The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 21

SECTION 3 21 MON, NOV. 1, 1976 WEEKEND SPORTS REVIEW fhero STANDINGS Eastern Ceifentee GKII ball in the end zone after L. J. Clayton fumbled Lui Passaglia's booming punt, the first half would have ended in a tie. "But you know, it was those penalties that killed us," insisted Murphy later.

Three were especially costly Cavness got caught swinging at MuMer to set up a field goal by Zenon Henry Sovio forgot to go on the field and the Lions were called for too few men on the line of scrimmage to nullify a 47-yard field goal by Passaglia and Baker was nailed for facemasking on Lumsden's go-ahead touchdown drive. But there was more to it than that. Strickland, who cracked the barrier on his first carry, finished with just 24 yards and Rick Cassata was continually victimized by his receivers as he completed just 14 of 37 passes. Only John Sciarra and Larry Sherrer seemed interested. The multi-talented Sciarra, bothered by a sore ankle and a bad shoulder, grabbed four passes for 53 yards.

Healthy, he'd have had six. And Sherrer, replacing the ailing Lou Harris, picked up 56 yards on eight carries. "I was a little rusty," Sherrer grinned, "and I was sucking air at the end. But it didn't feel too bad." It was his first full game in almost two years and if he'd needed one, that would have been a good excuse. But it was the rest who needed excuses and didn't have any.

END ZONE Cassata was cut for four stitches on the bridge of his nose when clotheslined by Argo defensive tackle Granny Liggins, named the club's most valuable player before the game, in the second quarter was knocked senseless and had a tooth cracked by an Argo fist Passaglia, whose 52-yard at- tempt was blocked following his disallowed 47-yard field goal, had four points to give him 119 on the season and break Ted Gerela's 1968 club record of 115 Receiver Cornelius Greene packed his bags and headed home Friday but could be back at training camp next year. (Summary Pg. 23) By WAYNE PARRISH TORONTO "Dust to dust, ashes to ashes and mediocrity to mediocrity," the epitaph will proclaim. It took 15 games but B.C. Lions settled comfortably back into their own little Canadian Football League niche over the weekend.

After fighting so hard for it, fourth-place in the Western Football Conference is finally theirs. God knows they earned it. Oh, they kept people confused early on with a few wins, a new image and a new sales campaign. They also had the new names. It just took a while to realize there was no new talent to go with them.

If ever there was a football team that dug its own hole, stepped in and begged to be covered over, this was it. Their gritty perseverance' finally payed off before fans at Exhibition Stadium (nee CNE) Saturday as they convincingly dropped a 25-16 decision to Toronto Argonauts that eliminated them from the playoff picture. It wasn't easy, mind you. It took character to overcome all the obstacles that kept getting in the Lions' way. First, they had to surmount the five turnovers the Argonauts committed in the first half.

Then they had to contend with all the breaks that kept going their way. And the biggest obstacle of all was that 16-7 halftime lead. But with practised ease, the Lions overcame. Bill Baker, who should still be in the running for one and possibly two Schenley categories after they announce the finalists Tuesday, said it best. "In that second half," he suggested charitably, "we'd have screwed up a one-car funeral." He was talking mainly about the defence, the gang that people spent all season drooling over and writing press releases about.

It wasn't great Saturday. It hasn't been for at least half a season. Maybe it never was. "You sometimes have to make sacrifices in certain places," admitted head coach Cal Murphy afterwards. Faced at the start of the season with an offence that couldn't score points against the Ladies Auxiliary, he sacrificed on defence by WW 7 "in CC A Ottawa Toronto Hamilton Montreal Saskatchewan Edmonton Winnipeg B.C.

Calgary I 394 320 19 1 275 331 15 0 246 334 14 1 279 256 13 Western Cenfetnee 15 10 16 15 9 8 0 394 207 20 I 311 367 19 6 0 361 299 18 8 2 201 313 12 15 5 15 2 11 I 265 409 6 going with six Canadians. It was a calculated gamble and, despite all the noise to the contrary, Murphy seems to have lost. "They always seem to let down on the big play," he shrugs hopelessly. Neil Lumsden, a rookie running back and a Canadian at that, discovered that Saturday as he rushed for 75 yards and the go-ahead touchdown. So did Matthew Reed, the mammoth 230-pound quarterback who rambled for 111 yards on just 11 carries.

