Se eC Page 8, The Herald, Monday, December 24, 1979 \ ‘ PROACH -ISER AMES ) SPORTS with Don Schaffer | 1979 IN REVIEW Soviets, Expos steal show By MIKE RUTSEY The Canadian Presa Two happenings, one featuring Canadians and Russians in the United States and the other Americans in Canada, dominated the 1978 sporting scene. It was February in New York when the Soviet Union won 6-0 in the deciding game of the best-of-three Challenge Cup series against the greatest collection of hockey players Canada could muster from the ranks of the National Hockey League. It was September in Montreal when Pittsburgh Pirates swept a two-game series over the Expos that broke a first-place tie in the Eastern Division — of baseball's National League. A week later they took three of four from the Expos in Pittsburgh to wrap up the pennant. There were numerous other thrills in 1979 Including the over-all performances of Canada’s male and female athletes of the year, Gilles Villeneuve and Sandra Peat. But nothing stirred the emotions of the fans as much as the Challenge Cup and the Expos’ pennant drive, GRIP WEAKENING Canada’s status as No, 1 hockey nation in the world had been suspect ever since Team Canada barely won an eightgame series against the Soviet Union in 1972. . Team NHL's defeat in New York wasn't the big surprise. It was the ease with which it was done. The Soviet players skated rings around the best professionals in the world and snapped pucks past -goaltender Gerry: Cheevers seemingly at will, The Expos’ adventures occupied baseball fans for the last two months of the season. The door was finally closed on the final day in Montreal, Oct, 1, when they were blanked 2-0 by Philadelphia Phillies while Pittsburgh was defeating Chicago Cubs 5-3. “We fooled everybody," said Expos third baseman Larry Parrish. “We had a hell of a year. Nobody Primary Grades university extension + Date: Thursdays, January 17 through March 19, 1980. Time: 3:20 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Place: North West Reglonal College CONTACT: ARLENE ZUCKERNICK thought we'd be able to do it but we went right down to the last day of the season." It was a giddy year for the 2,102,:74 Expo fans who poured through the turnstiles to cheer on a team that had never finished above the .500 mark in 10 previous National League seasons. In hockey, the Challenge Cup wasn’t the sole point of interest. There was the merger of the World Hockey Association into the NHL or, as the NHL brass caited it, expansion, Peace finally came to professiona! hockey on Merch 30 when the NHL accepted four ex-WHA clubs — New England Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers — into its fold. The surprise through the opening third of the NHL season was the play of the new clubs, All four were expected to be tailenders but with the exception of Ed- monton, they were playing just under the .500 level, The death of the WHA also supplied 1979 with a future trivia question: Which team won the final battle for the Aveo Cup, symbol of supremacy in the WHA? The answer is Winnipeg, which beat Edmonton in six games, There waa little surprise in the NHL when Montreal Canadiens won their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup, rolling over New York Rangers in five games in the final. But it wasn't Montreal’s customary cakewalk. The Canadiens came within ah eyelash of being bounced in the semi-finals by Boston Bruins, With the series tied 3-3 and Bosten holding a one-goal lead with time running aut, the Bruins were penalized for having too many men on the ice. Montreal scored on the power play and won the series in overtime, Outside of North America, Canadian teams had their problems. In the world junior hockey championships in Sweden, Canada was knocked out of medal play and finished an This course will teach participants about the new B.C. curriculum guidelines in the teaching of reading In the primary grades. Each broadcast will allow one-way video and two-way audio communication between me students and instructors. Some time after the TV seminars will be devoted to discussion and post-sessignal activities determined by instructors and directed by an on-sile fleld assoclate in Terrace. Registrations will be received by January 11, 1980. This course Is a unique apporiunity and Education Extension at the University of Victoria will be glad to supply ad. dillonal information on request. victoria, b.c. (604) 477-6911, local 4802 university of victoria » (604) 477-6911 ATTENTION TEACHERS, PRINCIPALS, LIBRARIANS: University Extension Is pleased to announce Hs second Education course Presented via the ANiK-B Satellite in co-operation with the British Columbia Institute of Technolegy: ED-.B 480 (1 units} Contemporary Issues in Education - Teaching Reading In the university extension embarrassing fifth. At the world cham- Pionships in Moscow, Canada fared little better with a fourth-place finish, And Canadian figure skaters didn't figure in the world medal stand ngs. Their top placing at the world championships in Vienna was sixth — by Lorna Wighton of Toronto and John Dowding of Oakville, Ont,, in thedance competition. Brian Pockar of Calgary, the Canadian men's champlon, finished 13th at the worlds and the women's champlon, Janet Morrissey of Ottawa, was 19th. In the world curling cham- pionships, the Barry Fry