JANUARY 19, 1948
DUKES CLOSING IN ON SECOND PLACE
The Toronto Dukes are suddenly the hottest team in the NAHC after they reeled off four straight victories to close within two points of second place Montreal. The Dukes, despite allowing 9 more goals against then they have scored this season, are 17-16-3 as new head coach Jack Barrell has the club very much back in the playoff picture after a disastrous season a year ago that saw the Toronto club sink to the bottom of the league.
The Dukes have made a number of changes this season and not just behind the bench. Quinton Pollack, who was rookie of the year last season, came over from the defunct Brooklyn squad and is leading the club in scoring with 32 points, including a team best 14 goals in 34 games. Pollack is 25 and hardly a youngster after a number of years in the Great Western Hockey League including time spent under the tuteledge of Jack Barrell in Tacoma, but he is centering a young line with 24-year old Les Carlson (11-14-25) on his right and fresh-faced 20-year Lou Galbraith (12-18-30) on his left. Galbraith, a Winnipeg native selected first overall in last July's draft, has had no issues at all adjusting to the pace of the NAHC and appears to be the favourite to follow in Pollack's footsteps as the winner of the McLeod Trophy, presented annually to the loop's top newcomer. With both Pollock and Carlson hailing from Saskatchewan the Toronto papers have dubbed the trio "The Prairie Line".
That high scoring trio has eased the pressure on captain Bobbie Sauer (12-18-30) and the 33-year-old has moved to the second line, although Barrell is quick to point out he has three lines of equal value. Sauer has been spending his time recently with fellow greybeard Herb Burdette (8-13-21) and another newcomer in 21 year old Dick Zimmerman (9-15-24), who was the club's 1945 first round selection.
Code:
NAHC Standings
TEAM GP W L T PTS GF GA
Chicago 36 21 12 3 45 128 88
Montreal 36 17 14 5 39 118 116
Toronto 36 17 16 3 37 105 114
Boston 36 16 16 4 36 111 99
New York 36 15 19 2 32 107 109
Detroit 36 12 21 3 27 87 130
SCORING LEADERS
NAME GP G A PTS
T Burns, Chi 30 24 15 40
Mahoney, Chi 31 14 26 40
W Burns, Chi 34 11 26 37
Cabbell, NY 35 24 10 34
Chandler, Bos 31 14 18 32
Pollack, Tor 34 14 18 32
Skinner, Mon 36 13 19 32
Albers, NY 36 11 21 32
Lanceleve, Mon 36 13 18 31
Sauer, Tor 32 12 18 30
Galbraith, Tor 36 12 18 30
McGlynn, Chi 36 15 13 28
Gregg, NY 31 13 15 28
Hart, Bos 35 13 15 28
Lynch, Mon 31 10 18 28
Haines, Mon 32 9 19 28
GOALIE LEADERS
NAME GP W L T ShO GAA
Hanson, Chi 30 15 12 3 2 2.51
James, Bos 13 6 6 1 1 2.62
Tremblay, NY 25 12 11 1 3 2.72
Brockers, Bos 23 10 10 3 0 2.79
Broadway, Tor 29 13 13 2 1 3.00
Touhey, Mon 27 15 10 1 1 3.23
Carter, Det 11 1 5 0 0 3.40
Sorrell, NY 13 3 8 1 2 3.52
Chasse, Det 31 11 16 3 2 3.62
LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 14
Detroit 0 at 5 Boston: Joe Morey scored twice and added an assist while Tom Brockers turned aside all 24 shots he faced to lead the Boston Bees to a 5-0 victory on home ice over last place Detroit. Jacob Gron, Craig Simpson and Conn Cundiff also scored for the Bees, who handed the sputtering Motors their 4th loss in the last five games.
Chicago 3 at 5 New York: Chicago's 4-game winning streak came to an end while the Shamrocks are unbeaten in four after taking a 5-3 decision at Bigsby Garden. Gil Corbeil paced the Greenshirts attack with a goal and two assists including a helper on Jim Macek's game winner with just 52 seconds remaining to snap a 3-3 tie. Orval Cabbell added an empty-net marker in the closing seconds for his league leading 24th goal of the season.
THURSDAY JANUARY 15
Toronto 2 at 1 Montreal: It is always a special night when these two hook up but the Valiants were forced to play without starting goaltender Millard Touhey, who remains sidelined with a virus. Rookie Sam Desjardins played very well as the substitute in the Montreal cage, turning aside 38 shots as Toronto dominated the contest. All the scoring came in the first period with Frank Featherstone and Les Carlson providing the Dukes offense while Shel Herron replied with a short-handed marker for the Vals.
SATURDAY JANUARY 17
Chicago 4 at 4 Montreal: A showdown between the top two teams in the NAHC was unable to produce a winner. Isaac Finnson scored the only goal of the final stanza to allow the Vals to claim a single point with rookie Sam Desjardins once more handling the Montreal goaltending duties. The Packers were short-staffed as well as Marty Mahoney missed the game with an injury. Jeremy MacLean scored twice for the visitors while Clarence Skinner had a goal and two helpers for Montreal.
