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Nov. 1, 1979 • Opening Day Edition

UHL Drops Puck on
Inaugural Season
Ulf Nilsson Scores First Goal; Minnesota Wins First Game

OCT 11 -- The United Hockey League got started tonight with a five-game slate, including the official league opener at the Montreal Forum. The Minnesota North Stars prevailed 4-2, with a goal and two assists from Rick Middleton. The Habs' Ulf Nilsson scored the new league's first goal on a power play goal eight minutes in, on an assist from Rajean Houle.

Montreal's Ulf Nilsson scored the UHL's first goal Oct. 11 in 4-2 loss to Minnesota.

Whalers Spout Off
Prolific Offense Lands Hartford in First

After the first month of the first UHL season, the Hartford Whalers occupy the top spot with 16 points from 10 games. Hartford is powered by the most productive offense in the league, averaging 5.3 goals per game and led by three of the top five points leaders. Doug Halward leads the league with 12 assists, while Mike Rogers (17 pts), Steve Payne (17), and Al MacAdam (16).

Hartford has won five straight after a 2-1-2 start. They have outscored their opponents 34-15 during the win streak, including a 7-3 win at Minnesota which featured six different goal scorers.

League Standings

G W L T Pts G GA GD
Hartford 10 7 1 2 16 53 29 24
Chicago 10 7 2 1 15 48 26 22
Vancouver 10 6 1 3 15 41 24 17
Boston 10 5 1 4 14 35 22 13
Detroit 10 4 3 3 11 36 32 4
Los Angeles 10 3 3 4 10 35 32 3

Minnesota 10 4 4 2 10 32 43 -11
Montreal 10 3 6 1 7 25 39 -14
Philadelphia 10 1 5 4 6 42 59 -17
Toronto 10 1 8 1 3 30 50 -20
New York 10 0 7 3 3 33 54 -21

League Leaders

CHI Darryl Sittler

CHI Pete Peeters

Points G G A Pt
Darryl Sittler CHI 10 8 10 18
Dave Taylor CHI 10 7 11 18
Mike Rogers HAR 10 7 10 17
Steve Payne HAR 10 6 11 17
Al MacAdam HAR 10 8 8 16
Marcel Dionne LA 10 7 7 14
Blair MacDonald BOS 10 9 5 14
Doug Halward HAR 10 2 12 14
Charlie Simmer PHI 10 7 7 14
Wayne Gretzky TOR 10 4 10 14

Goals Against Avg
GP GA GAA
Pete Peeters CHI 5 10 2.20
Glenn Resch VAN 7 17 2.50
Don Edwards BOS 7 18 2.58
Hardy Astrom CHI 6 15 2.77
Gerry Cheevers DET 6 17 2.85
Mike Liut HAR 8 23 2.88
Wayne Stephenson MON 8 26 3.59
Gilles Meloche LA 8 28 3.73
Tony Esposito MIN 10 38 4.30
Greg Millen TOR 5 17 5.00

Goals
Blair MacDonald BOS 9
Darryl Sittler CHI 8
Al MacAdam HAR 8
Blaine Stoughton VAN 7
Dave Taylor CHI 7
Don Lever PHI 7
Pierre Larouche CHI 7
Danny Gare PHI 7
Marcel Dionne LA 7
Mike Rogers HAR 7

Save Percentage
Pete Peeters CHI .924
Gerry Cheevers DET .910
Glenn Resch VAN .909
Hardy Astrom CHI .894
Don Edwards BOS .892
Mike Liut HAR .886
Tony Esposito MIN .882
W. Stephenson MON .877
Gilles Meloche LA .863

Assists
Doug Halward HAR 12
Steve Payne HAR 11
Dave Taylor CHI 11
Wayne Gretzky TOR 10
Mike Rogers HAR 10
Darryl Sittler CHI 10
Doug Wilson CHI 10
8 tied with 8

Power Play Goals
Mike Eaves HAR 4
Rheal Cloutier TOR 3
Morris Lukowich HAR 3
Blair MacDonald BOS 3
Dale McCourt MIN 3
Kent Nilsson VAN 3
Mike Rogers HAR 3
Bryan Trottier DET 3
Steve Vickers DET 3

Hat Tricks
Dennis Maruk BOS 1
Gilbert Perreault MIN 1
Darryl Sittler CHI 1
Behn Wilson VAN 1

MVP Race

Skaters GP G Ast Pts PIM +/- TkA Hits BkS MVP
1 Dave Taylor CHI 10 7 11 18 11 11 6 18 3 100.0
2 Darryl Sittler CHI 10 8 10 18 12 12 9 18 0 100.0
3 Mike Rogers HAR 10 7 10 17 2 10 5 10 2 92.6
4 Steve Payne HAR 10 6 11 17 9 10 7 20 1 92.6
5 Al MacAdam HAR 10 8 8 16 4 11 1 13 3 92.6
6 Blair MacDonald BOS 10 9 5 14 0 4 8 10 6 88.9
7 Pierre Larouche CHI 10 7 6 13 0 4 4 11 3 81.5
8 Marcel Dionne LA 10 7 7 14 4 7 4 15 4 81.5
9 Bryan Trottier DET 10 6 6 12 6 1 8 22 7 74.1
10 Doug Halward HAR 10 2 12 14 15 6 5 25 11 74.1
11 Blaine Stoughton VAN 10 7 4 11 0 3 4 9 1 70.4
12 Charlie Simmer PHI 10 7 7 14 15 -8 7 16 3 70.4
13 Wayne Gretzky TOR 10 4 10 14 4 -10 5 16 1 66.7
14 Mike Bossy HAR 10 5 6 11 0 4 3 9 2 63.0
15 Peter McNab PHI 10 5 8 13 6 -9 5 12 8 63.0
16 Guy Chouinard CHI 10 4 8 12 6 10 3 10 2 63.0
17 Kent Nilsson VAN 10 5 6 11 2 4 4 10 3 63.0
18 Real Cloutier TOR 10 6 6 12 0 -7 5 6 2 63.0
19 Don Lever PHI 10 7 5 12 4 3 2 8 5 63.0
20 Gilbert Perreault MIN 10 6 6 12 9 -4 4 7 4 63.0

