MAY 10, 1948
RUPP LEAVING BOSTON?
One of a Number of NAHC Vets With Expiring Contracts
Veteran winger Waldemar Rupp and the Boston Bees may soon part company as the club has yet to sign the 33-year-old to a contract extension. Rupp is one of several veterans around the league who have contracts expiring on June 30. The long-time Bees star has seen his role diminished the past couple of years and he scored a career low 5 goals and 22 points while playing in 46 games this past season but Rupp was a key contributor to 5 Boston Challenge Cup victories and his 60 playoff points since 1940 are the most in the modern era of the sport.
The Chicago Packers have three players in a similar situation in winger Marsh Mansfield along with defensemen Ian Groening and Ted Stevens. The 33-year-old Mansfield had 34 points two years ago but accumulated just 9 last season while playing in only 27 games for the Packers. Groening and Stevens are each just 25-years-old but both were hampered by injuries last season. Stevens had 7 points in 21 games before a December leg injury ended his season while Groening suffered a similar fate due to a December shoulder injury but played sparingly before that, appearing in just 8 games.
27-year-old Detroit Motors winger Dave Bradley had a career high 16 goals while notching 31 points in 44 games this past season but has not yet been resigned by the club as it continues to focus on developing its young talent in a rebuilding mode. Bradley has 49 goals and 101 points in 185 career NAHC games, all with the Motors, but was a frequent healthy scratch by Detroit coach Mark Moore down the stretch.
The Toronto Dukes look like they may part ways with winger Syl Beam after the 32-year-old missed the entire season with an eye injury. Beam also missed much of the previous season with a broken wrist, scoring just 5 goals and 17 points in 26 games in the 46-47 campaign. He helped Toronto to a pair of Challenge Cup wins including the 1944 title in which he amassed 10 points in 10 playoff games. Toronto also has yet to extend the contract of 21 year old defenseman Rob Painchaud. The youngster was a 5th round draft choice in 1945 and made his NAHC debut in 46-47 by appearing in 25 games for the Dukes. Last year he had a number of minor injuries and bounced back and forth between Toronto and minor league Cleveland but did play in 33 games for the Cup winners although he was not on their playoff roster.
The New York Shamrocks do not have any NAHC players with expiring contacts as all have been renewed while the Montreal Valiants presently have seven including goaltender Mahlon Touhey, captain Doug Lynch, winger Max Ducharme and talented young defenseman John McDonald although the club, despite missing the playoffs for the second straight season, is likely to sign a number of them before the end of June deadline.
CHAMPION DUKES LOOK TO THE FUTURE
Brett Bing secured time to sit down with Dukes Head Coach Jack Barrell to talk about the Challenge Cup victory along with the future of the icemen. Brett got this interview before he became to involved with the fortunes of the Wolves over the summer.
Mail & Empire: First things first, congratulations on bringing back the NAHC title to Toronto.
Barrell: Thank you, to be perfectly honest the championship was a bonus. I thought this season would be one of transition, building towards to future with our system. I told the owner. Mr. Welcombe, that my goal was to reach the playoffs while installing a new system, starting to reestablish a winning culture throughout the Dukes system. Coming in I knew there pieces in place of good team led by Bobby Sauer, Gordie Broadway then the acquisition of Quinton Pollack in the Brooklyn dispersal draft meant we were strong down the middle of the ice. Taking Lou Galbraith first overall in the draft gave us added scoring punch although as a group we debated the wisdom of taking a defenseman with the first pick. Lou proved himself, before his late injury from which he is fully recovered, as the proper selection with 17-25-42 in 50 games along with a +6 which is very important to me. The Dukes have some offensive talent but it would not match at least three other teams in the league so the route I choose to follow was a tight checking, goal prevention system. From Day One in our Northern Ontario camp in Timmins the entire coaching staff stressed a sound defensive game. While there were times during the season the players seemed to abandon the system it was drilled endlessly in practice, we got ourselves into trouble in the final against the Shamrocks when for some reason we started to open up offensively, reining that in is a difficult task. I thought that the team saw the system as working when they got by the Bs in three straight, a surprise, only allowing 4 goals in 3 games. Terry Russell was a big factor in that, his goaltending in the playoffs, after being pressed into service with Broadway's illness, was exemplary, the major reason the team captured the Cup.
Mail & Empire: This past season will be tough to top, what are the plans going forward for the Dukes?
Barrell: At present we are holding meetings for the upcoming draft along with preparing for camp which again will start up north at the McIntyre Arena in the Porcupine area. That arena is a scale model of Dominion Gardens with boards that react in a similar fashion to our home rink. That seemed to work well last season, the fans in the north are very hockey savvy, they know the game. The exhibition games against the Sr A teams in that loop are competitive, there is not a very noticeable difference with the pace of the game with those teams and the NAHC. There are a couple of players I noticed last fall who I had friends in the north watching, providing updates on last winter. The office staff is trying to determine whether or not their rights are available or owned by a another team. A few of those guys could definitely play in the HAA if can get their playing rights. We again we be refining the system which will be based on defense, my goal is reduce our goals against from 184 to under 160. The Dukes may have surprised some teams last season, that will not be the case going forward, this summer we are stressing conditioning with our players. There were too many injuries to our roster last season, we are not sure how many were due to the 25 % increase in schedule, we want all the players to be prepared for a 60 game schedule. I do not know how my brothers Bobby, Harry go through a 154 game schedule in baseball, granted they are not playing at game pace of hockey where guys are running you into a wall at high speed, but playing almost every day has to be tough on the body.
Mail & Empire: Thank you, maybe we can get together over the summer. Will you be attending Wolves games?
Barrell: I, with my heredity, obviously enjoy baseball, attend when I can, I wish the Wolves were in the FA so I could see Bobby and Harry in action more often. They both come to Dukes games over the winter we they have a chance, Harry is a big Bs fan.
OTHER HEADLINES THIS WEEK
- For the sixth consecutive season the American Basketball Conference championship series will see the Washington Statesmen face the Brooklyn Red Caps. Each club swept its semi-final series last week.
- A four-game winning streak moved the Cincinnati Cannons into first place in a tight Continental Association. The Chicago Chiefs, with a 1-game lead on both Detroit and Washington, continue to lead baseball's Federal Association.
- The House Armed Services Committee approved, 28 to 5, a peacetime draft bill that requires registration of all men from 18 through 30.
- Britain and the US appear split over policy in Palestine after British delegates at the UN called for a new proposal to drop the American-sponsored plan for a Palestine trusteeship.
- Secretary of State Marshall warned Congress that efforts to form a worldwide organization without Russia probably would destroy the United Nations and expose the US to even greater dangers.
Full national sports coverage is available in this week's edition of
THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL.