by Alain Bouchard/THE SUN 12 AUGUST 1975
Medo Martinello took a big breath of air, swallowed his impulses and said, his voice very low: “Let me cool for a minute, please …”
He was able to display this legendary courtesy to which he accustomed the journalists, but the effort he had to impose made him practically pull the veins out of the skin. Because it was hard to swallow, this one!
After holding the all-powerful Long Island Tomahawks at a score of 18-18 until the 59th minute, the Caribou finally lost 19-18 in a battle so late last night in the Coliseum.
“We made stupid mistakes in the third, and we mostly had stupid penalties,” said Martinello a few minutes later behind his desk, “it’s so hard to come back against this club …”
Because his men had paid a dazzling return of five goals to lift a crowd that had virtually lost all hope, the beginning of the last third, when the visitors took the lead by 17-13. Four points against Long Island, last trap, it’s all an expedition, believe it!
Photo courtesy of Tom Wersderfer
Not tired enough….
The coach of the locals did not hide, before the game, he expected a little on the fatigue of the Tomahawks, following their dueling breathless the day before, in Montreal. And indeed, they were!
But their trainer Morley Kells has drawn all the energies still available. Between the periods, he brought them outside, in order to forget for a few minutes this suffocante heat of the Colisee. After the second, it was curious to see Kells sermon his world in the pouring rain.
“Of course we were tired of our game against the Quebecers,” said Kells, “but it’s in my head that my guys were tired!”
Thanks to this victory, his troops took a serious option on the calendar championship while the Caribous will now envi-sager each fight as a sword of Damocles. Because this satan fourth rank is likely to be ferociously quarreled, by the end.
Photo courtesy of Tom Wersderfer
All sails out…..
It was especially at half-time, when Martinello replaced Larry Smeltzer by Rick Palla in the net, that the match took on the air of saving-can-can.
And in the third, the two clans gave him an absolutely dizzying allure, the two guards indulging in a duel of gambades in enemy territory and the escapes succedant escaped. Palla, in fact, was the one who allowed the Caribous to level the score at 18-18, with all sorts of magical stops from the third to the 18th minute of the final commitment. He could not, unfortunately, stop Jim Johnston, during his fatal irruption of the end of the match. This Johnston, in fact, was his third net of the period, after having been silenced for 40 minutes.
Serious failures sped up all the time, but the muscle finally did less damage than the first minutes had suggested, while the manager Al Lewthaite immediately went out of his way. The Caribous, on this score, had the skin somewhat harsher than the Quebecers the day before, in Montreal, when this brute of Lewthaite began to ring the bells, in third.
The only casualties of the match were Dave Wilfong, of the Tomahawks, to whom Glen Mueller quickly passed the taste of the escapades by casting him in the clouds in the first, and Rick Bisson, of the Caribous, who received the baton of a rival in the face, second. After regaining his senses, Wilfong was left for a few stitches above the eye, while Bisson returned immediately to action.
For the Caribous, Pat Differ scored two goals and served three assists while Bruce Murdock scored twice and provided five assists.
BRIC-A-BRAC:
Brian Evans and Travis Cook both scored their 50th goal of the season, while Dave Durante added his total points to 168 … Message from singer Yves Albert to the penons concerned: if you ever repeat the the experience of presenting a little song in the middle of the floor, between the periods, extinguish the lights and point a reflector on the artist … Albert, whose presence was attached to Chan-t’aoUt, said that Apart from that, everything had been ok … The 2,687 spectators were all ga correct, too, until the Tomahwaks scored their 19th goal.