Goalies GP GAA Save% Great W L T OL SO MVP
1 Tony Esposito MIN 10 4.30 .882 14 4 4 1 0 1 100
2 Mike Liut HAR 8 2.88 .886 8 6 0 2 0 0 90.6
3 Don Edwards BOS 7 2.58 .892 11 3 1 3 0 0 89.8
4 Glenn Resch VAN 7 2.50 .909 7 4 1 2 0 0 86.7
5 Gilles Meloche LA 8 3.73 .863 13 2 2 3 0 0 86.2
6 Wayne Stephenson MON 8 3.59 .877 6 2 4 1 0 0 78.2
7 Gerry Cheevers DET 6 2.85 .910 8 2 2 2 0 0 74.8
8 Hardy Astrom CHI 6 2.77 .894 5 2 2 1 0 0 68.2
9 Pete Peeters CHI 5 2.20 .924 6 5 0 0 0 0 67.5
10 Rogie Vachon PHI 9 5.71 .823 11 1 4 3 0 0 63.5
11 Glen Hanlon NY 7 5.47 .849 13 0 6 1 0 0 61.1
12 Mario Lessard TOR 7 5.32 .827 9 0 6 1 0 0 53.6
13 Michel Dion NY 4 5.10 .862 6 0 1 2 0 0 35.1
14 Greg Millen TOR 5 5.00 .827 3 1 2 0 0 0 34.5

Milestones

Oct 11 - MTL C Ulf Nilsson 1st UHL goal
Oct 15 - MIN G Tony Esposito first UHL shutout, record 57 saves
Oct 17 - BOS Dennis Maruk first UHL hat trick

Team Capsules

D Doug Halward had 4 assists in a 6-2 win over Vancouver Oct. 17 and leads the league with 12 assists... C Mike Rogers and RW Al MacAdam have six-game point streaks... League best 19.1 shooting percentage and 38% power play conversion.

The Black Hawks have the top two scorers and the top goalie, but somehow find themselves in 2nd place. C Darryl Sittler and RW Dave Taylor are tied with 18 points and Pete Peeters leads the league with a 2.20 GAA and .924 save percentage... Chicago has scored eight goals three times already: 8-1 win at MIN Oct. 21, 8-5 win at PHI Oct. 27, and 8-3 win over NY Oct. 31. Sittler had 10 of his 18 points in the three blowouts, and a hat trick in win over Philly.

G Glenn "Chico" Resch is second in GAA (2.50) and 3rd in SV% (.909)... D Larry Robinson leads the league with 36 hits... D Behn Wilson hat trick in 7-2 win at Philly Oct. 19; no goals in his nine other games.

RW Blair McDonald leads the goal scoring race with nine in the first month, including six in his last four games. Boston was undefeated in its first six games before a 5-4 loss at Chicago Oct. 25... C Dennis Maruk hat trick Oct. 17 in 6-1 win over Philly... 1st in hits (28.2) and takeaways (8.0) per game.

Detroit has been blowing leads left and right. On Oct. 23 they blew a two-goal lead in the last two minutes in a 6-6 tie at Philly. On Oct. 25, they gave up two late goals but held on for a 3-2 win over Toronto. And on Oct. 31, they blew a 5-1 lead before being resuced by Bryan Trottier's unassisted goal in the final minute for a 6-5 win over the Kings.

C Marcel Dionne was 1st Star Oct. 25 in a 6-3 win over Philly. He co-leads the league with 10 "star points."... G Billy Smith had 26 saves in a 4-0 shutout of Montreal Oct. 19.

G Tony Esposito notched the first shutout in UHL history Oct. 15 at Detroit. The 39-year-old also established a league record 57 saves in the shutout... LW Bill Barber had two goals and three assists in a 5-4 win at Madison Square Garden Oct. 29... D Ian Turnbull leads the league with 17 blocks... C Gilbert Perreault hat trick, including game-winner, in 5-4 win at New York Oct. 29.

League worst 2.5 goals per game; held to a single goal in back-to-back losses to Vancouver and Boston Oct. 29-31... D Guy Lapointe leads the league with 11 takeaways... RW Rick Vaive leads the league with 27 PIM.

Flyers games are averaging a league-high 10.1 total goals... the Flyers played to back-to-back 6-6 ties against New York and Detroit Oct. 21-23... Goalie Rogie Vachon has a league worst .823 save percentage.

Toronto was winless in their first six games before a 7-3 win over the Rangers on Oct. 23 in a breakout game for #1 overall pick Wayne Gretzky, who had just one goal in the first six games before netting two with a pair of assists in the win.