Changes, changes, changes. Prior to the game the Stingers moved Dave
Inkpen, Jacques Locas and Paul Hoganson. Locas was traded to the Calgary Cowboys for
"future consideration". However, the Cowboys were on the verge of financial
collapse and may not be able to collect their "future consideration". But
the club did unload his $ 100,000 contract. Dave Inkpen was shipped to the Racers for a
third round draft pick and Paul Hoganson was sent to the Binghamton Dusters of the North
American Hockey League.
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© Courtesy of Cincinnati
Public Library. |
The Stingers Richie Leduc scores at 13:25 in
the first period. Bulls Wayne Wood can't make the stop. |
New to the Stingers were
goaltender Jacques Caron and former Stinger Dale Smedsmo. Smedsmo was shipped to the
Whalers a couple months prior but was reacquired. The team needed his aggressive play to
charge up the Stingers. Something they had needed in the past few games. Cincinnati picked
up goaltender Jacques Caron from the Syracuse Blazers of the NAHL. Caron's major league
experience stems from his play with the NHL's Los Angeles Kings, St Louis Blues and
Vancouver Canucks. Caron played with the Cleveland Crusaders in only two games. One of the
two games was against the Stingers on January 28th 1976. Cincinnati lost by a score of
6-4.
The Stingers drew first blood during
the first period with a goal by Richie Leduc. Leduc scored after tapping in his own
rebound at the corner of the net. However, the Bulls John Stewart answered with a goal at
14:27. Stewart took a pass from teammate Mark Napier after the Stingers defense made more
costly mistakes.
Neither teams did anything special in
the middle period except skate poorly. It wasn't until the third period when someone
finally got on the board. The score came from Lou Nistico after he took a pass from
teammate Jeff Jacques. Nistico was standing right in front of the Stingers net with only
Norm LaPointe to deal with. Nistico then slipped the puck past LaPointe for the score.
Cincinnati tied the game back up after Pierre Roy gave a hard shot from the top of the
right circle. But the Bulls would prevail and score the game winner when Mark Napier
stripped the puck from rookie defenseman Barry Melrose in the Cincinnati end. He used Rick
Dudley for a screen as he skated down the rink and tapped it past LaPointe for the score.
The Stingers team captain said after
the loss "We've regressed since the start of the season. We're out of shape and
there's no reason for a team with an average age of 23 to be out of shape." The loss
would keep the Stingers in third place within the division and four points behind the
second place Racers.. |