Boston 1 at 3 Toronto: The Dukes, who finished dead last in the NAHC a year ago, leaped over Boston and into third place with a 3-1 victory on Dominion Gardens ice. Dick Zimmerman and Quinton Pollack scored just over a minute apart late in the third period to lift Toronto to the victory.
SUNDAY JANUARY 18
Montreal 2 at 3 Boston: The Valiants are now winless in 5 games after falling 3-2 at Denny Arena. Boston rearguard Len Bentley scored the only goal of the third period to provide the margin of victory for the Bees, who close to within 3 points of Montreal for second place.
Chicago 1 at 2 Detroit: Goals from Joe Todd and Miles Barfield along with a 31 save outing from goaltender Henri Chasse lifted the Detroit Motors to a 2-1 upset win over the first place Chicago Packers. The Packers are in what has to be considered a slump by their standards with 2 losses and a tie in their last three games.
Toronto 4 at 1 New York: The surging Dukes cooled off New York with a 4-1 victory to move Toronto to within 2 points of second place Montreal. The Dukes have now won 4 straight while the Shamrocks four game unbeaten streak is snapped. Toronto broke open a scoreless battle with 3 second period goals, all assisted by Al Cote, and only Chris Broeke's tally with less than 3 minutes away ruined Gordie Broadway's shutout bid.
UPCOMING REGULAR SEASON GAMES
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 21
Toronto at Boston
Montreal at Chicago
Detroit at New York
SATURDAY JANUARY 24
Detroit at Montreal
Chicago at Toronto
SUNDAY JANUARY 25
New York at Boston
Toronto at Chicago
Montreal at Detroit
AROUND THE LEAGUE
- Good and bad news on the injury front for the Montreal Valiants. The Vals will get goaltender Millard Touhey back for Wednesday's game in Chicago but they suffered a tough blow with news that Ian Doyle will miss at least two months with a broken bone in his hand. It marks the second straight season and third time in 4 years, counting the minors, that the 23-year-old has missed substantial time with a serious injury. Doyle had 12 goals and 24 points through 31 games with the Valiants this season after scoring 19 points in 23 games with Brooklyn last year before suffering a season ending injury.
- Montreal will likely be without depth winger Adam Sandford for the showdown in Chicago Wednesday as the 24-year-old is still recovering from a rib injury. On the Chicago side, Marty Mahoney -who shares the NAHC scoring lead with teammate Tommy Burns, is also expected to miss the game. Mahoney has been out since January 10 when he hurt his foot.
- Shamrocks defenseman Bert McCalley has a bee in his bonnet this season. After the veteran club captain lowered his penalty minute total to just 13 a year ago, he is leading the NAHC in sin-bin time with 77 minutes so far this season.
TACOMA CLASS OF THE WEST
The Tacoma Lions are tearing up the competition in the Great Western Hockey League once again this season. The Lions went 39-5-4 a year ago and won their third straight Yeadon Cup and they have not slowed down at all this season despite the fact that last year's head coach Jack Barrell moved on to Toronto and his now behind the bench of the NAHC Dukes.
The Lions did not miss a beat in replacing Barrell with another former skating star of the past. Victor Raberge is the new bench boss in Tacoma and that name should be very familiar to old time fans of the sports. Raberge got his start playing for Jack Connelly Sr.'s New Leiskard Silver Skates in the very first season of pro hockey back in 1909-10. A Montreal native, he bounced around several pro and semi-pro leagues before beginning his coaching career in British Columbia with several junior clubs. His son Victor Jr. was also a once prominent hockey prospect but was wounded in North Africa during the war which ended his playing days.
As for the Lions they are 21-4-4 on the season and 16 points ahead of second place Seattle. They have developed some solid NAHC players in the past, including last year's rookie of the year Quinton Pollack, so hockey fans in the east might want to remember the names of Ben Sabot and Johnny Canaday. The duo are tied for the GWHL scoring lead with 47 points each. Sabot, 25, is in his fourth season with the Lions after never being drafted by an NAHC club while Canaday was a 4th round selection of the New York Shamrocks in 1943. The 23-year-old's rights are still owned by the Shamrocks but the Ontario native seems quite comfortable on the west coast in the second year of a three year deal with the Lions.
Code:
GREAT WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE STANDINGS
W L T PTS
Tacoma Lions 21 4 4 46
Seattle Emeralds 14 13 2 30
Portland Ports 10 14 4 24
Vancouver Bears 6 20 4 16
OTHER HEADLINES THIS WEEK
- Harold Stephens defends his World Welterweight boxing title this Saturday in Cleveland against former Marine Ira Mitchell.
- Conference play is underway as the AIAA basketball season shifts in to high gear. The Western Iowa Canaries. at 12-1, continue to hold down the top spot in the polls
- President Truman has asked Congress for a record peacetime budget of just under $40 billion to run the Government in the fiscal year starting July 1. It is an increase of $1.9 billion over the current rate of expenditure.
- British and American officials are studying a reported Communist scheme -identified as "protocol M"- for smashing the Marshall Plan and crippling industrial Germany.
Full national sports coverage is available in this week's edition of
THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL.