beat up, Packers short-staffed and Vals lose goalie
The new expanded NAHC schedule has just crossed its midway point and there are some concerns that the added games crammed into a 60-game slate may just be too much to handle. A number of clubs have been hit hard by injury and illness with the Chicago Packers being front and center among them. Despite losing McDaniels Trophy winning center Tommy Burns for the past two weeks and a pair of defensemen including Ted Stevens long-term the Packers keep on winning and enjoy a 5-point lead on the second place Montreal Valiants. Burns is expected to be back in the Chicago lineup this weekend.
The Vals have some worries of there own suddenly as it was revealed that goaltender Millard Touhey, who leads all NAHC in games played this season, has contracted a virus of some sort and could miss up to two weeks. That will put some pressure on rookie Sam Desjardins, who has just 3 NAHC games under his belt and is the only other goaltender in the organization with big league experience. The Valiants do get a little break for the schedule-maker in that they face the league's bottom two clubs -Detroit and New York- on the weekend and are nearly two weeks away from a first place showdown with the Packers so there is hope Touhey will be healthy enough to return for that contest.
Meanwhile the third place Boston Bees continue to get bang up, particularly on the blue line. Frank Yeadon has been out most of the season with a wrist injury but there is hope the 32-year-old will be back in action before the end of the month. Harry Neighbor is also said to be close to returning from a hamstring issue that has sidelined him the past two weeks. Both are desperately needed on a blueline that is also dealing with nagging injuries to Willis Beane, Len Bentley and David Scarpone. Defense is usually the Bees strong suit and they have persevered through all of the injuries, but the two-time defending Challenge Cup champions find themselves in third place, 9 points back of the pace setting Packers.
Code:
NAHC Standings
TEAM GP W L T PTS GF GA
Chicago 31 19 10 2 40 113 74
Montreal 30 16 11 3 35 100 95
Boston 31 14 14 3 31 98 87
Toronto 31 13 15 3 29 87 105
New York 31 12 18 1 25 91 99
Detroit 30 11 17 2 24 75 104
SCORING LEADERS
NAME GP G A PTS
Mahoney, Chi 30 14 25 39
T Burns, Chi 25 21 15 36
W Burns, Chi 29 10 26 36
Cabbell, NY 30 20 9 29
Chandler, Bos 28 13 15 28
Pollack, Tor 29 13 15 28
Skinner, Mon 30 11 17 28
Lanceleve, Mon 30 12 15 27
Albers, NY 31 8 19 27
Sauer, Tor 27 12 14 26
Gregg, NY 26 13 12 25
Hart, Bos 30 12 13 25
McGlynn, Chi 31 14 10 24
Lynch, Mon 25 9 15 24
GOALIE LEADERS
NAME GP W L T ShO GAA
Hanson, Chi 25 13 10 2 2 2.49
James, Bos 11 5 5 1 1 2.55
Brockers, Bos 20 9 9 2 0 2.91
Tremblay, NY 20 9 10 0 1 2.92
Touhey, Mon 27 15 10 1 1 3.23
Broadway, Tor 25 10 12 2 1 3.25
Sorrell, NY 13 3 8 1 2 3.52
Chasse, Det 25 10 13 2 2 3.56
LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 31
Chicago 0 at 2 Detroit: It was a festive New Year's Eve at Thompson Palladium as the Detroit Motors upset the league leading Chicago Packers 2-0 behind a 34 save performance from Henri Chasse, who displayed the style of play he showed last season when he led the Motors to the playoffs. It has been a much less confident Chasse in the Detroit net this year but he was in rare form on this evening. Garrett Ferrar and Dave Bradley scored first period goals on Chicago's Norm Hanson, who faced 34 shots, while Spencer Larocque had two assists for the Motors.
Boston 5 at 6 New York: The Bees rough December finally came to an end but not before the club dropped a 6-5 decision in the Big Apple to finish the month with a 3-7-2 record. It was a wild night at Bigsby Garden with 5 goals scored in each of the first two periods before things settled down in the third with Jim Macek's 4th of the season the only marker. It came with less than 6 and a half minutes remaining in the game and proved the margin of victory for the Shamrocks, who were led by a 4 point night from Mark Laforme.
THURSDAY JANUARY 1
New York 3 at 6 Boston: The rematch at Denny Arena went much better for the Bees, who doubled New York 6-3 behind the strength of a pair of Wilbur Chandler goals and a 3-point night from Garrett Kauffeldt. Boston defenseman Willis Beane had a Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal, an assist and a fight.
Detroit 3 at 4 Chicago: he Motors scored twice in the opening two minutes and it looked like a second straight upset was in the cards, but the Packers rallied for three of their own in the opening stanza -two from Marty Mahoney- and went on to edge the Detroit squad 4-3. Chicago continues to play without the injured Tommy Burns but Jarrett McGlynn filled in nicely on the top line with a goal and an assist.
Montreal 6 at 4 Toronto: Clarence Skinner had a goal and 3 assists to lead the Montreal Valiants to a 6-4 victory over the Dukes in Toronto. The victory extended the Vals unbeaten streak to 3 games.
SATURDAY JANUARY 3
Boston 4 at 2 Montreal: The Bees start the new year off with back-to-back victories as Tommy Hart and Jacob Gron each score once and add an assist in a 4-2 Boston triumph. Tom Brockers turns aside 29 of the 31 shots he faced in the Boston net with recently acquired defenseman Bryant Williams accounting for both Montreal markers.
New York 2 at 4 Toronto: The Shamrocks have dropped four of their last six games after falling 4-2 at the Dominion Gardens. Sam Furr score both New York goals to stake the Greenshirts to a 2-0 lead but Toronto roared back with 4 unanswered goals including a controversial one just as time expired in the second period. There was much debate and protest from the Shamrocks bench but Les Carlson's goal at 20:00 of the second period was judged by the officials to have crossed the goal line just before the horn sounded to signal the end of the period. That goal gave Toronto a 3-2 lead and would prove the difference in the game.
SUNDAY JANUARY 4
Montreal 2 at 3 Detroit: The Motors improve to 4-2-1 since their big trade with Montreal by trimming the Valiants 3-2 and leaving the Vals pointless from their two weekend contests. Dave Bradley, Graham Comeau and veteran Doug Yeadon scored for the Motors with Glen Whitely and Wayne Augustin responding for Montreal, which outshot the Motors 39-27.
Chicago 3 at 2 New York: Another tight game for Chicago, who's offensive remains without reigning scoring champ Tommy Burns. Jarrett McGlynn had two points while Norm Hanson made 36 saves to lead the Packers past the Shamrocks 3-2 despite a pair of goals from New York's Jocko Gregg. The Greenshirts have dropped 3 straight and five of their last seven.
UPCOMING REGULAR SEASON GAMES
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 7
New York at Detroit
THURSDAY JANUARY 8
Detroit at Montreal
SATURDAY JANUARY 10
Boston at Detroit
New York at Montreal
Chicago at Toronto
SUNDAY JANUARY 11
Boston at Chicago
Toronto at Detroit
Montreal at New York
NAHC PLAYER POLL RELEASED
The annual newspaper poll of NAHC players was published today. Players were asked to vote for who they felt was the best in a number of categories and here are the winners.
OTHER HEADLINES THIS WEEK
- Detroit City College completed a perfect season with a 24-17 victory over CC Los Angeles in the East-West Classic. Travis College also ended up with an blemish-free record following a convincing 30-3 victory over Alabama Baptist in the Cajun Classic.
- The Washington Eagles won the FABL draft later and will pick first in the 1948 selection of top amatuer talent. Coastal State shortstop Tom Miller, the Christian Trophy winner, is considered the top prospect.
- Congress raises the curtain on a critical session tomorrow in which the top issues will be the Marshall plan for European recovery and how best to stablize economic conditions at home.
- Former Vice President Henry A. Wallace has confirmed he intends to run as an independent for the so-called "peace party" in the 1948 Presidential election. In a Chicago speech Wallace denounced both the Democratic administration and the Reublican Party as war parties.
Full national sports coverage is available in this week's edition of
THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL.