Player of the Game Hockey - NHL 1967/68, March 5th

Tuesday 5th March 1968
Duff (22) extends his goal scoring streak to three games and helps Montreal overcome falling behind three times to win in Los Angeles. First Flett (23) then Joyal (22) put the Kings ahead but the Canadiens came back both times on the powerplay through Rousseau (13). Flett (24) scored again, Joyal picking up his second assist as he passed fifty points on the night (22+30=52pts), but after the third game-tying goal Ferguson (10) scored the game winner four seconds from time as Montreal go unbeaten in six straight with a fourth win in a row. The Kings endure a  fourth loss in their last six games and remain two points out of a playoff spot.

		1st	2nd	3rd	F
MON	@	1	1	2	4
LAK		2	1	0	3

MON Worsley (18-12-6 .912) 18/21, Powerplay 3/6
LAK Rutledge (17-18-4 .894) 20/24, Powerplay 1/8

East Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts
Montreal Canadiens	63	36	19	8	80
Boston Bruins	63	33	22	8	74
Toronto Maple Leafs	61	33	21	7	73
Detroit Red Wings	61	29	23	9	67
Chicago Blackhawks	63	26	28	9	61
New York Rangers	62	24	26	12	60
West Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts
St Louis Blues	61	25	26	10	60
Philadelphia Flyers	62	26	29	7	59
Pittsburgh Penguins	61	23	27	11	57
Minnesota North Stars	62	21	27	14	56
Los Angeles Kings	62	23	31	8	54
Oakland Seals	63	15	35	13	43

Controlled Chaos - Firecracker Open Standings

Reggie Banks' victory in Daytona along with Billy Edgington finishing in nith place means there are just three drivers in the roster that have yet to reach a final: Bambi Rogers, Bill Malbrough and Tommy Miller. Malbrough is guaranteed to miss at least one more as his financial situation needs adjusting and will skip the trip to Little Rock in Arkansas in order to generate some better sponsership.

At the top end of the standings Will Thompson is another five points closer to Darryl Lozier after they finished fourth and seventh respectively, and Andy Bing's runner-up spot pushes him up into the top five. Finally, Will Murphy's first final in seven weeks saw him take sixth place, bumping him up above Norm Gibson who failed to qualify for the final.

Name	Pts	Derby Wins	Heat Wins
Darryl Lozier	129.5	3	2
Will Thompson	112.5	1	3
Scott Hutchens	101	1	2
Joe Ramage	101	1	1
Andy Bing	95	2	2
Jamie Eilers	88	2	2
Will Murphy	86		2
Norm Gibson	84.5	2	1
Ben Hadsell	73.5	1	3
Tom Gariepy	70.5	1
Leo May	70		3
Steven Redden	57.5		1
Rob Remaley	45.5		2
Ricky Grimes	44	1	2
John McCrory	38.8		1
Lynne Higgins	38		1
Chris Henton	36	1	1
Darrell Andresen	34		4
Matt Welliver	31.5	1	2
John Ruiz	29	1	2
Danny Krol	28		2
Bobby Gallagher	27		2
Dick Garrett	27		1
Sam Harbin	25
Randy Corson	23		2
Don Davis	23		2
Bob Alexander	22		2
Jason Ingle	20.5		2
Reggie Banks	20	1
Jess Yates	20		2
Charlie Clayton	18		1
Randy Tondreau	16
Timmy Barnes	11		1
Philip Ruffin	5
Kenny Rose	2		1
Ed Smith	2		1
Billy Edgington	2

Controlled Chaos - Firecracker Open Final

Firecracker Open - Daytona, FL
Final
Ben Hadsell, Will Murphy, Billy Edgington, Bob Alexander, Randy Tondreau, Darrell Andresen, Andy Bing, Will Thompson, John McCrory, Bobby Gallagher, Reggie Banks, Darryl Lozier

As an alternate driver Bobby Gallagher does not get many opportunities to impress and his first final in eleven weeks ended very quickly as he missed his intended target and the next thing he knew Reggie Banks' car was driving over his own. No injuries were sustained but heat two winner Gallagher (8th Valentine's Day Massacre, 3rd Wisconsin Invitational, 19th Idaho Invitational) is the first man out.

Runner-up to Gallagher in their heat Bob Alexander (6th Arizona Derby, 3rd Lobster Nationals, 9th Texas Nationals) went one better than his rival in the final but he goes pointless for the first time in his five finals, and Ben Hadsell's first appearance in three weeks ended with him in tenth place after Andresen and Bing hammered him into the barrier where he remained until counted out. Hadsell (1st Frostbite Winter Nationals, 3rd Tampa, tied-2nd Summer National Derby, 2nd Texas) will remain in ninth place in the standings at best.

Both men making their debuts in a final will score points with Billy Edgington going down in ninth place after double-tapping Alexander into submission before Will Murphy made hard contact. Eighth place goes to John McCrory who collects a sixth top ten finish in his even finals, a stall leading to his demise, and Darryl Lozier continues to slow down somewhat with a fourth place finish in Texas his best result through the last seven weeks that include two non-qualifications. The championship leader was stopped today by six hits as he battled with Murphy and Thompson.

After six rounds without a final Will Murphy is back to maintain his record of nine finals where he has finished no lower than sixth place and, after taking some heavy fire from the pack that led to a pair of brief stalls, continued on his way to chase Randy Tondreau until Bing came through with a shot he would not recover from.

Darrel Andresen's second top five finish this season comes after his fourth heat victory earlier in the event despite somehow losing track of an attacking Tondreau twice in less than a minute who caught him on the blindside; a feat he replicated with a pair of surprise hits of his own on the Canadian before and after the revenge assault.

The gap at the top closes a little more with Will Thompson improving upon Lozier's result in four out of the last six finals. To start the race Thompson went after the leader ,and would have to take some back from Lozier soon after, but was soon bouncing through the pack to go back and forth with McCrory before settling on Andy Bing with two hits, one a blindside, who had the last laugh by eliminating the second place man in the standings.

There would two surprises to come out of the final three starting with Randy Tondreau who before his fourth final appearance had a best result of sixth at the Tampa Open. His blindside exchanges with Andresen were a source of excitement for the crowd, but he was not afraid to mix it with the big guns either as he laid two hits on Thompson and happily went to war with Bing at the end.

Andy Bing would have been the clear favourite to take his second event victory of the season (Idaho Invitational) but instead had to settle for a second runner-up spot (Seattle Derby) that will still see him improve three places in the rankings to fifth. It was almost a disaster for Bing as his hit on Hadsell resulted in a small fire starting. The marshalls came out and after extinguishing the flames judged that the car was safe to continue, otherwise he would have finished in eleventh for back-to-back pointless finals. He then alternated between hitting Tondreau and taking revenge on Thompson for his blindside hit and was too slow to avoid the final hit of the day.

Without a final until Daytona Reggie Banks goes from zero to twenty (points that is) with a terrific victory where he had to come through the consolation heat to even be here. His confidence was high coming in but after his monster truck impression over Bobby Gallagher to start the final he just went from strength to strength not sticking around in one place for long. Alexander, Lozier twice, McCrory, Tondreau twice and Thompson all took punishment before he finished it off with a second hit on Andy Bing.

Race Result
1. Reggie Banks
2. Andy Bing
3. Randy Tondreau
4. Will Thompson
5. Darrell Andresen
6. Will Murphy
7. Darryl Lozier
8. John McCrory
9. Billy Edgington
10. Ben Hadsell
11. Bob Alexander
12. Bobby Gallagher

Player of the Game Hockey - NHL 1967/68, March 3rd

Sunday 3rd March 1968
A severe thrashing in Boston hands St Louis their seventh loss in a row as they go 1-8-1 in their last ten with their lone goal coming from B McCreary (21) as the final period's only goal. The Bruins, winning back-to-back games and returning to second spot in the East, scored seven times without reply through the first two frames with McKenzie (29) scoring twice and Shack (20) taking a hat trick. Bucyk's (34) goal came after a pair of assists; Esposito (27) the other goalscorer that helped chase Hall from his net for the Blues after allowing seven goals on forty shots in forty minutes.

After jumping out to a 2-0 lead through Howe (35) and Delvecchio (17), the Detroit Red Wings end up suffering defeat and have just two wins in their last seven. Cournoyer (28) got the Canadiens on the board before the first intermission, going on to assist on goals by Backstrom (17) and Duff (21) to turn the game around. The latter of these also had two helpers with Lamaire (17) nabbing an empty netter to round out his own mutli point night. Montreal remain four points clear of the B's with a game in hand as they go unbeaten in five straight with three straight victories.

In addition to being six points behind the Wings, Chicago have two wins in nine games and are just one point up on New York as the Rangers fall behind to a Mikita (36) and turn it into a 3-1 lead. Nevin (24), Ratelle (27) and Gilbert (25) had the Hawks on the ropes, but R Hull (32) pulled one back in the third period. Kurtenbach (8) sealed the win to give New York a season high six games without defeat, going 3-0-3.

Oakland have a single win in nine games after firing just twelve shots on Flyers' netminder Parent to earn him an easy second shutout this year. LaForge (5) scored at 10:33 of the first period on the powerplay and would later assist to round out his excellent performance. W Hicks (4), Angotti (14) and Hoekstra (15) scored the bonus goals in New York as their home Spectrum Arena was damaged in a recent storm causing Philadelphia to play out their remaining home games in other venues. The change of scene may help with the Flyers picking up their first win in seven games, third in thirteen, and are one point behind the St Louis Blues at the top of the West.

		1st	2nd	3rd	F
StL	@	0	0	1	1
BOS		3	4	0	7

StL Hall (17-17-7 .889) 33/40; Martin (8-9-3 .905) 8/8, Powerplay 0/0
BOS Cheevers (20-15-5 .896) 17/18, Powerplay 2/2

		1st	2nd	3rd	F
MON	@	1	0	3	4
DET		2	0	0	2

MON Vachon (18-7-2 .909) 28/30, Powerplay 0/1
DET Edwards (12-19-7 .892) 32/35, Powerplay 0/0

		1st	2nd	3rd	F
CHI	@	1	0	1	2
NYR		1	2	2	5

CHI D Dryden (5-15-1 .882) 28/33, Powerplay 0/0
NYR Giacomin (19-26-9 .890) 19/21, Powerplay 1/3

		1st	2nd	3rd	F
OAK	@	0	0	0	0
PHI		1	3	0	4

OAK Hodge (13-25-10 .894) 29/33, Powerplay 0/0
PHI Parent (17-19-5 .895) 12/12, Powerplay 1/1

East Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts
Montreal Canadiens	62	35	19	8	78
Boston Bruins	63	33	22	8	74
Toronto Maple Leafs	61	33	21	7	73
Detroit Red Wings	61	29	23	9	67
Chicago Blackhawks	63	26	28	9	61
New York Rangers	62	24	26	12	60
West Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts
St Louis Blues	61	25	26	10	60
Philadelphia Flyers	62	26	29	7	59
Pittsburgh Penguins	61	23	27	11	57
Minnesota North Stars	62	21	27	14	56
Los Angeles Kings	61	23	30	8	54
Oakland Seals	63	15	35	13	43

Controlled Chaos - Firecracker Open, Consolation Heat

Firecracker Open - Daytona, FL
Consolation Heat
Charlie Clayton, Tommy Miller, Billy Edgington, Bill Malbrough, Ed Smith, Jamie Eilers, Darryl Lozier, Lynne Higgins, Reggie Banks, Sam Harbin, Ricky Grimes, Timmy Barnes (DNS)

With Timmy Barnes unable to compete with a minor injury picked up in heat three the eleven entrant consolation heat was a seven minute dash for survival, and after qualifying for three finals in a row, where he picked up a season high fifth place at the Texas Nationals, Charlie Clayton misses out in back-to-back events after he stalled at the start.

Bill Malbrough gains no sympathy for failing to reach a final this season and was a popular target here taking four hits, two coming from fellow Canadian Darryl Lozier, and Ed Smith (11th Texas Nationals) finished in ninth place just ahead of Jamie Eilers who, after winning back-to-back events in the Summer Sizzler and Summer National Derby, has one final appearance (4th Louisana Invitational) in the next four rounds; both men stalling out.

Sam Harbin (2nd Arizona Derby, 6th Spring Fling Derby, 6th SidelineStrategy.com Derby) was shunted into the barriers by Reggie Banks and was unable to free himself, while Tommy Miller took a pair of early hits from Billy Edgington and Malbrough and that led to his vehicle slowing down until it stopped in sixth place.

Four-time fifth place finisher Lynne Higgins now has just one final in the last eleven weeks, a Reggie Banks hit on her blindside finishing the job he started, and the Louisiana Invitational winner Ricky Grimes (3rd Jersey Derby, 3rd Texas Nationals) struck five different cars before catching Banks admiring his hit on Higgins and then was guilty of doing the same as Lozier steamed in to decide the qualifiers.

After that lengthy injury to start the season thus competing for a limited time, Billy Edgington breaks his final duck by avoiding a lot of trouble - just three hits on him - and he ended up focused on one man much to the joy of those watching who had already qualified for the final, but those hoping championship leader Darryl Lozier would not make it to his fifteenth final were to be disappointed as he carved up Bill Malbrough and Ricky Grimes with two hits each, surviving a triple-shot from Edgington to boot.

Reggie Banks rounds out the final twelve and there are just three drivers remaining who have yet to qualify for a final but it was a heat full of stalls and stuck situations before he was caught out by Grimes and just survived thanks to Lozier's final act of the contest.

Race Result
Q. Billy Edgington
Q. Darryl Lozier
Q. Reggie Banks
4. Ricky Grimes
5. Lynne Higins
6. Tommy Miller
7. Sam Harbin
8. Jamie Eilers
9. Ed Smith
10. Bill Malbrough
11. Charlie Clayton
12. Timmy Banres (DNS)

Controlled Chaos - Firecracker Open, Heat Three

Firecracker Open - Daytona, FL
Heat Three
Tommy Miller, Will Thompson, Matt Welliver, Joe Ramage, Jason Ingle, Sam Harbin, Darrell Andresen, Billy Edgington, Will Murphy, John Ruiz, Dick Garrett, Timmy Barnes

John Ruiz (9th Arizona Derby, 8th Seattle Derby, 10th Jersey Derby) hits SidelineStrategy.com Derby winner Matt Welliver, who stalled at the start and failed to re-fire, before the Ides of March champion has Dick Garrett driver over the top of his car. The heat was halted to check on Ruiz but there were no injuries resulting from the spectacular elimination.

Joe Ramage, who picked up his fourth runner-up spot last week in just his second final out of eleven, joins Scott Hutchins on the sidelines for the remainder of the Firecracker Open as both men tied for third in the championship standings are dumped in their respective heats; Ramage's exit came with a bang into the wall, a whimper of a stall and and a shot by Will Thompson to put him out of his misery in tenth place.

Dick Garrett (6th Ides of March, 7th Wisconsin Invitational, 5th Seattle) has qualified for a single final in ten weeks now (7th Summer Sizzler) when eight-time finalist Jason Ingle double-tapped him as part of a pack who descended upon Garrett, but it was for naught when Ingle himself was denied a fourth final in five rounds when he was eliminated by a triple team of Thompson, Harbin and Andresen.

Timmy Barnes has two finals to his name all year with a twelfth (Spring Fling) and fourth (Big Apple Smash Up) place finish, and here in Daytona he was denied a chance at qualifying through the consolation heat when Will Murphy clobbered him and rolled his car. Barnes then left his vehicle holding his arm and, while it is a minor injury, he is done for the day.

Tommy Miller, the replacement driver for Rob Remaley, was dueling with Thompson before a stall finished him off in sixth, and Sam Harbin went to war against Darrell Andresen, getting revenge after both blinsdie hits he suffered from his nemesis. The final entrant into the eleven car consolation heat is Billy Edgington who laid eight hits on four drivers; four on Murphy, a pair each on Miller and Harbin, and a single effort on Barnes.

Half of the hits on Will Murphy came late on and they did the job but just not in a timely fashion as Edgington went down off a fourth consecutive hit by Andresen allowing Murphy to move on to his ninth final, first in seven rounds, after a heat-ending stall.

Will Thompson makes it fifteen finals in nineteen events and the man second in the standings hopes that Lozier will be unsuccessful in his bid to qualify out of the consolation heat. A blindside hit from Ingle distracted him and he took a shot on the opposite side from Harbin but still managed to come through both wars on top. A late stall prevented him from mixing it with his final opponent and when he did manage to re-fire he plowed straight into the wall.

That means a competition high fourth heat victory goes to Darrell Andresen as he hits back-to-back finals for the third time this year and his eighth appearance altogether. Not shy about who he struck in the beginning, Andresen began his obsession with Edgington, missing him on the second attempt at contact, before resuming his aimless attacks. But when the pack was down to five cars he returned to strike Edgington another four times, spending the final seconds getting into position for hits he never had to deliver with his remaining opponents exiting the field.

Race Result
1. Darrell Andresen
2. Will Thompson
3. Will Murphy
4. Billy Edgington
5. Sam Harbin
6. Tommy Miller
7. Timmy Barnes
8. Jason Ingle
9. Dick Garrett
10. Joe Ramage
11. Matt Welliver
12. John Ruiz

Player of the Game Hockey - NHL 1967/68, March 2nd

Saturday 2nd March 1968
G Tremblay (28) opened the game's scoring in Minnesota to give Montreal a lead less than two minutes into the game; H Richard (13) restored the lead in the first period after Collins (7) had equalised at 8:22. A scoreless second period saw Ferguson and Balon drop the gloves and the final frame brought goals from Redmond (7) and Duff (20) for the Canadiens as they go unbeaten in four, and the Stars added one more goal through Masterson (10) on the powerplay. Minnesota have gone six games without a win and have just two victories since January.

The Flyers and the Rangers are going in opposite directions down the stretch with Philadelphia winless in five, New York tie their longest unbeaten streak at five. Sutherland (21) gave the visitors an early lead at 1:49 before the Rangers took control until the third period; goals from Nevin (22), D Marshall (10) and Ratelle (26) turning the game into a 3-1 advantage for the hosts. Angotti (13) for the Flyers and Nevin (23) again, this time in an empty net, swap tallies in the final period.

