OCTOBER 3, 1947
DUKES LOSE ROY FOR SEASON
A tough break for the Toronto Dukes as the club learned that Chad Roy will miss most, if not all of the season with a back injury he suffered Thursday night in Hamilton during the Dukes preseason tilt with the Chicago Packers. The 25-year-old British Columbia native was being counted on to play a key role on the Toronto blueline after he was acquired in the dispersal draft of former Brooklyn Eagles players. The much-travelled Roy, who had stops in Boston and Chicago before joining the Eagles midway through the 1945-46 campaign, had 2 goals and 10 assists for Brooklyn in 44 games last season.
BEES, PACKERS LOOK TO BE IN MID-SEASON FORM
Shamrocks Join Cup Finalists With 2-0 Start
We are just two games into the preseason slate but if the first week is any indication the Boston Bees and Chicago Packers are each going to enjoy outstanding seasons. Those two clubs -who met in the Challenge Cup final last season and are the favourites to return there next April- dominated the opposition in their first two tune-up games.
The Bees, winners of the last two Cups, were outshot 37-25 in the opener, played in Hershey, Pa. against the Detroit Motors but that did not stop the New Englanders from recording a decisive 7-2 victory. Veteran linemates Tommy Hart and Wilbur Chandler paced the Boston icemen with 2 goals each while rookie goaltender Oscar James -facing an uphill battle trying to make the club with Juneau Award winners Tom Brockers and Piere Melancon as his competition- gave Boston bench boss Danny McLachlan many reasons to smile with an outstanding effort between the pipes.
A day later the Bruins were in Montreal and Chandler pocketed two more goals while Tom Brockers handled the duties in net in a 4-2 doubling of the Montreal Valiants. It was the Valiants second straight loss after they fell 3-2 to the New York Shamrocks in Syracuse the previous night. Shamrocks 21-year-old rookie prospect Simon Savard scored twice in that game and would get another one the next night as the Greenshirts beat Detroit 4-1 for their second straight victory.
Chicago won both of their games over Toronto, dumping the Dukes in the preseason debut for Toronto coach Jack Barrell 6-1 in St Catharines on Wednesday and then by a 4-2 score the next night in Hamilton. Marty Mahoney had a hat trick for the Packers in a rough and tumble opener while the next night it was league MVP Tommy Burns who took center stage with a pair of markers, while Mahoney assisted on both of them.
Code:
NAHC Preseason Standings
TEAM GP W L T PTS GF GA
Boston 2 2 0 0 4 11 4
Chicago 2 2 0 0 4 10 3
New York 2 2 0 0 4 7 3
Montreal 2 0 2 0 0 4 7
Toronto 2 0 2 0 0 3 10
Detroit 2 0 2 0 0 3 11
EXHIBITION RESULTS
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 1
New York 3 Montreal 2 at Syracuse, NY
Boston 7 Detroit 2 at Hershey, Pa.
Chicago 6 Toronto 1 at St Catharines, Ont.
THURSDAY OCTOBER 2
Chicago 4 Toronto 2 at Hamilton, Ont
New York 4 Detroit 1 at Philadelphia, Pa.
Boston 4 at Montreal 2
UPCOMING GAMES
SATURDAY OCTOBER 4
Montreal vs Chicago at Pittsburgh, Pa.
Detroit vs Boston at Springfield, Ma.
New York at Toronto
SUNDAY OCTOBER 5
Chicago vs New York at Buffalo, NY
Montreal vs Detroit at Windsor, Ont
Toronto at Boston
AROUND THE LEAGUE
BEES OFF TO GOOD START
From Finn LeBec, Boston Globe --The Boston Bees had a good showing. 2-0-0 with a 7-2 win over Detroit and a 4-2 victory at Montreal. Oscar James won the preseason opener (35 saves) and Wilbur Chandler was in midseason form with two goals. But, the play of the rookie defensemen against the Motors impressed me. Mickey Bedard dished out two assists and Charlie Rittinger had an assist and tussled with Graham Comeau in the dying seconds of the game to make his case for a policeman, if one is necessary. Game two saw two more goals for Chandler and two more assists for Bedard. Next up is a set of preseason back-to-backs with a rematch against Detroit and a tilt against the Toronto.
