FEBRUARY 18, 1952
NAHC PLAYOFF PICTURE COMING INTO FOCUS
Boston Continues to Charge as Detroit Fades
There may still be five weeks remaining in the NAHC schedule but unless there are some drastic changes in Detroit or Montreal the playoff clubs appear to be decided. The Chicago Packers and New York Shamrocks, as they have done since early December, are waged in a ferocious battle for first place, a spot the Shamrocks occupied at the conclusion of each of the past two seasons. The Packers have come out of nowhere to challenge for top spot after one of the worst years in NAHC history (excluding the mistake that was the Brooklyn Eagles of course), a campaign that saw the Packers win just 9 of 70 games a year ago. With Tommy Burns once more the most dangerous offensive force in the sport, the Packers are clinging to a 1-point lead on the Shamrocks with 16 games remaining on the 1951-52 season agenda.
Boston is making a determined bid to turn the Big Two into a Big Three as the Bees have not lost in February and boast the best record in the league since the calendar flipped to 1952. The Bees hunted down and passed Toronto and are just six points behind the second place Shamrocks. The Dukes, after their fantastic start to the season, one that saw them win their first six games and go unbeaten in their opening nine, have cooled substantially and now find themselves languishing in fourth place, four points in arrears of the Bees.
Things could be much worse at Dominion Gardens were it not for the fact that Detroit has collapsed in the second half of the season. The Motors have picked up just 11 points in their last 17 games and are now much closer to last place than they are the playoffs. Detroit does have two games in hand on the fourth place Dukes but the Motors are seven points back and showing little signs of a team willing, or perhaps able, to make a late playoff push. Montreal, winners of the last two Challenge Cups, has had an awful season, spending nearly its entirety in the NAHC cellar but may just creep out of the basement if things do not turn around quickly for the fifth place Motors. The playoffs and a chance to defend their twice claimed title seems an impossibility for the Valiants, who are a full 10 points out of fourth place and have just 14 games remaining, one less than the Dukes.
NAHC RESULTS FROM LAST WEEK
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13 Boston 3 at 3 New York : The Bees built a 3-1 lead on New York in the opening dozen minutes and then held on for a 3-3 tie with the Shamrocks. Boston, which is the NAHC's hottest team since the New Year, has still not lost in February.
Detroit 1 at 6 Toronto : The Motors slump continues as Detroit, which has claimed just 9 points in its last 15 games, gets hammered 6-1 by the Toronto Dukes. Quinton Pollack scored his 22nd goal of the season and is riding a 12 game point streak
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14
Detroit 4 at 3 Chicago : The Motors surprise the first place Packers as Louis Rocheleau scores twice to lead Detroit to a 4-3 victory. Marty Mahoney had two goals and one assist to lead Chicago.
Toronto 2 at 1 Montreal : Lou Carlson scored twice, his 25th and 26th goals of the year, with Quinton Pollack drawing an assist on each as the Dukes edged the Montreal Valiants 2-1 for their second win in as many nights.
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 16
New York 6 at 4 Montreal : New York outshot Montreal 53-14 on the night but needed four third period goals to overcome a 3-2 deficit entering the final stanza. New York has earned points in five of its six February games. Defenseman Jerry Finch had three points for the winners while Brett Lanceleve had three in a losing cause. Tom Brockers faced 25 Shamrocks shots in the third period alone.
Chicago 4 at 1 Toronto : Tommy Burns and Max Ducharme each had a goal and an assist to lead the Chicago Packers to a 4-1 victory in Toronto and keep Chicago a point ahead of the New York Shamrocks in the fight for top spot in the NAHC. For Burns it was his 25th tally of the season while Ducharme notched his 20th of the campaign. Toronto's Quinton Pollack saw his 13-game point scoring streak come to an end.
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 17
Boston 10 at 1 Chicago : A game the Packers would like to forget about quickly after Boston beat Norm Hanson four times in both the first and second period and rolled to a 10-1 lambasting of Chicago. Wilbur Chandler had what many players would consider a decent month with 2 goals and 4 assists while John Bentley added four points and Craig Simpson scored twice for the Bees, who are riding a 7 game unbeaten streak.
Montreal 5 at 4 New York :Pat Coulter scored twice in the third period including the game winner on the power play with just 42 seconds remaining in the game to lift Montreal to a 5-4 victory over New York and deny the Shamrocks a chance to overtake Chicago for first place. The Shamrocks lead 3-2 after forty minutes thanks to a pair of Jocko Gregg goals. Coulter also had two assists in the win with Montreal teammate Claude LeClerc scoring once and chipping in with a pair of helpers.
UPCOMING GAMES
MONDAY FEBRUARY 18
Boston at Detroit
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 19
New York at Toronto
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 20
Detroit at New York
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 21
Toronto at Chicago
Boston at Montreal
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 23
Chicago at Montreal
Detroit at Toronto
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 24
Detroit at Chicago
Boston at New York
DUKES PARTIALLY WAKEUP TO TAKE TWO OF THREE
A reeling hockey team began to show signs of righting the ship by registering two wins in three games this past week. Probably more importantly the two wins came against the teams trying to catch Toronto for the final playoff spot.
The Dukes seemed to take Barrell's disparaging comments to heart on Wednesday at home while hosting the Motors. In an up and down first period both goaltenders, Toronto's Scott Renes and Millard Touhey of Detroit, were tested early and often with the Motors holding a 12-10 shot advantage in the first twenty. Toronto led where it ultimately counts. Goals by Clyde Lumsen, shorthanded, Doug Zimmerman and finally Lou Galbraith's powerplay tally made it 3-0 after one. Detroit got some life when Louis Rocheleau beat Renes at the 5 minute mark of second. Any hopes of a comeback were quickly quashed when both Maurice Charette and Charlie Brown found the twine behind Touhey before the end of the second to make it 5-1 after two. Toronto's goal of protecting the lead was accomplished in the third. They closely checked the Motors not allowing them any room to move. For good measure Quinton Pollack notched his 22nd while Vincent Arsenault was serving time in the box to make the final 6-1.
The team went into Montreal the next evening to drop the puck against the Vals who thanks to Tom Brockers' stellar performance has beaten them last Saturday night in the Gardens. The Dukes were prepared for another night where the key would be to solve Brockers in the Montreal net. The game got off to a good start for the visitors when off the opening faceoff Pollack setup Les Carlson who tipped it behind Brockers with only a half minute off the clock. Both teams settled into a tight checking affair. Montreal evened the score after Zimmerman was whistled for interfering with Brockers in the crease allowing Wayne Augustin to put the puck behind Toronto's Gordie Broadway.
The balance of the game was chippy affair with both teams parading to the sin bin for numerous stick infractions. There was only one more scoring play. With 39 seconds remaining in the second Carlson converted a loose rebound to make it 2-1 which was the way the game ended with the Dukes taking another 2 important points.
Bach home Saturday to face the rags to riches Chicago Packers. The Packers showed why they are the class of the year's NAHC by not giving the Dukes any space for the entire 60 then counterattacking every time they got the puck. Shots for the game were 36-14 for the Packers who led 2-0 after one, 3-0 after two periods. After Max Ducharme put Chicago's fourth past Broadway, Doug Zimmerman spoiled Michael Cleghorn's shutout bid with just over eight minutes to play. The goal was a milestone for Zimmerman who has 20 on the year doubling his output of a year ago.
Coach Barrell- "Better in all phases of the game this week. The win against Detroit was big, we had to stop the Motors from gaining any momentum. Scott (Renes) turned the game around with a couple of big stops early that allowed us to jump out to lead. The win in Montreal was almost as important giving us some breathing room on the two teams chasing us for the playoffs. Chicago took us to task on Sunday, they controlled the game from beginning to end. If we can learn a lesson from that thrashing it would be how much better, tighter our game has to be if we want to advance in the playoffs. Time to go back to work, big test Tuesday at home to NY before going into Chicago Thursday to see if we have learned any lessons. I expect a big crowd Saturday for another big game against Detroit."
A few thoughts from Press Jumper of the past week in the Federal Basketball League.
- Washington is halfway through its season-long eight-game road trip and the Statesmen are 3-1 and have extended their Eastern Division lead to 11 games on Philadelphia. The only loss snapped a seven-game winning streak in a 91-70 defeat in Boston. The loss could be laid at the feet of the entire team defensively, but offensively, the team shot 24% from the floor and neither Charles Hooper (0-for-6, 0 points) nor Blake Brooks (0-for-5, 2 points) made a basket. But, you can excuse the dud from Washington. It was the first time in nine meetings this season where Washington fell to Boston. In the next game, also at Denny Arena, Washington got back on the horse in an 88-76 win. Charles Hooper made up for the bad night the game before with a 22-point performance with a hot shooting hand, as he went 11-for-17. Thomas Abbott led the way in both games for the Cents, scoring 26 points in the victory and 22 points in the loss.
- It is safe to say the Rochester Rockets have hit a rut in February. After a big win against Detroit on the February 1st, Rochester has lost five of six. While Detroit has lost two in a row this week, Rochester could not take advantage with three losses this week against Chicago. The Panthers have lost 17 of 24, but the last four of those seven wins have been against Rochester. Luther Gordon averaged 24.3 points per game in those wins against the Rockets, while Rochester did not have a single go-to guy, in the clutch or otherwise. Marlin Patterson was 1-for-9 and Milford Layton was an astounding 0-for-20 in a 66-58 the first of those four meetings. No one could get the clutch bucket or a big free throw when it mattered in a 79-78 loss a week later. Billy Bob McCright was 3-for-15 from the field and the team only hit 59% of their free throws (26-for-44). Rochester shot 25% in a 73-58 loss, followed by an anemic 21% in a 66-56 loss, dropping both ends of this week's home-and-home.
- The New York Knights snapped a four-game losing skid with a 99-73 win against Baltimore. New York is 2-1/2 games behind Boston for third place and with the season entering its final third, these next couple of weeks will show if the Knights will challenge or will play out the string. New York will shuffle up to Boston on Friday night for the first of four head-to-head matchups over the next three weeks. Boston has won five of seven games in their season series. The key matchup will be whether Boston's second-year power forward Brian Threadgill can stop New York's leading scorer, Scott Lagasse (22.1 ppg).
CAGE TOURNAMENT FIELD STARTING TO TAKE SHAPE
With a little over three weeks to go until tournament selection time, the 32 team field for the AIAA collegiate basketball tournament is starting to take shape. This will mark the 42nd season of the championship tournament and Coastal California, last years winners, will certainly be around to defend their title and look like they will be one of the four number one seeds.
The Dolphins are the most successful team in AIAA history in terms of victories and are looking to add to their record 23 conference titles with another West Coast Athletic Association crown this year. They moved closer to that goal last week with home victories over Portland State and Spokane State to run their section record to 9-1, two games ahead of Redwood. The Dolphins a couple of big games ahead with a visit to Stanford to play the 6th ranked Mammoths before a showdown with City College of Los Angeles in 10 days. It was the CCLA Coyotes that handed the Dolphins their only loss this season.
Assuming Coastal California continues to play well the Dolphins seem assured of being the number one seed in the West Region. It is looking like a pair of Great Lakes Alliance squads will also claim top seeds but the questions is which two? Whitney College, the preseason number one and current top team in the polls seems a likely choice for one of the top seeds but the Engineers do have games remaining with both of their chief rivals in third seed Western Iowa and the surprising Indiana A&M Reapers. The Reapers climbed another spot in the polls last week despite a loss on the road to the Canaries coupled with a win in Lansing over St. Ignatius. Indiana A&M had knocked off Whitney College a couple of weeks ago and may be poised for a deep tournament run. That would be a rare achievement for the Reapers, who have never won the AIAA tournament and only reached Bigsby Garden for the national semi-finals once in school history.
