NHL goalies have a tough enough time without a lend-lease rule

Smelly goalie lend-lease rule: Norris has NHL game on ‘ice’

hockey years a *evincial Amateur League.

os wie past 10 years Wil- and at been rubbing backs Wings Ping ankles for the Red Dlayin = and occasionally oppone ger for Red . Wings oak nts in regular National fy League games. That’s

tight: fo si , eR 4 Ponents. ed Wing op

So

an &@ recent Sunday night CaaS Bruins came into game _for an important The ea the Red Wings. Dihte are only a few D apart in the standings. ruin Simmons, the young could ,B0alie was ailing and Lefty. «1 play. That's when big Slipped on the pads and the Mitts and stepped into age for the Bruins. ‘Ison put on a superlative mene With Gordie the ae Red Kelley and all fcnan Red Wing hot shots minutes ay at him for 60 stop 7 Lefty managed to the Out of 24 chances and 22 4 Tuins emerged with a endeg., Then, when the game , ay became a trainer i € Red Wings again and oe’ his regular routine assaging and bandaging. Stran all this seems rather You fr T hasten to remind and hat it is perfectly legal Hoe ica in the National sonic, League. League rules ry yeete that a club may car- 8 regular players, exclud- thing olkeepers. You would adva that a club would take iene ee of this to carry at Boali two, and possibly three reaga But for. some strange mone — mostly concerning clubs. — nearly all NHL even Carry just one goalie, of ones the man in front Most € net holds down the Critical and dangerous

berf,

By JIMMY MORAN

job on the ice.

Another league rule states that in the event of an injury to the goalie of the visiting team, the home team must provide a goalkeeper for the

- invaders.

Now even if this made sense in terms of economy— which I doubt — and even if the lend - lease goalie was completely honest — which I don’t doubt — the whole pro- cedure seems too risky and amateurish. It just doesn’t make sense.

Suppose the same rule were in effect in baseball. You can imagine what the boys out in the bleachers would do in a case like this:

The White Sox come into the Yankee Stadium in Sep- tember tied with the Yanks for the League lead. But Sherm- Lollar has an upset tummy and can’t catch. Casey Stengel says to Al Lopez: “Don’t worry, Al. I got just the boy on my bench who can help you. You can have him for today.”

So Elston Howard, the Yankee second-string catcher, goes behind the bat for the White Sox, calls a_ perfect game, throws out three men trying to steal, and drives in

_ the winning run.

The Bronx cheers. that would greet this kind of thing would be enough to drive the last’ remaining team out of New York. Baseball fans just wouldn’t stand for it. I can’t see why hockey fans. should.

Suppose Lefty Wilson’s re- flexes were not as sharp as they had: proved to be the night he went into the nets!

Who would ever know? Sup--

pose instead of a 2-2 tie the

George (Lefty) Wilson is a 34-year-old assistant trainer for the Detroit Red Wings team. Lefty was a pretty good goalie in his playing days — which ended more than 10 0 — but he never got into faster company than the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario

game ended in a_lop-sided victory for the Red Wings, and then suppose that the Bruins failed to. make the playoffs by a single point. What would the Boston fans say about that? Perhaps the answer is that it might not make any differ- ence what a hockey fan in Bos- ton or any place else said. The National Hockey League owners and directors seem to think they are impervious: to any criticism. They have a tight little monopoly and they are milking it for all it’s worth. Fur.hermore, the corporate setup in the NHL is even smel- lier than the goalie lend-lease rule. Consider this: James Norris, Jr., the boxing im- presario is the president of

' Madison Square Garden, which

owns and operates: the New York ,Rangers hockey team. Norris doesn’t operate the Ran- gers directly, but his stake in them is obvious. In addition, however, he is the outright owner of the Chicago Black Hawks, who play in Chicago Stadium, which is another Norris property. :

But even this is not the end. Norris is the owner cf the De- troit Olympia, the home of the Red Wings. Big: Jim doesn't own the Red Wings, but his younger brother does — a gift from Big Jim. The traffic in hockey players between Chicago and Detroit is so heavy that it has become ridiculous.

Television is bringing hac- key into millions of homes. It would sesm that t is time, to clean up the game, starting with a little trust-busting ac- tion.

@ Reprinted from Labor’s Daily

_SPORTLIGHT

When Joe Louis

OCKET RICHARD had some straight - from - the- shoulder comments to make on a number of hockey mat- ters while he’ was in town; but it’s too bad none of the

inquiring reporters thought to ask him his views on unionized hockey, a _ subject more than somewhat in the news these days.

Maurice iis one of the higher-paid peons, drawing

an annual wage in the neigh- borhood of $20,000, which is a pleasant neighborhood. But like other National Hockey League players, he plunked down $100 a year or so ago to help the Players Association get started. Only holdout was Ted Kennedy.

When 112 guys not only join a union, but shell out a century apiece to make sure the union lives, you can con- clude that the grievances needing rectification are not all little ones.

Most contentious issue is the right of players to become free agents after five years in one club. NHL management, staunch supporters of capi- talism and free enterprise, balk at removing the chains from their ice slaves. It would lead to chaos, they scream. Stars would ‘price them- selves out of the market.”

These tired, stale old argu- ments are familiar to all trade unionists. NHL players should treat them with the contempt they deserve, and go right on fighting for freedom.

captured the heavyweight title and found few opponents good enough to draw a gate, he started a “Bum of the Month” club to keep in shape.

The idea was sound, and paid off. Whenever a worthy opponent did emerge _ the

Brown Bomber was in superb condition to demolish him.

A year ago there was talk that Floyd Patterson intended to follow the pattern set by Louis, and carve a niche for himself in fistiana’s hall of fame.

To date, however, Patterson has been anything but a fighting champ. Since destroy- ing Archie Moore to win the crown he has had exactly two fights — one -against punchy Hurricane Jackson and the other an abortive affair involv- ing Pete Rademacher, an ama- teur from away back.

The battle that boxing buffs would like to see is Patter- On versus Eddie Machen. This California challenger is will- ing, able, and the winner of 24 straight bouts.

What keeps the boys apart is a bitter feud between Pat- terson’s manager Gus D’Amato and Jim Norris, head of the International Boxing Club, which controls Machen.

Sooner or later, preferably sooner, this obstacle will e

overcome and Patterson and Machen will title.

clash for the

Patterson decked Hurricane Jackson in the 9th and won by a TKO

January 24, 1958 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 11