NOT THE START MOTORS WERE HOPING FOR
From Dan Urbanski, Detroit Times -- Exhibition games are called just that for a reason. They have no bearing on the season and hopefully things will be much different for the Detroit Motors when the puck drops for real October 15. The Motors started preseason with 2 losses. Normally, that is not a big deal as these are just tune-up games but they were especially bad.
In the opener, a 7-2 loss to Boston, Detroit at least had a few bright spots. Forwards Graham Comeau -last season's leading scorer last season- and rookie Nick Tardif each played very well but the defense was very weak with Bryant Williams, who is supposed to be a team leader, looking especially bad but he was not the only veteran who did not show up on this night. Hopefully it was just rust being shaken off for goaltender Henri Chasse as he was awful, surrendering 7 goals on just 25 shots. We outshot the Bees 37-25 but had trouble solving rookie goaltender Oscar James. Newcomer Adam Vanderbilt and vet Garrett Ferrar scored the Motors goals.
The next night was an even worse effort with far too many passengers in a 4-1 loss to the New York Shamrocks. Mike Schlegel was a young player Detroit brass was hoping would play a key role on our blueline but not only did he get involved in an off-ice incident early in camp that has angered a number of his teammates but he played a terrible game against the Greenshirts. Schlegel will get a couple more games to prove himself but the same can't be said for three others who have been dispatched to Buffalo. One was 19 year old Herm Kruse, their second round pick, and his departure for the Bears was always a foregone conclusion but the other two were surprises. Anthony Jacques was a winger who camp observers thought might step into the starting lineup but the 21-year-old needs some time in the HAA. The other was Bobo Davis, Detroit's first round pick a year ago, who has been in the words of one veteran teammate "quite frankly a pain in the butt" ever since he joined the club. He is just 21 and too talented not to return but head coach Mark Moore decided to make an example out of Davis after a terrible effort against Boston and repeated verbal clashes with teammates so he is Buffalo-bound.
That leaves the club with 23 players in camp and three more cuts, likely 2 forwards and 1 defenseman to come before the Motors open the season October 15th at the Palladium against Chicago. Morale is terrible, but it was bad most of last season and the club still performed although management is quickly tiring of the antics of a few players, so there may be some more surprising moves to come.
QUICK THOUGHTS
On the New York Shamrocks from New York World Telegram hockey reporter Sam Fincher -- Shamrocks with a good start. Some of the young guys contributing. Savard with a big start.
On the Toronto Dukes from Toronto Mail & Empire sports columnist Brett Bing -- Tough start for Jack Barrell and it is clear his hard-nosed defensive system will take some time to get full buy-in as the Dukes give up 10 goals in first two preseason games.
OTHER HEADLINES THIS WEEK
- The St Louis Pioneers and Philadelphia Sailors split the opening two games of the World Championship Series. The Sailors took the opener 6-4 on the road before Danny Hern evened things with a complete game 5-1 victory for the Pioneers in game two.
- As has been speculated for several weeks the Chicago Cougars have officially terminated the contract of manager Clyde Meyer after 8 seasons at the helm of the Continental Association club.
- The Sadler Bluecoats dumped the Ellery Bruins 30-13 in a rare mid-week collegiate football game for Academia Alliance squads. There is a full slate set for tomorrow including preseason number one St Blane making its debut at Fitzpatrick Park vs Pittsburgh State.
- President Truman informed congressional leaders today that emergency funds for aiding Europe cannot be provided without congressional action - possibly a special session.
- An increasingly violent anti-American campaign by Russian press and radio was predicted by United States officials examining Moscow's propaganda line, noting a Russian magazine attack comparing Truman with Hitler indicates a decision to pull out all the stops.
Full national sports coverage is available in this week's edition of
THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL.