SKATER & GOALIE OF THE WEEK #1

Charlie_SimmerDon_EdwardsRick_MiddletonMike_Liut

CLARENCE SKATER TEAM GP GOALS ASISSTS POINTS PM  +/-  SOG S%
Simmer, Charlie SDM 4 9 3 12 0 3 25 36%
                   
CLARENCE GOALIE TEAM GP GOALS AGAINST G.A. AVERAGE SAVES SAVE %
Edwards, Don SAS 2 5 2.5 82 .943
                   
WALES SKATER TEAM GP GOALS ASSISTS POINTS PM  +/-  SOG S%
Middleton, Rick BIL 4 2 9 11 0 1 12 17%
                   
WALES GOALIE TEAM GP GOALS AGAINST G.A. AVERAGE SAVES SAVE %
Luit, Mike SCS 4 10 2.51 167 .944

Saskatoon Cyclone
Weekly Preview: And here we go …
Brooklyn Harbor Rats @ Saskatoon Cyclone Ok I guess I had forgotten how fun hockey was back in the 1980s.

Pucks flying, hair flying, and fists flying.

This game had it all.

Brooklyn massively outplayed Saskatoon in the opening period, outshooting the Cyclone 15-5 but goaltender Denis Herron was up to the task and at the end of the first period although the Harbor Rats had three power plays the teams hit the dressing room scoreless (including an uncharacteristic penalty to Wayne Gretzky for hooking). Brooklyn dominated the period physically until things turned around in the final two minutes when Brooklyn’s Mike Gartner and Saskatoon punk Dougie Risebrough tossed their gloves to the ice … Gartner’s ass soon followed as he was no pugilistic match for the Montreal scrapper. A fine end to a period of crazy action!

The 2nd period was a little slower paced with the teams trying to grind each other into slag, but we finally had our first taste of scoring and it came on a delayed penalty. With Gary McAdam ticketed to the box for hooking, Bob Gainey fired a shot from high in the slot and Ron Wilson’s stick tapped it aside at the last moment past Mike Palmateer to give Saskatoon its first goal of the season at home.

About 10 minutes later, Gretzky broke out of a scrum deep in the Brooklyn zone and stickhandled around Palmateer to tap the puck home for a 2-0 lead for the home team.

The refs put away their whistles for the 3rd save for calling a chincy hooking penalty on Marc Tardiff partway through and the teams rewarded the fans with some great back and forth hockey. Richard Martin put Brooklyn on the board early in the period when he found himself left alone at the side of the net with a rebound from a Peter Mahovlich shot and he made no mistake, banking it in and making it 2-1.

Canadiens’ defenceman Guy Lapointe found the puck at his feet near his own blueline and no one between him and Herron except teammate Bengt-Ake Gustafsson and the two combined for some nice back and forth passing easily beating the Cyclone’s netminder to even the score 2-2.

Fittingly, a pretty even game was going to wind up a tie … but wait.

A broken play at mid-ice turned into a last minute rush by Saskatoon and with only 19 seconds to go Dave Taylor took a feed cross-ice from Gretzky and drilled the puck top shelf over a sprawling Brooklyn goalie to give Saskatoon its first win in franchise history.

SCORING SUMMARY:
FIRST PERIOD
No goals
SECOND PERIOD
1. SAS, Wilson (1) – Gretzky (1), Sirois (1) 7:41
2. SAS, Gretzky (1) – Taylor (1), Potvin (1) 16:52
THIRD PERIOD
3. BRO, Martin (1) – Mahovlich (1), McCarthy (1) 1:33
4. BRO, Lapointe (1) – Wilson (1), Gustafsson (1) 7:26
5. SAS, Taylor (1) – Gretzky (1) 19:41

Stars of the Game (I’m ignoring the stupid DKS ones)
1. SAS, Wayne Gretzky – 1 G, 1 A, 16 faceoffs won
2. SAS, Dave Taylor – 1 G, 1 A
3. BRO, Guy Lapointe – 1 G, 2 Bk, 3 Hits

San Diego Mariners @ Saskatoon Cyclone I thought the first game was wild, but this one was insane …

All was quiet in the game until around the 9-minute mark when San Diego sniper Charlie Simmer lasered a wrist shot from the faceoff circle that nailed the bottom of the crossbar and bounced in behind Denis Herron to make it 1-0 for the Mariners.

All hell broke loose after that.

Chief among the demons apparently was Rick Vaive who jumped Paul Holmgren and then the two forwards bludgeoned each other to a no-decision, but with Cyclone Vaive getting an invitation to leave the game. Sheesh … no sense of haha.

That fight sparked a seemingly never-ending stream of tripping, hooking, roughing that kept the guys manning the penalty box gates busy.

It also ignited the drowsy Saskatoon offense and in particular Bob Sirois whose slapshot 30 seconds after the Simmer goal (and 15 seconds after the fight) beat Gerry Cheevers low stick side to tie it up.

The 2nd period was also closely fought but with no actual fights breaking out, but the teams made it clear to one another that there was no love lost. Every play seemed to end with “Team X was furious with the hit, but no call …”. The Cyclone went into the season with a few doubts and one of them was supplanting Marc Tardiff on the first power play unit with Vancouver left winger Darcy Rota. A scrappy speedy skater as opposed to the finesse-filled Frenchman, Rota silenced the doubters for this game at least scoring two consecutive power play goals to make it 3-1 for Saskatoon by the 15-minute mark of the 2nd period.

Don’t go too far said the Mariners and they answered with a power play goal of their own at 16:16 when Holmgren fought off Rick Green near the crease to tap home a loose puck rebound and make it 3-2.

The 3rd period started hesitantly for the Cyclone and the Mariners made them pay for being wussy. With the cyclone defenders apparently too timid to touch him, Gilbert Perreault skated around pretty much the whole Saskatoon team and tucked the puck into the net behind Herron to make it 3-3 only 2 minutes into the 3rd period.

The goal shook the Cyclone out of their mini-nap and they then went on to dominate the rest of the period, outshooting the Mariners 22-10 by the time the smoke had cleared once again using the power play as a weapon.

Last-minute lineup insert Gaston Gingras’s potent but erratic slapshot fooled everyone (most importantly Cheevers) at 13:11 with Perreault off for hooking to restore the Saskatoon lead to 4-3.

Dave Taylor converted an amazing pass from Gretzky into a goal that beat Cheevers high under the crossbar to give Saskatoon a 5-3 lead with Holmgren off and only 3 and a half minutes to go in the game.

Cyclone defenceman Jean Potvin (the not so good Potvin brother) celebrated the impending win by corss-checking Mariners winger Blair Chapman and while he watched in disappointment as the ref raised his arm Chapman did the same as he celebrated after knocking Derek Smith’s high wrist shot out of the air and past Herron to narrow the lead to 5-4. Dreck.

With Cheevers out of the net, Saskatoon broke up a play deep in their own zone and dashed up ice drooling at the empty net. Some of the drool must have gotten onto Tardiff’s stick as the former Nordique’s star fired the puck wide of the San Diego net, the Mariners scrambled back up ice and Perreault deflected Jack Brownschidle’s desperation slap shot from the point off Herron’s blocker and into the net to end the game 5-5.

GREAT STUFF as it was a shame either tame should lose this one!

SCORING SUMMARY
FIRST PERIOD
1. SDM, Simmer (1) – Stewart (1), MacDonald (1) 9:30
2. SAS, Sirois (1) – Charron (1). Potvin (2) 10:00
SECOND PERIOD
3. SAS, Rota (1) – Green (1), Gretzky (2) 12:14 (PP)
4. SAS, Rota (2) – Gretzky (3), Taylor (2) 15:07 (PP)
5. SDM, Holmgren (1) – Bulley (1), Simmer (1) 16:16 (PP)
THIRD PERIOD
6. SDM, Perreault (1) – Smith (1), Stewart (2) 1:51
7. SAS, Gingras (1) – Charron (2), Green (2) 13:11 (PP)
8. SAS, Taylor (2) – Gretzky (4), Maloney (1) 16:30 (PP)
9. SDM, Chapman (1) – Smith (2), Perrault (1) 17:13
10. SDM, Perreault (2) – Brownschidle (1), Simmer (2)

Stars of the game (once again ignoring DKS):
1. SDM, Gilbert Perrault – 2 G, 1 A
2. SDM, Charlie Simmer – 1 G, 2 A, 2 Hits
3. SAS, Wayne Gretzky – 3 A, 2 Hits, 20 faceoffs won

Weekly Summary: Wow and holy shite!

It’s going to be a great season with more blood, guts and glory than I’ve seen since I watched the Spartacus TV series and Gladiator all in one weekend.

Goaltending seems like a necessary evil at this point in the history of hockey.

Gretzky emerges from the two home games with five points and Taylor just behind with four and Simmer and Perreault with three each just in the one game for San Diego.

Kudos to Rick Vaive for starting off with a bang and 15 penalty minutes in just two games.


Pittsburgh Spirit
Weekly Preview: Pittsburgh opens their inaugural season at home VS Saskatoon. Word is that there is “bad blood” with this rivalry already due to an alternative timeline set 38 years into the future… but I digress.

Also Game 2 features Brooklyn in the house!

Let’s see what this group is capable of, shall we?

Saskatoon Cyclone @ Pittsburgh Spirit
The Spirit float along in the first period to a 1-0 lead as Guy LaFleur scores the first ever Spirit goal on a Power Play to make it 1-0! He heard word that there were some grumblings of him being the first round pick, saying his best days are behind him… he has something to prove I think.

Into the second period, PIT leads 1-0 until Greschner takes a sweet feed from LaFleur and rifles a slapper from the point that goalie Edwards never saw. 2-0 PIT leads.

Headed to the 3rd period with PIT leading 2-0, Sittler fires a wrister from the circle off of a nice tic-tac-toe play from MacLeish and Lafleur… 3-0 PIT leads.

Not to be ignored, Resch has stood on his head the whole game. Stopping everything thrown his way.

3rd period winding down, with 4:30 left to play, “The Other Guy” Chouinard scores his first of the campaign from Greschner and Hedberg… 4-0 PIT leads.

Saskatoon would throw some extra shots at Resch int he final few minutes, but both he and the PIT Defense were up to the task as the first game is in the books!

Pittsburgh shuts out Saskatoon 4-0 at home to start the season off with a bang!

Star 1 – PIT Resch 32 saves
Star 2 – PIT LaFleur 1G, 2A
Star 3 – PIT Greschner 1G, 2A

Notables
SAS D. Edwards 40 saves
PIT Resch 32 saves

Some other notable stats:
– SAS was 0-7 on the PP!
– PIT led the game in shots, FOW, Hits, blocks, shot attempts, scoring chances and even PIM.

Brooklyn Harbor Rats @ Pittsburgh Spirit Brooklyn comes to town to see if these Spirit dudes are as good as they think they are.

First period – “The Other Guy” Chouinard (2) puts PIT up 1-0 on a shot from 10 feet out on a nice cross ice feed from Greschner.

Around 3 and a half minutes later, Huber nets his first of the season on a slapper from the point through traffic. 2-0 PIT

LaFleur continues his “something to prove” season by scoring his 2nd of the season at 17:19 of the 1st to make it 3-0 PIT.

Headed to the 2nd… 1:24 in Miller scores his first for Brooklyn to cut the lead to 3-1 PIT. Resch was screened and never saw it, letting the first puck of the season past him in game 2.

It may have rattled him, and the Spirit a bit cause 3 minutes later Martin scores his 1st of the season to cut the gap to 3-2 PIT.

With time winding down in the 2nd, at 18:18 Labraaten pots his first of the year from Houle and Edberg to give some secondary scoring to the potent Spirit lineup, and also extend their lead to 4-2 PIT.

Into the final frame we go…

PIT up 4-2 when Edberg (No “H”) scores his first of the season as Greschner already gets his 4th assist on the season. PIT now up 5-2.

Brooklyn, knowing they most likely won’t come back from a 4 goal deficit, still plays hard and fires as many pucks as they can on Resch, but he is back to form and stops everything thrown at him.

With 67 seconds left, Chouinard scores his 2nd of the night and 3rd of the season to make it 6-2 PIT, which would be your final.

Star 1 – Chouinard 2G
Star 2 – Edberg 1G, 1A
Star 3 – Lafleur 1G

Notables
BRO Millen 47 saves
PIT Sittler 17 faceoffs won

Other notable stats:
– PIT out-shot BRO 53-28
– PIT lead in hits 39-25
– BRO lead in blocks 10-5
– PIT had 83 shot attempts and missed the net 20 times!
– PIT lead in scoring chances with 22 (to BRO 7)

Weekly Summary: PIT opens their season 2-0 on the backs of the top line of Lafleur, Sittler, MacLeish with a combined 10 pts int he first 2 games, as well as Chouinard with 3 goals in those 2 games. Not to mention Resch who saved 58 of 60 shots he faced int he first two games.

Are PIT as good as they think they are? Or are they yet to play the best?

Stay tuned!


Charlestown Chiefs
Weekly Preview: Charlestown’s expectations for the season are pretty simple: we’re gonna score a ton of goals, and we’re gonna give up just as many – or more.
San Diego Mariners @ Charlestown Chiefs Things start off great for the Chiefs – franchise player Ray Bourque thrills the home crowd with his first goal of the season less than 3 1/2 minutes into the game. But then things took a radical shift for the worse, as San Diego scores 5 unaswered goals in the next 20 plus minutes.

One thing the Chiefs don’t lack is scoring touch – and McCarthy and Boschman score 2 minutes apart halway though the second to close the gap to 5-3.

21 seconds into the 3rd, Simmer scores his 3rd of the game for the Mariners to collect the hat trick and double up the score 6-3. But never count out the Chiefs, with their aggressive offensive play! Two minutes later Maxwell scores, and 2 mintues after that Lanny McDonald collects his first goal of the year to make things VERY interesting at 6-5.

But Holmgren beats Riggin for his 2nd goal of the game to make it 7-5, and Cheevers hangs on for San Diego as they spoil the home opener at the Reggie Dunlop Beer Garden.

Amazingly, no player on the Chiefs is worse than a -1, and somehow Rautakallio finishes +1 in the barn burner.

Scoring Summary
Per Time Str Team
1 3:26 EV CHA Bourque (1), assisted by Linseman (1) and McEwen (1)
1 5:31 EV SDM Holmgren (1), assisted by Sharpley (1)
1 11:38 EV SDM Sharpley (1), assisted by Busniuk (1)
1 14:04 PP SDM Simmer (1), unassisted
2 3:12 PP SDM Perreault (1), assisted by Simmer (1) and Smith (1)
2 6:25 EV SDM Simmer (2), assisted by MacDonald (1) and Perreault (1)
2 11:38 EV CHA McCarthy (1), assisted by Rautakallio (1)
2 13:29 EV CHA Boschman (1), assisted by Maxwell (1) and Linseman (2)
3 :21 PP SDM Simmer (3), unassisted
3 2:28 PP CHA Maxwell (1), assisted by Paiement (1) and Linseman (3)
3 4:24 PP CHA McDonald (1), assisted by McEwen (2) and Boschman (1)
3 15:02 EV SDM Holmgren (2), assisted by Smith (2) and Sharpley (2)

Star 1: SDM Simmer 3 G, 4 Pts
Star 2: SDM Sharpley 1 G, 3 Pts
Star 3: SDM Holmgren 2 G

GWG: Charlie Simmer

Notables: SDM Simmer hat trick, Cheevers 42 saves
CHA Linseman 3 assists, Linseman 15 faceoffs won

Pittsburgh Spirit @ Charlestown Chiefs It’s the first (of many) Battle of the Brothers! Pittsburgh comes to town licking their collective chops at the Chiefs’ shoddy goaltending.

Once again, Raymond Bourque (2) scores the first Charlestown goal, at 7:39 in the 1st on the power play.

But Palmer scores shortly thereafter for the Spirit to tie it back up; but the Chiefs draw inspiration on Terry Ruskowski’s 1st goal of the year minutes later and rattle of two more goals in the 2nd: McCarthy (2) and McDonald (2).

But in Charlestown, no lead is ever safe.

Pittsburgh gets Redmond’s first goal of the year at 15:53 of the 2nd to make it 3-2 – but Gradin (1) scores a backbreaker at 19:03 on the PP to put Charlestown’s lead back at two goals.

The Spirit dominate the 3rd – getting goals by Sittler (1) and MacLeish (1), but backup goalie Eddie Mio hangs in there and collects his 1st win of the year behind 31 saves. Sittler, LaFleuer, and MacLeish were the best players on the ice, but they go home losers on this day. Gradin has an excellent game, scoring a goal and dding a pair of assists in 18 minutes of ice time. The Charlestown bottom defensive pairing of Michelleti and Rautakallio both finish +1 (the only players in the black for the Chiefs) to try and push for more ice time. But on a team with a top four of Bourque, Potvin, McEwen, and Maxwell — they’re just going to have to settle for table scraps.

Weekly Summary: An opening week split at 1-1 is good news, but the Chiefs have little hope of reaching the post-season with their leaky goaltending. Their plan of keeping the fans entertained with plenty of Oh-fense is an early season success, however.

Philadelphia Firebirds 
St. Clair Shores Saints @ Philadelphia Firebirds Bobby Nystrom scored the first ever Firebird Goal on a wrist shot in the first period. The firebirds then went on to make a run of 18 – 0 straight shots…until The Saints got their first one and you guessed it tied the game. The teams were deadlock until deep into the 3rd until Bobby Schmautz put the Firebirds up to stay and a hard fought 4-3 Home victory

Stars

01. Bobby Schmautz
02. Mike Liut
03. Marcel Dionne

Saint Croix Falls Lumberjacks @ Philadelphia Firebirds The Firebirds were flying high after their opening home game vitory and were confident coming into their game with the Lumberjacks. That last ohhhhhh 22 secons as Ian Turnbull blew one by Wayne Stephenson. Before you knew it it was 4-0 Lumberjacks and Stephenson was on the bench. The Firebirds continued to fight back but the Jacks were too strong and Billy Smith was a brick wall….well until backup goalie Phil Myre tuned his ass up in the 3rd period. But this game was all Jacks as they look like a tough team this season.

Stars

01. Billy Smith
02 Ian Turnbull
03. Bernie Ferderko

Weekly Summary: Fun Times

Silk City Whales 
Charlestown Chiefs @ Silk City Whales Charlestown 3 Silk City 1 – Chiefs three power play goals sink the Whales
Saskatoon Cyclone @ Silk City Whales Saskatoon 3 Silk City 1 – some kid named Gretzky scores a goal; may have a future in the game
Weekly Summary: Good games

Brooklyn Harbor Rats 
CapJack Rangers @ Brooklyn Harbor Rats Rick Martin and Mike Gartner (on the power play) get the Harbor Rats out to first period, 2-0 lead as the Rangers can’t stay out the box, giving the Rats 5 power plays and 22 shots in the first twenty minutes. Martin’s second of the game extends the lead to 3-0 and a few minutes later Gary McAdam makes it 4-0 Brooklyn. Then it was just a matter of hanging on for the last 35 minutes as Phil Esposito and Real Cloutier score 3rd period goals for Capjack, but it was too little, too late. Bobby Smith recorded 3 assists for Brooklyn. Harbor Rats 4, Rangers 2.
Silk City Whales @ Brooklyn Harbor Rats The Whales come out ready and get goals from Ken Houston, Keith Brown and Barry Beck (on their first 5 shots on net) to grab a 3-0 lead. Before the period’s over, Behn Wilson and Bjore Salming drop he gloves and receive game misconducts. Jere Gillis gets the Rats on the board with a short handed goal early in the 2nd and when Kevin McCarthy rips one from the blueline at 10:38, it’s a one goal game. But Bob Suave stops the comeback right there, despite another 2 power plays for Brooklyn and 14 shots in the 3rd. Wayne Merrick’s empty netter put the finishing touches on Silk City’s road win. Whales 4, Harbor Rats 2.
Weekly Summary: Rats drop one of two home games, but it was an out of division contest. Rick Martin’s 2 goal performance against Capjack earns him first star of the game.

Vermont Foresters 
Pittsburgh Spirit @ Vermont Foresters this game was not as close as the score. vermont dominated this game. led by morris lukowich with 3 assists, 5 different players scored for the foresters. they had leads of 4-0 and 5-1 until pittsburgh netted 2 goals 20 seconds apart with less then 2 minutes to play. rejean houle had a goal and assist for pittsburgh
Charlestown Chiefs @ Vermont Foresters this was a tight even game until the pendulum swinging 3rd period. after exchanging pp goals in the 1st period there was no further scoring until the 3rd when charlestown netted 2 goals in 2:06 to take a 3-1 lead. just under 2 minutes later vermont responded with 2 goals in 43 seconds to tie the game at 3. the foresters poor goaltending finally did them in as ron grahame let in 2 weak goals to get the final result of 5-3 in favor of the visitors. grahame was a last second addition to the starting lineup when coach stimac decided to not use mike veisor. charlestown got 2 goals from laurie boschman and overcame losing ken linesman to a game misconduct in the 1st period. ray bourque also added 3 assists. vermont killed off 5 of 6 pp chances for charlestown. vermont outshot the visitors 33-24, outhit them 26-18, won just under 70% of the faceoffs but were only able to get 3 pucks past eddie mio.
Weekly Summary: a disappointing 2nd game killed the excitement from the dominating performance from game 1. the foresters got the balanced production gm stimac expected from the top 2 lines. they were hoping for a little more from the 3rd line.

St. Clair Shores Saints
Weekly Preview: The Saints kick off their season with two at home against Biloxi and Mackinac Island.
Biloxi Blades @ St. Clair Shores Saints From the very beginning, the Saints were on fire. They score 3 in the first. Duguay, Nillson and Marshall net the goals. In the 2nd, Dooooogay scores his 2nd on a power play. The Blades get a goal on a power play by Chipperfield. In the 3rd, its time for a hat trick, as Dooooogay scores. Babych scores one late and the Saints win. Biloxi outshoots the Saints, 49-35, but Liut was spectacular.

St. Clair Shores 6 Biloxi 1

1st star – Duguay hat trick
2nd star – Luit -48 saves
3rd star -Babych 2 points

Mackinac Island Moose @ St. Clair Shores Saints Much different game against the Moose. Mackinac Island gets going early and dominates the Saints. Reed Larson scores in the 1st, and Lysiak scores in the second. The Moose lead, 2-0. Late in the 2nd, Nilsson scores his 2nd goal of the year to make it interesting.

Early in the 3rd, the Saints score on a short handed opportunity. Ververgaert nails the opportunity. Then, with 1:59 left, Bob Kelly scores to put SCS on top. It stays that way and the Saints complete the comeback.