Liberty College's fine rebound season as they bounce back from a down year following the graduation of Luther Gordon hit a snag last week when the Bells lost for just the second time this season. It was a shocking loss as the upset was engineered by the Bigsby College Gents, a school that entered the contest with a 12-10 record and had suffered through a six game losing streak in January. The Gents, behind 13 points from senior guard Harry Blanton, rang up a 50-45 victory over the Bells. Liberty College did bounce back with wins over St Blane and Eastern State to close out the week and has just one more game remaining on its season schedule - a meeting with St. Matthew's College this week.
Liberty College will likely be 27-2 come tournament selection day and certainly in the running for the top seed in the East Region. There is always a chance the committee sends a West Coast school like Rainier College (17-6) to the East or South regions but the final top seed is likely between the Bells, Carolina Poly and perhaps Noble Jones College. The Cardinals and Colonels are ranked 7th and 9th respectively and each will need a strong finish but a section title in the South Atlantic Conference for the Cardinals and Deep South for Colonels is very much a possibility and will certainly strengthen either of their cases for a number one seed.
The 32 team AIAA tournament field will be announced March 16, and the tournament will begin on Saturday March 22.
WEEKLY RESULTS FOR RANKED TEAMS
MONDAY FEBRUARY 11
Bigsby College 50, at #4 Liberty College 45
at #11 Annapolis Maritime 40, St. Matthew's College 32
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 12
at #14 Perry State College 50, Rome State 42
#17 Frankford State 57, at Brandywine 48
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13
at #2 Coastal California 47, Portland Tech 46
at #9 Noble Jones College 57, Alabama Baptist 42
at #11 Annapolis Maritime 60, Eastern Virginia 48
#13 Opelika State 50, at Mississippi A&M 33
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14
#1 Whitney College 77, at #3 Western Iowa 71
#6 Indiana A&M 68, at St. Ignatius 57
at #12 Mobile Maritime 61, #7 Carolina Poly 50
at Wisconsin State 65, #18 Central Ohio 62
Central Carolina 57, at #19 North Carolina Tech 44
at #21 Lincoln 52, #23 Detroit City College 49
at #24 Coastal State 59, Cowpens State 55
#25 Lexington State 65, at Maryland State 47
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 15
at #4 Liberty College 63, St. Blane 50
at #5 Rainier College 73, Spokane State 51
at #8 Redwood 52, Idaho A&M 34
at #20 Northern California 54, #10 CC Los Angeles 45
at #11 Annapolis Maritime 77, Capital (MS) University 70
at #14 Perry State College 56, Daniel Boone College 44
#16 Lubbock State 55, at Amarillo Methodist 42
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 16
#1 Whitney College 58, at #23 Detroit City College 47
at #3 Western Iowa 68, #6 Indiana A&M 44
at #7 Carolina Poly 53, Chesapeake State 41
at #9 Noble Jones College 56, Bayou State 53
at #12 Mobile Maritime 60, Central Carolina 47
at #13 Opelika State 54, Alabama Baptist 39
at Arkansas A&T 72, #16 Lubbock State 58
at #18 Central Ohio 64, St. Magnus 55
at #19 North Carolina Tech 53, Alexandria 45
at #21 Lincoln 51, St. Ignatius 50
#22 Great Plains State 58, at Pueblo State 46
#24 Coastal State 43, at Richmond State 42
Columbia Military Academy 61, at #25 Lexington State 60
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 17
at #2 Coastal California 53, Spokane State 45
at #4 Liberty College 68, Eastern State 60
at #5 Rainier College 80, Idaho A&M 40
at #8 Redwood 60, Portland Tech 44
#14 Perry State College 58, at Lambert College 45
at #20 Northern California 61, #15 Lane State 57
at #17 Frankford State 55, Meade 47
RUTLEDGE SET FOR WELTERWEIGHT DEFENSE
Danny Rutledge is bringing some much-needed stability to the welterweight division, which has seen a revolving door of champions since 1950. The division has lacked a dominant fighter since the days before the war, when Kid Simpson reigned supreme. Rutledge will be aiming for his third successful title defense this Friday evening at Chicago's Lakeside Auditorium, where he will face off against former champ Dale Roy.
Rutledge is no stranger to the fight scene. He first made a name for himself in 1944, while still serving in the Army, during a memorable bout with Mac Erickson in England before thousands of military personnel. Rutledge triumphed with a 12th round knockout, and great things were predicted for both young fighters. Erickson went on to hold the title for nearly two years, even successfully defending it in a rematch with Rutledge. Undeterred, Rutledge continued to fight his way up the ranks and finally earned a second title shot last February. He seized the opportunity with a unanimous decision over Ira Mitchell to capture the title.
Erickson's reign ended shortly after his victory over Rutledge, leading to a succession of champions who quickly lost the title. Mark Westlake defeated Erickson but then lost to Dale Roy in his second defense. Roy, in turn, lost to Mitchell in his next outing, who was subsequently defeated by Rutledge.
Now, it will be Roy, a 34-year-old veteran from Binghamton, NY, who will challenge Rutledge in the Windy City. Roy has been a solid fighter throughout his career, though never considered one of the greats. He won the title in the spring of 1950, seizing the opportunity when he caught an aging Mark Westlake off guard, delivering the performance of his career. However, he was quickly dispatched with a TKO loss to Mitchell in his first defense. Roy now has one more chance to prove that his victory over Westlake was no fluke and that he can stand toe-to-toe with the best in the division.
RECENT KEY RESULTS- Ben Burns and Danny Julian, both recent title fight victims of current welterweight champion Danny Rutledge battled for 10 rounds in Washington DC Saturday evening but decided nothing as the fight was declared a draw. Burns and Julian were both ranked in the top five contenders in the most recent This Week in Figment Sports quarterly rankings of the welterweight division's best.
UPCOMING MAJOR FIGHTS- February 22- Lakeside Auditorium Chicago: World Welterweight champion Danny Rutledge (25-1-1) defends his title against Dale Roy (40-9-1)
- February 28- Bigsby Gardens, New York: heavyweight contenders Evan Rivers (19-3-3) and John Jones (20-3-1) face each other.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 2/17/1952
- Italy disowned her peace treaty obligations to Russia because of repeated Soviet vetoes barring Italy from United Nations membership. UN affiliation for Italy was specified in the treaty. Italy now may not make any more payments on her $100-million war reparations debt to Russia.
- An off the cuff remark from President Truman that he was never been very fond of the Franco government has turned into an international incident after the Spanish Ambassador lodged a memo of displeasure with the State Department.
- Senator McCarthy claims secret and previously undisclosed congressional testimony shows that "a member of the President's official family" had discussed aims and objectives of the Communist Party with a Communist Party organizer. The "official family member" was identified by McCarthy as Leon Keyserling, chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors.
- Three major air disasters in less than two months for Elizabeth, NJ after 31 died when a DC-6 crashed into a big apartment building and blew up. That makes it 115 to perish in three successive residential district crackups. Meetings are underway to determine the future of the Newark Airport.
- Maj. George Davis, called America's greatest jet ace, was shot down over Korea and is presumed dead after shooting down two more Communist MIG 15s in his last air battle. Maj. Davis had a total record of 21 planes shot down in Korea and seven Japanese planes in WWII.
- The body of King George VI returned to London for three days homage from the nation before being laid to rest in Windsor Tomb.