CeeFiddy

Canucks deserve kinder fate

March 17th, 1983 | The Vancouver Sun

by Dennis Feser

As Glen Sather stood four deep in notepads and microphones, the owner of the Edmonton Oilers strode into the head coach’s room and ventured his opinion.

“It looked like he got his stick on it to me, too,” said Peter Pocklington from behind a grin.

Would Peter Puck, the man who would be prime minister, lie to us, nudge-nudge, wink-wink?

The Oilers had just levelled Vancouver Canucks 4-3 before the usual National Hockey League sellout crowd of 17,498 at the Northlands Coliseum.

And what had them producing the sly sighs of relief was that the difference between a team running away with the Smythe Division title (Edmonton) and another scrapping for a playoff berth (Vancouver) was a goal kicked past netminder John Garrett with 27 seconds remaining.

“It was off my skate but I just got my stick on it before it went in,” said defenceman Paul (Pele) Coffey, who gloved down a clearing pass and got to the net in time to convert a feed from centre Wayne Gretzky.

Understandably, there was no humor among the Canucks, who protested en masse to referee Wally Harris – over that one and the one he correctly cancelled when he ruled the Gary Lupul shot the puck past Andy Moog after time had expired.

“Everybody in the building knows Coffey kicked it in,” said Canucks defenceman Doug Halward. “The play shouldn’t even have gone that far, either, because Gretzky had tripped me in the corner.

“It’s a disgrace,” added Halward. “It’s bad enough he misses the call on me, but when Coffey kicked it in he was standing right there.”

Garrett, outstanding in a contest the Canucks were fortunate to be in that late, led both charges on Harris. “They (referees) should get off their pedestal,” said Garrett, who saw the long end of a 42-29 shoutout. “They should use their linesmen a little more – even if they think they’re right.

“But there’s nothing we can do about it now. It’s just tougher to take when it’s this way.”

Verbally assaulting the referee for real or imagined injustices, most nights, gets little sympathy.

But the Canucks, seldom in a position to put their problems at the feet of the officials, deserved a better fate.

Centre Thomas Gradin scored three goals, the first two staking the Canucks to the lead in the first period and his 29th of year regaining it midway through the third. Mark Messier (43), Jari Kurri (41) and Wayne Gretzky (64) had the other goals for the Oilers.

“I thought he called a good game tonight,” observed Sather. “He could have called something every time we went into their end, all that hooking and grabbing.”

What Sather was talking about was the hooking and grabbing by the Canucks… not Gretzky, whose Mr. Clean image suffered no blemishes at the hands of the referee.

But Halward has Gretzky’s glove-prints on the shaft of his stick to prove otherwise.

Canucks head coach Roger Neilson insisted that Harris didn’t let everything go. “He certainly didn’t let the penalty to Halward go. Gretzky holds his stick and he gets four minutes (two for hooking plus two for unsportsmanlike conduct directed at the referee in the first period). Here’s a guy who plays a great game… gets into a fight (decision Messier)… and Gretzky hooks him on that goal at the end.”

Even so, the Canucks had a chance to put it away on the power play with less than three minutes left, when Ken Linseman chopped Darcy Rota with his stick from the penalty box where he had been deposited by a Stan Smyl bodycheck.

Black Hawks shake off Pacific Coliseum jinx

March 18th, 1985 | The Vancouver Sun

By Arv Olson

If Harry Neale stays on as general manager of the Canucks after all, one of his prime choices to coach the team next season will be a former member of his staff.

No, not Roger Neilson.

Neilson, who is now an assistant coach with Chicago, couldn’t help but exchange pleasantries with Arthur Griffiths after a most forgettable game in which the Black Hawks beat the apathetic Canucks 6-4 at Pacific Coliseum.

Neilson and the Vancouver assistant chairman of the board couldn’t stick-handle by one another outside the dressing rooms but they are still at odds over a legal action Neilson initiated after Canucks fires him last season.

The coaching candidate Neale will likely be talking to this week while on another Ontario Hockey League scouting trip is Tom Watt, a former Vancouver assistant who returned to the University of Toronto this season after handling the Winnipeg Jets.

“Sure, I’ll be approaching Tom Watt if I’m still the general manager,” admitted Neale, who has said he will be hiring a man with NHL experience. “He’s a good man.”

