Norsemen square playoff series, Enough is enough on goon tactics, transcribed articles (Tonawanda News, 1976-03-26).pdf
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Title
Norsemen square playoff series, Enough is enough on goon tactics, transcribed articles (Tonawanda News, 1976-03-26).pdf
Description
By ED HELINSKI
NEWS Correspondent
Buffalo Norsemen Coach Guy Trottier termed it “super” while Johnstown center Bruce Boudreau called it simply “a lousy game.” Nevertheless both of them and 1,531 others at the Tonawanda Sports Center agreed that the Norsemen are still battling in the quarterfinals of the North American Hockey League playoffs.
With a rookie-filled lineup, which sees ten first-year pros on the Norsemen squad, the green and gold Norsemen remained alive Thursday night in the playoffs by scoring a hard-earned, come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Johnstown Jets.
Rookie Claude Noel’s goal with 7:36 remaining in the third period was the winner as he beat Jet goalie Louis Levasseur from in close. The victory, coupled with Noel’s heroics, deadlocked the best-of-five series at two apiece between the Norsemen and the defending Lockhart Cup champions.
“The guys played well,” said Trottier, who was serving his first of a two-game suspension. “The defensemen played well.”
The intenseness of play in the opening stanza showed the importance of the contest as referee Ron Fournier assessed a combined total of 75 minutes worth of penalties to both clubs. Included were five fighting penalties, three ten-minute misconducts and numerous other infractions.
The Jets took a 1-0 lead at the 11-second mark as captain Galen Head tallied his first of two goals on the evening. He later scored at the 14:01 mark of the second period to give the visitors a 2-0 lead.
But in a span of three-plus minutes later, the hosts knotted the score at 2-2 on a pair of power play tallies. Veteran Keke Mortson and rookie Billy Steele scored against Levasseur. It set the stage for the hectic final period and the winning goal.
After the Jets killed off a hooking penalty to Bill Reed, the Jets appeared to be safe, but Noel scooped up a loose puck to the right of Levasseur and sent a shot that just eluded the fallen backstop. The frustration under Levasseur’s mask couldn’t be seen.
The Norsemen travel to Johnstown for the fifth game of the series Saturday for the evening encounter. And as Trottier noted, “We’ve got to be really physical against them. They (Jets) like to dish it out, but they can’t take it.”
## JOHNSTOWN JETS 2, BUFFALO NORSEMEN 3
SCORING
1st Period
JHN Head (Gorton, Campigotto)..... 0:11
2nd Period
JHN Head (unassisted)............ 14:01
BUF Mortson (Gould, Andersen).... 15:07
BUF Steele (Mortson, Stanfield).. 18:10
3rd Period
BUF Noel (LaBelle, Crowley)...... 12:24
PENALTIES
1st Period
JHN Cardiff, interference........ 0:37
JHN Boudreau, roughing/fighting.. 3:03
BUF Crowley, roughing/fighting... 3:03
BUF Morin, roughing.............. 4:02
JHN Cardiff, roughing............ 4:02
JHN Tenesi, roughing............. 4:34
BUF Steele, roughing............. 4:34
BUF McConvey, roughing........... 6:03
JHN Birch, fighting.............. 9:00
BUF Lahey, roughing.............. 9:00
JHN Hanson, tripping............ 11:56
JHN Cardiff, misconduct......... 13:16
BUF Steele, misconduct.......... 13:16
JHN Tetreault, fighting/misconduct 17:27
BUF Lahey, fighting............. 17:27
2nd Period
JHN Levasseur, delay of game.... 15:00
JHN Tetreault, interference..... 17:39
3rd Period
BUF Morin, elbowing.............. 2:51
JHN Hanson, elbowing............. 8:58
JHN Reed, hooking............... 10:19
JHN Reed, tripping.............. 16:16
SHOTS ON GOAL
JHN 8 11 10 — 29
BUF 18 6 12 — 36
SCORING BY PERIOD
JHN 1 1 0 — 2
BUF 0 2 1 — 3
ATTENDANCE: 1,531
---
Enough is enough — on the ‘goon tactics’
Okay, enough is enough. All year long I have heard nothing but how bad the goon tactics are in the North American Hockey
Well, Thursday night at the Tonawanda Sports Center, these goon tactics hit home. I was punched in the head by Johnstown’s Steve Carlson as the players were walking off the ice after the Norsemen beat the Jets, 3-2, to even its best-of-five series at two games apiece.
I was at the game as a spectator, standing along the glass next to the Johnstown bench for the third period. When the game was over, I started to walk out, but had to wait by the door, where the players leave the ice, until the players had cleared the ice.
Standing behind me was Norseman Greg Neeld, who was sitting out the second game of a two game suspension and Dr. Dudley Turecki, the Norsemen owner, among other people.
As the Jets came off the ice, Vern Campigotto of the Jets yelled to Neeld, “Hey, you one-eyed (deleted), we are going to run you out of the building Saturday.”
After Neeld exchanged words with him, Steve Carlson came off the ice and tried to sucker-punch Neeld, but instead he caught me on the side of the head, sending my glasses flying.