And Peter Muller was postively chuckling at the coverage he had to contend with as he hauled in five passes. And John Harvey, well He was the guy who made it official midway through the fourth quarter, scampering 72 yards on a screen pass from Reed after first being cornered by three Lions and then cunningly falling down. "I didn't want to take a shot at him and maybe miss him," recalled safety Grady Cavness, who appeared to have Harvey penned in at the Argo 40. "I was going to wait and try to turn him inside. He's quick as a cat and I was afraid he would just get back up and go." Harvey did just that, taking the Lions' dying hopes with him.

But it was over long before that. The Argos, led by Anthony Davis' pair, fumbled four times in the first half, were intercepted once by Joe Fouqurean in the end zone and had everything else go wrong only to emerge trailing just 16-7. Having marched 70 yards on 10 plays for Mike Strickland's three-yard touchdown plunge, the Lions promptly went into their prevent offence that has been so effective all season. If it hadn't been for offensive tackle Paul Brock alertly falling on the by two points. The Bombers were under some pressure late in the game with the score 20-13.

but Tom Scott's 58-yard pass reception with 1:12 remaining set up 12-yard Bernie Ruoff field goal and salted away the victory. Ruoff also scored field goals of 24 and 27 yards while Scott hauled in a 22-yard strike from quarterback Ralph Brock and Jay Washington broke loose for a 68-yard run in the third quarter for Winnipeg's two majors. Sfampeders surprise Gfnn Boglo photo POKING PUCK past Atlanta goalie Dan Bouchard, goal in 3-3 NHL tie at Pacific Coliseum Saturday. Vancouver Canucks rookie Andy Spruce scores first Goal was his second in as many games. the Hammer lose Canucks STANDINGS Division One A NY Islanders I I '2 40 25 18 Philadelphia 12 7 3 2 45 33 16 Atlanta 13 5 6 2 40 50 12 NY Rangers Division Two 13 5 7 1 52 52 11 Chicago 13 7 5 1 46 36 15 St.Louis 12 7 5 0 41 46 14 Minnesota 12 4 7 1 34 54 9 Vancouver 12 4 7 I 32 50 9 Colorado Division Three 12 3 8 1 31 38 7 Boston 12 9 3 0 50 38 18 Buffalo 10 5 1 29 25 11 Toronto 11 3 5 3 41 44 9 Cleveland Division Four 10 3 5 2 32 31 8 Montreal 13 9 3 1 66 29 19 Los Angeles 13 7 8 3 51 35 17 Pittsburgh 12 2 6 4 34 56 8 Detroit 11 3 7 33 37 7 Washington 10 2 6 2 26 44 6 Calgary Stampeders, given up for dead midway through the Canadian Football League season, were dressed up as lively cadavers on Halloween afternoon.

Defensive end Bob Martin rambled 36 yards for a touchdown with a recovered fumble Sunday to start the Stamps on the way to a 36-28 victory over Edmonton Eskimos that left the Esks in danger of finishing the season in third place in the Western Conference. Edmonton was in front 11-0 and quarterback Bruce Lemmerman had the Eskimos rolling again when he was blind-sided by linebacker Tom Higgins on a pass play. The ball popped free and Martin, a 242-pound rookie from University of Washington, picked it up in full stride. The play enabled the Calgary offensive team to settle down and quarterback John Hufnagel threw three touchdown passes as the Stampeders dominated the remainder of the game. It was Calgary's second victory of the season and comes one week after they tied B.C.

Lions 31-31. Elsewhere in the CFL Sunday afternoon, the unpredictable Hamilton Tiger -Cats defeated Ottawa Rough Riders 25-6 on a rain-slicked field in Ottawa and Winnipeg Blue Bombers took a menacing step towards second place in the west when they defeated Montreal Alouettes 23-13 in Winnipeg. Bouncing back from a 48-10 drubbing from the same Rough Riders just one week ago, Hamilton moved to within one point of second-place Toronto Argonauts with their victory. Hamilton's power-runner Jimmy Edwards, nearing the rushing mark, scored on one-yard and eight-yard runs and Terry Evanshen caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jimmy Jones. Riders, who clinched first place with last week's win, managed only two Gerry Organ field goals as quarterbacks Tom Clements and Condredge Holloway were running for their lives most of the afternoon.