Pittsburgh had a 3-0 lead going into the second period, Boivin (6), McDonald (13) and K McCreary (14) getting on the scoreboard, but two goals either side of the second intermission had Oakland in the drivers seat. Hicke (23) scored twice on unassisted breakaways with Cahan (9) and Burns (12) notching up powerplay efforts.The Penguins, who got three assists from Bathgate to take his helper total to thirty-two and points tally to fifty-two, were able to fight back with goals from Speer (2) and Dea (9) to give them a fifth straight victory, their second longest unbeaten run all year after starting the season 2-0-4, and they move up to tie their state rivals for second place in the West.

After a fourth game without losing Chicago are six points back of the last playoff place in the East but Detroit keep a firm hold of the position as they have two games in hand. St Louis took the lead in the middle period through W Rivers (4) but a penalty shot for R Hull (31) tied the game before the break. The Blues went on to lose their sixth in a row after Wharram (23) on the powerplay and Nesterenko (8) in the empty net, both assisted by Marotte, gave the Hawks both points.

Los Angeles' thirtieth loss of the season is their twentieth on the road as the Maple Leafs sweep them aside to move back into second place in the East with their first win in four. Conacher (9) and Walton (30), whose powerplay goal would prove to be the game winner, scored either side of the first intermission. Labossiere (18) pulled one back for the Kings but Ellis (26) and F Mahovlich (23) scored and assisted to seal the result in the third.

		1st	2nd	3rd	F
MON	@	2	0	2	4
MIN		1	0	1	2

MON Worsley (17-12-6 .913) 31/33, Powerplay 0/2
MIN Maniago (16-20-7 .897) 25/29, Powerplay 1/6

		1st	2nd	3rd	F
PHI	@	1	0	1	2
NYR		1	2	1	4

PHI Favell (9-10-2 .901) 25/28, Powerplay 0/0
NYR Giacomin (18-26-9 .890) 23/25, Powerplay 0/0

		1st	2nd	3rd	F
OAK	@	0	2	2	4
PIT		3	0	2	5

OAK G Smith (2-11-2 .890) 22/27, Powerplay 2/6
PIT Binkley (15-16-7 .908) 28/32, Powerplay 0/0

		1st	2nd	3rd	F
CHI	@	0	1	2	3
StL		0	1	0	1

CHI DeJordy (21-12-8 .896) 18/19, Powerplay 1/6
StL Martin (8-9-3 .903) 22/24, Powerplay 0/0

		1st	2nd	3rd	F
LAK	@	0	1	0	1
TOR		1	1	2	4

LAK Sawchuk (6-13-4 .890) 36/40, Powerplay 0/8
TOR Bower (21-11-4 .913) 18/19, Powerplay 2/4

East Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts
Montreal Canadiens	61	34	19	8	76
Toronto Maple Leafs	61	33	21	7	73
Boston Bruins	62	32	22	8	72
Detroit Red Wings	60	29	22	9	67
Chicago Blackhawks	62	26	27	9	61
New York Rangers	61	23	26	12	58
West Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts
St Louis Blues	60	25	25	10	60
Philadelphia Flyers	61	25	29	7	57
Pittsburgh Penguins	61	23	27	11	57
Minnesota North Stars	62	21	27	14	56
Los Angeles Kings	61	23	30	8	54
Oakland Seals	62	15	34	13	43

Controlled Chaos - Firecracker Open, Heat Two

Firecracker Open - Daytona, FL
Heat Two
Bobby Gallagher, Phillip Ruffin, Darryl Lozier, Ben Hadsell, Jamie Eilers, Ricky Grimes, Chris Henton, Tom Gariepy, Bob Alexander, Reggie Banks, Randy Corson, Leo May

The misery continues for Tom Gariepy (tied-2nd Valentine's Day Massacre, 5th Idaho Invitational, 5th Jersey Derby) as the Wisconsin Invitational champion fails to qualify for the final in a sixth straight event and has just an eleventh place finish to show in the last nine weeks; his exit came off an early blindside hit by Bob Alexander that vaulted him up over the barriers.

After making one final appearance in seven weeks (2nd Indy Nationals) Leo May enjoyed back-to-back finals (5th Louisiana Invitational, 8th SidelineStrategy.com Derby) but his resurgence hits a bump and he will stay outside of the top ten for at least another week. May took seven hits with Hadsell coming back for a second shot.

