Week Of Disgrace On The Ice

If the sport had ever suffered a more damaging or disgraceful week, no one could recall it. The playoffs were in full swing, taut championship hockey was being played. Then suddenly the headlines began to shout "assault," "savagery," "hospital." The glare of the spotlight was once again on concussed brains, bloodied faces, court charges. There were stiff suspensions and heavy fines. In a word, violence was back in postseason form, on the ice and in the stands. The Canadian authorities who chose to haul four players into court were plainly telling hockey that if it could not keep order in its own house, the forces of criminal justice would not hesitate to intervene.

As it happened, three of the four arrested players were Philadelphia Flyers, members of the NHL team that had made intimidation fashionable. They were arraigned in Toronto on charges of assault and carrying "offensive weapons"—hockey sticks—during a brawl-smudged game Thursday night in Maple Leaf Gardens. Marc Tardif, the outstanding wing of the Quebec Nordiques and the top scorer of the World Hockey Association with 71 goals and 77 assists, was restricted to "the lightest activity" by his physician after suffering a severe concussion the previous Sunday in a game with the Calgary Cowboys. Tardif will be sidelined for the rest of the playoffs—and perhaps for life. Rick Jodzio, the Cowboy wing who knocked Tardif down and pummeled him even as the Quebecer lay unconscious, or close to it, from the impact of his head hitting the ice, must appear in a Quebec City court next month to defend himself on assault charges. He and the Cowboy coach and general manager, Joe Crozier, were suspended indefinitely at the insistence of the Nordiques, the latter for not keeping his players under control. Quebec Coach Jean-Guy Gendron was suspended for one game for loss of control, and WHA vice-president Bud Poile resigned after the Nordiques demanded that he be dismissed. But at week's end Clarence Campbell, the NHL president, had taken no official action in the Philly- Toronto affair nor had he so much as uttered an official comment. The Flyers who were arrested were permitted to go on playing.

Because the aggressive brand of hockey practiced by the Flyers has won two Stanley Cups, because other teams have adopted similar tactics and because no word of sufficient strength has come down from above to restrain the bully boys, the sport has been asking for the trouble it is getting.

Just last year the Boston Bruins' Dave Forbes was charged with assault in Minnesota after a fight in which the right eye of the North Stars' Henry Boucha was damaged. Forbes' trial ended in a hung jury and the charges were dropped. In June, Dan Maloney of the Red Wings is scheduled to go on trial in Toronto on a charge of assaulting the Maple Leafs' Brian Glennie, having allegedly slammed his head on the ice repeatedly, causing a severe concussion. Violence has become such a part of the sport that Forbes' lawyer was prepared to use "temporary insanity" as a defense, to argue that that state is a natural condition of players in a game.

Be that as it may, Thursday's Philadelphia- Toronto game displayed anything but the normal give-and-take of hockey. The Flyers led two games to none in the best-of-seven quarterfinal series. Soon they were getting the worst of it on the scoreboard, ultimately losing 5-4. The game more resembled hand-to-hand combat than championship hockey. It took 3� hours to play—a debacle of high-sticking, elbowing, fist-fighting, tripping and cross-checking. No fewer than 42 penalties were meted out, an NHL playoff-record 28 to the Flyers. Referee Dave Newell resorted to pad and pencil to keep it all straight.

But Toronto had plenty of shame to share with Philadelphia. Believing that they, too, needed more muscle this season to cope with the tough trend, the Leafs had acquired rookie Kurt Walker, 21, essentially to be an enforcer.

The ugliness began in the first period of the Leafs-Flyers game with Walker punching Flyer heavyweight Dave Schultz. Ironically, Walker was thrown out of the game not for fighting but for spitting at Schultz; Newell assessed a "gross misconduct" penalty. Fans began throwing coins and sailing popcorn boxes onto the ice, the players and Philly Coach Fred Shero.

Halfway through the second period the rink erupted anew. Flyer Don Saleski, a right wing of modest ability but handy fists, was in the penalty box for hooking Jim McKenny. As he turned toward the Maple Leaf fans behind him, a nearby guard grabbed his stick but Saleski wrestled it away. At that point Flyer Defenseman Joe Watson and the rest of the Philly bench came across the ice to give Saleski any support he might need. As the players milled about, Watson swung his stick over the glass, striking Constable Art Malloy on the shoulder, narrowly missing his head. "That was a mistake," said Watson. "I was trying to hit the fan who was bugging Don."

The fan, one Donald Griffin, apparently did yell something at Saleski. In the penalty box was a bucket of ice cubes in which spare pucks were kept properly cold. Saleski threw a handful of cubes at the fan. Saleski later claimed that the fan then spit at him. But Griffin contends that he "picked up an ice cube and threw it back. It hit him [Saleski] in the back of the head and then they all came charging. There was no spitting."

At 17:29 of the second period Toronto's Borje Salming, an enormously talented Swedish-born defenseman who candidly says he can't fight and thinks fighting should be no part of hockey anyway, was pounced on by the Flyers' Mel Bridgman and severely beaten. Perhaps Salming's contempt for fighting as well as his excellent defensive play had enraged the Flyers. At one point three of them were belaboring him. He emerged with a bruised and bleeding face.