Winnipeg's victory moved the Blue Bombers to within one point of Edmonton. But the Eskimos have no more games while Winnipeg plays the B.C. Lions in Vancouver next Saturday. Blue Bombers could also finish in first place, if they can beat the Lions while first-place Saskatchewan loses to the resurgent Stampeders. Saskatchewan currently leads Winnipeg Togo aggregate winner DAKAR, Senegal (Reuter) Senegal and Togo played to a 1-1 tie in a first-round World Cup soccer match Sunday but Togo was awarded the win 2-1 on aggregate to advance to second-round competition.

again Sonny Wade hit Brock Aynsley with a 30-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter and Don Sweet completed Montreal's scoring with field goals from the 29 and 11-yard lines. Although the clubs put 36 points on the scoreboard it was a game controlled mostly by the defences. Neither club put together a sustained offensive drive. The touchdowns were scored ori sudden explosions during brief defensive lapses. (Summaries Pg.

23) Wirephoto laugh By ABV OLSON Much of their clout (virtually all of it?) likely won't be available tonight when the Vancouver Canucks host one of the National Hockey League's most physical teams. They'll have to awaken from their slumber of Saturday afternoon and turn into aggressors tonight if they care to be competitive with the scrappy New York Islanders, who also happen to be one of the NHL's best teams. And the Canucks must be prepared to retaliate against the Islanders without their Hammer, namely Harold Snepsts. Snepsts, one of the few Canucks who's keen about hitting people, was on crutches with a severe charley hdrse yesterday while his team-mates were practicing and goodness knows, they need it The Canucks have lost only one of their last five games though their dismayed boss, Phil Maloney, described Saturday's 3-3 tie with Atlanta "just like a loss." Added the perplexed Malo-, ney after the dreadfully dull affair: "If we were any good at all, we wouldn't be struggling. Not against a team (Atlanta) that has only one point out of their last 10, a team we handled in their own rink a week ago." Maloney is perplexed by the failure of several of his players to get involved in the games.

"Some of them seem glassy-eyed sitting on the bench and in a daze on the ice." Snepsts; the defenceman who only knows how to play all-out, is an extremely doubtful starter tonight, according to team trainer Pat Dunn. "If he plays it will be something of a miracle," said Dunn, who spent much of yesterday treating Snepsts' bruised right thigh. "But it wouldn't surprise me if he did play." Snepsts hurt himself, typically, mere seconds before the final buzzer. He crashed into Atlanta's Curt Bennett at the corner boards in the Vancouver end and had to be helped off the ice. during a goal-mouth scramble.

As he jammed it in, he took a vicious stick-check across the head from Pat Quinn. He has a wound over his left eyebrow to show for it. Significantly, it was Vancouver's first power-play goal in 20 attempts and only the team's fifth this season. Later, that same power-play was to backfire as the Flames tied it while playing short-handed. Captain Chris Oddleifson, easily the best of the Canucks, made it 2-0 with his fourth goal in four games before Ken Houston beat Ridley with a perfect shot off the right goalpost.

John Gould converted Oddleifson's precise pass to the slot for a 3-1 lead almost 14 minutes into the second period and the Flames seemed extinguished. But Barry Gibbs rekindled the Flames three minutes later with a long point shot that Ridley never saw. He was completely screened as Gibbs' lew shot went, through the legs of defence-man Dave Fortier, standing in front of his goalie. Atlanta defenceman Richard Mul-hern's equalizer early in the third "should never have happened," lamented Maloney. It happened five seconds after Bob Dailey left the penalty box, giving the Canucks the man advantage.

Mulhern was permitted, by Gould at the right point, to carry the puck out of his own end, creating a two-on-one break against Dennis Kearns. Kearns played it perfectly, but Mulhern's cen-! tring pass struck the Vancouver de-fenceman's skate and the puck ca- romed behind Ridley. Before Mulhern's breakout, Gould had turned to leave the ice and was caught flat-footed as Mulhern skated by. "You don't come off the ice, or even think of it, when the play Is coming toward you," Maloney said angrily. "One of the players on our bench had yelled at Gould.

Damn it, the players aren't coaching this team. I am." (Summary Pg. 26) division eight games Sunday night when they clobbered Minnesota North Stars 9-1. "I'm going to be very brief," he said. "I don't like to reflect on other teams.

