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Cincinnati Stingers vs New England
Whalers |
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December 30th 1978 |
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Riverfront Coliseum |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
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F |
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CIN |
0 |
1 |
1 |
- |
2 |
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NE |
1 |
0 |
0 |
- |
1 |
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1st Period |
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NE: Roverts (Miller, Rogers) 6:49. |
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NE: Lacroix (slashing) 11:52. NE:
Hangsleben (fighting) 11:52. NE: Lay
(roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct and
misconduct) 11:52. CIN: Legge (slashing)
11:52. CIN: Melrose (fighting, game
misconduct and gross misconduct-pulling
hair) 11:52. CIN: Ftorek (roughing)
11:52. NE: Inkpen (high sticking) 18:37. |
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2nd Period |
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CIN: Debol (Hislop, Maggs) 4:16. |
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NE: Selwood (tripping) 1:28. NE:
Antonovich (hooking) 13:40. CIN: Legge
(interference, unsportsmanlike conduct,
misconduct and game misconduct) 16:29. |
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3rd Period |
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CIN: Gartner (Messier) 10:43. |
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CIN: Norwich (hooking) 8:27. |
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| SHOTS ON GOAL |
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CIN |
5 |
9 |
8 |
- |
22 |
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NE |
7 |
4 |
7 |
- |
18 |
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GOALTENDER |
CIN: Liut |
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NE: Smith |
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| TIME OF
GAME |
N/A |
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ATTENDANCE |
6,858 |
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REFEREES |
Peter Moffat |
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World Hockey Association |
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| TEAMS |
W |
L |
T |
Pts |
GF |
GA |
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| New England |
18 |
9 |
6 |
42 |
149 |
118 |
| Quebec |
18 |
12 |
4 |
40 |
132 |
115 |
| Cincinnati |
15 |
17 |
4 |
34 |
130 |
133 |
| Edmonton |
16 |
15 |
0 |
32 |
119 |
113 |
| Winnipeg |
14 |
13 |
4 |
32 |
133 |
116 |
| Birmingham |
14 |
17 |
3 |
31 |
120 |
133 |
| Indianapolis ^ |
5 |
18 |
2 |
12 |
78 |
130 |
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| ^ Disband |
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Stingers' Rookie Harpoons Whalers. |
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Cincinnati Enquirer by Terry Flynn |
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12-31-1978 |
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"We don't seem to get our dander up until we
play a first-place club," a jovial coach Floyd
Smith said after his Cincinnati Stingers knocked
off the New England Whalers, 2-1, before 6858 at
Riverfront Coliseum.
The Stingers, after yielding the first goal of
the game, gave the Whalers more defense than
they could handle to blank the New Englanders
for 40 minutes.
Rookie winger Mike Gartner pumped home the game
winner at 10:43 of the third period, taking the
puck from a successful draw by 17-year-old
center Mark Messier.
From that point the Stingers stopped New England
at the blue line, preventing the Whalers from
challenging goalie Mike Liut seriously for the
remainder of the game. The Whalers took just 18
shots on goal, compared to 22 for the Stingers.
"It was a solid game all around," Smith said.
"We kept skating all night. Mike (Liut) played
well. He didn't get a lot of shots but he did
the job when he had to."
Defenseman Bryon Baltimore, who played one of
his best games as a Stinger, admitted "the start
of the game was theirs (Whalers). But gradually,
as the game progressed, we took over. By the end
were just outskating them."
Gartner, who picked up his 17th goal of the
season, said he was especially happy about the
victory coming just as the Stingers take a full
week off for the World Hockey Association
all-star break.
"This takes a lot of pressure off everybody,"
Gartner said. "When we come back we can put a
couple of good games together and be right back
where we were at the start of the season."
Smith's recent edict decision of threatening his
players with a fine if found them in any of the
downtown Cincinnati bars seemed to have paid
off.
"I told them they could start socializing when
there were back at .500," The Stingers coach
explained. "This isn't a country club. And
tonight we went out and played a strong hockey
game."
The Whalers, fresh from a 5-0 shutout over the
Birmingham Bulls, played the first period in
typical road fashion-methodical, defensive
hockey. When the Stingers made a mistake New
England capitalized.
That situation presented itself early as the
Whalers pressured Cincinnati around the Stinger
net.
Gordie Roberts finally knocked a loose puck into
the net from about three feet as the Stinger
scrambled everywhere except right in front of
the net. Goalie Mike Liut didn't have much of a
chance.
The Stingers and Whalers have had their share of
fights since the season started, and Saturday
night was no exception. Barry Legge and Andre
Lacroix went at each other with their sticks,
which fired up Barry Melrose and Alan Hangsleben
who dropped the gloves.
Before the players were separated Robbie Ftorek
and Rick Ley also had a brief encounter. When
the penalties were handed out Ley drew an extra
two minutes but the Stingers couldn't do
anything with the power play.
Actually, Cincinnati was hurt much more by the
fracas because Melrose was ejected from the game
with a game misconduct and gross misconduct for
pulling Hangsleben's hair. Melrose has handled
most of the hitting for the Stingers and they
definitely needed his muscle on the ice. The
Stingers were unable to mount any kind of
offense, even on the power play, and finished
the period with just five shots on goal compared
to seven for the Whalers.
The Stingers lost another defenseman in the
second period, missed on two power play
opportunities and amazingly left the ice after
40 minutes wiuth a 1-1 tie.
Dave Debol provided Cincinnati with the
second-period goal with some nice individual
effort. The rookie center carried the puck in
front center ice, avoided a pair of Whaler
checks and then beat goalie Al Smith with a high
shot from a tough angle in the near circle at
4:16.
The score could easily have been 3-1 as both
Debol and Jamie Hislop missed wide-open chances
right in front of the New England goal. |
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