Standings

Riverfront Coliseum

1st

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The Stingers who were 6-0 while playing at home would take on the Minnesota Fighting Saints after a solid outing against the Avco Cup Champion Houston Aeros. The match between the two clubs turned out to be a slugfest. The scrapping between both clubs resulted in three players being ejected from the game. The perpetrators were Minnesota's Bill Butters and Curt Brackenbury and Stingers Dave Inkpen. Butters was ejected after tripping Dennis Sobchuk at 8:54. While Brackenbury and Inkpen were sent to the locker room for a series of fights that interrupted play for more then 10 minutes. The fights were instigated by a former Cincinnati Swords center Buzz Busniuk. He was skating beside Stingers Claude Larose and kept backhanding him in the face. He kept doing it until a fight broke out. More scuffles between the two team would follow. Needless to say, the penalty boxes for both teams were filled throughout the game.

Between the fighting and ejections, the two teams did manage to score a few goals. Both Stingers goals came from Dennis Sobchuk. One in the first period at 14:11 and the second goal coming in the second period at 11:11 with help from Rick Dudley and Bryan Campbell. Stingers head coach Terry Slater had to pull goalie Serge Aubry in the first period due to a pulled hamstring muscle in his thigh, replacing him with rookie goal tender Normand LaPointe. Despite the rookie goalies best efforts, the Saints eventually prevailed. Minnesota bagged one goal in the first period and followed with two more in the second period. The ruckus that was instigated by Saints served to their advantage. The Fighting Saints came out of the havoc in the second period with a one-man advantage. Minnesota's center Henry Boucha wound up scoring the winning goal on the power play. The Stingers put up a great fight to protect their undefeated record at home but the breaks just didn't go their way. Many shots were deflected by hitting posts, crossbars and such. It turned out to simply be one of those games????

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FIRST PERIOD

PENALTIES - CIN: Locas (high sticking) 1:20. MIN: Busniuk (high sticking) 1:20. MIN: Butters (hooking) 3:30. MIN: Butters (tripping 10 minute miscondcut, game misconduct) 8:54. CIN: Larose (tripping) 10:50. CIN: Hughes (cross checking) 12:57. MIN: Brackenbury (high sticking, fighting) 14:35. CIN: Aubry (high sticking) 14:35. CIN: Inkpen (fighting) 14:35.

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SECOND PERIOD

PENALTIES - CIN: Dudley (high sticking) 5:53. MIN: Busniuk (high sticking) 5:53. MIN: Busniuk (fighting) 13:06. MIN: Brackenbury (fighting, second fight game misconduct) 13:06. CIN: Larose (fighting) 13:06. CIN: Guite (fighting) 13:06. CIN: Inkpen (fighting, game misconduct) 13:06. CIN: Locas (third man in) 13:06. MIN: ? Carlson (fighting, roughing) 17:01. CIN: Abbey (fighting) 17:01. CIN: Andrascik (third man in) 17:01.

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THIRD PERIOD

GOALS - None.

PENALTIES - MIN: Walton (slashing) 7:36. CIN: MacNeil (cross checking) 7:36.

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SHOTS ON GOAL

GOALTENDERS - CIN: Aubry, LaPointe. MIN: Garrett.

ATTENDANCE - 5,141

REFEREE - Kolari

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1975-76 WHA Standings

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