"If you're asking me if we're back in form, I could never tell you on a game like this. There's no way to evaluate how good we played." It's not the first time the Flyers, who have six wins and two ties in their eight-game streak, have run into weak opposi- Last week the Flyers were complaining that Pittsburgh made it too easy for them after they blanked the Penguins 3-0. Defenceman Joe Watson argued that night It was "Hit 'em Harry's" seventh recorded hit of the afternoon. His teammates managed to make 13 others, combined. "Look what we let that kid Shand do," Maloney growled.

"He comes here all the way from Nova Scotia for his first NHL game and he owns our guys. He goes from end to end of the rink with the puck and no one touches him." De- fenceman Dave Shand was Atlanta's first amateur draft pick, from Peterborough, the first-round choice the Flames received from Vancouver in exchange for goalie Curt Ridley last win-, ter. Ridley couldn't be faulted on any of the three shots that beat him as the Flames overcame a two-goal deficit, which wasn't difficult to accomplish. This was a scrambly, tedious game in which there were 88 faceoffs, about 25 more than the average. No wonder it took almost two hours and 45 minutes to complete.

Rookie Andy Spruce opened the scoring with his second goal in as many games and he paid for it. Spruce, whose first NHL goal came into an empty net against Cleveland Thursday, poked the puck behind Dan Bouchard he struck Vancouver Canucks' Chris Oddleifson while wearing a cast. Watson, Dan Maloney and Dennis Polo-nich of Detroit and Darcy Rota of Chicago all received game misconducts as the game deteriorated into a series of brawls. The Black Hawks went on to beat the Red Wings 4-1 and Sunday night they subdued the stubborn Washington Capitals 5-4 to move in front of St. Louis Blues in Division Two.

The Hawks aren't the the hottest team in the league, however. That distinction belongs to the Philadelphia Flyers even though coach Fred Shero isn't sure Just how good they really are. The Flyers ran their unbeaten streak to ATOP Ottawa's Jeff Turcotte, Hamilton Tiger-Cat Lewis Porter pauses on way to helping Ti-Cats to 25-6 CFL win Sunday. Black Hawks take lead bu? it hurts fro Chicago Black Hawks are wired to first place in Division Two of the National Hockey League, and their defenceman Keith Magnuson has his jaw wired shut. Magnuson suffered a broken jaw Satur- i (I day nignt wnen ne was puncneu uy tcuuu the Flyers "might have been in trouble" against a good team.

The North Stars were a tonic for captain Bobby Clarke of the Flyers, who almost doubled his points total for the season with two goals and four assists. He had only eight points before Sunday night. In Sunday's other NHL games, Buffalo Sabres defeated Boston Bruins 4-1, and Detroit Red Wings nipped New York Rangers 6-5. On Saturday, Boston edged Montreal 4-3, Toronto Maple Leafs trimmed Minnesota 5-1, New York Rangers tied Pittsburgh 2-2, Philadelphia tied New York Islanders 3-3, Atlanta Flames tied Vancouver Canucks 3- 3, St. Louis Blues topped Colorado Rockies 3-1 and Los Angeles Kings shaded Cleveland Barons 4-3.

Buffalo defenceman Jocelyn Guev-remont scored his first two goals of the season, leading the Sabres over Boston and ending the Bruins' four-game winning streak. Andre Savard and Lee Fogolin scored Buffalo's other goals. Gary Doak had the Boston goal. Dick Redmond scored on a 45-foot slap shot, following a faceoff midway in the final period, and lifted Chicago over Washington. J.P.

Leblanc's 15-foot backhander with 20 seconds remaining gave Detroit its tri umph over the Rangers just 17 seconds after New York's Rod Gilbert scored from 20 feet to tie the score 5-5. It was the low point of the season for the Rangers, whose coach John Ferguson threw up his hands in disgust at the team's fifth loss in seven home games. "It's awful hard to take," he said. "To i give it away like that seconds after tying it. I had my three best checkers out there." It was Detroit's third victory all recorded by the veteran Glacomin, who exactly one year ago was sold to the Red Wings by the Rangers for $30,000.

(Summaries Pg.26) Red Wings' Bryan Watson, wno nas oeen suspended indefinitely by league president Clarence Campbell. Campbell will review films of the game before announcing Watson's fate. The incident started when Magnuson high-sticked Detroit's Mike Bloom. As Magnuson skated away, Watson charged him with fists flying. Ironically, Magnuson was on the delivering end of another broken Jaw during the 1974-75 season when.