Nine teams will play a
total of 26 games next
week when the Terrace

Minor Hockey

Asso-iation plays host to

the annual Peewee Fup
e

taurnament
Terrace arena.

Three teams, including
coach Cliff Sharples’
reps, will be entered from
Terrace. Prince George
land Kitimat are both
fending two teams to the
three-day series while
single entries are ex-
pected from Smithers
and Prince Rupert.

For the first wto days
— Tuesday, December 27
and Wednesday,
December 28 — teams
play. ROUND+ROBIN

at

SSS MOSS

Sports brie

Et

nad
, RANKIN TOPS “IN

GOLF oo
NEW YORK (CP) —
Judy Rankin has won the
Vare Trophy for the
second consecutive year

as the Ladies
Professional Golfers’
Association member with
the lowest  scorin

average in authorize
tournaments. Her

. average was 72.16 strokes
a round for 92 rounds.
Sandra Post, formerly of
Oakville, Ont., was fifth
with 72,55.

SERIES WITH EACH.
TEAM PLAYING FOUR
GAMES. The schedule
has 10 games Tuesday
starting at 7 am. and
eight games Wednesday
starting at 7 a.m.

After the round-robin
section, teams will be
seeded from one to nine.
The ninth-place team will
be eliminated while the
other eight conintue on
Thursday, December 29,
in a single elimination
series to determine the
champion. Games
Thrusday also start at 7
a

JT.

Anumber of prizes will
be awarded to teasm and
individuals. Top - per-
formers in each game for

ncttisigeean irene neeemas eas

.., MASSEY 1
ROOKIE

NEW YORK (CP) —
Debbie Massey, 26, has
been named rookie of the
year on the Ladies
Professional Golfers’
Association tour after
winning one tournament
and finishing with $46,962
in earnings. The annual
award carries a $2,500

rize.
LAUDA TOPS POLL
VIENNA (AP) — Niki
Lauda, world champion

Nu.

Formula 1 auto racing .

Sports writers

both teams will be
receiving either a minor
hockey cap or a hockey
stick, The top three.
teams will be awarded
gold, silver and bronze
medals, Trophies will
also be presented at the
windup ceremony to the
best goalie, defenceman,
forward, goal scorers,

etc.

Fans pay only $1.00 for
a day pass to see all
games, and there will be
a major door prize
awarded to some lucky
fan after the cham-
bionship game Thursday

night. ;

boys taking part in
this tournament are 11
years or younger.

Or RN

fs

pore ett eB
champion; and .ski. ace
Annemarie Moser-Proell
were selected Austrian
athletes of 1877 on
Monday in a poll of Aus-
trian sports writers.

The Canadan movement for partons) hiness

Fitness.In your heart you know it's right,

Incident under

And

investigation

MONTREAL (CP) —
An incident involving Ed
Snider, chairman of the
board of Philadelphia
Flyers, after the Flyers’
2-0 National Hockey
League loss to Montreal
Selphia on Sunday ‘night

a on Sunday
is being investigated by
the NHL, it was leamed

Monday.

Snider, upset with a
penalty call by referee
b Myers late in the
third period, opened the
door to the officials’ room
at the Spectrum after the
game and berated Myers.
Snider then pushed Dan
McLeod, one of the NHL’s
officiating supervisors, in
front of Red Fisher,
sports editor of The Star.
Brian O'Neill, the

NHL's executive vice-
president, said Monday

¢ had not heard of the
incident with McLeod
although he had a report
from Myers on the other
matter.

Scotty Morrison, the
NHL’s __referee-in-chief,
said in an interview from
Toronto that he had
Spoken to

“he never raised that
th oe

wi me,

“If Dan had considered
it serious, he would have
ap raised me of it.”

orrison said he had
received a report from
Myers, adding he will be
again and proba i
mention the shoving
incident.

Sports

Canadian running back
wins top honors

TORONTO (CP)
Sylvester (Molly) McGee
has created a bit of
Canadian Poona

gue story,
becoming the st run-
ning back to win top
honors in pass receiving.

McGee caught 68
passes for 548 yards and
two touchdowns in the
1977 season, narrowly

out Gordon
Paterson ‘of Winnipeg
Blue Bombers who

caught 67 for 882 yards.

Tommy Scott, another
Winnipeg receiver, was
close with 66 receptions

for 1,079 yards.
The leader in total
yardage on pass

receptions was all-star
tight end Tony Gabriel of
Ottawa Rough Riders

Conference to become the
first player to win four
consecutive conference

assreceiving titles.
‘ormer Montreal

Alouettes -star R
O'Quinn won four

Eastern Conference
titles, but ‘not in suc-
cession. Bobby Taylor
Tommy-Joe Coffey an
Terry Evanshen also won

choose the best

CP Sports Editor
Guy. Lafleur, the
National Hockey League
scoring champion who
led Montreal Canadiens
to their second con-

’ secutive Stanley Cup
victory, is Canada’s male
athlete of ‘the year for
1977.