Five-time finalist Chris Henton has now only made a pair of final appearances in the last ten events (10th Summer Sizzler, 5th Summer National Derby) and the Spring Fling Derby winner left the action through a crippling stall, and right behind him was Randy Corson (5th Frostbite Winter Nationals, 5th Tampa Open, 8th Spring Fling) when he careened into the wall on back-to-back misses before he was finished off by Alexander.

Phillip Ruffin ((9th Ides of March, 8th Big Apple Smash Up) had hit Corson twice but a flurry of hits while he was stuck on a barrier cost him a place in the consolation heat where Ricky Grimes will compete despite taking just four hits he finishes in seventh place.

Reggie Banks went after Lozier twice early on and then, after a brief stall, took full advantage of Ruffin's predicament on the scenery, but he was too eager when he struck Ben Hadsell and the officials deemed it an illegal hit, disqualifying Banks in sixth place. Jamie Eilers and Darryl Lozier also make their way into the second chance battle with the former taking eight hits including two blindsides and four shots from Hadsell alone. Lozier was ultimately responsible for Eilers' elimination as he avoided a blindside hit that catapulted him into the wall, but then the championship leader resumed his assault on Hadsell for a total of four hits, eventually coming out second best himself.

The damage was done though and Ben Hadsell survived just long enough to qualify for his ninth final after missing the last two. Four hits on Eilers and a pair on May went a long way to help whittle down the pack size with only six hits in reply; Alexander's the finishing blow.

Bob Alexander then missed out on the heat victory but will be happy with a fifth final of the year, second in the last even rounds. Starting out rather indiscriminately Alexander returned to his first victim to eliminate Banks before going toe to toe with Bobby Gallagher who ultimately won the war and the heat.

Gallagher suffered with stalls through the heat, the third of which almost saw him counted out in fourth place. When on the move he was able to make strong contact on four drivers, including a return trip to Alexander's personal space, as the alternate driver wins his second heat of the year, qualifying for his first final appearance in eleven rounds.

Race Result
1. Bobby Gallagher
2. Bob Alexander
3. Ben Hadsell
4. Darryl Lozier
5. Jamie Eilers
6. Reggie Banks
7. Ricky Grimes
8. Phillip Ruffin
9. Randy Corson
10. Chris Henton
11. Leo May
12. Tom Gariepy

Controlled Chaos - Firecracker Open, Heat One

Firecracker Open - Daytona, FL
Heat One
Jess Yates, John McCrory, Charlie Clayton, Bill Malbrough, Andy Bing, Norm Gibson, Bambi Rogers, Ed Smith, Randy Tondreau, Lynne Higgins, Scott Hucthins, Danny Krol

After seven finals in eight rounds with two wins (Lobster Nationals, Texas Nationals), two runner-up spots and a third place finish, Norm Gibson is finally stopped. His early hit on Ed Smith resulted in a stall he could not recover from.

Next out of the contest was Danny Krol (8th Ides of March, 4th Jersey Derby, 3rd Summer Sizzler) who took just four hits before his exit including a shot from John McCrory that locked them together for a moment before Andy Bing's hit separated them.

Jess Yates (8th Arizona Derby, 7th Jersey, 4th Sizzler) was all over McCrory with three hits in as many minutes but was undone by seven from the pack, and Bambi Rogers made some bad decisions with the four collisions she initiated and finished in ninth place.

With nine finals to his name, including a run of seven in a row, the Seattle Derby winner Scott Hutchins blows his chance of chasing down Darryl Lozier from his joint-third position in the standings. Hutchins was eager to be involved laying out seven hits on five opponents, but three of the five hits against him came from McCrory with interest who had apparently caught some severe rampancy from Krol.

That means Charlie Clayton, Ed Smith, Bill Malbrough and Lynne Higgins all make their way into the consolation heat. Clayton had all the luck with two bad misses and a blindside hit from Bing putting him off stride as he went for Malbrough who in turn was stuck no less than three times, but only taking a few shots while vulnerable. Smith stalled out when the remaining pack descended upon him during a lengthy stall, and Higgins also suffered from an engine shutdown and was counted out prior to the man who finished in third.

Just barely making his way to his fourth final and first in nine events is Randy Tondreau. Stalling just after Higgins, Tondreau was another driver who rode his luck for all it was worth with a hit on his blindside by Malbrough and multiple misses. When he was mobile and making contact he preferred to challenge Yates and Smith, giving them two shots each.

John McCrory makes it back-to-back finals for the first time this season with a fourth appearance in seven weeks. After he was freed from his predicament with Krol, McCrory went full on against Hutchins before turning his attentions to Bing who stalled twice at the end but still managed to win his second heat of the year.

At the start of the race Andy Bing was immediately caught unawares by Rogers and this seemed to brush away any cobwebs he had coming into round nineteen as he went on to carve through the pack with nine hits, tying McCrory for most, including two on both Smith and McCrory.

