Chicago bombs Montreal

The Chicago Black Hawks snapped a three-game losing skid last night in convincing fashion with a 7-0 drubbing of the Montreal Canadiens at Chicago Stadium.  The win gives the Hawks sole possession of first place in the NHL standings.

Eric Nesterenko was the unlikely scoring star for Chicago with a pair of short-handed goals.  Those two give the Black Hawks 14 goals while playing a man short this season, a new NHL record.

Other Chicago scorers were Chico Maki, Pierre Pilote, Al MacNeil, Ken Wharram and Doug Mohns.  Glenn Hall registered his third shutout of the season, making 34 saves in the process.

Hull shot hits Worsley in the head

A scary scene unfolded with about 28 seconds left in the game when Bobby Hull unloaded one of his patented slap shots at the Montreal goal from about 25 feet.  . Canadiens’ netminder Gump Worsley never saw the shot, which struck him squarely on the side of the head.

Gump Worsley was smiling as he left Chicago Stadium, despite being felled by a Bobby Hull slap shot.

Worsley went down to the ice as if he had been shot and did not move.  The normally raucous Chicago crowd went quiet as the roly-poly goaltender lay on the ice, unconscious for an estimated five minutes.  Players from both teams gathered around the goalie, with Hull kneeling beside him.

Chicago team doctor Myron Tremaine was summoned to the scene.  He tended to the Gumper in eerie silence and it was clear that many in the stands and on the ice feared the worst.

Amazingly, after the application of smelling salts and who knows what other magic elixir, Worsley got to his feet, a little wobbly at first, to a standing ovation.  He then proceeded to play those final 28 seconds.

After the game, Worsley was taken to a local hospital where he remained for the night for observation and x-rays.  He was seen leaving the stadium smiling and waving to fans, despite a badly swollen right side of his face.

Hull was shaken by the incident.  “It really scares you.  I never want to see it happen again.”

 Charging Wings come from behind

The Detroit Red Wings came back from a 3-0 deficit to defeat the New York Rangers last night in New York.

Doug Robinson and  Vic Hadfield  had given the Rangers that 3-0 lead in the first period.  Jean Ratelle upped it to three early in the second.  Norm Ullman, with his sixth goal in the last four games, got the Red Wings on the Board just past the nine-minute mark of the the middle stanza.

John Brenneman gave the New Yorkers another 3 goal lead at the 15 minute mark, and that is where the Detroit comeback began in earnest.  Bruce MacGregor and Floyd Smith scored just over a minute apart in the final two minutes to make the score 4-3 at the end of the second.

Early in the final frame, Robinson’s second of the night had the Rangers up 5-3.  A minute and a half after that marker, Pit Martin was set up by Ted Lindsay in a classic case of the veteran helping out the youngster Martin.

Pit Martin – scored a nice goal on a Ted Lindsay setup.

Then, in dramatic fashion, Parker MacDonald and Alex Delvecchio scored only 17 seconds apart with about seven minutes to play.  That quick blitz by the Red Wings left the Rangers too stunned to mount any kind of response and the Wings went home with a very important two points.

Sawchuk stars for Leafs

Goaltender Terry Sawchuk made 43 saves to enable the Toronto Maple Leafs to salvage a point with a 3-3 against the Boston Bruins in Boston last night.  He was particularly sharp in the first period when the Bruins stormed the Toronto goal, making 17 saves.

Terry Sawchuk made 43 saves for Leafs.

Toronto came from behind three times in this game.  Carl Brewer, Frank Mahovlich and Dave Keon were the Toronto marksmen. Ab McDonald, Reg Fleming and Murray Oliver had the Boston goals.

For the second straight game, Toronto relied heavily on perfect penalty killing.  Leafs were assessed five minors by referee Bill Friday, while the Bruins served only one.  In fact, Brewer’s goal came on the penalty kill.

Broderick unbeatable for Canada

Canadian National Hockey Team goaltender Ken Broderick is proving to be unbeatable so far at the World Championships.  With Canada’s 6-0 win over Norway today, he has yet to give up a goal in the tournament being played at Tampere, Finland.

Ken Broderick’ recorded his second consecutive shutout.

Broderick had a very easy time, as he was forced to stop only 16 Norwegian shots.  Canada pumped 44 drives at a beleaguered Kare Ostensen in goal for Norway.

Bob Forhan scored twice for Canada.  Single goals came off the sticks of Terry O’Malley, Reg Abbott, Gary Aldcorn and Barry McKenzie.

Despite a second consecutive lopsided win, most observers feel that Canada is not at the top of its game and great improvement will have to be shown if they are to be competitive against Russia and the Czechs.

Coach Gord Simpson said that he did expect more from his squad.  “Yes we did expect to score more goals.  But on the other hand we have two shutouts now to boast about and that’s not bad.  Some of the boys, however, were a little dissatisfied about the low score and some of them seem to think we just weren’t checking up front.  But I’ve told them they’ll sharpen up once they start meeting the big guns.”

Simpson went on to explain how he sees the team coming together: “A lot of people expect great things at all times from Canadian sextets.  But don’t forget this is only our second competitive game together in big-time play.

“Anyway, we’re in there banging the puck at the net.  We had 50 on the Norwegian cage today.  Whether they go in or not at this stage of the tournament is another matter.”

Another wild brawl in Buffalo

For the third time this season, fans in Buffalo became involved in fisticuffs with a visiting team, this time the Pittsburgh Hornets.  This one was touched off by an on-ice brawl involving Pittsburgh’s Ted Hampson and Lou Marcon, and the Bisons’ Pat Hannigan and Ed Van Impe.

Ed Van Impe

As Van Impe was leaving the ice, a shouting match erupted between him and the Hornets’ bench.  Fans became involved in the shouting, prompting several Hornets players to enter the stands.  The fighting spilled out in to a corridor that runs behind the seating area and went on for several minutes before referee Frank Udvari could restore order.

Udvari had a busy night, whistling 104 minutes in penalties.

The game finished in a 1-1 tie.  Billy Dea scored for Buffalo with Fred Hilts hitting for Pittsburgh.