The Coast's Crazy Dreamers

A Flyer-King series would match Philadelphia's vastly superior defense against L.A.'s "strong offense. It would also test the Flyers' fine young goalies, Bernie Parent and Doug Favell, against Sawchuk and possibly Rutledge. When Parent-played in Boston there were rumors that he was not at his best under pressure. Favell may turn out to be the better clutch player, but he too is inexperienced in playoffs. The Flyers are a better team than the Kings, and they are young enough to expect years of high finishes in the West. But they may not be good enough to handle the Kings this spring.

The Montreal Canadiens, easy winners of the East Division, are logical favorites to win the cup. Team leader Jean Beliveau had one of his finest years at the age of 36; Worsley, 38, teamed with Rogatien Vachon, 22, to win the Vezina Trophy for the best goaltending.

Boston, however, can upset the Canadiens. The Bruins are bigger and stronger, and they are angry. They realize that a blunder by a goal judge in their 5-4 defeat by New York last week may have cost them not only a goal they deserved but also second place in the standings—and a much easier playoff matchup with Chicago. The Bruins have proved a point to themselves by staying in contention despite an injury to Bobby Orr, the 20-year-old defense-man who was thought to be irreplaceable. "Of course we missed Bobby," says Coach Harry Sinden. "Nobody really replaces a guy like him. But we got great effort from everyone else on the club. Now these guys know they're good—even without Bobby." With Orr back for the playoffs, the Bruins feel they can win, and they will if they hit the Canadiens' fast skaters before they can get going—and if Goalie Gerry Cheevers, another unknown playoff quantity, has a good series.

The well-balanced Rangers managed to finish second despite the scoring collapse of their two stars, Rod Gilbert and Jean Ratelle, in the final dozen games. This feat alone makes New York a solid choice over the Black Hawks, who would drop right out of the league if their two stars, Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, ever stopped scoring. Mikita is one of the most dogged competitors in the game, and he alone could spark the Hawks to an upset. If Hull should go on a sudden streak, he too could carry the team. But, as usual, the Hawks seem to be asking too much of their leaders. They should lose to the Rangers while Phil Esposito and Fred Stanfield, two key men they traded away, help Boston beat Montreal—and then New York.

Finally, in May, long after an ice-hockey season should be over, the East winner will finish what everyone expects to be an anticlimactic rout of the West champion. But if it doesn't turn out that way, the finals will be dramatic indeed. The new teams won 40 and tied 18 of the 144 interdivision games and were seldom embarrassed by lopsided losses. The Kings, of course, are the most dramatic example of how wrong many people were about the expansion clubs. "Now," says Cooke, "if we can just win the Stanley Cup, we'll be the biggest sports story of the year." He paused, perhaps realizing how incredible the idea sounded, and concluded: "And even if we don't win it, we're already the biggest story in hockey."