As I bent over to look for my glasses, a crowd of Johnstown players surrounded me. Fearing for my life, I grabbed a stick and started backing up, until I reached the fourth stair leading to the press box.
Carlson, who was among a crowd of Jets looked up at me and said to come down and fight. Naturally, I didn’t.
In the meantime, Dave Hansen speared Neeld in the stomach, while standing there.
While North Tonawanda Police were being called to the Public Relations Director Gary Clark took me aside and told me to cool down and not to do anything rash.
Meanwhile, Norsemen officials were infuriated with referee Ron Fournier, who did not do anything to the Johnstown team.
“There is no justification for them to do that,” Norsemen Player-coach Guy Trottier told me after the incident. “(NAHL Commissioner Jack) Timmins told you that the other day when Neeld threw his stick in the stands and got a two game misconduct for it. Fournier didn’t even put anything in on the official sheet about this, but he has to make a report to Timmins about it in the morning. If they gave Neeld a suspension, they had better give one to Campigotto, Hansen and Carlson, too.”
“Timmins said Neeld was given a misconduct because the league wants to put a stop to this kind of thing and they want to keep it out of the courts. Well, Neeld was speared in the stomach, as a spectator at the game. He wants to press charges against Hansen, but will wait to see if the league does anything to Johnstown first.”
Timmins, who was at the game for two periods, was contacted at his North Tonawanda home after the incident. “I haven’t heard anything about it. I will see the report in the morning and make a decision then,” he said.
“This just goes to show you the inconsistency of this league,” an angry Norsemen General Manager Willie Marshall said. “I just hope some justice is done.”
“We are going to request some Police protection for Saturday’s game there,” Turecki said. “A lot of our fans are going up for the game and I wouldn’t want them or our team members injured by the people in Johnstown.”
As far as I am concerned, this is not hockey. Hockey is a fast-skating, good-checking game with a winner and a loser. If a team loses, it should accept the fact, not show its anger on the fans or threaten the other team about upcoming games.
Wednesday night when I was in Johnstown, I watched hundreds of people jam the corridor where the Norsemen passed. Those fans were yelling obscenities, throwing garbage and trying to fight several of the players, with Trottier being their main objective.
This is ridiculous and should be stopped.
If it means that I have to go to court to see some justice done, I will go to court. But, standing near me was a group of little kids, who witnessed this whole incident. What must go through a child’s mind when he sees something like this?
Scenes like this are one of the main reasons why little league hockey players try to play the tough guy and fight their opponent. Sure, a good clean fight is part of the game, but not nonsense brawls like these.
NEWS Correspondent
Buffalo Norsemen Coach Guy Trottier termed it “super” while Johnstown center Bruce Boudreau called it simply “a lousy game.” Nevertheless both of them and 1,531 others at the Tonawanda Sports Center agreed that the Norsemen are still battling in the quarterfinals of the North American Hockey League playoffs.
With a rookie-filled lineup, which sees ten first-year pros on the Norsemen squad, the green and gold Norsemen remained alive Thursday night in the playoffs by scoring a hard-earned, come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Johnstown Jets.
Rookie Claude Noel’s goal with 7:36 remaining in the third period was the winner as he beat Jet goalie Louis Levasseur from in close. The victory, coupled with Noel’s heroics, deadlocked the best-of-five series at two apiece between the Norsemen and the defending Lockhart Cup champions.
“The guys played well,” said Trottier, who was serving his first of a two-game suspension. “The defensemen played well.”
The intenseness of play in the opening stanza showed the importance of the contest as referee Ron Fournier assessed a combined total of 75 minutes worth of penalties to both clubs. Included were five fighting penalties, three ten-minute misconducts and numerous other infractions.
The Jets took a 1-0 lead at the 11-second mark as captain Galen Head tallied his first of two goals on the evening. He later scored at the 14:01 mark of the second period to give the visitors a 2-0 lead.
But in a span of three-plus minutes later, the hosts knotted the score at 2-2 on a pair of power play tallies. Veteran Keke Mortson and rookie Billy Steele scored against Levasseur. It set the stage for the hectic final period and the winning goal.
After the Jets killed off a hooking penalty to Bill Reed, the Jets appeared to be safe, but Noel scooped up a loose puck to the right of Levasseur and sent a shot that just eluded the fallen backstop. The frustration under Levasseur’s mask couldn’t be seen.
The Norsemen travel to Johnstown for the fifth game of the series Saturday for the evening encounter. And as Trottier noted, “We’ve got to be really physical against them. They (Jets) like to dish it out, but they can’t take it.”
## JOHNSTOWN JETS 2, BUFFALO NORSEMEN 3
SCORING
1st Period
JHN Head (Gorton, Campigotto)..... 0:11
2nd Period
JHN Head (unassisted)............ 14:01
BUF Mortson (Gould, Andersen).... 15:07
BUF Steele (Mortson, Stanfield).. 18:10
3rd Period
BUF Noel (LaBelle, Crowley)...... 12:24
PENALTIES
1st Period
JHN Cardiff, interference........ 0:37
JHN Boudreau, roughing/fighting.. 3:03
BUF Crowley, roughing/fighting... 3:03
BUF Morin, roughing.............. 4:02
JHN Cardiff, roughing............ 4:02
JHN Tenesi, roughing............. 4:34
BUF Steele, roughing............. 4:34
BUF McConvey, roughing........... 6:03
JHN Birch, fighting.............. 9:00
BUF Lahey, roughing.............. 9:00
JHN Hanson, tripping............ 11:56
JHN Cardiff, misconduct......... 13:16
BUF Steele, misconduct.......... 13:16
JHN Tetreault, fighting/misconduct 17:27
BUF Lahey, fighting............. 17:27
2nd Period
JHN Levasseur, delay of game.... 15:00
JHN Tetreault, interference..... 17:39
3rd Period
BUF Morin, elbowing.............. 2:51
JHN Hanson, elbowing............. 8:58
JHN Reed, hooking............... 10:19
JHN Reed, tripping.............. 16:16
SHOTS ON GOAL
JHN 8 11 10 — 29
BUF 18 6 12 — 36
SCORING BY PERIOD
JHN 1 1 0 — 2
BUF 0 2 1 — 3
ATTENDANCE: 1,531
---
Enough is enough — on the ‘goon tactics’
Okay, enough is enough. All year long I have heard nothing but how bad the goon tactics are in the North American Hockey
Well, Thursday night at the Tonawanda Sports Center, these goon tactics hit home. I was punched in the head by Johnstown’s Steve Carlson as the players were walking off the ice after the Norsemen beat the Jets, 3-2, to even its best-of-five series at two games apiece.
I was at the game as a spectator, standing along the glass next to the Johnstown bench for the third period. When the game was over, I started to walk out, but had to wait by the door, where the players leave the ice, until the players had cleared the ice.
Standing behind me was Norseman Greg Neeld, who was sitting out the second game of a two game suspension and Dr. Dudley Turecki, the Norsemen owner, among other people.
As the Jets came off the ice, Vern Campigotto of the Jets yelled to Neeld, “Hey, you one-eyed (deleted), we are going to run you out of the building Saturday.”
After Neeld exchanged words with him, Steve Carlson came off the ice and tried to sucker-punch Neeld, but instead he caught me on the side of the head, sending my glasses flying.
As I bent over to look for my glasses, a crowd of Johnstown players surrounded me. Fearing for my life, I grabbed a stick and started backing up, until I reached the fourth stair leading to the press box.
Carlson, who was among a crowd of Jets looked up at me and said to come down and fight. Naturally, I didn’t.
In the meantime, Dave Hansen speared Neeld in the stomach, while standing there.
While North Tonawanda Police were being called to the Public Relations Director Gary Clark took me aside and told me to cool down and not to do anything rash.
Meanwhile, Norsemen officials were infuriated with referee Ron Fournier, who did not do anything to the Johnstown team.
“There is no justification for them to do that,” Norsemen Player-coach Guy Trottier told me after the incident. “(NAHL Commissioner Jack) Timmins told you that the other day when Neeld threw his stick in the stands and got a two game misconduct for it. Fournier didn’t even put anything in on the official sheet about this, but he has to make a report to Timmins about it in the morning. If they gave Neeld a suspension, they had better give one to Campigotto, Hansen and Carlson, too.”
“Timmins said Neeld was given a misconduct because the league wants to put a stop to this kind of thing and they want to keep it out of the courts. Well, Neeld was speared in the stomach, as a spectator at the game. He wants to press charges against Hansen, but will wait to see if the league does anything to Johnstown first.”
Timmins, who was at the game for two periods, was contacted at his North Tonawanda home after the incident. “I haven’t heard anything about it. I will see the report in the morning and make a decision then,” he said.
“This just goes to show you the inconsistency of this league,” an angry Norsemen General Manager Willie Marshall said. “I just hope some justice is done.”
“We are going to request some Police protection for Saturday’s game there,” Turecki said. “A lot of our fans are going up for the game and I wouldn’t want them or our team members injured by the people in Johnstown.”
As far as I am concerned, this is not hockey. Hockey is a fast-skating, good-checking game with a winner and a loser. If a team loses, it should accept the fact, not show its anger on the fans or threaten the other team about upcoming games.
Wednesday night when I was in Johnstown, I watched hundreds of people jam the corridor where the Norsemen passed. Those fans were yelling obscenities, throwing garbage and trying to fight several of the players, with Trottier being their main objective.
This is ridiculous and should be stopped.
If it means that I have to go to court to see some justice done, I will go to court. But, standing near me was a group of little kids, who witnessed this whole incident. What must go through a child’s mind when he sees something like this?
Scenes like this are one of the main reasons why little league hockey players try to play the tough guy and fight their opponent. Sure, a good clean fight is part of the game, but not nonsense brawls like these.
Date
1976-03-26
Collection
Citation
“Norsemen square playoff series, Enough is enough on goon tactics, transcribed articles (Tonawanda News, 1976-03-26).pdf,” North Tonawanda History, accessed April 7, 2026, https://nthistory.com/items/show/4475.