tink from Winnipeg bowed out during the semi-finals, Canadian women didn't fare any better as the Lindsay Sprkes rink from North Vancouver was eliminated in the semi-finals of the women’s World invitational, But 1979 also was the year Canada produced a world- ranked = superstar who doesn't lace up a pair of skates. Villeneuve, 27, of Ber- thierville, Que., won three Grand Prix races, two in the United States and another in- South Africa. He finished second in three other events and was second over-all in the driving standings. Team- mate Jody Scheckter won the world title with 51 points to Villeneuve's 47, In golf, Post, a native of Oakville, Ont., established herself as one of the premier players on the Ladies Professional Goalf Association tour, Post, 31, set Canadian and career highs by winning three tournaments and more than $178,000 — second anly to Nancy Lopez, Amy Alcott, however, won the Canadian tour stop, the Peter Jackson Classic in Montreal. In men's golf, Lee Trevino continued to show his af- fection for the 85-cent dollar as he won just two tour- naments in 1979 — both in Canada, Trevino took the Canadian Open for the third time and later added the international Canadian Profegsional Golfers Association championship. The amateur Bolf crown also was won by a non-Canadian, Rafael Alarcon of Mexico, The Canadian men’s downhill ski team continued to have succesa. Ken Read of Calgary won two World Cup races but had his second win taken away from him because he wore an illegal suit. The disqualification gave the victory to another Canadian, Steve Podborski of Toronto, In individual sports, Cana- dians retained a number of world championships and gained a few new ones. Susan Nattrasas of Ed- monton won her fifth world trap-shooting title while Helen Vanderburg of p.o. box 1700 vBw 2y2 Calgary won everything she entered in synchronized awimming. Vanderburg, 20, took gold medals in salo and duet events in the Canadian, World Cup, Pan-American and Pan-Pacific cham: pionships, then announced her retirement. DECADE OF DOLLARS Money makes. By CHUCK SVOHODA CP Sporia Editor ; The 19708 may go down in sports history as the decade in which the real world in- vaded the playpen. While politica and finance have always had some in- fluence on the games people play, never before were the sports pages ao crowded with the names of agents, lawyers, politicians, bureaucrats, financiers, policemen and murderers. The decade started with Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau golng to Am- sterdam to win the 1974 Olympic Games for his city with @ cost estimate of $120 million, By the end of the decade, with the Games a distant memory, a public inquiry Into why the cost had risen to $1.33 billion was still In boxing, George Chuvalo thrivi of Toronto was stripped of his heavyweight title by the Canadian Boxing Federation, which awarded it to Trevor Berbick of Halifax. Gary Summerhays of Brantford, Ont., lost hig Commonwealth light- heavywelght title to Cottle Mwale of Zambia and Clyde Gray of Toronto rebounded to win back.-his Com- monwealth welterweight title from Chris Clarke of Halifax. In Montreal, the World Cup track and field meet was a flop at the gate but gave Canada one gold medal when Debbie Brill of Aldergrove, B.C., won the high jump. Canada finished third in the medal standings at the PanAmerican Games in Puerto Rico behind the United States and Cuba. Besides Vanderburg's two gold medals, impressive performances were turned in by Monica Goermann of Winnipeg, who collected three gold medals, one silver and one bronze in women's gymnastics and cyclist Gord Singleton of Niagara Falls, Ont., wha won two gold medals. In Toronto, Joel Me- Clintock of Mississauga, Ont., won the over-all men’s worls water-ski cham- pionship while Pat Messier of Ottawa took thewomen’s slalom event. In the Canadian Football League, Edmonton Eskimos’ relentless quest for their second consecutive Grey Cup was fulfilled with a 17-9 victory over Montreal Alouettes in the final. The junior football crown went to Ottawa Sooners who defeated Regina Rams 13-9: while Acadia Axemen upset Western Mustangs to win the Caliege Bowl. The surprise-team-of-the- year award must go to Vancouver Whitecaps of the North American Soccer League, In playoff com- petition the Whitecaps knocked off the heavily favored New York Cosmos, then beat Tampa Bay Rowdies to win the NASL championship. © Toronto Blue Jaya can- tinued to wallow in last place in the American League but did produce one gem in their starting lineup — shortstop Alfredo Griffin, who was the co-winner of the AL's rookie- of-the-year award. Two thoroughbreds rate mention from performances recorded both at home and abroad. One of the most famous quotes of the decade was Drapeau’s 1973. statement: “The Montreal Olympics can no morehave a deficit thana — man can have a baby.” In 1972, the world wit- nessed the Munich Massacre, when 11 members of the Israeli team were Killed by Palestinian ter- rorista at the Olympic village. And four years later when, deaplte the skyrocketing costs, Montreal was ready ta stage the 1976 Games, politics again threatened to scuttle the show. Taiwan and most of the black African countries pulled out but the Games went on. When Canada’s National Hockey League pros took on the Soviet Union in an eight- game series in 1972, the first so-called “our best against their best” contest, politics again intervened. Bobby Hull, one of the country’s outstanding players, was barred from joining Team Canada because he had left the NHL to play for the rival World Hockey Association. Possibly no event captured the attention of so many Canadians as Paul] Hen- derson’s winning goal in that 1972 series but even there Henderson realized that more than just sports was involved. ‘When 1 scored that final goal, I finally realized what democracy ‘was all about," said Hen- derson, It was Hull's move from the NHL Chicago Black Hawke to Winnipeg Jets of the infant WHA that helped Start one of the major business wara in pro sports history, The bidding war between the two leagues, launched with Hull's $2.75-milllon contract for 10 years, finally ended in 1979 with the NHL expanding ta take in four surviving WHA teams. ‘ By that time, the war had pushed player salaries beyond half a million a year -—- New York Rangers’ Ult Nilsson and Anders Hedberg were reported earning $600,000 apiece. Inflated player salaries were even more evident in baseball with the advent of the free agent, Before the decade closed, pitcher Nolan Ryan used the free-agent process to become the first player to land a $1-million-a- year contract with Houston Astros. Aside from the high finance and politics, athletes occasionally found time. to produce ‘dramatic en- - tertainment in the ‘70s — contests such as Montreal Expos’ bid for a pennant in 1979, Canada’s over-all victory at the 19878 Com- monwealth Games in Ed- meonton, numerous gut- standing individual perform- ances In the 1872 and 1976 Olympics and yet another superb hockey spectacle with Canada winning the 1976 Canada Cup tour- nament. The 1979 Challenge Cup serlea, in which the Soviet Union defeated an NHL all- star team to end Canada’s claim to hockey superiority, produced some of the beat hockey ever played, That the Russians would catch up sooner or later should have come as no surprise, considering how close they came In the firat They shocked the Canadians with a 7-3 win at Montreal in the first game of the 1972.set and were up 2-1 with one game tied when the serles shifted to Moscow for the last four games. * They went ahead 3-1 witha $4 victory in the flret game at Moscow to sel the stage for the Canadian heroics, Henderson scored winning goals in the three remaining games but the most memerable was his last one, with 34 seconds remaining in the game. In the 1976 Canada Cup serles, the Soviet Union didn't make it to the final and it wag left to Canada to score 6-0 and 5-4 decisions over Czechoslovakia in the best-of-three playoff. There was joy when all- star defenceman Bobby Ort was named the outstanding player of the 1974 tour. nament but sadness when it later became evident that it had been his swan song. His Surgery-scarred knees would not allow him to continue and he finally retired in 1976. Canadian hockey fans, and the people who run the sport, were finally left to wonder. what went wrong when the Soviet Union's national team humiliated the NHL all-stara in the 1979 Challenge Cup series, . Stmmit series in 1972. The Soviet skaters, win- | ning the three-game series 2- 1 rubbed it in by taking the final game 6-0, - The '70s saw Canada lose its domination of another ice sport ~— curling. After winning 12 of the first 14 world championships, Canada has not won a men's world title since 1972, The decade saw some new passions develop among Canadian sports fans — such as baseball, which created a frenzy in September, 1979, when Montreal Expos chased Pittsburgh Pirates down to the wire in a battle for the National League East pennant. The fans’ demands — from coast to coast for television, radio and newspaper coverage made - the Expos’ race one of the the outstanding stories of the decade It was the kind of hap- pening that made Montreal sports fans forget that the Canadiens just months earlier had won their fourth CAPON IS NEUTERED The capon is a young rooster that has been surgically neutered a few weeks after birth, 4 consecutive NHL Stanley iP. : And it was the kind of hap- pening that left Toronto-area fans yearning for a dlmilar surge by their Blue Jays who had made their American League debut in an April, 1977, snowstorm, Among other ‘new ‘Canadian sporta heroes to emerge during the ‘70s were these-called Crazy Canucks, the men's downhill ski team led by Ken Read of Calgary. The devil-may-care style of the Canadian downhillers started producing World Cup victories in the 1075-76 season ard Read became a national star when he won his third career World Cup race in 1970, Learn to 635-43 Learn to ski this Christmas t KITSUMKALUM SCHOOL OF SKIING Special Christmas ski. before the New Year at our Special Christmas Rates KITSUMKALUM SCHOOL OF SKIING 0 SPECIAL RATES $F 70’s news Unfortunately, Read and . company failed to produce at the 1974 Winter Olympics and it was left to slalom skier Kathy Kreiner to score Canada’s only victory at Innsbruck. "There were numerous Canadian victories In Pan- American Games, Cam- monweaith Games and world championships by the likes of diver Bev Boya, awimmer Graham Smith, shooter Susan Natrass, eyclist Jocelyn Lovell, high jumper Debbie Brill and pentathiete Diane Konihowaki. 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