| Firing a
few parting shots, the Cincinnati Stingers escaped Winnipeg Friday and headed home for a
7:30 game tonight in Riverfront Coliseum against the Calgary Cowboys. Their visits to the
adopted home of Bobby Hull, Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg have not been joyful, and there
is a sense of relief in knowing they will not be back this season. In two games against the classy, swift-skating Winnipeg Jets, the Stingers
failed to score even one goal. Thursday night they lost 4-0, and even that was an
improvement over an earlier defeat -- 7-0. But worse that losing, worse than even being
shut out, was the humiliation suffered there. Following the first game, comments by Hull,
the Jets' superstar, provoked a public outcry all over Canada against violence in hockey.
Hull called the Stingers a bunch of goons and a sympathetic press
had a field day at the Stingers expense. Soon politicians began clamoring for stricter
control of hockey violence. Through it all the Stingers were the whipping boy. Much ado
was made of two injuries suffered by opposing players in fights with Stingers players this
year. Coach Terry Slater's "animals" the newspapers called them.
Before leaving, Slater told newsmen, "The whole thing is a
farce and these politicians are getting in the act just to make a name for themselves.
We're not animals. We've got a fine hockey club and we play the game the Canadian way -
with body checking. The Jets play the European way - they don't like to hit. But they
carry their sticks a lot higher than we do. If they don't like to play hockey our way,
they should go to Europe to play. Why should we change our game for them?"
The coach also complained that Hull skated over the Stingers bench
during the game and called him an obscene name. "I thought Hull was a class guy, but
not any more." Slater huffed That bit of drama notwithstanding, the Stingers come
home with a 5-3 record and a tie for first place in the East. During two games in the past
road trip a number of encouraging elements emerged.
First, in a 6-4 victory over Minnesota Tuesday, the Stingers' French
Line came into its own, scoring four goals and adding five assists. Jacques Locas: the
center, is delighted about the combination of him and fellow Quebec natives Claude Larose
and Pierre Guite. "We come from the same area and we play the same way." he
explained. "I always know where the other two are going to go before they go. And
we're all fast skaters. We should score a lot more goals."
Another happy surprise for the Stingers was the play of 20 year old
goalie Norm LaPointe who started his first professional game against the Jets. Though
bombarded by 43 shots, the rookie made several spectacular saves and gave up no cheap
goals. Even Winnipeg Jets goaltender Joe Daley, who recorded his fourth shutout of the
season against the Stingers was impressed. "You'd think he'd been playing for 10
years." Daley declared. "He showed me a lot of poise. He's a stand up type. I
don't know how Cincinnati got him. But he's a good one".
The Calgary team employs two former Cincinnati
Swords players - Hugh Harris and Butch Deadmarsh - and the Swords'
former coach, Joe Crozier. The Stingers convincingly thumped the Cowboys in a previous
game but this time Calgary arrives after reassuring victories over Cleveland and
Indianapolis. "I didn't think much of that team the first time we played them,"
Slater admits, "But now they're coming on strong. They've acquired a couple people
and they've been beating everyone in sight." Stingers right wing Rick Dudley, who sat
out the past two games with a knee injury, practiced Friday morning and should be
available to play. |