Neilson, fired by Neale in January, 1984, said that Watt would be a good, logical choice and “I know he wants to get back into the NHL.”

Neilson also wants another job as an NHL head coach, if he isn’t offered the vacancy with the Black Hawks.

“There are a few spots open and I don’t really know what’s going to happen in Chicago,” he said. “I don’t think (general manager Bob) Pulford wants to keep coaching, but the owners may want him to. I can’t say if there could be sort of a co-coach arrangement or if it would be practical.”

The Hawks, who hadn’t won here since Jan. 24, 1979, have a 12-5-2 record since Pulford took over as coach after firing Orval Tessier. And they’ve now won 15 games on the road, 10 more than all of last season.

Neilson, who has also worked for Toronto, Buffalo, Los Angeles and Edmonton, has a breach of contract suit pending against the Canucks. He is seeking $177,000 in salary he claims he is owed in terms of his contract which ran through this season. “I’m not sure when we go to court on it,” he says, “sometime this summer, I guess.”

Neale said that the Canucks probably will have to go to the league’s ‘court’ over the Glen Cochrane issue. “We want him but after talking to (Philadelphia g.m. Bobby) Clarke again yesterday, this thing will eventually have to be dumped in the league’s lap.”

Cochrane, the big, tough defenceman whom the Canucks acquired last week from the Flyers for a third-round draft selection, has been declared unfit to play for the remainder of the season by Vancouver club doctors. He had played only 18 games for the Flyers since a knee injury last March.

Another wounded Canuck, Thomas Gradin, has been playing with a bone fracture in his right leg since Jan. 25, the veteran centre revealed last night when asked if he would be playing for Sweden in next month’s world championships.

“I knew something was wrong but it hasn’t been getting better,” said Gradin. “When they took x-rays again two days ago, it showed there was a hair-line fracture in the fibula, in the back of my leg just above the ankle.

“It bothers me more when I’m walking than skating,” added Gradin, who said he will be declining the request to play in Prague.

Dave Harris, the club doctor, said the fracture didn’t show on two earlier x-rays. “It’s a non-laboring bone, a pain nuisance,” he explained. “Pain is the only thing that would have restricted him from playing.”

Gradin missed two games after being struck by teammate Cam Neely’s shot.

The Canucks, who open a four-game road trip Wednesday in Buffalo, got goals last night from Tony Tanti, Peter McNab, Patrik Sundstrom and Stan Smyl.

But the Hawks, still chasing St. Louis for the Norris Division title, got emotional performances from more people, particularly Troy Murray and Ed Olczyk.

“The game,” said Neale, “was highlighted by lowlights.”

Canuck win doesn’t worry Bowman

March 14th, 1985 | The Vancouver Sun

By Arv Olson

Scotty Bowman’s teams usually stop to smell the West Coast flowers for a respite the last month of the season. And if he can get away without overworking his defensive retreads throughout the playoffs, the Buffalo Sabres might still be sniffing for the Stanley Cup in late May.

There were several shifts Wednesday night when Jerry Korab, 36, and Jim Schoenfeld, 32, both coaxed out of retirement recently, weren’t the only defencemen who looked like they were waiting for afternoon tea at the Victoria Empress as the Sabres were beaten 6-4 by the Vancouver Canucks.

The Sabres, who stopped in Victoria for two days en route here from Los Angeles, needed a victory to pull into a first-place Adams Division tie with Montreal.

The Buffalo skaters actually played well enough to win, but goaltender Bob Sauve – who hadn’t lost in 15 previous starts (7-0-8) against the Canucks – couldn’t handle three of Vancouver’s six first-period shots.

At the other end, Richard Brodeur was almost flawless while stopping 40 shots for a team whose season will end April 6.

Bowman, who has coached more victories than anyone in NHL history, wasn’t displeased with the overall performance of his team.

“If we play like that the rest of the year, a lot of good things will happen for us,” said Bowman, who previously has taken his team to Harrison Hot Springs for late-season rests between games. “You’ve got to try to start peaking for the playoffs the last four weeks of the regular schedule.

“The nucleus of a winner is here. But in our conference anything can happen in the playoffs. Put the eight playoff teams from our conference, even the New York Rangers, in a round-robin and it would be very close.”

The key playoff performer for the defensively tuned Sabres is their other goaltender, sophomore Tom Barrasso.