St. Clair Shores 3 Mackinac Island 2

1st star -Ververgaert 2 points
2nd star – Luit 33 savres
3rd star -Nilsson 1 goal

Weekly Summary: The Saints win both home games. Biloxi outshoots SCS, but SCS scores some big goals to win 6-1. The Saints win in a comeback against Mackinac Island, 3-2.

CapJack Rangers
Weekly Preview: 1979-80 – ah, the year mandatory helmets went into effect (grandfather for some who had no sense, or brains left). Ties – ah those, those uncompleted games (but did we feel that way then?). And goals, goals, goals!

CapJack looking forward to scoring a bunch, and hopefully stop more than we score.

Silk City Whales @ CapJack Rangers Well 5 goals in the 1st sounds like an exciting year. Rangers got 3 of them including the 1st – Kindrachuk (1). Then the Whales got going – Brasar (1) and Kehoe (1), but then the big guns for CapJack got going. Gare (1) and Schutt (1) closed out the 1st for the 3-2 lead. Those 2 were the beginning of 5 unanswered goals – Gare (2) getting another and 1st round pick Trottier (1) got his season going. Salming (1) put one in the net with 7 seconds left to end the scoring in a 6-3 Rangers win.
STARS (all CAP)
1. Gare 2 goals
2. Trottier 1 goal, 1 assist
3. Shutt 3 assists
Vermont Foresters @ CapJack Rangers The Foresters came to town and the Ranger gives Hanlon a workout. 41 shots including 16 in the opening period – 20 more were attempted in the game, 11 of which were blocked. And the Foresters spent 20 minutes in the sin-bin for 7 Rangers power plays. And Hanlon responded quite well, 38 saves and that got him a NOTABLE mention. Yes, he let it three goals – 1 in each period to Esposito (1), Gare (3) and a PP goal to Murdoch with 1:47 to go. That last goal actually was the game tying goal because the Foresters were able to get 3 past Bouchard. Vermont also scored 1 goal in each period, Lukowich (1), Nilsson (1) and Ramsey (1). So the game ended in a 3-3 tie.
STARS:
1. VER Nilsson – 1 goal, 1 assist
2. CAP Esposito 1 goal, 1 assist (and notable 19 faceoffs won)
3. CAP Gare 1 goal, 1 assist
Weekly Summary: 1-0-1 at home. Lots of fun and action should prove to be a fun season.

Biloxi Blades
Syracuse Bulldogs @ Biloxi Blades John Davidson with the Save!
Okay, not really, I just wanted to see what it would look like if he had one. Okay, maybe unfair. He did save 75% of the shots the Dogs had…or roughly the same average I had all through school. Number one star of the game, Bulldog Stan Smyl had two goals and two assists while Tim Young tallied three assists. Rogie Vachon saved twenty four of twenty six Biloxi Blade shots on goal. LaRouche and MacAdam were SOG, two and three respectively. Syracuse 7 Biloxi 2
Quebec City Le Blue @ Biloxi Blades Le Blue jumped out to an early Le Lead with two early tallies but Biloxi answered with three unanswered first period goals and another in the second before holding onto the lead, final score Biloxi 4 Quebec City 3. Rick Middleton was a major pain for Le Blue, earning number one star with a goal and three assists. Don Maloney had a goal and an assist as star number two. Ryan Walter was star three with a goal. Michel Dion was the winning goalie.
Weekly Summary: Biloxi Blades open the 1979 season with a loss (7-2) and a close, 4-3 win. Rick Middleton with a goal and four assists is clearly an offensive force.

