November 4th 1977 - Cincinnati Stingers vs New England Whalers

CINCINNATI ENQUIRER

Friday, November 4th 1977

By Terry Flynn

Demers' Order: Nothing Less Than Stinger Victory

HARTFORD, Conn., Jacques Demers called the tune nearly a week ago after his Cincinnati Stingers lost to the Winnipeg Jets. Looking ahead to tonight's (7:30 p.m.) game against the New England Whalers, the Stingers coach said he just wouldn't take no for an answer. He said he would accept nothing less than victory, two points on the plus side for the sagging Stingers who enter the game with a 1-5 record. Demers hasn't changed his mind. "We have to start right now," he insisted, "to turn things around. We're definitely ready to play, we had good practices all week and everyone's healthy."

The Whalers are the hottest team in the World Hockey Association right now with a 7-1 mark, their only loss coming at the hands of the Stingers in Riverfront Coliseum nearly three weeks ago. While road games are hardly a coach's idea of fun, Demers has a slightly different viewpoint when he visits Hartford. In the last two seasons while coaching the Indianapolis Racers, Demers suffered just on defeat in Civic Center Arena and the Racers win all their games here last year. "I always seem to do well here," he said. "The Whalers had a lot of respect for my teams in Indy and I want it to be the same way with the Stingers."

But Demers is emphatic when he talks of the need to halt the team's losing streak. He has made it plain he will do what ever he feels is necessary, including the shuffling of personnel, (unreadable) the Stingers into winners. "There's no use kidding ourselves when we're 1-5," he said. "We have to trim off the rough edges and get going. November is a big month and we can turn it all around. All Demers asks for is a duplication of the game his players turned in against the Whalers in Cincinnati. He said the Stingers must be aggressive, play the body instead of the puck, and play position hockey.

The Cincinnati coach remarked that his only area of concern going into tonight's contest was the team's long layoff as the Stingers hadn't played a game since last Friday in Winnipeg. "The lack of competition could hurt is in the first period," said Demers. "We might be a little sluggish because we've had a week off, but I think everyone is eager to go out and play hockey." Rookie Mike Liut, who was in net for the Stingers' only victory, will be the goaltender against the Whalers tonight. Michel Dion, acquired recently by Cincinnati, made the trip as backup goalie in place of veteran Ernie Wakely.

"We have to get up early Saturday and fly back to Cincinnati for a game with the Jets Saturday night," explained Demers. "Ernie is going in that game and I felt it would be better to leave him home so he would be fresh."

Friday, November 4th

Standings

Lost to New England Whalers

Civic Center

8th

Well it happened again. Another Stingers loss that kept the club in the bottom of the World Hockey Association standings. You'd think that head coach Jacques Demers would have been upset but he went on record stating "I can't get mad at these guys. They were trying right from the start, but they just couldn't get going." Despite the remarks by Demers, the club did actually score first in the game even though it was clear that the Whalers were outplaying the Cincinnati.

The first goal came at 9:56 in the first period when Rob Ftorek blasted a shot past Whalers goalie Al Smith after taking a pass from teammate Barry Legge. But the Whalers outshot the Stingers 11-6 in the first period and answered with two goals. Whaler George Lyle scored the first goal at 12:04 when teammate Mike Rogers skated in on rookie Stinger goalie Mike Liut. He passed the puck to Lyle and he batted it in the net for the score. Whaler Tom Webster scored the next goal on a deflection at 19:13.

In the second period, the Whalers scored two more goals to pad their lead. The first goal came at 7:59 when Dave Keon poked in a shot from right on top of Liut after his line had pounded away at the rookie goal tender with five consecutive shots. Lyle scored again shortly after and the Stingers looked as if they were spiraling out of control. Even during power play opportunities they failed to clear their own zone and were lucky to get a single shot on the Whalers.

But the third period the Stingers made a game out it. They were a totally different team and the club managed to score two straight goals. Just two minutes into the final period, Dennis Sobchuk took a pass from teammate Blaine Stoughton and blasted a scoring shot from the right circle. Whalers goalie Al Smith had been caught behind the net trying to clear the puck and barely managed to scramble back into the crease. Robbie Ftorek scored the next goal at 5:24 to bring the Stingers within one goal of evening the score. Ftorek took the puck from teammate Gilles Marotte and skated right around Mark Howe to beat Smith from right in front of the net. But the goal would be the final one of the game. The Whalers hung onto the lead and the Stingers dropped another game.

Cincinnati	-	1	0	2	-	3
New England	-	2	2	0	-	4

FIRST PERIOD

GOALS - CIN: Ftorek (Legge, Sobchuk) 9:56. NE: Lyle (Rogers) 12:04. NE: Webster (G. Howe, Lay) 19:13.

PENALTIES - CIN: Marotte (fighting) 7:59. NE: Carlson (elbowing) 17:16. CIN: (bench, too many men on ice.) 19:06.

SECOND PERIOD

GOALS - NE: Keon (Antonovich, Webster) 7:59. NE: Lyle (Rogers, Hangslebenz) 8:51.

PENALTIES - CIN: Beaudoin (holding) :56. CIN: Larose (hooking) 5:54. NE: Howe (interference) 13:25.

THIRD PERIOD

GOALS - CIN: Sobchuk (Stoughton) 2:14. CIN: Ftorek (Moratte) 5:24.

PENALTIES - NE: Roberts (elbowing) 7:06. NE: Butters (roughing) 9:13. CIN: Marsh (roughing) 9:13.

SHOTS ON GOAL

Cincinnati	-	06	?	?	-	24
New England	-	11	?	?	-	56

GOALTENDERS - CIN: Mike Liut. NE: Al Smith.

ATTENDANCE - 9,530

REFEREE - Glasspell