But even he will need stronger support than Sauve received from Korab, Schoenfeld and Dave Maloney last night, even though the Canucks managed only 17 shots. Maloney, acquired from the Rangers during this season, and his partner, big Larry Playfair, were on the ice for Vancouver’s first four goals.

Bowman didn’t go along with what almost everyone (10,149 fans) at Pacific Coliseum had to be thinking; that goaltending was the whole difference in the outcome.

“A few more shots might have got by him (Brodeur), but our players weren’t getting enough on some of their shots,” he observed. “They had a couple of good chances to bury the puck behind him and didn’t.

“The most important thing is, we haven’t been giving up a lot of shots to anyone.”

Brodeur’s best save was off Mike Foligno in the second period, when the Sabres peppered him with 22 shots. Foligno’s best shot, however, was a first-period sucker punch that decked Stan Smyl. Foligno received a fighting major and the Canucks scored on their only shot, by rookie Jean-Marc Lanthier, in the first 4:50 of the five-minute penalty.

Jere Gillis, a discarded Sabre, and Cam Neely had opened the scoring. Mark Kirton added two goals, the second into an empty net, and Patrik Sundstrom got the other, deflecting the puck in off his skate. Sundstrom’s 200th NHL point continued his streak of collecting a point in 19 straight home games.

Kings play like Canucks South

March 9th, 1985 | The Vancouver Sun

By Arv Olson

If some people at Pacific Coliseum didn’t know any better Friday night – and the place was crawling with kids – they would have thought that the Los Angeles Kings, not the Canucks, were in the process of self-destructing from the playoffs.

The 12th one-goal victory of a calamitous season served only to prolong Vancouver’s inevitable fate that was etched in granite in early December; they will be put to rest after a tie or a win by the Kings, who have 13 more games to play.

All of those games, however, are rather significant for Los Angeles, though coach Pat Quinn wondered aloud following the 4-3 defeat why so many of his players weren’t motivated to greater heights.

“It looked like some of our players took Vancouver for granted,” said Quinn. “We were badly out-played and it could have been more disastrous except for the big saves by our goalkeeper (rookie Darren Eliot).”

The loss dropped the Kings four points behind both Calgary and Winnipeg in the tug-o-war for second place in the Smythe Division. The fourth team will get Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the playoffs.

Crucial games in that scenario could be a season-ending home-and-home doubleheader against the Canucks, and Quinn won’t have to remind his players of two incidents that punctuated last night’s loosely contested affair.

Forward Carl Mokosak won’t forget to avoid another confrontation with Vancouver’s Cam Neely.

And Quinn won’t let anyone forget Canuck defenceman Garth Butcher’s jarring cross-check to the back of 5’8″ Jimmy Fox.

“I certainly hope our guys have tucked that one away in the back of their minds,” observed Quinn, the former Philadelphia coach who was rejected by the Canucks in favor of Bill LaForge last summer. “I think they should do something similar to their smaller players in our next game.”

Captain Terry Ruskowski took exception to Butcher’s third-period check, undetected by referee Bob Myers, but all they got for their trouble was 10-minute misconducts. they had exchanged punches earlier.

Neely had sent Mokosak to the dressing room with a bloodied face in what was Neely’s 14th fight of the season. Neely has lost few, if any, of his scraps. He soon will be running out of willing challengers.

After Michel Petit lost the puck on Dave Taylor’s first-minute goal, the Canucks gradually took over, Jean-Marc Lanthier tieing it and then Thomas Gradin setting up goals for Al MacAdam and Patrik Sundstrom in the final minute of the period. Tony Tanti’s 31st of the season, sandwiched between King goals by Anders Hakansson and Doug Smith in the second, proved to be the winner.

Quinn gambled and lost with 1:12 remaining, calling for a measurement on goalie Frank Caprice’s stick after Brian Engblom had been penalized for hooking at 17:40.

“It’s the chance you have to take in that situation,” explained Quinn. “One factory still puts out illegal sticks – the blades and paddles are too wide – and I hoped he (Caprice) hadn’t shaved it.”

The stick was ruled legal, Caprice later saying that “I must have had one of the good ones because I didn’t shave it down,” and it was the Kings who got the minor bench penalty.

While two men short for the final 72 seconds, the Kings actually had the best scoring chance, defenceman Garry Galley’s shot hitting Caprice where it hurts the most.