Race Result
1. Andy Bing
2. John McCrory
3. Randy Tondreau
4. Lynne Higgins
5. Bill Malbrough
6. Ed Smith
7. Charlie Clayton
8. Scott Hutchins
9. Bambi Rogers
10. Jess Yates
11. Danny Krol
12. Norm Gibson

Player of the Game Hockey - NHL 1967/68, Season Stats

With one month left in the regular season and it's all to play for in terms of positioning. The Montreal Canadiens lead the way in the East after a fourth straight month with at least seven wins. This is thanks in no small part to their goaltending tandem of Worsley and Vachon, the latter of which going 5-0-1 with one of Montreal's three shutouts this month. Boston and Toronto are just two and three points behind respectively but the Bruins have played two more games than their rivals.

In the West, St Louis lost eight times through February, second most this season after the nine losses for Oakland (December) and Philadelphia (January), and the Blues need to break out of their five game losing streak quickly with only six points separating them from missing the playoffs altogether. The Flyers and North Stars, with number one netminder Maniago posting an .866 save percentage in February, also finished under .500 this month and, with Pittsburgh and Los Angeles bouncing back from their sub-par January, need to get going as five teams are fighting hard for four postseason spots.

Among the individual stats Toronto's Walton continues to cool off after a strong start to the year as he only picks up a pair of goals and six assists, and a ten goal haul this month for Mikita may not help Chicago get to the playoffs but he is just one goal behind Connelly of Minneosta for the scoring title. Boston own the assists column with the top three all belonging to the Bruins. The trio of Esposito - Bucyk - Stanfield have a combined one-hundred-and-thirteen helpers; thirty-three coming this month, with Bucyk and Esposito sitting atop the points standings.

October Stats
November Stats
December Stats
January Stats

East Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	GD	PP%	PK%	Home	Away	L10	Streak
Montreal Canadiens	60	33	19	8	74	200	140	60	23.08	85.57	23-5-3	10-14-5	5-3-2	Won 1
Boston Bruins	62	32	22	8	72	228	198	30	21.93	77.27	21-7-3	11-15-5	5-3-2	Won 1
Toronto Maple Leafs	60	32	21	7	71	177	143	34	16.84	80.71	21-7-2	11-14-5	4-4-2	Lost 2
Detroit Red Wings	60	29	22	9	67	225	203	22	21.81	86.00	16-9-7	13-13-2	5-1-4	Tied 1
Chicago Blackhawks	61	25	27	9	59	173	189	-16	20.69	81.54	12-15-3	13-12-6	4-3-3	Tied 1
New York Rangers	60	22	26	12	56	172	185	-13	23.39	79.57	10-10-8	12-16-4	4-3-3	Tied 3
West Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	GD	PP%	PK%	Home	Away	L10	Streak
St Louis Blues	59	25	24	10	60	169	179	-10	22.63	74.40	18-8-3	7-16-7	3-6-1	Lost 5
Philadelphia Flyers	60	25	28	7	57	163	177	-14	17.51	74.76	16-11-3	9-17-4	2-6-2	Lost 2
Minnesota North Stars	61	21	26	14	56	185	197	-12	19.54	83.59	13-7-9	8-19-5	2-5-3	Lost 1
Pittsburgh Penguins	60	22	27	11	55	150	164	-14	16.29	80.88	15-12-6	7-15-5	6-4-0	Won 4
Los Angeles Kings	60	23	29	8	54	175	199	-24	19.79	74.88	14-10-5	9-19-3	6-3-1	Won 2
Oakland Seals	61	15	33	13	43	150	193	-43	21.47	81.67	9-14-6	6-19-7	2-4-4	Won 1

	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb
Boston Bruins	3-3-1	9-1-3	6-7-1	7-6-1	7-5-2
Chicago Blackhawks	4-4-1	3-7-3	7-7-1	7-4-1	4-5-3
Detroit Red Wings	4-4-1	6-5-2	7-5-1	6-6-1	6-2-4
Los Angeles Kings	3-6-0	3-6-3	6-7-2	4-6-2	7-4-1
Minnesota North Stars	3-2-2	4-3-6	6-7-1	6-7-1	2-7-4
Montreal Canadiens	3-4-1	7-5-2	8-5-1	8-2-1	7-3-3
New York Rangers	5-4-0	3-5-3	5-6-4	5-6-1	4-5-4
Oakland Seals	3-5-1	4-7-3	2-9-2	3-7-3	3-5-4
Philadelphia Flyers	4-3-0	8-6-0	7-3-3	2-9-2	4-7-2
Pittsburgh Penguins	3-2-5	3-7-1	4-7-3	5-6-2	7-5-0
St Louis Blues	2-3-3	7-4-1	6-5-4	7-4-1	3-8-1
Toronto Maple Leafs	5-2-1	5-6-3	8-4-1	8-5-0	6-4-2

SKATERS
GOALS					ASSISTS					POINTS
Connelly	MIN	36	(4)		Esposito	BOS	40	(13)		Bucyk	BOS	70	(16)
Mikita	CHI	35	(10)		Bucyk	BOS	37	(9)		Esposito	BOS	66	(21)
Howe	DET	34	(8)		Stanfield	BOS	36	(11)		Howe	DET	66	(16)
Bucyk	BOS	33	(7)		Pilote	CHI	36	(9)		Mikita	CHI	66	(19)
R Hull	CHI	30	(7)		Gilbert	NYR	35	(7)		Walton	TOR	62	(8)
G Jarrett	DET	30	(6)		Wharram	CHI	35	(11)		Gilbert	NYR	59	(12)
Walton	TOR	29	(2)		T Hampson	DeOk	34	(12)		Wharram	CHI	57	(18)
Cullen	MIN	28	(7)		Walton	TOR	33	(6)		Cullen	MIN	56	(13)
McKenzie	BOS	27	(8)		Howe	DET	32	(8)		R Hull	CHI	55	(7)
Cournoyer	MON	27	(4)		Balon	MIN	32	(4)		Stanfield	BOS	53	(11)
G Tremblay	MON	27	(6)							G Tremblay	MON	53	(14)
										Connelly	MIN	53	(9)

PIMS					POWERPLAY GOALS					GAME WINNING GOALS
N Picard	StL	141	(29)		Cournoyer	MON	9	(0)		R Hull	CHI	7	(1)
Dornhoefer	PHI	138	(40)		Howe	DET	8	(2)		Esposito	BOS	6	(1)
K Douglas	DeOk	102	(10)		Hannigan	PHI	8	(1)		Ratelle	NYR	6	(2)
McKenzie	BOS	87	(18)		Melnyk	StL	8	(2)		Williams	BOS	6	(1)
White	LAK	84	(20)		B McCreary	StL	7	(0)		Ellis	TOR	5	(1)
Ferguson	MON	80	(16)		Selby	PHI	6	(2)		Lamaire	MON	5	(1)
Bergman	DET	80	(17)		Hicke	OAK	6	()		Howe	DET	4	(1)
T Pratt	OAK	78	(16)		Sabourin	StL	6	(1)		Hicke	OAK	4	(1)
Fleming	NYR	75	(8)		Esposito	BOS	6	(2)		Joyal	LAK	4	(1)
Green	BOS	72	(18)		Joyal	LAK	6	(1)		F Mahovlich	TOR	4	(2)
Flett	LAK	68	(17)		5 Others	NHL	6	(-)		3 Others	NHL	4	(-)
Kennedy	PHI	68	(7)

SHORTHANDED GOALS

Williams

BOS

2

Joyal

LAK

2

Konik

PIT

2

Dornhoefer

PHI

2

Robinson

LAK

2

Cournoyer

MON

1

Hadfield

NYR

1

Howell

NYR

1

Keenan

StL

1

Labossiere

LAK

1

Nineteen Others

NHL

1

GOALTENDERS
WINS				GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE						SAVE PERCENTAGE
Bower	20	TOR	(5)		Bower	TOR	2.23	(2.28)		Gamble	TOR	0.915	(.886)
DeJordy	20	CHI	(2)		Worsley	MON	2.24	(2.14)		Bower	TOR	0.913	(.917)
Cheevers	19	BOS	(4)		Gamble	TOR	2.44	(3.80)		Crozier	DET	0.912	(.917)
Giacomin	17	NYR	(2)		Vachon	MON	2.46	(1.83)		Worsley	MON	0.912	(.909)
Hall	17	StL	(2)		Favell	PHI	2.52	(3.33)		Binkley	PIT	0.909	(.897)
Rutledge	17	LAK	(4)		Bassen	PIT	2.55	(2.50)		Vachon	MON	0.908	(.930)
Vachon	17	MON	(4)		Binkley	PIT	2.62	(3.00)		Bassen	PIT	0.905	(.918)
Maniago	16	MIN	(2)		Martin	StL	2.68	(2.33)		Martin	StL	0.902	(.918)
Parent	16	PHI	(4)		Crozier	DET	2.84	(3.66)		Favell	PHI	0.901	(.897)
Worsley	16	MON	(3)		Rutledge	LAK	2.97	(2.85)		Maniago	MIN	0.898	(.866)