| It's time
to go back to Cleveland, on the hockey beat and so you start coughing uncontrollably and
walking with a limp. The boss never noticed, though and you go anyway. The Cincinnati
Stingers are scheduled to play there tonight against the Crusaders, and that is considered
reason enough for a visit, but you wonder. One time an airplane landed you in Cleveland
because the weather was to bad to go on to Detroit. That is a good reason. But one should
never visit there on purpose. You keep wondering what will
happen. It's always something awful. You get chunks of filth in your eyes, if you
mistakenly go out into the air, and end up not being able to see the game. Or else you get
robbed. And always you get snowed on. The weather Tuesday was sunny and nice, but you
don't trust it. In Cleveland, it turns on you like a mad snake. And then there's the
transpiration problem to and from Nick Mileti's big coliseum. It's a beautiful building,
with color television replay screens for all the customers. Mileti has seen to every
detail, except he didn't put it where you can get to it. It sits growing out of some
farmers' field, like The Great Pumpkin, half way between Cleveland and Akron. Cab drivers
from neither city will go out that far, and so even when you get there you wonder how
you'll get back. You wonder if you'll be stranded there and if you'll be found in time.
You pack crackers in your typewriter case and hope.
Recently Gerry Cheevers, the WHA's best known goalie, bolted
Cleveland and flew off to rejoin the Boston Bruins. It please you that good sense
prevailed, but you wonder how he ever made it to the airport. The Stingers will have Rick
Dudley back for this game, and coach Terry Slater is beside himself with joy. "It's
just like Christmas all over again," he says. "We really needed him. That
straightens out all our lines and now I can put him and Jacques Locas and Pierre Guite
back together again." Dudley has been out with a bruised lung suffered when he
followed the puck into the goal against Winnipeg, with Bobby Hull sliding in after him.
"But the layoff doesn't seem to have hurt him," Slater says. 'He's feeling fine
now and like a true athlete, he doesn't seem to have lost any sharpness even though he
hasn't been skating."
Captain Mike Pelyk continues to favor a bad knee and the coach says,
"He may or may not play. We'll wait and see." The Stingers very first victory
came in Cleveland and they have continued to prosper against the Crusaders. "It might
be a lot harder this time though," Slater cautions. "They're playing a lot
better now, like I knew they would." Losing Cheevers was the key, he says. "When
Cheevers came into this league, he was the top goalie and the guy everyone looked to for
leadership. This year he wasn't playing so well but his teammates still play well with the
idea that, 'well, there's Gerry in the nest. He'll keep us in the game.' I've always said
that Cleveland has some of the best personnel, but never has had the leadership. They just
haven't been playing as hard as they can. Well now Cheevers is gone and Paul Schmyr and
some of the other people they have are saying, "Hey, Gerry's gone. We're going to
have to take over the leadership. We're going to have to work a lot harder.' So they've
been playing great. They beat New England and they're up there from last place into second
place."
After tonight, the Stingers go on to play at New England and then
get to the best part of their schedule - a 14-game stretch which finds them at home 10
times, including the next four games straight. "The big thing now, what I'm hoping
for, is to win one of these two road games, either at Cleveland or at New England,"
Slater says. "I think that would give us a big boost and put us in good shape until
the middle of next month." The New England game is Friday, and you look forward to
being there, or anywhere, except Cleveland. At least you don't go back to Cleveland until
late next month, and you're happy enough to buy everyone a Coke, except your wallet's
missing. |