“It caught me below the stomach,” grinned Caprice, “and I was lucky because I didn’t even see it coming. All I saw was the guy getting the puck in the slot, so I just spread-eagled to cover as much of the net as I could.”

Blue Lines – The Canucks are considering an offer to sell their 737 Boeing jet for a sizeable profit, but assistant chairman Arthur Griffiths refused to comment on the possible sale of the only privately owned aircraft in pro sports. Air Canuck was purchased two years ago for about $2 million. Operational costs for this season will be about $500,000 above regular commercial travel.

Bromley shakes off bad loss to Habs

March 9th, 1979 | The Leader-Post

Canadian Press

“You’ve just got to forget it and not look at your average for a few weeks.”

Those words for goaltender Gary Bromley after Vancouver Canucks were thrashed 11-1 by Montreal Canadiens in a National Hockey League game Thursday night.

“I guess we hit them at a bad time,” Bromley said of the fact Montreal had suffered two losses and one tie in its four previous games. “I haven’t had one like that before.”

The Canadiens are not accustomed to collecting only three points in four games and the defending NHL champions were expected to break out after a 2-2 tie with Washington Capitals on Monday and a 5-3 loss to Detroit Red Wings the previous Saturday.

In fact, Bromley allowed only nine of the Montreal goals, with the last two being scored against second-string goalie Dunc Wilson in the last five minutes of the game. Bromley was hit in the mask by a deflected shot with 4:17 to play and was replaced by Wilson. The Vancouver duo faced 46 shots, while their team-mates got only 26 shots at Montreal goalie Ken Dryden.

“It kind of stunned me,” Bromley said of the deflected drive. “It hit a nerve in my cheek so my face is a little numb. But it seems all right.”

Centre Jacques Lemaire was the offensive star of the game with three goals and two assists. Steve Shutt, Lemaire’s left winger, had two goals and one assist, while Guy Lafleur, on the line’s right wing, collected three assists.

Brad Gassoff had the only goal for the Canucks.

Mario Tremblay added two goals for Montreal, with the others by Bob Gainey, Pierre Mondou, Rejean Houle and Cam Connor – the first of his NHL career. Connor also collected two assists to raise his point total for the season to four after 21 games.

“I think it goes back to my defensive play,” Connor said to explain his sudden production. “When I went to the Canadiens camp, I figured the had enough goal scorers. I figured to make the team I’d have to excel defensively. As a result, my scoring suffered.”

Connor, who became a free agent after four seasons with Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association when the team disbanded a year ago, is a rookie by NHL standards.

“I can put a puck in the net, but I’ve had my share of problems,” Connor said. The fact he has been dressed for only 21 of the team’s 65 games could be one of them.

“I thought that tonight, against a team like Vancouver, I had to score. Because if I couldn’t get a goal against them, then it was pretty bad.”

The next chance for Connor to prove his worth could come Saturday when the Canadiens play host to New York Rangers, a team which left the Forum with a 2-1 victory Oct. 28, and which beat Montreal 6-2 in New York on Jan. 3.

Canuck flu bug makes Kings sick

November 12th, 1982 | The Province

By Tony Gallagher

Had Vancouver Canucks’ 4-2 victory over Los Angeles Kings been a little more convincing Wednesday night, it would be natural to say they should contact the flu more often.

Eleven was the sick count at Pacific Coliseum after the National Hockey League team got an empty-net goal from Dave Williams to cap a win which moved it out of the Smythe Division basement. Four players had to sit out – Harold Snepsts, Curt Fraser, Moe Lemay and Doug Halward – and the rest played despite all the ugly symptoms. Even Richard Brodeur looked a little green around the gills, but he looked anything but ill to the Kings, stopping 36 of 38 shots.

“I didn’t have the strength, but my concentration was better,“ said Brodeur, strangely shunned as a game star. “I almost threw up between the first and second period, but I felt stronger after that. I’ll take a day off. That’s the only way to treat it. Rest and liquids. I’m starting on the liquids tonight.”

Whether the Canucks can continue to use Brodeur so often remains to be seen. He has played in all the club’s games and Kings’ coach Don Perry hopes he falters.

“I hope it catches up with him,” said Perry. “From what I understand he can handle it mentally. Whether he can physically remains to be seen. Some guys like to play every night.”

One who would certainly like to play more is centre Ivan Boldirev, who made an excellent pass to set up Jim Nill to open the scoring four minutes into the game on a power play, then took a majestic backhand pass from Ron Delorme to score the winning goal on a breakaway six minutes into the third period.

