: cancel out never and replace .

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free? a

“AL. In the last 10 minutes
of a National Hockey League ~

game, with the teams either

tied or~- separated by not-

more than one goal
Anything goes.. The only

thing that never goes is the

sound of the referee’s
whistle.
On second thought,

it with seldom. Tiger
‘Williams had the whistle

blown on him for high:

sticking during sudden death .

overtime last Sunday. While
he was off Larry Robinson |

scored the goal that made it
5-4 and gave Canadiens their
quarter-final win over
Toronto in-straight games.

In such a circumstance,
the penalty to Williams wasa
rarity;

seemed to pain TV analyst
Howie Meeker, who appears
to-go along with the game's
_ Strange hierarchical thinking
that in the game-deciding

crunch fouls should be

ignored,
STRANGE IDEA

The attitude is peculiar to
hockey.

In football, the game
officials don’t overlook
holding or clipping or pass
interference in the
three or four minutes of a
close game because they
don’t want to call anything
that might result in a game-
winning touchdown.

With the ball game tied at
2-2 after seven innings, t the

are now a reality

4. BES
4. BES s

the exception that —
proves the-rufe: It certainly.

final:

with our exclusive

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Provides the very best
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SEAMLESS GUTTERS

Q. Under what ‘circumstances : is it possible. to
commit an axe murder, 2 ‘shooting, a garroting .
anda ‘Knifing | _~ simultaneously. ~ and dget off, scot-

umpires don’ t call “every
close play at first, second. or 7

third against’ the runner

because they ‘don’t want. to.

make a decision’ that might
resultin arun being 3 scored.

In- soccer: there is no
evidence that in a close-or
‘tied-up game the: referee is
. any -less willing to whistle

down a foul in-the penalty.

area in the-final minute of

play than in the first minute...

A foul is a foulisa foul, soto
speak.

But not in hockey,
especially as,it is officiated.
in the NHL. The script is the.

most predictable this side of.

boy meets girl-boy loses girl-
boy gets girl.

In the first period there is.
an almighty crackdown. The ~

referee is out to prove he
means business. Even a case
of raised eyebrows -is. a

.candidate -for.a two-minute

penalty.
PERMISSIVE SOCIETY.

But as the game wears on,
he becomes more _per-
missive. And by late in the
third period, if it’s a close
game, he has made up his
mind. He is not going to
influence the outcome by
any act of commission. He is
going to be a spectator, just
as surely as the guy in the
19th row who paid $12 to get
into the building.

No one is»more aware of
this than the players. They'll
do. things to prevent their
opponents from getting shots

|

©

un a vi i

Serving the North Shore with a Quality Rain Water System since 1971.
Estimates, of course, are free

980-5775)

Pacific Seamless Gutters Lid. - 238 E. Esplanade, N.V.

4 ‘on 1 goal “they wouldn't t think

of. doing in. the _ first. 50

minutes of play. wd “

~ They ‘wouldn't think of. it

. because_they know it would

earn them an automatic trip
to the penalty box. But they

know ‘that . in the last=-féw

minutes, anything goes; that —

- in the rare event.a penalty is
- Called, it is usually a double

penalty.. Both teams suffer.

No; team is given | an ad--

vantage.

The reasoning behind this
lack of action is specious, if

only. because an act of

ommission on the part of an,
Official can have as. much:

- bearing on” the ‘game out- |

come as ‘an act of com-
mission. ...

Behind it lies instruction

. from above: call only ‘good’

penalties. It is then left up to
the official's descretion as to
what is good and what is
bad. Too often he ffads that
the easiest way out of a
dilemma ‘is. to make no
decision at all.

BETRAYED
. Thus, ;

when his penalty led to
Montreal's winning goal. No
doubt. he felt: he’d been
betrayed, that’s why he
wanted to pick a fight with
referee Bob Myers for
breaching the unwritten
rule: a penalty only if the
offending player is caught
with a smoking Smith and
Wesson clutched firmly in

‘his shooting hand.

As it happened, it was
*good’ penalty and the ends
of justice were served with
the goal that resulted. The

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a, aie

‘advised

_ anything goes. |
Thus, also, Williams’. anger

’ \thé series, even though their
" tactic. of- laying -back and
. protecting -.a -lead almost
. backfired - on them two
nights running.

That's a new way of doing

“business for the. defending

Stanley Cup... champions.

- Their whole system is geared

to attack, always attack. In
that-respect they are much

' like the Russians: the best

way they can protect.a big
lead is to-keep going forward

; and making it bigger.

“ATTACK

When “they -and = the

Islanders. meet. in the final,
‘_ as inevitably ‘they will, the

Canadiens would.be well
to “foresake all
thoughts of protecting, a lead
by retreating into the for-
tress.

Given an: opportunity to
lay constant siege in the
other.team’s end of the ice,
Trottier, Bossy, Gillies,
Potvin and company will
inflict much more damage
than the temporarily in-
spired Leafs did late in
Saturday’s and Sunday’s
games.

The Leafs’ problem, when
it came down to cases, is
exactly the same as the

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is Some
just cant rea

Canuck’s,

couver: a high work rate is _
no’ substitute for . creative _
Given .an vequal.
willingness © to work hard,

skills.

skill players will) beat

dedicated ‘Plupgers: wevery.

time.

- Roger Nielson’s hockey

philosophy revolves around ~

defensive play- With Roger,,
a scoreless tie is a thing of

beauty.. Just tailored for the ©

dedicated plugger.

His team, this season and

last, was a perfect reflection
of his outlook. Dull and,

with a few notable ex- ~

ceptions like Sittler,
Salming, McDonald . and
Turnbull, faceless. “One

player looked and played
much the same as the other.
The only way to tell a Jimmy
Jones from a Jerry Butler or
a Ron Ellis or

their numbers.
-FAREWELL ROGER

The word in Toronto is
that the Leafs had to make a
bold and long playoff run for
Nielson to be kept on after
his contract éxpires in June.
Four games is not a long run.
Considering that he’s already

been ‘fired once this season...

and owner Harold Ballard

—

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Ding 9

‘here. in’ | Van-. -. D

that Rog onBonee: a

a -Dan.
Maloney was to memorize . ,

“you may take it for gtanter

has been some talk. it will be
a’ former. -Leaf-. :

if you - thought th
Nielson Leafs were hing the

you