The Stingers Pierre Guite opened up the first
period with a slapshot from a hard angle near the left side face-off circle. The puck flew
right between the Racers goal tender Leif Holmquist's legs. John Hughes was in on the
goal. A minute later, Holmquist skated behind his net chasing a puck and then fell next to
it trying to skate back in position. Dennis Sobchuk climbed on top of him and held him
down while teammate Ron Plumb nabbed the puck and flipped a backhander into the wide open
net. Sobby and Dudley were both credited with an assists.
Almost eight minutes into the second period, all hell
broke loose when a bench clearing brawl erupted. Indianapolis was called for a double
minor when a Racers player apparently was the first to leave the bench. As a result the
Racers lost two players to the penalty box. Racers head coach Jaques Demers was livid and
argued with official Peter Moffat. Moffat claimed he didn't see what happened and the call
came from upstairs. The officials upstairs stated that it was the Racers who's players hit
the ice first even though Cincinnati was clearly on the ice first. Smedsmo and three other
Stingers were already on the ice with their gloves off ready for fisticuffs. Even Stingers
goalie Paul Hoganson left the crease and was ready for action but nothing was called.
Demers then snapped and hurled a chair 30 feet onto the ice. Stingers fans started booing
and someone threw beer on Demers. Demers already enraged, tried to climb into the stands
and take on the perpetrator but did not prevail. Demers was then charged with a penalty
for the chair throwing incident.
As a result of the Stingers two man advantage, Bryan
Campbell and Murray Myers scored goals. The two goals put the Stingers up 4 to zip until
Racers Nick Harbaruk answered after a nice pass by teammate Bob Sickinki. The Racers first
goal was followed up with another fight involving Pierre Guite and Racers Kim Claxton.
Both players were sent back to the penalty box where they just left after serving out
their time for their involvement in the first on ice melee. Stingers Jacques Locas charged
onto the ice in defense of Guite and was sent to the penalty box for being the first to
leave the bench. That time the officials got it right. The Stingers however, managed to
disallow any Racers goals on their power play and was able to kill penalty time.
The third period saw no incident between the to Midwest
teams. Gene Sobchuk's penalty for tripping was about the only excitement the fans saw.
Neither teams scored and the Stingers hung on to the victory. It would be Cincinnati's
first win over the Racers. Stingers goalie Paul Hoganson had now only allowed 3 goals in
166 minutes of play.
Also on this day:
- The Cincinnati Bengals lost to the Oakland
Raiders in the AFC Divisional Play Offs by a score of 31-28. It would be Paul Browns last
game as head coach. Click here for
game summary. |
