a By GLENN COLE MONTREAL (CP) ~ Steve Shutt says one of the reasons Montreal Canadiens have done so well during the 1976-77 Na- tional ‘Hockey League season and playoffs is that every game they play represents a chal- lenge . 6 That may be difficult to un- ABANDONED HIGHWAY - The piers of PAGE Ab, THE HERALD, Tuesday, May 3, 1977 TO AMAZING CANADIENS a Every game seems a challenge derstand, especially considerin the fact Montreal rolled to a 60- 8-12 record during the regular season and have lost just once in eight ames this year’s playoffs. The Canadiens, who lead their best-of-seven semi-final set during against New York Islanders 3-1, will try to make the conquest of at is: peng tea tie “Bey the old Copper River oe. a Bridge still stand although the deck has the Islanders tonight their next challenge. If they win, th y go on to play Boston Bruins. in he best-of-seven final, “We play a skating game, we play a clean game,” said Shutt. “All the teams like to play against us. Because of the -etyle we play, the teams. that play against us are going to’ play been torn down. The bridge served the northern highway route before Highway 16 was rerouted. vate ‘ el ee ares mel"©CASH AND PEREZ — - =~ TERRACE REDS AT PRACTICE PRO DRAFT NFL likely to choose NEW YORK (AP) Unen- cumbered by legal landmines for the first time since 1974, the National Football League col- lege draft opens today with run- ning back Ricky Bell expected to be the No. 1 selection. Tampa Bay, which suffered through a winless first season in the NFL last fall,’ gets the draft’s opening pick as reward for its 0-14 record. Coach JohnnMecKay, whe was not used to losing during his days at the University of South- ern California, is expected to use that top pick to add Bell to the growing Florida chapter of the USC alumni association. During the winter, McKay signed Anthony Davis, another ex-USC running %2ack who bought his way out of his con- tract with Toronto Argonauts after one disappointing season in the Canadian Football League, Beli is a 220-pound fullback and his heft makes him more attractive to Tampa Bay than Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett, Pitt’s record shattering running back. But Dorsett wil not have to wait long to be dcafted. He will go early, haps No. 2. Seattle owns the second selec- tion and the been considering several op- tions besides Dorsett. Trade of- fers for the pick are pending but if they are rejected, general manager John Thompson and eoach Jack Patera will have to decide on priorities. The draft class offers some impressive linemen such as of- fensive tackles Warren Bryant of Kentucky and Marvin Powell of USC, and defensive ends Gary Jeter of USC and Eddie Edwards of Miami. HAS THREE PICKS Cincinnati has the most favor- able draft situation with three selections in the first. round. The Bengals own the No. 3 pick as its payoff from Buffalo for defensive end Sherman White, the Wo, 8 choice, acquired from Philadelphia for linebacker Bill Bergev. and their own selection, per- - Seahawks have’ wise pros help Expos Bell first No. 22 in the rotation, Cincinnati and both have 18 choices each in the ‘12-round = draft. The fewest choices, as usual, are the four selections going to Washington Redskins. The Redskins are one of five teams who have no choices in the first round. The others, who must pay off old trades with opening-round picks, are Super Bowl champion Oakland, De- troit, Philadelphia and San Francisco. The Jabor agreement between the NFL Players’ Association and management which cleared the way for the draft reduced the number of rounds to 12 from 17. It also gave the draft a legal green light, something the NFL had not enjoyed since the last collective bargaining agree- ment expired three years aga. A total of 335 players will be chosen in the two-day draft with Houston losing a middle-round selection as the price for a sign- ing-rules infraction last year. Pittsburgh, their best. “The reason we did so well is that we took. one game at a time this year. We don’t worry about that we have to play Cleveland tonight and that we are playing Boston in two weeks. We worry about playing Cleveland and then Boston. “We don’t have any rookies coming in. The guys have been through it before and they know what’s expected of them. There are no surprises. They know what they .are getting into.” WANTS IT OVER WITH Shutt, like most members of the Canadiens, knows the islanders' comeback “capabi- lities and wants to get the series over with tonight. “They like to come from be- hind. They are ‘quite capable of it. I really don’t want to give them the chance. We are going to go out there and play scared to lose again.” Team coach Scotty Bowman said Monday defenceman Bill Nyrop would not play tonight and the status of defenceman Pierre Bouchard will not be de- cided until sometime today, _Nyrop side last Thursday in the third Game of the series at Union- dale, N.Y. Bouchard suffered a shoulder separation in the first fame. of Montreal’s quarter-fi- nal set against St. Louis Blues April 11. WORLD CUP pulled a muscle in his . The Canadiens used Brian Engblom to replace Nyrop in the lineup Saturday night with Rick Chartraw filling in as the club's fourth: defenceman. The Islanders may ‘insert Glenn Resch as their startin goaltender tonight in place o Billy Smith. Resch saw his first playoff “action when he- replaced mith in the third period of the game Saturday night. If the Canadiens cannot meet the chalienge of beating the Islanders tonight, a sixth game will be played in Uniondale Thursday. If Montreal wins, the first game of the finals is set for the Forum Thursday night, Canada faces contest By GERRY SUTTON VIENNA (CP) — The world hockey championship gets down to serious business Wednesday with Canada going for a medal against three teams the Na- tional Hocke have yet to defeat. Phil Esposito, captain and as- _ sistant coach of the Canadian team, said Monday after the club practiced fer an hour: “Everybody in Canada should be behind us hecause this is war.” Esposito, after a slow start in the first round of. the eight- country tournament, started to warm up for the top clubs after Canada defeated Romania 7-2 Sunday. “We're just starting fo be-. come a team,” said the 35-year- old veterdn, who had 34 goals and 46 assists in 1976-77 with New York Rangers. “We want to prove some- thing. We have to beat the Swedes, we want to beat the Czechs and we definitely want to heat: the Russians. NEW YORK (AP) — In_ the uneasy transition from a cham- pionship atmosphere to a team with lesa clout, Dave Cash and have made the missing 2 with ease, providing strong performances on the field. As a bonus, both also are providing leadership, inspiration and quiet con- fidance. _ -"T don't think I'll have any roblems—as long as I _ stay ealthy and make sure I- can play every day,’’ says Cash. ‘We have some great fans up in Montreal, We're playing in a fabulous new stadium and awe all feel terrific about it. [t's re- flected in our play.” .- ; Of course, Cash also is happy about something else—his con- tract. Dissatisfied | with money he was offered in Phila- delphia, he turned his back on the Phillies and jumped into the. lucrative free agent pool. He eventually came up with 4 multi-year deal for a) i e Expos. ,there—and I Perez, .the other big-name athlete acquired by the Expos in the off-season to give them a = new dimension and help draw crowds at mammoth Olympi Stadium, has picked up wher he left off at Cincinnati. LEFT REDS The major league’s run-producer among ’ players, Perez had knocked in 1,028 runs for the Reds before the defending World leaving Series champions last Decem- Tae League players | 2 The next the 3 million % Is he serious about beating the Soviets who hammered Can- ada 11-1 in an earlier meeting? “Tf J didn't think we could beat them, I'd be going home right now,” Esposito said. . It’s going to a tough battle for the Canadians, who finished fourth in the first round-robin portion of the tournament with ‘nine points on a 4-2-1 record. LOST TO SWEDEN Canada lost 4-2 to Sweden—an empty-net . goal decided that game—then was whipped by the Soviets before battling defend- ing champion Czechoslovaks to a 3-3 tie. Czechoslovakia trailed 3-2 entering the final period but scored the tying goal on an af- fside play. 2 The teams completed the first round-robin segment Monday, then were split into two divi- sions with the ‘top, four clubs go- ing for medals and the bottom four battling for lower placings. Each team will play a_ single round-robin series in its own di- vision with all the points coun- : ting in the final standings, al- Won VIENNA