The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 28

28 THE VANCOUVER SUN: JUNE 1977 Milford favors Pulford for coaching post Jim KEARNEY ant who is compatible," said Milford, who last season hired Boh Nevin to assist Pulford with the Kings. Nevin played with Pulford in Toronto and played for him the season before last in Los Angeles. Nevin, whom Milford said Pulford considers a shrewd hockey man, now is also unemployed. Milford also said that the European scene will have to be explored. "I saw very little of the Canucks last season and I was disappointed in the lack of production of one or two players," contributed the Charlottetown native who grew up in Winnipeg.

"As soon as I'm settled I'll be calling in the players still here and talking with them. Perhaps they don't like it here. "This is a tough business. As they say, we're hired to be fired," said Milford, his hair starkly white against a bronzed, round face. "When I was playing in the minor pro leagues with Springfield, Eddie Shore traded me to Buffalo for a couple of used Art Ross nets.

"You have to run a hockey club with your head and not your heart." If Pulford is to be lured here, the bait Milford probably will have to dangle is his (Milford's) own new job, eventually. "Bobby has told me he wants to be a general manager and a coach. If Pullie could get a dual job now (there's one available in Chicago) he'd go that way now. "If I don't come up with a contending team in two years here, I expect to get the same treatment (fired). That's why I took only a two-year contract; they had offered me a longer contract when I was first approached a couple of months ago.

At that time I told them I was tied up until Sept. 1 because of my contract with Mr. Cooke and I didn't hear from Mr. Hughes (Canucks president Bill Hughes) again until Friday." Milford said Kurtenbach definitely will be considered for the vacancy. "I know Kurt, from my Ranger days.

He's a winner and he's proven he's a leader," said Milford of Kurtenbach. Milford also said he will recommend that the new coach hire an assistant and that he plans to expand the scouting staff. "I believe every coach needs an assist ByARV OLSON John Calverley (Jake) Milford, who was once traded for two used hockey nets, swapped his sunglasses for an umbrella Tuesday He moved from Los Angeles to Vancouver. Milford officially signed a contract to manage Vancouver Canucks for the next two National Hockey League seasons, and his first order of business will be to meet his new employees. "I won't be cleaning house," said the 60-year-old Milford, who resigned last Thursday as g.m.

of Los Angeles Kings. "I'll be talking to the whole staff in the next two days. I won't be rehiring or firing anyone for what's been done in the past. "I don't even know what Pope's (Larry Popein) duties exactly are. And I don't even know who the scouts are." Milford also doesn't know who will be the coach of the Canucks next season, though he said he will be approaching both Bob Pulford and Orland Kurtenbach, among others.

Popein, Vancouver's director of player personnel, formerly coached under Mil ford in the New York Rangers' organization (Omaha) and has one year remaining on a contract with the Canucks. Milford indicated Popein likely will be retained, what with the NHL annual amateur draft only two weeks away and the Canucks with the fourth and 22nd choices. "I have a pretty good idea of the talent available," said Milford. "But I've been concentrating on the players who figure to go in the later rounds. The Kings (specifically owner Jack Kent Cooke) have long since traded away their early picks.

"I won't make a coaching decision until at least after the meetings or I may hold off until June 29, when Bobby becomes available," said Milford. "There's still a possibility that he will be free before then." Pulford resigned as coach of the Kings a day after Milford quit, but his contract with Cooke is binding until June 30. "Pulford is my first choice," Milford admitted. "We worked well together (in Los Angeles) for four years. We openly discussed the players, the system and he accepted my recommendations for improvements in certain areas." SOVIET SKATING JUDGES BANNED FOR 'PARTIALITY' not impressed blitzing 76ers caUs from on high.

And gulping stomach pills. He was more than ready to move. IN THIS RESPECT ownership participation in the actual running of the hockey operations he should find life in Vancouver much happier. Indeed, had Canucks owner Frank Griffiths or team president Bill Hughes stuck his nose in a year ago to order the coaching and managing jobs split in two, Maloney might still be running the team. They left the decision to him and he didn't make it until after the season started and the team was going badly.

The record did improve after Orland Kurtenbach was brought up in December. Had they played as well all season as they did for Kurt for half a season, they'd have made the playoffs and might even have led the Sweathog Division. In which case it would still be the same faces at the same stand. Not until after the annual NHL meetings next week will we know how many new faces there will be at 100 North Renfrew Street. But already, three things are readily apparent.

The coaching and managing jobs will be separated torevermore, or for as long as Griffiths and Hughes are the head knocks. Secondly, if Jake can land him, Bob Pulford will be the Canucks' next coach. Thirdly, Milford has full authority and fully carries the can as well in all hockey operations. THAT LAST ONE will be a somewhat novel experience for the new boss. He certainly didn't have full authority at LA.

Previously to that, when he spent eight years running minor league franchises in St. Paul and Omaha for New York Rangers, the big decisions were made at the head office in Madison Square Garden. And for seven years before that, when he was in charge of the New York-affiliated junior club at Brandon, he also managed the rink and ran a cattle ranch on the side. So, this will be his first fulltime, full authority job in hockey. But even rising 61 (July 29), he thinks young, is in the best of health and doesn't lack energy.

There are other good signs. He doesn't believe in personnel cleanouts. He plans to talk to all the Canucks players this summer. He and Larry Popein are old friends. Popein coached for him in Omaha and likely will be a vital Hnk for him here.

He believes in the use of assistant coaches. (Fred Shero is another guy who coached for him). He plans to scout European hockey and use Europeans if they can help. And he has a record of success. With Pulford, he helped turn the Kings into a respectable team.

In eight Central League seasons, his teams won four championships. Like many in his position (Sam Pollock, Bill Torrey, Punch Imlach, Cliff Fletcher, Jim Gregory, he never played a game in the NHL. But as a minor league player, he once made hockey history. Eddie Shore traded him from Springfield to Buffalo in the early 1950s for two sets of used Art Ross nets. He got the message on that occasion, too.

It was time to get into coaching or managing. Which he did. And now he's here. For John Calverley Milford one of the fringe benefits of moving fron Los Angeles to Vancouver is that once more, after a four-year hiatus, he can resume using his knickname of Jake. Actually, Jake is a contraction of Shaky Jake, the name by which he was widely known during his playing days in the 1930s and 1940s when he toiled in minor league arenas from Lethbridge to Wembley, from Cleveland to Dallas.

But it is not, as you may think, a commentary on his skating. The full title was Shaky Jake, the Ballroom Fake. During his three pre-war seasons in the English National League, he Spent as much time dancing up a storm in the Hammersmith Palais as he did on the ice at the Wembley Pool. His team-mates made him pay for his obsession with ballroom dancing. They imposed that title on him.

Jake is the only part that remains. And for his four seasons as the Los Angeles Kings' general manager, he was denied even that by the team owner and one of the world's great egos Jack Kent Cooke. When Milford went to work for him in 1973, Cooke told him Jake was a terrible name and really not in keeping with an organiza-tion bearing the name Kings. Didn't he have a better name? "When I was a boy," Milford replied, "the family always called me Jack." "You can't use that," Cooke ordered. "There is only one Jack me.

From now on we'll call you John." And John it was until last Thursday, when he met Cooke at what he calls the OK Corral, for a showdown in which the Kings' owner relented on an earlier decision not to accept a previous Milford request to seek employment elsewhere. He was free, not only to goelsewhere, but once more to become Jake, the name by which he has been known for most of his 60 years. THE REASON HE QUIT before the September expiry date in his contract was not to replace Phil Maloney with the Canucks, but because Cooke made a trade earlier in the week Ab DeMareo to Atlanta for Randy Manery without consulting with or even telling Milford about it. The only person he made privy to the deal was Jake's assistant, George Magulre. Milford detected a message there.

Indeed, he had been detecting the message for most of the season. The phone calls from the OK Corral, the name the Kings' employees have given Cooke's Las Vegas mansion, increasingly were for Maguire, not for George's boss. Thus the earlier request for his freedom. Cooke has lived in Vegas ever since his wife launched a divorce suit more than a year ago. Nevada has no community property law.

California has. As a result, Cooke now runs his team by telephone. The way he avoids setting foot in California, one would think the place is radioactive. As another result, one of Milford's tasks this past season during all Kings' home games was to sit in Cooke's private box, next to the special red phone, fielding Blazers despite PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) Blazermania may be sweeping the city of Portland, but all is calm inside the young basketball team's locker room.

"I'm not impressed," said a grim-faced Maurice Lucas after the Trail Blazers had routed Philadelphia 76ers 130-98 Tuesday night to knot their National Basketball Association championship series at two games apiece. "I won't be impressed PARIS (AP) Soviet judges have been banned for a year from officiating in world and European competition because of "repeated national partiality," the International Skating Union reported today. The union's president, Jacques Favart, said the decision was made Saturday at a meeting of the executive council here. "The Russians took it very badly, of course," Favart said. "We don't exactly know yet what their official reaction will be." The action came under an organization bylaw which allows suspension of a nation's judges if there were negative reports on partiality for a period of years.

Such negative reports had been made on Soviets over the last four years, Favart said. The ban involves the world championships in Ottawa, the world junior championships in Megeve, France and the European championships in Strasbourg, France. is not significant," cautioned Portland coach Jack Ramsay. "It's just a victory. We're now in a three-game series and two of the games are on Philadelphia's court." If the Blazers weren't impressed by their own awesome show of basketball strength Tuesday night, the 76ers were.

"Every time they touched the ball it went in," sighed Philadelphia's Dar-ryl Dawkins. "We were blitzed." The Blazers hit nine of their first 10 shots, ripped open a 19-4 lead five minutes into the game, and Philadelphia never got any closer than 11 points after that. It appeared Philadelphia would get a chance to make a run at the Blazers when Portland's Bill Walton drew his fifth foul and left the game with 7:02 left in the third quarter and the 76ers trailing 71-57. But substitute centre Lloyd Neal came in and played magnificently. "I knew I had to get the rebounds and play good defence," said Neal, who had 11 rebounds in 22 minutes of play.

