APRIL 12, 1948
SHAMROCKS CLOSING IN ON CUP
Lead Toronto 2-1 in Pursuit of First Title Since 1932
The Toronto Dukes drew first blood with a 2-1 victory over New York in the opening game of their best-of-seven Challenge Cup Final series, but the Shamrocks followed up with a pair of wins to take a two games to one series lead in advance of tomorrow's game four at Bigsby Garden. The Shamrocks are closing in on what they hope will be their first Challenge Cup win in 16 years as they won the last of their three titles in 1931-32. The Dukes have hoisted the Cup six times -only Boston has won more- with the most recent being three years ago.
The two clubs, both surprise winners after knocking off first place Chicago and second place Boston in the semi-finals, continued their Cup chase last Wednesday evening in Toronto. It took just 15 seconds for Lee Carlson to open the scoring when he beat Shamrocks netminder Etienne Tremblay before many of the 15,483 in attendance at Dominion Gardens had even settled into their seats. Late in the first period Adam Greenham, who missed most of the regular season with an injury, evened the score for the New Yorkers. The only other goal would come early in the second period when Phillipe Dubois point shot found its way past Tremblay. New York would outshoot the Dukes 14-3 in the final twenty minutes and 40-26 overall but Terry Russell, who continues to guard the Toronto cage in the absence of Gordie Broadway, was outstanding and helped the Dukes hang on for the 2-1 victory.
Russell did not enjoy the same success two nights later as the Shamrocks scored three times in the first period and won by a 6-3 score to even the series. Six different New York players, including former Duke Laurel Albers accounted for the scoring with rookie Jim Macek contributing 3 assists.
The series shifted to New York for game three last night and it was all Shamrocks. Orval Cabbell and Adam Greenham -with his third of the series- scored in the first period to stake the Shamrocks to an early 2-0 lead. Joe Martin and Laurel Albers notched second period markers to double that lead and Jocko Gregg and Jim Macek completed the 6-0 rout with third period tallys. Etienee Tremblay stopped all 26 shots he faced in the New York net for his second shutout of the playoffs while Terry Russell was beaten six times for the second game in a row. The series continues tomorrow with game four in New York and the big question in Toronto is will Gordie Broadway be significantly recovered from the virus he is battling to get his first playoff start?
Jim Macek, a 20-year-old selected third overall by the Shamrocks last July is the surprise scoring leader this playoff. The Toronto-born youngster has points in each of the last 4 games including 6 points in the 3 games against Toronto. He had 8 goals and 29 points in 45 regular season games and has added 10 points in 8 playoff contests.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
ROCHESTER WINS HAA TITLE
The Rochester Robins won a hard-fought series with the Pittsburgh Rovers to claim the Hockey Association of America playoff title 3 games to one. Each of the final three games of the series were decided by a single goal with the Robins clinching the Cup with a 5-4 victory on home ice in game four. Rochester, which is not affiliated with an NAHC club, finished with the top record in the East Division at 63 points while the Rovers, who are the farm team of the Chicago Packers, led the West and the entire HAA with 70 points in 48 games. 28-year-old Tom Mansfield, a career minor league who has had stops in Syracuse, Buffalo and Cleveland before joining the Robins in 1946, led all playoff scorers with 6 points in the four games.
In the Great Western Hockey League the Seattle Emeralds upset first place Tacoma in the finals to end the Lions three-year hold on the Yeadon Cup.
DUKES TRAIL 2-1 IN LEAGUE FINAL
Toronto has dug themselves a hole in the series with the NY Shamrocks by dropping 2 of the first 3 games. Things started well for the team at Dominion Gardens on Wednesday night before a crowd of 15,483. The crowd has barely settled into their seats when Les Carlson lit the lamp 15 seconds into the game from Quinton Pollock and Hubert Burdette. New York rallied to tie the game with less than 3 minutes remaining the first on a marker by Adam Greenham assisted by Jim Macek and Ryan Kennedy. The second period was a wide open affair with a total of 31 shots on goal, 18 by the Shamrocks, but even with that amount of offense the score remained knotted at 1 going into the third. Netminders Etienee Tremblay and Terry Russell made a number of acrobatic saves during the period. Early in the third Philippe Dubois put the Dukes up on passes from Bobbie Sauer with Alex Lavalliere also drawing an assist. It was one of only three times Tremblay was tested in the period. The last 18 and a half minutes the Dukes withstood a furious onslaught from the Shamrocks. The puck seemed to never leave the Dukes end but Terry Russell again shut the door securing the 2-1 win.
The Friday night game in Toronto had the Dukes chasing from the start, before the game was 12 minutes old New York had put 3 behind Russell. Toronto rallied in the second with Zimmerman and Hofford beating Tremblay to narrow the margin to 3-2 at the end of two. Bert McCalley put the Shamrocks up 4-2 8 minutes into the third then Pollack scored a shorthanded marker to again pull the home side within one with 11 minutes remaining in regulation but Orval Cabell put the game away at 16:25 from Laforme and Macek. Greenham's empty netter made the final 6-3 New York and evened the series.
Having lost home ice advantage the Dukes travelled into NYC for a Sunday afternoon encounter in front of 12,950 hostile fans in Bigsby Gardens. Orval Cabbell, who has been a thorn in the Dukes side all season, opened the scoring from Sam Coates and Ryan Kennedy just past the 7 minute mark. Things went from bad to worse less than 2 minutes later when Greenham converted from Macek and Laforme. Any hopes of a comeback were quickly dashed when Joe Martin tallied just past the 2 minute mark of the second from ex-Duke Laurel Albers and Sharpley. The Dukes mounted sporadic periods of offense throughout the game but were never able to solve Tremblay. The Shamrocks were finishing every check, shrinking the ice on the Dukes at every opportunity. Every broken up rush or turnover by Toronto seemed to yield a good scoring chance for New York as the Shamrocks put 3 more past Russell who is starting to show signs of fatigue for a 6-0 victory.
Coach Barrell's comments after the game were "We have dug ourselves a deep hole, now it is time to dig ourselves out of it. I told the players after the first game, which we were fortunate to win, that we cannot play a run and gun game. It did not seem to sink in, maybe now the guys will realize we have to get back to what got us here." Toronto fan's spirits were boosted somewhat when news was released that Gordie Broadway has finally recovered from his extended bout of influenza after missing all 6 post season games. The question is, will Barrell go to him in Game 4 after not having played for 2 weeks? Russell has been the major reason the Dukes are in the final, is it time for a change?
OTHER HEADLINES THIS WEEK
- Redwood University won the 1947-48 AIAA collegiate basketball tournament, beating West Coast Athletic Association rival CC Los Angeles 62-47 in the title game last Monday at New York's Bigsby Garden.
- The Washington Statesmen won 3 times last week to improve their American Basketball Conference record to 43-11 and smash their own record for most victories in a season by a professional basketball team.
- The Chicago Cougars went 7-0 last week in Citrus play and lead all of FABL with a 26-7 mark as spring games come to an end later this week.
- Britain ordered fighter escorts for all planes coming into Berlin until it receives assurances that Soviet planes "will not again endanger British flights" after a Russian plane and an airliner collided over the German city.
- 20 were killed including 7 policemen as Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city, has been terrorized by looting mobs that set more than 100 buildings ablaze.
- A revolt in Columbia forced the hasty removal of US personnel in the American Embassy in riot-wrecked Bogota and left more than 100 dead. Meanwhile the government in Paraguay has reported scotched an attempted Communist coup.
Full national sports coverage is available in this week's edition of
THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL.