By DAVE SHOIHET
It was hard to believe, but Ernie Mitchell, peering out of one eye, was walking around the wide-open spaces of the Paul Sauve Arena yesterday, while his Quebecois teammates prepared for the oncoming charge of Quebec Caribous at the Forum tonight.
Mitchell, was hit on the eye by a ball unleashed by Stan Cox of Boston during the last two minutes of play Tuesday night.
Mitchell was taken to Montreal General Hospital after the game, and x-rays today revealed a fracture behind the eyeball.
“When x-rays were first taken,” Mitchell said, “nothing showed up. Then, I went to an eye specialist and he sent me back for more x-rays. This time they showed the fracture.”
Mitchell said he had double vision in the injured eye, but still maintained that if it cleared up by gametime he’d play.
Meanwhile, Ernie has been scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning to correct his eyesight.
“If I can’t play tonight, there’s still a chance I’ll play Sunday night in the second game … that’s providing the double vision goes away,” Mitchell went on.
One thing is certain . .. Dave Evans will NOT play tonight. Evans, Montreal’s other member of the one-two goaltending punch, has his right hand in a cast.
“The nature of the injury has not as yet been determined,” Evans was saying. “If I have to play, I guess I will. The only thing is I can only grip the stick with two fingers.’’
“There’s no chance that Evans will play Thursday,” said general manager-coach Jim Bishop, after running his club through a brisk, two-hour drill.
“We’ve asked the league for help and they’ve offered us a choice of three goaltenders … I didn’t request any of them.”
The league offered Grant Bryck of Philadelphia Wings, Gary Van Schagen of Long Island and Glen Little of Maryland. Bishop can take any one of these three to start tonight.
“There was nothing in the rule book to cover this situation,” said NLL publicity director Larry Riley. “We had to go to the National Hockey League to see what they do in a situation such as this.”
Riley said that the NHL rule book says that a team must go to its top minor-league club to get help, however, in the pro lacrosse league, none of the teams have developed a minor-league system.
“So the next thing was to go to each team and pick its third-string goalie and offer them to Montreal. And that’s what we did, with, of course, the approval of the Caribous,” Riley explained.
Montreal were 5-0 against the Caribous during the season at the Forum and 1-4 in Quebec.
Forum brass eyes boxla franchise:
Don’t be surprised to see the Montreal Quebecois in the hands of the Canadian Arena Company next season.
According to Irving Grundman, a director of the Canadian Arena Company, a decision on the matter will be made following the National Lacrosse League finals between Quebecois and Quebec City Caribous which open tonight at the Forum.
“All I can say at the moment,” Grundman said yesterday when contacted by The Star on the matter, “is that we would like to see what happens during the finals. We want to see the fans’ reactions to the series both here and in Quebec City before we make a decision. In other words, we want to take a serious look at the situation.”
What if the series is a success at the gate and Grundman likes what he sees?
“I really can’t commit myself at this time. It will all depend on the decision of the Forum board of directors; but I must add that I’m impressed with what I have seen of the game.”
Meanwhile, contrary to other reports, Quebecois will not be playing any games in the Paul Sauve Arena next season.
It is understood that while the Forum is being occupied during the Summer Olympics, Quebecois will play their home games in Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Vancouver.
