MARCH 29, 1948
PACKERS HAVE LITTLE TROUBLE IN SERIES OPENER
Dukes Upset Bees on Road
The NAHC Challenge Cup playoffs got underway with the two series opening games on Friday evening. There was little surprise with the result in Chicago as the Packers, armed with the best regular season record in the loop, blanked the fourth place New York Shamrocks 4-0 in game one of their semi-final series. Second place Boston on the other hand, immediately surrendered its home ice advantage over Toronto in the other series as the Dukes pulled out a 2-1 victory in front of a hostile crowd over more than 16,000 at Denny Arena. Both of the best-of-five semi-final series will continue tonight.
Norm Hanson, who led the NAHC in wins by a goaltender and lowest goals against average, turned aside all 23 shots he faced to lead the Packers past the visiting New York Shamrocks. Wes Burns had 2 goals and an assist while his brother Tommy, who led the NAHC in both goals and points during ther regular season, also scored for Chicago.
It took less than 6 minutes for the Packers to open the scoring when Norm Fraser, who scored just once in 7 regular season games with the big club, beat Shamrocks goaltender Etienne Tremblay with David Ranking and Jerry Finch drawing the assists. It would stay 1-0 until Wes Burns and Ed Delarue combined to set up Tommy Burns with 4 minutes remaining in the second period. Wes would get his first of the game two and a half minutes later, assisted by Marty Mahoney and Pete Moreau, to make the score 3-0 after 40 minutes. Three minutes into the third Wes Burns would score again, from Mo Masters and Mike Van Tol, ending any hopes the Shamrocks might have of mounting a comeback. The Packers outshot the visitors 31-23 in a clean, fast-paced game that saw just one penalty called all evening.
In Boston it came as quite a suprise when Toronto coach Jack Barrell elected to start Terry Russell in net over veteran Gordie Broadway. The 31-year-old Russell played in just 12 regular season games for the Dukes this season and had only 4 career playoff games under his belt -all with Chicago in 1944-45. Some might have been questioning Barrell's decision when it took just over 4 minutes for the Bees to opening the scoring. Veteran center Wilbur Chandler, who scored 8 playoff goals in the Bees successful Cup run a year ago, was perched on the edge of the crease and jammed a rebound past Russell to open the scoring. Garrett Kauffledt and Joe Morey drew the assists. Toronto tied it up just under six minutes later when rookie Alex Cameron, who had spent most of the season in Cleveland and owns just 1 NAHC career goal, added his first playoff goal on a nifty solo effort.
The game would be remained knotted at one through the second period as both Russell and veteran Boston netminder Tom Brockers stood tall. That would change just shy of the midway mark of the third period when Dukes captain Bobbie Sauer would be the hero, snapping the tie with goal from the slot, setup by Maurice Charette and Dick Zimmerman. Russell and his Toronto teammates made it stand up, hanging on for the 2-1 victory in the series opener.
NOMINEES FOR NAHC TROPHIES REVEALED
Tommy Burns of the Chicago Packers looks like he is on his way to his third consecutive McDaniels Trophy as the most valuable player in the NAHC. The star center, who led the NAHC in points and tied an 18-year-old record for goals in a season with 47, heads the list of three nominees for the trophy. Burns is joined by Orval Cabbell of the New York Shamrocks and Wilbur Chandler of the Boston Bees. Cabbell finished second to Burns in both goals and points with a 40-21-61 campaign while Chandler, who missed 8 games due to injury, averaged a point a game (26-26-52) to lead Boston in scoring.
The nominees for the Juneau Memorial Trophy, presented to the top goaltender, are Gordie Broadway of Toronto, Boston's Tom Brockers and Norm Hanson of the Chicago Packers. Broadway won the award two seasons ago while Brockers won the Juneau 5 times during his first stint with the Bees.
Finally the nominees for the Harvey McLeod Trophy, presented to the top rookie are Mickey Bedard of the Boston Bees and a pair of Detroit Motors in Adam Vanderbilt and Nick Tardif. The 22-year-old Tardif led all rookies with 19 goals and 43 assists while appearing in all 60 games for the Motors. Vanderbilt had 16 goals and 41 points and together with Tardif were one-two in scoring for the Detroit club. Bedard, a 23-year-old native of Thetford Mines, Quebec finished second in the NAHC in scoring by a defenseman with 38 points including 12 goals. Surprisingly Toronto's Lou Galbraith -the 20-year-old first overall pick who's seeason came to an end in February with an injury- was not among the nominees. Galbraith was among the league scoring leaders at the time of his injury, finishing with 17 goals and 42 points in 50 games.
DUKES STRIKE FIRST AGAINST BEES
In a surprising game, in more ways than one, the Dukes opening up their playoff series with a 2-1 victory before a packed house of over 16000 at Denny Arena. The game was opposite of what Jack Barrell was preparing for, instead of tight checking the game was fast paced, up and down the ice with a combined total of 64 shots on goal. Boston opened the scoring less than 5 minutes in with Chandler converting a nice three-way passing play from Kauffeldt, Morey. This probably sent chills down Barrell's spine as the key for the Dukes was to limit the Bs top line. The Dukes tied the game 6 minutes later when Cameron scored after stealing the puck on a sloppy turnover by the Boston D. The teams remained deadlocked at 1 after a frantic second stanza which saw numerous high caliber chances for both teams. Tom Brockers, Terry Russell, who was the surprise starting goaltender for the Dukes, were both equal to the task shutting the door before a fever pitched crowd. The game settled in, somewhat, in the third, it was almost like the players on were both teams afraid to make to the critical mistake. The Dukes finally dented the twine just past the halfway point when Captain Bobby Sauer tipped one past Brockers on passes from Charette, Zimmerman. Terry Russell then kept the home team off the score sheet for the 2-1 victory. Brockers made 34 saves while Russell turned away 27 pucks.
When ask about why Russell was between the pipes rather than Broadway Coach Barrell offered a terse "No Comment!" leaving fans wondering Broadway is nursing an undisclosed injury or the coaching staff was playing hunch. The big question in Toronto is "Who will be between the pipes on Monday night for Game Two in Boston?"
OTHER HEADLINES THIS WEEK
- The Chicago Chiefs will be without ace Al Miller until at least June after the 32-year-old suffered a spring training back injury. Miller was 17-14 for the Chiefs last season.
- The National Semi-Finals are set in the AIAA cage championship. CC Los Angeles, Alabama Baptist, Redwood University and Texas Gulf Coast have combined for 4 previous National Championships and 9 appearances in the AIAA tournament. However, all four of those previous titles and all 9 April trips to the semi-finals belong to the CCLA Coyotes as the other three schools entered this season with a combined tournament record of 8-27.
- President Truman called for an immediate truce between warring Jews and Arabs to avoid open warfare in the Holy Land when the British pull out May 15.
- Secretary of State Marshall made it clear that the US will stay in Berlin despite Russia efforts to break up the Allied control machinery there.
- The Yugoslav government protested "vigorously" to western powers after they proposed that Trieste be returned to Italy, but Yugoslavia did not reject the proposal itself.
Full national sports coverage is available in this week's edition of
THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL.