January 6th 1976 - Cincinnati Stingers vs Houston Aeros

CINCINNATI ENQUIRER

Tuesday, January 6th 1976

By David Fuselier

Aeros Ailing For Stingers' Visit

HOUSTON (Special) - The Cincinnati Stingers will be seeking a portion of first place in the World Hockey Association's East Division when they meet the defending WHA champion Houston Aeros tonight. Face-off time is 8:35 p.m. The Stingers, who currently trail New England in the WHA East by two points, have won two of the previous three meetings with league champion Houston. The Stingers won both games played in Cincinnati (8-5 October 25 and 7-4 November 15) while the Aeros scored a 6-4 victory in the previous clash in Houston (December 9). New England's scheduled road game tonight against the Ottawa Civics (nee Denver Spurs) has been postponed to a later date. Thus a Stinger victory would find the two clubs tied with 39 points.

Tonight's contest will find the Western Division leading Aeros ailing physically on defense. Marty Howe is definitely out with a pulled groin (suffered in Saturday night's 4-2 win over Ottawa) while veteran John Schella is "doubtful" with a similar ailment. Aeros coach Bill Dinnen used 20 year old left wing Mark Howe on defense during the third period Saturday and had him teamed with veteran Paul Popiel during Monday's practice session.

Gorde Howe, the Aeros' 47 year old superstar (and president), has filled in on defense in the past but he too is below par at the moment, suffering from muscle spasms of the lower back. "There is a possibility I may call up Mike Stevens from Tucson (of the Central Hockey League)," Dineen said following Monday's two hour practice. "However, Tucson has a game Tuesday night (in Fort Worth) and I'd rather not mess their club up. Normally, I'd use Gordie on defense, but with his back bothering him, he's better off just playing every fourth shift (Houston uses four regular lines) rather than going out there every other shift on defense. "We used Mark on defense in preseason and feel he can do an acceptable job back there for us."

Gordie has been moved from his regular right wing slot to center by Dineen on a line with Mark on the left and Rick Preston on the right wing. If Mark is forced to the blue line tonight, utilityman Jan Popiel will fill his slot on Gordie's line. In the shake-up Dineen took 18 year old rookie center John Tonelli from the "Howe Line" and has been playing him on a new "Kid Line" as left wing for center Terry Ruskowski and right wing Don Larway.

"We'll have to play better defense against the Stingers than we have in our past meetings," Dineen added. "We were down, 5-2 in the first game at Cincinnati and came back to tie it before giving them the lead again less than a minute later. The line of Larose, Guite and Locas really has been playing well against us."

Statistics bear out Dineen's latter statement. Guite has had four goals and three assists against Houston, while Larose is 3-2 and Locas 1-2 in the three clashes between the two clubs. "Too much inactivity has hurt us recently, too." Dineen added The Aeros have played just two games in the last nine days."

* * *

Ron Grahame has been in the Aeros nets for all three of the previous meetings while the Stingers have started the now departed Serge Aubry, rookie Norm LaPointe and John Keily against Houston. Murray Hall (2 goals, 3 assists) and Gordon Labossiere (1-4) are Houston's top scorers against the Stingers...Aeros left wing Andre Hinse has set a club record with one or more goals in each of Houston's last seven games....The Stingers conclude this two-game road trip with a game in Phoenix Thursday before returning to Riverfront Coliseum for a Sunday night contest with the Minnesota Fighting Saints.

Tuesday, January 6th

Standings

Lost to Houston Aeros

Houston Summit

2nd

On the same day it was announced that Cincinnati native Ted Turner bought the Atlanta Braves baseball team, the defending Avco Cup Champion Houston Aeros came to Cincinnati with the Stingers needing a win. The Stingers trailed the New England Whalers by 2 points in the standings. The Whalers initially were scheduled to play the Ottawa Civics (formerly the Denver Spurs), but due to the unclear situation which surrounded the franchise, the game was canceled. So a Stingers win could have put the club back in first place, albeit a tie with the New England Whalers. Houston however came into the match up with a solid lead in the WHA Western Division. But the club was banged up on defense with Marty Howe out with a groin injury.

