| DENVER -
The Cincinnati Stingers, clinging to a one point lead in the World Hockey Association's
East Division, play the financially troubled Denver Spurs here Tuesday night. There have
been rumors aplenty about the Spurs lately, ranging from "they won't last past the
New Year" to " somebody else is going to duty them." Owner Ivan (Ike) Mullenix insists he's committed for the season, but admits
he needs help. "I'm willing to sell some, a lot or all of the club, Mullenix said. As
part of a "Save the Spurs" drive, community leaders have been forming committees
by the bushel to try to come up with a plan to get more fans into McNicols Arena, Denver's
new facility that seats about 16,000 for hockey. But so far, at least, no investors seem
willing to join Mullenix in footing the bills.
The Spurs have been averaging 3,000 attendance per game by generous
estimates. One of the first suggestions put forth by an advisory committee will be
implemented Tuesday night when the Spurs cut their ticket prices. All this talk has had an
unsettling effect on the players, many of whom went through much the same thing last
season at Chicago.
"Lets face it," said Spurs Coach Jean-Gut Talbot.
"The players have feelings. They read the papers. It has to affect them some. It's
got to hurt. But we've been playing better lately in spite of it. We've got Gary
(MacGreger) back in the lineup and his line (with Ralph Backstrom and Don Borgeson on the
wings) has been doing the job for us." That line has accounted for 40 of the 89 goals
Denver has scored in posting a 10-16-1 record, worst in the West Division.
This will be the third Stinger-Spur meeting with each team winning
once on home ice. The Spurs will go with Bob Johnson in goal. "Johnson let in two bad
goals early in our last game," Talbot said, "He knows they were bad goals. It
put us in a hole and we weren't able to catch up (Phoenix won, 4-1, Saturday night).
"But I told him I'm sticking with him. I have confidence in him." Talbot has
little choice. Cam Newton isn't expecting to be available for another week or two. He
broke two fingers on his stick hand. The Spurs have added goalie Chris Grigg from Syracuse
for emergency duty, but he is untested.
The Spurs have been tough on the road (5-6), but easy at home
(5-10-1). "I wish we hadn't started at home," Talbot laments. "We were
trying too hard because we wanted so badly to get people in Denver interested in coming
out. Then we went on the road and the players proved to me they can play. Now we're
starting to win at home, too." This will be the fourth stop on the Stingers' current
five-game trip. They play Thursday at San Diego and return home for a Saturday game with
New England. |
