By Brian Handley - The Patriot Ledger - 8/21/1975
Photo courtesy of Tom Wersderfer
Jim Logan stood in a corner of the Boston Bolts’ locker room last night, sipped on a Coke and smiled at his team.
The 27-year-old coach was having trouble finding fault with his troops. He especially couldn’t complain about his first line, and he liked it that way.
“The second periods have been tough for us lately, but fortunately we’ve been able to dig deep in the third period and come up with them,” Logan said after his team’s second come-from-behind win. Last night it was 18-13 over the Maryland Arrows.
The win leaves the Bolts firmly in fourth place, four points up on Maryland and two points behind third place Montreal.
And, what about the first line?
Again it was the first line — Ivan Thompson, Stan Cox, Duffy McCarthy, Larry Bell and Joe McCrea — that did the bulk of the scoring. They accounted for 10 of the Bolts’ 18 goals.
“Well, they did have a few goals scored against them,” quipped Logan. “But, seriously, they have been playing super.
There’s so much talent there, I almost wish I could break them up and spread them over the whole team. It’s such a natural blend of talent, though, that we’re not going to touch them.”
Last night it was McCarthy that took the laurels for the line’s prowess. He was voted the Bolts’ MVP of the game.
“The line has been playing so well that any night somebody new can come along and pick it up. The other night it was Joey McCrea (he had seven goals in the Bolts’ 20-17 win Monday) and Ivan is always having good games,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said it “opened up” for him last night because Maryland was keying on Ivan Thompson to do all the scoring.
“I think we’re feared by the other teams,” McCarthy, who had two goals and two assists, said.
Thompson leads the line in scoring and is currently second in the National Lacrosse League. Thompson’s two goals and four assists gives him 199 points on the year.
“Two hundred would be nice,” Thompson smiled. “I knew it was in reach tonight, and I guess I was shooting for it, but I’m not disappointed.
“I think the fact that they were covering me so close helped us,” the Bolts’ rookie captain said.
“We have a good, well balanced line and it’s awesome what we can do when we have momentum. If the other team keys on me or Joey, guys like Duffy, Stan Cox or Dinger (Bell) always can be counted on to pick up a couple.”
Photo courtesy of Tom Wersderfer
The Bolts had a scare thrown to them last night. They jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Then an old friend, former Bolt goaltender Bob McCready came on for Maryland and they closed to 6-3 after the first period.
Maryland outscored Boston 6-4 in the second period and it took two straight by Brian Davidson, who had three on the night, and Bram Wilfong to salvage a 10-9 Bolt lead going into the final period.
The Bolts came alive to the 1,924 screaming Boston Garden crowd in the third period, though, scoring seven of the last eight goals of the game.
Thompson said the quick lead was more harm than good for the Bolts.
“We started out with the idea we were going to walk all over them and became complacent,” he said.
“That was a big win,” McCarthy enthused. “Maryland, Quebec and ourselves are fighting out for the playoffs and every game is like it were the playoffs.
“We’re all facing a must-win situation every night,” McCarthy said. “Tonight we came out up for it in the first, but then we sat on our lead and turned sour.
“If they played the whole game like they played the last two periods, it might have been a different outcome,” McCarthy said.
“We have to work harder,” Logan appraised. “The trouble is we know we can go out and win every night so we have the tendency to relax. We always play better when it’s close. Then nobody falls asleep and there’s not going to be anymore easy games to let that happen.”
Photo courtesy of Tom Wersderfer
“We’re only two points out of third place and not far out of second place either,” McCarthy said. “I hope we’re able to finish third, because that would mean we wouldn’t have to face Long Island (the league leaders) in the first round. If we draw Philadelphia or Montreal in the first round, I think we can handle them and have momentum going into the finals.
“Maybe if we brought a final into Boston the fans would start coming,” McCarthy said.
The Bolts are next in action Tuesday in Quebec. They have four games to go, one at home — next Thursday against Quebec.
“Next week could be the killer,” Thompson forecast. “We play three games in three nights and it’ll either make or break us.”
“I guess we just have to sit and watch the others beat each other this week and be ready next week,” offered goalie Ted Gernaey.
Members of the Quincy Arrows Box Lacrosse Club staged an exhibition game between the periods last night.
Bolt goals went to: Wilfong 2, Cox 2, McCarthy 2, Ivan and Brian Thompson 2, John Allen 2, McCrea 1, Bell 1 and Taki Vohalis 1. Brian Davidson had a hat trick.