The 26-year-old right-

winger trom Thurso,.
ue., was the runaway
dice of sports writers
and sportscasters in the
annual year-end poll by

The Canadian Press.
‘Second was ‘Dave
Cutler, the Edmonton
Eskimos place kicker
who set a Canadian
Football League record
by kicking 50 field goals
in a season. And third
was Tony Gabriel, Ot-
tawa Rough Riders tight
end who led the CFL in
pass-receiving.

' Lafleur, who was
second to high jumper

Pei Joy in Jost year's

, won almost every

award for which he was
elixth season in the NHL.
He led the league in
scoring with 56 goals and
amis for et polnts, a
record for ar. er,
and won the Art ie
qrophy. He became the
first player since Bobby
Orr to win both the Hart

Trophy as most valuable

Bilayer in the regular
season and the Conn

Smythe Trophy as MVP

in. the playoffs in the 66

same season. Orr did it
twice with Boston Bruins,

in 1970 and 1972.
SET NHL RECORD

He was a first-team all-
star for the third straight
year and received the

ter 6B. Pearson
‘Award, the NHL Players’
Association version of the
MVP honor.

He set a league record
by scoring at least one
point in 28 consecutive
games, from Feb. 1 to

pril 3, and led all playoff
scorers with nine goals
and 17 assists, his 26
points falling just one
short of the record of 27

set by Phil Esposito with

the Bruins in 1970,

The only major award
that escaped Lafleur was
the Lady Byng Trophy,
given for gentleman
and effective play, whic
went to Marcel Dionne of
Leos = Angeles 8,
runner-up in the scoring
race. Dionne, whose 122
Ponts trailed Lafleur by
14, took 12 minutes in

enalties while the

madiens star had 20.

More than 100 ballots
were cast in the annual

ll, started in 1932, and

fleur was picked first
by 69 voters, second by 19
and third by nine. Based
on a $-2+1 evaluation, that
gave him 254 points.

Cutler received 14
firsts, 23 seconds and 19°
thirds for 107 points and
Gabriel six first, 18
seconds and 12 thirds for

Fourth with 63 points
was Gilles Villeneuve of

- Beliveau,

Berthierville, Que., the
Canadian auto racing
champion who was hire
to drive by Ferrari, and
fifth with 45 was Jerome
Drayton of Toronto,
winner of the Boston
Marathon.
LATE BLOOMER
Others who received
firstplace votes were
swimmer Steve Pickell of
West Vancouver, B.C.,

‘who had the world’s hi

fastest time for the 100-
metre backstroke in 1877;
world —_ indoor speed
skating champion Gaetan
Boucher of Ste. Foy,
Que.; Graham Smith of
Edmonton, who set a
world swimming record
of 2:05.31 in the 200-metre
individual medley; Mar-
cel Dionne; Gordie Howe,
and two members of the.
Grey Cup champion
Montreal Alouettes, place
kicker Don Sweet and de-
fensive lineman Glen

eir.

Lafleur graduated
from junior hockey with
Quebec Remparts In 1971
as the Canadiens’ first
draft choice and was.
heralded as the successor
to Jean Beliveau as team
tet alth ugh he played

ju 0 e pla
.respectably in his feat
‘three seasons, he didn't
realize his potential until
1974-75 when he ac-
complished the first of
three consecutive 50-goal_

seasons,
Early that year,
a Canadiens

vice-president, publicly
criticized Lafleur's at-
titude and suggested he
was not wor hard
enough. Others had been
saying much the same
th ut the remarks of
Lafleur’s idol seemed to
spark'a change.
Determined to answer
his critics with actions,

he reported to training.

camp fully fit, discard
8 met as a psy-
chological boost and
began playing with the
confidence that has
brought him to super-
stardom.

His play prompted
coach Scotty Bowman to
say; “Now he’s doing
what we always wanted—
delaying, holding the
puck, controlling the
tempo, letting the puck do
the work.”

The Canadiens didn’t
make it to the Stanley
Cup finals that season but
a year later, with Lafleur
winning the scoring title,
they went all the way,
beating the defending
champion Philadelphia
Flyers four straight.

® 1976-77 season left
no doubt that he was
finally the complete
hockey player and un:
challenged team leader
as he and linemates
Jacques Lemaire and

‘Steve Shutt scored 150

foals and sparked the
anadiens to another
four-game sweep of the
finals, this time against
Boston Bruins.

_ who gained 1,362 yards on

,, -eatches..... s+. Eyanshen of, ,
Gabriel led'the Eastern

moved into second place

s

four titles, but not in
succession and not in the
same conference.
EXTENDS STREAK

Gabriel also set a
league record by cat-
ching at least one pass in
each of his last 75 games.
The last time he missed
was in the third game of
the 1973 season when he
was still with Hamilton
Tiger-Cats.

abriel 8 average gain

perreception 1 yarc
was the best for a con-
ference leader since
Dave Mann topped the.
East with a 22.6 mark in

The longest single gain
on a pass reception this
year was 105 yards by

ontreal’s Brock Ayn-
sley.

Veteran Terry
amilton

among . career
leaders. Evanshen -

caught 19 passes in the
season for a career total

‘of 589 catches and 9,561.

yards, Retired Tomm.y-
Joe Coffey remains the
leader with 650 catches

‘for 10,320 yards.

Evanshen is the all-
time leader in touchdown
receptions with 79,

pool in Edmonton, The.

political rugby

CAPE TOWN (Reuter)
— A member of the South
African Rugby Board's
executive said today its
request for

mement

ipringbok tour of Britain
was “actuated mainly by

a desire to ease things for
our British rugby
friends.”

Hannes Pretooius said
the request, agreed to at
a meeting in London
Sunday, ‘was in all cir-
cumstances the only
decision possible.”

He said original
demands by British
opponents of apartheid
had been complied with

"THE HERALD, Tustday. December 20, 1977, PAGE $

now,

when national
Springbok team was
selected on merit by a
multiracial committee
after mixed trials. But
this had not been enough.
"New demands have
been made, including
fully-integrated rugby at
club level, and while this
may one day come about
it is clear that the motive
is purely political.’
ringbok captain
Morne du Plessis’ said
ppointed a post-
ponement of the tour, he
d been resigned to the
decision because of the
anti-South African
climate overseas.

Smith
signs up
with
Rangers

Nu#W YORK (AP) —
New York Rangers an-

nounced the signing of
veteran. Nati Hockey
League defenceman

Dallas Smith today.
Smith, 36, became a
free agent this year after
laying 12 seasons with
ton Bruins,
He will report io the

Rangers immediately
and is ted to be in
uniform for Wednesday

night's game against
Washington Capitals.

Canada trains hard for
major water polo meets

By BILL LEVITT

OTTAWA = (CP)
Canada’s water polo
team is preparing for two
major competitions in
1978 that promise to be as
challenging as the 1976
Olympics. -

The team will par-
ticipate in the first annual
Can-Mex-Am tournament
in March and the world
Championship in West

any August,
Doug Darling, executive-
director of Canadian
Water Polo Association
(CWPA) announced Mon-
day.

Darling said in an in-
terview that the
Mex-Am_ tournament,
conceived by the CWPA,.
will involve Hungary,
Yugoslavia, West Ger-
many, Cuba, Canada
Mexico and the United
States.

The tournament begins
in Los Angeles, moves to
Mexico City and ends at
the new Commonwealth

robin competition at each
location.

Hungary won the gold
medal at the 1976
Olympics and recently
won the European
championship in Sweden.
Yugoslavia . finished

‘second in Sweden and

fifth in Montreal while

Terrace daily herald

will keep the spider away from your door

Can: °

Weekend events in-” Hament'in March

volve ‘@ ‘Single’ round:

West Germany finished

sixth in both com-
petitions.

Sa td
surp. in "
after finishing out of the
top 12 in 1972 in Munich.

exico was 10th and the
Cubans finished seven-
th.The U.S. failed to

qualify.

DOUBLE PURPOSE

Darling sald the Can-
Mex-Am tournament will
give more exposure to
top-flight international
competition and in-
ternational success will
reflect on the domestic
program by attrac
more athletes.

_Rezso Gallov, CWPA
technica]-director, sald
one of the weakest points
in Canada's program is
the lack of international
competition.

“Canada is isolated
from the European
community where the
better teams in the sport
arelocated,”’ Gallov said.

Galiov said Canada will
train in Mexico Jan, 2-9 to
prepare for the tour-

~ “We will a
we can experience in
Mexico and adjust the
team, technique and the
players point of view," he
said.

Canada has qualified
for the world cham-
pionship in West Ger-
many by finishing in the
top 10 in 1976.
STRATEGY PAYS OFF

Gallov said the team,

During Mark Twain's days a+ @ newspoperman, he wos editor of
a small Missouri paper. One day he received a letter from a subscriber,
stating thet he had found a spider in his poner, ond esked

ere? &
e what.

made up entirely of
students, has benefitted
from the new centralized
training program which
has seen the entire group
attend university in
Ottawa.

Conditioning had im-
proved, and technically,

0 had their ball-handling
and shooting.
“But the real

measuring stick will be
the competition next
month in Mexico,” he

said.

Gallov said there have
been some problems with
the entire team training
together all year, but no
one had quit.

“When you have dif-
ferent personalities
different interpretations
on amateur sports and
different views about
practice, there are bound

ie? problems,’’Gallov
sai

Gallov said there is no
pressure for a_ total
commitment to water
polo, and the first priority
is university studies.
MUST TAKE IT -:-

’. But’ Gallov--said- the

athletes are told that
although practice is
unpleasant, rigid and dis-
ciplined they must learn
to take it if they want to
become international
athletes,

“Improvement is the
best way to show the
players,” he said; and the
competition in Mexico
should provide that.

#f this wat an omen of good or bad luck,

a]

"Twain replied: “Finding a spider in your paper is neither

good nor bod fuck. The spider was merely looking over our paper
- to see which merchant woe not advertising so that he could

"go to.thet store, spin his web ecrosa the door, and lend

_ alife of undisturbed poace ever afterward,”

ON mg ty