Syracuse Bulldogs 
Weekly Preview: The Syracuse Bulldogs start out thier inaugural season with home games against the always tough teams from St.Croix and Philly.
Saint Croix Falls Lumberjacks @ Syracuse Bulldogs The St. Croix Falls goalie stood on his head facing 37 shots including a game winning save with 2.2 seconds left. St. Croix 5 Syracuse 4.
Star 1. Blaine Staughton
Star 2. Yvone Lambert
Star 3. Pierre LaRouche
Philadelphia Firebirds @ Syracuse Bulldogs Syracuse scores 35 seconds into the game. That was their only goal, however. The fall to the Firebirds 4-1.
Star 1. John Anderson
Star2. Marcel Dionne
Star 3. Wayne Stephenson
Weekly Summary: Its good to get the season going. Looking forward to battling all of these great teams.

Saint Croix Falls Lumberjacks
Weekly Preview: The Lumberjack’s start the home season by hosting Quebec and Biloxi.
Quebec City Le Blue @ Saint Croix Falls Lumberjacks Quebec 6 St. Croix Falls 3
1st Star – Weir 2 g.
2nd Star – Stoughton 2 g.
3rd Star – Goulet 1 g 2 pts.
Biloxi Blades @ Saint Croix Falls Lumberjacks Biloxi 8 St. Croix Fall 7
1st Star – Rogers 3 g. 7 pts.
2nd Star – Middleton 1 g .6 pts.
3rd Star – Federko 2 g . 3 pts.
Weekly Summary: No defense in St. Croix.

Mackinac Island Moose 
Weekly Preview: The Moose host division rival Chicago and the Bulldogs of Syracuse. All the visitors are excited to visit the island as they have heard fressh fudge awaits them in their visitor gift packages.
Chicago Underground @ Mackinac Island Moose Chicago 6, Moose 5 – The big horn is silent only 36 seconds until Chicago busts out a rush and Bossy to McNab for a quick score. Later in the period Chicago creates another rush and this time its Tonelli to Foster for the 2-0 lead which is where the first period ends. The Moose cut the lead to 1 on a nice penetration by Lever halfway through period 2 on a powerplay. Later in the period after Foster and Park get get tossed for fighting, the Moose even the game on the 4-on-4 when Napier slips on in low and the game is tied 2-2……. for only 20 seconds when McNab returns the favor to Bossy and Bossy makes it 3-2 Chicago. But Napier gets back with a rebound wraparound just before the period ends tied 3-3.
Period 3 is quiet for only 5 minutes until Chicago takes advantage of a Moose penalty as Goring deflects a Peresson rocket into the goal. Later the Island dwellers break out on a rush and this time its Napier to Boutette for the tying goal 4-4. The Moose get their first lead of the game a little later on a powerplay when Brad Park blasts a slapper into goal for a 5-4 lead, as the home town fans hope the scoring has finally come to an end. Wrong !!!!! Bossy ties the game up on a deflection with 3 minutes left on a pass by Dailey, and the visitors end the happy season opener a little later when Seiling sends a rocket in from the point. The Moose are unable to create any opportunities in the final 90 seconds. Final 6-5 Chicago
1st star – Bossy 2g1a
2nd star – Napier 2g1a
3rd star – McNab 1g1a
Syracuse Bulldogs @ Mackinac Island Moose Moose 4, Syracuse 1 – The Moose are able to dominate the game and statistics most the game until the Bulldogs ruin the shutout midway through the 3rd.
SOG – Moose 40 Bulldogs 25
Penalties – Moose 1, Bulldogs 5
Goals – Moose – Zanussi, Engblom, Lever, Lysiak Bulldogs – Johnstone1st star – Engblom 1g
2nd star – Meloche – 24 saves
3rd star – Lysiak 1g
Weekly Summary: The Moose go 1-1 at home the first week. The offense is pretty consistant with 5 and 4 goals, but the defense needs to be more reliable, as allowing 6 goals will never win a game. Glad to see Meloche rebound with a good effort in game 2.
Bossy was the best visitor with 2 goals and 1 assist.
For the Moose, Napier and Lever both had 2g and 1a each in the first 2 games.sd