“I actually lost control of the puck, but those things happen when you’re not scoring,” said Boldirev. “I was going to go to my backhand but when I lost it I had to shoot. He (Kings’ goalie Gary Laskoski) almost got it. I guess that’s my goal for November. I got one in October and now I’ve got my November goal early.”

The self-directed sarcasm is perhaps undeserved. He still has 13 points in 17 games, and hasn’t been getting the ice-time often given to a proven 30-goal scorer. Ivan Hlinka scored the other Vancouver goal after taking a fine Stan Smyl breakaway pass and Williams put it away with his long shot into an open L.A. goal with Laskoski seated for a sixth skater. Williams’ shot came from the Vancouver side of the red line and could have been icing had he missed, but it sailed straight into the heart of the net.

“It seems like we don’t get the bounces,” moaned Perry. “If a player of mine had done what he (Williams) did, I would have crucified him. But it goes in. Any time we get shots on Brodeur, it hits sticks, gloves and everything else.”

Neilson, loyal to the last, said he wasn’t miffed at Williams.

“He had the whole net and I think he thought someone would have cut him off before he got to centre,” said Neilson. “It’s the sort of thing where if it goes in, it’s nice. If it misses, you’re upset.”

Rookie Phil Sykes, with his first NHL goal, also scored for the Kings, who don’t expect to have Dave Taylor, Doug Smith, Dan Bonar or Peter Helander back for about two months.

Vancouver plays Saturday and Sunday in Winnipeg against the Jets.

Ice Chips – Neilson was particularly complimentary of the play of defencemen Lars Lindgren and Kevin McCarthy… The Canucks killed off four power plays to improve their penalty killing percentage to 86.8, tops in the league. They have yet to allow a power-play goal at home in six games.

Brodeur set to earn his keep

November 12th, 1982 | The Vancouver Sun

By Arv Olson

The prospect of being asked to play as many as 70 games this season doesn’t faze Richard Brodeur. He feels up to it – even on nights when he’s not feeling that well.

“Sure, I can play that many, why not?” said the squat goaltender, hunching his bare shoulders. He had emerged from the shower wrapped in a towel that matched his pale complexion.

Terry Sawchuk and Glenn Hall used to play every game and less than a decade ago Tony Esposito tended goal seven out of eight games. They weren’t immune to the flu, either.

“I’ll stay home tomorrow and rest,” the unassuming, carefree Brodeur was saying. “Other than this achiness, I feel great. I’ll be ready for the weekend.”

There’s a long weekend in arctic Winnipeg ahead of them, but at least the 24-hour “Montreal” flu has, pardon the pun, virtually run through the lineup of the Canucks.

Eleven of Vancouver’s players were hit by the virus before and during Wednesday’s 4-2 victory over Los Angeles at Pacific Coliseum and, as coach Roger Neilson put it, “the ones that don’t have it, think they do.”

Harold Snepsts, Curt Fraser, Doug Halward and Moe Lemay were so ill they were ordered to stay home in bed on this game night. Juniors Stu Kulak (Victoria) and Bruce Holloway (Kamloops) were summoned to fill the roster.

“Lucky,” admitted Neilson, “Richard was there.”

Brodeur’s stomach didn’t feel queasy until the first intermission. It was too late to send him home. He finished playing in his 17th straight game, and it was vintage Brodeur; another stellar performance, particularly in the third period when he turned aside 15 shots.

“My muscles were all tight when I woke up this morning,” Brodeur was saying later. “I almost threw up after the first period. I felt weak.

“It was a big (heavy) stick in my hand. I didn’t have the strength to handle the puck, so I tried to stay in my net even though I almost got caught out a couple of times. And I tried to stay on my feet more because it was tough getting up.

“But when you feel sluggish like that, it makes you concentrate more. You concentrate on doing less, but you do it better. You bear down more mentally.”

Brodeur, who believes “our flu bug started in Montreal (last Saturday) because six or seven Canadiens had it,” was staked Wednesday to a 2-0 lead on first period goals by Jim Nill and Ivan Hlinka. Next to Brodeur, Nill was the game’s best performer.

The Kings dominated after the second period, when it looked like everyone on the ice had the flu. With less than six minutes remaining, rookie Phil Sykes made it 3-2 and uncomfortable for the Canucks after Ivan Boldirev had scored his second of the season.