The Stingers got on the board first with a goal by Mike Pelyk on an assist by Dennis Sobchuk. However, the Aeros came back with two straight goals to take the lead. The first goal came from Frank Hughes and the follow up coming from by Murray Hall a minute later. Hughes goal was assisted by Mark Howe who was playing defense for the first time.

Cincinnati tied the game up with a goal by Bryan Campbell at 1:50 in the second period. Mark Howe lost his footing and Rick Dudley snatched the puck from him. Dudley then passed the puck to Campbell who knocked the puck past Aeros goaltender Wayne Rutledge. The Stingers had another chance to score when Aeros lost Glen Irwin to the penalty box for tripping. Hughes, Dudley and Plumb all made nice shots but Rutledge foiled their attempts during the Stingers advantage. Mike Pelyk was called for slashing at 6:04 in the period. Then moments later Pelyk picked up another penalty for fighting Houston's Glen Irwin. The Aeros then went on to score four straight goals.

The first goal came from center Larry Lund. Lund was given credit for his 12th goal of the game when the puck bounced off of a Stingers defenseman and into Cincinnati's net. Mark Howe scored the second goal at 7:49 as the Stingers defense failed to clear a rebound by Don Larway. Lund followed with another goal at 8:38. Stingers head coach Terry Slater then pulled Paul Hoganson and replaced him with John Kiely. It would be Kiely's first action in six games. But at 10:07 in the period, Ted Taylor added another Aeros goal to their total. Terry Slater decided to switch around his lines to add some life to the deflated offense and as a result, the Stingers finally answered. Smedsmo managed to deflect in a shot by Dave Inkpen.

The third period saw little action with both teams goal tenders deflecting all shots. Larry Lund finally stopped the stalemate by scoring at 18:57 in the final period and completing his hat-trick..

Cincinnati	-	1	2	0	-	3
Houston	-	2	4	1	-	7

FIRST PERIOD

GOALS - CIN: Pelyk (G. Sonchuk) 3:12. HOU: Hughes (Mark Howe, Hinse) 5:45. HOU: Hall (G. Howe, J. Popiel) 6:23.

PENALTIES - CIN: G. Sobchuk (?) 4:04. HOU: Irwin (?) 10:13. CIN: Hughes (?) 15:38.

SECOND PERIOD

GOALS - CIN: Campbell (Dudley) 1:50. HOU: Lund (unassisted) 6:22. HOU: Mark Howe (Ruskowski, Larway) 7:49. HOU: Lund (Hinse, F.Hughes) 8:38. HOU: Taylor (Labossiere, Preston) 10:07. CIN: Smedsmo (Inkpen, D. Sobchuk) 19:42

PENALTIES - HOU: Irwin (tripping) 3:52. CIN: Pelyk (slashing, fighting, minor-major) 6:04. HOU: Irwin (fighting) 6:04. HOU: G. Howe (?) 19:45.

THIRD PERIOD

GOALS - HOU: Lund (F.Hughes, Linse) 18:57.

PENALTIES - CIN: Smedsmo (minor-misconduct) 9:47. HOU: G. Howe (?) 15:30.

SHOTS ON GOAL

Cincinnati	-	15	17	13	-	45
Houston	-	12	13	11	-	36

GOALTENDERS - CIN: Hoganson, Kiely. HOU: Rutledge.

ATTENDANCE - 7,895

REFEREE - ?

1975-76 WHA Finals Standings

WHA East
	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
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New England Whalers	18	17	3	39	115	110
Cincinnati Stingers	18	20	1	37	150	172
Indianapolis Racers	15	21	2	32	107	119
Cleveland Crusaders	14	21	2	30	117	132
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WHA Canadian
-
Winnipeg Jets	27	15	0	54	171	119
Quebec Nordiques	24	16	2	50	183	168
Calgary Cowboys	22	15	2	46	159	128
Edmonton Oilers	16	26	2	34	146	184
Toronto Toros	14	22	3	31	165	187
-
WHA West
-
Houston Aeros	23	13	0	46	149	124
San Diego Mariners	17	16	4	38	142	124
Minnesota Fighting Saints	17	14	3	37	110	115
Phoenix Roadrunners	16	17	3	35	124	125
Ottawa Civics >	14	22	1	29	118	150
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> Formerly the Denver Spurs