The game became even more lopsided. Ramsay emptied the bench, but it did not matter. The lead widened to 41 points, 126-85, with 1:51 left in the game. The final 32-point margin tied for third on the list of most lopsided NBA championship round games. Only Boston Celtics beat anybody worse, routing St.

Louis 129-95 in 1961 and Los Angeles 129-96 in 1964. The other 32-point margin also belonged to the Celtics, 142-110 over the Lakers in 1964. Julius Erving, who left the game with four fouls in the third quarter and played only sparingly after that, hit seven of 14 from the field and led the 76ers with 24 points. "It's depressing," Erving said. "Our offence went from bad to worse." INDOOR US, SMALL, SHORT, TALL LEONARD FRIESEN MEN'S WEAR VALUES TO $180 NOW $125 IN THREE PIECE SUITS 36 to If short, regular, toll SPORT COATS NOW $59 siza 48 and ow, 10 tnrtro, LEONARD FRIESEN MENS WEAR 1 5078 Guildford 58 1 -8722 TENNIS Now Accepting Additional Memberships No hourly court fee Phone 533-1841 3652 216th Langley swallowfiefd tennis sports club until we win the final game," the 6'9" Portland forward said.

"I'm not excited, just ready." "I can think of a lot better games we've played," Lucas assured disbelieving reporters. "It's just that it means more in a championship series." Lucas and his teammates had everything their way in the game. Guard Lionel Hollins, who hit just four of 17 shots in the third game of the series, made nine of 16 Tuesday and led all scorers with 25 points. Lucas added 24 points and 12 rebounds. And both sat out most of the final quarter as the subs blew the Sixers off the court.

"The margin of victory Royals take golf title North Shore champion Handsworth Royals won Ex-King coach swamped by offers of NHL jobs III Vi WmU WPP Pa? TORONTO (CP) Bob Pulford, who quit last week as coach of Los Angeles Kings, is being wooed by at least four and maybe "a half dozen" other National Hockey League teams, his agent, Al Eagleson, is saying. The Toronto lawyer, executive director of the NHL Players' Association, said today in a telephone interview from Bermuda where the association is holding its annual meetings, that Pulford "will weigh the hockey offers he receives and if the correct deal hasn't been offered by Aug. 1, he'll be out of hockey for a year." There have been persisting rumors in recent weeks, even while Pulford was still employed by the Kings, that Vancouver Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Black Hawks and Toronto were interested in his services. More recently, Pulford has been mentioned as a possible coaching successor to Floyd Smith, fired last week by Buffalo Sabres. "I've had some feelers from other members of the Sabres organization about Pulford but I haven't talked with Punch Im-lach (Sabres' general manager)," Eagleson confirmed.

"But Punch is the guy who counts in that organization." Eagleson also said "No real progress had yet been made in the merger The association has virtual veto power over any possible merger agreement with the World Hockey Association. Eagleson added that "it appears doubtful that the situation would be resolved by the time the NHL governors meet next week." The NHL's merger committee is to make its report then, but without the players' consent, no formal action could take place. NOTES A WHA official refused Tuesday to comment on the reported signing by Birmingham Bulls of 18-year-old Ken Linseman an under-age player and its possible effect on any merger. Linseman, of Kingston Canadians of the Ontario Major Junior League, was reported Monday to have been signed in February by Birmingham owner John Bassett. The WHA and NHL had taken a hands-off approach to signing players with junior eligibility remaining New York Rangers have announced the signing of Swedish goalie Hardy Astroem.

Astroem, a standout with the Swedish team in last fall's Canada Cup series, saw little action in the recent world championship Washington Capitals picked up centre Doug Gibson on waivers from Boston Bruins. Gibson, 23, had 41 goals and 56 assists last season with Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League. the Vancouver and District high school golf championship with a 4-2 win over Point Grey Greyhounds in match play Wednesday at Richmond Country Club. Royals' Brian Eccleston had a four-over-par 76, the day's lowest individual score. Brian Casper (82), Lindsay Beggs (82) and Jay Prepchuck (84) made up the rest of the Royals' foursome.

The Royals and Greyhounds will compete with 19 other teams in the B.C. high school golf championships on Sunday and Monday in Kelowna. Meanwhile, in Vancouver high school volleyball, host John Oliver won the bantam boys' title, defeating Windermere 11-15, 15-10, 15-11, 15-10. At Eric Hamber, John Oliver and Eric Hamber won their juvenile boys' semi-final matches. Hamber defeated Gladstone 15-12, 15-5 and John Oliver downed Charles Tupper 16-14, 15-7.

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Koentges said in a statement that approval for the move had come from the WCHL governors, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States. He said the Billings team will be named the Bighorns and will play home games at the Yellowstone Metra. the third-largest arena in the 12-team league. MMTGAGC MALIK ASSOCIATION OF IX will hold dinner and btnincn meeting at the Point Grey Golf Country Club, Thunder, June 2, 1977, at 6 p.m. MR.

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