“That’s my November goal,” joshed the veteran centre who had been put into the clear by Ron Delorme, back after missing 11 games with stretched knee ligaments.

“I haven’t been getting lots of (scoring) chances,” said Boldirev, whose playmaking has been superb in recent weeks but who has not been used on a regular basis.

“I thought Richard should have been chosen the game’s first star, not me,” he added. “He’s unbelievable. He could be the star every night. He is the star every night.”

Dave Williams put the victory on ice, hitting the middle of a net vacated by goalie Gary Laskoski from his own blue line with 71 seconds remaining.

“If one of my players had shot it down the ice like that,” volunteered Kings coach Don Perry, “I’d have crucified him. Goal or not. Had he missed, we would have had a faceoff deep in their end.” Of Williams’ first goal of the season (on only his sixth shot in 10 games), Neilson explained that the left winger shot only because he sensed he was about to be checked.

“If it goes in, good,” said the coach. “If it doesn’t, and you’re called for icing, you’re really upset.”

The Canucks go to Winnipeg for a rare weekend doubleheader against the Jets (Saturday and Sunday nights) only one game under .500 hockey.

“If we can get at least a split in Winnipeg and win two of our next three (Detroit will be at Pacific Coliseum Tuesday) we’ll be at .500 having played 13 of our first 20 games on the road.”

Blue Lines – With Lars Lindgren and Kevin McCarthy doing yeoman duty on defence, Holloway (a sixth round 1981 draft) didn’t get to make his NHL debut. Kulak (selected fifth last year) got one shift on right wing and was greeted with a bone-jarring check by Jay Wells… Canucks still haven’t allowed a power-play goal at home. Opponents now are 0-for-15 on the power play, with Nill especially doing tremendous work while the Kings had four advantages… Stan Smyl and Garth Butcher missed practice Thursday because of the flu, along with Lemay, Snepsts, Halward and Brodeur.

It was a battle of goalies

October 20th, 1973 | Vancouver Sun

By Hal Sigurdson

Instead of a gang war, there was a sensational goaltending duel. Instead of a punch-up, there was a shoot-out. Instead of a head-hunting expedition, there was a superior hockey game.

It took a little getting used to since it was the Vancouver Canucks and Philadelphia Flyers who were making it all happen.

This was the Canucks’ Hockey League home opener Friday night at the Pacific Coliseum and instead of the usual Vancouver-Philadelphia riot there was tense, continuous action before the Canucks finally claimed a 2-1 decision.

Just to avoid totally blowing their image, the clubs did throw in a couple of third period fist fights, but the overflow crowd headed home talking more about the superb goaltending of Vancouver’s Gary Smith and Philadelphia’s Bernie Parent than Jerry Korab’s decision over tough Dave Shultz.

Smith was the one who really fired the crowd’s imagination. Late in the second period, with the Canucks killing off a penalty, he made an indecently good glove save on the Flyers’ Bill Flett. Seconds later he repeated the performance against Andre Dupont.

The Coliseum crowd saluted him with the longest ovation a Vancouver goaltender has heard in a long time.

But at the other end of the rink, Parent was almost equally good. The Flyers will not lose many games this season when he plays as well.

This wasn’t your average 2-1 hockey game. For the first two periods at least, it was a shoot-out. After 40 minutes the Canucks had taken 29 shots, the Flyers 27. The score could just as easily have been 6-5.

Instead, the Flyers had only a first period goal by Ross Lonsberry, while the Canucks were held to a pair of second-period goals by Bryan McSheffrey and Jocelyn Guevremont.

Though there were still good scoring chances at both ends, the checking got tougher in the third period and Guevremont’s goal, scored on a power play at 12:25 stood up as the winner.

It was the Flyers’ first loss after four straight wins and the Canucks’ second win in five starts.

“It was a little different out there tonight,” grinned Vancouver’s Bobby Schmautz. “I got through the whole game. Usually I don’t get past the second shift without somebody asking me to fight.

“It sure changes the game when you’ve got some muscle on your side, too, but give Philadelphia credit. They’re a good hockey club and they’re shooting for first place. This year they’re trying to avoid those cheap penalties. Even Schultz and (Don) Saleski were out there trying to play hockey. They’re two pretty good guys to have on your side. That Saleski had a couple of pretty good chances.”

“That’s the most physical game our club has played all year,” said Vancouver coach Bill McCreary. “It was a real team effort… you can’t ask more of a club than the guys put out tonight. Philadelphia played a hell of a hockey game.”

A turning point?

“If there was one, it was right after the opening faceoff when Kurt (Orland Kurtenbach) went out there and established that this is our building and we’re not going to be pushed around. You can’t really say it was any one save because both goaltenders made so many big ones.”

Even Flyers’ coach Fred Shero wasn’t overly disappointed. “I was proud of my guys,” he said. “In fact I was proud of both teams. They really gave it an effort and showed that this is the big league, not that other one.”.

His major concern was for defenceman Barry Ashbee who injured a shoulder when he crashed into the boards after trying to flag down Schmautz on a break.

The Canucks are now idle until Tuesday when the Atlanta Flames come to town. The Flyers are back in action tonight in Los Angeles against the Kings.

Kid lineup delivers in Canucks’ opener

October 10th, 1972 | Vancouver Sun

By Hal Sigurdson

And now the bad news… the Vancouver Canucks play six of their next seven games on the road, the first Wednesday night in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The Canucks’ good news, of course, came Saturday night at the Pacific Coliseum when they won a National Hockey League opener for the first time in their three season history.

They defeated the California Golden Seals 3-2 thanks to some magnificent goaltending from Dunc Wilson and a big job from that cluster of kids coach Vic Stasiuk had in his lineup.

In fact, with the NHL season now into its fourth day, the Canucks still find themselves tied for first place, but with the schedule that lies ahead they have precious little time to savor their position.

They meet the Rangers tomorrow night, move over to Philadelphia for a game against the Flyers Thursday then play the North Stars in Minnesota Saturday night.

They return home for a game against the Chicago Black Hawks next Tuesday, then hit the road again for games in Buffalo, Montreal and Boston.

The Rangers are Stasiuk’s immediate concern and after opening with two straight losses on the road (Detroit and Chicago), they figure to be in a churlish mood playing in front of their home fans,

“We may be a young club now, but we’ll be a lot older by the time we get out of New York.” Stasiuk grinned wryly.

The club Stasiuk ices in New York will be even younger than the one that edged California in Saturday’s opener.

Veteran left winger Dave Balon, at 34 the second oldest member of the team, was left at home with a deep bone bruise on his instep. Balon played in the opener despite the injury, but it hampered his performance.

His place on a line with Andre Boudrias and Bobby Schmautz will be filled by No. 1 amateur draft choice Don Lever, a natural centre, but a right winger in Saturday’s opener.

Lever, in fact, was the Canucks busiest right winger against California. Not only did he take his regular turn on a line with Wayne Maki and Orland Kurtenbach, but he also frequently played right wing with Richard Lemieux and Bobby Lalonde.

Lever’s place on the line with Kurtenbach and Maki will be filled by either Bryan McSheffrey or Ron Homenuke, both rookies.

Both youngsters are on the trip, but Stasiuk concedes McSheffrey had “the inside track” to suit up in New York.

Stasiuk’s only other lineup switch will see Ed Dyck replacing Bruce Bullock as Wilson’s backup goaltender.

The only surprise in Stasiuk’s opening night lineup was the presence of rookie defenceman Larry Bolonchuk and the absence of holdover Dennis Kearns.

Bolonchuk, in common with most of Stasiuk’s Kiddie Korps, came through with flying colors. As a result the Winnipeg Jets’ grad stays in the lineup while Kearns will spend the balance of the week working out with the Seattle Totems.

The kids did all Vancouver’s scoring Saturday. They would have scored a lot more if the Seals hadn’t been getting sensational goaltending from Gilles Meloche, particularly in the third period.

Meloche robbed Lever twice and also took goals away from Don Tannahill and Gerry O’Flaherty.

Tannahill did beat Meloche once. He scored the Canucks’ first goal of the season and put it right through the net in the process.

John Wright, fresh off the campus of the University of Toronto, put the Canucks ahead 2-0 before the first period was over. The Seals bounced back in the second with goals from Reg Leach and Rich Smith, but Lalonde scored the winner before the period ended. Meloche and Wilson were unbeatable in the third.

The Canucks’ three goal scorers now have a lifetime total of four in the NHL. Tannahill, drafted out of the Boston system, and Wright both scored their first. Lalonde, who saw 27 games of spot duty last season, notched his second.

