e

Pets ‘The NHL & tried to pet < ‘one
~ Of thém.to: break ‘its: vow by -
* offering. “up. this week’s in-.
OS ‘térnational - “spectacular. If.
One of them took the bait, if

‘Split second errors can be

me

"chaps. who, wear: ‘COCE: on
their sweaters. ° ra

Kap. ‘This will give you an
idea of the trouble you'll
‘have | with . the . Cyrillic:
alphabet “should you ever
visit. the Union of Soviet
_ ‘Socialist Republics, which is
' what those words stand for
in our alphabet.

But, onward. There can

- mever be another first time.

There can never be the same
anticipation. Everything that
follows must, of necessity,

be’ anti-climactic. This in-

cludes the misnomer, the
Series of the Century.

‘

“Cccp ~by the’ bye, : stands
~ for ‘Coroz Cobemcku. Cha-
_ chuchmuresku -Pecnyhdky-

an:
network. “PVE
e. way a. ‘heroin:

- addict needs his daily fix, It”
isthe: © only: major icague pro. | ‘population: .
rtin t

-‘Télevision” ‘ince ome is the
lifeblood of pro. sports in ‘the.
1970s. Without the revenue
from the sale of TV ‘rights,
none of them could pay the
salaries -and run the. first
class operations they do.

Caught up in the lifestyle,
but without the means to
sustain it, this was the NHL’ s

CBS, ‘earried the league’s
game of the week. Ratings
were subterranean. Both
networks walked away from
hockey and vowed they'd

* never walk back.

Ll dated ig

s the.
: -cOuraging, it might lead to
* Somethin

“ratings {were en-

emgre © permaniont.-

° Tity won't: ‘be. carrying. it.
came NHL has. had. to :settle
hoc

will be: shown . Tight ; across
“Canada,.-° to: _ the
delight.

tle of
tough rubbish i is served. up in

3

cds ‘meant. ‘to- be
skill, grace,
Speed” ‘and the” “accent on
“attack, . oo

‘Your. ‘agent. would feel _
much better about-the NHL's
chances Thursday, Saturday
and Sunday if, when the
players: were named 10 days
ago, they had gone im-
mediately into special
training to get their act
together.

Having to’ take part in
league play tight through the
weekend, they have had only
yesterday and today for full
practices together. And
while Scotty Bowman and

However: all three games"

so.

Sure, Steve Shut and i Guy
‘Lafleur will ‘have “no: great *

“trouble working’ ‘with; say,
-Marcel ‘Diomme—at centre.

But how: ‘this line mesh

-: with an unfamiliar defensive

‘pair, such as-Robert Picard.

and Barry Beck?

“NO SECOND CHANCE.

There’ s where the
problems could arise. And
against the Russians, even

fatal, ‘They are tremendously.

quick.’ And their hockey

philosophy fs much more
. geared than the Canadian
_ model to the instant counter-
attack.

*
o
a:

“This
-weakness,
tremendous.

also is their
for_rit puts
pressure on.

” “their defence. Serge Savard

ofthe Canadiens is right

_ when’ he says the NHL will ~

have to concentrate on

“pressuring the Russians’ in
their own end.

Much ‘more than in
Canadian hockey, the
Russian defencemen are left
on their own. Where

Canadian wingers check .

back into the corners and
,help.out:the defence, Soviet
forwards’ break away for the

_. long pass. a8 soon as one of |
sticks

their, defenders’.
touches the puck.

_ This tendency to leave

early could cost—them, if
Bowman’s guys - can
forecheck effectively. If they
Espositd will be looking at a
lot :of three-on-one
breakaways.

What gives this series
particular interest is the fact

the Soviet team moved to |

Holland several weeks ago to
acclimatize itself to western
living and to practice on
North American-size ice.

This will be the first time
the Russian nationals have

February 2 to 11

Exhibition Park, Vancouver

Everything for

a great Summer on the water.

All the latest in Power Boats, Sail Boats,
runabouts, equipment and accessories.

Weekdays: 6:00 pm to 10:30 pm
Saturdays: 1:00 pm to 10:30 pm
Sundays: 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Adult: $3.00 © Junior (5-15): $1.00

Senior Citizens: $1.00

© See “Boating Through the Ages”

© “Behind the Seas’, a fantastic special
exhibit by the Vancouver Aquarium

© “Ship ’n’ Shore” Boutique and

“Mariners’ Marketplace”

® Special Activity Stage, fashion shows

Produced in aid of Conservation by
Canadian National Sportsmen's Shows

(85 ‘fe :
Or aekcin cin’ “use over. there. a
Very likely’ ‘you will see them *_
-  wse.tactics they don’t usually. vn tt
“employ; Such as:shooting | the

: traffic’.is jammed up ‘at t the

Winnipeg’ s ,Gordon Bell. ae
37

_puck in and. chasing. it: when -
blueline..

Your. agent’ s ‘theory is that -
in a short Series, Preparation -

for girls bas cetball

Windsor placed fifth in an
eight- -team invitational
senior girls’ basketball
tournament held in its own
gym ‘recently by defeating |

* y oa

New Westminster nlcced

first and. Vernon placed

Ai
pret vn
«sal

Everyone’s watching.
They’re all waiting for that
super ‘ack layout’ you've
been bragging about. You
go whipping down the hill,
tuck under and... WHAT?
Sheer humiliation. (Not

to mention a broken leg.)
So much for twodit

SHYLINE

FOR THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY

119 West 16th St.
North Vancouver, B.C,

(Just.ott Lonsdale)

985-9161

iOpen undid pm,
Thurs & Fri

“of your agent's track record »
as ‘a forecaster no doubt will

“given the ss of death to'th

four-team ©.

: second:

SPORTS -

¢%

= “However, a careful: check

Soviet chaps.

_ *

‘second i in the meet,
St. Thomas Aquinas won a.
“tournament - ‘ato

Notre. Dame by defeating. ae

and beating * home: teani. °

60-29.

Burnaby “North, “placed .

bindings, You meant to
go to Skyline Sports, but
kept putting it off, What

a turkey. Next time it’s
Skyline—for the tops in
bindings...and the best
release-check system
around. Leave wipe-outs to
the real turkeys. |