But while the youngsters came through impressively, especially the smooth Wright, they also made a lot of mistakes. However, when they couldn’t scramble back themselves, Wilson was there to cover up.

“I’ve known all along he can play like that,” said Stasiuk. For the Canucks to hang in there during their tough opening schedule, Wilson will have to keep doing it.

Canucks blunder through opener

October 7th, 1976 | Vancouver Sun

By Arv Olson

PITTSBURGH – Rick Blight will have some excess baggage on the trip to Montreal Friday — two souvenir pucks and a bunch of hockey players.

“Sure, I happened to score four goals, but it didn’t matter too much did it?” shrugged the sophomore winger, pausing to accept Bob Dailey’s handshake after the Vancouver Canucks had been thrashed 9-5 by Pittsburgh in their National Hockey League opener Wednesday night.

“There’s not much you can do when you don’t give the goalies any help. And no one did that tonight; not us forwards or our defence.”

Dailey, the big likeable defenceman, was in no mood to loiter, not even around a four-goal scoring team-mate. He disappeared into the shower wearing a cut across the bridge of his nose and a bruised pride.

Dailey happened to have been on the ice for six of Pittsburgh’s goals and he was coming out of the penalty box ahead of team-mate Bob Murray when Pittsburgh scored another goal.

“They got nine goals, but I must have been a minus 10,” Dailey muttered later toweling off.

Outside the somber dressing room, general manager-coach Phil Maloney was philosophical about the whole thing. But his ruddy face was flushed.

“Bob Dailey was awful,” Maloney began after having watched his team give up more goals in their 1976-77 debut than they did in any one of 80 games last season.

“But I don’t blame Bob Dailey. It was terrible night generally for everyone. I guess, but Rick Blight. All of the trouble starts up front, if the forwards aren’t checking. Or the defencemen.

“We had two defencemen chasing the puck in the corners so often I had to get Cesare out of there to save his life. Yeah, that kid Anderson (Pittsburgh rookie Russ Anderson) looked good. He plays the man: he plays defence.”

Maloney took out starting goalie Cesare Maniago after two periods, when it was 7-4, and Curt Ridley finished up. The Penguins also had to use two goalies, out of necessity.

Starter Denis Herron, whom Pittsburgh pried from Kansas City (now Denver) during the off-season, suffered a fractured left arm early in the first period.

Garry Monahan beat Heron on a fine setup by newcomer Ralph Stewart after six minutes. Earlier on the same shift, he crashed into the goalie who came sliding out to stick-check the Vancouver forward.

Blight got all of his goals against Gordie Laxton, the New Westminster Bruins product who will be playing regularly now that Herron is out of action for up to six weeks.

Blight’s performance equalled the club record shared by Bobby Schmautz, who twice scored four times for the Canucks, and Rosaire Paiement. All of Blight’s goals were assisted by centre Mike Walton, and three of them came during power plays.

“It’s easy on setups like that,” said Blight, who retrieved the puck after his third and fourth goals.

It was the first NHL hat-trick for Blight, who scored 25 times in his rookie season. “I had a few three-goal games with the (Brandon) Wheat Kings but I never scored four as a junior.”

Walton’s passes were incisive but the third member of the line, left winger Don Lever, struggled most of the evening. “Like many of the others,” said Maloney, “Lever seemed exhausted for some reason, so I sat him out most of the third period.”

Anderson, an American who graduated from the University of Minnesota, and another rookie, Blair Chapman, got the Penguins going early last night.

On their first NHL shift, Anderson spotted Chapman alone in front of Maniago. Chapman, who scored 71 times for the Saskatoon Blades last season, made no mistake. Rick Kehoe added three goals for the Penguins, Wayne Bianchin had two and others came from Stan Gilbertson, Ron Schock and Syl Apps.

When Stewart arrived late in the afternoon from Uniondale, N. Y. Maloney had one extra man and he sat out centre Bobby Lalonde. Stewart was acquired earlier in the day from the New York Islanders in a straight cash deal.

Stewart looked as if he will help. But Maloney obviously needs the help on the blueline and he’s working on another deal with the Islanders that will bring rugged Dave Fortier to the Canucks.

The Canucks will need all the defensive help they can get for weekend games in Montreal (Saturday) and Chicago (Sunday).